The Master threw his head back and laughed. This time, his followers joined in. "I must congratulate you, Doctor. You have seen more than either of these two. But not enough, I'm afraid."

 The Doctor scowled. "What else is there?"

 The Master smiled, his sharp, foul teeth shining brightly. "What do I have to gain? Beyond mere vengeance. Immortality. And not as a vampire."

 "What do you mean?"

 "I can steal the energies of Time Lord regeneration, and thanks to the knowledge of your Master, I can take for myself a new body, powered by the life energies of your remaining lives and the remaining lives of the Rani."

 "How do you plan on triggering a regeneration?"

 The Master held out his hands, and two vampires appeared at his side, placing a stake and a hammer in his hand. "A traditional manner. For vampires." He placed the tip of the stake above the Rani's breast, raised the hammer, and struck down, driving the wooden stake through the chest of the unconscious Rani.

 The Rani's eyes snapped open as she looked down at the stake that protruded from her chest. Blood welled up around the wound, and her eyes were glazed with pain and shock. A soft whimper escaped her lips, and the Doctor realized that she was too shocked to scream.

 "Wait!" he cried out.

 The Master looked at him with a smirk. "Aren't you supposed to say that before I kill her?"

 The Doctor chuckled. "She's not dead, Heinrich. It takes a good deal more than that to kill a Time Lord, and we both know it."

 The Master snarled. "So...you recognized me after all? Even after the centuries of change, after the transformations I have endured?"

 The Doctor nodded. "Heinrich Joseph Nest; the Butcher of Berlin. Six hundred years hasn't done much for your appearance, I must say."

 "But much for my intellect, Doctor. I don't want the Rani dead yet; I need time to prepare the Rituals of Transference. The stake in her rightmost heart will kill her slowly enough that I can do so. And then..." he grinned wickedly. "I will be free!"

 The Doctor stared at him for a long moment. "Free of..." he looked again, this time with his eyes focusing on a different set of dimensions than our own. "You're trapped in the flexion, aren't you? But you'd have a much more limited range than..." He nodded to himself, and glanced over at the unconscious figure on the third table. "The Master. He provided you with the technology to stretch the dimensional membrane that's sealing you in. You, and..." his face went pale. "Oh, dear."

 Xander had gotten himself a good seat, with an excellent view of the event as it was happening, and as such was useless in the discussion that was occurring. Willow was trying to concentrate on the discussion, but was being distracted by Wil as he juggled pencils. Wil wasn't distracted by the pencil juggling, but was distracted by Willow watching him juggle. Hence, the only two people fully involved in the discussion were Buffy and Giles.

 This was probably not a good thing.

 "--and I say it doesn't matter if it's some weird 'Time God' fraternity thing, he's going to need my help, Giles! I'm the Slayer, remember? Sacred duty, Chosen One, all that junk?"

 Giles sighed, as he felt the now-familiar words issue forth. "And he's a Time Lord. An alien with abilities we don't understand. He specified that this was something only he could handle. That we were most emphatically not to become involved."

 Buffy's eyes shone with anger. "And I'm just supposed to buy that? Just sit here on my hands while I could be doing some good just because someone told me I'm not good enough to help out? Uh-uh. I'm going there, and I'm going to help him. Because whether he wants to admit it or not, he needs me."

 Xander raised a hand. "Anyone else want that video-taped as evidence later on?" Wil raised a hand as well, managing to keep everything in the air at once. Willow just nodded.

 Buffy suddenly stopped and looked over at the three of them. "Oh, no," she said. "You guys aren't coming. It is way too dangerous to add three more people to the mix. And you don't even have Slayer...um...ness."

 Wil continued to juggle. "We can have the argument, Buffy, but it's going to end in one of two ways. One, you agree to take us. Two, you tell us to stay here, we wait until you leave, and we go anyway. Those are the only outcomes, really."

 "We could do Number Three," Buffy said brightly. "Where I break your legs so you can't come, and..." she ran the conversation through her head. "Oh, never mind. Let's just get going."

 The circle that surrounded the Rani, as she lay dying on the makeshift altar, was daubed in her blood. It gleamed in the flickering light of the candles that surrounded it; as the candles flickered, their weak light reflected itself in the wet blood, giving it the look of a living thing.

 But the light of the circle struggled to beat back the surrounding darkness. It struggled, and it failed, and the darkness and shadows claimed this place. The darkness gathered here, as though it was watching the last moments before it could spread out and claim the entire earth as its dominion.

 Perhaps it was.

 "How long has it been for you, Doctor?" The Master asked casually. "For me, it has been six hundred years...and yet your face has not changed. You are a Time Lord...how much time has passed for you since we battled?"

 The Doctor watched as, all around him, vampires donned face-concealing, ceremonial robes. It was difficult to see, there in the darkness, but his eyes were better even than vampires. "Fifty years. Perhaps sixty--I'm afraid we Time Lords don't pay much attention to such things. Without a strict frame of reference, it doesn't matter much."

 "Fifty years, eh?" The Master donned a robe of his own, different from the others in style. "And for me it has been six hundred. I have gained much in that time, Doctor. I will demonstrate it all to you, before you die."

 The Doctor smiled grimly. "If you lived another six hundred years, Heinrich, you might--just--get close to what I've lived through. You're smarter than you were when you were alive, I'll grant you...but you're still not playing on my level. And you still haven't learned a fairly basic rule." One of the vampires, in their face-concealing hoods, whipped out a slim length of wood and thrust it through the chest of another one. The Doctor said, "When you plan...plan in depth."

 The fight was surprisingly quick. The hooded figure moved like a whirlwind, striking at the vampires with casual grace. Within moments, they had broken and run...all except one. The Master stood before the assault, watching with a sneer on his face. "Impressive," he said at last. "I wouldn't have believed that it was possible to sneak the Slayer down here, into a gathering of vampires, without even one of us noticing."

 Angel removed his hood and smiled crookedly. "I wouldn't have believed it either." He paused, his brow furrowed with mock thought. "In fact--I still don't." He thrust in with the stake, but the Master caught his wrist easily.

 "Angelus," he said, in a tone of calculated sorrow. "So you finally find the courage to strike at your Master?" He tsked. "Such a shame...I had hopes that you could one day find a place again in our happy home." He twisted, and Angel grimaced in pain... "Still, I'll settle for what I can take; watching you die, for example, before I break free of my prison and destroy the world." He twisted again, and Angel found himself forced onto one knee...the stake slipped from numb and nerveless fingers...

 "His belt!" the Doctor cried out. "Look for a device on the buckle!"

 Angel's face contorted into the demonic visage of a vampire as he pressed back against the Master's strength. He was still too powerful, the surge of strength wouldn't last long, but perhaps...he reached out, spotted a small box that looked out of place, and crushed it.

 The effects were dramatic. The Master was flung backwards as though by a giant's hand, smashing through the stone wall to be hurled back into the pool of blood that was the Hellmouth. Angel was nearly dragged back with him, but a handy grip on the stalagmites prevented him from falling in. He held on for a long moment, just trying to concentrate on regaining his strength.

 From behind him, he heard a woman's--a girl's voice. "Angel?" She's just a girl, he repeated to himself. And a girl who would hate you if she knew. He pushed the demon within him back as he turned to face Buffy.

 "Yeah," he said. "Angel."

 She reached out for his arm--he wanted to pull away, but wasn't sure if that was what he wanted, or what she needed, so he froze as she examined it. "That looked painful," she said.

 "Yeah, well," he looked at the hole in the wall, "you should have seen the other guy."

 "I--are you alright?"

 They were interrupted by an ominous cough from the Doctor. When they turned to face him, they saw him...and a burly vampire who was holding him by the face. The Rani was gone, as was the other Master. The vampire turned to look at them, still holding the Doctor with one hand. "The Rani has ordered me to take vengeance," he said. "She didn't specify who to take vengeance on; I believe I'll kill every living thing on the planet, just to be safe." He flung the Doctor away from him to land heavily on Angel.

 Buffy stepped forward. "Sorry, but I'm afraid I'll have to stop you--it's nothing personal, but...if you kill everyone, who's going to run the malls?" She dropped into a fighting stance. "So what are you? Vampire, demon, football player...help me out here."

 The vampire reached out and grabbed her throat. "My name is Adam...and I'm like nothing you've ever seen before, girl."

 "So what do we do?" Wil asked. "If it's unkillable, we...um, well. We can't kill it, can we?"

 The Doctor shook his head. "No...but we can do other things to it. I think I have a plan..." 

 "You cannot stop me," he said. "I will bring death to every living being on this planet. I cannot be killed, I cannot be beaten."

 A high-pitched whine filled the air, and the ceiling began to shake. "How about crushed?" Xander called out from where he was standing, right next to the Doctor. The Doctor, in turn, was holding a small, hand-held device as though it was a talisman against evil.

 Boulders began to loosen themselves from the ceiling, smashing all around them. Adam rolled out of the way of one impact, then another, making his way ever closer to the Doctor--then Buffy drop-kicked him from behind, sending him sprawling. He was back on his feet in a second, but it was a second too long...

 And then there was just the flight to safety.

 Buffy nodded. "Well, excepting that the Master is still out there, and there are still vampires, and we're still sitting on the Hellmouth, and..."

 "Yes yes yes. But aside from all that, I think we've done a decent job of saving the world."

 Xander said, "Yeah! And just think, we get to do it all again tomorrow!"

 Giles frowned. "You're certain you won't stay? I'm sure that we could use your expertise...and Mr. Flutie is willing to offer you a permanent position."

 The Doctor shook his head. "Once he recovers, Heinrich will be looking for another Time Lord to use in his ceremony--I think it'd be best if we didn't put temptation in his way. Besides, I'm sure that you'll be able to handle it. And..." he smiled, a little sadly. "I've never been very good at staying in one place for very long. Wil?"

 Wil looked over from where he was saying good-bye to Willow. "Um, yeah," he said. "On my way. Here I go. Vroom." He looked at Willow one last time. "You're sure?" he asked.

 Willow nodded. "I'm...I'd miss my family. And my friends. You're sure?"

 Wil nodded. "I've got no home here. No family. Just friends."

 They waved at each other, and Wil ran to join the Doctor in the TARDIS.

 And then they were gone.

 "This is Lilac," the soldier said as he swept a flashlight through the half-wrecked cavern. "I'm showing a negative on anything--wait!" The beam caught a thing, half-crushed beneath a boulder. But it still twitched, feebly, in the rays of his torch. "I've got what looks like an HST here, and it might be still alive."

 The voice over the com-link was female, and it sounded concerned. "Be careful, Agent Finn. I know you've got two kills to your name, but that's no reason to get cocky, here. We still know very little about these things."

 Agent Finn smirked and said, "Yes, Mother," as he approached the creature. He shone the flashlight into its face, watching its lips as they managed to gasp out, despite shattered lungs and a smashed skull, a single word.

 "aaaa....daaaam..."

 "It's alive," he said.

 "Bring it back to the lab," Margaret Walsh said. "We'll examine it further there."

 THE END