“President of the United States?” scoffed the Master. “Fools. I took advantage of Maxil’s dullness and stole a TARDIS meant for him, now bonded to me, and you think I’m going to content myself with being the ruler of a backwards country whose populace is engaged in an informational Civil War? My campaign is a farce! A small part of a much grander scheme that involved getting Sinestro to figure out my plan and foolishly rush to usurp it!” He then activated red lamps and Superman immediately felt weakened. “President?!” The Master then slapped Superman. “Do you have any idea how much power I’d have to give up to be President of the United States? Why do you think Trump flailed and cried like a two-year old during his two terms, especially in 2025!” He then made the restraints slam everyone against the wall. “That’s right, everyone. I made every Republican voter waste their money on a fake Presidential campaign, got the worst of the Justice League’s rogues gallery to kidnap the UN General Assembly, and stole Sinestro’s ring, all just to take advantage of the Grouping!”
“Your failure was predetermined!” growled Batman. The Master stopped gloating and pulled Batman up to his face.
“I’m a Lord of Time, Mr. Wayne,” he said. “I determine destiny.”
“And I went through the Grouping!” hissed Batman. “We all did at one point or another! It hasn’t happened to my friends yet, but it happened to me between this meeting and my first meeting with the Doctor! And the universe goes back to normal despite your best efforts!”
“You lie!”
“Then what’s wrapped around my ankle?” The Master blinked at Batman’s question, then looked down at the Dark Knight’s ankle. There was a glowing rope around it…and Wonder Woman was holding it!
“It’s not called the Lasso of Truth for no reason!” hissed Wonder Woman.
“I’ll be changing Batman’s history, make no mistake!” promised the Master. “And with you all restrained and my wearing of Sinestro’s ring, I’ll turn this planet into a world of order! Something Sinestro keeps failing to do!”
“Sure wish I thought of something,” replied Batman. “Oh wait, I did.” He nodded towards the Master’s desk. The Master looked at the desk and saw a batarang on it…a batarang with a timer!
“NO!” yelped the Master. The batarang blew up and the red light vanished. Superman then flexed and broke out of the restraints. Superman absolutely DECKED him, yet still held back enough that the insane Time Lord’s head didn’t explode! The Master groaned as he lay on the floor. Sinestro then took the ring off the Master’s finger and put it back on his own, restoring his suit.
“This whole event was a waste of time!” snarled Sinestro. “I can’t believe I got roped into a Time Lord’s petty plan!”
“What did he promise you, Sinestro?” asked the Doctor.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” scoffed Sinestro. He fired a blast at Wonder Woman, obviously not wanting to test the lasso, then scattered debris to confuse everyone, then took off and left Earth.
“And there he goes, back to Korugar,” grumbled Green Lantern.
“What about the Master?” asked the Flash. Everyone then heard a noise. They looked over to see that the desk was vanishing!
“NONONO!” shouted the Doctor as she leapt at the desk. Too late, the desk, or rather the Master’s TARDIS, vanished.
“…That’s two that got away,” muttered Martian Manhunter.
The Doctor brought everyone back to the Watchtower. As they all left the TARDIS, the Doctor gathered six little squares. “…Doctor, what are you doing?” asked Superman.
“The TARDIS telepathic circuits can’t make a call to Gallifrey,” replied the Doctor. “I’m sending a message the old-fashioned way.” She laid out the squares in a circle on the floor, then sat cross-legged on the floor and entered a meditative trance. As she meditated, the squares moved across the floor. Four of the squares attached themselves to the sides of a fifth square, then they moved up to form the sides of a box. The last square then slid up one of the box’s sides and aligned itself on top. The seams of the squares then vanished, forming a complete cube. The Doctor woke up with a sigh.
“What is that?” asked Amy.
“It’s a hypercube, a message with all my thoughts concerning the Master’s recent gambit,” replied the Doctor as she stood up and picked the box up, “as well as a request for Gallifrey to watch for the Grouping.”
“What IS the Grouping?” quizzed Lurra Rus.
“It’s where various points in time start blending together,” explained the Doctor. “The confusion would start a greater war.”
“Doctor, won’t less-scrupulous races take advantage of that?” asked Amy.
“Yes, they would,” replied the Doctor. She then concentrated on the hypercube and it vanished. “There we go,” she said. “Barring major disasters, the Time Lords will be made aware.”
“So they’ve returned,” remarked Martian Manhunter.
“…Yes, J’onn, they have,” replied the Doctor. “All I can say is that I’m not asking much, just that they observe things. They can’t do anything more as they’re still rebuilding.”
“Doctor, make sure you never lose them again,” said Martian Manhunter.
“Indeed. Well, goodbye, everyone.” The Doctor and her friends went back into the TARDIS and took off.
“…Nice lady,” remarked Superman. “Now, barring any emergencies, I gotta talk to Lois about her newest article.”
“Someone mention my name?” asked a woman’s voice. A woman with long, raven hair arrived.
“Lois!” Superman brought the woman into a hug. Batman rolled his eyes while Wonder Woman smiled.
“What brings you here, Miss Lane?” asked Wonder Woman.
“Oddly, just a visit,” replied Lois. “But I’m sure I’ll get an assignment about you all later.”
“Well, as long as you’re here, Lois,” said Superman, “…are you doing okay?”
“…Yeah, why?” asked Lois.
“Well, I just got your article-.”
“Nice, isn’t it?! Pure genius!”
“Well, you’re keeping me employed,” remarked Superman. Lois bridled at this.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.
“Lois, there were so many errors and typos! Did you turn off the spellchecker?!”
“SPELLCHECKER CAN’T CONTROL ME, CLARK!” Superman backed and raised his hands at that. He could take on Darkseid, wallop Doomsday, and foil all of Luthor’s plans, but he wasn’t gonna try and take on Lois’ retort!
Back in the TARDIS as it spun through the Time Vortex, the Doctor fiddled with the controls, monitoring the Time Vortex for any temporal anomalies. Amy and Lurra Rus gave her some space. As she worked, the Doctor heard a beeping. She headed over to see that it was a video call from Gallifrey. “Let’s hope it’s to say that they got it, old girl,” the Doctor whispered to the TARDIS. She activated the scanner. “This is the Doctor. Receiving you, Gallifrey,” she said. A Time Lord’s face appeared. “Ah, my granddaughter’s Castellan, yes?”
“Castellan Stognavtifrelizundar,” replied the Castellan. “But let’s take a page from the lady Romana’s book and just call me Stognav.”
“Now that’s a page I had help in writing,” chuckled the Doctor. “So did you get my message?”
“Yes, and we’re monitoring the Time Vortex for any anomalies,” replied Stognav. “It’s a good thing you merely asked for monitoring as we’re not in a state to do anything about the upcoming Grouping.”
“I didn’t think so. Last time I was on Gallifrey, you lot were drafting a new Constitution.”
“We’ve gone through a few rough drafts, but we believe we’re getting closer to one that would make Gallifrey as dynamic as Earth. Even the Outsiders have a say.”
“Truly?” asked the Doctor hopefully.
“It’s been decided that there would be two High Councils,” explained Stognav, “the High Council of Time Lords and the High Council of Gallifrey. It’s believed that, since Outsiders outnumber Time Lords, their High Council should be bigger than ours. President Foreman’s insistence.”
“Well, she lived on Earth for a while, I can guess where she got the idea,” chuckled the Doctor with pride.
“Doctor, she tasked us with looking at the various points of English Parliament, believing that they could provide a framework for how both High Councils should meet and debate.”
“Make sure you look at Parliament’s mistakes as well as their victories,” directed the Doctor.
“Very well. If you could provide us with a good starting point, that would be helpful,” said Stognav.
“Transmitting now,” replied the Doctor as she keyed in the time periods to look at.
“Oh, a union of parliaments, was it?” chuckled Stognav. “Very well. We’ll take it from here, Doctor. Erm, you WILL also be on the lookout for any indications that the Grouping will start?”
“Naturally, I’m not letting you do all the work,” replied the Doctor.
“Very good. Safe travels to you and your companions.” Stognav ended the call. By then, Amy and Lurra Rus came in. Amy was back in her goth dress.
“Who was that?” asked Amy.
“Gallifrey,” replied the Doctor. “They got my hypercube. I won’t be monitoring the Time Vortex alone.”
“Great!” sighed Lurra Rus happily. “Now…where should we start monitoring?”
“…Well, psychic energy CAN affect the Time Vortex,” mused the Doctor. “Maybe we should check out where the greatest psychic concentration is.” The Doctor began her scans.