Professor Keller; chapter 12
Apr. 22nd, 2017 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scripsiPhew! I’m finally finished with this fic. I’m rather pleased with it, but it is a horror story, and it was partly very hard work to write.
Title: Professor Keller
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: Teen
Genre: Horror
Word Count: 1534
Chapter: 12/12
Characters: Delgado!Master, Original female character, Original male character, the Third Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, the Brigadier
Pairings: The Master/OFC, the Master/OMC, OFC/OMC
Warnings: Mind Control, psychological abuse, suicide attempt, mind games, dominance, implied dubious consent, character death
Summary: Alison and Peter Grey are living a charmed life, young, wealthy and in love. Until they meet a Professor Keller and find themselves trapped in a spiralling nightmare. Set between Terror of the Autons and The Mind of Evil.
AN: This story is about the Master, so anyone who reads it in the hope of the Doctor, well, I think it's fair to warn you he is only going to have a very minor role in this fic, along with Sarah Jane and the Brig.
I know it don't make a difference to you
But oh, it sure made a difference to me
“Busy?”
The Brigadier turned up at the door to the Doctor’s laboratory. The Doctor, who was elbow deep into a contraption sprouting several odd-looking appendages, and looked very industrious, raised his head and frowned.
“Not at all. Do I look busy?”
“Ah, good. You remember the time the Master posed as Keller?”
“The Keller machine?” Sarah Jane said, who had read up on the files.
“Right. And it’s still gives me headaches, though it was years ago. Now I have a woman called Thomson here, claiming Professor Keller had something to do with the disappearance of her sister.”
The Doctor emerged properly, looking interested.
“I thought that would catch your attention. Apparently her sister was called Alison Grey, and her husband was one of the Master’s economical backers.”
“I remember. But both she and her husband were dead by the time it all blew up and had been for months.”
“Yes. A tragic business of a double suicide, but there were so many more immediate things to untangle, we never gave it much attention. But evidently Mrs. Thompson has insisted for years something was strange about it all. Eventually someone who knew a bit more about the whole affair got wind of it, and it ended up on my table.”
The Doctor gave him a shrewd glance. “And you found something fishy.”
The Brigadier nodded. “I did. I tell you after the interview. Perhaps you would like to come as well, Miss Smith? I’m sure Mrs. Thompson will appreciate a female presence.”
Janice Thomson was a good-looking woman in her thirties, well dressed in a conservative style. She watched them enter without the usual apprehension people being confronted with the Brigadier looking formidable and the Doctor looking, well like the Doctor, often displayed. If anything, she looked defiant as if she was used to telling her tale and having it dismissed. Sarah Jane thought the Brigadier had been wrong, Mrs. Thomson needed no one to hold her hand. After a quick introduction, she plunged straight into her story, and it was clear she had told it many times.
It didn’t take long time. According to her, the Greys had had a happy marriage and the death of Peter Grey had been a complete surprise. A few months later his wife had been seen jumping from a bridge, and her body had never been found.
When Mrs. Thomson had finished, she took out a photo from her bag and showed it to them. It depicted a smiling young couple, their arms wrapped around each other. The man was blond and handsome, his longish hair tangling into the brown curls which haloed the woman’s face. Alison Grey had a lot of her sister about her, but in her, prettiness had took a step further into real beauty. Mrs. Thomson lightly touched her sister’s face.
“Alison was a lovely person- they both were. I never understood what went wrong between them, but she was devastated when he died, and I know she still loved him. I guess it’s already in your notes somewhere, but she had made a suicide attempt earlier, at Peter’s funeral. So at first I really thought she had gone through with it, though I thought it was strange there was no note, or anything like that. She was very considerate. And then, when the story came out how Professor Keller had killed people, and done all sorts of nasty things, then I started to wonder if there was more to it.”
“You had met him, hadn’t you?” Sarah Jane asked. “You weren’t suspicious of him before?”
“I liked him,” Mrs. Thomson said slowly. “He was charming, and very attentive to Alison. In fact, I thought he cared for her a great deal.
She paused and blushed a little. “I even thought it would be a good thing. He seemed to stable, and I thought in time, it would be good for Alison to have someone who could take care of her. But I made the mistake to imply as much to her once, and she almost went hysteric.”
Her blush deepened, though more out of anger this time, than embarrassment.
“My husband says they must have had an affair, and that is why Peter killed himself. I don’t believe it! Alison loved Peter and she would never have done something like that. Never! But there was something going on. The Professor used to write to her, and she was always upset whenever a letter came. I know I don’t have any proofs, but our parents died in an accident shortly after my marriage. I know how it feels to lose someone you love unexpectedly. And I know how Alison grieve. She grieved over Peter, but that wasn’t all. I didn’t figure out what it was until she was gone, but I think she was scared, and it only grow worse over time. It was like she was waiting for something terrible to happen. There was a letter only a few days before she disappeared, and I’m convinced that was the reason she left.”
Mrs. Thomson’s voice wavered for the first time.“I know Alison probably isn’t alive, anymore, even if she didn’t kill herself. I think he did something horrible to her. All I want to know now is where her body is, so I can take her home.”
The Doctor leaned forward and took her hand. “We will do our best, Mrs. Thomson, I promise.”
After she had left, the Doctor turned to the Brigadier.
“She may be right, but it seems more likely the poor woman killed herself that night. So what is it you have found out which says otherwise?”
“Well, there were three witnesses who all claimed they saw Alison Grey jump from the bridge. Excellent witnesses, who, despite the darkness and distance, could describe her extremely well.”
“Which real witnessed almost never are able to do. That’s suspicious, indeed.”
“I took the trouble of having them interviewed again. Two of them have only fuzzy recollections now, saying they are not sure of what they actually saw. The third states point blank he never saw anything that night and has no idea why he said he did. It all points to the Master and his mind-meddling, doesn’t it?”
“It does.”
“But why? Sarah Jane interrupted. “Why would the Master do that. What happened to her?”
“I think,” the Doctor said with reluctance. “I think he took her with him.”
“Why would he do that?”
“When you have a long life, and live it far away from your home, you get lonely.“
The Doctor smiled at Sarah Jane and the Brig. “I fill the void with the company of good friends. The Master doesn’t have friends, but he can feel the solitude as keenly as I do. I suspect Mrs. Grey had the bad luck to interest him more than people usually do, and he came to enjoy having her around.”
“You think he actually liked her?”
“What? No, of course not. Well, perhaps, but more in the way you like a favourite toy. If she was still alive at the time of her presumed suicide, she probably isn’t by now. Few people survive the Master for long. He would keep her until she stopped amusing him, and then he would kill her without compunctions.”
Back in the laboratory, the Doctor sat down heavily, leaning his face into his hands. Sarah Jane let him be for a while, but then she quietly made a cup of tea and put it down at his elbow. When he didn’t acknowledge her, she put a hand on his shoulder.”
“What is wrong, Doctor.”
“I am. You realise all this is my fault, don’t you? Most of the time I can pretend I don’t know what happens when I fail to put a stop to the Master, but then something like this happens, and I’m reminded. All these people, ordinary innocent people, like the Greys, who die or disappear, because of my failures. And their friends and family who are left wondering what happened, like Mrs Thomson, without explanations or closure. How many nights do you think Janice Thomson has spent without sleep for worry about her sister?”
“You are not responsible for the Master’s actions.”
“No? I’m not so sure, Sarah.”
“In that case I think you should start doing what you can to find Alison Grey. Or do you really think it’s too late?”
The Doctor brightened slightly. “Perhaps not. I need to calculate a point in time which is as close to the time she disappeared as possible, without tangling it into my timeline.”
“And you think you can find the Master.”
“I can always find the Master, unless he isn’t actively trying to hide from me, it’s just that I usually don’t want to.”
The Doctor laughed without joy. “I’m sure the Master will be perfectly willing to bargain for her freedom, and it will cost me more than I care to think of.”
Sarah Jane put her hand in his and pressed it. “But you will still try to help her, don’t you?”
He smiled down at her. “Of course I will. After all, that is what I do.”
END
Previous chapters:
(Chapter 1: Party Girl)
(Chapter 2: Watch Your Step)
(Chapter 3: Little Triggers)
(Chapter 4: You Belong To Me)
(Chapter 5: After the Fall)
(Chapter 6: You Tripped At Every Step)
(Chapter 7: Possession)
(Chapter 8: I Want You)
(Chapter 9: Broken)
(Chapter 10: Alison)
(Chapter 11: Man Out of Time
Title: Professor Keller
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: Teen
Genre: Horror
Word Count: 1534
Chapter: 12/12
Characters: Delgado!Master, Original female character, Original male character, the Third Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, the Brigadier
Pairings: The Master/OFC, the Master/OMC, OFC/OMC
Warnings: Mind Control, psychological abuse, suicide attempt, mind games, dominance, implied dubious consent, character death
Summary: Alison and Peter Grey are living a charmed life, young, wealthy and in love. Until they meet a Professor Keller and find themselves trapped in a spiralling nightmare. Set between Terror of the Autons and The Mind of Evil.
AN: This story is about the Master, so anyone who reads it in the hope of the Doctor, well, I think it's fair to warn you he is only going to have a very minor role in this fic, along with Sarah Jane and the Brig.
I know it don't make a difference to you
But oh, it sure made a difference to me
“Busy?”
The Brigadier turned up at the door to the Doctor’s laboratory. The Doctor, who was elbow deep into a contraption sprouting several odd-looking appendages, and looked very industrious, raised his head and frowned.
“Not at all. Do I look busy?”
“Ah, good. You remember the time the Master posed as Keller?”
“The Keller machine?” Sarah Jane said, who had read up on the files.
“Right. And it’s still gives me headaches, though it was years ago. Now I have a woman called Thomson here, claiming Professor Keller had something to do with the disappearance of her sister.”
The Doctor emerged properly, looking interested.
“I thought that would catch your attention. Apparently her sister was called Alison Grey, and her husband was one of the Master’s economical backers.”
“I remember. But both she and her husband were dead by the time it all blew up and had been for months.”
“Yes. A tragic business of a double suicide, but there were so many more immediate things to untangle, we never gave it much attention. But evidently Mrs. Thompson has insisted for years something was strange about it all. Eventually someone who knew a bit more about the whole affair got wind of it, and it ended up on my table.”
The Doctor gave him a shrewd glance. “And you found something fishy.”
The Brigadier nodded. “I did. I tell you after the interview. Perhaps you would like to come as well, Miss Smith? I’m sure Mrs. Thompson will appreciate a female presence.”
Janice Thomson was a good-looking woman in her thirties, well dressed in a conservative style. She watched them enter without the usual apprehension people being confronted with the Brigadier looking formidable and the Doctor looking, well like the Doctor, often displayed. If anything, she looked defiant as if she was used to telling her tale and having it dismissed. Sarah Jane thought the Brigadier had been wrong, Mrs. Thomson needed no one to hold her hand. After a quick introduction, she plunged straight into her story, and it was clear she had told it many times.
It didn’t take long time. According to her, the Greys had had a happy marriage and the death of Peter Grey had been a complete surprise. A few months later his wife had been seen jumping from a bridge, and her body had never been found.
When Mrs. Thomson had finished, she took out a photo from her bag and showed it to them. It depicted a smiling young couple, their arms wrapped around each other. The man was blond and handsome, his longish hair tangling into the brown curls which haloed the woman’s face. Alison Grey had a lot of her sister about her, but in her, prettiness had took a step further into real beauty. Mrs. Thomson lightly touched her sister’s face.
“Alison was a lovely person- they both were. I never understood what went wrong between them, but she was devastated when he died, and I know she still loved him. I guess it’s already in your notes somewhere, but she had made a suicide attempt earlier, at Peter’s funeral. So at first I really thought she had gone through with it, though I thought it was strange there was no note, or anything like that. She was very considerate. And then, when the story came out how Professor Keller had killed people, and done all sorts of nasty things, then I started to wonder if there was more to it.”
“You had met him, hadn’t you?” Sarah Jane asked. “You weren’t suspicious of him before?”
“I liked him,” Mrs. Thomson said slowly. “He was charming, and very attentive to Alison. In fact, I thought he cared for her a great deal.
She paused and blushed a little. “I even thought it would be a good thing. He seemed to stable, and I thought in time, it would be good for Alison to have someone who could take care of her. But I made the mistake to imply as much to her once, and she almost went hysteric.”
Her blush deepened, though more out of anger this time, than embarrassment.
“My husband says they must have had an affair, and that is why Peter killed himself. I don’t believe it! Alison loved Peter and she would never have done something like that. Never! But there was something going on. The Professor used to write to her, and she was always upset whenever a letter came. I know I don’t have any proofs, but our parents died in an accident shortly after my marriage. I know how it feels to lose someone you love unexpectedly. And I know how Alison grieve. She grieved over Peter, but that wasn’t all. I didn’t figure out what it was until she was gone, but I think she was scared, and it only grow worse over time. It was like she was waiting for something terrible to happen. There was a letter only a few days before she disappeared, and I’m convinced that was the reason she left.”
Mrs. Thomson’s voice wavered for the first time.“I know Alison probably isn’t alive, anymore, even if she didn’t kill herself. I think he did something horrible to her. All I want to know now is where her body is, so I can take her home.”
The Doctor leaned forward and took her hand. “We will do our best, Mrs. Thomson, I promise.”
After she had left, the Doctor turned to the Brigadier.
“She may be right, but it seems more likely the poor woman killed herself that night. So what is it you have found out which says otherwise?”
“Well, there were three witnesses who all claimed they saw Alison Grey jump from the bridge. Excellent witnesses, who, despite the darkness and distance, could describe her extremely well.”
“Which real witnessed almost never are able to do. That’s suspicious, indeed.”
“I took the trouble of having them interviewed again. Two of them have only fuzzy recollections now, saying they are not sure of what they actually saw. The third states point blank he never saw anything that night and has no idea why he said he did. It all points to the Master and his mind-meddling, doesn’t it?”
“It does.”
“But why? Sarah Jane interrupted. “Why would the Master do that. What happened to her?”
“I think,” the Doctor said with reluctance. “I think he took her with him.”
“Why would he do that?”
“When you have a long life, and live it far away from your home, you get lonely.“
The Doctor smiled at Sarah Jane and the Brig. “I fill the void with the company of good friends. The Master doesn’t have friends, but he can feel the solitude as keenly as I do. I suspect Mrs. Grey had the bad luck to interest him more than people usually do, and he came to enjoy having her around.”
“You think he actually liked her?”
“What? No, of course not. Well, perhaps, but more in the way you like a favourite toy. If she was still alive at the time of her presumed suicide, she probably isn’t by now. Few people survive the Master for long. He would keep her until she stopped amusing him, and then he would kill her without compunctions.”
Back in the laboratory, the Doctor sat down heavily, leaning his face into his hands. Sarah Jane let him be for a while, but then she quietly made a cup of tea and put it down at his elbow. When he didn’t acknowledge her, she put a hand on his shoulder.”
“What is wrong, Doctor.”
“I am. You realise all this is my fault, don’t you? Most of the time I can pretend I don’t know what happens when I fail to put a stop to the Master, but then something like this happens, and I’m reminded. All these people, ordinary innocent people, like the Greys, who die or disappear, because of my failures. And their friends and family who are left wondering what happened, like Mrs Thomson, without explanations or closure. How many nights do you think Janice Thomson has spent without sleep for worry about her sister?”
“You are not responsible for the Master’s actions.”
“No? I’m not so sure, Sarah.”
“In that case I think you should start doing what you can to find Alison Grey. Or do you really think it’s too late?”
The Doctor brightened slightly. “Perhaps not. I need to calculate a point in time which is as close to the time she disappeared as possible, without tangling it into my timeline.”
“And you think you can find the Master.”
“I can always find the Master, unless he isn’t actively trying to hide from me, it’s just that I usually don’t want to.”
The Doctor laughed without joy. “I’m sure the Master will be perfectly willing to bargain for her freedom, and it will cost me more than I care to think of.”
Sarah Jane put her hand in his and pressed it. “But you will still try to help her, don’t you?”
He smiled down at her. “Of course I will. After all, that is what I do.”
END
Previous chapters:
(Chapter 1: Party Girl)
(Chapter 2: Watch Your Step)
(Chapter 3: Little Triggers)
(Chapter 4: You Belong To Me)
(Chapter 5: After the Fall)
(Chapter 6: You Tripped At Every Step)
(Chapter 7: Possession)
(Chapter 8: I Want You)
(Chapter 9: Broken)
(Chapter 10: Alison)
(Chapter 11: Man Out of Time
