taxonomites | 2 [Accidental Visual | Location: Mount Perdition]

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2 [Accidental Visual | Location: Mount Perdition]

[ooc: Backdated to be after this, feel free to ask the Doctor wtf he is doing or poke/laugh at/check on the Master.]

When the tablet flickered on it was obvious that something was amiss. The Doctor and the Master were both in the frame, though the tablet itself seemed to be in the hands of a third, unseen person who hadn’t realised it was active, as there was quite a bit of floor in the shot as well. Both Time Lords were close together, their foreheads touching, and it was apparent that the Doctor had been part of the way through saying something when the tablet was activated.

“—sorry.”

Then the Master screamed like someone in agony, reeling back from the Doctor like he’d been burned, arms flailing wildly as though he was trying to fend off an invisible attack. The building they were in shuddered and whoever was holding the tablet dropped it, throwing the image into a disarray of walls, floor, and ceiling before it stopped, showing the Doctor. He rose slowly, his face an almost cold and distant mask as the Master continued to sob and scream, shouting the word ‘no’ more than once among the other sounds of his distress.

The room shuddered again and the Doctor was moving, picking up the tablet – his hand filling the screen for a moment – and running from the room, leaving the Master behind. Though the screams could still be heard as he raced through the building, the tablet broadcasting a confusing jumble of running feet, half-seen glimpses of ornate furniture and architecture, and the Doctor’s face.

It was difficult to tell, but there was something else strange in the way the building shook, doors banging open and closed like the place was home to a very upset poltergeist , and at least once the Doctor ducked as an unseen object flew across the room towards him.

A shot of a door loomed out of nowhere and there was a bang as he burst through it, yelping in pain as a flying object caught the side of his head. The sound of the Master’s tortured yelling finally stopping as the gloom of the building gave way to too-bright sunlight. The Doctor must have tripped then, as the sky suddenly became red grass, then sky, then grass, over and over as he rolled a distance and finally stopped, the tablet showing his slightly-bruised profile as he lay sprawled on his back staring at the sky and breathing hard.

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Martha was a doctor and, although the Doctor’s wounds were unpleasant, she’d seen a lot worse during her career. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that this was the Doctor. The Doctor, who she trusted and respected and would always, to some extent or another, love. She’d seen him weak and defeated before, but she’d never had the opportunity to treat the physical wounds that the Master liked inflict. Had he been through this every day on the Valiant? She refused to gasp and she refused to allow her shock to show on her face, but her concern was palpable. It made her feel a little sick.

She’d unpacked the medical kit while he’d been undressing, leaving the equipment she’d need spread out on the coffee table.

“In the bathroom,” she replied, sitting down next to him. “I need to treat your back first. You’re badly burned. Did he use … did he use the screwdriver for this?”

Later, she’d allow the shock to set in. She might even cry. Now, however, she focused on treating her patient.

"Yes," he answered, since there was little point in trying to hide it when the evidence, as it were, was staring her in the face. "It's in the name really, laser screwdriver. I suppose he thought it would be a good reminder of... everything."

Which was probably right, really. Not only for himself either; he didn't imagine Martha would be forgetting all of this and her own past with the Master any time soon. The Doctor was grateful that she was keeping everything carefully professional right now, however, and not asking him too many questions or making any accusations. They'd probably come sooner or later, but for now it was... easier. Martha was concerned, but not so much he felt he had to lie and protect her or lessen the blow. He could relax his guard a little and allow himself to admit that, yes, it hurt quite a lot.

"I want to get a look at it," he insisted, and was surprised at how much strain was in his voice just from that little change. "See what it is."

It was at that point that Jenny came running through the front door of the surgery downstairs, breathless and frustrated.

"Dad?! Martha?!" She'd followed Martha's location dot on the map, changing directions twice as Martha had moved around and eventually -- thankfully -- met up with her father's dot. She'd had to double back to get to the surgery, but both dots were there now, unmoving. Whirling around in a circle, she could see no one, but there were back rooms, and Martha lived upstairs. Worried, she called out again.

"Dad!"

"All right," said Martha, reluctantly. He sounded exhausted, which meant that he needed her attention - her help - whether he wanted it or not. She wasn't going to leave him. "But I'm coming into the bathroom with you."

As she moved to open the bathroom door for him, she heard a very familiar voice coming up the stairs. Usually, she was happy to hear Jenny. But not today and not now. She didn't want to have to lie to her. She wasn't sure she could.

"Jenny?" she called back, then: "Doctor, it's Jenny. She knows we're here. I've got to let her in."

He nodded, fully aware that there wasn't much he could say that could change her mind, and stood up to follow Martha towards the bathroom.

Then Jenny's voice sounded from downstairs.

The Doctor's eyes squeezed shut for a moment. He'd hoped, he really had, that Jenny wouldn't get here for a little while yet. That they'd have time to treat the worst of the damage so that he could pretend he wasn't hurt as badly as he was. But Martha was right that they couldn't not let Jenny in now.

"Alright," he said, then quickly strode back to the couch to retrieve his shirt and ducked into the bathroom. "Let her in. Just... don't worry her too much."

Hearing Martha call her name, Jenny bolted up the stairs to the door to the flat. It was only the faintest voice of polite reason that kept her from swinging open the door herself. She knocked quickly instead, practically vibrating with anxiousness.

"Martha? Is dad in there with you?" She couldn't help but worry. Something was obviously very wrong, and she had no idea what it was. She wanted to know what was going on almost as badly as she wanted to know that her father was alright.

"Don't put your shirt back on," she said, in her most authoritative voice. "I still need to treat your back."

He knew that she was the doctor and that what she was telling him made sense. Whether he'd listen to her not was a different matter.

Feeling more than a little weary, Martha opened her door to grant Jenny access. She was impressed that the younger woman had knocked, actually.

"Remind me to get you a key cut," she remarked, "The Doctor's all right. He's just in the bathroom."

The Doctor paused guiltily in the act of pulling on his shirt again, eyeing the bathroom door. Martha was right; he needed to have his back looked at, but Jenny could also decide to come in and see him personally, which would raise some rather uncomfortable and difficult to avoid questions.

In the end he settled for pulling the shirt on but leaving the front open so he could remove it again later, once he knew what Jenny was going to do.

Nodding absently at Martha's comment about a key, Jenny's eyes scanned the room, taking in every detail. It was a military reflex, and had come in handy more than once. An object out of place, a piece of furniture shifted; any small thing could be indicative of something gone wrong. Not that Jenny really expected there to be an enemy hiding behind the couch, but as keyed up as she was, instincts had taken hold.

"What's happened? Are we in danger?" She'd wait to see for herself that her father was alright when he came out of the bathroom, but for now she needed to know if there was an immediate threat. She looked about ready to barricade the door and fashion weapons out of various household objects.

"No, we're not," she assured Jenny. The Master would take a while to recover from what had happened, which gave them a few days - at the very least - to rest and recuperate. And decide exactly what to tell Jenny. She needed to be warned.

"Not any more," she added. "You know what your Dad's like. He's good at making enemies as well as friends."

"I don't try and do it on purpose," the Doctor felt the need to point out from the bathroom. He slid the shirt off his sore back again, then set about trying to get a look at what marks he had in the bathroom mirror.

"These things just..." His voice trailed off as he frowned at the mirror, the pattern of symbols he could see burned into his skin. It was lucky for him that no one else here other than himself - both of them - and the Master could read Old Gallifreyan, otherwise it would get a bit tricky to explain. Not that marks like this wouldn't be difficult to explain on their own anyway.

Remembering that both Jenny and Martha were outside still, the Doctor called out again. "I'm alright, Jenny. Nothing that won't heal on its own well enough and we're perfectly safe here." For the moment. "You don't have to worry just yet."

At that, Jenny couldn't help but smile and roll her eyes just a bit. She shot a look at Martha; the universally recognized look of amused but exasperated female solidarity in reaction to a particularly troublesome but beloved male.

"How long have you been here, and you're stirring up a vespiform's nest already?" she scolded the bathroom door lightly. (As if she had any room to talk. She'd been on Raxacoricofalapatorius for all of an hour before all hell had broken loose, and she'd considered that an oddly delayed reaction. It was genetic, it had to be.) Jenny's smile quickly fell, though, despite all reassurances.

"If you're alright, why are you still hiding in the bathroom, then? Come out and let Martha have a look at you, even if it's not bad."

It was also the universal reaction of anyone who had spent a prolonged period of time in the Doctor's company. Although Martha shared the look with Jenny, she was more worried than her demeanor suggested. He was hiding. That wasn't surprising. The Doctor had a habit of hiding from things that were too difficult to discuss. But hiding from medical treatment was something else entirely. Something she wouldn't accept.

"Doctor," she said, firmly, "I need to take a look."

His reticence had increased since Jenny's arrival, but she couldn't very well send her away. Even on some sort of errand. She had her father's stubborn streak.

The Doctor frowned at his reflection in the mirror and didn't answer immediately. He could ask that Martha come in here to treat him, but that would be a huge signal to Jenny that he was lying about his condition and she'd be determined to find out what he was keeping from her, not to mention that even locking the door wouldn't be likely to keep her out. She could be remarkably persistent.

Not that he'd have any idea where she'd gotten that from, he thought with a wry smile.

Which really left him with no other choices but to give in to them both and make the best of things. Pushing open the bathroom door again, the Doctor paused in the doorway with his shirt draped over one arm and offered Jenny a tired smile.

"Alright, since I'll never hear the end of it if you don't..."

Jenny brightened immediately when the Doctor emerged. He looked alright. A bit bumped and bruised, but nothing to be overly concerned about. She hadn't seen his back yet.

"Honestly dad, don't tell me you're scared of doctors," she joked. Oh, the irony if he were.

"He better not be frightened of me," she said, turning her back on Jenny and the Doctor to pull on a pair of disposable gloves. Just in case. "He's probably just embarrassed."

She gave Jenny a brief grin before turning to the Doctor.

"It might be easier if you stay in there," she said. Not because it made a difference, but because it would help him hide from Jenny. She hated lying to her, but, at the the moment, coaxing the Doctor into getting treatment was the most important thing.

"Jenny, could you boil some water for me? There's a kettle in the kitchen."

"Well I've been on the wrong end of some exploratory surgery once," the Doctor remarked. "...not that I'm really sure there's a right end to be on there. But I'm sure Martha will be careful, won't you, Martha?"

He smiled at her, fully aware of how much he was asking his former companion to keep to herself now, but trusting her all the same. It was already bad enough with how much had apparently been broadcast - and how had that happened? He didn't think the Master had done it, not without making sure the Doctor knew what was happening first - so the last thing he wanted was to give Jenny even more of a reason to go after the other Time Lord.

"I'm always careful," she said, giving him a lukewarm smile in return. It was a pale imitation of her usual grin, but she didn't feel much like grinning at the moment. She couldn't help but feel that keeping all of this from Jenny - even at the Doctor's request - was a bad idea.

"Sure," Jenny nodded, and she hurried off to the kitchen to boil some water, having full confidence in martha's abilities, despite never having seen them in action. It took her a couple minutes to find the kettle and figure out how to work the stove, after which point she stood and drummed her fingers against her leg impatiently, waiting for the water to boil.

With Jenny safely in the kitchen for the moment, the Doctor sighed and shot Martha a tired, apologetic look before turning back into the bathroom. He wasn't any happier about keeping secrets from people, but it was better than upsetting Jenny and possibly sending her after the Master. He didn't know how that would end.

"Shouldn't take too long to heal," he commented, injecting a little false cheer into his voice. "So that's something."

"It'll take long enough," she said, following him back inside. Her voice came out more sharply than she'd intended, but that was only because she was worried. About the Doctor and Jenny and what the Master was going to do next.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" she asked, proceeding to patiently and methodically (and, aware of time ticking by, quickly) examine the wounds on his back. They looked reasonably clean, but they were also vicious and she refused to leave the bathroom before she'd cleaned them.

Figuring that the water would take some time and feeling much too antsy to watch it boil (besides, she thought it did actually make it take longer, somehow), Jenny busied herself gathering a big bowl to pour the water in and a dish towel. Probably superfluous to requirements considering that Martha had towels in the bathroom, but she didn't know what else to do with herself.

After a couple minutes of feeling useless, she decided to wander back over to the bathroom, see how things were going, and inform Martha that the kettle was on.

"There's not too much to tell, I'm afraid," he said, closing his eyes and keeping still as Martha checked the marks. "The old man makes a stupid mistake and gets himself caught. He took my sonic screwdriver as well. It was a new one, and now he's broken it down to make his laser screwdriver. Can't settle for just the sonic, no he's got to have something fancy."

He made a noise of protest as Martha brushed a particularly sensitive spot and wriggled awkwardly. "Ow!"

[ooc: If Jenny wants to overhear/see the damage, I'm okay with it! He won't be, but I am. XD]

"Stop wriggling," she chided, though she paused to give the Doctor time to recover from the sudden pain.

"Sorry," she said gently, reaching for a pack of sterile dressings. She knew, realistically, that the damage the Master had done today was nothing compared to the damage he'd joyously inflicted during the Doctor's imprisonment on the Valiant. That wasn't the point. She hated seeing him hurt at all. "What are you going to do?"

Jenny approached the door just in time to hear the latter half of the Doctor's explanation and Martha's reply. Frowning at the new, very pertinent information, and the familiar way in which her father spoke of the man he'd confronted earlier, Jenny rounded the corner and caught sight of her father's back.

Jaw dropping, Jenny couldn't immediately decide who she was more outraged at; the man who'd injured her father so cruelly, or the two people right in front of her who'd reassured her no less than five minutes ago that everything was a-OK. After a brief but speechless deliberation, she decided that it was more prudent to be angry at the people she could yell at right now.

Her expression closing off, she crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame before speaking coldly. "Did you actually need water boiled, Martha, or was that just a convenient distraction? I can go turn the kettle off."

2 [Accidental Visual | Location: Mount Perdition]

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[Location: Central] Thank you LJ, for telling me I owed a tag :/

[Location: Central] LJ: keeping you on your toes? DX

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[Location: Central] Finally back, sorry. :x

[Location: Central] It's fine :)

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