THE ADVENTURES OF THE DOCTOR'S AMAZING HAND

Chapter Fifty Four

After finding a few more things they needed and getting Donna a rucksack and sleeping bag, they walked up from the first floor back to the beds and sleeping bags. Kameko showed them some air mattresses that weren't being used and Donna and Rose lay down to take a nap. Ianto and James were using their sleeping bags and were napping several feet from the women. The Doctor looked at John.

"Need a kip, my friend?" he asked him.

"No, I don't feel like having a lie down. Too much on my mind."

"Oh? Care to let me in on your thoughts?" the Doctor said.

John led him away from the beds. The Doctor followed behind him and when they reached the escalators, he sat down on the top step and the Doctor went past him and sat down two steps below him.

"What's on your mind?" he said to John.

"I've just been thinking about the clone," John said. "I hate that the Master has used a piece of me to age you and make all these copies of me that he ends up vivisectioning before killing them off."

The Doctor put his hand on John's knee.

"I understand, my friend, but you were helpless at the time he took the sample, weren't you?"

"Yes and no. At the time I was reluctant to let people know I was alive, especially the Master so I laid there and let him do that to me. But I didn't know he'd do all this with that sample. If I'd known, I would have stopped him."

"Yes, but you can't go back and change time on your own timeline. Trust me, my friend, what he did with your hand is a drop in the bucket compared to what the Toclafane have done."

"I know but I hate that I've added to the mayhem. I hated that he used me to age you."

The Doctor smiled at that.

"Well, I'm back to normal so don't worry about that either."

"There's something else on my mind."

"And that is?"

"Why are we going around the world and telling people about you if it isn't to incite rebellion," John said.

He explained about tapping into the Archangel satellites and how he was going to use the combined psychic energy to bring him back to his youthful self.

"Okay, you've done that," John said when he finished his explanation, "so we don't need to keep going."

"Well, you know that eventually I will have to go back to change everything back to the way it was before which means I have to become his prisoner again and I'm sure he'll try to age me again to keep me feeble."

"I wish you didn't have to do that," John said. "I hated seeing you in that condition and you know he'll torture you without mercy when you fall back into his hands again."

"Yes but as I said before, he won't take it so far that I become completely incapacitated or die. He's not interested in me being a vegetable, no fun for him."

"So, you're going to rely on this past friendship of yours to keep you safe?"

"Yes. Because I still believe that deep down there is still some good left in him. Most of what he does is because he was driven mad by the Schism and for that, I blame the Time Lords. He's had plenty of opportunities over the centuries to kill me or cripple me and he never does. I think what he does is in part a cry for help. I think he wants me to help him but is too much of an egomaniac to voice that so he continually stalks me or does things to get my attention so I'll have to come and stop him."

"I hope you're right, Doctor. I hope he still has some good in him but it might take till the end of your lives before you see it.'

"Always have to have hope, my friend, even in the bleakest of times," he said.

John nodded and smiled when the Doctor stood up and patted his shoulder before going past him. John remained sitting on the step, staring off into space while he mulled over what had happened to them recently.

The Master looked up from his laptop when he heard a knock at his office door. He got up from his desk and walked to it. He opened it and the captain of the guards saluted him.

"Mister Saxon, message from your operative in Tokyo," he said. "He has news about the Doctor and his friends and wishes to speak with you."

"Very well, I will speak to him in private," the Master said. "Use the transmat and bring him on board. I'll speak with him in the boardroom."

"Yes, Mister Saxon," the captain said, saluting before he hurried away.

The Master turned and looked at Lucy who was sitting motionless on a sofa in the corner. After her attack, he had beaten her to within an inch of her life and then hypnotized her into submission. He gazed at the blank look on her face and smirked.

"Got a meeting to go to, darling, I'll be back soon," he said.

Lucy nodded slowly, the blank look still on her face. The Master chuckled and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

He headed to the boardroom, eager to hear what his operative had to say about the Doctor. He entered the room and glanced at the tarp tent, now vacant. The Master paused a moment as he fingered the tarp, thinking how empty it looked without its occupant.

"Don't worry, Doctor, you'll be back here soon, right where you belong," he murmured to himself.

He heard the sound of the lift and turned to face it. The lift stopped and the door opened and he smiled broadly when the Doctor's clone stepped out with two guards. The people at the Tokyo labs had worked with him until he was an obedient servant, completely loyal to him. Of course, it helped that they put an implant on the side of his head that went inside and connected with his brain. The implant subdued the clone's natural personality, allowing the brainwashing to take hold. Because of the implant, his hair had been shaved and he was wearing a leather outfit similar to the one the guard's wore. The guards stayed by the lift while the clone walked forward and prostrated himself before his master.

"Rise and report," the Master said.

"My Lord," the clone said, getting to his feet. "The Doctor and his companions are in Tokyo this very moment. They just visited the labs and rescued the last of the female captives. I followed them to a department store where they are being sheltered by rebels."

"Rebels, you say? How very naughty of them," the Master said. "Did any of them see you?"

"No, my Lord, I hid in the secret passageway on the third floor. I overheard them though and they were searching for me."

"So, the Doctor has knowledge of the lab and you. Which must mean he went back to Lazarus Labs."

"Yes, my Lord, he is no longer aged and infirm," the clone said.

"Oh, really. Then that's proof he went back there. Sneakly little bugger, he used Lazarus's machine. How very clever. I was hoping he'd have to leg it around the world on a walking frame. Shit. Ah well…can't have everything the way we want, eh?"

"What should we do, my Lord?" the clone said.

The Master thought for a moment, drumming the drumbeat in his head with his fingers on the table beside him.

"I believe I will send you along with a few guards to take them alive," he said to the clone. "After that, we send the Toclafane in to destroy what remains of Tokyo as a punishment and a warning to the people that they harbor fugitives at their own peril."

He paused for a moment in thought.

"In fact, destroy all of Japan. We'll send a real warning to the survivors of Earth," he said. "But for the moment, we will hold off long enough for you to go down and get them. I want the Doctor and his buddies to stand on the deck of the Valiant and watch Japan's destruction before I deal with them."

"It will be done, my Lord."

"Excellent. Go and carry out my commands then."

The clone prostrated briefly and the Master smirked when he got up, turned and headed back to the lift.

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