Please allow me to introduce myself,
I'm a man of wealth and taste......
(Sympathy for the Devil, Rolling Stones)
I am the one entity he fears the most. For I am a part of him he has tried to deny his whole life. Even that idiot, the one who fancies himself "The Master", doesn't get under his skin like I do. Daleks? Pshaw! He is amused by them, but knows they are no match. Cybermen? How hard is it to keep defeating a "bunch of pathetic tin soldiers"? I could go on and on with all the enemies he's taken on, but you know them all. And he fears none of them, though he might fake it for a while.
I am the one he fears the most.
Why does he fear me so?
Because he needs me more than he'll ever admit.
If it wasn't for me, he'd never have the backbone and the skills needed to defeat all the horrors of the universe. I am the one with whom he converses with when it looks like he's brooding in deep thought. I am the one who keeps him from becoming completely human...for his own good. I am the Yang to his Yin, which is as good as an example for my existence.
So have you guessed who I am yet?
Of course you have.
I have been called a distillation of evil. That's a vast overstatement, unless you're like him -- a romantic dreamer - and see the universe in terms of black and white. I see the universe as it truly is, in shades of grey. And while I wholeheartedly admit that I am the darker hues, I am not true evil.
The truth is that I am the pragmatist he truly wants to be.
When he battled Goth in the APC net, I was the one who helped him survive the assaults. I was the one who helped him trap and defeat Goth. When he took on Morbius in Mind-Bending, I was the one who gave him the extra strength. I was the one who helped him defeat Fenric once and for all. And when he became the ruthless manipulator doing what was needed to preserve the time-streams, he drew on me.
The truth, the words you don't want to hear, is that he needs me. For without me, he is incomplete.
The fact that I tried to take over completely during his sham trial, notwithstanding. It was a moment of weakness. What would you say if you were in my shoes?
That situation turned out to be a disaster, between the wanna-be Moriarity showing up and showing all the deceptive skills of a bull in a china shop and the cowards on the Council back-pedalling from their deal the moment the fool figures out what is happening. And, of course, my other half makes a speech and nearly gets me killed inside the Matrix...
A side note: I had nothing to do with the execution of the jury, or the Particle Disseminator, no matter what you've been told before. That was all the Master's doing. He framed me; I was just a scapegoat for his usual grandiose follies. He is a clever individual, but reminds me of a cartoon villain, more than a worthy adversary.
So, my reason for taking Him over (or at least attempting to) came down to survival. Instead, I was forced to capture a useless bureaucrat who would have wasted his lives anyway. I have a separate existence now, but I know I am still incomplete without the romantic fool as balance, just as he is without me.
My political career had ended with the Master's blundering. The bastard couldn't stay out of the way, like he was supposed to. He'd like to think I'd be competition for his petty, unfulfillable desires of universal domination. (It's not like he'd know what to do with the universe, except shout at it.) The truth is the Master knows he's no match for me. I would have ended him long ago if I had my way.
Like my other half did all those centuries ago. I stole a TARDIS and left Gallifrey. I've kept tabs on Him. It's kind of fun watching himself get in a panic about turning into me, especially when the little man with the Scots burr came into existence. The ironic thing is that He's asked me for help more than any other incarnation. The destruction of Skaro; Using Nemesis to destroy the Cybermen...all my ideas. He's just afraid to admit them, even to himself. If he does that, he has to admit how much of me is a part of him and vice versa.
There have been a couple of incarnations that have come close to accepting me and what I bring. The Talause LauTrec clone and the old man being the closest. Both understood how important I was to make them complete beings. Not that they completely embraced me and my view of how the universe works.
If you're wondering what I've done since I left Gallifrey, well, I paid the Master in kind, setting up his eventual demise by other half. And as I said before, I've kept tabs on my other half from time to time, hopefully trying to find out when and, more importantly, why he cut me lose. Otherwise, I've kept to myself. I will admit that THEY have called on me for some of their blackest operations, the ones they won't even trust my alter ego with. Sometimes, a romantic fool won't do when a pragmatist is needed for the job.
I don't expect you to believe me; after all, you feel more comfortable with his explanations, not mine. He's nicer than me. He'll be your friend and empathise with you. Give you the kind word and the pat on the back you're looking for. Me? I'd just solve your problem the most efficient way possible and berate you for you foolishness along the way.
It's my nature.
You don't have to like me, just have a little sympathy.
