A/N: Many thanks to my followers, those who have favorited, and those who have left reviews! This chapter was a rough one in every aspect. Planning, writing, and editing. All I can really say about it though is, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That goes to the BBC. *Some lines below are borrowed from the episode The Sound of the Drums. Credit for those lines belong to their respective writers.*
As the Doctor sat in the cold abandoned warehouse Jack had discovered, his thoughts, once again, turned to Rose. The Master kept referring to her in past tense and wouldn't answer is questions of her well being. Oh, my poor Rose, he thought. She must hate him by now. Despise him. He imagined how she probably waited for him to rescue her and the TARDIS. Waited longer than five and half hours. But how did she feel after five and a half months went by? His thoughts turned dark. She's probably given up on me by now. Rightfully so.
"Stop it," Jack commanded out of nowhere.
The Doctor looked up at him in surprise. "Stop what?"
"Stop whatever horrible things you're thinking about. Rose will be fine. She has to be." Jack had sent Martha out to retrieve some food for them a short while earlier. He figured she would be the most inconspicuous. But now that it was just him alone with the Time Lord, he could feel the waves of guilt and anguish pouring off the alien man.
"She's been with him for over a year, Jack."
"I know that, Doc. But our Rose is strong and brave. Knowing her, she'll have already figured out a way to save herself."
The Doctor could only nod. Yes, his Rose was strong and brave. But everybody had their breaking point... No! he now commanded himself. Jack was right. I can't keep thinking like that.
The two men descended in silence, working on trying to find out as much information as possible, when Martha finally returned with provisions.
Jack moved to greet her, grabbing the takeaway bag in her hands. "How was it?" he asked.
"I don't think anyone saw me," she replied. "Anything new?"
He gestured to the strap on his wrist. "I've got this tuned to government wavelengths so we can follow what Saxon's doing."
"Yeah, I meant about my family."
"It still says the Jones family taken in for questioning," the Doctor tells her as he keeps his eyes focused on the laptop. "Tell you what, though. No mention of Leo."
Martha grins. "He's not as daft as he looks. I'm talking about my brother on the run. How did this happen?"
Jack passed out the food Martha brought and comments, "Nice chips."
"Actually, they're not bad," the Doctor agrees after taking a bite of the greasy potato. He stops chewing when Rose's voice rings through his ears.
"I think they're gorgeous."
He drops the bag, unable to swallow anymore.
Sensing where the Doctor's thoughts had run off to, Jack picked the bag up and handed it back to him. "Eat," he ordered. "Rose would be pissed if you wasted them." Once the other man had taken a few more bites, Jack said, "So, Doctor, who is he? How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?"
"And what is he to you?" Martha chimed in. "Like a colleague or-"
"A friend, at first," the Doctor answered.
She gave a small laugh. "I thought you were going to say he was your secret brother or something."
The Doctor shot her an annoyed look. "You've been watching too much TV."
"But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect," Jack said.
"Well, perfect to look at, maybe. And it was. It was beautiful." He leaned back in his chair and began to imagine his home. Back when it was still fresh and beautiful. With a burnt orange sky, untainted by war. "They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe, looking down on the galaxies below. Sworn never to interfere, only to watch. Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's when it all began. When he was a child. That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired, some would run away, and some would go mad." He shook out of his thoughts. "Brr. I don't know."
"What about you?" Martha asked gently.
"Oh, the ones that ran away, I never stopped," he said almost proudly.
Jack's Vortex Manipulator began beeping. "Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognise it."
"Patch it through to the laptop."
Jack shifted in his seat. "Since we're telling stories, there's something I haven't told you." Motioning for the Doctor to move, Jack switched places with the Doctor and began typing on the laptop.
The Doctor stood behind Jack and felt his stomach drop as organization name he prayed to never hear of again popped up. He moved to the other man's side and glared at him. "You work for Torchwood."
"I swear to you, it's different. It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now."
"Everything Torchwood did, and you're part of it? Rose almost died. Died, Jack. She just barely made it and on top of that, because of Torchwood, Rose is never going to see her mother again."
"The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf," the Captain replied, clearly uncomfortable. "I rebuilt it, I changed it, and when I did that, I did it for you in your honour."
The Doctor gave no response but leaned down to press the start button on the laptop. An older blonde woman appeared on screen and began talking.
"If I haven't returned to my desk by twenty two hundred, this file will be emailed to Torchwood. Which means if you're watching this, then I'm... Anyway, the Saxon files are attached. But take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it all started. When Harry Saxon became Minister in charge of launching the Archangel Network."
"What's the Archangel Network?" the Doctor asked as Jack opened the file.
Martha pulled out her mobile and told him, "I've got Archangel. Everyone's got it."
"It's a mobile phone network. Because look," Jack said as he pointed to the satellite maps that had popped up, "it's gone worldwide. They've got fifteen satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel."
The Doctor grabbed Martha's mobile and began scanning it with the sonic screwdriver. "It's in the phones! Oh, I said he was a hypnotist. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on." He hit the phone against the table before the item suddenly started beeping a the familiar four beat pattern. "There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere, ticking away in the subconscious."
"What is it, mind control?" Martha asked.
"No, no, no, no, no. It's subtler than that. Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code, Vote Saxon. Believe in me. Whispering to the world. Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me, because I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal canceled him out."
"Any way you can stop it?" Jack questioned.
He shook his head. "Not from down here. But now we know how he's doing it."
"And we can fight back," Martha stated firmly with a hint of a smile.
The Doctor looked up at her and felt his first wave of hope. They would fight back. Martha would fight for her family and he would fight for Rose. "Oh, yes!"
Without another word he began dissembling the laptop and Martha's phone. Jack and Martha both watched in rapt attention. This is what the Doctor did best. This was the Doctor in his element. Wielding is sonic screwdriver and preparing to save the world.
"Keys!" he suddenly shouted.
Martha frowned. "Excuse me?"
"I need your TARDIS key. Your's too, Jack." He cleared his throat. "If you still have it."
Jack rolled his eyes. Of course he still had it. He handed the key over as soon as Martha did.
A while later, the Doctor pushed the keys forward. "Three TARDIS keys. Three pieces of the TARDIS, all with low level perception properties because the TARDIS is designed to blend in. Well, sort of. But now, the Archangel Network's got a second low level signal. Weld the key to the network and Martha, look at me." He grabbed his key, which had a bit of string attached to it, and stepped back asking, "You can see me, yes?"
"Yep!" she responded.
"What about now?" He put the key around his neck and watched as Martha scrunched up her face and tried to focus. "No, I'm here. Look at me."
"It's like I know you're there, but I don't want to know."
He took the key off his neck. "And back again. See? It just shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible, just unnoticed." He handed his two companions their keys and began to walk away before stopping. "Oh, I know what it's like. It's like, it's like when you fancy someone and they don't even know you exist. That's what it's like. Come on."
Martha just sighed as she watched his walk off. Jack gave her a knowing look. "Been there," he told her kindly.
As they walked out of the warehouse, the Doctor warned of remaining completely silent. "Like ghosts," Jack had said and he readily agreed. Although, he did feel a small shiver at the reminder of the last time he had encountered "ghosts." He hoped that this would have a better outcome than that event did. He couldn't stand for Rose to lose anymore than she already had. And more so, he couldn't stand the thought of losing Rose.
The trio made their way to the airport where they had heard that the Master would be meeting the President of the United States. They could barely make out what the two men were saying, but the tension that filled the President was clearly visible. After the President left, stating that he would see the Master on the Valiant, the Master's wife was escorted away. The three held their breath as the other Time Lord turned and faced the direction they were in. It was a sigh of relief when a police van pulled up. The relief was short lived.
"Oh my God," Martha gasped when she saw her mother and father shoved out and being taunted by the Master.
"Don't move," the Doctor ordered while keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of Rose.
"But the-"
"Don't."
"I'm going to kill him."
"What say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Jack asked coldly.
The Doctor gave him a sharp glance. "Now that sounds like Torchwood."
He shrugged. "Still a good plan. This man has had Rose captive for over a year."
Taking a deep breath the Doctor said, "He's a Time Lord, which makes him my responsibility. I'm not here to kill him. I'm here to save him. That's what... That's what Rose will want and expect me to do."
"How do you know that?" Martha asked quietly.
"Because I know Rose."
Jack began messing with his Vortex Manipulator. "Aircraft carrier Valiant. It's a UNIT ship at fifty eight point two north, ten point oh two east."
Martha looked at the two men. "How do we get on board?"
"Does that thing work as a teleport?" asked the Doctor.
"Since you revamped it, yeah," Jack answered as they all placed their hands on his wrist strap. "Coordinates set."
They appeared a moment later in some sort of engine room, each groaning and stretching their muscles. "Oh, that thing is rough," Martha stated as she pulled herself off the floor.
"I've has worse nights," Jack told her. "Welcome to the Valiant."
Martha moved to the nearest window and saw they were high in the sky. "It's dawn? Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?"
"A ship for the twenty first century, protecting the skies of planet Earth."
As they ran to find Rose and Martha's family and to stop the Master from whatever he was planning, the Doctor began to hear a familiar melody. He stopped in his tracks.
"We've no time for sightseeing," Jack chastised.
He held up his hands. "No, wait. Sh, sh, sh, sh. Can't you hear it?"
"Hear what?"
Martha moved past them saying, "Doctor, my family's on board."
"Brilliant," the Doctor stated as he began to take off to his right. "This way." They ran down the level 4 gangway, opened the door at the end, and were greeted with the sight of the TARDIS. "Oh, at last!" he shouted.
"Oh, yes!" Martha exclaimed while Jack questioned what the blue box was doing aboard the Valiant.
They all raced forward, with the Doctor in the lead, to make their way inside. What they found in the bigger on the inside ship was truly horrible. The entire control room as shrouded in an eery red light and the whole console was completely caged in, with wires poking out of every direction.
"What the hell's he done?" Jack asked aloud what they were all thinking.
"Don't touch it!" the Doctor commanded.
"I'm not going to."
"What's he done though?" Martha questioned as they moved further inside. The ship's normal hum was replaced by a low groan. "Sounds like it's sick. And like she's... mourning..."
The Doctor was deathly pale as he tried to deny what was right in front of him. "It can't be. No, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be."
"Doctor, what is it?"
"He's cannibalised the TARDIS."
Jack looked at the caged console and put the pieces together in his mind. "Is this what I think it is?"
"It's a paradox machine," the Doctor said through grated teeth. He found the gauge on the metal mesh cage. "As soon as this hits red, it activates. At this speed, it'll trigger at two minutes past eight."
"First contact is at eight, then two minutes later..."
Martha walked around the console and asked, "What's it for? What does a paradox machine do?"
"More important, can you stop it?"
The Time Lord shook his head and listened to his ship. "Not till I know what it's doing. Touch the wrong bit, blow up the solar system. You're right thought, Martha. The TARDIS is devastated over something."
Martha bent down next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Then we've got to get to the Master."
"Yeah. How are we going to stop him?" Jack asked.
The Doctor looked up at the Captain. "Oh, I've got a way. Sorry, didn't I mention it?"
They quietly made their way onto the flight deck as President Winters made his address to the world. After they got to the back of the room Jack asked, "This plan, you going to tell us?"
The Doctor scanned the room and found the Master sitting comfortably next to his wife. Unfortunately there was no sign of Rose. "If I can get this around the Master's neck," he gestured to his key, "cancel out his perception, they'll see him for real. It's just hard to go unnoticed with everyone on red alert. If they stop me you've got a key."
"Yes, sir."
"I'll get him,"Martha said deeply.
"I just wish I knew where Rose was," the Doctor sighed.
The Doctor slowly began moving towards the Master as the President introduced the Toclafane and four spheres appeared. "My name is Arthur Coleman Winters, President Elect of the United States of America, and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon," he said.
"You're not the Master," one of the spheres stated.
"We like the Mister Master."
"We don't like you."
The President stayed calm. "I can be master, if you so wish. I will accept mastery over you, if that is God's will."
"Man is stupid."
"Master is our friend."
"Where's my Master, pretty please?"
Just as the Doctor was behind the Master, the man in question stood up and made his way to the front of the room saying, "Oh, all right then. It's me. Ta da! Sorry, sorry, I have this effect. People just get obsessed. Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know. It's crazy."
"Saxon, what are you talking about?" the President asked.
The Master turned around to face him. "I'm taking control, Uncle Sam, starting with you. Kill him." One of the sphere shot forward and fired a laser at the President, blowing the man to pieces. The master began laughing and applauding. "Guards," he cried out as the room turned to chaos. The guards blocked the exits and ordered for nobody to move as the raised their guns. "Now then, peoples of the Earth. Please attend carefully."
The Doctor took off his key and lunged forward, hoping he could get it around the other Time Lord's neck, but was stopped and grabbed by two guards on either side of him.
"We meet at last, Doctor. Oh, ho. I love saying that. Although, after spending so much time with Rosie I feel like I already know this version of you!" the Master taunted gleefully.
"Stop it! Stop it now and give her back to me!" he screamed.
"As if a perception filter's going to work on me. And look," he nodded to the back of the room, "it's the girlie and the freak. Although, I'm not sure which one's which." Jack raced forward but was zapped but the Master's screwdriver. "Laser screwdriver. Who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. I get to kill him again!"
"Master, just calm down," the Doctor tired reasoning. "Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself-"
Looking at the nearest camera, the Master said, "Oh, do excuse me. Little bit of personal business. Back in a minute. Let him go."
The guards threw him done and the Doctor scrambled to his knees. "It's that sound. The sound in your head. What if I could help?"
"What, like you helped your precious Rose?" the other Time Lord asked. "Oh, but she never told you, did she? She could never bother her beloved Doctor with such trivial things such as an odd drumming in her head!"
"Please, Master. Where is she? Just bring her to me. Please?"
"Do you really want to see her? It's not pretty."
"What have you done?" the Doctor growled.
"Me?" The Master sounded shocked. "Why I've done nothing. It was your silly little girlfriend's fault. I told her, I said, 'Rose if you want to see the Doctor again, be a good little girl and wait for him to show up.' But did she listen? Of course not. Honestly, I was going to let you two see each other again, but she got it in her head that she was going to escape and stop my plans." The Master looked to his guards and ordered, "Bring her in."
The men obeyed and not a moment later, one of the guards carried in the lifeless Rose Tyler.
Jack gasped back to life just as they laid her body down. Bile rose in his throat as he saw the mutilated remains. She was barely in one piece. Her blonde hair matted down by both fresh and already drying blood.
Martha began sobbing as Jack clutched her close.
The Doctor could only stare. He was vaguely aware of a loud screaming and only realised a moment later that it was his own voice crying out.
"She just wouldn't listen," the Master stated over his old friend's cries. "Ran into the Toclafane and tried to take them down single handedly. See, she had given up on you rescuing her, Doctor. And my poor babies, they were just trying to defend themselves! If only she had waited a bit longer." He rolled his eyes as the Doctor continued to cry out. "Oh, how to shut him up? I know. Memory Lane. Professor Lazarus. Remember him and his genetic manipulation device? What, did you think that little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver? But, ooo, if I only had the Doctor's biological code. Oh, wait a minute, I do." He opened a metal case and revealed the Doctor's hand in a jar. "I've got his hand. And if Lazarus made himself younger, what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?"
The Master pointed his screwdriver at the Doctor who began rapidly convulsing.
Jack handed Martha the Vortex Manipulator and said, "Teleport."
"I can't," she said through her tears.
"Look at what happened to Rose. That will be you next. Get out!"
Before she could answer him the Doctor fell to the floor looking one hundred years older. Martha crawled forward and grabbed him. "Doctor? I've got you."
"Ah, she's a would be doctor. But tonight, Martha Jones, we've flown them in all the way from prison," the Master told her as he gestured to the doors.
Martha stood and saw her parents and sister enter. "Mum," she muttered.
"I'm sorry," the older woman sobbed.
The Doctor sat up and rasped out, "The Toclafane. What are they? Who are they?"
Bending down, the Master placed his hand on the Doctor's chest. "Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break. Rose's certainly did."
The sphere's reappeared and asked, "Is it time? Is it ready?"
"Is the machine singing?"
He checked his watch and addressed the camera once more, "Two minutes past. So, Earthlings. Basically, um, end of the world. Here come the drums!"
The song 'Voodoo Child' began blaring through the speakers as a tear appeared in the sky above the Valiant and thousands of spheres poured out.
The Master knelt down and placed a gentle kiss to Rose's bloody forehead and said, "Thanks for the help, Rosie." He then moved to join his wife at the nearest window.
As the Master ordered for one tenth of the world's population to be removed, the Doctor knew there was only one choice left. He hated it. It wasn't fair to her. But she was the Earth's only hope now. Because the one thing the Doctor believed in was gone. He had no reason to go on. But, he had another companion to think about and his angel would have hated him if he didn't try to save the day.
Pulling Martha down, the Doctor quickly whispered his plan in her ear.
She gave a brief nod and slowly backed away.
In the background she heard a woman's frantic voice come over a speaker saying, "Valiant, this is Geneva. We're getting slaughtered down here. Valiant, report. Help us. For God's sake, help us! They'reeverywhere!"
Another voice followed,"This is London, Valiant. This is London calling. What do we do? They're killing us! The Toclafane are all around. They're killing us."
She looked to Jack, her newest friend, but oh she cared about him so much already.
She looked to her family. Why hadn't she just been honest with them from the start?
She looked to the gruesome sight of her dearest friend. Oh, Rose...
She finally spared the Doctor one last glance. He was asking a lot of her and she knew he hated it. But there was no other choice. This would be her job and her's alone. She would fight in the names of the Doctor and Rose Tyler.
Martha hit the strap on her wrist and disappeared.
Martha landed back on Earth and watched as destruction rained down around her. "I'm coming back," she vowed.
Back on the Valiant the Doctor's and Jack's eyes met. The pain and grief visible in both men. The woman they loved was dead.
All the Doctor wanted to do was lie beside his Rose and join her in her everlasting sleep, but the Master had other plans. He dragged him up the stairs and held him up to the window to watch the slaughter down below. With his wife on the other side of the Doctor the Master stated calmly, "And so it came to pass that the human race fell, and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all, and I thought it good."
And then, unknown to the Time Lords, a wolf howled.
Coming Soon: Conversations with Rose.
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