Starcrossed (A Doctor Who Fanfiction) Book Two

The Vault and Escape

Despite knowing in general where the vault was it took the Master and Beatrice about thirty minutes to make their way down to the vault. The Master continued to check his watch. It wouldn't do to lose track of time and get blown up by that supernova.

That was NOT the way he planned on dying, if at all. And he definitely wasn't going to let Beatrice get killed if he could help it.

He cast a glance over at her. She really did look beautiful in that dress. The Master was glad that they had finally confessed their feelings for each other. At least any of the awkward tension between them was gone.

At last, they reached a hallway, at the end of which was a huge vault. Two men stood guarding it. The most notable thing about them was that their swords crackled with electricity. One-touch from those things and you were dead.

They hid around a corner and Beatrice turned to look at him.

"Okay two guards, what do we do?" she asked in a whisper. The Master pulled out his tissue compression eliminator. Stepping out from behind the corner he fired two shots. Immediately the two guards were shrunk to the size of dolls. Their weapons clattered to the floor.

Beatrice also stepped out from around the corner and hurried towards them. Kneeling down she examined their shrunken forms.

"So that's what you meant when you threatened to turn me into a doll back during the Keller fiasco," she said. The Master saw pity for the guards on her face.

"Yes, although in your case I admit I wouldn't have been able to follow through on that threat," he said. Even back then, before he had acknowledged or even realized his true feelings for the Beatrice he would never have been able to bring himself to end her life.

"Did you have to kill them?" she asked with a resigned sigh as she stood up.

"My dear, those swords would kill you with one touch and I couldn't hypnotise them both at once. Besides these people will be dead in just under an hour. It's not like they had much longer to live anyway," he pointed out.

"I know but I'm still not overly comfortable with murder," she replied softly. The Master simply moved to the door and inserted the key. There was a series of complicated clicking noises and the large door swung open.

"Couldn't I have just picked that?" asked Beatrice in surprise.

"Not without setting off an alarm," said the Master with a shake of his head as they stepped inside.

Inside was a rather ornate room filled with glass cases containing various pieces of technology and rare artefacts.

"If they have technology like this and those electric swords not to mention the capability to get off of the planet why are they still in medieval times and why haven't they detected the supernova?" asked Beatrice curiously as they began searching for the flight circuit.

"Their aesthetic is very medieval yet, as you pointed out they have some rather advanced technology. However, their levels of success with it vary as some of the things here they don't understand. Much like how you humans rarely understand the alien machinery you come across."

"I would be insulted but you admittedly have a point. We humans can really screw up when we try and jump too far ahead in technology. I swear we cause so much chaos on our own we don't need you to invade and add to it."

"You can be a slightly self-destructive species, yet somehow, you continuously manage to survive," commented the Master still very aware of the quickly passing time.

"True enough. Is this it?" Beatrice asked pointing to something in a nearby case that indeed turned out to be the flight circuit. The Master took out a sonic device and pressing a series of buttons, let out a high frequency that caused the glass case containing the flight circuit to shatter. He took the circuit and placed it in his pocket.

"Yes, thank you. Now I suggest that we leave," the Master tried to use his TARDIS recall button to bring the TARDIS into the room but it wouldn't materialize.

"What's wrong?" asked Beatrice in a concerned tone.

"It seems the recall button is dying. It doesn't have enough energy to summon the TARDIS from this distance," explained the Master.

"What do we do then?"

"I believe if we can get outside the castle walls then the signal would be able to reach it."

"We're extremely far away from the door. Maybe the north ramparts? That's five floors up, but I think it's the fastest way outside," suggested Beatrice.

"An excellent idea my dear." Quickly they made their way out of the vault and hurried up the stairs. The Master thanked Gallifrey that he had an eidetic memory and could recall the layout of the castle. 

Unfortunately, the large number of stairs was slowing their progress considerably. It seemed to take forever to get up them. Not to mention Beatrice's long dress wasn't exactly idle running material.

They managed to get up one level before they ran into trouble. Just as they reached the level the banquet hall was on there was a shout behind them.

"It appeared the king had been found and freed. He certainly didn't look happy.

"That's them!" he yelled.

"Run!" the Master told Beatrice and they broke into a sprint. The Master could hear the guards being gathered behind them but didn't take the time to look back.

As they raced up the next set of steps Beatrice tripped. Fortunately, he managed to catch and steady her.

"Thanks," she gasped they continued running. They made it to the ramparts and the Master glanced at his watch. They had 11 minutes until the supernova. He quickly began fiddling with the recall button trying to boost the signal. 

By now several of the guards and the king had made it up to the ramparts. Beatrice moved closer to the edge and held out the key over the edge. Clever girl, he thought

"One more step and I drop the key into the moat,"  he heard her tell them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the men freeze.

"Lady Jane. What a surprise. By all means, drop it. We'll simply fish it out." The King's voice held a hint of uncertainty. 

"Not if one of those creatures swimming in the moat gets it first," replied Beatrice.

"You know I'm afraid you charm is waning," said the King angrily. 

"I'm sorry to hear that," Beatrice told him rather cheekily. Just then the Master finally got the remote working and the TARDIS materialized. He unlocked the door and Beatrice threw the key at the king as the two of them hurried inside. He quickly set the coordinates to escape and moments later, they were gone.

Author's Note: Here's chapter three! Please like and comment. I'd like to know how readers think I am doing. The pictures are of a castle in Italy and the Green Gallery in Dresden. I also don't own Avalon which is actually an obscure planet mentioned back in Classic Who. Also, the picture from the last chapter is actually a historically accurate dress made by the amazing Bernadette Banner. Thanks for reading! Until next time Whovians!