The Doctor and the Doctor.
The Doctor sighed wearily as he sat in his wheelchair. Rose was in the conference room of the Valiant, and just when the Doctor thought that she would leave, she decided to talk to him. The Doctor was tired and just wanted to have a nap, and focus his mental energies on the Archangel Network, but the annoying bitch just wouldn't shut up. The Master, on the other hand, was far too busy with other matters to care what his old friend and enemy was doing with his time. The beauty was the Master nowadays left the Doctor alone, just like the Doctor knew would happen. There was only so much crap that others could deal with, coupled with the possibility someone would cock it up. That was something the Master wouldn't let happen, not by a long shot. It was the Master's conquest, he should take some responsibility, which the deranged Time lord dictator was doing at the moment.
Rose, on the other hand….she played the typical wife that sat around, drinking wine, going shopping - although in Rose's case, that was never going to happen, there weren't any shops with the latest fashions, and besides the Master had forbidden her to leave without his permission.
Rose was sitting on the table, a smile on her face. She was preaching, again, of the greatness of the Master's greatness, and it took the Doctor's self control to stop himself from either falling asleep or shouting at her to shut up. He'd heard it all before from Rose, but the bitch was completely blind to others emotions. Even the beating the Master gave Rose hadn't made her shut up.
" ….and then the Master will rebuild the Eye of Harmony, whatever that is, and then …." Rose said before the Doctor wheezed, " He'll what ? He can't rebuild the Eye !" the Doctor couldn't believe what Rose had just said. There was no possible way the Eye could ever be reconstructed. It was just impossible. Even Romana would have trouble thinking about the theory, and her IQ was, admittedly, higher than his.
Rose looked down her nose at the Doctor, " Why not ? What's the Eye of Harmony ?" her voice showed her lack of curiosity. That was something the Doctor found hard to believe; most people who travelled with him became fascinated with other societies achievements. It was one of the joys of travelling, seeing how other races dealt with problems and formatted their own brand of genius. It was out there.
Rose didn't, she never had. She was one of those who just shrugged at something and took it for granted.
The Doctor explained slowly, " The Eye of Harmony was the power source the Time lords used before the War destroyed my world. It was a black hole, set in a complicated equation against the mass of Gallifrey. The Master couldn't hope to recreate it even if he wanted too,"
Rose sneered, " Why not ?" she asked in a voice that said she was bored.
The Doctor took a breath, he was getting angrier and angrier that even though Rose preached of how the Master would bring the Time lords back, she wasn't interested in their lives and their achievements. He wasn't proud of what they'd become later on, but he was proud of what they had done. That was never going to change. He owed the Time lords of old much, mostly Omega, not Rassilon.
Roses' indifference of the Time lords reminded the Doctor of the way she'd been when they'd travelled together, back then the Doctor had ignored her indifference. She'd ignored the way the Doctor had been sad about the loss of his race, and his sorrow about what he'd needed to do. Rose hadn't cared about that, all she'd cared about was the idea of travelling in time and space, and basically running around and making him out to be a hero.
He should've dumped the bitch back home whilst he'd had the chance. If he had then maybe this wouldn't be happening, not like it was anyway.
" Because, the science and the means where cut off from the Time lord education. Oh, he could try and make it, but it wouldn't work in the long term." The Doctor said simply.
Rose snorted.
" What ?" the Doctor asked. He truthfully didn't care what this bitch thought, but he was curious nonetheless.
" You, you lose hope. The Master doesn't, he actually tries to rebuild your people, and instead of being grateful you -"
The Doctor interrupted heatedly, " Grateful ? For what, murder of innocent people who don't even know why their being slaughtered like animals ? Grateful ? For being enslaved and forced to work in the blood of their families and friends ? Why don't you understand Rose ? The Master is doing this for himself, not for the memory of a race that would never have wanted this. He's doing it for himself."
Rose was silent for a moment, then shook her head and left the room. The Doctor sighed again, he knew that trying to dissuade Rose from this was never going to work, but the Doctor had long since held himself true to morality, and he was too old to give up now. Rose was delusional and the Master had her twisted around his finger.
Romana and Martha were in San Francisco, sitting inside a hut. The Master had been tremendously harsh with the city, far more than any where else in the world. The whole city looked like ten earthquakes had hit the place, the buildings had toppled over and smashed into the ground. Half of the city had been turned into a shantytown made out of the debris, barrels were opened up to gather rain and be heated by fires.
The rest of the city was where people were forced to break up cars, houses, buildings, anything made of metal. They'd even torn down the golden gate bridge.
The Master had turned the city into a scrap yard, the trains, or what was left of them and the networks, into metal exports. The pieces of metal were taken all over the country where they would be melted down and turned into components for the Master's war machine.
Martha had gasped at the sight of the once beautiful city, the huge chunks that had been torn out of it, and the inhuman and evil way the Master had treated these people. The trainee doctor had spent the last 4 hours helping as many people as she could, but it wasn't easy. The whole of San Francisco had become a police state, the city's commandant had been a singular vicious thug the Master had picked up, but the Master treated him like a puppet.
Romana, on the other hand, had guessed why the Master had done this to the city. It was all to do with the humiliating defeat he'd suffered at the hands of the newly regenerated Eighth Doctor. Romana vaguely remembered the details, but she was aware of the Human allies the Doctor had made in that time.
It was typical of the Master to destroy and punish an entire city for the actions of three people, childish and petty. Two of the Master's fortes.
Romana was helping a young woman feed her battered and bedraggled children when two people came over to them. One was a Chinese man, he was around his twenties. His companion was a still beautiful woman with strawberry blond hair, her face, both their faces infact, were both drawn with fatigue and pain, but Romana saw that whilst they were very tired and could potentially collapse, they kept going.
" Miss Romana ?" the woman asked in a polite voice.
Romana nodded, not trusting where this was going. The rest of the city barely knew they were even there, the fact these two did sent warning bells throughout Romana's body.
" Maybe," Romana whispered, not wanting to alert anyone else.
The Chinaman sighed, " Come on, we saw you on the TV when the Master," the way he spat the word " Master " out of his mouth was almost as if he'd swallowed something bitter but couldn't tell what it was in the first place, " took over."
The woman added hurriedly, " We also saw the Doctor, damn he's…regenerated again."
Romana gasped. As a rule both she and Martha spoke about the Doctor like he was omnipotent and all seeing, but they hadn't told anyone anything about his ability to regenerate. Besides, the Master was hardly likely to inform any of his agents something like this. Why would he ? The Doctor may've been seen by millions, but out of that number only a minority had seen him regenerate. It wouldn't be common knowledge.
Now she placed both of them. " Chang Lee ?" she asked the man, who nodded, surprised she knew of him. Romana turned to regard the woman, " Grace Holloway ?"
Grace smiled, " You know who we are ?"
Romana smiled back, " The Doctor told me about you, about what happened during the Millenium."
" What happened during the Millenium ?" Martha asked, walking over to where they were standing.
Martha looked at the couple, then back towards Romana, " Who're these two ?"
Romana handled the introductions, " Martha Jones, this is Grace Holloway and this is Chang Lee. Grace, Lee, this is Martha Jones, the latest travelling companion of the Doctor."
Martha gaped at them, " You know the Doctor ?"
Grace smiled, but Romana caught the twinge of jealousy, " Yeah, well, when he looked more like a poet."
" And wore a cravat with a green velvet frock coat," Lee added.
Romana explained to Martha, who was looking confused once more, " They're talking about the Eighth Doctor Martha. Grace here was a surgeon, the seventh Doctor was shot in an alleyway and Grace was the doctor who operated on him."
Grace looked down, " I didn't know anything about his anatomy. The operation failed, the Doctor died. Then he changed and came back with a new face, but he was suffering from memory loss."
" Considering he was full of drugs and that he'd undergone a traumatic experience and death, what else would you expect ?" Romana asked. " Anyway, what's been happening in San Francisco ?"
Lee sighed, " The Master's taken delight in bombing the city, Toclafane dive bomb us everyday of the week. We've been forced to build this," he waved his hands, " Mostly because of what we did against the Master."
" Hold on, you fought the Master ?" Martha asked.
Lee snorted, " Not quite." He sighed, then his voice took on a nostalgic whisper, " I was a kid then, running around with gangs, mostly for cash. Then the TARDIS materialised just as I was about to get myself shot, then the Doctor was shot. I called the ambulance because I felt guilty. Yeah, I had a conscience. I was cool with putting myself on the line, but I wouldn't do with others. After I stole the Doctor's stuff, mostly cos I thought he was dead, I went to the TARDIS. I found the Master, waiting for me."
" He'd stolen the body of an ambulance driver, a guy called Bruce. Nice guy. He then revealed who he was, and with the TARDIS bigger on the inside, I couldn't refute the evidence. I may've been a crook, but I wasn't stupid enough to deny the truth of what I saw. Grace here's the sceptic," he added, pointing at the glaring Grace. After chuckling at her indignant expression, he carried on, " The Master told me that the Doctor was evil, that he'd stolen the Master's regenerations. When he told me his body could change 12 times….it blew my mind. I couldn't believe it. But when we went to the Eye of Harmony," Lee was interrupted by Martha.
" The what ?"
" The Eye of Harmony is a black hole in the centre of a TARDIS. It can absorb energy like a battery." Romana explained.
Lee carried on, " We went to the Eye of Harmony, and I saw the change in the Doctor. Seeing him change from a short guy to this tall, elegant man was something. The Master promised me riches if I helped him kidnap the Doctor, and give the regenerations " back " to the Master." Lee made air quotes.
" That's why the Master's being bombing this city, isn't it ? Because of revenge. But how is it you two are friends ?" Martha asked curiously.
Lee smiled, " When we got to the TARDIS, Grace became possessed, don't ask, the Master had a power I don't get. She started helping us. She overpowered the Doctor, and put him in something like a harness. He was ready, but the Doctor wasn't finished. He managed to piss the Master off, making him say, " I have wasted all my lives, because of you Doctor," the Doctor pounced on that, making me see that I'd been duped. The Master snapped my neck when I refused to open the eye."
" He snapped your neck ? But you're…." Martha trailed off, not knowing what to say.
" Still alive ? When I came back to life thanks to the TARDIS, the Doctor basically said the Master had been eaten by the Eye."
Grace frowned, " What I don't get is how he came back."
Romana sighed. She launched herself into an explanation of the Time war, the destruction of the Time lords, the Daleks, and the resurrection of the Master.
" The council brought him back, not realising the consequences. They just wanted to sweep the war under the carpet, thinking the Master would do the job just as well. He ran away, now he's back. The Doctor's a prisoner, Earth is enslaved, and me and Martha are wandering the Earth. Can you help us ?"
Both of them nodded.