happydalek | Fic Update: Fission (8/?)

Title: Fission (8/?)
Author: happydalek
Summary: The Fifth Doctor dies a gruesome death. But no worries, he can regenerate! The problem? Now there are two of him! And that's just the start of his problems!
Characters: Five, Nyssa, Tegan, Ainley Master
Rating: PG-13 (or T, for Teen)
Beta: No, thank you!
A/N: Now with links to the previous sections, thanks to a helpful suggestion by

ghost2!

Part One	Part Four	Part Seven
Part T wo	Part Five
Part Three	Part Six

*************

Nyssa stood, her body tense, her eyes staring back at the Master with the strength of steel. "What have you done to him?" she demanded.

The Master turned his smiling eyes back on the Doctor. "I'm afraid honesty forbids me taking credit for the Doctor's miraculous survival. I thought I was the master at cheating death, but in this case, Doctor, I concede. How did you survive?"

"Survive what?" the Doctor asked.

"What are you talking about?" Nyssa interjected.

"She's not a child, Doctor, no need to spare her delicate sensibilities. How did you regenerate yourself after being severed by my hadronic force field?" the Master prodded.

"I don't know, how?" the Doctor asked.

Nyssa was stunned. "Hadronic energy?"

"What is that?" the Doctor asked curiously.

"Hadronic energy, Doctor. It's extremely dense, and highly corrosive. It destroys matter on contact, which is why hadronic force fields are normally shielded by a barrier of neutrinos," Nyssa explained. She turned to glare viciously at the Master.

"Which you disabled when you tore out the wiring on the main computer bank after disabling the transmitter. The security field cut you neatly in two. Very careless of you, Doctor," the Master added dismissively.

"I suppose it was," the Doctor agreed.

Nyssa stared at the Doctor in newfound awe. No wonder he wasn't in his right mind.

"You don't remember?" the Master asked, eyeing him.

Nyssa stared at the Doctor, and watched as he shrugged innocently. She'd seen him bluff before, but this wasn't an act. He really didn't remember anything. Not himself, not the TARDIS, not even his most personal enemy. Not even her. Nyssa felt an unexpectedly deep pang of sadness, but forced herself to push it aside. It was up to her to protect him, then. She owed him that.

The Master scrutinized the Doctor for a long moment, then remarked, "However you survived, it doesn't matter. I'm just pleased that you have."

"Oh! That's quite nice of you, thanks." Grinning happily, the Doctor nudged Nyssa; "He's certainly being friendly for someone you said wasn't my friend."

"Trust me, Doctor, he's not," Nyssa assured him.

"Oh, but I am!" the Master protested, adopting a hurt expression. He got out of his chair and took a step towards them. Nyssa stepped in front of the Doctor, wishing she still had her metal pipe. The Master stopped, smiled placatingly and raised his hands.

"You are? That's wonderful!" the Doctor effused. Nyssa felt him place his hands on her shoulders again. Such a confident, sure grip. At least that hadn't changed. "Isn't it, Nyssa? Another friend!"

"He's trying to mislead you, Doctor," Nyssa insisted sternly.

"Why?"

Nyssa started to respond, but didn't have a ready answer. The Master's plans usually only involved the Doctor as a corpse. What was he up to?

o0o

Tegan stared at the computer screen, trying to ignore the mounting fatigue in her arms. "Why would the Master want you to see this? If it could give him the power you say it could, why would he want you to stop him?"

"Good question. I don't know." The Doctor tapped at the keypad again.

"What are you doing?" Tegan asked.

"No," the Doctor sighed, "The program is running from a different computer. This is only a remote link, so I can't shut it down from here. I'll have to trace it to the source."

"And when you find it, you'll be able to shut it down?" Tegan hoped.

"Presumably. I imagine the Master's intentions are somewhat different, however."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? This sounds an awful lot like a trap to me, Doctor." Tegan earned herself a withering stare from the Doctor.

"Of course it's a trap! Didn't I just get through saying that?"

"Right. So naturally, you want to be right into the middle of it. I forgot how fond you are of obviously bad ideas."

The Doctor was tapping away at the keypad once more. "Not now, Tegan. Here it is, twelfth level, junction three. Come on."

Tegan gratefully lowered him to the floor so he could once again scramble onto her back, but she couldn't help hesitating. All that to-do about Omega's math was certainly impressive, but to Tegan it sounded like just another lure being dangled in front of the Doctor. The last one had got him cut in half. Who knew what this next one held in store for them?

"Come on, Tegan. This game of the Master's has gone on long enough. I think it's time we found out what's really going on."

Tegan balked for a moment longer, working up her courage. "Easy for you to say. I'm the one walking into the trap."

o0o

"You serve me, Doctor. We have been companions for a very long time, in fact," the Master explained.

"Then why would Nyssa tell me otherwise?" the Doctor asked, looking from one to the other in bemusement.

"Because she is the one who is attempting to mislead you. I only want to help you, Doctor. As I always have."

"No, Doctor! Don't listen to him! It's not true!" Nyssa argued.

He wanted to believe the Master, but he already believed Nyssa. How could they both be right when they were saying opposite things? Their words were making his head feel the same way it had when he thought about the objects inside other objects, except understanding this was like trying to put the same two objects inside each other. Every time he tried to visualize it, it just made him dizzy.

The Master pointed at Nyssa. "You see how agitated she is? She knows I've found her out, Doctor. She is trying to take advantage of your condition, which is why I had to send my guards to capture you. I knew she'd never let you go of her own free will. It's not her way, you see."

The Doctor looked at Nyssa. She looked frightened. He looked at the Master. The Master did not look frightened. Was that because the Master was right? Looking at the Master’s eyes, the Doctor began to feel like an object inside another object. It was as if the Master was full of ever-smaller cubes within cubes, and as the Doctor opened each one, more of what the Master said began to make sense.

"Doctor, look at me,” Nyssa’s voice followed faintly behind the Doctor, “You know I care about you. The Master is your enemy. He killed my father, destroyed my home planet, and caused you to nearly die once before." Then her hands were on his shoulders. He remembered with clarity how soft and warm her hands were, and how feverishly they had held him. He felt her hands begin to pull him out of the Master’s cubes, back to the way things had been. Finally, he blinked and looked down at her. "Don't you trust me?" she asked.

Didn’t he? "I—"

"Don't let yourself be swayed by that timorous female, Doctor, she speaks nothing but lies," the Master cut in swiftly. "As a matter of fact, it was she who wiped your memory in an attempt to poison you against me and gain access to the TARDIS. Had my soldiers not found you when they did, it is likely she would have killed you by now."

The Doctor turned back to the Master, and Nyssa’s grip on his shoulders no longer seemed so gentle and warm. It was the grip of a creature that wouldn’t let go, wanted to consume him, dig into his flesh and make him into something else. A new, terrible feeling seized his gut. It was fear. He had to get away from her, from her reaching, gripping, strangling hands. He grabbed Nyssa’s hands and pulled them off of him.

Nyssa stared at the Doctor, her eyes pleading. Pleading for what, the Doctor wondered, his friendship, or to sink her fingers into him and kill him? Again, his mind was tied up in confusion. "That's a lie. I'm your friend, Doctor. He's the one who's manipulating you. You must remember—!"

"Your trickery is useless, I know what you are!" the Master spat, grabbing Nyssa by the arm and yanking her away from the Doctor. He picked up his radio. "Captain!"

Nyssa fought his grip, but it was too powerful. The Doctor just stood there, looking at both of them in blank puzzlement. He didn’t know what he thought anymore.

The door opened and the guard stepped into the room and snapped to attention. "Sir!"

"Take this girl and lock her up someplace where she won't be able to interfere in my plans any longer."

"Yessir."

"Doctor!" Nyssa pleaded as the guard pinned her arm behind her back.

"You're not going to hurt or kill her, are you?" the Doctor asked. "Because I don't approve of that." He cocked his head at the Master, "Do I?"