Chapter 16, Prelate
“Oi, Mickey. Welcome to Zero Headquarters, our only home and base of operations. Don’t mind the clutter, we’ve been tracking down the Master and his so-called army. Airi! Leon! We’re back.” Walking into the center of the base, both Mickey and Ricky were greeted by Airi and Leon. “Welcome back, Captain. And Mickey…whoa, since when were there two of you?” Ricky explained that Mickey was the parallel version of himself. “He came from the Prime Earth while I came from Pete’s World.” Leon saluted Mickey, but he told him not to. “Please don’t salute. Where I come from, I’m just Mickey Smith. Not too special, I’m afraid. Ricky, on the other hand, is. You’re lucky to have him. Anyway, why am I here?” Taking a seat, Airi began to explain why Mickey was there. “As you are well aware, the Master has returned. He was freed by Davros before his demise. On his death bed, he told the Master to take his place once he died; To control the Daleks, prelates, Cybermen, every enemy that the Doctor has faced. However, since the Master created the Zero Universe, he has the power to recreate every single thing in this Universe. And he has started. We have lost five of our best units because of him, now they are lifeless victims. And, you’re friends are in serious danger, including the Doctors. Your friends, Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones are lucky to be alive.”
Mickey asked Ricky about his units, “What did the Master do to them? Airi said that they were lifeless victims…” The upbringing of his units caused Ricky to become enraged. “That son of a bitch stole their cores to create his prelate warriors.” Airi continued on for him, “Cores are concentrated life forces. I had mine removed by the Master in order to create a prelate of me, but somehow, I wasn’t turned into a lifeless victim. Same with Leon. It’s sickening, especially for Ricky. Among one of his units who fell victim to the Master was his best friend, Jake.” Mickey’s eyes grew wide, “No…not Jake. Damn it. Is there any way to restore them? How…how could you guys deal with all of this?” Leon told Mickey that he didn’t know the half of it. “It’s difficult to see our comrades, our friends, all lifeless. It’s even worse fighting them. No matter what we do, the Master just reuses them. What we want is to get them back.”
“Well, you’ve come to the right person. Join us. We want to bring the Master down as much as you d-“ All of a sudden, there was another earthquake and Leon alerted the group that they needed to get out of there. “Zero Headquarters is caving in, come on.” However, Ricky stayed behind. “Ricky, come on! You’ll be crushed by the collapse of headquarters!” Chuckling, Ricky told Airi that his soul was about to move on. “I can’t stay like this forever, Airi. You will be safer with the Doctors, I promise.” Sniffling, Airi asked Ricky about the fate of the Zero Universe but Mickey grabbed Airi and ran out of HQ before it collapsed on them. “Come on, we need to get out of here. Open the portal!” While Airi and Leon opened the portal, Team TARDIS were taking heavy fire by the prelates. “Damn it, how many of these replicas are there? It’s like they’re multiplying. First there were only five and now there’s twenty something….how is this possible?” The Tenth Doctor replied that it wasn’t possible. “In fact, these replicas are made out of…..”
“Essences. The life force that keeps us alive….”
