The Master Calls

Chapter 3

The Master stared at her. For a moment he was at a loss for words. "But why. You're so powerful."

"And I'm tired," she snapped. "I'm tired of watching people I love die. I'm just tired of it all."

He was silent for a bit longer. "Don't lie to me, Rose."

Her head snapped up and she narrowed her eyes. "I'm not lying."

"Yes you are," he said, standing now. "You know perfectly well that the cracks have been sealed. There is no way to get back. We are trapped here. It's not him you want to kill you. It's me. Your eyes lit up when you found out I'm a Time Lord. You knew I was the only one smart enough in this universe to find a way."

She looked down at her plate and pushed it away, having lost her appetite. She crossed her arms stubbornly across her chest and refused to look at him.

Then it hit him. "You still love him."

"Don't be daft. I told you, I don't love him anymore."

"Maybe not with the fire that you once did, but deep down, you still love him."

She laughed, but it sounded bitter and hard. "And you're an expert on love, are you?"

He snorted. "On the contrary, I avoid all that mushy stuff."

"Good, so you won't mind trying to find a way to get rid of Bad Wolf then?"

"But why? Why wold you want to get rid of something that makes you so powerful. I would destroy whole civilizations to have some of that."

"I told you, it's a curse."

"What's in it for me?" he asked after a pause.

"You'll have access to all Torchwood technology. We get loads of equipment and weapons and you could use it."

"To kill you or get back into the Prime Universe?"

"Your choice. I don't care either way. But there is a catch," she stated.

He narrowed his eyes. "Go on."

"In order to have that access, you will have to be employed by Torchwood. Your job would be identifying and cataloguing all alien stuff. And you'd get paid for it."

"And you know for sure that the boss would hire me?"

She grinned wickedly. "Oh, I know for a fact the boss will hire you."

"And how can you be so sure?"

"Because you're looking at her."

He burst out laughing. "Oh, you are a cunning one, Miss Tyler. Remind me to keep an eye on you. So this was your game plan all along. Trying to get me to work for you."

"No. I'm dead serious. I want you to do this for me."

"And if I succeed, then what?"

She shrugged and swallowed her drink down and stood. "Take over the world. Won't be my problem anymore and I'm at the stage where I really don't care." She walked out the room and called over her shoulder. "You'll have to sleep on the couch. Haven't had time to buy a bed for the spare room. Blankets are in a closet somewhere."

He groaned but remained seated. His fingers continued drumming against the wood of the table. He pushed his food away, having lost his appetite. Was this really what Rose Tyler had become? A cold-hearted bitch, so jaded with life that she had stopped caring a long time ago? Something just didn't add up, he could feel it deep down. And he considered himself an exceptionally intelligent man. He would figure it out.

He stood and threw away the leftover pizzas and placed the tumblers in the sink. He found one blanket in the hallway closet and no pillow to speak of. The couch didn't even have one of those small throw pillows that he could have used.

He lay down and tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. And then he thought long and hard.