The End of Time (Part Two) - Part 1
Mac chewed on her bottom lip as she stood beside Wilf, the poor man tied to a chair on one side of the office in Naismith manor. They were both set up across from the Doctor who was…rather tied up at the moment, literally. He was forced down on a wheeled chair with quite a few straps across him, securing him there. There were binds across his legs, wrists, chest, even a strap or two holding his head back and covering his mouth. Mac had to sigh, at least she'd gotten off a little easier. She was merely standing there with her hands handcuffed behind her back. She wasn't sure if it was lingering sentiment on the Master's part or the fact that she was a woman (though she doubted he'd be that considerate in his present state of madness just because of her gender) but she hadn't been tied down or forced down just…restrained, and forced to watch as there was a guard standing in the room with a gun, ready to use it…though she doubted that particular guard would.
"Now, then," the Master cheered as he walked to the center of the room, "I've got a planet to run," and leaned over a small monitor set up there, "Is everybody ready?"
While they couldn't see what was going on in the screen, they could hear all the various Masters giving their confirmation that they were in charge, Naismith in his lab, the President, UNIT's general in Geneva, the Commissioner in China, all of them, all the ones with access to armies ready to go to war. Mac shook her head at that and looked across the room to the Doctor, seeing the man staring at her with apology in his eyes. She gave a small shake of her head, she had been the one to insist she go with him, and then offered him a small wink and a tiny smirk that had his eyebrows furrowing before his eyes widened and he could tell she had a plan.
"Enough soldiers and weapons to turn this planet into a warship," the Master chuckled in glee, not noticing the little exchange, "Nothing to say...Doctor?" he walked back to the man, "What's that? Pardon? Sorry?"
"You let him go, you swine!" Wilf shouted, Mac letting out a small sigh, she'd been about to implement her plan with the man's back turned but now he was looking back at Wilf, at her.
"Oh, your dad's still kicking up a fuss," the Master rolled his eyes.
"Yeah? Well, I'd be proud if I was!"
The Master smirked and put a finger to his lips, "Hush, now. Listen to your Master..." his smirk faded though when Wilf's mobile rang, "But that…that's a mobile."
"No, is it?" Mac rolled her eyes, "I hadn't noticed."
The Doctor nearly laughed at that, seeing that sort of…sarcasm slip back from her last self. That…wasn't something he'd ever associated with Mac, not the ones he knew from before her last self at least, but still, it was almost…comforting to see that might be the same. Mac, from what he knew, always took a bit longer than others to work out who she was after regeneration. He'd listened to some whispers after she'd regenerated the first time, having been unable to go see her himself, and from what he could tell, it had taken her months not just to come to terms with what had happened enough to try and recuperate, but to work through her grief and see who she might be. He wasn't sure if it was some sort of lingering thing attached to her first regeneration, how long it took for her to really feel herself out. He could probably work out who HE was by the end of an adventure, and had, but Mac always seemed to need a bit more time. It would almost make sense if it was some lingering thing from her first regeneration, by rights she should have been healed when she regenerated but the damage to her body from the pregnancy just never had so it wasn't hard to imagine that how long it had taken her then to work out who she was might be around the same as her other bodies.
Wilf though gave a bit of a snort at her words, even as the Master shot a glare at her, "Yeah, it's mine, let me turn it off."
"No, no, no," the Master strode over to him, glancing at Mac as she took a protective step closer to Wilf, "I don't think you understand. Everybody on this planet...is me. And I'm not phoning you, so who the hell is that?" he leaned over and started to search Wilf's pockets.
"It's nobody. Probably some ring-back call."
"Or an alarm," Mac agreed, though she and the Doctor both knew it was likely Donna, the Metacrisis had protected her from seeing the Master in her head, it would probably protect her from allowing the man into her head as well, "Mobiles can be set for alarms. Many elderly do so with their medications and…"
"I'm not on any bloody medications," Wilf grumbled, he hated medications.
Mac closed her eyes at that, taking a breath, "That was meant to be a clever lie to get him to stop," she supposed she shouldn't have even tried, even though it wasn't so much a lie as a general statement left to interpretation, she hated when others (especially the Doctor) lied so she really was rather rubbish at it anyway. The Master and the Doctor, all her friends on Gallifrey had always been able to see through her when she attempted a lie, rare though it was.
The Master grinned as he pulled a revolver from Wilf's pocket and held it up, "Ooh, and look at this. Good man!" he dropped it to the ground, the Time Lords' eyes following it a moment, frowns on their faces, before the Master let out a cheer, finding the phone, "'Donna.' Who's Donna?"
"She's no one," Wilf said instantly, but the fear in his voice gave him away, "Just leave it."
"Gramps?" Donna called over the phone as the Master answered it, "Don't hang up. You've got to help me. I ran out. Everyone was changing."
"Who is she?" the Master's eyes narrowed at Wilf, "Why didn't she change?"
"Gramps, I can't hear you."
"Well, it was this thing the Doctor did...he did it to her," Wilf shrugged, really not understanding what that was at all, something about growing things like worms, "The Metacrisis."
"Oh," the Master chuckled, looking at Mac, "He loves playing with Earth girls doesn't he?"
Mac's expression hardened at bit at that rather painful dig. When she and the Master had still been friends on Gallifrey…she talked to him at times, about the Doctor, things she wasn't sure she could tell the man just yet. The Master had actually been the one to help her realize she loved the Doctor, had encouraged her to tell the man herself. Right now though…she wasn't sure if he had done it with as pure intentions as she had thought before. What if…what if the Doctor also spoke to the Master about HER? What if he'd told the Master that he was going to end their courtship and the Master encouraged her to tell the Doctor to make it all the harder? She didn't like to think that, she liked to think that all of it happened before the Master completely lost it and decided he wanted to ruin and hurt the ones who cared for him most. She liked to think they had truly been friends at that point still. Because if he wasn't…then she didn't know who he'd been trying to hurt, her by having her hearts broken and embarrassing her to confess her love to someone (she thought) didn't reciprocate, or the Doctor by leading him to run off and make both their lives miserable? She hoped that he had genuinely just wanted to help her.
But that dig…it had always been a joke that the Doctor loved the Earth so much he'd marry it if he could, or that he'd find some human girl to run away with…and then he had, many of them, SO many of them. And even though nothing too romantic happened between him and them…it still hurt her to hear that from the Master, that dig and implication that he'd love Earth girls more than her…even when she knew it wasn't true…
And then she had to frown, why did she feel anything from a dig like that? Why would she care if he loved earth girls more than her?
She shouldn't, because she did NOT feel that way about the Doctor.
"Are you there?" Donna's voice brought her back to the present.
The Master pressed the phone to his shoulder and walked over to the computer screen that held Naismith on it, "Find her. Trace the call."
"Are you still there? Can you hear me?"
"Say goodbye to the freak, Granddad," the Master walked back over and put the phone up to Wilf.
Mac forced herself to remain quiet, knowing her shouting would mean nothing to Donna as she didn't know who she was, but Wilf didn't hold back," Donna, get out of there! Look, Just get out of there! Run!"
"What do I do?" Donna cried.
"Run, sweetheart, that's all. Run for your life!"
"There's more of them!"
"Donna? What's happening? Are you still there?"
"They're everywhere..."
"Donna? Look, I'm telling you. Run, Donna! Just run, sweetheart. Just run!"
"It's not just them..." Donna gasped, "I can see those things again. Those creatures. Why can I see a giant wasp?"
"Donna, don't think about that, Donna, my love, don't!"
Mac looked at the Doctor who have her a sad look and the barest nod, telling her it would be ok without having to say it in her mind. When they had brought Donna back to her family, while she had taken care of erasing Donna's memory…there was still a bit of the excess regeneration energy inside her. The Doctor had managed to redirect it, since it was HIS energy, and created a sort of failsafe using the energy…Donna would be safe.
"And it hurts. My head, it keeps getting hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter!" she let out a small scream, making the Time Lords flinch, "What did I..." Donna breathed, before the line went dead.
"Donna?" Wilf cried, "What was that? Donna...Donna, are you there? Donna...! Donna! Donna..."
"Wilf…" Mac looked down at him, "She's ok, I swear, she'll be just fine…"
The Master looked between her and the Doctor, having seen her gaze flicker to the man while Donna was shouting, and strode over to him, yanking off the gag.
The Doctor grinned widely, "That's better," he spoke, keeping his gaze from flickering to Mac, knowing he had to distract the Master as long as possible, "Hello. But really, did you think I'd leave my best friend without a defense mechanism?"
Wilf opened his mouth to speak when Mac shook her head, catching his eye behind the Master's back, mouthing 'shhh,' to him. Wilf frowned, seeing her tugging at the back of her cardigan like she was trying to pull one side of it back behind her, not sure what she was doing…
"Tell me, where's your TARDIS?" the Master demanded, not caring at all for the earth girl.
"You could be so wonderful," the Doctor remarked, watching Mac out of the corner of his eye, just over the Master's shoulder, seeing her release her cardigan back to where it was, a triumphant grin on her face as she shifted in place, her arms behind her.
"Where is it?"
"You're a genius," he continued, using his rambling to the best of his ability, "You're stone-cold brilliant. You are, I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honor, cos you don't need to own the universe, just see it. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough."
The Master fell silent at that, looking at the Doctor hesitantly, "Would it stop, then? The noise in my head?"
"You know we'll do everything we can to help you," Mac called, pulling his attention back to her, standing there perfectly still and at ease, "You know that."
"I don't know what I'd be without that noise," he admitted to her quietly, straightening and looking between her and the Doctor.
"I don't know who I am without my anger," Mac shrugged, "But if you'd like, come with us, and we can figure ourselves out together."
The Master scoffed a bit, "You? Angry?"
"And biting," she nodded, "And harsh and cruel and cynical. Vicious, hurtful," she swallowed hard, "A right little Dalek."
The Master frowned at that, eyeing her, she didn't seem like that so…he realized she must have regenerated then, and nodded. He could remember Mac, on Gallifrey, he'd…visited her a few times after her pregnancy failed, knowing she was ignoring the Doctor and just…she had been there for him when no one else believed him, so he tried to be there for her. But the drumming got to be too much, he'd started to get cold to her, snap at her near the end and he didn't want that. For once he actually cared what someone else thought of him and he didn't want her last few memories of him being him acting like that to her. She'd helped him so much in just believing him when he said he heard drums in his head than she knew.
He remembered visiting her and seeing her struggle to work out who she was, and while he hadn't met many other incarnations of her, he could see that that had likely stuck, her needing time. From what he could tell of Mac…she tended to have vastly different incarnations when she regenerated, it was so…shocking and jarring the changes in her that she really did need more time to come to terms with who she was. The Mac he remembered from after her pregnancy had been so…apathetic, hopeless, solemn, she rarely joked, she didn't seem to care about herself or anyone else, not in the way she once had. She didn't fret if someone was ill, just…wished them a 'feel better' and that was it. Even despite that, he knew that her husband taking a mistress had affected her as well, she'd lost the small amount of respect she had for the man when he'd done that and just…closed down. It was so different from the happy, mothering, fretting, nervous woman she had been to see her so…uncaring in that sense.
He could imagine it was the same for the Doctor now, to have had a Mac that was like she'd described and get someone so…not anymore.
"What does he mean?" Wilf asked, looking between them, "What noise?"
The Master sighed and wiped a hand down his face, "It began on Gallifrey. As children. Not that you'd call it childhood," he moved and leaned against the desk behind him, "More a life of duty. Eight years old. I was taken for initiation. To stare into the Untempered Schism."
"What does that mean?"
"It's a sort of tear in reality," Mac offered, "You can see the Time Vortex through it and…" she sighed, "It can be a bit painful."
"A bit?" the Master and Doctor scoffed, but she shrugged.
"They took me there, in the dark," the Master continued, "I looked into time, old man, and I heard it calling to me. Drums, the never-ending drums. Listen to it," he looked at the Doctor, not about to try and force the drums on Mac ever, he still retained that at least, "Listen."
"Then let's find it, the three of us," the Doctor nodded.
"Except..." the Master pushed off the desk, grinning, "Oh! Oh, wait a minute. Oh, yes. Oh, that's good."
"What's good?" Mac shook her head.
"What?" even the Doctor looked confused, "What is?"
"The noise exists within my head. And now within six billion heads. Everyone on Earth can hear it…"
"Oh no…" Mac breathed, realizing what he meant to do. She did it a few times with UNIT, triangulating signals that they received allows someone to trace it back and find the source of it. She'd done the same with the Archangel Network, triangulated the 4-beat message back to the satellites.
"Oh, yes!" the Master countered, laughing deeply…only for his skull to flash before their eyes, forcing him to drop to his knees, panting, his hand to his chest.
"The Gate wasn't enough," the Doctor realized, "You're still dying."
"This body was born out of death. All it can do is die," the Master swallowed and pushed himself to stand, "But what did you say to me, back in the wasteland? You said, 'the end of time.'"
"We said something is returning," Mac reminded him, "The Ood gave us a prophecy."
"That's why we need your help," the Doctor agreed.
"What if I'm part of it?" he brought up to them, smirking at how they didn't seem to think about that, "Don't you see? The drumbeat is calling from so far away, from the end of time itself. And now it's been amplified six billion times. Triangulate all those signals. I could find its source! Oh that's what your prophecy was. Me!" he stormed back over to the Doctor, "Where's the TARDIS?"
"No," the Doctor tried to shake his head, but it was still strapped, "Just stop. Just think."
"Kill him," the Master ordered, spinning around and pointing at Wilf.
"No!" Mac moved in front of him, Wilf's eyes widening as a soldier stepped over to her lifting the gun, "Why not kill me?" she countered, "Or threaten to. You won't care if I die, the Doctor would," she hated to say that, because she could see it, just the tiny flash in the Master's eyes that…he really WOULD care if she died, "What's one human compared to the last Time Lady? If you're dying, you'll die, if you kill me…the Doctor will be alone."
The Master nodded, considering that, as the Doctor looked horrified at what she was suggesting, "I need that technology, Doctor. So tell me where it is, or Mackenzie dies."
"Just…just…just stop!" the Doctor tried to plead.
"I'll kill her," the Master threatened, "I really will, right now!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes, suddenly calm, well, suddenly to the Master as he hadn't seen Mac wink at the Doctor and give him a nod, "Actually, the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone-dead stupid."
"Take aim," the Master ordered, hearing a click behind him.
"You've got six billion pairs of eyes, but you still can't see the obvious, can you?"
"Like what?"
"Mackenzie's out of her handcuffs."
The Master spun around to see Mac had gotten her handcuffs off for only a second before she sprayed something into his face, knocking him right out.
"How did you do that?" Wilf blinked at her.
Mac just dropped the handcuffs to the ground, "Paperclips are useful," she winked at Wilf, before she moved behind him, "Rossiter take off that helmet!" she called to the guard.
"How did you know it was me?" the green alien stared at her as he pulled his helmet off.
"You're one inch too tall," the Doctor called, "Now get me out of here!"
"Come on!" Addams ran into the room a moment later, "We need to get out of here, fast."
"Got it," Mac cheered, cutting Wilf's ropes with her pocket knife, "Help him," she pointed Addams to Wilf in getting the ropes off him, before she rushed over to the Doctor to help Rossiter.
"What was that?" the Doctor looked down at Mac as she tried to cut the straps around his legs, Rossiter behind him, "What did you use on him?"
"No idea," she admitted, "Found it in the TARDIS bathroom, woke up a few minutes later and thought it might be useful," she looked up at him, "Why did you have knock out spray in your bathroom?"
"Must have been Rose," he muttered, "Er, Cassandra had it, must have left it on Rose," he tried to shrug.
"Enough chatter!" Addams snapped, "Come on! We've got to get out."
"There's too many buckles and straps!" Rossiter told her.
"Right then," Mac stood up, knowing there would be no getting to the sonic with the straps pressing across his pockets and holding his jacket shut, "Move," she rushed behind Rossiter and started to push the chair.
"No, no, no!" the Doctor cried, "Get me out! No, no, don't! Don't! No, no, no..."
"Doctor, stop using your mouth and start using your brain!" Mac huffed behind him, "We need to get you out of here before the Master wakes up and this is the quickest way!"
"Which way?" Rossiter helped Wilf follow them into the hall.
"This way!" Addams led them off.
"No, no, no, the other way!" the Doctor struggled, "Mac, the TARDIS!"
"Is locked a second out of synch and your key is stuck in your pockets," she countered, "My key is useless if I can't find the TARDIS."
"And I know what I'm doing," Addams huffed.
"Not the stairs!" the Doctor grimaced as they started to wheel him down the stairs, bumping up and down with each thump, "Not the stairs! Worst...rescue...ever!"
"I've read your reports Doctor," Mac grumbled, "This is not the worst by FAR."
They ran down a hall, back to the lab they'd found Addams in, just as the guards appeared behind them, trapping them in the room. The Master was right in front of them, "Gotcha."
"You think so?" Addams tilted her head, pressing a device on her wrist.
"No, no, no, don't, don't!" the Doctor shouted…right as they disappeared from the room…
~8~
…and appeared on a rather old and mismashed ship.
"Alright, we're out, now get me out of this thing!" the Doctor started to shift in his chair, straining to get out.
"Patience Doctor!" Mac nearly snapped, moving over to try and get the strap behind him that Rossiter were struggling with open, hoping it might be what all the straps were connected to and free him.
"He's not going to let us go. Just hurry up and get me out!"
"The straps are thick and I've only got a pocket knife, give me a moment!"
"Why do you even have a knife on you?" he huffed.
"You're really going to complain about me having something that's going to free you when a sonic fails?"
"It's a knife!"
"It was a joke!" she really did snap this time, "UNIT gave it to me because MacGyver apparently always had a pocket knife!"
"Oh, my goodness me..." Wilf breathed and Mac looked up to see him staring out a rather large window at the earth below, "We're in space!"
"Come on!" the Doctor's struggling brought her back to the task at hand.
"Have you got any duct tape?" Mac huffed to Addams, seriously contemplating covering his mouth.
"Mackenzie!" the Doctor grunted.
"Just hold on!" she muttered, finally managing to cut through the last of the straps, "There!"
The Doctor bound out of the chair, instantly grabbing the sonic and flashing it on a control panel to short circuit it, causing it to explode.
"I could have done that if you'd given me a chance," Mac told him as she stood.
But the Doctor just turned to Addams, "Where's your flight deck?"
"But we're safe," Addams shook her head, "We're a hundred thousand miles above the Earth."
"And he's got every single missile on the planet ready to fire!"
Addams blinked, not quite having realized that, "Good point," before she turned and rushed out of the room, the Doctor and Rossiter after her.
Mac sighed, seeing the Doctor forget Wilf in his rush and quickly made her way to the man's side, "I'm sorry Wilf, but we have to go."
"But we're in space!" Wilf pointed at the window.
"I know, come on," she tugged his arm, leading him off after the others, following the sounds of the Doctor's shouts towards the flight deck, stepping onto it to see him rushing towards the controls.
"We've got to close it down!" the Doctor was shouting.
"No chance, mate, we're going home," Rossiter moved over to one of the controls, intent to do just that and get the ship moving.
"We're a salvage team," Addams agreed, "Local politics has nothing to do with us. Not unless there's a carnival. Sooner we get back to Vinvocci space the better."
"You really think we're just going to let you leave the Earth like that?" Mac shook her head, "Doctor?"
"Already on it," he winked at her, flashing the sonic at the controls before Rossiter…killing the ship, the lights going off, the engine powering down.
"What…" Rossiter began, but Mac made her 'stop talking' motion to him, all of them remaining quiet, listening, hearing only the creaking of the ship around them.
"No sign of any missiles," Addams' fists clenched into fists at her irritation, "No sign of...anything! You've wrecked the place!"
Rossiter nodded, confirming her assessment, "The engines are burnt out. Just auxiliary lights. Everything else is kaput. We can't move. We're stuck, in orbit."
"Thanks to you. You idiot!" Addams stomped her foot and turned to storm out of the room, Rossiter hurrying after her to try and calm her down while the Time Lords remained, staring out the window at Earth.
"I know you, though," Wilf began, stepping beside them, "I bet you've got a plan, haven't you? Eh? Come on! You've always got a trick up your sleeve. Nice little bit of the old Doctor flimflam, ha-ha-ha, sort of thing? Eh?" but the Doctor just gave him the most solemn of looks, "Oh, blimey. What about you Mackenzie?"
Mac sighed and rubbed her head, biting on her bottom lip, "There's still power in the ship, if we can divert it though non-tech means we would be able to fly and move the ship without having to activate anything…"
The Doctor glanced at her, "You're talking about an entire ship being essentially rewired."
"Best get started then," she murmured, moving to the controls and starting to take apart their top panels. The Doctor sighed and moved to help her, Wilf watching on sadly, the Doctor's expression said it all, it wouldn't be ready in time to stop the Master.
And so Wilf turned and headed out of the room to give the Time Lords space to talk and work.
~8~
Mac was walking through the halls of the ship, an armful of odds and ends clutched to her chest from the 'rubbish' that Addams and Rossiter had cast off. She had to laugh to herself at how much that old Earth phrase 'one man's trash is another man's treasure' seemed to fit. People threw out all sorts of 'useless' things that they didn't understand could be reconfigured into something useful. Still, it meant more for her to work with and a few of the items she'd found ought to help them get the ship up and running once more faster than she or the Doctor thought.
She paused though when something caught her eye out of the window. She frowned, turning to see what looked like a meteor heading for earth but…it was too direct, the angle of it didn't fit with something caught in the gravitational pull…it was more like someone had thrown it at the Earth. She bit her lip and turned, hurrying back to the Doctor, they needed to move faster and get back to Earth to see what that was.
She walked in and over to the Doctor, depositing her items beside him. He smiled as he took in them, unable to see how they'd be useful but trusting her, "I never understood," he began, "How you did it."
"Did what?" she asked distractedly, sifting through them.
"Make the things you do," he shrugged, "Come up with the solutions to things. Like using hairspray and a lighter to fend off an alien wasp or a paperclip to escape handcuffs…"
She sighed, "I dunno, just…like looking for simple ways to get through things," she glanced at him, "Life isn't as complicated as people think it is, we've lived long enough to realize that. Everyone asks what the meaning of life is like it's some complicated mystery. The meaning of life is just…to live. It's the same for problems, people make it out to be these huge complicated events when, if you just ask a child what to do, they can give you the best and most simple answer. I don't like overcomplicating things, I like simplicity. Always have, had to adapt to use more complicated things but…I use what I have and I use what's around me. Usually the answer to a problem or a question is right in front of you."
He smiled, "So what does it say about me that I tend to go for the big complicated scientific solutions?"
"I think Martha's sister summed it up just right, you're a science geek," she offered him a small smile for it.
He chuckled, "Oh nice," he rolled his eyes at her.
She shook her head and looked up when Wilf entered from another door, "Aye, aye, got this old tub mended?" he grinned at them, seeing the Doctor working on stripping wires while she began to piece something together.
"Just trying to fix the heating," the Doctor joked.
Wilf sighed and sat beside him, the Doctor in the middle of him and Mac, and looked out the window at Earth, "D'you know, I've always dreamt of a view like that," he gave a soft chuckle, "I'm an astronaut. It's dawn over England, look. Brand new day. My wife's buried down there. I might never visit her again now. D'you think he changed them, in their graves?"
"The Gate 'mended' everything with human DNA," Mac said, not about to lie, "Sorry."
"No," Wilf waved her off, "Not your fault. Either of you."
"Isn't it?" the Doctor looked down.
Wilf glanced at him and then the earth, changing the subject, "Ooh...1948, I was over there. End of the Mandate in Palestine. Private Mott. Skinny little idiot, I was, stood on this rooftop, the middle of a skirmish. It was like a blizzard, all them bullets in the air. The world gone mad. Yeah, you don't want to listen to an old man's tales, do you?"
"We're both older than you," the Doctor told him.
"Get away!"
"Mackenzie's older than me," the Doctor nodded.
"Nice Doctor," she whacked him on the shoulder for that, "Go telling people a lady's age."
"Well you're a TIME Lady," he countered teasingly, "I'm just being very technical," before he turned to Wilf again, "I'm 906. Mackenzie's 916."
Wilf stared at them, "What, really, though?"
"Yeah," he nodded.
"900 years," Wilf shook his head at that, just trying to take it all in, "We must look like insects to you."
"I think you look like giants."
"I'm still debating," Mac admitted, she'd never been an enormous fan of the humans but… "You're growing on me. Like a nicer insect. Like…a caterpillar," she nodded at that, yes, she knew what the humans would one day become, and it (even she could admit it) was beautiful. The transformation they'd make, the evolution they'd go through, it would be something to behold. And that was why she was so adamant about maintaining their development and advancement in UNIT. What they became was done so slowly, when they were ready and able to handle the things they invented. Introduce something too early and it might destroy them.
Wilf chuckled at that, "Well, I'm glad you're starting to like us more," he smiled kindly at Mac, before he glanced at the Doctor and fell silent, "Listen," he sighed, reaching into his coat, "I...I want you to have this," he pulled out the revolver, "I've kept it all this time, and I thought..."
"No," the Doctor said instantly, knowing what Wilf wanted.
"No, but if you take it, you could..."
"No. You had that gun in the mansion. You could have shot the Master there and then."
"Too scared, I suppose."
"You're not the first Wilf," Mac reached out to touch his hand, "You won't be the last. It's not a good thing to take a person's life, there is nothing shameful in not wanting to."
Mac glanced at the Doctor a moment and looked away, feeling guilt twist inside of her. She'd made such a big deal in her last body about how he hadn't fought in the war, how he'd refused to defend his people and attack the Daleks. And here this new her was, telling Wilf it was ok not to want to fight in a war, to not want to kill someone else. But…the Daleks weren't people, they weren't humans, they were evil, vicious, cruel monsters that would have no guilt at all for taking a life…unlike other human soldiers would. Was it the same thing? Taking a life, even if it was a Dalek's?
She closed her eyes at that, SHE hadn't even been able to fight in the war, not really. Oh she'd volunteered like so many others had, to fight on the front lines…but then she'd been reassigned to the weapons factories. She'd barely gotten any real fighting done and there she'd been going off on the Doctor about how he'd tried to not fight. It wasn't fair of her to do that. She KNEW the sort of man the Doctor was, the one he would always be at hearts, to kill anyone was a difficult choice to him. It was not something he ever enjoyed doing, it was something he struggled with and tried to find ways around doing every time he could. It was truly a last resort for him…and she'd been expecting him to drop that and forget everything that made him who he was to pick up a gun and run off to battle?
Just how bitter had her last self been?
More importantly…how did she feel about that now?
She shook her head and got back to work, not wanting to think on it, not wanting to think on the war. It was still a…VERY sore spot for her and thinking about it would only make the situation more tense and neither she nor the Doctor needed that at the moment.
"I'd be proud," the Doctor offered Wilf.
"Of what?" Wilf glanced at him.
"If you were my dad."
"Oh, come on, don't start," Wilf waved him off, before a thought struck him, "But you said...you were told...he will knock four times, and then you die. Well, that's him, isn't it, The Master? That noise in his head? The Master is going to kill you."
"Yeah," the Doctor breathed, Mac glancing at him sadly.
To die in an accident was one thing, to die saving someone else was another thing, both were ways she knew the Doctor would be alright with going, but…to have someone actively trying to kill you like it appeared the Master might…that was something she knew he wouldn't want to face. But at the same time, she knew he was struggling with it, because the Master had died because of HIM last time, because he 'hadn't been paying enough attention' as she remembered spitting off at Martha when she described the events of it to her in UNIT, and this time…it would be like 'just desserts' for him to die because of the Master. She knew the Doctor still had unbelievable guilt over what had happened to the Master. In one way, he didn't want to try and prevent it, because, to him, he deserved it for what he'd done to the Master, in another way though he just…he didn't want his former best friend to kill him…because it would just prove, to him, how much the Master had truly come to hate him, and that would break his hearts.
"Then kill him first," Wilf held out the gun.
"And that's how the Master started," the Doctor shook his head, "It's not like I'm an innocent. I've taken lives. I got worse, I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long," he let out a long breath, "I can't," he shook his head, "I just can't."
"If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?"
"I don't know."
"Doctor," Mac gave him a look for his lie, "The template shatters," she told Wilf.
"What, they go back to being human?" Wilf frowned, and she nodded, "They're alive and human? Then don't you dare, sir," he turned to the Doctor, half-angry and half-desperate, "Don't you DARE put him before them. Now you take this, that's an order, Doctor. Take the gun," he tried to put the gun in the Doctor's hand, but the man wouldn't even close his fingers around it, "You take the gun and save your life. And please don't die. You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die!" he let out a sorrowful sob at that.
"Never," the Doctor swallowed, hurt to see Wilf so pained but…unable to bring himself to touch the gun and pushed it away.
"A star," the Master's voice called suddenly, actually making Mac jump, "Fell from the sky. Don't you want to know where from? Because now it makes sense. The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond. And the diamond...is a Whitepoint star," the Doctor's hand shot out to grab Mac's at that, his eyes wide in horror, "And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching. This should be...spectacular. Over and out."
"Is he serious?" Mac looked at the Doctor, desperate, but knowing, she'd seen it, she'd seen the meteor herself, "Can he do that?"
"What's he on about?" Wilf frowned, "What's he doing? What does that mean?"
The Doctor just swallowed, "A Whitepoint Star is only found on one planet, Gallifrey, which means…"
Mac gasped, squeezing his hand, "The Time Lords are the ones returning. Gallifrey's coming back!"
A/N: Poor Mac...I feel like she'd be so hopeful...imagine what'll happen when she learns the truth of what happened at the end of the war O.O
Also, today is the last day to vote for the pairing name for the Doctor/Mac ;) I'll announce the official name and the new theme for Mac tomorrow ;)
Some notes on reviews...
I can say that Mac's personality and quirks won't really appear till Series 5, mostly because she's hashing out who she is and how she feels and there's A LOT I have planned for her, personality wise, that can't really come out till she learns the truth about Gallifrey, but we'll see much more of that in Series 5...especially when Rory gets involved ;)
Lol, I didn't realize that :) I can say I have another TL coming that has a 'human' name, but it's 5 letters for her ;)
Donna won't be in the 50 as it'll take place sometime between The Next Doctor and The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, which is after Donna forgets :( I can't really go for Classic Who in the main stories, I haven't seen the series yet :( I do have AUs planned that would start on Gallifrey so there's chances of the Classic episodes popping up, or even an entirely new OC but only after I've gotten a chance to watch the series. If I watch 1 episode a day, it would take me 2 years (I think) and at the moment I'm barely managing to find time to watch OUAT once a week lol :)
I'm very excited for 11 too :) Big things planned for him and Mac, especially in Venice ;) I'll be on tumblr later today, I planned to be on yesterday but my family's dog was ill and he developed a really bad limp so I was keeping an eye on him and taking him to the vet and had class. He's ok now :) He just ate some berries he knows not to eat off bushes by my house that upset his stomach and his limp was a cramp, according to the vet :)