When he woke, it was his cold calculating side that was at the fore, and he blinked at the bright lights. He looked round at his surrounding…oh, he was in a cell. The side of him the craved chaos and violence wanted to smash the clear front and go on a bloody rampage.
His cold calculating side pushed it away, for now. This escape required subtlety; even he couldn't get out of a locked cell, the outer door and deal with whatever armed humans there were out there.
He looked up at the camera and a most unpleasant smile crossed his face, and he let out a laugh. He jumped and ripped the camera off its mountings, then broke the lens and plucked out a shard.
Then he stood near the door and counted. He'd got to a minute before the outer door opened.
As the first person entered, he drew the shard across his wrist, letting the blood drip to the floor.
As soon as the first person was in the cell he moved, far faster than any human and clamped his hands on the person's head and whispered.
"Protect me."
The person instantly drew his weapon and shot the person behind him. The Doctor was out of the cell and on the next human, issuing the same command. Soon it was only himself and three of the six men that had entered remaining.
"Bring me others, but be subtle. I want no alarms," he ordered.
Soon he had twenty men; enough for now.
"Take this place," he growled.
After that it had been wholesale slaughter. Those that they didn't kill, the Doctor converted, and soon this so-called secure base was his.
He stood in what had been his place of torture; the smell of antiseptic fuelling his anger.
The side that wanted to run amok stirred as it sensed the ones that had 'studied' him, and he let it snarl its anger. Then the man that had pulled Jakaar by his arm was dragged in.
Once more he clamped down on the animal side and hauled the man up close and snarled.
"Where are my sons?"
The man was either brave or incredibly stupid, because he looked the Doctor in his dark eyes and said.
"Where you'll never find them."
With another snarl, he grabbed then man's head and forced his way into the man's mind.
"Where are they?"
The man seemed to be resisting, so he increased the pressure, to the point of pain.
"Where?"
"The Pentagon…they're at the Pentagon!" the man cried.
With a growl, he let the man go, and he collapsed, boneless and never moved.
He drew in a breath and then looked at the men that had experimented on him.
"I don't have time to kill you myself."
He turned to his newest soldiers, "Lock this room and torch this place. We are going to the Pentagon."
As smoke began to rise out of the ground, a convoy of vehicles drove away, and all that was left to break the silence were the faint screams of dying men.
The Master had fallen into a restless sleep, images of the Doctor standing amidst flames flashed through his mind.
He was startled by someone shouting, not in his ear….but in his mind.
"Are you awake in there!?"
If he could believe it, it was the Doctor.
"But how, we're too far away," he sent back, still unsure of what he was hearing.
"Of course you're close enough, or I wouldn't be speaking to you, would I?" the reply came, this time with a hint of irritation.
Before the Master could reply, Seska burst in, his eyes wide.
"Father, the vortex creator, its working. We're just past Earth's moon."
"Told you," the Doctor said.
Seska frowned, "Is that mother?"
"Yes…now let me talk to your father."
The Master felt Seska's presence fade, now it was only the Doctor in his mind. However, he didn't like what he was sensing. There was a chaotic mix of emotions coming off the Doctor; disjointed flashes of rage, anger and joy.
His worry ramped up again, the only time he'd felt that heady mix was when the Doctor was on the verge or was deep into a psychotic break….this was not good.
"Is this going to be a one-sided conversation? I have a lot to do," the Doctor sent, and the irritation in his voice had increased.
The Master had to think quickly, it wasn't going to be easy reining the Doctor in from this distance.
"Can't you wait until I get there?
"They took my sons…not waiting."
The Master had to be tactful now.
"They're my sons too, won't you wait?"
There was silence and the Master thought the Doctor had decided to ignore him, and go on a psychosis fuelled rampage. He was somewhat relieved when the Doctor finally answered.
"How far away are you?"
The Master thought for a moment, "At a guess, about two hundred thousand miles. The fleet will make short work of it."
"You know they'll see you coming…..unless."
The Master recognised that tone in the Doctor's voice and thanked Rassilon that the…well the more controlled side of his insanity was prominent. He could imagine the cogs spinning in the Doctor's mind.
"I can blind their satellites…all I need is a radio telescope…a big one."
"When you find it, send me the co-ordinates, and together we will take our sons back."
Then the Doctor was gone; he could only hope that the Doctor would not go completely off the deep end.
If he did, it could get him killed.
The Doctor had been as surprised as the Master that their bond was connected again; but that didn't mean he was going to let the Master run the show. He could however see the logic of having reinforcements, the Pentagon would not be an easy place to breech.
The part of him that wanted to burn its way across the country, bridled at the deviation from the intended target. The cold calculating side of him argued, that the mayhem caused by all the satellites going down, and an alien fleet appearing in the skies would be just as much fun.
The other part laughed at that, then fell silent, until it was needed.
The Doctor said to one of his converts, "Where is the nearest telescope array?"
"That would be the Green Bank Telescope, a civilian set-up."
"And where is that?"
"This state, West Virginia. About twenty miles from here."
"And its civilian you say?"
"Yes sir."
He grinned, "Good, I like civilian, they panic easier than soldiers…drive."
The side of him that craved chaos and violence laughed; it would be able to play soon.
The Doctor looked up at the telescope, even from this distance, it was huge.
"Should do," he said. "Gentlemen, time to put those credentials of yours to good use."
It was laughably easy to get past security; such as it was.
The convoy of cars pulled up outside the building that housed the control centre. The door of course was key-coded, not that it bothered him, as with a shower of sparks he ripped it off the door.
"Weapon please," he said to one of his men. He stepped through the door, and as his entered the control centre, the other came to the fore.
Over a dozen startled people looked at him. He smiled and then fired two shots into the air.
There was a stunned silence, then he spoke.
"One word….run."
No-one moved, too shocked to react.
He snarled and fired another shot, this time at the feet of one of them. That had the desired effect, and just for the hell of it, he fired another shot, just missing the last of the fleeing people.
He grinned….oh how he loved to see the little apes run.
He was about to go on a little simian hunt, when the cold calculating side of him reminded him of their reason for being here.
"Fine," he growled and looked wistfully at the door. He began moving from terminal to terminal, for the moment both sides of them working together.
He sat at one of the terminals and typed out a message and sent it to a set of co-ordinates; a message that said, "Come get me, Ni'ala."
Then he typed another message and the huge dish began to move, as did every other dish in the world.
He smiled at that, imagining the chaos he was causing. Then he did the clever part and turned the receivers into transmitters, and with a 'Hah!" of triumph he pressed one key.
A message was sent out to every commercial, military and covert satellite, a message that said….shut down.
He lent back and watched with satisfaction as the little dots on the terminal screen began to wink out. But he soon got bored, and the side that wanted to hunt forced its way to the fore, and with a feral snarl, he went hunting.
Jack was rudely woken by Gwen, who was shaking him.
"Wake up Harkness!" she was shouting.
"What?" he said groggily.
"The satellites are going down!"
"So," he said and closed his eyes.
Gwen shook him again, "No Jack, not just a few satellites...all of them!"
He shot up and was up the stairs in record time.
Ianto and Doctor Stoneleigh were busy at the computers.
"Tell me," he said.
"It's not a technical fault," Ianto said. "There were two short radio transmissions, just before they started going down."
"Where from?"
"Green Bank, West Virginia. Jack, all the arrays were hacked. No-one should be able to do that," Doctor Stoneleigh said.
With a rising sense of foreboding, Jack said, "No, not no-one, just someone very special."
"It can't be him, you said he was in the hands of some uber-secret agency," Gwen said.
"Yeah, but what cell can hold him, unless he wants to stay in it?" I have to get to that array."
"You can't, no plane is going to fly, it's chaos in the sky," Ianto said.
"Don't need a plane…we have the Doctor's vortex manipulator."
"Are you sure?" Gwen said as Jack checked and holstered his weapon and then placed a small box in his pocket.
"I'm sure, I don't want to give him any more targets that necessary. I have to get to him before anyone else does, they won't think twice about putting him down."
Gwen smiled and hugged him.
"Be careful Jack."
He smiled back and waited until she stepped back. He pointed the adapted sonic and watched as the red swirling vortex began to form.
He let out a nervous breath and when it had formed he ran into it.
He came out the other side at a run and collided with someone running the other way. He just about kept his feet and grabbed the person, who looked terrified.
"Don't go that way!" the person said, the fear and panic making his speech rushed.
They both flinched when they heard shots.
The person wrested himself out of Jack's grip.
"He's coming…dear god, just run!"
Jack let him go…..he didn't have to guess who was coming, and he started running….running towards the one person he thought he would never have to face like this again.
He only stopped when he heard the sound of someone who wasn't running. He crouched behind a clump of foliage and moments later he came into view, a wide grin on his face.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are."
Jack tensed when he stopped and sniffed the air.
"Oh ho…so you're here. You might as well come out."
Jack knew he couldn't hide anymore, so he stepped out.
"Hello Doctor, nice night for a walk."
"Hello Harkness, it certainly is, with the added fun of chasing frightened rabbits."
"So, the satellites, very clever. I take it your crusade is coming."
"Oh yes…actually, about now."
There was a rumble of what sounded like thunder and Jack looked up, just as it appeared, an assault craft.
It was a mistake to look up as the next thing he knew he was on the floor, an angry Doctor trying to wrap his hands round his throat.