pawnofrassilon | For Eileen <3<3

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For Eileen <3<3

On a cold spring evening in Wiltshire, in the year 2011, a man falls to Earth.

Some children look up and think they see a shooting star that night. Adults, knowing that whatever it is is far too large, think it might be a comet or meteor. Or else they assume it's a trick of the eyes, an afterimage of a headlamp on the road. Some, oddly enough, think of angels. News reports are non-definitive.

Much like the film, the man isn't quite a 'man' at all-- not by the twenty-first century Earth definition, anyhow. He's alien, though it's only by the doubling of his pulses and the nature of his abrupt appearance in the first place that any human could tell.

Unlike the film, he isn't particularly concerned with saving his home world. Not anymore.

The Master lies very still for a long time, heedless of the fact he's crumpled up in the middle of an open field. He's fallen quite a distance, even for a Time Lord. And many of his injuries are much, much older than that. His clothes are little more than rags, torn to shreds and singed to the point of near purposelessness. If it's even possible, he's dirtier than ever. Exhausted. Parched. Hungry. So hungry.

Eventually it's the hunger that gets him up and keeps him moving. Feeling the click and slide of bones that are likely dislocated if not broken, the Master struggles to his feet, heaving and wincing in pain, his skin becoming momentarily translucent with the effort. He's in trouble, his energy stores dangerously low and his body in real danger of being ripped apart. But it's nothing a little snack won't fix. Taking a great whiff of the night air, he cracks a grin just short of sanity... and lets his nose lead him staggering through the darkness.

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"Right. 'A bite' being several people. People. You could have gone and found a butcher's to clear out, but instead you ate people. If you were a wild animal, you would have been put down."

The Master shrugs, as best he can. "I was in a hurry." And then he smiles again.

"But you can't put me down, can you, Rose Tyler? Because I might lead you to him."

"But you won't, will you?" Rose's voice betrays her sadness. "If I let you out, you'd just go and kill more people. I can't allow that to happen again. So as much as I want to find him, I'm afraid you're useless to me."

"Then why are you here?" The Master begins to tap against the floor of the cell, irritably. He's already beginning to get twitchy in this place. "I hope you don't expect me to feel sorry for you."

"Not a chance of that," she replies ruefully. "I suppose... well, I suppose I'm just hoping you give me some reason to give you a chance. A chance to do anything but be locked up in this cell until the day you run out of regenerations."

The Master looks at her, taken aback for a moment, and then bursts into bitter laughter.

"Regenerate? Oh, that would just solve all of my problems, wouldn't it? Just... 'regenerate!'"

He doubles over a bit with a fresh bout of giggling.

Rose frowns and shakes her head. "What? Can't you regenerate?"

His head snaps up and he gives her a sidelong grin.

"Of course I can regenerate, Rose Tyler. I'm regenerating right now."

He stares at her, hard, wondering if she'll catch on.

Her frown deepens.

"Is that why you need all this food? Are you burning regeneration energy just to stay alive?"

"More like it's burning me up," the Master corrects her sullenly. Giving him an audience for his pity party can be a dangerous thing.

"Didn't the Doctor ever tell you what happens to a Time Lord when he regenerates?"

"Not as such," Rose admits. "He never really told me the specifics."

The Master sighs wearily. Of course he wouldn't.

"Well, let's put it this way: all that energy has to go somewhere. And if the regeneration can't complete..." He lets the artron wash over his body again to make his point, even though it hurts.

In spite of herself, Rose feels sorry for the Time Lord.

"Is there anything to be done about it?"

His eyes narrow, his expression closing off to a wary one. He isn't about to let anyone just experiment on him. Besides...

"I'm dying," he snaps. "The Doctor couldn't even do anything."

Just stood there with that idiotic look on his face. That look of pity. Ever so helpful as usual.

Rose swallows.

"I'm sorry," she murmurs. "I'm so sorry."

He wants to strangle her for that alone. Instead the Master settles back and laughs sardonically, staring at her with displaced resentment.

"He's even got you spouting the party line."

She sighs.

"What do you want, then? You want me to let you die in peace?"

The Master considers. He's thought about what he wants, difficult as that question is, and even more difficult as it is to think these days.

But no, he doesn't particularly want to die. And part of him, the old him... it still viciously resists the inevitability of it.

"What are you suggesting? That you put me down? Like an old dog?"

"No. I'd rather try something... anything... to make you better."

"I'm not your experimental charity case, either," the Master scowls, defensive. She's still appropriating the Doctor's lines, which rankles enough. But on top of that, the thought of letting one of the Doctor's pets meddle with his body... well, it's unthinkable, really.

Still, he's curious.

"There may be something you apes have squirreled away that could be of use."

Apes. The term, though meant to be derogatory, nevertheless made Rose's heart ache in memory of the Doctor.

"Do you want to see what we have? I can let you into our stores... in shackles and under guard of course."

He sneers. "Of course. And then what? You aren't going to actually let me play with your toys, are you?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "You tell us how to use them. Else I just leave you here to die. Which will it be?"

The Master stares at her evenly for a moment, considering. Finally, he says, "Let's have a look, then."

Rose touches the comm in her ear. "I need a set of shackles and a few more hands down here please."

It's a moment before the remaining three Torchwood agents arrive and hand Rose what she's asked for. They all enter the cell, and Rose approaches the Master while the rest draw their weapons.

"I'm going to cuff your ankles first, then your wrists. Then I'll release you from the wall. All right?"

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