The Master was gloating. Not that the Doctor was at all surprised. He'd always been the type to boast, particularly when he thought he had one up on the Doctor. Of course, the Doctor knew he could get them out of this in the end, he just wasn't exactly sure how at the moment.
Ignoring the Master, he glanced over at Jack just as he gasped back to life. The Doctor shuddered. Even though he'd accepted this new, long living Jack, it still made him incredibly uncomfortable.
His gaze shifted to Viola who seemed to be wincing in pain when she thought no one was looking. The Doctor's earlier concern returned and he gently attempted to nudge his way into her consciousness to find out what was happening. As her thoughts began to filter into his head, he winced at the utter chaos that he found there. Her mind was a mess of piercing pain and fragmented thoughts - not all of them her own. He probed a bit deeper and the images became even more scattered - Rose, Jackie, Pete, a little boy he didn't recognize, Ood, Donna, Daleks… DALEKS! He was so startled by that revelation that it took him a moment to notice it, but when he did he nearly gasped aloud.
Right there, in the centre of her mind, was the crack. And not just an image of the crack from her memories but the crack itself, glowing white with its jagged upside down smile. Viola noticed his presence then, but instead of the anger he'd expected, he was met with fear. She'd seen it too.
What's wrong with me, Doctor?
I'm not certain, but I have some theories. Don't worry, I'll fix it. I don't know how, but I promise you, you'll be okay."
Thank you. Viola's mind began to cloud over then and the Doctor found himself being abruptly thrust out. When he looked over at her again he could see that she'd lost consciousness and she was beginning to fade.
"What's wrong with the girl?" The Master asked curiously walking over to her. He touched a finger to her cheek and her image grew stronger, but when he pulled his hand away, she faded again. "Interesting."
"Leave her alone!" Jack shouted.
"My, my, my. We are protective of this wee one." The Master met the Doctor's eyes. "Just who is she, Doctor? You're not keeping secrets from me, are you?" The Doctor knew the attack was coming and braced himself for it, slamming his mental guards into place just seconds before the Master attempted to break his way through. They stood facing each other, engaged in a vicious battle of wills. It took all of his energy to keep the shields up during the attack, but eventually the Master relented.
He approached the Doctor slowly, stopping only when his mouth hovered right over the Doctor's ear. "This isn't over," he breathed, before pulling away and walking toward the fourth pillar. "I'm surprised," he said loudly, his tone changing. "That none of you have asked about her." He reached out and stroked his hand through a mane of blond hair. The Doctor felt his hearts sink.
"Rose!" Jack's voice was strained. "What have you done to her?"
The Master laughed and directed his next comment at the Doctor. "You really thought I'd leave her alone? After what you did to me on the Valiant?"
"What I did? You nearly destroyed the entire human race!" The Doctor glared at him.
The Master scoffed. "You always were a human lover." He looked at Rose who was clearly unconscious.
"Although, I have to say you have great taste, she's a looker, this one."
The Doctor thought he was going to be ill as he watched the Master leer at her. "Leave her alone!"
Predictably, the Master ignored him and ran his fingers delicately over her cheek. "But she's more than just an ordinary human, isn't she, Doctor? Not just anyone can look into the heart of a TARDIS and survive." He placed his hand over her abdomen. "And not just anyone could heal themselves from a wound as severe as this."
Both the Doctor and Jack gasped as the Master suddenly raised his hand and slapped Rose across the face.
"Time to wake up, Rose."
She groaned and the Doctor saw her head roll to the side as she regained consciousness. The Master clapped his hands loudly. "Come on Rose, a little faster please, we're on a bit of a schedule, and you're the main event!"
Rose's eyes opened and she moaned. The Master grabbed her hair and pulled her head up with it as though she were a puppet. "That's a girl!"
When she spoke, her voice was faint, but clear. "Leave. Me. Alone."
The Master laughed and backed away. "Right. We're ready, I think!" He clapped his hands and suddenly about a dozen people in lab coats came out and began working at computers that had been hidden in the walls. "Oh,
Doctor, you're going to love this part!" The Master bounded over to one of the computers and leaned over the shoulder of the lab technician. "Start program E alpha 12."
"Doctor?" Rose's voice was still incredibly quiet. "Doctor, you're here?"
"Yes, Rose, I'm here." He twisted his head, trying to look at her. She was doing the same. "So is Jack, and Viola."
She frowned. "Viola? Who's Viola?"
The Doctor's hearts stilled. How had she forgotten her daughter? He was suddenly incredibly glad that Viola was unconscious. He glanced over at her, she was still faint, but visible. Assured he turned back to Rose.
"Are you okay?" he asked her, avoiding her question.
"Yeah, I think so." Her brow furrowed. "Doctor, what happened? The last thing I remember is being on that planet, trying to crawl away from the arrows and then I woke up in here, covered in blood while that man over there babbled some nonsense about turbohexi something or other."
"It's a turboplexihexitron converter." The Doctor said automatically as he processed the information she'd just given him. This was the Rose he'd rescued from the past, not Viola's mother. Which perhaps explained why Viola was still hanging onto existence and her Rose had vanished, but it didn't explain Donna's part in it. None of it really made any sense and trying to figure it out made his head ache. He tried to focus his attention on this Rose again instead - the Rose whom he'd thought had died. The Rose who he now realized, shouldn't exist in this reality at all.
Having given his orders, the Master returned to them as the poles they were tied to began to warm up. "You're wondering how I did it, aren't you? How I brought your precious Rose to me."
Wanting to buy them some time, the Doctor nodded. If he could just keep the Master talking he might be able to get them out of this mess... somehow.
"It was quite simple, really. I admit, when that Noble woman vanished from thin air, I thought the jig was up, but then my scientists discovered something in the particles that she left behind, something that only one who's travelled with you could have left." He sneered. "You always did like ginger, didn't you Doctor?"
"Donna was here?" Jack wanted to know. "And then she vanished. I never should have sent her on
this mission."
"Mission? What? You sent Donna here?" The Doctor glared at Jack. "Why would you do something like that? Don't you know that she could be destroyed if she remembers her life travelling with me?"
"Yes, actually, I did know. Not that you bothered to tell me." Jack shot back. "Didn't you think that maybe that was a vital piece of information I should know? I only found out because I came by her house to offer her a job with Torchwood and luckily her grandfather filled me in before I'd had a chance to say anything by accident."
Jack had a point. In hindsight, the Doctor realized he probably should have told Jack the truth, Martha and Mickey too, but he'd been so wrapped up in the pain of having lost Rose and Donna that it hadn't even occurred to him.
"Yes, well, perhaps I could have been more forthcoming but I really didn't have time for another visit. There were things to do, places to be, people to save. Besides, I figured you and your Torchwood spies would know anyway. You stilll haven't explained what any of this has to do with why Donna was here."
Jack sighed. "After I found out the truth, I wanted to find a way to help Donna reach her full potential without risking her memories returning. So I contacted her agency under a pseudonym and started to find more challenging temp jobs to send Donna on. Eventually, I created a fake company as a front and hired her to work there and to investigate certain mysteries for me on the side."
"She didn't recognize you?"
"She never met me. Our only contact was through email. She knows me by the name FOB."
The Doctor started to laugh despite himself. "FOB? Really?"
Jack looked perplexed, clearly not getting the joke. "I thought I'd told you about that once before? It stands for Face of Boe - I used to be called that, back home. I figured it was something safe that Donna wouldn't be able to connect to me or Torchwood."
For a moment the Doctor wished Martha were there - she'd get it. "That's a good point, but it still doesn't explain why Donna was here, with him." He used his head to gesture to the Master, even as he slowly worked his hands free... he was nearly there.
"I didn't know he was involved. If I had, I swear I would have taken care of this myself. I thought it was just a simple missing children case."
"Where are the children?" The Doctor asked, suddenly noticing that they were gone.
"Oh, I let them go home," the Master said in a bored tone. "They'd served their purpose."
The Doctor raised his eyebrows - it wasn't like the Master to just let people go.
"I'm not as evil as you think I am," the Master told him. Then he laughed. "Oh, all right, I am, but in this case they weren't the point. And if you're done with your little love spat, I'd like it if you'd pay attention to me. I believe I was explaining how I came to kidnap the lovely Miss Tyler before I was so rudely interrupted."
The Doctor had one hand free now but he kept it firmly behind his back as he worked on the other one. "Please, do enlighten us then."
"Thank you," the Master grinned. "I've been experimenting ever since we last met, Doctor, and I discovered something wonderful."
"Really? What's that?" The Doctor continued to slowly free his other hand.
"It turns out that time travel leaves a trail. Did you know that? You probably do, you're always disgustingly quick with these things." The Master held up his hand to silence any retort the Doctor may have had. "Please let me finish. I'm just getting to the good part. You see, the particles in this trail were all we needed to give us the ability to create a transmitter that would attract anyone who'd travelled with you, to us instantly. There was a slight mix up when that Noble woman appeared instead of Rose, but we were able to get stronger particles after her and with a little tweaking I was able to zero in on little Miss Rose Tyler and TADA!" The Master raised his arms with a flourish. "She was like putty in my hands."
A loud beeping sound filled the room and the Master brought his hands together. "Excellent! I think we're ready! Keep your eyes open, Doctor, it's going to be quite the show."
As the Master threw his head back to laugh, the Doctor finally worked his second hand free. Taking advantage of the other man's distraction, he tackled the Master and both Time Lords fell to the floor.
TBC