By the time the TARDIS had dematerialised, Braxiatel already rushed over to Jack, his sonic pen out and Romana quickly went to help Martha, keeping the futrekind at bay. Braxiatel soniced Jack's vortex manipulator, trying to get it to work whilst they tried to keep the hungry futurekind at bay at the same time. "Hold still!" Braxiatel growled. The Master had stolen their TARDIS and they were stuck at the end of the universe with a bunch of savage cannibals. He really did not want this. The Doctor would be laughing in his grave by now surely.
"I'm telling you, it's broken! It's hasn't worked for years!" Jack protested, struggling to open the door whilst trying to get Braxiatel fix his vortex manipulator. He had tried many times to get his vortex manipulator working and each time he has failed. He had long given up on trying to work it, he might as well let Braxiatel know that it was burnt out for good.
"Trust me, if I say I can fix this, I can fix it. Romana, Martha, grab hold!" Braxiatel quickly grabbed Romana's hand who grabbed Martha's, placing them on top of the manipulator. "Now!" He pressed the vortex manipulator, making them arrive in an deserted alleyway.
The four of them appeared on the ground, groaning and Martha clutched her head and stomach, not feeling too good. Oh, that was a nasty way to travel! How did Jack bare travelling like that? No wonder why the Time-Lord's sniggered at his method of time travelling. She stood up straight but ended up feeling dizzy once more and grimaced. "Oh, my head!"
Romana rubbed the back of her head. "Urgh!" She groaned before flexing her fingers. "TARDIS is certainly the best way to time travel." She always hated time travelling without a TARDIS. At least travelling by Time Ring didn't give you any pain in the body. Yes, the Time-Lord's were certainly the only beings in the universe with the best transport for time traveling.
Jack and Braxiatel cracked their necks, trying to ease their bones before the four of them left the alley, walking away along a main street in their surroundings. Jack looked over towards the Time-Lord's. "Still, at least we made it. Earth, 21st Century by the looks of it. Ha, talk about lucky."
Braxiatel didn't look impressed before he sat down in an area in the middle of the pedestrian-only road, the others sitting down beside him. "Not luck. It was because you had me that we've managed to arrive here."
Jack merely shrugged. "The moral is, if you're gonna get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time agent and his vortex manipulator." Braxiatel was about to argue with him but Martha quickly cut their conversation short, aiming her conversation at Romana who was observing her surrounding with an alerted gaze. She didn't want them to argue, not when they had the Master on the lose.
"But this Master bloke, he's got the TARDIS. He could be anywhere in time and space." Martha pointed out to Romana. How on Earth were they going to find him without the TARDIS now?
Romana shook her head. He wasn't. Romana could feel the Master in the back of her mind. In a way, it felt good to be able to feel another Time-Lord presence but not if it was the Master. She knew the Master would hate her for everything she has done and Romana couldn't blame him. She hated herself just as much. "He's here on Earth. I can feel him inside my mind." She tapped the side of her forehead before pointing to one of the 'vote Saxon' posters. The election. They had missed it. Truth be told, neither Romana or Braxiatel had been paying attention to who would be the next prime minister. After Harriet Jones, they have avoided meeting future prime ministers due to wanting the humans to be in control of alien matters for once. "Might I ask...when is the election?"
Martha and Jack gazed in horror at the posters. "Oh my god." Martha gasped in horror, realizing what Romana was referring to. But the Master couldn't have regenerated into him, could he? But that was impossible! "If this Master bloke regenerated then...but it can't be!"
Romana and Braxiatel shared an uneasy look, both slowly standing up as does Jack before they walk over to a giant screen that showed the news. If the Master is prime minister of the UK, then it was not good news. Who knew what plans the Master had in store and they knew they weren't going to be plans that were going to help the country either. Martha slowly followed.
"Mr Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters." The newscaster reported and the screen showed the Master walking with an entourage and another lady close to his side.
Martha couldn't believe it. She had heard that voice a thousand time before and now it turned out he was nothing but a lunatic Time-Lord. How was it possible? How did he achieve this in so little time? "I said I knew that voice! When he spoke inside the TARDIS. I've heard that voice hundreds of times. I've seen him. We all have. That was the voice of Harold Saxon."
"And he's Prime Minister." Braxiatel's lips curled up with disgust as the screen shows the Master kissing his wife. "The Master and his wife?!"
"He's married a human?!" Romana asked, startled. "He can't have married her for love. He's using her for something. The Master never loves let alone a mere human. But for what gain?"
They watched the television screen with wide eyes, unable to do anything as the Master stepped forward to speak to the press. "This country has been sick. This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that, what this country really needs right now...is a doctor." The Master shared a smile into the camera as though sharing an inside joke with himself.
Braxiatel tried not to let his anger show as they made their way into Martha flat. How dare he! How dare the Master make mockery of his brother! The Doctor and the Master used to be childhood friends! Best friends before the Master turned insane! And now he was making mockery of him whilst the Doctor lay dead in ashes and dust! It made him furious! He wanted to teach the Master a lesson. Why he and his brother never shared as close relationship as he would have liked, Braxiatel
"We will stop him." Romana told him soothingly as she squeezed Braxiatel's hand. "I do not know how, but we will. We are in this together."
Braxiatel barely nodded, knowing Romana was right. She was always right. Romana turned to Martha. "Martha, grab us your laptop." She turned to look at Jack who she noticed was trying to make a call on his mobile. "Jack!" She scalded him.
"What? I'm just trying to make a call to my Torchwood team but there's no reply..." He frowned as he tried to reach his Torchwood team. Why were they not picking up? Sure, they might be on an important mission but Ianto or Gwen at least would pick up there phone and answer him. Were they in trouble? Has something happened to them whilst he's been away? He would not abandon his team unless it was an total emergency and he needed answers from Romana and Braxiatel. He didn't have time to explain everything to them but Jack only hoped that they will forgive him when the time comes.
Martha handed Romana her laptop. "Here you go. Any good?"
Romana nodded, getting onto the internet before Jack took over the computer from her. "I can show you the Saxon websites. He's been around for ages." He sat at the desk, quickly taking over.
Martha shook her head, trying to get her head around what has happened. "That's so weird though. It's day after the election. That's only four days after I met you two." She pointed towards the Time-Lord's. Four days ago, it seemed like a lifetime but that was time travel for them.
"Unfortunately for the Earth, the Master is an excellent hypnosis." Braxiatel mused, sitting on the armrest in the chair Romana was sitting on. "But lucky for us, so am I."
Jack raised an eyebrow as he logged onto the Saxon website. "What, you're an hypnosis?"
"Oh yes." Braxiatel nodded and he was. He defeated the Pandora inside his and Romana's head with his hypnosis skills and he has lured many people under his skill to do his own bidding for his Collection. He was extremely skilled when he wanted to use his talents. "I may have abused my powers in the past but none in the extreme lengths that the Master went to."
Martha folded her arms across her chest, looking between both Time-Lord's. "So are either of you going to tell us who he is?"
"He's a psychopathic Time-Lord." Romana replied abruptly. She has not come across the Master since she has reverted him from the Matrix for the Time-War. It was not her decision to bring the Master back but her Council had agreed that they needed him for he would have been the perfect warrior and look how that turned out. He ran away on his first line of duty when she stayed behind and fought tooth and nail until the very end. "A dangerous one at that."
Martha scoffed. What made him so dangerous? Sure, he stole the TARDIS and Romana did state that some Time-Lord's may be still angry at her for everything she has done whilst she was President but that didn't mean he was a psychopath did it? "What about the rest of it? I mean, who'd call himself the Master? I mean, you're brother is called the Doctor, I get it but the Master? Seriously?"
"Trust me, you really do not want to know about the Master." Romana warned before looking at Jack. "Show us this Harold Saxon."
Jack moved over to the Time-Lord's, flipping through some of the campaign commercials for Saxon. Braxiatel looked over at Romana. "At least your election was nowhere near this cringe worthy."
Romana nodded in agreement. "I did my President election process the traditional Time-Lord way thank you very much. With the sachet and rod of Rassilon. I would have hated to gone through this process." She gestured towards the computer.
Jack stopped the commercials before showing them some of Harold Saxon's background information. "Former Minister of Defence. First came to the prominence when he shot down the empty spaceship in the sky on Christmas Eve which apparently belonged to the Racnoss." He turned to Romana and Braxiatel. "Nice work by the way."
"Thank you. We took the Racnoss and her children to a new planet where they could start fresh," Romana muttered, scrolling through the website. "This is all lies. All of it. Not one word of it is true."
"How come though? It goes back years. He's famous. Everyone knows his story. Look. Cambridge University, Rugby blue, won the Athletics thing, wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life." Martha pointed out as Jack went to make everyone a cup of tea.
"A life that he wants everyone to believe he has." Braxiatel pointed out. "I told you, he's an excellent hypnosis. If you see him, do not look at him in the eyes."
"Or you." Jack pointed out as he handed everyone their drinks. "But thing is, he's got the TARDIS. Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades."
"No." Romana replied, drinking her tea before nodding her thanks to Jack.
"Why not? Worked for me." Jack shrugged. He had been living on Earth for centuries, surely the Master might have done the same thing?
"When he was stealing the TARDIS, Braxiatel fused the coordinates with his sonic pen. He locked them permanently which means he could only travel between the year 100 trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed. Give or take." Romana explained quickly.
"We know the Master is a massive hypnosis," Braxiatel nodded in agreement. "But how did he managed to get the whole country to vote for him in that sort of time? Alone? He must have had plenty of free time on his hands for sure."
"I was gonna vote for him." Martha stated as she sat in the arm chair, tapping a four beat rhythm.
They turned to look at her. "Really?" Braxiatel asked.
"Well, it was before I met the pair of you. And I liked him." Martha admitted.
"Me too." Jack replied, sipping his drink.
"May I ask why? What did he stand for exactly?" Romana enquired.
Martha looked somewhat dreamy, as though she wasn't quite herself. "I dunno. He always sounded...good." She tapped the same beat a bit louder. She couldn't remember why she liked the Master or his policies. She knew his voice sounded soothing. As though drawing them in and saying: vote for me! Vote for me! Over and over again. "Like you and Braxiatel, I could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about..." She frowned, trying to recall what the Master stood for. "I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice."
"That's it!" Braxiatel yelled, looking at Martha's fingers as she stopped tapping.
Martha looked startled, blinking quickly. "What?"
"That! That is how he used his hypnotising. He used the same four drum beat pattern he has in his head to control the country." Braxiatel snapped his fingers, realizing how the Master has the country under his complete control. "Oh he's clever, but not clever enough!" As soon as he said this, a the very same drum beat tune from the Saxon website came on, alerting them that the Master was making a broadcast.
"Speaking of the devil, it looks like he wants our attention." Romana stated, turning on the television and they all watched as the Master was sitting in front of the ornate fireplace in the Cabinet Room, dressed in a smart suit.
"Britain, Britain, Britain. 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. 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 to someone behind the camera and the screen switched to a video message of a shiny, golden sphere where a robotic female voice could be heard.
"People of the Earth, we come in peace. We bring great gifts. We bring technology and wisdom and protection and all we ask in return is your friendship." The sphere stated and Romana tried not to cringe at it's terrible lies.
The Master pouted. "Oh, sweet. And this species has identified itself. They're called the Toclafane."
Romana and Braxiatel scoffed. The Toclafane to them were nothing but fairy tales that they used to read when they were Time-Tots. "What? No they're not! You liar!"
"And tomorrow morning they will appear. Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child. Every teacher, mayor, lorry driver and farmer. And every...oh, I don't know...medical student?" The Master smirked as though aiming that part of the conversation directly at them.
Braxiatel quickly dove round the t.v to find a bomb ready to go off and he quickly stood up. "Out! Out!" He yelled and they all rushed out, Braxiatel grabbing the laptop as they rushed out onto the street just as the front window of Martha's flat exploded. Braxiatel rushed over to Romana, making sure she was okay. "Romana, are you okay?"
Romana nodded. "I'm fine. Jack, how about you?"
"I'm good." Jack replied, letting out a nervous breath. That was a close call.
"Martha?" Braxiatel turned to Martha. "Martha, you know you can't tell anyone where you are!"
Martha pointed her finger at him angrily. "He knows about me but what about my family?" Martha snapped before her mum picked up and she looked relieved. If the Master knew she was traveling with Romana and Braxiatel, what did that mean for the safety of her family? "Mum? Oh my god, you're there."
"Course I'm here, sweetheart. You all right?" Francine answered.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. Mum, has there been anyone asking about me?" Martha asked as Romana, Braxiatel and Jack shared a look with each other.
"Martha, I think perhaps you should come 'round." Francine told her and Romana furiously shook her head at Martha.
"I can't! Not now!" Martha shouted. Oh, she loved her mother dearly but Martha had no time to be treated like a naughty child.
"No, but it's your father. We've been talking and we thought we might give it another go."
Martha scoffed. "Don't be so daft! Since when?"
"Just come 'round. Come to the house, we can celebrate."
"You said you'd never get back with him in a million years." Martha reminded her mother.
"Ask him yourself." Martha heard her mother pass the phone to her father.
"Martha, it's me." Her father spoke though his voice sounded strained.
"Dad? What are you doing there?"
"Like your mother said, come 'round. We can explain everything."
Martha shook her head, trying to calm herself down. "Dad? Just say yes or no. Is there someone else there?"
There was a long pause before Martha heard a chair fall. "Yes! Just run!" Her father sounded and there were loud bangs with her mother screaming her father's name. "Listen to me! Just run! I don't know who they are!"
"Dad! What's going on? Dad?" Martha asked, alarmed but all she heard was Francine and Clive yelling at each other before the phone went dead.
Martha trembled. "I've gotta help them!" And she began to run to her car but Romana stopped her.
Romana gently grabbed her by the shoulders. "Martha!" Romana snapped. "Martha, listen to me. They are your family and you care about them, I understand. But this is exactly what the Master wants. He wants you and your family dead. Does your father honestly want you to be lead into his trap? No, he wouldn't. He even tried to warn you to run."
"But they're my family! He's hurting them!" Martha cried, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. "I can't just stand by and do nothing!"
"And you can't just run into the Master's trap either!" Romana pointed out. "They're your family. And I'm sorry Martha, truly I am from both of my hearts, but we have to run. That is all we can do."
Martha looked down, trying to fight back her tears. "If I can't see my mum or dad, at least let me ring Tish and Leo."
"Fair enough answer." Romana looked over towards Jack. "You're driving. Take us somewhere safe for now, where we can abandon the car. No doubt there is CCTV on this road, they'll know the car number plate by now."
"Of course." Jack nodded, getting into the driver's seat as Romana helped Martha into the front passenger seat before getting into the back with Braxiatel.
Romana watched Martha with a concerned expression as she waited for Tish to pick up, Jack driving carefully through the streets but driving fast at the same time. "C'mon, Tish. Pick up." Martha groaned but then she heard Tish pick up on the other end.
"Martha, I can't talk right now. We just made first contact. Did you see-" Suddenly she heard Tish phone drop and she heard the sound of struggle from Tish and Martha knew that Tish was being taken hostage by The Master's men. "What are you doing? Get off! Linda, tell them!" Tish voice began to sound distant.
"What's happening? Tish!" Martha glared at the Time-Lord's through the rear-view mirror. "You are both to blame for this! Both of you!"
"Jack, we have to ditch this car." Braxiatel warned as he saw the CCTV cameras on the road point in their direction. "They've seen us and we have to ditch it."
Jack quickly pulled over, ditching the car and they all got out and they all headed on foot, Martha ringing Leo and she looked relieved at the fact he answered her. "Leo! Oh, thank god! Leo, you gotta listen to me. Where are you?"
"I'm in Brighton. We came down with Boxer. Did you see that Saxon thing on telly?"
"Leo, just listen to me. Don't go home. I'm telling you. Don't phone Mum or Dad or Tish. You've gotta hide." Martha warned him, trying to ensure his safety even if that meant her getting caught.
"Shut up." Leo scoffed, not believing her.
"On my life. You've gotta trust me. Go to Boxer's. Stay with him. Don't tell anyone! Just hide!" Martha cried desperately as Romana handed Jack the laptop.
"Ooh, a nice little game of hide-and-seek. I love that. But I'll find you, Martha Jones. Been a long time since we saw each other. Must be, what, one hundred trillion years?" The Master sarcastically spoke, cutting the conversation between her and Leo.
"Let them go Saxon!" Martha yelled angrily down the phone, making the Time-lord's wheel around to face her. "Do you hear me?! Let them go!"
Romana took the phone from Martha and they walked away from her, wanting a Time-Lord to Time-Lord talk. "We're here."
"Madame President and Lord Cardinal Braxiatel." The Master commented with little emotion in his voice.
"Master."
"I did not except you two to survive, more like the Doctor but this is certainly surprising." The Master commented mockingly.
"More to the point, why did you name those creatures the Toclafane? We all know very well that the Toclafane were nothing more than stories that we used to read as Time-Tots. They were the nightmares underneath our bed." Braxiatel spoke, looking at Romana.
They heard the Master gave a low chuckle. "Oh, all those fairytales and nightmares about the Toclafane. Remember the Doctor, Braxiatel? Remember how I used to visit House Lungbarrow in the holidays and we would read those stories together when we were kids? Back home. Where is it, Romanadvoratrelundar? Where is home?"
Romana swallowed. "Gone."
They heard him rise out of his chair. "How can Gallifrey be gone?"
Despite the Master being a psychopath, he deserved to know what happened to Gallifrey. He had a right to know. He was a Time-Lord after all and Romana was always loyal to her people. "It burnt."
The Master swallowed. "And the rest of our people?"
"Dead. Not sure about all the Daleks, we have come across plenty on our travels. What about you? I sent you to the Cruciform and yet, you ran away!" Romana pointed out. "You let the Dalek Emperor take control of the Cruciform. Why? Why did you disobey my orders when I gave you another chance of living?"
"It was not a choice that I agreed on. You used me as a weapon! I was nothing but a pawn in your game." The Master spat. "Let me remind you Romanadvoratrelundar that you only resurrected me because you knew I would be the perfect warrior for the Time War. You and Rassilon both. When I saw the Dalek Emperor taking hold of the Cruciform, I ran. I ran so far because I was scared."
"We were all were." Braxiatel told him. "We were all scared but we did not run away. We stayed behind and fought until the very end."
"Were you? Were you really?" The Master retorted harshly. "But if the Time-Lord's are dead, how did you two survive?"
"I fell through the vortex with a battle crazed Dalek and landed on Earth 2012." Braxiatel replied quietly. "Just about alive before Romana rescued me."
"And you, Romana? How did you survive? I'm ever so curious."
Romana swallowed. "I was the only one who could end the Time War. The Doctor tricked me into leaving behind my own people. I tried to look for other solutions, tried with all my might. But there were none."
"Tell me...how did it feel? To be able to watch two almighty civilizations burning! Oh, tell me, how did it feel?" The Master urged and Braxiatel looked at Romana. Never did Braxiatel dare answer that question to Romana before. "You must have felt like a goddess."
"How dare you!" Romana seethed. Oh, the Master was so lucky he wasn't there in front of her! She would of ended all his regeneration's by now. "How dare you ask me that! Did you think I enjoyed burning our people? Did you think I enjoyed watching all those children burn before my eyes? That was the worst day of my very long life. I had to watch everything I loved turn to nothing but dust and cinder before my very own eyes. I hated every microsecond of it so don't you dare ask me if I enjoyed watching the people I loved burn!"
"And you, Braxiatel." The Master taunted. "I haven't seen you since we were Time-Tots! Look at us now. All proud and ancient and covered in dust."
"I've always been covered in dust." Braxiatel replied smoothly. "We are not like my brother, Master. We could stop this right now and we could discuss this as proper Time-Lord's. We do not have to behave like children."
"Too late." The Master replied.
"What makes you say that?"
"The drumming." They heard the Master tap the drumming sound on the table. "I thought it would stop but it never does. Never ever stops. Inside my head, the drumming, Romana, Braxiatel. The constant drumming."
"We could help you." Braxiatel urged. "We could work together on this and find what causes you to have those drumming noises. Accept our help and us three can work together as allies."
"Ooh, look! You're on TV!" The Master said in a child-like manner.
Braxiatel scowled. "Behave Master!"
"No, really. You're on telly! You and your little band of merry men, which by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So, congratulations on that. Look, there you are! Ha!" They heard the Master cackle and Romana and Braxiatel gazed over to a T.V in the shop window where they saw wanted posters of themselves. "You're public enemies number one, two, three and four. Oh and you can tell handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas so he won't be getting any help from them." Romana saw the CCTV behind her turn in their direction. "Now, go on, off you go. You can see me just as much as I can see you."
"The bastard." Romana snarled and she used her sonic screwdriver, blowing up the camera and Martha and Jack rushed over immediately.
"Oh, you public menace. Better start running Madame P. Go on. Run!" The Master screamed down the phone. "I said run!" He switched the phone off.
Romana and Braxiatel looked at each other, standing up. "We have to stop him. We can't let him have control of the Earth like this."
"So what do we do?" Martha asked, wrapping her arms around herself.
"We've got nowhere to go." Jack pointed out.
"Romana, what do we do?" Martha snapped.
"Honestly? We run." Romana replied, holding out her hand for Braxiatel and Braxiatel took it. "We run for our lives." The four of them turned and ran through the shopping arcade, keeping their heads low and trying not to be seen.