Everything was going very smoothly, and the Master was delighted. After all, considering no one suspected he was behind this yet, he could see all the chatter on the boards. And oh, he read it all, which also helped him pinpoint other people to take. He needed to take the ones that were putting things together too quickly. Or at the very least take someone close to those putting things together to keep those kinds of people distracted enough to keep them from seeing the bigger picture. After all, he couldn't have people meddling in his affairs and trying to ruin them yet. Oh no, he still needed to toy with the Doctors, and he didn't need anyone else getting in between them and ruining things. This was only between him and the Doctors. Well, his real game. The Autons were just an added bonus to create chaos and keep the rest of the populace busy. And he had hidden the Nestene Power Source well so they would be busy for a while.
To be honest, he'd snatched Simon simply because the man was a doctor. He wanted the people in the complex to feel the crunch, so to speak, of having less medical staff on hand to help in the event people got injured from the Autons. It had been relatively easy to get ahold of Simon once the man had left the complex. He'd taken him to the lab where he'd stashed that blonde woman. Felicia, was it? Yes, Felicia. It was sometimes hard to keep these people's names straight, but he was at least trying to when it came to the kidnapees who mattered. There were a few that were taken just because they were there and would add to the chaos. But mostly there was a method behind those he'd had kidnapped. There was a fine point within the chaos, which the Master reveled in because no one would see that point until it was too late. Or until he wanted them to see it.
As such, he was at the lab to check on Felicia and Simon's accommodations when River showed up. All right, that was unexpected. Or was it? All right, he had expected River to come, just not this quickly. This part was happening ahead of schedule, so he now needed to adjust things and take River prisoner as well. And really, he would take special pride in getting ahold of her because she looked and talked exactly like that stupid abomination, what was her name, Althea? The one that tried to stop his daughter from completing her destiny. So, truthfully, this would be a wonderful thing. True River wasn't Althea, but she was close enough.
When he saw the gun aimed in his direction, the Master managed to move before getting shot. All right, now that was just rude. "Now now, is that any way to say hello to someone?"