Disclaimer: It's kind of getting depressing now.

A/N: (To answer a review, Alli was supposed to be freaking out last chapter because there was so much going on and she missed Rose. Sorry if that wasn't clear - it probably wasn't written exactly brilliantly.)

A New Adventure

For some reason unknown to myself, we went to Martha's flat. It was quite a nice place, if I must say, though a little small.

Once inside, she seemed a lot more relaxed. I couldn't see why, since we had an evil Time Lord as Prime Minister and we had no idea what he was planning.

"Home." she sighed as we entered. The Doctor walked ahead, looking for the computer, and Jack and I hung back. I used this opportunity to mention Torchwood - Jack seemed reluctant to tell the Doctor about me working for him, and I was in no rush.

"Have you talked to the others?" I muttered to him, and he shook his head.

"Just about to." He pulled out his mobile and pressed a single number, then held the device to his ear. I watched him nervously, worried about their reactions to our sudden disappearance.

"What have you got?" the Doctor asked Martha. "Computer, laptop, anything." Martha rushed to her desk and started up her laptop. The Doctor glanced at us. "Jack, who are you phoning?" he asked. "You can't tell anyone we're here!"

"Just some friends of mine, but there's no reply…" Jack answered distractedly. I shot him an anxious glance, but he didn't speak.

"Here you go." Martha said, passing the laptop to the Doctor. "Any good?"

Jack took the laptop off the Doctor and set it down on the desk. "I can show you the Saxon websites." he explained, pushing past me to sit at he desk. "He's been around for ages."

"That's so weird though." Martha said with fascination. "It's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you."

"Well, that's why it's called Time travel." I muttered under my breath.

"We went flying all around the universe while he was here the whole time." the Doctor added.

"You gonna tell us who he is?" Martha asked. She had a point.

"He's a Time Lord." the Doctor answered shortly.

"How come I've never heard of him?" I asked.

"It never came up." he said casually. I glared at him, and he shook his head. "It's... complicated. He shouldn't be alive."

"What about the rest of it?" Martha insisted. "I mean, who'd call himself 'the Master'?"

"That's all you need to know."

"But he's a Time Lord." I persisted. "You said... we were the only ones."

The Doctor shot me a look as if to say 'not now', and I reluctantly dropped it. He looked to Jack, who was loading up the internet. "Come on, show me Harold Saxon."

Martha wandered over to her phone, where she checked her messages. A voice spoke out from the machine. "Martha, where are you?" the woman asked. "I've got this new job. You won't believe it. It's weird, they just phoned me up out of the blue. I'm working for -"

"Oh, like it matters." Martha interrupted, cutting her off mid-sentence.

"So what, the Master just walked along and became Prime Minister?" I asked with confusion as Jack surfed Saxon's website.

"Seems like it." the Doctor replied, scratching his chin. I sighed, my confusion unresolved.

Minutes later, and we were watching a bunch of celebrities telling us why they loved Harold Saxon.

I don't understand politics.

Anyway, it turned out the Master had been living on Earth for about a year and a half, building up his life and becoming Prime Minster. The Doctor had fused the co-ordinates so that he could only travel between the place we were (the year 100 trillion) and the place he and Martha had gone last, which was present day Earth.

Martha revealed she was going to vote for him. So did Jack. I couldn't really reply when I was asked, as I hadn't really paid attention to the voting.

"Well, aside from the fact that I'm 'legally' only 16 and wouldn't be allowed to vote, I was in the wrong time and should have only been 1." I said sarcastically.

"But why do you say that?" the Doctor asked Jack and Martha, not responding to me. "What was his policy? What did he stand for?"

"I dunno..." Martha answered vaguely, tapping out a tune on her legs as she spoke. "He always sounded... good." I snorted. "Like you could trust him. Just nice." she continued, still tapping out the constant rhythm. "He spoke about... I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the... sound of his voice."

"That's detailed." I said sarcastically. "What, has he hypnotised you or something?"

"What's that?" the Doctor asked suddenly, and Martha looked up, startled, as if she had just woken up.

"What?" she asked, wide-eyed. She stopped tapping out of shock and stared straight at the Doctor.

"That!" he said, pointing at her fingers. "That tapping, that rhythm! What are you doing?"

She looked down at her fingers and then back at the Doctor. "I dunno. It's nothing, it's just - I dunno!" she spoke quickly.

A message flashed up on the computer screen and the Doctor switched on the television.

"Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom." he said sarcastically, and we all moved in to see Harold Saxon - the Master - sat in an ornate room, addressing us. Well, not us personally, but you know what I mean.

"Britain, Britain, Britain." he began casually. "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." We all exchanged glances, unsure of where this was going. "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 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." He nodded once to camera.

I glanced at the Doctor, who's eyes were glued to the screen, then to Jack, who shared a disbelieving look with me. We hadn't heard anything of it back at Torchwood.

Back on the screen, a video was being played. A small metal sphere appeared in the clip, covered in intricate grooves and markings.

"People of the Earth, we come in peace." a female voice rang out, supposedly the sphere, almost electronically. "We bring great gifts. We bring technology, and wisdom, and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship."

"Ooh, sweet." the Master cooed as the video disappeared and he returned on the screen. I pulled a face at his almost mocking tone. "And this species has identified itself. They're called the Toclafane."

"What?" the Doctor asked disbelievingly. Clearly, they're a lie.

"And tomorrow morning, they will appear." he continued. "Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin." This was bad. "Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child. Every teacher, and chemist, and lorry driver, and farmer. And every… oh, I don't know…" the camera zoomed in to his face, and he left an agonising pause before he spoke again. "Medical student?"

The Doctor turned to look at Martha. I caught on and turned around too, as did Jack. She was staring wide-eyed at the television. I turned back to look at the screen and saw the Doctor turn the television set around. Secured on the back of the screen was a bomb.

Yeah. A bomb. This guy's a nutter.

Understandably, we ran. Right out of the house, just as it blew up.

Well, the Doctor's very good at timing...

A/N: Review maybe?