Katerina had to lean against Jack after they finished jumping through the vortex with Jack's manipulator wristwatch. The past twenty-four hours had taken a big toll on her mentally, not just with finding out the Master was alive, but the force of the psychic energy he created.
"Oh, my head" Martha moaned, leaning against a nearby wall.
"Time travel without a capsule, that's a killer" The Doctor agreed, cracking his neck.
"Still, at least we made it. Earth, early 21st century by the looks of it. Talk about lucky" Jack pointed out, as they walked out of the alleyway, they had appeared in.
"That wasn't luck that was me" The Doctor replied, indicating to when he had used his sonic screwdriver on the wristwatch.
Jack noticed that Katerina was lagging behind the group, her eyes scrunched closed in pain, as she held a hand to her head. The group soon noticed a row of seats nearby and made their way towards them.
"The moral is if you're going to get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-time agent and his vortex manipulator" Jack explained, noticing that Katerina and the Doctor were being strangely quiet.
"But this Master bloke, he has the TARDIS. He could be anywhere in time and space" Martha suggested.
"No, he's here. Trust me" The Doctor told her.
"Who is he, anyway? That man you were with…that wasn't the Professor" Martha pointed out, as Katerina heard a familiar beat not far from them.
A homeless man was sitting in a corner, drumming what little change he had against a cup. Four beats. Then repeat. Again, and again. He was here, Katerina realised. And close.
"He regenerated" Jack answered.
"What does that mean?" Martha questioned.
"It means he's changed his face, voice, body, everything. A new man" Jack explained.
"How are we going to find him?" Martha queried.
"He'll find us" Katerina muttered.
"But hold on…we missed the election…" Martha trailed off when she noticed all the Vote Saxon posters surrounding them.
Katerina stood up instantly, as she saw a TV in the square begin to broadcast about the election. She looked towards her brother, seeing an uncharacteristic amount of fear in his face.
"I thought I recognised his face…it was Harold Saxon" Martha exclaimed, as they saw the Master walk down a flight of stairs, a smile on his face.
"That's him. He's Prime Minister. The Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain" The Doctor stated, his stomach churning over.
"This country has been sick. This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact, I'd go as far to say, what this country really needs, right now…is a Doctor" The Master grinned at the cameras.
"…What the hell is he doing?" Katerina mumbled; the Doctor too dumbfounded to comment.
"This doesn't make any sense. How could you not recognise someone who was in the running to be Prime Minister?" Katerina pointed out, as Martha let them into her flat.
"I don't know…it's strange. It's like I knew who he was, but I didn't want to know" Martha frowned.
"Martha, what have you got? Laptop, computer, anything?" The Doctor inquired, as Martha went to grab her laptop.
"Jack, who are you calling? You can't tell anyone we're here!" The Doctor warned him.
"Just some friends, but there's no reply" Jack sighed, knowing it was a bad sign.
Katerina gave him a look of sympathy, guessing these friends of his consisted of Ianto and Gwen. She wondered just how close they all really were.
"That's so weird that it's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you" Martha went on, as she handed Jack her laptop.
"We went flying around the universe when he was here the whole time" The Doctor realised, running his hand through his hair.
"You gonna tell us who he is?" Martha asked as Jack scoured the internet for information on Harold Saxon.
"He's a Time Lord" The Doctor answered.
"And the rest of it? I mean who'd call themselves the Master?" Martha questioned, as Katerina flinched at the comment.
"That's all you need to know" The Doctor retorted.
"Kat? C'mon, who is he? You seemed all but ready to fly off with him at first" Martha stated, sitting down on the couch next to her.
"Leave her be" The Doctor scolded Martha, who did as she was told, looking down to the ground.
"Alright, here we go. Former Minister of Defence. First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve. Nice work, by the way" Jack congratulated the Doctor and Katerina, who both nodded.
"Oh, thanks" The Doctor mumbled.
"But he goes back years. He's famous. Everyone knows his story. Look. Cambridge University, Rugby blue. Won the Athletics thing. Wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life" Martha explained.
"It's a lie" Katerina announced, as everyone turned to look at her.
"He wouldn't waste half a lifetime just for a cover story. He'd get bored. Run away…" Katerina trailed off, raising an eyebrow in her brother's direction.
"You're right. He could only have been here 18 months tops" The Doctor suggested, as Katerina noticed Jack had wandered off to the kitchen.
"Any word from them?" Katerina questioned, in a hushed voice, as she approached him.
"Nothing" Jack sighed, as the kettle began to boil.
"Hey, I'm sure they're alright. They must be quite something for you to care so much about them" Katerina told him, placing her hand on his arm, as Jack gave her a grateful smile.
"When he was stealing the Tardis, the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates. I locked them permanently. He can only travel between the year one hundred trillion and the last place the Tardis landed. Which is right here, right now" She heard the Doctor announce from the other room, catching her attention.
"Which by the way, was an absolutely terrible idea" Katerina shook her head.
"Why'd you say that?" The Doctor frowned.
"I told him who took me from the Academy" Katerina clarified.
"Humans" Jack remembered, thinking of how privileged he felt that she would tell him about such a dark time in her life.
"But they were from a parallel universe-" The Doctor started, but she cut him off.
"Do you really think that matters to him?" Katerina insisted.
"I always chose humans over everything else…now he's found out it was humans that took you away…" The Doctor trailed off.
"He'll burn this whole planet to the ground" Katerina finished for him.
"How could one man do all that?" Martha questioned.
"He's not a man, Martha. He's a Time Lord" Katerina stated.
"But how has he managed all this already? The Master was always sort of hypnotic, but this is on a massive scale" The Doctor exclaimed.
"I was going to vote for him" Martha announced, from where she was sitting on the arm of the couch.
"Really?" The Doctor inquired.
"Well, it was before I even met you. And I liked him" Martha admitted.
"Me too" Jack confessed.
"Why do you say that? What was his policy? What did he stand for?" The Doctor frowned.
"I don't know. He always sounded good. Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about. I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice" Martha smiled, as she zoned out, tapping an all too familiar rhythm against the back of her hand.
"What's that?" The Doctor queried.
"What?" Martha questioned, snapping out of her daze.
"That. That tapping, that rhythm. What are you doing?" The Doctor insisted.
"We both know what it is, Doctor. Can't you hear it?" Katerina asked as the Doctor gulped, not sure if he wanted to hear what she seemed to be able to.
A moment later there was a loud alarm from the laptop, announcing that an important announcement was about to be made on the television.
"Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom" The Doctor stated, as he turned the TV on.
"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. You've seen it happen. Big Ben destroyed. A spaceship over London. All those ghosts and metal men. The Christmas star that came to kill. Time and time again, and the government told you nothing. Well, not me. Not Harold Saxon. Because my purpose here today is to tell you this. Citizens of Great Britain, I have been contacted. A message for humanity, from beyond the stars" The Master announced, an insincere tone to his voice, as the screen changed.
"People of the Earth, we come in peace. We bring great gifts. We bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship" A metallic sphere announced in a strangely feminine voice.
It appeared harmless enough, but its voice was sinister, in an almost childlike way. It made Katerina's skin crawl.
"Ooo, sweet. And this species has identified itself. They are called the Toclafane" The Master went on.
"What?" The Doctor frowned, remembering the name well.
"And tomorrow morning, they will appear. Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin" The Master informed them all.
"This is bad…this is very bad" Katerina mumbled, chewing on her fingernails nervously.
"Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child. Every teacher and chemist and lorry driver and farmer. Oh, I don't know, every medical student?" The Master smirked, as everyone whipped around the look at Martha.
Knowing the Master all too well, the Doctor spun around the television, finding a bomb strapped to the back of it.
"Out!" The Doctor yelled as Jack was already pushing Katerina through the doorway.
Within a few seconds, the group were outside the building, with the Doctor having just enough time to grab the laptop and his coat. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, as the upstairs of the building exploded, sending debris flying everywhere. Jack tried to shield Katerina with his body, as he held her to his chest, as the explosions slowly came to a halt. The pair turned around to see glass covering the garden and the road outside the building, as ash began to fill the air.
"Master, what are you doing?" Katerina mumbled to herself.
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Sorry, it took so long to update but I've been very busy as it's been my birthday week. We'll get some great Master/Katerina interactions coming up next chapter. Please leave a review:)
bethisabear: Thanks for the review:) I'm glad you're still finding this story interesting!