The Master's Game (Doctor Who)

A game of life and death

"This might have been the day I met the most dangerous man in the universe.
My life would never be the same"

For days the Doctor had been acting strange, fidgeting way more than usually, constantly checking things on the console's monitor and jumping from one place to the next, only to step out for a few moments and then return without having done anything.

Roka wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Since he had lost Donna and had left Rose with his double, the Doctor hadn't been the same for a good while. So this change of demeanor was surprising, but also gave Roka some hope that he would soon return to his old self. She couldn't stand seeing him so depressed, especially not since she couldn't do much against it.

The young woman was rather unsuspicious. Short in size and lanky, the short blond hair of her pixie cut falling into her eyes. She wore ordinary jeans and a t-shirt above a plaid shirt. Comfy. Just the way she liked it. No one but herself could see it anyway.

Right now she sat on the jump seat, a book in hands, and observed the Doctor silently, as usual. He couldn't see her anyway at the moment and she wasn't in the mood to remind him of her presence.

It was the fourth time this day - for whatever reason she still counted them - that the Doctor landed the TARDIS and stepped outside. This time Roka followed him, more out of boredom than anything else. She had spent the last days in the library, as she often did, and now needed to stretch her limbs a bit.

Surprised she saw the Doctor pointing his Sonic at the blue box, making it vanish. Did he expect danger? She looked around the place. There was nothing special around. They were somewhere between some factory buildings and definitely near the sea, because she could hear waves nearby. Staying close to the Doctor she followed him down a road and saw him peaking inside a few narrow alleys, always shaking his head afterwards and sometimes mumbling something to himself.

It was so peculiar that Roka didn't pay much attention to their surrounding, and when she turned around once, she almost let out a shriek of surprise, coming face to face with an armed soldier all of a sudden.

Even with her glitch, it was a menacing situation. The guy would not notice her on his own, but bumping into him would definitely give her presence away. Carefully Roka slipped out of the way and watched the Doctor, who had also noticed the soldier and was now striding over to him with wide steps and a confident smile on his face.

The soldier, though, only raised his hand, waving someone over and shortly after the sound of many pairs of combat boots followed.

"Hey!" The Doctor waved, pulling his psychic paper out of his pocket. "I'm allowed to be here, see?"

A rough dozen soldiers had gathered meanwhile, but it wasn't them who let the Doctor's smile fall in an instant. It was the man who followed closely behind, a bit smaller than the Doctor, with slightly tousled bright blond hair and wearing mostly black, except a red shirt that was lurking out beneath his hoodie.

The Doctor's face turned white and alternated between worried and surprised and... relieved?

"You were dead... I burned your body," he said in an almost apologizing tone, while fixating the man's every movement.

The other one looked up and wore a wide grin on his face. "No, you lit the fire and walked away. I just rolled over." He stuck out his tongue. "I really tricked you there, eh?"

"No, you didn't. I checked. You were dead!"

"Well... maybe I finally found a way to come back..." He leaned towards the Doctor and poked his chest. "As often. As. I. Want." Taking a step back he took a strand of his hair. "Well... the color got messed up though. I don't like blond..."