Author's Note: Now it gets interesting. =D

xxxxx Chapter 4 Time Energy

The Master glared at Jack but sighed with defeat and looked back at Luke and asked, "What do you want to know?"

"First of all, what's artron energy and why is in your body?" Luke asked, looking excited again.

"Could you come up with a more complicated question?" the Master muttered, looking him in the eye. Luke looked chagrined by that response.

"Alright," the Master sighed, rolling his eyes. "Time Lords evolved in constant exposure to the Untempered Schism, a gap in the fabric of reality. It bleeds time energy, affecting everything around it. In other words, all of Gallifrey was steeped in it by the time we evolved this far. Artron energy is the residue left behind by the Time Vortex. We literally have Time flowing through our veins," the Master added with a snicker, looking at the astonished faces in front of him. "We can't live without it. It's also what enables us to regenerate, which can usually be done twelve times. So, on average, we get thirteen lives all together. The Doctor is currently in his tenth body. I ran out of regenerations but I acquired more. Don't ask how. Not that it matters, I don't have them anymore."

"Then, how does Jack have it inside him?" Gwen asked.

The Master and Jack looked pointedly at Rose, who looked a little sheepish, looking around at everyone looking at her. She cleared her throat, "That's another story, can we just move on with the whole Time Lord explanation?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrows at the Master.

"So, if you died, how are you back and bleeding energy? How did that happen?" Luke asked.

The Master smiled. He was starting to like this kid. "I was resurrected but my 'wife' botched it. I came back but not completely."

"I heard Broadfell Prison burned down. Was that you?" Jack asked pointedly.

The Master smirked, "I'll admit I was there, but Lucy's the one who blew the place up. Stopping a Time Lord's resurrection, while it's in progress, inevitably causes an energy burst when its cuff off from the body it's feeding into. It left me alive but torn open, the energy is leaking out of me. It has made me insanely powerful though," the Master chuckled.

"Lucy tried to stop you?" Jack asked.

"She shot me in the first place. Is it so hard imagine?" the Master asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Not even the least bit sorry that she's dead, are you?"

"Not really, no."

"Why was it done at Broadfell, in the first place?"

"We're getting off topic!" Sarah Jane shouted over them, seeing an argument brewing.

"Sorry," Jack said. "So, how is it leaking out, what do you mean by 'torn open'?"

"It's quite painful, actually. It's almost like bleeding out but, where that makes you feel cold and makes you pass out before you die, this is much worse. It feels like my nervous system is being ripped out of me, one nerve at a time."

"You didn't answer my question," Jack pointed out.

"No, and I'm not going to," the Master said.

Jack glared at him, "Why not?"

"Because you wouldn't understand it, even if I explained every word. Some of those words don't even translate into English."

"Is it possible to extract that energy from a Time Lord?" Luke asked.

"Yes. I tried to steal the Doctor's remaining regenerations when he was in his eighth body. I failed, of course."

Sarah Jane, Rose and Martha all looked at him with disgust.

"So, is there a way to take it out of Jack?" Luke prompted.

"If you mean permanently, yes. But it would require a Time Lord, who can control that energy, to do what little Miss Bad Wolf over there did the first time around, to reverse it," the Master said. "And it would kill that body; cause them to regenerate when they release the energy. So, sorry Handsome Jack, I'm not doing it and I doubt you'd ask the Doctor to do it. You're screwed."

Jack looked disappointed.

"Although," the Master started. "I could do it and keep the energy. Make myself into a God but I still wouldn't fix you, you're too much fun to play with."

"Comforting," Jack said sarcastically.

The rest of them looked scared at the possibility of the Master turning into a God.

The Master laughed. "Relax, I'd need a TARDIS to do it and I don't have one anymore," the Master sighed. "Oh, how I miss my baby. She was so beautiful and so much more reliable than the Doctor's bucket of bolts. But, alas, the only one left in existence is the Doctor's and I doubt his TARDIS would allow me to do it. Feisty old thing, she is. Bloody Type Forty, piece of junk."

"I don't get it," Luke said, looking thoroughly confused, which was a new and disconcerting thing for him.

"None of you know, exactly what a TARDIS is, do you?" the Master said looking around at them.

"No," they all said collectively.

The Master laughed again. "The Doctor never tells you anything important at all, does he? I mean, he didn't even bother to tell you who I was to him," the Master snickered and started to laugh harder. "I bet you don't even know how old he really is," the Master continued to laugh, uncontrollably.

"He said he's nine hundred and six," Rose supplied, getting angry with the Master's condescending attitude.

The Master smirked. "Yeah, in Gallifreyan years," the Master chuckled. "But you don't know how long that is, do you?" he asked.

They all looked at each other, bewildered and shocked.

"Okay, so how about taking artron energy from Jack, on a temporary basis?" Luke asked. "Can you do that? Could it fix you?"

"Yes, it can be done but it would only postpone the inevitable," the Master said. "Unless, I can get the Doctor to finish the resurrection."

"How would he do that?" Jack asked.

"The Chameleon Arch, wired into the heart of the TARDIS," the Master said, smirking. "It would complete the energy transfer."

"So, how would you go about taking the energy from me?"

The Master leered at him. Jack flinched.

At that moment, four albino lunch ladies came in, each with carts full of food. The Master sniffed the air, closing his eyes. He licked his lips and jumped up. He shoved his way past the people who were surrounding him and he practically dove for the food and started devouring it all.

Everyone watched him, a little disgusted with his ravenous behavior and lack of table etiquette. At least, now they understood why he was doing it. Rhys watched him eat, feeling a little envious. He was still hungry.

Another albino lady came in with an armful of Earth board games. Everyone else went straight for those, after one night of absolute boredom; they were a god-send.


John was escorted down a plain hallway, his arms held firmly by a couple of Judoon. He was taken to a sort of clean room with two machines inside it. They looked suspiciously like mind probes, which made John gasp in fright and start struggling against his captors.

"No! No no no no, whatever you want to know, just ask!" he pleaded with the man, who looked like he was in charge. "I'll tell you anything you want!"

"I'm afraid that's not good enough, Doctor," the Scientist said plainly with an indulgent but sinister grin, like he just got a particularly interesting guinea pig.

John redoubled his attempts to get free, but he was so much weaker as a human and the Judoon were so big, that his attempts seemed feeble at best. They carried him to one of the machines, kicking and screaming and strapped him into the seat.


The Doctor arrived at the Shadow Proclamation; he emerged from his TARDIS in his brown suit and long coat, looking every bit like the Oncoming Storm.

He had made a pit stop on Earth to see what was going on there, having felt the presence of the Master and the human Doctor. Only to find that they weren't there and neither was Martha and Torchwood was mysteriously missing. Sarah Jane was gone and her son, Luke. Luke's friends, Clyde and Rani, had no idea where they went and were both extremely worried.

"I'll get them home, I promise," the Doctor told them.

They tried to get him to take them along because they wanted to help, but with a firm "No!" he slipped back into his TARDIS and left.

He found Broadfell Prison, where Lucy Saxon was being held, to be burned to the ground, leaving nothing but cinders.

To his horror, he also found that Donna was missing and her mother and her grandfather. That was more than enough for him to look further. He followed his Time Lord senses to the Master and the human Doctor, who, eerily, were at the same place.

So, there he was, at the Shadow Proclamation with only one question: "Where are my friends?" he asked the Architect, when she came to greet him.

"They are safe," she said simply. "Lord Doctor, it has been a while. It's good to see you. How are you?" she attempted to sound pleasant and friendly.

"I'd be better, if you had left my loved ones where they're supposed to be," the Doctor replied loudly. "You've put a few of them in mortal danger by bringing them here."

The Architect smiled indulgently, "They are quite alright I assure you. Come, we have much to discuss," the Architect turned to go.

"No," the Doctor said sternly, his face like stone. "I don't care what you want, the only thing that is important and needs to be discussed, is where my friends are. I am taking them home, now!"


The Master stopped in his feeding frenzy and sniffed the air again. Jack was watching him. The Master's eyes went wide and he turned toward the door, which was now guarded by two Judoon, since the Master almost knocked it off its hinges.

"What is it?" Jack asked him from across the room.

Everyone turned to see who Jack was talking to, they saw the Master looking at the door and they all became restless.

"He's here," the Master said with a manic grin spreading across his face.

Everyone stood up, except Donna and her mother, who was worrying over Donna and her ever growing headache.

"Try not to think, sweetheart," Sylvia was telling her.

Donna didn't even notice when Wilfred got up to see what everyone else was on about.

Rose and her family, Jack and Torchwood, the Jones family and Sarah Jane and Luke all went up to the Master eagerly.

"You mean the Doctor?" Rose asked.

The Master wiped his mouth on his sleeve and stomped up to the Judoon, Jack and Torchwood close behind. He stood about five feet away, eyeing up their guns and smirking, menace emanating from him. They watched him carefully, ready to subdue him if need be.

Jack was looking between the Judoon and the Master, waiting for the stand-off to end and erupt into, what he thought would most likely amount to, a bar room brawl. Jack was surprised, however, when the Judoon raised their guns and the Master took the small opportunity. In the millisecond it took them to raise their guns, the Master launched himself at them. With surprising strength, that he shouldn't have had and to everyone's astonishment, he snapped both of their large and muscled necks with blinding speed. Their heads hung from their bodies in a gruesome way. He stood over them laughing, rubbing his hands together.

"Amateurs," the Master said. "Trying to take on a Time Lord, they're even dumber than I thought."

They all stared at him, mouths gaping. He stared back for a second.

"Well?" he asked Jack.

"What?" Jack asked, completely lost.

The Master pointed at the guns, "I don't need them."

He bent down to grab the keys for the door locks. They were funny looking keys, they almost looked like glow sticks. Long, hard plastic tubes with a glowing strip of light inside each of them, all different colors.

"Oh," Jack said and grabbed one of the Judoon guns.

Gwen, who was now Jack's weapon specialist, grabbed the other. It was interesting, since Gwen had never even held a gun before she took the job at Torchwood, even though she was a police constable.

The Master opened the door and took out the two Judoon on the other side of the door with the same swiftness and strength as before. He attacked them like he was like a wild animal.

"You're gonna have to teach me how to do that," Jack said, his eyebrows raised.

The Master just snickered and started down the hall. Everyone followed, Wilfred and Sylvia helping Donna along. Her head hurt so bad she couldn't see.

"Can all Time Lords do that?" Jack asked, curious.

"Yes," the Master answered simply.

"I've never seen the Doctor show that much strength before," Rose said.

"The Doctor's a terminal pacifist," the Master said with distaste. "Why do you think he's already in his tenth incarnation even though he's only nine hundred and six years old? He could be so much more, if he let himself use his strengths and take what's rightfully his, as the Time Lord Victorious."

Rose and Jack glanced at each other with slightly scared looks but continued to follow the Master, silently.


"If you cooperate with us Lord Doctor, we will send them home for you, safe and sound," the Architect said to him.

"What do you want?" the Doctor asked warily but with evident rage. Time Lord fury hung over room like a cold draft.

The Architect was a little unnerved by the Doctor's very presence, she barely suppressed a shiver. She swallowed but continued as though unfazed, "We need your knowledge, Lord Doctor."

"Why? What do you want to know?" he stepped forward, looking confused. That was a mistake.

That very moment several Judoon swarmed the room, six of them surrounded the TARDIS, blocking the Doctor's way to it. Two blocked every entrance and four more went to the Doctor, guns aimed straight at him.

The Doctor scowled at the Architect and put his hands up, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What is necessary," she said simply, an almost apologetic look about her face.


They made their way through the halls, the Master, Jack, Mickey and Jake at the front of the rather large group and Gwen and the other members of Torchwood at the back.

The Master shivered and smiled with glee, "Ooh, the Doctor is so mad. It's giving me shivers."

Jack and everyone immediately behind the Master all looked intrigued, scared and a little excited, knowing their rescuer, ride home and cherished friend had arrived.

"We have to find John," Rose said to Jack and the Master. The Master scoffed, Jack glared at him.

"We'll find him, Rose. Don't worry," Jack said, still glaring at the Master.

"Fine!" the Master growled and gave in. He followed the telepathic link to the human Doctor.

Having come across a total of six Judoon on the way, all of which were taken out by the Master with a terrifying rage, they made it to a hallway that was neater and cleaner than the rest of what they'd seen so far. The rest resembled an Earth correctional institution, whereas this was more like an executive's office. Unfortunately, there were a lot more Judoon in this hallway. Too many Judoon.

As soon as they all entered the hallway, they were completely surrounded. There were too many Judoon even for the Master to take out. He got six of them before they wrestled him to the ground. Gwen shot two of them before they swamped her and Jack managed three before they tackled him. They were obviously under orders not to kill any of them, as the Master took out two more while he was struggling to get free, but they still didn't try to shoot him.

There were shrieks as enough Judoon took each one of them by the arms. There were even ones for the children, which didn't go over well when they pried them from their parent's arms. Lots of shouting and fighting ensued but none of them were strong enough to take on even one Judoon on their own, which made them all appreciate the Master's strength even more.

Then an aisle was cleared, as the Architect came through the crowd. She was closely followed by four Judoon. Two of them were dragging a struggling Doctor by his arms; the other two were behind him with guns pointed at his back, nudging him along.

The Doctor stopped struggling when he saw all of the people in front of him. "Oh, no," the Doctor said looking at them all. He was completely horrified that there were this many people here. Even more than he thought there would be.

This could get tricky.

TBC