The Last Great Time War: part III

Out of the frying pan

The Eye was looming closer. One more moment and the Renegade would become one with it, part of the power that would destroy his own people and everything else.
Just as he was about to cross the point of no return, he felt something grabbing his hand and pulling him out. He remembered that he had hands, and that he had a physical form at all.
But as the Renegade started to break free, he felt the Eye of Discord pulling back. It was not going to give him up without a fight. The pull intensified, and he felt himself slipping out of the hand that had grabbed him. With all his willpower and strength, he reached out with his other hand and grabbed the outside edge of the crystal, hanging on for dear life. At last, with the help of whoever had grabbed him, he was able to pull himself completely out.

The Renegade looked around and saw that what he had been pulled out of was not the crystal at all, but someplace entirely different. He was not in the bubble universe where the Eye of Discord was contained but in the main engine room of a Dalek command station. He had been pulled out of of the primary feed from the Eye, which had sealed itself behind him.

The inside of the room was covered with dents and blast marks, and littered with debris and the remains of over a hundred Daleks and Time Lords.
About a dozen Time Lords were still alive, at least one of whom the Renegade really wished wasn't.

"Well well well," said the man. "Look who fell into into the power of the enemy. Quite literally."

"What are you doing here, Morbius?"

"I was sent with this team of Temporal Engineers," Morbius said, gesturing to the group of Time Lords around them, "to capture this station and gather intelligence on the Eye of Discord. Find a pathway to it, if possible. But look what we found within the Eye's network! It was no easy task to manipulate the feed so we could extract you, but Rassilon will reward me greatly for it!

"By 'reward you greatly,' you mean that you may have earned a short period of him not wanting to execute you if you fail him."

"Rassilon would never betray me! Now silence yourself and throw down your weapons this instant!"

"And if I don't? You can't kill me. If Rassilon can't have my secrets then he'll settle for your head. And don't you think that he won't! In Rassilon's mind, anyone who fails him is expendable. Even you."

In his rage, Morbius failed to notice that the Renegade had his hand in his pocket and was typing a message on his communicator.

Morbius pulled out a long Dalekanium dagger that was gleaming with agony serum and gestured to the other Time Lords, who raised their guns.

"I'm not going to kill you completely, but I'll still take away a few regenerations and make the process most unpleasant!"

"Sounds wonderful," the Renegade said as he sent the message. "Maybe I'll try it sometime, but not today."

Morbius roared and charged the Renegade with his knife held out. The Renegade sidestepped him and tripped him.
"You will not escape this time," Morbius shouted as he got up and lunged again. The Renegade grabbed Morbius's wrists as he tried to bring his knife down on him. "Once I bring you back to Gallifrey, you will be brought to justice and I will gain immense power," said Morbius as he and the Renegade struggled to break each other's grip.
"Rassilon will trust me more than anyone else!"

"Rassilon does not truly trust anyone," said the Renegade as the sparring match continued. He broke free and ducked away as the dagger came swooshing through the air above him.
"Especially not someone as power hungry as you. He's just using you to win his battles. If he wins the War he'll have you disposed of in an instant."

"LIAR! I am ten times the general you ever were! I drove the Daleks and the Skaro Degradations out of the Interaphus Galaxy! I stopped the Nightmare Child from breaching the Cruciform! I have Rassilon's full confidence!"

Morbius charged the again, livid with rage. Taking advantage of his poor form, the Renegade grabbed his arm and flipped him over his back. The dagger went spinning across the floor. Before Morbius could get up, the Renegade pinned him down and knocked him unconscious.
The Time Lords aimed their guns, but didn't shoot. They looked unsure. The Renegade decided not to remind him that the guns had a stun setting.

"Don't even think about it," the Renegade said. "With weapons that powerful at this range, there would be no regeneration. Just imagine what would happen to you if you killed either of us."

The Time Lords did not call the Renegade's bluff until is TARDIS started to materialize around him and Morbius. The shots they fired never made it.

The Renegade got up and stretched his aching back. He was worn out. His body still had a lot of strength and another two or three hundred years left in it, but it was still no spring chicken. He needed to be more careful.

"I've missed you, old girl," the Renegade said as he walked to the console and patted it.

"Glad to see you're still in one piece," said Narvin at the controls. "This TARDIS was a real pain in the neck when I first tried to fly her, but as soon as she found out what we were doing, I hardly had to touch a control at all."

The Renegade chuckled. "Tell me about it. And thank you for coming."

"Of course. Just try not to get captured again, we can't afford to lose you."

"I always try not to get captured. I just manage to fail miserably sometimes. But now we have an important captive ourselves."

"You captured Morbius? How?"

"It's a long story, I'll tell you when we've secured him. But I'll guarantee Rassilon will be having have a very bad day."