The Road Home

Running a hand through his black messy hair, the Master left the bar. He'd found a lot of his time had been spent in bars recently. But then, he did like drinking, and he wasn't in contact with any of his old allies yet. He wasn't sure if he ever would be. It was raining outside, and the soft pitter-patter of running water echoed through the dark. Droplets of water splashed onto his worn cheeks.

Part of him missed his old life, the other part wanted to turn it's back and watch the galaxy burn. Uneven gray stubble dotted his chin and he reluctantly admitted he needed a shave. Pulling his jacket around him tighter he walked on, into the darkness.

He wasn't alone outside that night. He could hear cars in the distance, and people shouting at each other closer. Drunkards smashing bottles on each other's heads, good people trying to find their way home in the rain without being noticed by the bad, and the honking of horns. It was clear to the Master that this was a hunter's night.

His phone beeped in his pocket and he flipped it out. It was from a number he didn't recognise but he didn't recognise many numbers so that could mean anything. It was an address, not far from here. With a slight shrug, the Master turned around and headed back the way he had come to find the mystery caller at the address he'd been given...

Harleen rushed down the road, trying to get away from the drunken idiots that were following her. She wasn't running but she was walking very quickly, almost tripping over her own feet a few times. She sighed and looked behind her to see the drunken men had stopped their quest to follow her and she smiled a little to herself in relief. "Thank God..." She mumbled to herself.

As soon as she moved her attention back to in front of her she hit against a man and her eyes widened as she stumbled back a little from the impact, she rubbed her head and sighed, looking to the man. "Ah, sorry sir. I didn't mean to do that." She smiled a little at him. "You okay?" She asked him in some concern.

The Master paused, looking over the girl. She seemed innocent enough. He nodded. "I'm fine," he growled more aggressively than he intended to. "...Are you?" he asked after a moment of thinking what the appropriate response to the situation was. He was in a hurry but he figured he could spare a few moments. He didn't want to raise any suspicion. Through the downpour of rain he heard the outcry of the drunks raging towards them. They had found their prey again and seemed to show no intention of stopping. The Master gave a light sigh of disbelief and muttered something in Gallifreyan that certainly wasn't a compliment. He turned his attention back to the young woman. "Friends of yours?"

Harleen looked to the man and she nodded a little, rubbing her forehead a little. "Y-yeah. Y-you have a hard shoulder." She joked with a giggle. She looked behind her as she heard some sounds of men shouting her name and other nick names she thought - to her anyways - were discriminating towards females. She looked to the man and shook her head. "N-no they are... they are... after me." She said with a scared look on her face, she hid behind The Master and hoped they would go away. But if she needed to, she would have to use karate on them but only in desperate measures.

"Well that won't do it will it?" he said, his voice husky and an anger clouding his eyes. He cocked his head to the side as the drunken rabble approached. He counted four of them. Hardly seemed fair. They formed a line. "Ooh, look a tough guy," one of them crooned. The Master grunted. Two were overweight, their bellies poking out, they wouldn't be a threat. The other was short and skinny, looking like he'd snap in a strong gust of wind. It was the only the fourth that looked difficult. A muscle-bound skinhead, the Master thought through his moves tactically and came to the logical conclusion. "I'm going to work on the assumption that they've had a lot to drink and will be feeling very tired here and suggest we run," he said with a slight grin, grabbing her hand and dashing off, dragging her after him.

Harleen kept behind The Master but sneaked her head out. She knew the muscly guy was the one that was more forceful and she hated him the most out of the four drunken baboons. She looked to The Master and she grinned a little as he grabbed her hand. She ran as fast as she could and the men growled and began running after them. Shouting nasty words at Harleen and The Master, one was calling Harleen a 'female-dog' and telling her to get over to them but she ignored them as she ran with The Master to get away from the idiots.

As they turned the corner the Master showed Harleen the screen of his phone with the text message showing. "Know where this is?" he asked, ignoring the shouts from behind them. They were losing the alcoholics. That was good. The fat ones had already dropped off leaving just skinny and muscle. Skinny was starting to look out of breath though. "Don't you just love the city," he grinned as the wind blew through his hair and into his face. At least it wasn't raining anymore.

"Oh that? It is my neighbor's little market shop." She smiled. "I-I mean... it is this street up here." She pointed up the road and she held his hand as she started taking the lead up towards the location that was stated, there was a shop next to a small house and they were attached to each other. The house up that wasn't attached to the shop was Harleen's house. She looked behind, seeing the fat men were gone and the skinny had just gone too.

"Right," he nodded, glancing behind him again and seeing just one of the drunks remaining. Stage 1 was complete - Isolation. He stopped outside the shop. "I wonder what's so special about you then..." he muttered as the skinhead reached them. He shouted something obscene and nearly indecipherable at them and the Master scowled. "Watch your tongue," he mocked, "there's a lady present." The Master didn't seem worried. "You get one chance," he said menacingly, "Leave the girl alone and get out of here... or I will end you..."

Harleen stopped next to him and he heard his mutter but was unsure if he was talking about her being 'special' or the muscle guy. As soon as the man approached she hid behind The Master in slight fear of what the muscly man was going to do. Harleen heard the muscly man shout something very obscene and disgusting and she growled a little at him with a glare. She heard what The Master said and she shook her head, "N-no, there is no ending people...!" She said quietly to him before the man went to swing a punch at The Master but Harleen stepped in front of The Master and caught the man's fist in seconds. "Now. Will you leave?" She growled and the man blinked before cowardly fleeing.

The Master raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed. "You clearly know how to handle yourself," he commented with approval. "Now I need to look inside here," he said gesturing to the shop, "Stick around if you want, go home if you don't" he added, pulling on the door with little success and then looking for an alternative entrance.

Harleen smiled a little but sighed at him. "It is better than killing people." She murmured before looking to the shop. "I guess I will stick around, you seem like loads of fun." She did her signature, happy grin at him before watching him pull on the door. "Ah! I know where they keep the keys." She said quietly before looking to a plant pot with a big-leafed plant. She moved a leaf out of the way and underneath was the keys. She picked them up and opened the front door with them.

The Master smirked. She was capable and helpful, it was worth keeping her around as an asset. "Thanks," he said quietly, he walked through the door to find the lights off. He looked around for a clue or hint as to why he was summoned here. He couldn't see anything suspicious. His eyes narrowed as he thought over the day's events. It struck him as curious that he just happened to meet a girl who knew all about this place just after he'd been told to come here but he kept quiet about his suspicions. "You know the shop better than me," he spoke softly to her, "anything strike you as odd?" he asked, absent-mindedly picking up a pen by the till and twirling it between his fingers.

Harleen smiled at him and followed him into the shop. She looked around curiously inside the shop. She had never really been inside the shop, the furthest she got was the front door and back door but never fully inside. She looked to The Master. "Well, I only know it from a few glances but the inside does look a little weird." She said as she walked backwards and hit against something hard, which wasn't the wall, and she froze with slightly widened eyes.

It was dark so the Master couldn't make out what Harley had just walked into but she clearly wasn't happy about it. He fumbled around for a light switch until he found one. He flicked it and nothing happened. That was probably planned. The good news was that whatever Harley had walked into hadn't moved yet. "Take one step forwards slowly," he ordered, "it stays still keep moving towards me slowly. If it moves slowly, you stop and stand still, see if it stops as well. If it moves fast then you run... got it?" genuine concern stood out from the Master's ageless eyes. He took a step forwards of his own, trying to get a better look at what it was but he was too far away. He'd wait until Harleen was safe before investigating further.

Harleen looked to The Master and she nodded and slowly stepped towards him. She felt a breeze as if the thing she had walked into was walking quickly so she ran to The Master and quickly hid behind him. An Auton walked out from where Harleen was with its hand stretched out. Harleen's eyes were wide and she instinctively held The Master's hand, she was hoping he could help her from the moving manikin. "W-what the hell is that thing?!" Harleen said with wide eyes. "It is a moving manikin... so... alien right?" She said as she glanced to The Master, squeezing a little at his hand.

"yes," the Master said impressed she'd guessed that. Clearly she knew more than he'd realised. "It's an Auton. It must be being controlled by some sort of consciousness, probably, but not necessarily, nestene. I imagine it was the consciousness that brought me here." He squeezed her hand protectively, "Don't worry, I have a plan." He dug around in his pocket for something of use but came up with nothing. He noticed a break in the dust on the floor indicating that something had been moved. Suddenly he started to tear at every book on the bookcase by them, tossing them off one by one until he found one that didn't come off, instead clicking, and the floor started to move beneath them spinning round so that they were on the other side of the bookcase. "Secret Room," he said as he looked around. It was small and seemingly empty. "Fantastic..." he muttered.

Harleen looked to him and nodded when he said he had a plan, she hoped he could help her as the Auton began walking slowly towards them both. She helped him tear the books off the bookcase and she watched as the floor below them began spinning around. She held his hand as the spun around into the new, secret room she had no idea about. "Great." She muttered as she looked around. "Well, this consciousness, will it be here or somewhere else?" She asked him curiously.

Nate shrugged, "It can't be too far away but really it depends on what consciousness it is. I doubt it's a nestene consciousness because they don't have a problem with me as far as I know. This is personal. It stinks of the Hive..." The last sentence was said quieter, clearly more personal to him than anything else he had said. He felt around on the wall of the small room but came up with nothing. No light, no door, no compartment, just more wall. "Well there's got to be a purpose for this room. It seems too hidden to be a panic room..."

Harleen sighed and thought he would know but when he spoke quieter she knew something was personal but she didn't like prying on people's personal business so she ignored it the best she could. She felt around, also feeling nothing but wall. "Hmm. This is too hidden and too small to be a panic room." She mumbled before looking around. "We could feel the walls but what about the floor?" She asked curiously as she started feeling around for anything secret on the floor.

The Master grinned, "Of course," he replied, getting down on his hands and knees and feeling around also until eventually his hand caught on something. The handle to a trap door. "Bingo!" he declared and clicked his fingers to get Harleen's attention. "Before I open it, I have two questions: What is your name? and are you prepared for what might happen if you stick around?"

Harleen smiled and looked to The Master. "My name is Harleen Quinn. And I have experienced a few aliens in my time." She smiled gently before walking to him and she looked to him. "Can I ask what your name is, sir?" She tilted her head curiously at him. She had said her name so she needed to know his, seeing as she trusted her life with the strange man.

"I've had many..." he said, doing his best to avoid the question, "Keller," he said after a long pause. "You can call me Keller." Keller was one of the many aliases the Master had used in the past. It didn't seem appropriate to introduce himself as the Master, and besides, if she'd had experiences with aliens before then there was no telling what she might have heard associated with that name. A good question was how she'd had those experiences but that would have to wait. "Shall we?" he asked, gesturing to the hatch in the floor he was about to open to make sure she was ready, who knew what was beneath them.

Harleen looked to him, "Keller. Hmm, that is a nice name." She said with a gentle smile before looking down at the hatch in the floor and she nodded, she placed her hand over The Master's as if to say she was wanting them both to open it together. She gently pulled the handle on the hatch, opening it up to see a wooden ladder. She slowly looked to The Master. "You can go first, and don't pull that lady's first thing on me." She sighed and waited for him to go first.

The Master smirked, "of course," he said as he got onto the ladder and climbed down. "I'll tell you when I can see the bottom. Handy tip: don't let go" It was only now that the Master realised a suit may not be the most practical of clothing for this kind of thing, but nothing suited him quite like a tie-less suit did so he dismissed the thoughts. "Nothing yet," he said quietly, keeping his voice down in case there was someone down there. He was pretty sure that whatever the consciousness was, they would find it down here. He looked up at Harleen, wondering once again who she was really. All he knew was the name. The way she looked when she thought no-one was watching reminded him of a lost little girl. Maybe that's why he felt the connection, he had spent most of his life lost. Lost in the darkness. He snapped back to reality as he almost slipped off the ladder, it wasn't wooden anymore, it had become metallic, as had the walls around him. He could just about make out the bottom of the pit now, but not much else. He looked up at Harley, "Not far now..." he whispered with a reassuring smile.