In the Past...

 "Ah, Mister Bond," the man in the dark suit said, his one good eye glaring out at the captive spy, "it appears that we meet again. You might remember what you did to my left eye?"

 "Ah, well," James said sheepishly, "I'm afraid that I don't, honestly. Perhaps you simply didn't make an impression?"

 The man in the dark suit lashed out at Bond, his gold ring leaving a trail of blood across the spy's face. "Perhaps that will make a better impression, Mister Bond. Singapore, three years ago?"

 Bond gingerly touched his cheek as best he could with his bound hands, rubbing away a bit of the blood. "That did seem to jog the memory. I thought you died in the explosion."

 "Although you did your best, I survived. Thoughts of revenge nursed me through the long, dark hours in Intensive Care. Thoughts of revenge helped me withstand the agonizingly painful skin treatments that restored me to what I am today, despite the loss of my eye." He pulled out a Glock 18. "Unfortunately, Mister Bond, the loss of my eye has ruined my depth perception. My marksmanship is not what it was."

 "A tragic loss," 007 muttered. "So you won't be able to shoot me, then?"

 The man in the dark suit pressed the nose of the gun to Bond's chest. "No, Mister Bond, it means I will be close enough to look you in the eye when you die."

 There was a single muffled gunshot. The man in the dark suit gestured to his men, and they turned away, leaving the body to slump lifelessly into the sand.

 In the Present...

 James walked down the street at a jaunty pace, occasionally altering his path just enough to check for the tell-tale signs of trailing agents. He hadn't spotted any so far, but if the people he was hunting were up to the usual standards, they might already have sent agents to intercept him. Even so, it was hard to restrain his enthusiasm as he made his way towards a local tobacconist's shop.

 The interview with the woman in Cambridge had been interesting, to say the least. She'd been very polite--charming, in fact. But she'd been evasive on the subject of this 'Doctor', and indeed on UNIT itself. All she'd said was, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." And she'd even turned down an offer of a drink--a rarity indeed. Fairly odd, considering how hot her house was. Almost like the reptile house at the zoo...

 He put the inconclusive interview out of his head as he stepped into the shop, listening to the little bell ring as he opened the door.

 "Good day, sir," said the proprietor, an elderly gentleman with a fringe of white hair around his bald head.

 "Good morning, Q," Bond said as he closed the door. "Got any Cuban cigars in for me today?"

 Q simply sighed. "Honestly, 007, it's a wonder everyone doesn't know that this is a secret laboratory. We might as well put a sign on the door." As he said that, he put up a sign on the door and locked it. Flippantly, 007 checked the sign, which read 'Coffee Break--Back In 15'. He smiled at Q and shrugged. Q simply shook his head in response, and walked over to a display case of cigarette lighters. Pulling on a secret latch, he opened the entire case to reveal a stairway. "After you, 007," he said, gesturing extravagantly.

 "Why, thank you," James replied, walking into the gloom.

 They emerged into a gleaming white room, filled with technicians bustling about, and various beeps, booms, and crashes. Occasionally, one saw a dummy explode under the impact of rocket-powered bolas, or melt under the onslaught of concentrated acid.

 "Still testing for Autons, Q?" Bond quipped.

 "Pay attention, 007," Q responded in exasperation. "It's time to give you your equipment for this mission." He arrived at a table filled with seemingly-normal equipment and reached for a men's wristwatch. "Now," he said, "you're familiar with the standard-issue wristwatch..."

 "Of course," Bond said professionally.

 "This is the usual model, with one additional modification--it has a small supply of darts. The dart itself is one-eighth of an inch long, and dissolves completely when it enters the bloodstream, releasing a sedative that should cause the target to fall asleep within thirty seconds."

 "How's it triggered?" Bond asked as he slipped on the watch.

 "Simply press down the outer dial twice rapidly--and make sure your wrist isn't in the way of the firing chamber!"

 "Otherwise, it'll be time for bed in more way than one, eh?"

 Q sighed exasperatedly, and continued with the briefing. "Now, this pen here can be used normally, but it also has a reservoir of liquid nitrogen that can be released in case you need to break any locks. Simply pull back the top half, turn it ninety degrees, then push in." He demonstrated, and the head of a mannequin steamed as the icy liquid hit it.

 "Simply chilling, Q," Bond said. "Perfect for those rejection letters?"

 "Honestly, 007, I wish you'd take this seriously." He reached for a small pair of silver cufflinks. "These, of course, go on your wrists...but pull them free of your sleeves, and you've got a small, compact explosive."

 "Just the thing for those boring formal parties," Bond said lightly as he put them on.

 "And lastly, this credit card. It's a Visa, with a charge limit of $500,000...and every time you run it through a magnetic strip, it helps charge up its internal batteries. Then hold it with the strip down, and the Visa logo towards you, then press down on that #0 there--the fifth digit--and, well..." he pressed the small button, and two thin wires shot into the mannequin, followed by a bright flash. "A taser, with a 500 volt charge."

 "Gives a whole new meaning to the words, 'Charge it', doesn't it?"

 Q sighed. "Oh, grow up, 007."

 The Doctor turned from his mug of ginger beer, taking in the dingy atmosphere of the London pub. "Please, just call me Doctor. 'Smith' is so formal, and it's also not really my name. And you are...?"

 The man in the tuxedo said. "My name is James Bond."

 "Of course," the Doctor said. "Believe me when I say I've heard absolutely nothing about your career. But then, I expect that's how you people like it, eh?"

 The man in the tuxedo smiled thinly. "Indeed. Now then, Doctor, I believe we must be preparing to leave. Southbridge awaits, and the trail grows cold."

 "Ah, well," the Doctor said, looking down, "we still have to wait for my assistant. She's running a little late today."

 The man in the tuxedo looked at his watch. "Very well," he said, "we shall wait a minute or two."

 First, she'd overslept. That was bad enough, and she'd hoped the Doctor could be sworn to secrecy--the Brigadier would have her head if he knew. But it didn't matter after all--she'd thrown on a hastily assembled outfit, ran down to her car, and noticed the flat before she'd even opened the door.

 From there it was a bus ride to Central London, only to find that the nearest stop was a half-mile from the pub she was supposed to meet the Doctor at. So, summoning up her energy, she ran the whole way, glancing at her watch every few seconds and mentally kicking herself.

 Finally, now, the pub was coming into view. She pushed herself into a last desperate burst of energy...and her heel broke off, sending her sprawling to the pavement.

 "Are you alright, ma'am?" a man's voice asked from behind her.

 "I think so," she said as she sat up. "I...oh!" she squeaked. "You're that man from the Ministry we're supposed to meet! That..."

 "Bond," the dark-haired man said with a smile as he helped her to her feet. "James Bond. And you must be Jo Grant."

 "Yes," she said, running her fingers through her hair, feeling stupid. "I'm sorry I'm late, my car got a flat, and...where's the Doctor?"

 "I haven't gone in yet," James said, gesturing to the entrance. "See the man over there by the newsstand? I think someone is watching the pub."

 "Oh," Jo cried, all the while wishing she hadn't, "is the Doctor in trouble?"

 "It's possible," Bond said in a concerned tone. "If you can watch the entrance, I'll go in and see what's going on."

 "No," she said. Bond looked at her strangely. "Um...nothing's going on in there we can hear, right? So they must be trying to keep things calm. But if you go in there, they'll be expecting trouble." She blushed. "Nobody expects trouble from me."

 James smiled. "Alright, then. Ladies first."

 The Doctor sighed. "Very well, then...if I could just write her a note?"

 The man in the tuxedo nodded. The Doctor pulled out a pen and started writing rapidly. Just then, Jo rushed into the room, limping slightly.

 "Ah, Jo!" the Doctor exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. "We were afraid we'd have to leave without you!"

 Jo's face was pale and drawn. "Doctor," she said nervously, "I think--"

 The man in the tuxedo smiled widely. "Excellent," he said, "now we can all go."

 "After you," said the Doctor.

 "No, no...after you."

 The Doctor smiled widely, and made his way towards the door, grabbing Jo's arm as he did so.

 "But Doctor--" she muttered as he led her out.

 "Later, Jo," the Doctor said, "we have an appointment to keep, and we wouldn't want to disappoint our hosts!" On the last word, as he went through the door, he slammed it back in the face of the man in the tuxedo. Then they raced onto the sidewalk, Jo kicking off her shoes as she did so.

 Within moments, three burly men surrounded them, pointing guns in their direction. "Not the local Welcome Wagon, then?" the Doctor said, raising his hands in the air.

 The man in the tuxedo stepped out of the pub, holding his nose with one hand. "I see, Doctor...I was hoping we could keep this civilized, but you did insist on being stubborn. Very well. The Planners wished to see you alive, but they did not insist on your being able to walk unassisted..." He pulled out a gun, only to have it shot out of his hands. "Eh?"

 James Bond stepped out from the alcove, a Walther PPK in his right hand. "Hello, Josef. I see you've improved the English accent."

 Josef blanched. "You fools!" he whispered tightly to his henchmen. "You were supposed to be watching for him!" Two of the thugs turned towards 007. As they did so, the Doctor lodged a single finger into the forehead of the last thug, and he dropped like a stone. Bond shot the other two thugs in the kneecaps, and as they fell over in pain, he looked to Josef, who ran.

 "Hullo," the Doctor said, extending his hand. "I'm known as the Doctor, and...oh." His voice fell. "It's you, isn't it? Hmph. They always said you'd turn out to no good."

 "They said the same thing about you," James said jauntily as he reholstered his pistol. "Looks like they were right on both counts. Shall we go? Josef isn't much in a fight, but he'll be informing his bosses in short order."

 "Of course," the Doctor said. As they began to move off, he whispered, "Does yours work, then?"

 James chuckled lightly. "I was dropped off here, Theta. They said they'd be back to pick me up when the sentence was served. That was 70 years ago..." They reached a BMW, and bond opened the rear door to let Jo in, then opened the front one for the Doctor.

 "How did you manage it?" the Doctor asked as Bond climbed in and started the car. "I've only been here for about a year, and I don't know how I've made it this far without the hope of restoring my TARDIS..."

 "Oh, it's not so bad," Bond said. He checked the rearview mirror, only to spot three cars behind them. "Fine wines, fancy cars, beautiful women...I think of it as more sort of house arrest than anything else." He spun the wheel in a tight turn to try to evade the cars, but they rounded the corner in good order.

 "Doctor," Jo said from behind them, "is he a--is he one of your people?"

 "Not now, Jo," the Doctor said as he clung to the door handle with one hand.

 Bond accelerated the car to 200 kph and whipped through a series of throughways, watching as the cars kept up with him easily. Men leaned out of the windows on each side of the lead car with Uzis, spraying the BMW with machine gun fire. Jo and the Doctor ducked down in their seats, but James simply gritted his teeth and kept going, weaving and ducking while making a mental note to get Q to give his next car remote control so he could drive it while hiding in the backseat.

 As he headed down a busy street, a truck hauling newspapers suddenly backed out of the alleyway in front of him. With lightning reflexes, he slid the car around the truck with no difficulties. The car behind him wasn't so lucky, or so fast, and wound up slamming into it. The other two cars behind him managed to stop, but they couldn't get around the wreckage.

 "Power of the press," 007 quipped lightly. "Shall we be going? Southbridge awaits us..."

 They headed into the headmaster's office with a minimum of fuss, as the assistant headmaster had been told to expect them. He said, "If you need anything, simply ask," then closed the door behind them.

 "Did anything seem odd about that chap to you?" asked the Doctor.

 "He did have a certain calmness about him," James agreed, "almost as if..."

 "As if he'd been hypnotized?" said a suave voice from the headmaster's chair. It spun around to reveal a powerful man, with dark, menacing eyes and a black goatee with graying streaks in it.

 "I suspected as much when I heard of the 'doll' in the study," said the Doctor. "James--may I introduce the most fiendish, diabolical criminal that our people ever produced. He calls himself 'The Master'. He was supposed to be in a UNIT containment cell awaiting trial, but it appears that he's escaped again."

 "Fiendish, diabolical--you're far too kind," the Master said with a smile. "Of course, I am familiar with Agent 007--I was rather expecting his involvement with the case as soon as I began to plan it. That is why I arranged for a partner--a gentleman who already has an acquaintance with Mister Bond."

 The door opened behind them to reveal an Oriental man in a dark suit. The left side of his face had the shiny look one associated with the skin of burn victims, and the hair was sparse on that side of his head. He wore an eye patch over his left eye, and three men with guns stood behind him.

 "Mister Bond," the man said as he bowed slightly, "I'm sure you remember your humble servant Jiang Dehuai."

 "How could I forget you," Bond said coldly. "Six months ago, you killed me."

 "Then I was right!" Jo exclaimed. "You are a Time Lord!"

 TO BE CONTINUED...