Quartet of Cats
Nyssa was on her knees in her own big bed chamber with Dorothy as they were shifting through the various tools: “Can you really make a gun?” Dorothy asked.
“Not a brilliant one but it should be enough to keep the wearer protected!”
“Wearer? You mean you’re not having it?”
“This may surprise you,” Nyssa tilted her head with a smile that reached a twist at the corners, Dorothy loved how playful her new friend was, “but I prefer to heal rather than harm.”
“So, who is going to have this gun?”
“The Master!”
“What is it wiv Time Lords?” Dorothy sat cross legged on the floor, “what’s wrong wiv Dave!”
Nyssa burst out laughing: “I know but I suppose a race that regenerates - they become different people. A title such as Doctor, Master, Pirate,” Dorothy looked at Nyssa eagerly - she wished she went to school with her, “just makes more sense!”
“What did your dad look like?” Dorothy asked.
“My fellow travelling companion described him as Santa Claus, whomever he was!”
“Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he was another Time Lord!”
“I am serious, I do not know of whom she was referring to!”
“You did not have holidays where you came from?”
“My father used to take me to the beaches when I was a little girl, our Summers were long, hot and so fruitful there was barely any need for a harvest,” Nyssa had finally found a decent Laser beam. “We all just helped ourselves to the fruits on the trees and produce of the fields,” sadly she sighed as she gazed at her friend, “the richer folk who held more Land used to store for those not so well off. My father stored double than the legal requirement. The people under his care never wanted for nothing! I used to save whatever I could and store toys for the poorer children.”
“Wow, your dad sounded perfect!”
“He was!”
“Wish he was mine!”
“He can be yours too!” Nyssa exclaimed warmly, “I would have loved a sister.”
“This any good?” Dorothy found something that could be made into a handle. Nyssa put it in the maybe pile, “well, Santa Claus, is a fictional element invented by parents of Earth to enforce goodness on their children - if they’re bad they don’t get no presents!”
“What an awful thing to put upon the shoulders of youth!” Nyssa furrowed her brow, “thankfully, my father would scold. I was not always good as gold!”
“Do not lie!” the Master said from the door. Dorothy glanced up narrowing her eyes at him. “You can leave us alone, Dorothy. I am more afraid of the Doctor than I am of you!”
“I promised I would be between you and Nyssa for her sake!” Dorothy said. “If only I ‘ad me bat!”
“Stand at the door,” Nyssa said to Dorothy, “if he touches me I’ll let you know!”
“I wanted to see the gun being made!”
“You will,” Nyssa smiled, “I promise!”
“Wicked!”
Dorothy got up off the floor and glared at the Master on her way out. “I will hurt you, if you hurt her!” Dorothy snarled as she walked by him.
To this the Master just inclined his head and watched as she took guard at the door. “Any luck?”
“Do you see any sign of construction about you yet?”
The Master walked over to her and hitched his trousers up then bent down to be on the same level as her, Nyssa noticed he had taken his gloves off: “Miss Leela is making sure her knives are sharp. We need to find a task for Miss McShane or she will be bored!”
“Do not worry, and what are you doing?”
“Looking at clothes and thinking of suitable alias’!”
“I was not lying,” Nyssa said.
“You were,” the Master smiled, “you forget that I know you - I watched you, observed you! When most girls your age were trying to be different from their parents you still relied on your father. You kept the word of the Consulate. The only moment of rebelliousness you held was against Kassia!”
“Well then,” Nyssa sighed with a sweet smile, “why break the habit of a life-time and lie now and just introduce myself to this Pirate as Nyssa?”
“Oh, you can to the Time Pirate,” the Master said. “But what if he attacks you and you need help? We will need words. Gestures, signals - AND aliases!” He tilted his head to the side again and smiled. “Now, I have been thinking of them very carefully by observing the three of you!”
“What of yours first?”
“Dracula! I like what Miss McShane called me,” the Master’s eyes hooded over as he gazed at her, “Miss Leela is to be called Wildcat,” Nyssa frowned a little, she was not sure that Leela would like that, “Miss McShane is Alley Cat and yours,” Nyssa narrowed her eyes at him, “Lioness!”
“Why is not Leela the Lioness, she resembles one more than I do?”
“Wildcats are scrappy, good at cover; and extraordinarily brilliant at hunting!”
“Dorothy?”
“Alley Cats are sometimes human pet cats that have run away from home and scavenge and can be pretty fierce, she is such a character!”
“That’s charming!” Nyssa exclaimed sarcastically.
“Lioness, for you, dear Nyssa,” the Master said with a wicked grin on his face, “because you would have made an excellent leader, and do not think I have not forgotten how you rescued your father from his imprisonment - then later, saved the Doctor’s life, probably on more than one instance since we first met!”
“So, I take it you are the Panther!” Nyssa did not believe, for one moment, that the Master was going to allow himself to be called Dracula.
“Oh you see right through me,” the Master sniggered, “Of course I am not to be Dracula. Though the Panther has a certain elegance about it I think I will go by some other species!
“Why”
“Traditionally, the person who takes my role normally goes outside the norm!”
“So, what outrageously flamboyant nickname have you given yourself!”
“Outrageously flamboyant?” the Master affected insult, “I will have you know I could have changed these clothes the m… anyway, I could have changed my garments but I rather liked them!”
“My father’s wedding clothes?”
“Well, yes, they become me!”
“They became him much more!”
“That would not work,” The Master said noticing she had picked out a trigger that would not work with the barrel, “see the screw bolt is too large!” he leaned in closer and showed her, “there,” he spotted straight away from a pile of things she had put in the maybe pile, “that one should screw on fine!” Nyssa looked up at the Master and smiled. “If I…”
“I will pay more attention and be able to make it better without distractions,” she said. “I am not sure the Doctor meant for me to do this!”
“Forgive my saying so but the Doctor is an idiot!”
“Pardon?”
“All he knows is that there is history behind me and the Time Pirate!”
“That is what we all know,” Nyssa sighed, “you said you would elaborate in the near future.”
“Not this near in the future,” the Master was about to get up, “but I have been reading the instruction manuals and found the right controls for what,” Nyssa nodded. “Oh and Nyssa I mean it, I shall give you information when you can take it, and I also mean something else.”
“What is that?”
“You are my Lioness,” he tilted her chin up and gazed down into her eyes, he walked past patting her head: “strong and courageous!” once he was out of the room Nyssa frowned and shook her head.
The Master walked by Dorothy: “Can I have a word in your ear, alone?”
“I am not leaving Nyssa unattended!” Ace said fiercely.
“I recommend your loyalty for that,” the Master gracefully bowed, “but there are things you need to know. I would find it somewhat difficult to explain things to Nyssa…”
“Being her father’s murderer?” Ace said without flinching.
“You know men.”
“What are you implyin’?”
“You have had boyfriends? You know what they can do to make you do things you would not wish them too,” Ace shrugged her shoulders, “you know how they work to get into your heart?”
“Unfortunately,” she sighed, “I do!”
“Well, Nyssa does not,” Ace glanced at the man in disbelief, “men seem to have passed her by for some bizarre reason!”
“She could like women?”
“No, she likes men,” The Master said, “she fancies her Doctor but is being proper about it all.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“When Nyssa has finished working out her new weapon,” the Master sighed, “do something like swimming - there is a lovely swimming pool here!”
“All right,” Ace sighed, “so basically bond and give her lessons in male biology, yeah?”
“That would be good. For this mission Nyssa is going to have to break down the walls of innocence inside her head - in some ways,” the Master sighed with true regret. “I do not want to do it but it has to be, if she is to have her heart guarded!”
“Oughtn’t we all to have our hearts guarded!”
“No, I know this Time Lord, I could throttle the Doctor for bringing Nyssa into this!”
“What do I do in the meantime?”
“Read up on Piracy, plenty of books, take notes. Knowledge is power, Ace. With that knowledge we shall gain ways to capture him hopefully before he sets eyes on Nyssa, once that happens the mission has failed!”
“So certain this Pirate guy is that good looking,” Ace said, “and that Nyssa is his type?”
The Master peered round the door where he saw Nyssa standing up and pacing, Ace followed his stare: Nyssa was out of her trousers and top and was walking freely amongst the tool kit in her under things: “Why wouldn’t she be anyone’s type, Miss Dorothy McShane. By the by we all have code names I thought up off, she’s the Lioness - Miss Leela is the Wildcat - you are Alley Cat!”
“Brill,” Ace said. “All right, I see your point, she is gorgeous and a scumbag Pirate is bound to like her!”
“Just read up all on what you can!” the Master sighed, “take notes, we will convene later and you can tell us all what you learned,” Ace nodded, “and you ought to be careful too.”
“Why? I can fight and men don’t matter to me!”
“You like women?”
“Dunno what I like and don’t like, just know that if I know someone is a scumbag I tend to forget about the rest!”
“Instil some of this caution into Nyssa, this is one point she will not take kindly for me to teach.”
“What point is that?”
“The birds and the bees, Ace. Birds and bees!”
“Ah, right,” Ace looked at the man before her trying to figure him out, “I will do my best!”
The Master walked off to the direction of Leela’s room, Ace noticed and shook her head, then went to her own room that held items she had chosen for herself from the various rooms. She picked out a black form fitting swimming costume and, realising that Nyssa probably was not the sort of person to have picked out a costume and guessed that she must have been a size or two below her, Ace went back to the wardrobe in the sports section as she termed it, and found two different costumes - one flowery, green with a little skirt attached to it and one plain purple that had a very low back, she found identical ones in differing sizes.
Moments later she was faced with a very confused Nyssa as she stared at the garments and what Ace was wearing: “Come on!” Dorothy said, “as much as I wanna see a gun made I feel we need to get to know each other!”
“By wearing skimpy weird attire and do what, exactly?”
“Dracula said there was a swimmin pool,” Nyssa smiled at Dorothy’s look of excitement in her eyes, “you can’t swim in yer undies!”
Nyssa laughed, “All right, is Leela going to join in?”
“Nah, just us, eh?”
“Just us!”
Hmm, Ace thought, I think I may have misjudged her. Nyssa went for the green floral one and Ace’s eyes widened: “Wow!” she breathed, “wouldn’t let Dracula see you like that!”
“You forget,” Nyssa said, “Dracula, as you call him, is the form of my father!”
“Yeah, the form is about all. I might be younger than you but I feel there are some things I can teach you!”
“Like what!”
“Let’s get to the pool first, shall we?” Dorothy grabbed Nyssa’s hand and laughed, “we have lots to talk about!”
As much as Ace distrusted Dracula he was right about one thing: Nyssa really did need a proper girl-to-girl chat about men.
The Master watched the two girls skipping towards the swimming pool, he enjoyed the sound of Nyssa’s laughter. Slowly he made his way to Leela’s room and found her on the bed reading.
“Stay there,” she hissed, “I do not want you further in my room!”
“I was not going to come further in!” The Master sighed, “only, listen to me, how easy are you to charm?”
“Not very!”
“The Doctor managed it!”
“The Doctor turned up and saved me from myself,” Leela said, “and showed me a better way. A Scientific way!”
“Good,” was the Master’s response.
Leela rolled her eyes and put her book down: “What do you want?”
“I want you and Ace to take young Nyssa in hand, protect her, harden her heart!”
“Make her impervious to the charms of men?” Leela questioned.
“Just make sure that she can withstand a man who will offer her his heart with one hand whilst stealing her …”
“Pride?”
“Yes, pride with the other!”
“She hates you enough!”
“Not enough, no. Her disposition has not become any the less innocent,” the Master sighed, “she has not sought any kind of vengeance though she is justified in seeking it!”
“I can show her how to high kick and hold a knife,” Leela said, “though I fear she knows how to fight. What can I teach her?”
“Some cynicism may help!”
“The Doctor says that sort of thing is acquired over time!”
“Yes well,” the Master tilted his head to see the book Leela was reading, “enjoy your novel!”
War of the Worlds, interesting choice! “Thank you, I am!” Leela said, “though the science in it is questionable!”
“That is because it is a fictional story, not real Science!”
“That explains it, still quite good though!”
Perhaps he could like this one after all: “By the way,” he sighed before walking out, “I have thought of aliases to call each other when trouble is brewing.”
“What is mine?”
“Wildcat!” the Master exclaimed, “Ace is Alley Cat and Nyssa is Lioness.”
“Why am I not the Lioness?” Leela asked.
“Forgive me, Miss Leela, but I know Nyssa more and I feel she needs the kind of Alias that may help to give her the strength she will need to fight against the Pirate!”
“I suppose that makes some sort of sense,” she sighed, “where is Nyssa now?”
“Swimming with Ace.”
Leela’s eyes brightened up. “You should have said!”
Leela got out some swimwear she had picked out for herself and ran to the pool. Leaving the Master tempted to join them but he knew the girls needed to get to know each other.
Once he was back in the Control Room he sat down and thought about how he was going to have to harden his own hearts further…
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