Disclaimer: I don't own 'Doctor Who' or any of the related characters; you should know the drill by now

Feedback: I'd appreciate it, believe me (Particularly for this chapter; I'd REALLY like to know what people think of my decision for the Master's wife…)

AN: Just to clarify, this chapter omits the scene with the Doctor modifying the TARDIS keys- it was exactly the same as the original and it added NOTHING I really wanted to explore here anyway- and jumps straight to the aftermath of the confrontation between the Master and the President, with the meeting with the Toclafane being moved to the Valiant

AN 2: Another reference to "Filling in the Blanks" here, just to warn you in advance

Broken Faith

Standing silently on the airport runway where the Prime Minister and the President were meeting to discuss the Toclafane, the Doctor, Martha and Jack could only stare silently at the sight of the Master- this incarnation was a lot more 'jocular' than previous Masters, with that 'zipper on the mouth' thing he seemed to have done; the Doctor wasn't sure if a Master willing to make jokes like that was a good thing or a bad thing in this situation- talking with the President of the United States, the two men 'agreeing'- or rather, the President deciding and the Master just going along with it- to transfer the meeting to the Valiant.

The Doctor couldn't help but be grateful at that part of recent events; at least, with the Valiant some way away from any land, if the situation became… difficult… there couldn't be that many innocents available for the Master to use against him…

Of course, the Master's wife was still an unknown factor- all they could see was the back of her head, her face remaining out of sight even as the Master's security force walked her off towards the Prime Minister's private plane-, but the Doctor was fairly certain she didn't seem like a threat; he'd have to figure out what role she played in the Master's plan once this whole mess was over…

For a moment, as the Master gazed around the airport, his gaze briefly seemed to settle on the Doctor despite the perception filter, but the moment passed as he walked off towards one of his nearby cars, only to turn back around with a broad grin on his face as a police van suddenly pulled up nearby, the back opening to reveal three specific passengers.

"Oh my God…" Martha whispered, staring in horror at the sight of her parents and sister, hands bound as they were forcibly hauled out of the van, yelling at Saxon with statements where she didn't need to hear the specific words to know what they wree saying.

"Don't move," the Doctor said, leaning over slightly to place a hand on Martha's arm; the last thing they needed was to give the game away at this crucial step.

"But…" Martha repeated, still staring out at her family as they were moved to another truck.

"Don't," the Doctor repeated, wishing he had the time or luxury to show more sympathy for Martha's desire to save her family.

For a moment Martha stood silently, her eyes fixed on the Master as he grinned sadistically at the imprisoned Jones family.

"I'm gonna kill him," she said coldly, her fists clenched.

"What say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Jack asked, his tone grim as he glared at the Master before him.

"Now that sounds like Torchwood," the Doctor muttered, glancing back over at Jack with a short glare.

"Still a good plan," Jack muttered.

The Doctor wasn't sure what was worse; the fact that Jack believed that, or the fact that, as he stood there, watching the Master grin as Martha's family were taken away, the memory of Grace's body hitting the floor of the TARDIS after she had released him from his bounds, or of Kamelion asking to be killed after he was used by the Master once again, left him thinking that it would almost be worth it.

If nothing else, the Master did seem to have a new regenerative cycle; maybe if he killed this one the next Master would be unstable enough to be treated…

"He's a Time Lord," the Doctor said at last, pushing those thoughts to one side; he'd never deliberately sought the Master's death before, and keeping him alive in the present had taken on a new importance after the Time War. "Which makes him my responsibility. I'm not here to kill him. I'm here to save him."

Evidently deciding not to pursue that matter further, Jack glanced at his vortex manipulator, tapping a few controls on it.

"Aircraft carrier Valiant…" he muttered, recalling the name of the venue the President had mentioned. "That's a UNIT ship, at 58.2 North, 10.02 East."

"How do we get on board?" Martha asked resolutely.

"Does that thing work as a teleport?" the Doctor asked, leaning over towards Jack to look curiously at the vortex manipulator.

"Since you revamped it, yeah," Jack said, nodding briefly as he tapped further controls on the manipulator before he turned his wrist to hold it out for the Doctor and Martha. "Coordinates set."

As the Doctor and Martha placed their hands on the manipulator, Jack activated the device…


…And, following a brief glow, all three of them found themselves in what seemed to be a service corridor, the Doctor on his knees in the middle as Martha clutched her suddenly-aching head against one wall, Jack collapsing with a gasp as he grabbed onto a nearby railing to stop himself hitting the ground completely (Evidently the manipulator needed a little time to completely adapt to serving as a teleporter rather than the time machine it had been at first.

"That thing is rough!" Martha muttered, wincing at the already-fading pain in her head.

"I've had worse nights!" Jack muttered, teeth gritted as he got back to his feet, allowing himself a brief grunt as he shook his head to clear the last of the pain before he turned back to look at his friends. "Welcome to the Valiant."

Glancing over at a nearby window, Martha's eyes widened at the sight of sunlight.

"It's dawn?" she said, allowing her confusion to show as she walked over to look out of the window, her confusion increasing as she saw no sign of water. "Hold on, I thought this was a ship; where's the sea?"

"A ship for the 21st century," Jack explained, as he walked over to stand beside her, the Doctor looking out over their shoulders. "Protecting the skies of planet Earth."

The Doctor couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Flying fortresses…" he said, shaking his head wistfully as he glanced around himself. "These places are always interesting…"

He winced slightly at a memory. "I just hope this isn't going to turn out like the first time I visited these places; my companions thought I was dead for six months because the guards got too trigger-happy …"

"Plus you weren't where you should be, huh?" Jack pointed out, shaking his head as he looked at the Doctor. "Why am I not surprised…?"

"That was eight lifetimes ago; I'm a bit more careful these days!" the Doctor retorted, only to shake his head as Martha turned around to look at him in shock at the implications of his last statement (He really needed to start telling his companions about his ability to regenerate more regularly; how often would he have to waste time convincing people that he was the man they knew before he took the hint?). "Look, I'll explain that later; right now we've got to find the Master, come on!"

With that, the Time Lord turned around and began to run down the corridors, leaving Jack and Martha with only enough time to exchange brief glances before they hurried after the Doctor. It didn't take long to catch up with him, but they'd barely turned around a couple of corridors while following him before the Doctor paused at a junction in the corridor.

"We've no time for sight-seeing-!" Jack began.

"No, wait!" the Doctor said, his voice low as he held up one hand in a 'quiet' gesture, Jack and Martha being left to simply look around at their surroundings in confusion.

"Can't you hear it?" the Doctor asked, a slight trace of excitement in his voice, as though he himself was uncertain he was hearing what he thought he was hearing and was thus reluctant to get his hopes up.

"Hear what?" Jack hissed, looking in frustration at his old friend.

"Doctor," Martha said, evidently having had enough of the Time Lord's inability to explain anything, "my family's on board…"

"Brilliant!" the Doctor said just as Martha had begun to walk away, a broad grin spreading across his face. Before Martha or Jack could ask what he was referring to, he'd turned around and hurried down a nearby flight of stairs, leaving Jack and Martha with no other option but to follow him to learn what he was so excited about. As the Doctor hurried towards a door with a large '4' on it, for a moment his two companions remained confused about his actions…

Then he opened the door, revealing what seemed to be a storeroom full of boxes and the TARDIS positioned directly in front of them, and his reasons became clear.

"Oh, at last!" the Doctor grinned, Martha cheering alongside him as the two of them hurried towards the ship that had been their shared home for so many months (With the obvious exception of their time in 1969), Jack's confusion barely registering as the Doctor slipped the key into the lock, only for their expressions to immediately fall as they took in the TARDIS interior.

In contrast to the warm golden glow that had always surrounded them when they were in this room in the past, the TARDIS's interior now was filled with a dim, blood-red light, the familiar comforting hum now replaced with a sound like a weakened heartbeat combined with the tolling of the cloister bell, almost as though the TARDIS was ill.

What was worse for the Doctor, however, was the elaborate metal grille erected around the control console, completely cutting the ship's controls off from outside contact, wires and tubes of all kinds stretching from the surrounding walls to connect to the cage that now kept the heart of his oldest companion contained from all outside influence…

If the Doctor had been the type to swear, he would have done so.

This was almost worse than when the TARDIS had been infected with the paradox biodata virus when it was trying to preserve his third incarnation; at least then the TARDIS had taken on the infection by choice, even if it hadn't been planning for its interior to be warped into the bone favoured by the Faction (the Dalekanium generated by the new nanites)…

"What the hell's he done?" Jack asked, looking in shock at the sight before him.

"Don't touch it!" the Doctor yelled, his tone grim as he stared at the sight before him, possible motives for this mutilation of his ship racing through his mind, barely registering Jack's reply.

"What's he done, though?" Martha asked, her own concern for his ship breaking into his mind. "Sounds like it's sick."

Sick

"It can't be…" the Doctor whispered, his voice low as he ran around to the other side of the console, briefly noting the pipe on the floor leading deeper into his ship. "No, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be."

"Doctor," Martha asked, looking urgently at him, concern for her family apparently pushed aside in favour of this new dilemma, "what is it?"

"He's cannibalised the TARDIS," the Doctor said, his voice barely containing his anger at this brutal treatment of the one thing that had been there for him throughout all of his incarnations.

"Is this what I think it is?" Jack asked, his tone only giving a vague impression of his fear.

For a moment the Doctor couldn't reply, his mind dominated by the horror of what the Master had done.

He'd thought that the Eigen Ram during that affair with the Mad Mind of Bophemeral and the Quantum Archangel was the worst thing the Master could have ever done- trying to force the TARDIS to Time Ram its own past self-, but this

"It's a paradox machine," he said, his voice barely containing his rage as he stared at the horrific sight before him, already scanning the structure before him for anything he could use to determine something more specific about its purpose, his eyes swiftly falling on a small device near the base of the machine…

"What?" Jack asked, walking over to stand beside the Doctor as he crouched down to examine the device, quickly identifying it as a pressure gauge measuring the Huon energy being drawn from the heart of the TARDIS- made more potent by the energy he'd absorbed from the recently-active Cardiff rift such a short time before he'd lost the ship; the TARDIS would have been practically operating at full capacity by that point- and pumped directly into the machine.

"What's wrong?" Martha asked anxiously, looking at the machine in confusion.

"We don't have much time," the Doctor explained, tapping the gauge briefly as he looked over at Martha. "Once this hits red, it activates. At this speed," he paused to grab Jack's right wrist, pulling the arm in front of his face to study Jack's watch, "it'll trigger at… two minutes past eight."

"First contact is at eight," Jack muttered, clearly horrified at the implications. "Then, two minutes later…"

He might not have been able to finish the sentence, but he didn't need to; whatever the Master was planning for that time, the Doctor doubted it would be good.

"But what's it for?" Martha put in urgently. "What does a paradox machine do?"

"More important, can you stop it?" Jack asked, evidently recognising that there was no way for the Doctor to answer that question in this time frame; there were too many possible uses for a paradox machine for him to know what this one was capable of.

"Not till I know what it's doing," the Doctor muttered, looking grimly up at the machine, wishing once again that he could do more to help his oldest friend recover as soon as possible. "Touch the wrong bit, blow up the solar system."

For a moment there was only a solemn silence, and then Martha crouched down beside him.

"Then we've got to get to the Master!" she said, her expression resolute as she looked at the Doctor (For a moment the Doctor couldn't help but be touched; even after her initial hostility at him for getting her family involved in this mess, she still had faith that he could save the day…

"Yeah, how're we gonna stop him?" Jack put in.

"Oh, I've got a way…" the Doctor said simply, only to be met with silence from Jack and Martha, prompting him to turn and look between them with an apologetic glance. "Sorry; didn't I mention it?"

As Martha tilted her head at him in a frustrated manner, the Doctor simply smiled apologetically- he'd have to give her a more detailed apology once this mess was over- before he stood up to hurry out of the TARDIS, Jack and Martha close behind him.

"But first," the Doctor continued, glancing back at his ship one last time before they returned to the more centralised corridors of the Valiant, "we have to find…"

Almost as soon as he'd said 'find', the Doctor had spun around and raised his finger to his lips, Martha and Jack halting their run as he looked urgently at them. Before Jack could ask what the Doctor was doing, the sound of footsteps coming down from one end of the corridor answered their question. Waving his companions up against the wall, the Doctor simply waited for a few seconds until the man had walked past them- most likely a bodyguard given his suit- before he followed on after the man, correctly deducing that he would be heading for the main conference room.

As their 'leader' finally walked through the door into the conference room- various men in suits casually sitting around a central table as the bodyguards stood at the corners of the room, all of them facing a man the Doctor vaguely recognised as President Winters- he rarely ever paid attention to who was in political office at what time unless something significant took place during their time, such as Churchill and the Second World War-, addressing the rest of the people in the room.

"…for as long as man has looked to the stars," Winters was saying, looking calmly out at the room before him, "he has wondered what mysteries they hold. Now we know we are not alone…"

"This plan," Jack whispered over to the Doctor, drawing his attention away from the President's speech (Not that the Doctor cared much about that; these events shouldn't be happening in the first place, so it wasn't like he was missing anything of genuine historical importance), "you gonna tell us?"

"If I can get this," the Doctor replied, taking care to keep his voice low as he held up the key he currently wore around his neck, "around the Master's neck, cancel out his perception, they'll see him for real. It's just…" he groaned slightly as he scanned the room full of bodyguards, "hard to go unnoticed when everyone is on red alert. If they stop me, you've got a key."

"Yes, sir," Jack said briefly.

"I'll get him," Martha added, her voice making her resolve clear as they turned their attention back to the speech, all of them waiting for the moment when attention would be off the Master as Winters continued to speak.

"…ask the human race to join with me in welcoming our friends," Winters continued, as he stepped back slightly to raise one hand as though presenting something to his audience. "I give you the Toclafane."

With that, four spheres suddenly appeared around Winters in a glowing blue light (The spheres themselves were silver, which at least answered the Doctor's questions about their colour), meeting with brief shocked gasps from those around them before Winters spoke again.

"My name is Arthur Coleman Winters," he said, addressing the spheres relatively calmly. "President Elect of the United States of America, and Designated Representative of the United Nations…"

Once again, the Doctor was only partly listening to Winters as he tried to assert himself; with attention currently focused away from the Master, he was taking the chance to edge around the wall towards the Master's seat, wishing he knew what was making his old friend grin so much (As well as the reason for the empty seat beside him; where was the mysterious Mrs Saxon in all this?)…

"You're not the Master," one of the spheres said as it hovered around Winters, briefly drawing the Doctor's attention back to the meeting before him.

"We like the Mr Master," another sphere said.

"We don't like you," a third one muttered, its 'tone'- as much as a sphere could be said to have a tone of voice- sounding almost harsh.

"I… can be master… if you so wish," Winters said, evidently somewhat confused about this latest turn of events (Yet another reason why the Doctor had never felt entirely comfortable with America, he reflected, continuing to edge towards the Master as Winters grew increasingly flustered; it sometimes seemed like Grace and Peri were the only two people he'd met from that continent in this time frame who didn't freak out and start acting like idiots whenever they were faced with what he had to deal with on a regular basis).

"Man is stupid," one of the spheres said dismissively.

"Master is our friend," another added.

"Where's my Master, pretty please?" the third sphere- sounding almost feminine, the Doctor noted; he wondered if that was any indication of gender or if the Toclafane just assumed that kind of vocal distinction for the convenience of others- asked, sounding almost saddened at the Master's absence.

"Oh, all right then," the Master said, throwing up his hands in mock exasperation, "it's me! Ta-da!" he added, walking to the head of the table with his arms spread out, laughing at the incredulous looks he was drawing from the rest of the people at the table.

"Sorry, sorry," he said, looking around in a sarcastically apologetic manner at the people before him, twirling his fingers around his head as he spoke. "I have this effect, people just get obsessed. Is it the smile, is it the aftershave, is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know; it's crazy!"

"Saxon," Winters said, glaring at the Master, "what are you talking about?"

As though that had been his cue, the Master turned around to glare at Winters, all frivolity gone from his appearance as he stared at the President.

"I'm taking control, Uncle Sam," the Master said coldly. "Starting with you."

With that, he turned to look pointedly at one of the Toclafane. "Kill him."

With that, the sphere he'd just spoken to moved in front of the Master, four large blades emitted from its lower end- or at least the end facing the ground; how were you meant to know what way was up or down when dealing with a race that looked just like a simple silver ball?- and fired some kind of red energy weapon at Winters, causing him to collapse into flaming ash.

Even as the people around the room screamed in shock, the Master's security team had automatically turned to aim weapons at the others in the room, the Master clapping and laughing with glee as he turned to run up the stairs towards the control deck, subsequently turning around to look pointedly at everyone before him.

"Nobody move!" he said, glaring out at the group before him as he turned to look at one of the nearby cameras, the operators either under his thrall or simply so caught up in routine they didn't know what else to do. "Now then! Peoples of the Earth, please attend carefully."

The Doctor couldn't stop himself; one hand clutched around the key, he charged forward, desperate to reach his enemy…

"Stop him!" the Master yelled, two of his guards instantly grabbing the Doctor before he could reach his old friend, forcing the Time Lord to his knees as they yanked the TARDIS key off his neck.

"We meet at last, Doctor!" the Master grinned (The Doctor supposed that statement was accurate enough; this was the two Time Lords face-to-face in their current incarnations for the first time since the Master had regenerated) as he looked over at the Doctor. "Oh, I love saying that!"

"Stop this!" the Doctor yelled, once again wishing he'd practised his Venusian aikido more regularly after he'd regained his memory; he really needed to work on his ability to escape these kind of traps. "Stop it now!"

"What; stop when I'm winning?" the Master retorted, grinning back at the Doctor. "Besides, after your stupid little perception filter trick I think I'm entitled to jump ahead to my own contribution to the party; if my men will allow you to turn around a few vital degrees, I think you'll find that my secret weapon is just about to enter this room right about… now."

Forcibly turned around at the sound of a door opening almost as soon as the last syllable had passed the Master's lips, the Doctor was just in time to hear a gunshot and watch as Jack- whose perception filter had apparently ceased to protect him just as it had failed to shield the Doctor- fell to the ground, a bullet directly in his forehead almost exactly between his eyes on the bridge of his nose, Martha staring down at the body in horror.

For a moment, the Doctor didn't know what was meant to be so impressive about that; seeing through the perception filter was unsettling, but he could think of several beings off the top of his head who could shoot with that degree of skill after only a few months of dedicated training-

Then he realised the identity of the person who was actually holding the gun, standing in front of the door that served as the main entrance to this conference room, dressed in a smart cream-coloured jacket and black skirt that probably cost about as much as her mother had made in a year before he'd come into their lives, her formerly blonde hair now apparently dyed brown and her eyes colder than they'd ever been, and his blood ran cold.

No… he thought inwardly, staring in horror at the sight before him. No… it can't be… it's impossible… she WOULDN'T…

But his senses couldn't deny the evidence in front of him.

She was here, she was real, and she was married to the Master

"ROSE?" he yelled in horror.

Rose Tyler- Rose Saxon- smiled at him.

"Hello, Doctor," she said simply.

Then her eyes flicked downwards to look at Jack, the hole in his head already healing as the Doctor followed her gaze, and her eyes widened in confusion.

"What…?" she began, staring uncertainly at the healing wound.

The Doctor had never before been so grateful that this body enjoyed running so much; if he'd been less physically fit, he had little doubt that he would have had a heart attack (He still occasionally felt a twinge in the right one every time the 'anniversary'- approximately, anyway; his eighth self's constant bouts of amnesia made dating along his personal timeline even more difficult than usual- of Roz's death came about; that one had not been pleasant…).

Rose clearly didn't know about Jack's ability to come back from the dead.

Which meant that she'd just shot the former Time Agent in the belief that he would stay dead.

Rassilon, NO… the Doctor thought, his vocal chords practically paralysed in horror at the sight before him, even as he noted with relief that Rose showed no signs of wanting to shoot Martha (A vague part of his mind wondered why that was, but the rest of him was too shaken at this latest discovery).

Rose Tyler was back…

And she was a killer