It's A Thankless Job

Hours ago, Romana was going over yet another draft of the Time Lord/Sontaran peace treaty. The over two thousand page document only difference was the matter about how many troops was needed. One passage was edited, one. Yet the messenger failed to tell her what page the newly edited piece was on! She spent wasted time looking for it when it could have been given to her. Just one passage, printed on a single page of paper. That’s all she asked.

One minute before Romana could go and potential make the messenger loose one of his digits, her bodyguard and personal confidant ordered her back. Leela came a long way from being the simple savage who wanted to kill as if basic instincts. She still had that urge (Romana respected it) but Leela had grown in the time spent on Gallifrey. Leela prevented her from going out and introducing the poor Time Lord with her sharp, dagger like words. And her reason…that Romana needed a shower.

A shower! A shower of all things. Leela was concern for her wellbeing, that much was obvious. Romana and Leela grew closer over the decades, finding some common ground after they both been companions of the same Doctor. Yet, having her order the Lady President taking a shower was ridiculous. Until Leela pointed out that Romana smelt like the backside of a Slitheen. Both embarrassed and angry that no one else told her, she finally gave in to Leela’s request.

Romana let out a soft sigh, releasing her stress under the heated spring rain drops of the shower head. The Time Lady smoothed her raven fringe down to the curled ends of her hair with the best shampoo the universe had to offer. The chemicals mingling with herbs would keep her hair perfect and silky to the touch. She would not let her hair become a mess of curls unlike a certain Time Lord.

Turning the knobs off, Romana dressed herself in an emerald green robe, the material clinging to her wet body. She grabbed a bag of her discarded clothing and enter her bedroom, hoping to change into a new set of clothes and get Leela off her back.

The sandy hair stopped her in her tracks. The man’s back was to her, his attention focus on the pillar in the middle of her room. Before her mind told her to use the skills that Leela trained her and take down this new found intruder, her lips began to move on their own.

“What the bloody hell are you doing in my bed chambers?” Cursing like a common European came out like second nature. She cursed at herself; she had spent too much time with those pesky humans.

Romana had to struggle to hold in the gasp of fright as the man turned and she was face with the Time Lord that she had the misfortune to meet. His devilish smirk pried the shallow breath from her lungs outline but a neatly trimmed beard. The Master was standing there, in the middle of her personal sanctuary, holding that piece of silk in his fingers.

“Hello, Mistress President.”

His words made a cold shiver run down fast down her spine. Not even the Daleks drew out this kind of fear from her. Yet, this Time Lord, this renegade to her own Chapter could bring such terror. Why? Romana read enough about him (courtesy of the files stored away in the Academy) to know his motives. The only logical reason why this monster personified was her death. No doubt his fingers around her neck would make him happy for centuries to come. With her death, he could easily claim the title of President. Many had tried before and some had succeeded in past presidency. Even Romana spilled blood. And no one could deny his ownership.

Romana darted to the bedside table, her bare feet mashing into the carpet. A long copper stick was plucked off the dark Victorian table. The sharp coldness of the metal hissed against her newly formed dried fingers. A large orange crystal was dead center on the tip of this stick. Yet, both Time Lords knew that this stick was not something found every day.

The Master left out a tired sigh, despite the fact that the orange crystal emitted sound waves through the room as the crystal top mimic a tiny sun, he didn’t look afraid. “A sonic screwdriver? Really?” he scoff like he should be impressed. “Do you think that a simple sonic could ever hurt-?”

A blast of energy hit the spot centimeters above his feet. The Time Lord jumped back before the blast could damage his polish leather shoes. The scent of burnt fibers filled the room. “It is not a simple sonic screwdriver, Master. I’m not like the Doctor; if I intend to kill,” Romana raised up the device up to where his hearts laid, “I will kill.”

A low chuckle escaped his throat, “The female counterpart of the Doctor has claws. I don’t know if I should be scared or impressed.”

Romana crossed the room in seconds, the hot crystal digging into the Master’s black button down shirt. Like Death, he came into her personal space wearing night on his back. Green eyes turned into melted quicksilver, burning their way through the Master’s skull. She saw the faint shiver rattling his body. It felt good having fear in his body for once. “I will not let the likes of you,” she spat out, spittle flying against his thin beard, “murder me just so you can be President.”

At this, a flash of hurt crossed his face for a second. “Murder you? Why would I murder you? Plus, the office of President of Gallifrey is boring. Besides,” his hand pushed down the sonic away from the flesh and bone covering his hearts. “I would rather be the King of Gallifrey. Well, any title that has me bringing you to your knees. You would look so grand with a leash around that neck of yours.”

His words made her reel back, he could have just spat acid into her eyes and the effect would not match the feeling of disgust and dread that enter her body. “You, you are disgusting and pitiful.” With a turn on her feet, she moved towards the button that would soon summon the guards. Hopefully weeks spent in a cell might dampen his nature.

“That’s not what you thought what I had you clenching thighs around my hips, just moaning for more.”

Those words stopped her in her tracks, her fingers hovering over the button on her bedpost. She had no idea if she had spun but she was soon facing the Master. “What….what did you just say?” her voice low and on the edge of an outburst or shock state.

The Master at last moved toward her, his tall frame out shadowing her lithe form. She could almost feel the heat radiating off his flesh. A sharp scent of copper crackled with the smell of a harsh lighting storm filled her nose and embedded into her memory. The underlay citrus smell of lemons surprised her as it nestled into her left heart. A loud bang echo into her ear as his hand collided with the wall above her head. His fingers cupped the button that would alert the guards and Leela of the danger of her safety.

His eyes were dark, like looking at wet coal in the vacuum of the void. The Master, at this moment, looked like those stories of him being the Champion of Death herself, ready to kill yet guide people onto the next empty world like an old friend. “I thought you would have remembered our little time in the pleasant arena of my own personal cell. You did bestow on me a great honor; it isn’t every day that the Lady President goes to punish stray soldiers,”

Her back pressed against the wall, holding her head up high, she looked square dead in his eyes. “I have no idea what you are on about, Master,” it was a lie and both of them knew it. Both of them had been plagued with the events that occurred in that tiny cell. Yet, Romana would not give in and let him win.

A chuckle, filled with each niche of sound and echo of pure evil and wickedness washed over her. “The Doctor never trained you to lie very well did he? Probably didn’t train you be a good lover either,”

If there was anyone else on the receiving end of her glare, they would have died ten times by now. The Master wasn’t too insane to die or be any remotely hurt by her eyes. Romana pressed the crystal against his throat, wishing at this point that her screwdriver’s crystal was sharp enough to cut. Her fingers dusted over the button when the Master plucked the sonic screwdriver from her hand.

He rolled it in his fingers, even though his eyes were on the device Romana still felt his gaze on her. “Impressive sonic screwdriver, Romanadvoratrelundar, very finely made,” under his level voice, Romana could detect sprinkles of sarcasm, “Though, I doubt the Doctor would approve of you using weapons.”

“What the Doctor does not know won’t hurt him. Besides, I have to protect myself.”

“You always seem to have an answer to everything, don’t you Romana?”

The Master chucked the sonic screwdriver to the floor. Romana only broke her current staring contest with the master to see it roll under her large canopy bed. Thick fingers grabbed hold of her chin, forcing her face to stare back at the insane Time Lord. He was angry that she wasn’t keeping her attention solely on him. “But can you answer this question; why would I come into your bed chambers? I don’t plan on killing you, at least this evening.”

Romana hadn’t a clue as to why the Master chose today to see her. He wasn’t going to kill her; at least he had some spark of truth in his eyes when he said that. “To be honestly, I don’t know why the fuck you are here, Master.”Romana slipped the human adapted curse word with anger through her lips.

“That.”

“That?”

His dark orbs rolled like the planet under their feet in the space of his face. The Master looked at her like she was an idiot, a simple idiotic human female. “One trait of yours that,” his hand circled around her throat, bringing about a gasp of fear and surprise. “I find both annoying and in kind of cute in a strange way. You just don’t know what is in front of you until it is too late.”

Romana’s throat bubbled as they wheezed out air against the Master’s rough hands, trying to gain control of her lungs. She could feel his rough callous against her shower fresh skin. Fingers tight around her neck increase in strength as her fingers crawled at his arm, trying to break free. Air became a rare luxury as Romana’s eyes soon were bordered by black until it engulfed her. Before darkness over took her body, Romana felt her body slip down the wall and strong arms wrapping their limbs around her body. Then her mind enter a state of nothingness.