SPOILER ALERT: Totally reveals the plot of The Sound of Drums. I hope you enjoy, feel free to leave a review if you like :)
Captain Jack, Martha, and the Doctor fall out of the Vortex and into 21st Century London.
"This Master, he has the TARDIS. He could be anywhere." Martha says, looking hopeless.
"No he's here. Trust me." The Doctor says gravely, looking around at the Vote Saxon posters. "I know someone here who might let us stay with her, if I'm lucky." He sighs, thinking of what happened the last time he saw Sadie.
"Her?" Jack says, looking interested.
"Stop."
The Doctor sits, thinking about the Master. He's not alone anymore, and as much as he hates to admit it that's not a good thing. He hardly notices that the other two had been talking until Martha stands up.
"But hold on, if he could be anyone…" She looks around. "We missed the election." The Doctor stands up, watching a crowd gathered around a television screen. "But it can't be."
"Mr. Saxon has returned from Paris, and is greeting the crowds inside Saxon headquarters." The announcer on the screen says, but the Doctor barely hears her. He's focusing on the man on the screen, the man in a suit waving to the crowds.
"I said I knew that voice." Martha says from behind the Doctor. "That's Harold Saxon."
"That's him." The Doctor breathes, hardly able to believe it. Then the Master turns around, pulling a blond woman from behind him to stand next to him. "No." The Doctors hearts plummet. Sadie smiles briefly at the cameras, keeping her eyes on the Master. The Master leans in, kissing her deeply.
"That's the lovely Mrs. Saxon." Martha stands next to the Doctor. "Beautiful, isn't she?"
"I know her." The Doctor says through his teeth.
"This country has been sick." The Master says. "This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact I'd go so far as to say, that what this country really needs, right now, is a Doctor."
xxx
I watch my husband give his speech, the one he had written specifically to get the Doctor's attention. He finishes, and I know he's giving his winning smile to the cameras. The cameras shut off, and he shoves his way through the crowd. I trail along behind him, watching as people back away as he walks forward.
"That was great, Harry." I say as I catch up to him. "Do you think he saw?" I lower my voice so only he can hear.
"Of course he did." He smirks, taking my hand in his own. "Now we wait. He'll find us." He holds open the car door for me, smiling as I slide in before him.
"Oh Harry, I am so proud of you." I smile at him, touching his cheek lightly.
He smirks. "I do wish you would use my name." He whispers, his breath hitting my face.
I lean over, touching my lips to his ear. "Master." I smile as he wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him.
"I love it when you use my name." He kisses my neck, smiling into my skin.
xxx
"What do you mean you know her?" Captain Jack asks the Doctor, who was following Martha to her house.
"Just what I said: I know her." The Doctor responds through clenched teeth.
"No Doctor, tell us." Jack insists, grabbing the Doctor's arm.
The Doctor sighs, shoving his hands deeper into the pockets of his trench coat. "I sort of had a kind of relationship with her." He refuses to meet Jacks eyes, and ignores Martha as she whirls around to face him.
"What?" Jack asks, incredulous. "You? A girlfriend?"
"When did this happen?" Martha demands, sounding pretty angry.
"I met her when Rose was still with me." On top of everything else that happened today, now he's thinking about Rose. "And she's not my girlfriend." The Doctor glares at Jack. "She's the Masters wife!"
"Someone's jealous!" Jack laughs.
"Can we focus on what's important?" The Doctor practically yells, making Martha jump a little as she opens her door.
"Home." She says, opening the door.
The Doctor looks around. "Have you got a computer or something?"
"Here you go." Martha hands the Doctor her laptop, but Jack takes it.
"The Saxon websites." Jack scrolls through a few advertisements and commercials promoting Harold Saxon. "Former Minister of Defense-"
"He goes back years!" Martha sits on the arm of her couch. "Everyone knows his story. Cambridge University, wrote a novel, went into business, marriage-" She stops, seeing the look on the Doctor's face when she mentions marriage.
"But none of that is possible. I locked the TARDIS controls, he can only go two places. The year one hundred trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed. Which is right here, right now."
xxx
"Harold Saxon never went to Cambridge." The reporter looks at me with pleading eyes. "There was no Harold Saxon. It's all fake, but no one has noticed! It's as if he's mesmerized the entire world."
"I would like you to leave now." I try my best to keep a calm face. She keeps talking, spilling out all of the Master's secrets. How could she know all this? "Shut up, stop it now!" She keeps going, apparently she's done some research on me as well.
"If you know even the slightest thing that could give you cause to doubt him…" She looks at me expectantly.
"I made my choice a long time ago. For better or for worse, right Harry?
The Master comes up behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders. "My faithful companion." He walks to the center of the room. "But you're right, Harold Saxon doesn't exist."
"Then who are you?" The reporter asks, looking less terrified than she should.
"He's the Master." I tell her, looking at my husband with pride.
"And these are my friends." He holds his hands out, and four metal spheres appear around him. He gives one last look to the reporter. "The drums are getting closer." He takes me by the hand, leading me out of the room as the spheres advance on her, spikes sticking out and spinning. He closes the door sharply behind us, cutting of her screaming. He takes a breath and opens the door a crack. The screams continue. He winces and closes the door again quickly.
"She knew, Harry. She knew everything! You promised that Archangel was one hundred percent." I look at him desperately.
"Maybe, ninety-nine, or ninety-eight…"
"If she knows, who else?"
He holds out his arms, pulling me into a hug. "I promise, it all ends tomorrow morning." He strokes my hair, kissing the top of my head. "Now come along, it's time for your Lord and Master to speak to his kingdom."
I stand behind the camera, watching as the crew fusses over the Master. I can tell that he's thoroughly annoyed by them, but it doesn't last long.
"Britain, Britain, Britain. What extraordinary times we've had. Just a few years ago, this world was so small. And then they came, out of the unknown, falling from the skies."
As he speaks of the alien encounters that Britain has had recently, I think about the Doctor. He was responsible for saving the world all those times… He must be watching now, the Master and I were sure of it.
"And tomorrow morning they will appear. Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child. Every teacher and chemist and lorry driver and farmer. And every… Oh, I don't know… Medical student?" He gives a meaningful look to the camera, and I know the bomb just exploded in Martha Jones' apartment.
"Do you think they escaped?" I ask the Master as we walk.
"Of course he did." He looks at me with that wicked smile of his. "Killing him from a distance wouldn't be any fun, now would it?" A ringing comes from his pocket. He looks at the phone, smiling. "It's for me." He listens to the conversation on the other end for a bit, walking to the conference room. I follow, taking a seat while he listens. "Oh, a nice little game of hide-and-seek. Martha Jones, must be, what, one hundred trillion years since we last met?" He grins wickedly, putting the phone on speaker and setting it in the middle of the table.
"I'm here." The Doctor says. I feel my heart plummet at the sound of his voice.
"Doctor." The Master says, his smile falling.
"Master."
The Master sighs. "I like it when you use my name."
They talk for a while, about the 'Toclafane' and the Time War, about Galifrey. I see how much it hurts the Master, his world being gone and his people being killed. I reach out to touch his arm, trying to comfort him. He doesn't look at me, but puts his hand over my own.
"But Doctor, can't you hear the drumming? The constant drumming, inside my head, never ending."
"I could help you."
The Master laughs. "I'll tell you what to do. And I say, run. Go on, run!"