THE ADVENTURES OF THE DOCTOR'S AMAZING HAND
Chapter Six A year or more went by while the hand spent time in the Master's possession. In that time, he had been used as a sex toy by the Master and his wife as well as being left on the bedside table and watching while they went at it. But that was the only time he was able to see anything. The majority of his time was spent inside a metal briefcase in the dark, unable to see anything, only hear. During those times he tried to figure out what was going on. He cursed the fact that he couldn't communicate with the Doctor. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of him and he wondered if he really was stuck at the end of the universe now. From what he could figure out, it seemed like the Master was trying to run for prime minister under his assumed name Harry Saxon. He kept mentioning an Archangel Network and how that was going to help him win but it was hard for him to hear through the briefcase so he wasn't entirely sure what the Archangel Network was. For the moment he had abandoned the bounce smack maneuver. Even if he could get out of the jar there was still the problem of how to get out of the briefcase and there was no way to unlock it from inside. So he spent his time floating and listening carefully, in case the Doctor did find him and needed information. The intelligence gathering continued for quite some time until one day when he was listening to the president of the United States speaking to something called the Toclafane and suddenly there was a huge commotion. His spirits rose briefly when he heard the Doctor's voice but then they sank when after a minute he realized he was the Master's prisoner. Then suddenly, the Master opened the briefcase and bright light streamed inside. He noticed that he was in a large room with several people standing around. He could see Jack and Martha and he saw the Doctor on his knees staring at the Master with a mixture of fear and horror. The Master had something that resembled a large, bulky sonic screwdriver in his hands and he was adjusting the setting on it. The torment lasted for a few minutes and when it stopped, the Doctor fell to his knees an old man. Martha ran to his side and held him while he struggled to get his breath and his bearings. Guilt overwhelmed the hand. He had heard the Master say that the DNA used to age the Doctor had come from the tissue sample he took ages ago. He wished again as he watched the nightmare unfold in front of him that he had been incinerated when Jack first found him. A month passed and the hand once more was doing the bounce smack routine. He had managed to loosen the lid again from working almost non-stop at it. After he had served his purpose, the Master had tired of him and kept him in a corner of his office on the Valiant as a kind of trophy. To his relief, the Master didn't spend much time in his office any longer since that had outlived its usefulness also. Most of the time he left the door ajar and chillingly he could hear on occasion the screams and yells of the Doctor as he was being tortured. He had no idea what happened to Martha after she disappeared. He knew that Jack was chained down somewhere inside the airship but that was all he knew of his whereabouts. Most of the time the office was vacant since the Master had dropped the pretense of him being prime minister and he would see several guards pass by the open door and sometimes Lucy. None of them looked inside at him so he was pretty much free to try his escape attempt. Then finally, he loosened it to the point he was able to get out. He climbed up and out of the jar and jumped to the table. He shook the solution off and looked around. He listened carefully but he couldn't hear anything so he hopped onto the floor and quickly scurried out the door. He went along the corridors trying to find a way out. He was going up one hallway when suddenly he heard Lucy behind him. He quickly scurried into the shadows, froze, and watched while she and a guard walked past him. He very carefully followed them, keeping to the shadows. They walked to a door at the end of the hall and the guard opened it for her. "That'll be all. I have no need of you. The Doctor's too weak to hurt me," she said to him. The hand perked up at that. He waited till the guard's back was turned before he ran across the room. Then just before he closed the door, he managed to slip through into the room. Lucy was at the far end of the room. In front of her the Doctor sat cross-legged in front of a tarp tent. Beside him was a yellow dog dish. The hand glanced around the room but they were the only ones present. He ran over to the stairs and stood there listening. "So, how are we today, Doctor?" Lucy said sweetly. "I trust you recovered from your interrogation last night?" "Who are you?" the Doctor said. Lucy seemed stunned by that. "I'm Mrs. Harry Saxon, you doddering old fool. What, is senility catching up with you now?" she said haughtily. "That's not what I meant. Who are you in all this? Where do you come from? How did you meet your husband? You don't seem like the evil villain type, why do you allow this to go on? You can't approve of all this. You don't seem to be hypnotized so what it's in it for you besides the sex you get from him?" "My, my, so filled with questions. I prefer to be just as mysterious as you, my dear Doctor," she said. "You don't have to do this. You're a human, aren't you the least bit upset that the Master has ravaged your planet?" the Doctor said. Lucy snorted. "Nobody in this world treated me like a human being until Harry came along. They can all die, as far as I'm concerned." "Then why am I still alive? Why haven't I been put to death? Isn't "Harry" concerned that I might find a way to stop him?" Lucy laughed at that. "You can barely take yourself to the loo, old man, what makes you think you'll be able to stand up to us?" "There are other ways to fight besides physically," the Doctor said. "Well, let's see you take your best shot then," Lucy said, shrugging. The Doctor sat on the floor and glared at her. Lucy smirked. "Thought so. I figured you were bluffing, old man." "Don't be so sure…Mrs. Saxon," the Doctor said. "That's right, I am. At least Harry cared enough to marry me. Unlike…Rose." The Doctor stiffened at that and Lucy grinned. "Harry mentioned listening in on your conversation with Jack. Who is she? Former lover?" The Doctor stayed silent. "Such a pity that she's trapped in another universe. I bet you could use the comfort of her body right about now, yeah?" she cooed. She fell to her knees and the Doctor stiffened again when she ran her hand down the side of his face. "Perhaps I could be a substitute for her?" she purred. "If I keep the lights out you can pretend she's me. I wouldn't mind if you called me Rose. It's such a pretty name." She ignored the look of death the Doctor was giving her and continued to stroke his cheek. "Was Rose pretty?" she said. "Did she bring joy to your life? Was she your everything? It must hurt that she's in another universe now away from you. I wonder if she's moved on with her life and found another. How does that make you feel, knowing she might have found another man to love and forgotten all about you?" "You're making a lot of assumptions about my relationship with Rose," the Doctor said. Lucy chuckled. "I know a man's heart or hearts in your case. I know that eventually everyone longs for love, even a loner like yourself. But perhaps Harry could probe your mind and we could find out the full extent of your relationship. Would you like that? Relieving all those memories you have of her?" The Doctor said nothing. Lucy grinned and leaned into his ear. "Or…you could forget about her and make love to me instead." "Or I could sit here and just soil myself like an elderly old fart," the Doctor said. Lucy chuckled. "You know," she said, leaning in close to his face, "Harry has the paradox machine. He brought the Toclafane back from the future. What if he could reach across universes and bring your beloved here?" She smirked as she stared into his eyes. "You do love her. I can see it in your eyes. You want that to happen. You tried to hide it but for a moment I saw the longing in your eyes. If you tell us what we want to know. If you tell us what happened to Martha, then perhaps I can talk to Harry and convince him to go get Rose. I'm sure she would be thrilled to see you, even though you don't look as young as you used to be. So come on, Doctor, be a good boy and tell us what you told Martha. Where did she go and what is she doing? Tell me and Rose could be yours again." "Not a chance." "But I'm offering you the chance to be with…" "And I would never allow her to come here," the Doctor said, cutting her off. "I would never want Rose at the Master's mercy. I'd rather she was stuck in the other universe far away from him. As for Martha, I won't tell you what I told her so you might as well cut the whole seduction routine and the good cop, bad cop rubbish." "Fine. I wouldn't shag you anyway, I'm sure your penis is shriveled up and dry now," Lucy said, standing up. "You wanna sit there all day and rot, that's your decision. I'd rather be with Harry than be with you." "Then you've made the wrong choice and mark my words, you'll be sorry one day you stayed with him," the Doctor replied. Lucy snorted, rolled her eyes and stomped towards the door. The hand squeezed further into the shadows and waited until she was gone before he took another peek at the Doctor. He was in the same place but his eyes were gazing at the floor while he was lost in thought. The hand hesitated a moment and then went to him. The Doctor noticed the movement, raised his head and his eyes widened in surprise. "Well, I haven't seen you in donkey's years," he said. The hand came to his side and the Doctor stroked the back of him. "How are you holding up, little mate?" he asked him. "They haven't harmed you either, have they?" The hand fell back on his wrist. No, he signed. "But they did take a piece from you, didn't they? To age me?" The hand "nodded" and the Doctor stroked the back of him. "I think we're both in a bit of a bind here, yeah?" he said to him. "I'm too old to do much of anything right now and you can't take on the Master alone. I have a plan and they're trying to suss it out at the moment but it'll take time for it to come to fruition and with the torture I'm getting, I'm beginning to wonder if I'll be dead long before the trap is sprung." I heard what she said about Rose, the hand signed to him. The Doctor smiled sadly. "I miss her and a part of me wants to see her again but I wouldn't dare bring her back here. I know she can take care of herself but I wouldn't want her facing the Master. I don't want the Master anywhere near her so for the moment, I'm glad she's in another universe away from him." The Doctor stared down at the hand who was lost in thought. "Do you think about her too?" the Doctor asked him. The hand nodded. "You didn't get to spend much time with her since you got knocked off my hand right after I was born. Then you had to spend all that time with Harkness." The Doctor shivered at that. "Ugh, you poor defenseless thing," he said. He noticed the hand quivering. "What was that you just did?" he asked him. I laughed at that, the hand signed. The Doctor grinned and gave him a gentle pat on his back. "As much as I enjoy your company, I think you better get back to your jar before Mister Saxon realizes you swanned off. I'm already getting tortured; I don't want the same for you." I can help, the hand signed to him. "Thanks, but for the moment there's not much we can do. The plan I have with Martha is on a schedule and I can't do anything before it's time. So please just go back to your jar and rest. I'll be alright. Just look after yourself, little friend." He smiled when the hand patted his leg and gave him the thumbs up. The Doctor gently patted the back of his hand and gave him a thumbs up in return. The hand hesitated a moment and then started to walk off. "Hey!" The hand turned and looked at the Doctor when he called to him. "Be careful out there and thanks for the visit. You've lifted my spirits for the first time in a month," he said. The hand walked back to the Doctor and climbed up on his leg. He lay on it for a few minutes while the Doctor stroked the back of him and then he rose, hopped down onto the floor and hurried towards the door. It was then that he realized it was now shut. The Doctor groaned as he rose to his feet. "Bollocks! I'll see if I can open it but I have a feeling it's locked," he said as he slowly shuffled towards it. He tried the door and cursed softly when his suspicions were confirmed. He looked down at the hand who was standing beside him. "Well, I s'pose you can stay in my tent for the time being," he said to him. "Just keep out of sight. If the Master learns you're alive there'll be no end to your torture." The Doctor turned and shuffled back to the tent while the hand slowly walked beside him. "I bet you're glad you got severed from me now, huh?" he said to him while they walked to the tent.
Suddenly, the Master pointed it at the Doctor and the hand watched in horror as the Doctor screamed and jerked around in a speed that was far too fast for a normal person. He could see Martha staring at the Doctor in silent horror while Jack fought the guards that were holding him back. The Master was concentrating on aiming the screwdriver at the Doctor but behind him, Lucy was standing there with a huge grin on her face.
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