02.

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

[Look, Omega's back on the Plane! This time, though, he's not focused on the scenery. Instead, he's leaning on a laboratory table that appears as though it was appropriated from Ertikus's TARDIS. Spread across its surface are half-finished pieces of machinery, spanners, microwelders, and other various tools, all of which are Gallifreyan in origin.

What has Omega's interest, however, is a small, unassuming lump of coral. Time Lords and anyone sensitive enough with notice that it is far from the kind of coral found on Earth -- it's absolutely humming with energy, and there is a spark of awareness, of sentience.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a baby TARDIS.

Omega picks up the coral, holding it with surprising gentleness, and studies it quietly. The bond between a TARDIS and its pilot is a powerful thing, after all, and theirs is just being established.]

Comments

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

[a snort] Unlikely.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

[he flashes a smile and steps closer]

Unlikely that he did? No, not unlikely. Half the theories make the call for it, and there have been many theories.

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

Unlikely that you have any real idea as to what happened. I know the theories. I have played out every possible event, every variation that led to that day, for ten thousand years. You know nothing.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

[another step]

I know his mind through a mirror. Do you?

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

Mirrors distort. I know Rassilon as well as you know your Doctor.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

And how well do you know my Doctor? I fancy I know your Rass just the same.

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

I have everything; his personality, his memories, his mind all exist in mine.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

Not properly, though. It can't exist separate and untouched.

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

No? I could give him control of this body. He would truly believe himself to be the Doctor, and why should he not? It is his body, after all, and there is nothing in his life that he would not remember.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

How correctly? Forgive me, Lord Omega, but I know a thing or two about minds that meet and the conditions they come out in.

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

The only faulty memories are his most recent ones.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

I don't remember learning that this sort of thing was your forte. Are you so sure there hasn't been any bleed?

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

The TARDIS prevented any mental bleed-through after the transference.

[...which is not true at all, but like hell he'd tell the Master that.]

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

Which TARDIS?

[the Master reaches out to snatch the baby TARDIS from Omega's arms and disappear back to his reality. CAN HE MAKE IT? FIND OUT NEXT TAG, ON---THE YOUNG AND THE RPING!!!]

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

Vidor--

[stops short, startled, when the Master makes a grab for the TARDIS and instinctively reaches to snag the Master before he drops from the Plane.]

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

[that drags them back into their home realities which, for the Master, happens to be just outside the TARDIS.]

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

[and for Omega? he's back in Ertikus's TARDIS, in a disused lab deep in the machine. and he's surprised to see (or be able to see) the Master at all -- he's not surprised enough, however, to forget that he's trying to steal Omega's TARDIS.]

Return her, now.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

[points his screwdriver at the Master]

I don't think so, but you're welcome to try. I've never killed a Time Lord Founder before. I wonder if you can regenerate in that body?

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

[crosses his arms] You won't be able to shape her. Without the Eye of Harmony, you don't have the raw power necessary for her construction.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

I'll manage.

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

Will you indeed? She is already bonded to me-- [mostly...] she will not obey you. And she will not replace the TARDIS you lost.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

Who said anything about a lost TARDIS? [canon hasn't confirmed that yet!]

[the Master holds the baby TARDIS closer] But I think I'll be able to cope.

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

Then why do you require another?

[now he's frustrated -- he could start over with a new infant TARDIS, but Omega's possessive over his machines.]

Give her back to me and I can provide you with your own.

[savagestime.livejournal.com]

Why am I not inspired to trust you?

[cosmic-engineer.livejournal.com]

Because you are a mad renegade? Regardless, I am in my laboratory, and I do have access to unaltered TARDIS coral. [every good scientist has backups, of course]