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"Look who's back," snapped the Master towards the door as it opened and the Doctor presumably returned, but the Master refused to look at him. He was tapping his fingers in the rhythm of four on his thigh watching something, which looked like Teletubbies to be honest, on the screen at the console from the pilot seats.
Angrily he glanced over to the other Time Lord and started to speak: "Next time you go save those apes, you better delete the lockdown protocol beforehand. If you try… try since I broke that naively constructed thing ages ago… to keep me here, believe me your precious little................Doctor?" he frowned when he realised something was wrong.
The thin man was clinging to the railing and there was fresh blood on his face, a split lip and a cut on his cheek underlaid with a forming bruise.
"Would you mind scolding me later, Kosch? I sort of… have other things on my mind really," said the Doctor, walking up the ramp steadily enough to be clear that nothing was broken, but he still looked awfully beaten up.
"I can see that," answered the Master, swiftly getting up from the seat and walking up to him.
"Disobedient pet bit you finally?" he asked with clear mockery in his voice, but he was getting increasingly angry with every step.
"Something like that… yeah… well not really," responded the Doctor, and his words were followed by a pained groan as the other's hand closed hard around his upper arm. "Ey! that hurts!"
He frowned at the Master and tried to flinch away, but he was pulled along by him and didn't have any chance to get out of his grip.
"You old reckless fool! I will chain you down somewhere if you keep coming back like this, do you understand?" the Master growled, heading for the bathroom and not the infirmary for some reason.
Beside little noises at the pain the grip and quick walking caused him, the Doctor didn't react much. The injuries weren't too bad, but still it dazed him enough to not want to waste energy arguing with him.
"Understood," he just mumbled as the other pushed the door open to the bathroom and finally let his arm go.
Pushing him to the middle of the room, the Master suddenly slowed down his movements and started to take off the bloodstained clothes.
"What happened?" he asked, words pressed through his teeth as he pushed the coat and jacket from the other's shoulders.
Spreading his arms to make it easier for him, the Doctor answered: "Nothing special really. Tried to stop a few men who were assaulting a woman. They were just a little bit more aggressive than I thought... that's all."
He tried to shrug but gasped at the pain resulting from it.
"Hold still, you idiot." The shorter man glared up at him and undid the buttons of the light blue shirt after he had dragged off the tie. As close to gently as he could manage, he removed it, careful not to rub the bleeding wounds and the half-dried blood.
It wasn't too bad really, but the Master saw at least three wounds from two different knives. Butterfly and Swiss Army ones, if he had to guess. They were not deep enough for stitches, even if he would ever resort to such a primitive method. Also there was a lot of split skin from punches, one man had obviously worn a ring, which would also explain the cut on the Doctor's cheekbone. It seemed that there were actually two ribs broken on one side or partly broken since they didn't look displaced.
Most prominent were the bruises slowly forming and darkening on the almost white skin into a deep shade of red and purple. Those were why he headed there and not the infirmary. He continued to undress the wounded Time Lord and shushed him when he asked why.
"Unlike you, I know what I'm doing. Hush now," he said and pushed him back to sit down on the edge of the bathtub. He removed his shoes and the rest of the clothes, leaving him naked.
"Into the bathtub, come on," he ordered and turned on the water to almost freezing cold.
The Doctor hesitated for a second, but then turned, heaved his legs over the edge and slipped into the raising water.
"Ugh… cold," he uttered unintentionally and shivered.
"Don't be such a baby, Doctor. It will help lessen the bruising. Now move forwards," the Master added.
He emptied an entire bottle of sanitizer into the water and pulled his hoodie and shirt over his head. The other Time Lord raise an eyebrow at him but stayed silent and with a small groan moved forwards to make space behind him. He tried to ignore the burning sensation as the disinfectant reached the open injuries but still gave a small hiss because of it. Once naked as well, the blond Time Lord got in and pulled the other back against his chest.
"Why do you always endanger yourself without any proper reason, Thete…?" he said, his voice softer than before.
With a small smile the Doctor leaned back, his head on the Master's shoulder, and he visibly relaxed into the embrace.
"Only if I need t- . If someone needs my help, I would never just walk away. Danger for me doesn't matter. I can survive more than they can," mumbled the thin man, and he inhaled sharply as he felt the other's fingers pressing against his damaged body. He tensed up a little bit, expecting pain since he wasn't too sure what the other was doing, but then he realised the Master was moving his fingers in a circling motion and was removing the dirt and blood from his skin. Not that he was exactly gentle about it in his anger with him, but in the end it was somehow soothing.
Until the blond Time Lord pressed his thumb into one of the puncture wounds. The Doctor gave a partly surprised yelp, trying to move away, but the arm across his chest was holding him down.
He turned his head to find the other close to him, glaring down at him and ignoring the struggling.
"No one… No one is allowed to hurt you besides me. Especially not because of some stupid human you don't even know," said the Master, who moved the hand from the wound up to the Doctor's chin, smearing water-diluted blood on it and forcing him to hold his gaze.
"No one. Just me. Say it, Doctor."
There was a hurt and maybe stubborn expression on the Doctor's face, but after a minute he realised it was pointless to argue, and even the frown ceased to be as he answered: "Just you… I'm sorry."
"Yes... you better be," gave back the older Time Lord, and he moved his hands back to do the soothing strokes. He leaned in and pressed their lips together.
After a moment the wounded Time Lord sighed into the kiss and actually responded with as much enthusiasm as the other did despite what just happened.
The Master pulled away finally and dropped his head slightly to look down along the Doctor's body to the red coloured water around them. If the wounds had been his doing, he would call it beautiful… but never this way.
With a small chuckle he added: "Good. All clean. You will be alright in two or three hours."
"Of course I will, but I appreciate the care. Very… attentive of you, Kosch," the Doctor answered, earning an eye-roll from the Master, which he luckily didn't see.
And he really did appreciate it… well not the twisted possessive thing so much, but he decided to understand it as the other's way of showing affection. Because that's what it was in his mind.
The Doctor smiled but also gave a tiny whimper at a light kiss placed on the cut on his cheekbone. It burned slightly as the Master licked up the small amount of blood there.
With an approving hum the blond pulled away, pushed one hand at the small of the Doctor's back and told him to get up.
Before he followed, he opened the drain and the light red water started to run away.
Meanwhile the Doctor got out, looking at himself in the mirror, and with a sigh turned on the water to wash away the bloody fingerprint on his chin.
"I actually thought that was pretty," smiled the Master behind him, reaching for one of the fluffy white towels next to the bathtub.
"No it wasn't. You're terrible," answered the Doctor looking at him through the mirror
"It was," answered the other who was still keeping a smile on his face, but his eyes went a little bit harder. He turned the Doctor around and ran the dry towel over the other's body, fairly ignoring the confused and embarrassed babbling resulting from his courtesy. It was something like: "No no you don't have to do this."
Once they were both dry, the Master turned to the mirror again and finished his work by slapping a bandage over each one of the stab wounds, even though only the one he had pressed open was still bleeding.
"It will go faster if you sleep," commented the Master, examining his work for a second and then turning to walk out of the bathroom to their bedroom.
The Doctor followed with a nod. He was actually craving some rest after running for a whole day and being beaten up at the end of it. Glad that nothing was bleeding anymore, he got beneath the covers as he was, deciding not to bother with clothes. Those would just put pressure on the bruises. He rested his head on the pillow and smiled, his eyes closed, as he felt the other Time Lord get in as well.
Apparently he had put on some clothes, which meant the Master didn't mean to stay with him like that for the night.
"Going somewhere?" mumbled the Doctor, twisting his head back to blink up at him.
"Unfinished work in the lab. You don't want a second black hole in the middle of your ship, do you?" answered the blond in a slightly sarcastic overtone.
"No. Not really no," uttered the Doctor. Already sleepy, he turned back.
"I will soon be back, and you better be still here when I am," added the Master, placing a kiss on the back of the other's neck. The Doctor just gave a “uhuh”-noise, leaned back against him and drifted off into sleep with a warm smile.
****
When he was sure the Doctor was sleeping, the Master got up and left the room for this old room he hardly used by then and picked up his laser screwdriver from there.
Of course he had lied to the naive Doctor.
With a smirk on his face and a cold scheming expression in his eyes, he headed straight for the console room and then out the door onto the dark streets of an unknown human city. It was almost deserted and dry so it wasn't really hard to follow the Doctor's scent to an alley just a few hundred meters away from the TARDIS. He clenched his fists as he saw the blood on the ground and without even going closer to it he knew it wasn't human. The wounds had apparently been a little bit worse than he had guessed, and the moron had waited before coming back… or had been unconscious for a while. Which didn't mean anything good for the men he was about to hunt down.
And it was easy. Too easy.
Humans mostly stunk quite horribly, and he could smell the four… yes four different trails… men.
It didn't take him longer than ten minutes to find the little group of disgustingly drunk bastards who were walking down the empty street, shouting and damaging cars. Four dead men walking and a lot of fun for him.
"Hey troll!" he shouted and paced up to them. No time to waste. He had to be back before the Doctor would realise he had left the ship.
The obvious leader, tall and broad-shouldered but also most likely very dense, turned back to him, furrowing his brows and spat out: "Are you talking to me, blondie?"
The Master stopped in front of him, looking up with a broad smile, his eyes fixed on the point on the man's jaw he knew would be perfect to break.
"Obviously. You and your flunkies beat up a thin man with impossible hair about an hour ago."
The frown deepened, and there was a cruel laugh echoing through the small group
"Maybe we did... Do you have a problem with that, wimp?" said the leader.
The Master gave a short false laugh and glared up at him. Without giving an answer straight away, he raised his hand and landed a hit on the man's sternum, sending him stumbling back into a dark alley.
"You..!" growled the leader, and he tried to hit back. The Time Lord ducked away as if he wasn't even bothered by his miserable attempt and walked past him further into the alley.
The three other men in the group hesitated for a few seconds, but then the leader called them over, and as a line they thought they were driving the Master into a situation which would make him vulnerable. Idiots.
"What? Did I hurt your boyfriend? Are you a bloody fairy, mate?" laughed one of them, so overconfident with his friends around him.
As the Master nearly reached the wall at the end of the alley, he turned back with a smile and the expression of a predator watching his next victim. His arms crossed behind his back he took a step towards the man and said calmly: "Get on your knees before your Master, and I might let you live. No probably not that, but it will spare you a little bit torture."
And he was still slowly walking towards him, only a few steps between him and the line of men.
The leader turned to his friends and back again, anger written all over his face.
"You're kidding right? You're alone against four. How stupid are you?" he sneered reassured by the blond man being physically smaller and weaker by his judgement. How wrong he was.
The Master gave a theatrically loud sigh and reached in his pockets for the laser screwdriver.
"Wrong answer!"
He pointed the device on the leader and added: "I said. ON..YOUR..KNEES!"
And with that, he turned slightly sideways and shot through both kneecaps, sending the man screaming to the ground. Before the others could do anything against him, he let the screwdriver disappear again and walked up to the shortest one of the three, pressing him down with one hand on his shoulder and taking his head in his hands, ready to snap his neck.
"Now. The butterfly knife and the Swiss Army knife… Drop them," he said coldly, since he could smell the Doctor's blood still on them. The frightened men didn't react immediately, and he moved his capture’s head slightly, forcing him to give a yelp.
"One of your friend’s nerves just got stuck between his vertebra. He will be in agony until you give them to me," the Time Lord said with a smile, the scream like music in his ears.
"Hey man… we didn't mean to do that. He ordered us to do it," said one gesturing towards the leader who was gasping on the ground and let the knives fall from his hands.
The Master clicked his tongue in disapproval and pursed his lips: "Oh how loyal you are. Betraying your boss as soon as someone threatens you. Bad minions… bad," and with the last word he twisted his hands, the man ceasing to scream and dropping dead to the ground.
Both of the other frightened rabbits gave a shriek and turned around to run.
Rolling his head and shoulders, the Master followed them, picking up the knives on the way, and shot the faster one with the laser screwdriver into his head.
Dead.
It was horribly fast but necessary, and it didn't matter. He had enough toys to play with.
The blond caught up with the slower man and with a grin ran passed him, cutting off his way, and yet the remaining man tried to slip around him.
Flicking the butterfly knife open, the Master crouched down and with one fast swing cut through both of his Achilles tendons at once.
Immediately the man fell to the ground, but still tried to crawl, sobbing noisily in terror.
"No… please NO!!" he cried out as the Master went over and broke his wrist with his foot.
"You're pathetic. Even for your very low human standard. Disgusting," he said, exactly the last adjective recognisable in his voice. He grabbed the man's hair, forced him to expose his throat, bowed down and looked at him wrenching his nose. Oh but the fear in his eyes was glorious, and the pupils dilated with pain and paralysing fear as he dragged the knife around his throat and a stench of blood filled the air.
The blond Time Lord dragged him around until the dying man was on his back and turned away laughing madly at the gurgling sound. Slower and yet not a slow enough death for the pigs those men had been.
"Wonderful. Now I have time to enjoy this," he said almost as cheery as a child would be seeing a new toy when he returned to the leader. All the time the leader had been calling for help, and no one had come. As if someone could even hear him. It was night and they were in an alley without any windows leading to it.
He dragged him up to his knees, laughing at the renewed scream resulting from it.
"Shattered kneecaps. Nasty, isn't it? Also very nice to look at."
"Please… please don't... I won't… e-" he started to plead, but a fist breaking his jaw in one hit reduced him merely to whining in agony.
"Usually I like some begging, but you're not even worth that much attention," said the Time Lord, who took out the Swiss Army knife and grinned as he examined the other features of it.
"Oh aren't you lucky. No wait. I am," he said and clicked open a small saw.
The Master grabbed the leader's head and forced it to a side. With his fingers he found the exact spot where it was divided in two and pressed the sharp spikes of the saw against the skin above it. It was deliciously creating a few drops on the cheek. He leaned in and pressed through his teeth, clear anger in his voice: "Do you remember how he sounded when you hit him? Silent. No screaming. Noo… The Doctor doesn't scream. Not for you. You on the other hand…," and with a slow motion and a excited fascination in his eyes, he let the saw break skin and flesh until he felt bone on both sides of it. The scream of the man was only audible because the gaping wound in his cheek laid his mouth open in a grotesque way. His blood was running down the knife, turning the Master's fingertips deep red.
He wiggled the knife a little bit and with a chuckle withdrew thereupon and took the man's hand.
Looking down at it, his laugh faded.
A ring. A heavy golden ring on the leader's finger, with a small drop of blood on top of it.
Smirking, he looked into the man's eyes, which were almost shut since the blood loss wasn't exactly insignificant.
"Did you knock him out with a hit to his face? Tell me, did you kick him as he lay on the ground under your feet? Oh no wait. You can't speak anymore," he said, hardening his grip around the base of four fingers of his hand and with his other hand yanked them all up abruptly, breaking them at the second joint. There was another whine, and it got even louder as he let his hand go and blood returned to the damaged digits. Laughing, he returned his hand to the heavily bleeding jaw, pressing his fingers into the slick wound until he touched the bone and grinned at the twitch that ran through the man's body as he moved them within the lesion… spread it constantly… dragging the rest of his cheeks apart.
There was no screaming anymore even though the man was still alive. Barely, but he was. He had just lost all hope of coming out of this alive.
"Aww, no fighting or screaming anymore? Do you wish to die now?" asked the Master with false compassion, bowing a little bit more to see his eyes properly.
The fallen leader didn't react but held his tormentor's gaze. A last act of resistance.
The Master slipped his fingers in his mouth and yanked it open, dragging the tongue out, and after opening the butterfly knife skillfully in the air, he cut it off. He let it dangle between his bloodied fingers in front of the man’s unfocused eyes before letting it fall to the ground into the growing pool of blood. As he guessed, he had a little bit time left before the man lost consciousness, and he wished to see the life drain from his eyes. The blond Time Lord forced the man's head back by his hair and switched the way he was holding the knife. Now it was pointing down from his fist and he pressed the tip to the corner of the man's eyes.
"You damaged what is mine. You hurt him and so you shall die," and with that he slowly pressed the knife past the eye, not even cutting it open, into his brain. Finally it was too much for the man's body and he watched delightfully as the sparkle, the little something in his eyes, faded.
The Master let go of the handle of the butterfly knife and stepped over him, probably breaking a rib as he pressed him to the ground with one foot.
"Disgusting," he said out loud, looking down at him. After a few seconds, he started to walk, humming a melody which was awfully close to his favourite Scissor Sisters song. Without sparing one look, he passed the three other corpses and headed for the TARDIS.
The Time Lord reached his hand out to open the door, but he realised the blood on his hands would leave marks so he send a telepathic order to the ship. Of course she didn't open first, but she eventually let him in just because she didn't want to wake the Doctor.
The Master returned to their bedroom and chuckled a little bit at the sleeping man who had turned and was lying diagonally across the bed. The Doctor moved slightly, and the other hurried into the bathroom to wash away the blood of a good revenge.
He grinned at his reflection in the mirror and then glanced down as he rubbed the blood from his hands. Again the water was light red, and he liked it even more. Beautiful. Life draining away with the blood. He pulled his clothes over his head and only in his trousers went back to the bedroom.
The Doctor mumbled something in his sleep and followed the move as the Master turned him back to his side and laid behind him, his arms around his waist.
"You're back…," came from the younger Time Lord not much louder than a whisper.
"Yes I am… sorry I took a little bit longer. Accidentally overloaded a shield," the Master responded softly, closing his eyes.
"Liar. You don't do anything accidentally," murmured the Doctor with a faint smile, moving slightly until he was comfortable in the other's arms. The injuries were gone but he rather enjoyed the warmth and slowness of the situation.
"True… Still, I was busy," chuckled the older Time Lord, brushing his lips from the back of the other's neck to the bony shoulder. Of course he knew that it would erase any questions from the Doctor's mind.
And it did.
With a happy hum, the Doctor stopped moving and added: "I'm just glad you're back."
"As if I could leave you, idiot. You would fly into a supernova within a week without me." The Master rolled his eyes,smiling in the darkness.
"Possibly," uttered the Doctor and fell asleep again.