Lost in the Shadows

(closed to The Master and Sonya)

The Master left the man who had attacked him bleeding out in an alleyway with a broken rib, two crushed fingers, a broken nose and a snapped elbow. It wasn't pretty. The Master straightened his jacket and stepped out from the shadows onto the street. His eyes narrowed at the figures in the street with him. He counted three others and they all seemed oblivious to the broken body the Master had left in his wake.

His eyes cast over to the bar opposite. He spent a lot of time in bars and pubs now, keeping a low profile. Hunting the Hive. He brushed his messy black hair back then crossed the street, whistling calmly to himself.

(A little bit spoiler considering the time she came from, Farther along from the main timeline than she is right now, but it's the only way she would have been around here.)

Tossing her hair over her shoulder, Sonya blinked her eyes at the bright sun with a slight frown before shielding them and continuing her way along the sidewalk, her other hand tucked away in her pocket, fingers wrapped around the sonic she kept at hand at all times now. With the Nightmare Child safely contained, it was always a problem with people she ran into from the past. Best to keep something that would make them hesitate rather than walk into a situation blindly and hope for the best. Her lips quirked up at the corners with the idle thought, amusement flickering in her mismatched eyes before dying out to be replaced but the usual caution that normally resided there.

Shifting her shoulders, Sonya grimaced at the tightness in her muscles. It had been a while since she rested for more than a few minutes. And on a bed at that, usually sitting on a bench or resting up against a wall was the best she could get, but ah well, times were hard, and personally, she would rather her life be difficult than too easy. A sudden tickle at the back of her mind caused the Time Lady's head jerk up and whirl around at the sensation. She knew that mind, she knew the connection almost too well. Her eyes landed on a male figure crossing the road she walked beside. The figure itself unfamiliar, but the soft brush of mind she felt being too easy to recognize. "Hello, Brother."

The Master cocked his head to the side facing Sonya. In truth, he'd not been looking forward to this. It had been a very long time since he'd last seen her and he'd been doing so well at avoiding everyone from his previous life. He was silent for a moment before pushing open the door to the bar and heading inside. He wasn't surprised he'd bumped into her, it had to happen eventually. The universe was actually a much smaller place than it let on. A forced grin spread across his face, "Drink sister?" he asked gesturing to the range of alcohols displayed behind the counter.

Sonya trailed along behind the Master, her eyes shifting over to run along the bottles before turning to sit down on a stool beside her. "No hypervodkas I take it. I'll settle for a normal pint if you don't mind." She murmured quietly, her gaze turning back to the man beside her, silently studying the Time Lord with a soft frown turning her lips downwards. "I have to say, I wasn't really planning on seeing you again after our last meeting." She finally said, her fingers drumming on the countertop idly while she spoke, her head turning away from him to look down and count the scratches on it's surface.

"Honestly, I don't even know why I followed you in here. Possibly looking to relax with someone that won't think I'll kill them right off, or perhaps I'm looking for company." Letting out a low breath, she leaned back, eyes drifting up towards the ceiling and staring at it with unneeded intensity. "Don't blame you for not wanting me around, not lying when I say that. But there are things that need to be said and are best said face-to-face."

"It's not you specifically. I'm just not fond of people right now..." he admitted, taking a drink and choosing a table. He sat down sipping at the alcohol. "Remind me, in your timeline what was our last meeting?" With time travellers and time lord, personal timestreams often got mixed up and mismatched. His stone cold eyes bore into hers, searching her for an answer. His hand absentmindedly brushing through his hair, like a dog, grooming it's mess of fur.

"Hmmm... I'd have to say... It would be while Ali was still around. Quite a few years, honestly." Sonya muttered absentmindedly, her gaze locking onto his and her hands falling still once more. "You've changed since we last met. Almost didn't realize who you were, if your mind didn't reach out when it did, I wouldn't have." Reaching up with a hand, she rubbed at the blue eye while the red one remained trained on her brother. "Been through a lot since then. Died, came back, taken over, forgot who I was, remembered everything... From Gallifrey even, our parents." Her voice died out at the mention of their parents, her eye closing and hand dropping away from her face as she sunk into the seat behind her with a long sigh.

"Things better left not being known." She was so tired, more so than she had ever been before. Granted, Sonya had felt tired before, but never like this. This was the exhaustion that accompanied someone when they realized just how long they had been walking on an endless road. It took effort on her part to reach out and pick up the pint in front of her and lift it to her lips. "I've pretty much lost everyone to me by now. The Doctor... I refuse to see him right now. With what I've done and how I am, it's best he thinks I'm gone from his life."

"I know that feeling," the Master raised his glass to indicate his agreement, then downed the rest of his drink. "Cutting yourself off like that, if you're not careful you'll end up like me..." It was meant as a joke but there was a serious undercurrent to his words. "Ali..." He repeated to herself, "It's been so long since I last saw her. Or Sara, or The Artist or Steph..." He visibly tensed up at the last name, remembering what the Hive had done to her. He broke off that train of thought. "I guess we're all just dust and memories in the end..."

"Hm, it would be for the best to cut myself off." Sonya muttered, flinching slightly from a sudden memory as it popped up. "I've done plenty of things to be ashamed of, I don't really care to see how they reacted." Opening her eyes again, she stared blankly at the table between the two of them before looking back at her brother's face with a wry smile suddenly. "Being Dust and memories wouldn't be so bad. At least you wouldn't have to worry about taking control of your life all the time. Just be there to pile into the corners and appear when called forth. The rest of your life, just relaxing in the shadows beyond anyone's sight."

Chuckling humorlessly, Sonya picked up the pint to drain it of it's contents and set the empty glass back down with a soft 'thunk'. "So, besides the both of us trading witty comments and conversation. What would you suggest doing."

"There's a local mob boss named Dekker. He set one of his men on me earlier, I want to find out why. I don't even owe him money..." The Master stood up abruptly and dropped some coins on the counter for the drinks. "You interested?" He asked as he headed for the doors. He didn't really care how she answered, he wanted the situation resolved now.

"Playing with humans again? I thought you'd have learned after your past few trysts." Sonya asked idly, an eyebrow raising up at her question before getting to her feet herself and followed him out, her eyes blinking in the sudden, bright light once they stepped outside. Grimacing slightly, she shielded them from the sun and trudged along beside her brother quietly for a moment. After a few minutes of walking, she eyed him curiously. "Alright, I'll bite, why exactly are you being attacked? I know you have an idea of what it is, so you might as well spill it."

Slowly dropping her hand from her eyes, she squinted against the light until her eyes got used to it and tucked her hands back into her pockets to walk more comfortably. Tilting her head back, Sonya studied the buildings they walked past in faint curiosity. "I mean... Whenever your being attacked or followed, you claim not to know why, but eventually you let slip that there might be a small reason as to why."

"If I could leave this planet I would, but my purpose is here," he responded to her gently jab about his past... inconveniences... In truth, the mob boss was a regular at a bar not far from the one they'd been at just moments ago and that's where the Master steered their search. He raised an eyebrow at Sonya's next question. He really did know him well. The Doctor kept secrets to protect you from them, the Master kept secrets mostly for the sake of keeping secrets. He was just wired that way. "I can't be sure until I find him, but I think he's part of the Hive," he said. He knew that she wouldn't know what the Hive was. No-one did. Well, that's not entirely true, the Master knew what the Hive was, and it was his mission to destroy it...

"Riiight. And you just expect me to stop with the questions at your mention of 'The Hive'?" Sonya asked with heavy sarcasm, her hands raising up to make quotes in the air before leveling her eyes on him in an even stare. "You can't fool me, the Doctor can hardly fool me, and that's really saying something on his part. But you, no, Brother, there is a minimal chance of you side-stepping the issue." Striding forward, she got in front of him and blocked his path, hands planted on her hips in a mimic of her past stance whenever the Master particularly got on her nerves about one thing or another.

"Now, before we go any farther, you are going to explain some things to me. You may not really want me here, you may not want anyone you know around, but I never really cared whenever it came to whatever interested me." She said slowly and carefully, her eyes narrowing slightly while she spoke, carrying the slight threat along with her words. Leaning forward slightly, she dropped her voice slightly before continuing on. "If your in trouble, big or not, you are going to have to deal with your sister sticking her nose in where it doesn't belong. It's my job, considering we're the last of our family, we have to take care of each other if we plan on keeping it the same with two people instead of one. Now, spill."

The Master locked his eyes with hers but found himself backing down. His big sister had always been a little bit scary to him, which was impressive considering who he was. He took a deep breath, "Alright..." he said slowly.

"The Hive is an organisation that formed for the purpose of destroying me. From what I can gather they believe I will end the universe. They've made several attempts to kill me over the last year or so. Some more successful than others," he explained reluctantly, the Hive was not a topic he talked about if he could avoid, because of what came next. "They tried creating a doppelganger of me, they tried luring me to isolated locations, they tried sending armies after me but I just wouldn't stay dead. Terrible habit of mine," he paused, closing his eyes, "

So they targeted the people I care about. Or rather, they'd already targeted them. They created Steph, and so they turned her against me. My own daughter was sent to kill me." His eyes dropped as he finished his tale quietly, barely audible: "She... died..."

He was still and silent for a moment before jumping back into life, his voice now loud and fast as he strode past her towards the bar they were headed for: "That's why I cut myself off from everyone, so they couldn't use them against me. That's why I'm on Earth. I'm hunting down every one of them. I'm going make them suffer..."

The last sentence was spoken with passion and an ominous sense of vagueness laced with a slight hint of pleasure as he anticipated it.

Watching her brother walk away, Sonya felt a slow smile curl her lips upwards at the corners before skipping off to catch up with him, her arm reaching out to wind through one of his with a light chuckle. "Why didn't you say so sooner? A little revenge ought to get me in a better state of mind. Not to mention my brother being all dark and mysterious. Very interesting." She teased lightly, looking up at him with another chuckle, her lips stretched out into a full-blown grin. "Come on then, introduce me to the poor saps that dare stand in our way, yeah?"

Letting his arm go, she tucked her hands back into her pockets and lengthened her stride to match his with a slight frown of irritation. "And honestly, with each regeneration, you get taller. It isn't fair actually. I'm always loads shorter than you, and I'm older by a good fifty years." She grumbled, her face twisted into a slight grimace before melting away into another bright grin at him. "Cheer up, I'm here, I got a few tricks up my own sleeves."

The Master smirked. It felt good to have his sister by his side again, no secrets between them. She was 52 years older to be exact, but the Master had always had pride in being the taller one. They reached the bar in no time. The Crustacean. One of the darkest, most sense-dulling bars in the whole of London. "Better get your tricks ready then," he grinned, pushing open the door and stepping inside. The whole bar went quiet. Perhaps it was their clothes that made them stand out, everyone else was very leather biker's gear. Or perhaps it was the Master himself, he'd gained quite a reputation in the underworld despite trying to keep a low profile. Or maybe there was something his sister had neglected to mention. Whatever it was, they were soon 'greeted' by five big men with little to no hair and very bad taste in clothing. The Master stopped himself from laughing at the one with the pink mohawk who barely looked old enough to shave. "We're here to see Dekker..." the Master said without a hint of fear entering his voice, although there was slight amusement audible only to anyone who really knew him.

Sonya stared up at the men with an open mouth and wide eyes, simply taking in their appearances before shaking her head slightly. "Blimey, didn't anyone ever tell you pink hair doesn't go with green eyes? I mean really, I've heard of clashing colors, but this is a bit over the top, don't you think?" She asked finally, her attention focused solely on the one person that stood out in front of them. Reaching over, she nudged the Master in the ribs before nodding at the fellow with an amused smirk on her face. "I know I don't match either, but honestly, red and blue go together better than that match-up."

Blinking her mentioned eyes, Sonya tilted her head to the side, turning her attention to the others standing there, searching for something else to point out and further irritate them. "I would mention something about the leather, but honestly, I have a slight fetish for leather too. Have a trench coat in it too, a buddy of mine wears a leather jacket also, sooo I really don't have much else to say other than there's a large amount of scalps showing around here." Lifting her shoulders in a slight shrug, she shifted her stance, balancing her weight on one leg more while she stood there, already antsy to get moving again. "So, meeting this one guy, my brother here is a tad impatient, and I'm a bit more than that, can't stop moving see? I keep talking when I end up standing around for no reason. So if you want me to be quiet, I'd suggest we get going."

"What my sister is saying, far more politely than she usually does, is show us to Dekker," The Master's eyes were intense, glaring into each of their souls. Most of them dispersed but the pink-haired one remained, eyes glazed over. He pointed to a bald man in a black trench coat sat in the corner with a lit cigarette in his mouth, watching amused. Then Pinky scattered as well. The Master cocked his head to the side, amusement showing on his face as well now. "It's been a while since I tried hypnosis," he grinned to Sonya before striding over to Dekker who barely batted an eyelid as the Master took a seat opposite him. "I believe you wanted to see me..." The Master started...