merryghoul: Nyssa and Tegan (Nyssa and Tegan)
a merry ghoul ([personal profile] merryghoul) wrote2011-11-03 09:08 pm

Plan B

Title: Plan B | AO3 | ATTAOM
Fandom: Doctor Who (1963)
Characters: Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan, Adric, The Master (Tremas/Ainley)
Prompts:  A plot bunny left by [livejournal.com profile] derekmetaltron in [livejournal.com profile] dw_straybunnies  (#2);
[livejournal.com profile] au_bingo : techs;
[livejournal.com profile] angst_bingo : captivity
Medium: fic
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: no standard warnings apply
Content Notes: bondage, electrocution, sci-fi weapons being used as stun gun-like devices
Summary: "Castrovalva" AU: The Master kidnaps Nyssa instead of Adric for his Hadron web.  Nyssa makes him pay for it.
Word Count: ~2100
A/N:  I’ve never been a fan of lifting dialogue from TV shows and inserting them into fanfic. While the start of this story is similar to the first part of “Castrovalva,” the dialogue has been changed, but is in the spirit to the original dialogue.

Any additional details before the story goes completely AU are based largely on the “Castrovalva” novelization by Christopher H. Bidmead.



The Doctor was beginning to regenerate on the grounds of the Pharos Project. He had already accepted the body of the Watcher into his own body and had even taken on a new form, but he was still unstable. He tried to get up but he passed out in front of his companions Adric, Tegan and Nyssa.

Guards were quickly surrounding the Doctor, Adric, Tegan and Nyssa. An ambulance was also quickly approaching them. The guards apprehended the companions.

“This is an official Air Australian uniform you’re grabbing!” Tegan tried to shake herself free from the the guard. “I demand that you put me down at once!"

“We need to get back to our friend,” Adric said to his guard. “He’s seriously hurt and he needs us right now.”

The ambulance arrived at the Doctor’s body. EMTs quickly loaded the Doctor’s body onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. The guards pushed the companions against the ambulance and strip searched them.

Adric sighed. “Why are you searching us for weapons? I thought you wanted aliens. Well, we’re the aliens. Except for Tegan—she’s human. Go on, take us with the Doctor and inspect us.”

Tegan, noticing the driver of the ambulance had, for some reason, left his keys in the ambulance, snuck into the ambulance’s driver seat.

Adric pointed to the sky. “Somewhere out there there’s my home planet, in E-Space.”

The person that had loaded the Doctor into the ambulance looked up at wherever Adric thought E-Space was in relation to Earth. Tegan started the ambulance and drove away from the ambulance staff and the guards.

Nyssa and Adric ran for the ambulance. Tegan made a U-turn and returned to her friends. Adric was able to grab the side of the ambulance and ride with it back to the TARDIS.

Nyssa, however, was not so lucky. Some of the guards had caught up to her and apprehended her. The guards were stronger than she was; she did not try to fight back. She was forced to look at her friends and the Doctor drive back to the TARDIS. Adric was able to open the TARDIS doors. Together, he and Tegan were able to get inside the TARDIS and shut the door before other guards were able to able to intrude.

Nyssa marched along with the guards across the Pharos Project grounds.

“I wish you all had tried to thank the Doctor for saving our lives instead of apprehending us and putting him in a back of an ambulance without telling us why.”

Coincidentally, as Nyssa spoke those words, the driver of the ambulance had recovered the ambulance. He was now driving it beside Nyssa and the guards.  As soon as the ambulance had caught up with Nyssa and the guards, the party stopped in its tracks.
Something yellow in the air appeared to be moving towards Nyssa, the guards and the ambulance. An object also was becoming visible to the party: the Master’s TARDIS, still in the shape of a Doric column from when it last left Logopolis. Jolts of energy were released from the Master’s TARDIS, felling everyone on the ground.

Tegan and Adric ran out of the TARDIS towards where all the guards and Nyssa were felled. Both were calling out her name. They were relieved when Nyssa was the only person standing in the middle of the guards.

Nyssa could only helplessly watch from the Master’s TARDIS viewer screen as Tegan and Adric embraced a Block Transfer Computation of Nyssa, programmed by the Master to trick the TARDIS into going towards Event One.


Nyssa’s Block Transfer Computation had succeeded into programming new coordinates in the Doctor’s TARDIS. It also allowed the Master to see the inside and outside of the Doctor’s TARDIS. The Master’s TARDIS kept a safe distance from the Doctor’s TARDIS as the latter hurtled towards Event One.

By this point Nyssa was trapped in the Master’s Hadron web. If she tried to move away from the Hadron web, she would be killed.

The Master chortled. “You won’t be getting away from me, Nyssa, not until we’re done with our tasks.” He then disappeared down a corridor in his TARDIS.

Tegan and Adric had managed to get the Doctor to his TARDIS’ Zero Room. Nyssa thought of the TARDIS at that very moment. She was able to project herself, trapped in the Hadron web, to Tegan and Adric.

“Nyssa, what are you doing up there?” Tegan asked.

“The Master’s set up a trap.” The Hadron web was taking the energy out of Nyssa.

“Wait, what trap, Nyssa?”

“Adric, I’m part of the trap. My body isn’t physically in the TARDIS.” She took a breath. “The Nyssa you’re seeing in the TARDIS is a Block Transfer Computation.” Her image was starting to break up. “Adric, check the coordinates...”

After she spoke those words her projection in the TARDIS had disappeared. The Master had returned and pulled a lever, reducing the amount of energy needed for the Block Transfer Computation of Nyssa in the TARDIS.

“I believe I’ve made a new discovery today: sometimes Block Transfer Computations can have a mind of their own. I’ll need to fix that after I’m done with you.”


Nyssa was blocking the image of the TARDIS heading towards Event One with her mind. The Master was not able to see the TARDIS momentarily.

“I sense you are trying to block my view of my victory over the Doctor. I will remedy that right...now.”

Jolts of electricity shocked Nyssa. She eventually gave in and let the Master see the TARDIS.

The Master appeared on the Doctor’s TARDIS viewer screen. He smiled and waved at the two as Nyssa hung helplessly in the Nexus web. Tegan and Adric were huddled around the Doctor, who had managed to pull himself into an automated wheelchair.
Nyssa was too weak to say anything to Tegan, Adric or the Doctor. She was slumped in the Hadron web.

“I guess this is goodbye, Doctor. Such an easy victory. It’s a pity we will never do battle again. Say goodbye to your two companions—they’ll be the last people you see after you die.”

Adric rolled the viewer screen’s shield up.

The Master pulled out a device that was similar to an escalator in his control room. He elevated himself to meet Nyssa.

“My dear Nyssa, you’re such a useful enemy. But imagine how much greater it would be if you were my ally? As my enemy, you’ll spend the rest of your life confined in this web, powering Block Transfer Computations for all of my other enemies. But as my ally...imagine all the worlds you could conquer. You’d be a queen—nay, an empress of several planets. And all of them would bow down to you because you decided to be allies with the Master.”

The Master descended to his control panel. He turned off the Hadron web. “Well?”

Nyssa thought for a minute. “Yes, Master. I will be your ally.”

The Master ascended to Nyssa and the Hadron web. He lent her one of his hands but then hesitated. “Wait a minute. You’re hiding something from me.”

“And what if I am?”

“You know something about the Doctor.”

“What if I do?”

The Master ran down the escalator steps. Nyssa grabbed her ion bonder, affixed to her holster. The Master turned on the Hadron web. The Doctor, Tegan and Adric had escaped Event One. They were now headed for Castrovalva.

Before the Hadron web could tire her again, Nyssa shot the Master with her ion bonder, stunning him. The Master turned off the Hadron web accidentally as he was being stunned. Nyssa ran down the steps and set the coordinates of the Master’s TARDIS to the Phylox system in the Andromeda Galaxy. The Master had created a plan B in case the Doctor and the companions on his TARDIS survived Event One, to cause the Doctor’s latest regeneration to fail: the city of Castrovalva. As she was increasing the speed of the Master’s TARDIS to catch up with the Doctor’s TARDIS, the Master awoke. He forcefully removed Nyssa from his TARDIS controls, but Nyssa was able to get back on them. The two fought on the TARDIS controls, accidentally pushing and pulling levers, pressing buttons, even breaking the screen to the Master’s TARDIS’ index file.

The Master’s TARDIS crashed near Ascreaus Mons, a volcano on Mars.


After the crash landing the Master was knocked unconscious. Nyssa, on the other hand, was conscious. She stood and looked at the man that destroyed her life. Her mind cleared since escaping the Hadron web, the memories of the things the Master did in her life came back to her. The thing that made Nyssa the angriest was that he killed her father, Tremas, in order to take his body. Thinking of how the Master killed Tremas, Nyssa pushed the viewer screen button on the Master’s TARDIS. She saw Ascreaus Mons.

Nyssa opened the doors to the Master’s TARDIS. She grabbed the Master’s body and dragged it out of his TARDIS.

Despite being weakened by the Hadron web and despite the Master’s weight, Nyssa was able to drag the Master towards the top of Ascreaus Mons. By the time they reached the top, the Master was conscious but suffering from burns and cuts on his back and legs.

“Nyssa, is this how you’re supposed to treat the Master?”

“You don’t deserve to speak my name. And it is Nyssa of Traken to you.”

“Do you really think you’re going to throw me in this volcano and kill me for good?”

Nyssa paused. Her people, if they were still alive, would never throw villains like the Master into a volcano. But she was face to face with the same man that killed her stepmother and father and almost made her kill Adric and the Doctor, two people that had become close family to her ever since she lost her own....

“I knew it. The Doctor has contaminated you with his sense of goodness. But, like all things, this can be easily rectified. For I am the Master, and you shall o”—

Nyssa stunned the Master with her ion bonder. She replaced the ion bonder back to her skirt and ran down the mountain, back to the Master’s TARDIS, and started up the Hadron web.

“Doctor? Tegan? Adric? Is anyone there?”

“Nyssa, is that you?” Tegan replied.

“I’m okay.”

“What happened?”

Nyssa explained what had happened to her and where she was. She didn’t tell Tegan about attempting to burn the Master to death and petrify him in lava.

“Okay. I’ll get Adric to set the coordinates. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

The Doctor’s TARDIS materialized next to the Master’s TARDIS. Nyssa ran out of the Master’s TARDIS. Adric ran out to meet Nyssa; he grabbed her hand and the two of them ran back into the Doctor’s TARDIS.

Once she was inside the Doctor’s TARDIS, Nyssa hugged Adric and Tegan.

“Thank goodness you’re safe. Adric and I weren’t sure you’d come back.”

“I wasn’t sure I was going to come back from the Master myself.” Nyssa turned to Adric. “Where are we going next?” The thought of the Master’s unconscious body near the mouth of volcano lingered in her head. She decided that, in the end, she did the right thing.

“We’re going to Castrovalva, in the Andromeda Galaxy. The TARDIS index file says that the planet has healing properties similar to the Doctor’s Zero Room.”

“What happened to the Zero Room?”

“We had to get rid of it, Nyssa,” Tegan replied. “It was the only way we could escape Event Zero. And we need to get the Doctor to Castrovalva or his regeneration will completely fail.”

Adric set the TARDIS coordinates to Castrovalva, and the TARDIS sped off into the Andromeda Galaxy before Nyssa could tell them what the Master made her do in her absence in the Doctor’s TARDIS.

As the Doctor’s TARDIS materialized away from Mars, the Master laughed, knowing the Doctor and his companions were walking into yet another one of his traps.

Time to go to Earth and find someone to power Castrovalva, he thought as he got up from the top of the volcano and headed towards his TARDIS. Nyssa can’t be the only person in the universe who’s able to create a city with their mind.
evilawyer: young black-tailed prairie dog at SF Zoo (Default)

[personal profile] evilawyer 2011-11-06 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
A very fun read. I love Tegan's reaction to being manhandled by the guards.