2012, Dec 21- Signal To Noise [Vax & Envi]

[The Master]

Time bears scars.

Throughout the cosmos, from the dawn of time to the final dying glimmer of the last star; from Planet One to the farthest corners of the universe, wounds in time itself have left their mark.

One such scar was on Earth. Invisible to human senses, but perhaps perceptible to observant time-sensitives, a mark had been left; hanging in the fabric of reality itself, it was all that remained to show where the time vortex had once been ripped apart, the Time Lock broken to allow the turbulent maelstrom of the Last Great Time War to ripple through the causal nexus. It was almost all that remained of one man who, with so little left to lose, had flung himself into the receding Time Lock, only to have it close over him.

Almost...but for not the first time in his life, Fate had allowed the Master another roll of the dice.

After the events of Christmas 2009, with the arrest of Joshua and Abigail Naismith, the Naismith mansion had passed to the Crown. The estate was eventually opened to the public, and tourists wandered through the sumptuous rooms and spacious grounds, marvelling at the wealth and splendour that could come to a self-made businessman in modern England. The main hall, epicentre of that day, had been sealed off. Yellow tape covered the doors and windows, and the words "pending investigation" covered the paperwork and eyes of anyone who might come asking - no-one seemed too sure what had happened to Torchwood, and as far as UNIT were concerned, there was no longer a threat.

The long years of disuse had taken their toll on the once-magnificent hall. Dust covered the floor and surfaces in a thick, grey blanket; spiderwebs draped the desks and chairs along the walls and hung from the chandeliers in fluttering veils; and a slowly-spreading patch of mould was creeping out across the marble floor below the old tarpaulin which had been used to cover the hole in the domed glass roof but had long since frayed.

The ruins of the Immortality Gate still stood, too – and although its power source had burned out years before, the alien technology had not been idle. The powerful magnets in the arches maintained a weak electrical field by their opposition, concentrated over the scar in time. It had taken a long time, but gradually, atom-by-atom, a form was being rebuilt, healed from scratch. Little more than a shadow at first, it had grown more and more solid as the slow days passed. For a time, its fate had hung precariously by a thread – the slightest puff of wind could have scattered the delicately-assembled particles like a husk of ash and it would have been lost; but undisturbed in the still, silent hall, the residual traces of the regenerative properties of the Gate were left to do their work.

At long last, nearly three years after it had begun, a crucial tipping point was reached, and like a spark catching on dry timber, the form was complete enough to house the glimmer of life that had been caught somewhere between the time vortex and reality, pinned in place by that footprint in time. A dim, blueish glow of life energy trickled through the still not-quite-solid flesh, bones visible faintly through pallid skin. A finger twitched, eyelids trembled. Cold lips parted, sucking in a shallow breath of the icy, damp air.

And then, with a single psychic scream of agony and rage and terror, a cry that rang out through the time vortex itself, the figure once again fell silent and so still.

[Envi]

i took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind
i left my body lying somewhere in the sands of time
i watched the world float to the dark side of the moon
and i feel like there is nothing i can do
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(Started here)

Clinging to the chair, the tardis bumped and gyrated through the vortex, almost like there was a disturbance somewhere nearby. Envi closed her eyes as she could hear the creeks in her tardis. Fear filled her since she wasn't sure her tardis could hold the strain and the continuous bumps and shakes tossing every loose piece in the tardis around like a rag doll. Crashes and bangs filled the air while the tardis screeched rather loudly and she couldn't help but think that high pitched squeal was killing Vax's ears. Least, that is what she believed since he was a fox. Everything stopped with a heavy thud and the tardis seemed to just flat out go dead as the lights went out instantly. "Wonderful, we wonder where we dragged us now," she muttered as she moved towards the door and attempted to pry it open, only to find it was the wrong door, "Garh! Start trying the doors, it seems our home switched the exit," she ordered Vax while she began to scamper around and pry at the doorknobs. She kept up with this until one moved and the door opened. At that point, she quite literally fell out of the tardis and onto the floor of a dingy building.

With her face meeting the building floor, she rolled onto her back, ignoring the blood dripping from her nose and stared up at the tardis that was stuck in the ceiling, "Be careful getting out, seems our home decided to get stuck," she shouted up to Vax. It was at that point she noticed someone else in the room with her and she slowly stood up. Moving out of the way of the door, she lingered to the wall and stared at the figure in the room with her. She could also see something else behind him, something that looked like a crack in a wall, but small and was a faint blue rather than just a normal crack. Focusing her eyes on the figure though, she noticed who it was and a small smile crossed her lips, "Aw, the pretty panther is back from his rest. Was your vacation good?"

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364 < words
Master & Vax < who
3 doors down < lyrics
hans < credit

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[Vax'teirlen]

Not five seconds after vax had finished his payment for the time lady, she had walked up to the device, inspected it, then shot a hole in it. This brought the tod's jaw to the floor. Even as she spoke to him nothing really registered until a sudden jar threw him across the room and the world became real again. Envi's order to grab something bolted down rang through his ears almost too real. He scrambled across the floor reaching for something but just missing as the whole room seemed to shift and send him sliding on a different path. The best description to this madness could be siting inside a popcorn machine. A sudden screech of metal tearing sent vax's head to the floor and his hands over his ears. It felt like someone was pulling teeth while simultaneously poking needles in his eardrums. Then with a thump it all grew silent.

The fox watched as Envi tried to open the door only to find it wouldn't budge. With a quick command Vax was made aware that there were multiple doors that all looked the same on the walls of the tardis. By the looks of things though it appeared only one would open. This seem quite outlandish to Vax'teirlen as he watched the woman try all the doors before finding one that opened. He was shocked to find that she seemed to disappear as soon as she stepped out. Though he soon had the answer as to why when Envi yelled her warning to the fox. He carefully stood up and walked to the door and leaped out. He landed on his paws with a mild thud and began to look around.

At first all seemed normal. Then he saw him, The Master. Why was he here? Did Envi's TARDIS bring them there for vax to have his revenge or was it all an accident that never should've happened. All the askings of why aside, Vax was scared out of his pelt. Everything seemed dangerous as he looked around for a weapon. There it was! Envi's gun. Vax dove for it rolled upright and ran right at The Master. He pressed the gun to his temple and screamed, "GIMME A REASON WHY I SHOULDN'T BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT YOU SCUM!" His words stinging like acid as he looked at the man with hate.

[The Master]

Consciousness had returned almost painfully slowly. Little by little, the Master had become aware of the world creeping back into his senses - he could feel the hard ground beneath him, ice-cold even through the familiar-feeling clothes that covered his body - his body which felt strangely light and insubstantial. He couldn't have told how much time had passed before he found himself able to move again - his temporal senses were a blur, his whole mind numb but for the insistent pounding that reached his ears.

One two three four...one two three four...

Recollection fought to push its way through the fog in his head, but he shoved it back as if slamming a mental door in its face. He was alive, but only just - and that was all that was important. Somehow - he wasn't entirely sure how yet, but he would find out soon enough, and the information would no doubt prove useful - somehow he had yet again triumphed over Death itself. A glimmer of pride swelled in his chest and he drew on it to dredge up from within his aching body enough strength to push himself upright.

Leaning back against the smooth, sloping walls of the Immortality Gate, he drew his knees up to his chest and rested his head back, trying to catch his breath. Mere moments later, though, his eyes snapped open at a chillingly familiar sound. A wheezing groan rose and fell, echoing eerily through the deserted hall - unmistakeably the sound of a TARDIS, and therefore heralding the arrival of the only TARDIS in existence: the Doctor's. The thought occurred to him that he couldn't let his old nemesis see him like this, and he made to rise, but his head swam and he slumped back against the wall.

What happened next had him wondering if perhaps he had even awoken at all. Something crunched high above him - through the gloom, he could just make out a shape apparently lodged in the ceiling itself - and then two figures dropped from it. One spoke - a female voice ("pretty panther?!"), and he had had only just enough time to register that it definitely wasn't the Doctor before the second figure rushed at him and he felt the cold metal of the barrel of a gun pressed to his throbbing head and a screaming voice in his ear. The face resolved itself into the sharp, angular features of what could have been a fox - Fenn-something he thought it might have been.

Oh, that's just not fair! he thought with some indignation even as his hearts accelerated. He recognized the deadly seriousness behind the old fox's eyes and knew without a doubt that he was literally a trigger's pull away from returning to the void of death that he had only just emerged from; but even while fear stabbed through him, he refused to let it show on his face, and his mouth curved into a wry smile.

"Must be old age catching up with me," he muttered. "I don't believe we've met."

[Envi]

i took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind
i left my body lying somewhere in the sands of time
i watched the world float to the dark side of the moon
and i feel like there is nothing i can do
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It was in the moment of Vax holding her gun up to Master's head that she began to notice something. Her head tilted to the side as she stared at Vax, clearly unphased by the fact he had her gun or was even holding it against the Master's head. A soft chuckle pushed by her lips as she walked up to the pair. Seeing the very intensity in Vax's eyes was just amusing as she poked his nose randomly before turning her attention to the Master. "Your mind is correct in assuming you do not know us, don't know about our furry friend, but we have not had the privilege of greeting the mighty panther in person. We mostly know of your reputation. And don't mind the fur, he couldn't damage a hair," she informed the Master with a bright smile. Her ghost rolled his eyes as he leaned against a wall watching, 'Really, this is how we are gonna play this meeting. Wonderful idea, witch,' he grumbled. Glaring over at her ghost, she hissed, "Shut it," then her attention shifted back to Vax, "And what did we tell you about touching things that don't belong to you?" she queried with a bit of a sneer forming. Though, it faded quickly when she moved her foot to kick Vax in the shin in order to prove her point she was 'dangerous'.

Diverting her gaze to the Master, she smiled, "So, so. How was death? We have only honestly died once, but that was suicide and brief before regeneration, but you, dear panther, truly didn't exist and we desire to know how that felt. 'Course, we would never wish for it to happen to us, or even the panther a second time. It was quite unfortunate that it happened to you in the start, but you did deserve a punishment for bringing back that awful hell. No one needs to relive that nightmare," she rambled, shuddering at her own memories of Gallifrey. Course, she was fully aware that if she was actually around when those events went down, she probably would have shot the Master in the head just for thinking about bringing back Gallifrey. She hated that place and if it was brought back, she feared they would come for her and easily kill her. Another shudder ran through her body before she glanced at her ghost. "What? Is there a problem we have not noticed or are you just antsy to do something," she began to speak to herself, "No, you are just being difficult and we do not want to hear anymore of it." Her tone seemed quite strict, and she also seemed very upset as her attention shifted back to Vax, "Give us our gun or else, fur bag," she hissed the order out without any regard of Vax's personal feelings. Instead, she just barked the order and held her hand out, awaiting for her pistol to be placed there by the fox.

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505 < words
name < who
3 doors down < lyrics
hans < credit

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