“Ah, no need to worry about the alarm now. I’ve fixed the Cloister Bell, but, it certainly would’ve sounded earlier if he hadn’t disabled it, tampering with my TARDIS like that… As for the power, well, she has enough to last for now at least. I’ll worry about re-charging her later. The important thing right now is finding the Master. Don’t want him getting out. Wait!” he spoke up, turning towards Rose suddenly. “You felt something slithering over your ankles?” he echoed. The Doctor then ran over to the doorway, and began scanning the edges of the doors with a screwdriver unfamiliar to Rose. “Oh no…” he spoke sadly. “He’s definitely gotten out…” Eight then swung the doors open and, taking a look at the area around him, scanned the air with this screwdriver. “Ohhhh no…” he continued. “I can’t pick up any sort of trail…” he continued to think aloud, not knowing where to proceed from there.

Rose bit her lip feeling partially responsible for letting a potentially pear shaped thing to occur. "Well if I were a thing of slime, I'd get a body as soon as possible. And if your enemies have the same goal, and 'm REALLY hoping its to control us, I'd search for the most available or susceptible to possession. Maybe either...a lowly educated human or a corpse." Rose said outloud what her first plan of action would be. Thanks to Cassandra, her Doctor had taught her to block her mind just in case sociopath's on a rampage wouldn't get to her.

“Oh, yes, you’re right,” The Doctor spoke up. “That’s exactly what he did last time. Possessed a human — waltzed around in his skin while he plotted to come after me and steal my regenerations. Typical for that bloke. Ever since he ran through his thirteen lives he’s been trying to leech off of me.” he told Rose. “Good news is I’m not exactly in the middle of, you know, dying or anything right now, so I should have time to hunt him down!” he continued. “Trouble is, I still don’t know which way he went…” he mused, still scanning around with the screwdriver only to not get any results.

Rose snapped to attention when he talked about lives and wondered just which ones she knew and how many he had gone through and how many more he had on the edge of panicking. She may not remember much from the time she had opened the heart of the TARDIS to save his are, but she knew that he had regenerated by taking the entirety of the time vortex and had wondered if it had been her fault. She smiles at him. He was as easily excitable as the second him she knew and that was adorable. She wished she could help in some way. And then she paused for a moment thinking as the lives had solidified in her head. "So the Master is another Time Lord?" She asked. She wasn't as sure she could keep another of his race out of her head, as she hadn't even known about this Master bloke.

“Yes, he’s a Time Lord.” the Doctor answered. “Or, well, at least he used to be.” he quickly corrected himself. “He reached his thirteenth life decades — no, probably centuries ago. Since then, he’s been stealing life from others in any way that he can — possessing bodies, trying to steal my regenerations… A Dalek reduced him to dust once and he still came back. It’s like he’s determined to live forever, no matter what he becomes.” he explained, sighing. “At any rate, he may have been a Time Lord once, but I have no idea what he is now.”

——

The Master breathed heavily, still getting used to his new body. He hadn’t planned on possessing another human so soon. If that dumb kid hadn’t betrayed him, he’d have a new Time Lord body already. But no, instead he had to let the Doctor’s TARDIS tear his last body to pieces, leaving him to struggle against the machine’s consciousness as he stole only enough energy to break himself away. And despite, for a very brief moment, seeing all of time and space as clearly as a TARDIS could, he didn’t even know where or when they’d landed. Nor did he have time to investigate as he slithered away to the first suitable body he could find.

He pulled himself into a sitting position. It was a human body, of course. No extra lives. Only one heart. Weak. And just like his last human body, he didn’t expect it to last very long. Standing up, he took a good look at the streets around him. He’d gotten far enough away that the TARDIS wasn’t within viewing distance. That was a good start. It would give him time to plan, at least. Looking further into the distance though, he spotted a rather familiar-looking clocktower standing out amongst the other city buildings. London…? The Master silently asked. I thought for sure we had traveled far enough to at least leave Earth… he pondered, not expecting the TARDIS to crash land in what seemed to be the Doctor’s favorite place in the universe. Regardless, he would have to make due with it… First thing to do would probably be to figure out what poor sap he’d just killed, and make use of his connections.

Rose was actually surprised at this Master guy. No matter what it seemed he was determined to see his life out even surviving a dalek blast. So they had some work to do if they were going to find this Master and get him somewhere he couldn't hurt anyone. It would be difficult, but her father was the CEO of Torchwood in this universe. They will be able to find anyone that wasn't acting normally. "I would like to help find him. Its my fault that he was let out." She says taking responsibility. After all the bloke wouldn't have had the opportunity to take over someone if she hadn't opened the TARDIS doors.

“Oh, don’t blame yourself.” the Doctor replied. “It’s not like you knew what would happen.” he told her. “Besides, if he really wanted to, he probably could’ve squeezed through the keyhole. Fairly certain that’s what he did last time.” he explained. He then paused, looking straight ahead, seemingly deep in thought for a few seconds before he turned back to Rose with a smile on his face. “You know, you’re a lot more cooperative than the last girl I fought the Master with! No wonder I traveled with you in the past!” he grinned. “Now then… ah! I think I’ve finally got something!” he spoke up, attention returning to the screwdriver, buzzing it on and off. “Follow me!” he told her, taking off down the street.

Rose shook her head and smiles glad that he approved of his traveling with her. "Well I have been traveling with you for two years. I want to help." She says and followed after The Doctor a huge smile on her lips. She loved the running of their lifestyle and would have totally accepted Pete's offer to work in Torchwood had he not shown up. She ran after him the smile still on her lips as she did so.

“Sounds like a good two years.” the Doctor grinned. While the idea that he’d forgotten such huge chunks of his life still sort of terrified him, he tried not to let it show as much. After all, it wasn’t like him to look so weak in front of his companions. He figured he should try to keep himself together, for her sake as well as his own.

——

Still struggling to get a feel for his new body, the Master grew alert when he heard the familiar buzz of the Doctor’s sonic. What even is it with that guy and his dumb little gadget? Well, whatever the case, the Doctor had certainly made the tiny tool more and more powerful over the years, and if he was using it to track him down, then the Master wasn’t exactly in a position to make fun of the thing. Eyes tracking down the source of the sound, he briefly caught sight of the Doctor turning a corner in his direction. He sharply turned his head away, not wanting to draw attention to himself, though he struggled to resist the urge to do a double-take when he saw the blonde at the Doctor’s side. The Master was fairly certain that wasn’t the same woman he was with when they last met. Someone works fast. he mused to himself, before looking straight ahead, and walking along in no general direction as he hoped the Doctor’s instrument wouldn’t be precise enough to track him specifically.

"The best of my life." Rose assured with a grin. As they went through the streets, Rose couldn't help but recognize the direction of the facility that she disliked entirely. It was the fault of her original Torchwood that got her trapped here. But she couldn't stand that white wall from separating her from the alien with two hearts that she loved. Even if he was right there at the same time. But it was an earlier version. She looked around to take a notice of the people and out of the corner of her eye she saw Jake heading somewhere random. Was he not reporting into work today?

“Hmm… the trail gets a little bit hard to follow here…” the Doctor mused as he continued along the path, now walking next to the Master as the rival ex-Time Lord tried his hardest to avert his eyes, trying to be inconspicuous. “Ah, you there!” the Doctor called out as his screwdriver led him towards the boy. “Sorry. But um, I don’t suppose you’ve seen anything weird lately, like… maybe a ghost snake of some kind?” he asked, walking alongside him.

The Master looked towards the Doctor briefly, before quickly redirecting his gaze at the ground, still walking ahead. “No. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” he answered hastily. He couldn’t manage an encounter with the Doctor right then and there — he needed time to figure out what his plan was, and also, whose body he’d stolen.

Rose stopped Jake with a hand to his shoulder. "I need you to tell Pete or I immediately if you see someone acting oddly. It's important that you do." For the best way to get The Master would be to use Torchwood. She disliked the option but there was no other way. She wondered for a moment if The Doctor's sonic was acting odd. But it hadn't ever let him or her down. So what could that mean?