In short: The Dw50th was bullshit and will use next to nothing from it. Apart from a few moments and one-liners, itt sucked. So badly. And don't even try to argue with me on that.
Anyway, here's the chapter. You probably won't like me by the end of it.
A few minutes after the Doctor left, the TARDIS materialized in the lab. A minute after that, the Doctor came bursting out with a thick cable. "Extra power!" he shouted. He knelt down in front of a table and plugged the cord into an outlet. "Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting? Jack, you're in charge of the retro-feeds."
The TARDIS grumbled in Rose's mind again. She clearly didn't want Jack anywhere near her right now.
The lab door slid open. Martha and Chantho had returned with the circuits.
Martha saw the TARDIS sitting there and grinned. "Oh, am I glad to see that thing."
Chantho noticed Yana, who was still sitting and holding his head. "Chan—professor, are you alright—tho?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine!" he insisted when she didn't move. "Just get on with it."
"Rose, I need your help over here. And you two, connect those circuits into the spar—same as that last lot," Jack ordered them. "But quicker."
"Ooh, yes sir." Martha teased but she got to it. She and Chantho set their circuits down on the desk and Martha started handing them to the alien woman one at a time. They worked in silence for a minute, listening to the Doctor and Yana talking about noise and headaches or whatever, and the quiet murmuring between Rose and Jack as they worked across the room.
Martha decided it was time to strike up a conversation of her own. "So, how long have you been with the professor?"
"Chan—seventeen years—tho."
"Blimey. A long time."
"Chan—I adore him—tho," she replied quietly, glancing down. She put another circuit into the spar.
Martha made a face. "Oh right, and he—"
"Chan—I don't think he even notices—tho."
"I'm sorry."
"Chan—but I am happy to serve—tho!" she assured her.
"Do you mind if I ask? Do you have to start every sentence with 'chan'?"
Chantho looked surprised. "Chan—yes—tho."
"And end every sentence with…"
"Chan—tho—tho."
She tilted her head. "What would happen if you didn't?"
"Chan—that would be rude—tho!" She laughed once breathlessly as if the very idea were scandalous.
Martha grinned shrewdly. "What, like swearing?"
She glanced over to make sure no one was listening and lowered her voice. "Chan—indeed—tho."
"Go on, just once."
"Chan—I can't—tho!" She said nervously.
"Oh, do it for me."
Chantho seemed to struggle with it for a moment. Then, "No!" And she giggled madly.
Martha laughed, pressing her lips together, and glanced at the others. No one was paying them any mind.
When they were done plugging in the circuits, Chantho hit the switch to turn on the system and then they joined Jack, the Doctor, and Rose at the central panel.
She noticed Rose looking at Jack every so often but never for long, not even if they were talking. The Doctor, too. Martha folded her arms. Weren't they all supposed to be old friends? There had been some major tension earlier but it had faded away pretty quickly. Except neither of them seemed to want to look at Jack for very long. It was really weird. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with him—hell, she wouldn't mind never looking away, he really was something—but, then, other than a few pictures, she'd never seen him before. She hadn't recognized him when he was lying dead on the ground.
"I think…" the Doctor said suddenly. "I think that's it." He looked around at them all. "I think we're ready."
"Excellent!" Yana crowed and hurried over to a computer screen. He sat down on the stool in front of it and typed something into the keyboard.
A minute later, a man's voice came through the speakers and the word ATILLO appeared on the screen in front of Yana. "Professor, are you getting me?" A moment later, the face of Lieutenant Atillo appeared as well.
"I'm here!" Yana said. "We're ready! Now all you need to do is connect the couplings. Then we can launch." The screen made a beeping sound and Atillo's image faded from the screen. Yana waved his hands furiously. "God sakes! This equipment!"
Martha ducked under some tubes hanging from the ceiling and ran over to him.
"Needs rebooting all the time!"
"Anything I can do?" she asked. "I've finished that lot."
"Yes, if you could." He stood up so she could sit on the stool. "Just press the reboot key every time the picture goes out."
"Certainly, sir. Just don't ask me to do shorthand."
He laughed once and patted her on the shoulder. She jabbed the reboot key once and the static onscreen gave way to Atillo's face again.
"Are you still there?"
"Ah, present and correct!" Yana said. "Send your man inside. We'll keep the levels down from here."
Atillo nodded and disappeared from the screen. It beeped again and the image shifted to a bright red, overexposed room with five large cylinders in the middle. A man wearing a thick white HAZMAT suit entered the room and headed for the cylinders. "He's inside," Atillo reported. "And good luck to him."
"Keep the levels below the red," Yana ordered someone.
"Where is that room?" The Doctor asked.
"It's underneath the rocket. Fix the couplings and the footprint can work." Yana came back over to the screen and from the sound of it someone was following. "But the entire chamber s flooded with stet radiation."
"Stet?" Rose asked from across the room.
"Never heard of it," the Doctor said directly behind Martha. She turned to look.
"You wouldn't want to." Yana told them. "But it's safe enough. We can hold the radiation back from here."
Famous last words, Martha thought.
They watched the screen in tense silence. The man had gotten started on the first of the couplings—tapping a code into a keypad on top. The screen started to fizz out again and Martha tapped the reboot key several times in succession before they lost the picture. On screen, the man got the top of the coupling open and he gripped a handle inside, struggling to turn it. After a tense moment, it slowly turned and dropped down.
A klaxon began to blare. Martha jumped to her feet in alarm.
"It's rising…0.2!" Yana warned. "Keep it level!"
"Yes, sir!" Jack said. The klaxon faded.
The man on screen got the second coupling open. He twisted the handle and the thing inside dropped. They all breathed a little easier.
Without warning, the entire silo seemed to shudder around them. Rose nearly lost her balance, only just catching herself on the machine in front of her. She felt the Doctor's hands on her waist a split second after, steadying her. Lights that had previously shown brightly suddenly became dim or went out all together. The klaxon began blaring again and another high-pitched alarm started going off rapidly too.
"Chan—we're losing power—tho!" She cried.
Jack put his hands on her shoulder to steady her. But it just got worse. The alarms got louder and the all the monitors started flashing warningly. Martha glanced at Rose and saw her own fear reflected back at her.
Jack and the Doctor raced from terminal to terminal, flipping switches and pressing keys to no avail.
"Radiation's rising!" The Doctor yelled from across the room.
"We've lost control!" Jack shouted back.
Yana was spinning a nozzle on the board in front of him frantically. "The chamber's going to flood," he told the two women behind him.
"Can't you do something?" Rose cried desperately. Her eyes flicked to the man on screen. "He'll die!"
"Jack!" the Doctor barked. "Override the vents!"
"I'm trying!" He shouted. His hands flitted around a series of cables and he finally grabbed one, hauling it over to another machine, and pulled another cable up. He held both live cables up, and Martha knew what he was going to do. "We can jump start the override!" was the last thing he said before shoving them together.
"DON'T! IT'S GOING TO FLARE!"
Too late. Electricity rippled through Jack's body, humming and fizzing lethally. Jack screamed in pain, his body shuddering violently.
Rose shrieked. "JACK!"
The cables slipped out of Jack's hands as his body slumped to the floor. The humming and sizzling faded as the cables were separated. Jack did not move.
"Jack!" Rose screamed again, clamoring over the thick wires and cables on the floor to reach him.
Martha beat her there, dropping to her knees beside him. "I've got him."
Even in her despair, Rose couldn't quite bring herself to kneel down next to him. Everything about him that was wrong was gone. Completely gone. Just like it had been when she'd first seen him outside the TARDIS earlier. That in itself was disturbing. Yet still that unfamiliar instinct was growling at her, warning her to not get to close to him. Even now, as helpless as he was, he was still dangerous.
"Chan—don't touch the cables—tho," Chantho cautioned and tossed the cables, both still live, aside.
Yana leaned over him, hands on his knees. "Oh, I'm so sorry."
Martha pressed her ear to Jack's chest and her lips pressed together tightly. A sob bubbled past Rose's lips and she covered her mouth with her hand, tears forming in her eyes.
The Doctor, however, was perfectly calm, standing behind all of them and looking down at Jack with near apathy. "The chamber's flooded with radiation, yes?"
Martha gripped Jack's chin with one hand, pinching his nose with the other, and took a deep breath, inhaling into Jack's mouth. God, how could Martha stand to be that close to him?! Unless, of course, she really couldn't sense what Rose seemed to. That was starting to seem more likely.
"Without the couplings, the engines will never start." Yana gestured at Jack's lifeless body furiously. "It was all for nothing!"
"Oh, I don't know." The Doctor walked forward, still calm as ever, and pulled Martha up gently. "Martha, leave him."
She struggled against his hold. "You've gotta let me try!"
"Come on. Come on. Just listen to me. Now leave him alone." Martha looked at him in bewilderment but she made no move towards Jack again. "It strikes me, Professor, you've got a room no man can't enter without dying. Is that correct?"
He laughed once humorlessly. "Yes."
"Well…"
As if on cue, there was that surge of power in the air, and Jack jerked back to life with a wild gasp. Rose inhaled sharply, jumping away from him on instinct as the wrongness came pulsing back with the force of a wrecking ball. Everyone stared at him with varying degrees of shock and horror. Everyone except the Doctor, who removed his glasses and tucked them into his coat pocket nonchalantly. "I've got just the man."
Jack looked between the lot of them for a moment. "Was someone kissing me?"
Martha laughed breathlessly, almost hysterically. Jack heaved himself to his feet and dusted his trousers off. "No, really, was someone kissing me?
"Chan—but that is impossible—tho!" the Malmooth woman cried, trembling as she backed away.
"Not as impossible as you might think." He wagged his eyebrows and she nearly fell over.
"Jack," the Doctor drawled. "I believe your…unique services are required. That chamber's entirely flooded and anyone who goes in is a dead man."
Jack's eyes hardened and he stared at him for a moment. "I see. What do I have to do?" he asked Yana.
Yana licked his lips pensively, shook his head quickly, and motioned for him to come with him. He led Jack over to the monitor that showed the chamber. "Each one of those cylindrical units holds a coupling that must be rotated in order for it to drop and connect. In order to open them, you must enter a thirteen-digit code on the keypad. The first four digits of the code are 9-8-4-1, then you repeat that two more times, and the final number is the unit number plus three. So the code for Unit 2 would be 9-8-4-1-9-8-4-1-9-8-4-1-5. Understand?"
"'9-8-4-1 times three, unit number plus three. Got it. Anything else?"
"Hurry."
"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," the Doctor said.
Rose glared at him. How could he be so bloody calm? Jack had died. Twice. And he was still standing. He was nauseating to look at and be around. And the Doctor was acting like it was all old news to him.
You knew about this. Rose realized, narrowing her eyes. As if sensing her anger, the Doctor glanced down. You knew something had happened to him. That's why we never went back.
He arched one eyebrow.
"Well, then!" Jack said loudly and clapped his hands. "What are we waiting for?"
Jack grabbed his coat off the shelf he'd tossed it on, and slid it on. The Doctor tore his gaze from Rose's and went to grab his, too. He struggled with the sleeve just a bit like he did sometimes, but before Rose could go help him, Jack held the sleeve steady so the Doctor could slip his arm in. "You comin' too, Doc?"
"Someone's got to be in the control room." He said. "Rose, Martha, stay here and help if you can. We'll be back soon."
"Be careful, both of you." Rose pleaded.
"We will," the Doctor promised. He smiled reassuringly.
The moment they were out of the room and the door had shut behind them, Chantho let out a whimper. "Chan—he…was dead—tho. Chan—I sensed the lifelessness in him—tho. Chan—how is he alive again—tho?" she demanded.
"Don't look at me!" Martha held up her hands.
All eyes turned to Rose. Of course they expected her to know. She was the only other one who'd displayed any sort of affection or past connection to him. She looked between the three curious faces for a moment before shaking her head. "I dunno. I—I just don't. He used to travel with us but he never died then. But, then, he never felt wrong then, either."
"How do you mean?"
"You…really can't feel it?" Rose looked between them all again. "None of you?" They shook their heads.
"Is that why you haven't been looking at him?" Martha asked, folding her arms.
She nodded. "It kind of…hurts, almost. It's like…it's like tryin' to look at a bright light. Can only stand it for so long." She fixed Martha with a meaningful look then glanced at the TARDIS.
Understanding dawned on Martha's face and she nodded once.
Rose walked over to the stool in front of the computer and sank down onto it. The picture was again static, so she pressed the key she'd seen Martha pressing earlier. The computer beeped and whirled but the picture didn't return, only the word ATILLO in big black letters on the white space at the bottom.
"Guess it's not gonna work," Martha said behind her. "Doctor, are you there?"
"Receiving, yeah. He's inside."
"And he's alive?" Rose checked.
"Oh, yes."
"But he should evaporate." Yana insisted. "What sort of a man is he?"
"That," said Rose, "is an interestin' question."
"The Doctor sort of travels through time and space and picks people up." Martha explained. "God, I make us sound like stray dogs."
Rose snorted.
"Not you."
"Oh, no. Reckon I was stray dog, too, at one point." Rose shrugged.
"You…you travel in time?" Yana murmured.
"Yep," Rose said, popping the 'p'. "That there, our ship, she's called the TARDIS. Time machine."
She heard Yana slowly walk away from the screen. She glanced back and saw him staring at the TARDIS. Then she was drawn back to the computer monitor by the Doctor's voice filtering through he speakers.
"When did you first realize?"
"Earth 1892," Jack replied. "Got in a fight in Ellis Island. A man shot me through the heart. Then I woke up. Thought it was kinda strange. But then it never stopped. Fell off a cliff, trampled by horses, World War I, World War II, poison, starvation, a stray javelin…"
Rose winced.
"In the end, I got the message, I'm the man who can never die. And all that time you knew."
"That's why I left you behind," the Doctor admitted. "It's not easy even just—just looking at you Jack, 'cause you're wrong."
"Thanks," Jack hissed.
"You are, I can't help it. I'm a Time Lord. It's instinct. Didn't you notice how Rose wouldn't come within two feet of you? She feels it too."
Rose inhaled sharply and she and Martha glanced at each other.
"…Yeah, I noticed."
"Don't take it personally. She can't help it any more than I can. She receives all this extra sensory data from the TARDIS and her body just doesn't know what to do with it half the time. And then there's you. You're a fixed point in time and space. You're a fact. That's never meant to happen. The TARDIS reacted against you—tried to shake you off. Flew all the way to the end of the universe just to get rid of you."
"And Rose? How does she tie into this? She's not a Time Lord."
The Doctor was quiet for a minute. "Didn't you ever wonder why you're this way?"
"Every day."
"It was Rose. She ripped open the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the Time Vortex."
Behind her, Rose heard someone suck in a quick breath of air. It might've been Yana.
"All the power of time and space in the hands of a twenty-year-old human. You should've seen her. She was…terrifying. And beautiful. She saved me. She destroyed the entire Dalek race in seconds. All she did was wave her hand and then…dust."
"And what about me? I remember I was facing three Daleks. Death by extermination. Then I was alive again."
"That was Rose. She brought you back to life."
Rose gasped, hand flying to her mouth.
"But she couldn't control it," the Doctor continued. "She brought you back forever."
Rose sprang to her feet and scrambled away from the screen, knocking over the chair in her haste. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. What had she done?
"Chan—Rose, are you alright—tho?" Chantho fretted.
Rose shook her hand quickly and gripped the edge of the table for support. Chantho picked up the stool and set it near her and Rose sank back into it. It was her fault. It was all her fault! Jack was wrong because she'd made him this way. We made him this way, she thought at the TARDIS. And the Doctor knew. He'd known all this time but he never said anything.
"And…I don't suppose she could change me back?" Jack asked.
"No. I took the power out of her. She's been showing signs of residual effects for about a year now, but that's mostly just her body reacting to things she's receiving from the TARDIS. You can't hold something as powerful as a TARDIS's heart in your body for as long as she did and not be affected. But in order for her to change you back she'd have to re-absorb the Heart and I can't let her do that. Not even for you, Jack. It would kill her."
Jack sighed loudly. "And there's nothing you can do?"
"No. If I took the power…well, I'd survive through regeneration… but if a Time Lord were to hold that power and wield it the way she did, he'd become a god. A vengeful god. So it's probably best if I don't."
Jack sighed again. "I see."
He sounded so dejected, so hopeless in that moment, that Rose couldn't hold back a tiny sob. This was all her fault. She'd done this. The more she thought about it, the more the details started filtering back in. She remembered sensing that he was dead through the haze of golden light and power. A sort of… hole where his life should've been. And hundreds, no, thousands of similar holes…all the other people in the Gamestation that had been murdered.
Their timelines severed abruptly, their screams of agony rippling through from the past… Wanting to save them all but something stopping her from doing it. Knowing it was wrong. Doing it anyway for Jack.
Rose blinked, suddenly realizing that Martha was kneeling in front of her, concerned.
"Are you alright?" Martha asked.
She shook her head quickly, dispelling the old memories. "Yeah. Yeah, 'm fine. Just rememberin'."
Martha cocked her head to one side and opened her mouth to ask what she meant. But then Chantho spoke. "Chan—Professor, what is it—tho?"
Yana was leaning against a terminal for support, looking very much like he was trying to hold back tears. And failing if the tear tracks on his face were anything to go by. "It's time travel! They say there was time travel back in the old days…" He shook his head. "I never believed. Yet here you are." He turned his gaze towards the two time traveling women.
"Here we are," Martha agreed.
"Utopia," he said roughly. "Perhaps I've been working for the wrong thing all along. Perhaps I should've been working on time travel. We could've all gone back thousands of years…millions, even! We could've survived that way." But then Yana shook his head. "No, no," he chided himself. "That would be foolish. Not to mention impractical. I could never have gotten something like that to work. I'm just a stupid old man." He sniffled. "Never could keep time, anyway. …Always late, always lost. Even this thing never worked."
Yana pulled a brass pocket watch on a chain from his pocket.
Rose wiped her eyes quickly to make sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing. Beside her, Martha stiffened. Rose glanced at her fearfully and saw a similar expression on Martha's face. They were thinking the same thing. She jerked her head towards the watch and Martha nodded.
"Time and time and time again," Yana murmured distantly as she approached him. "Always running out on me."
Martha licked her lips. "Can I have a look at that?"
"Oh, it's only an old relic." He chuckled. "Like me."
"Where did you get it?"
"Hmm?" He frowned, looking off into the distance. "I was found with it."
"What do you mean?"
"An orphan in the storm. I was a naked child found on the coast of the Silver Devastation. Abandoned…with only this." He lifted the watch.
"Have you ever opened it?" Martha asked.
"Why would I? It's broken."
"How do you know it's broken if you never opened it?"
He fiddled with the edge of the cover for a second. "It's stuck. It's old. It's not meant to be." He shook his head. "I don't know."
Martha reached out and slowly turned it over. She took one look at the cover and let go of it like it had burned her. She gasped quietly and took a step away from him.
Rose slowly stood up so as not to alarm him. She craned her neck and saw the Gallifreyan writing on the cover. She'd held an identical watch with her for nearly three months. Kept it close, slept with it curled in her hand, spent hours tracing the designs with her finger. She knew it by heart. But there was no way it could be the same watch, not after all this time. Which meant it was a different one. Which meant he was—
All the air rushed out of her in a single puff.
"Does it matter?" Yana asked.
"No!" Martha lied quickly. He frowned at her suspiciously. "It's…nothing. Just looks like something I've seen before." She turned towards Rose, eyes wild with panic.
"Listen, Martha, we've all got it sorted here. Why don't you go see if the Doctor needs help?"
"Right. Right, I'll uh…I'll go do that." Martha nodded hurriedly and all but ran out of the room.
Rose watched her go then sniffled, scrubbing at her eyes with her hands. Yana was watching her apprehensively. She met his gaze as levelly as she could. This man was a Time Lord disguised as a human. There was simply no other explanation for how he could have a fob watch. But—but the Doctor said they'd all died. So how could he be here? Unless he'd been human at the time, then maybe whatever had killed the rest of them had passed over him? He must've run from the war and hidden here where no one would think to look. The Doctor himself had said the Time Lords never came this far.
Yana's gaze dropped to the watch and he lifted a finger, slowly tracing the circumference. He could see it now. Properly. He'd broken through the perception filter. It wouldn't be long now before his curiosity got the better of him, before he started hearing the whispers of the mind trapped inside the watch. She only hoped the Doctor would be able to help when he came back.
The TARDIS hummed nervously in her mind and she sent Rose an image of herself standing in the console room. Rose swallowed and ducked her head, crossing the distance between herself and the TARDIS in several swift strides. She eased the door open and took one last look at Yana—he was walking towards the common area with Chantho following nervously behind—then slipped it shut behind her.
Rose hurried up the ramp and gripped the edge of the console. "Did you know he was here?" She asked the controls.
The room dimmed and she felt the TARDIS's denial in her mind.
"But do you know who he is?"
For a moment, nothing happened, but then her mind was filled with a slew of images. Two young boys playing together and with a group of others their age, the boys being taunted by another, one of the boys lashing out at the bully while the other cowered. She heard one of them called "Thete" and the other "Koschei." Then the voices morphed and Thete was suddenly being called "Doctor" and Koschei "Master."
Master? The Master, that's his name? she asked.
The TARDIS hummed darky and the rotor bobbed up and down once.
So he and the Doctor grew up together? A smile stretched across her face. Oh, but this was great! Not only would there be another Time Lord around but he was an old friend of the Doctor's!
The TARDIS's hum deepened and the all the lights in the room flickered ominously. Another rush of images filled her mind. The Master, fully grown and in several regenerations, always at odds with the Doctor. Always trying to kill him. Always trying to gain power, not caring who he hurt along the way. Hateful words, merciless sneering, evil laughter that was beyond cliché. It seemed to last forever. Scene after scene, example after example of the atrocities that man had committed. Rose clutched her head, squeezing her eyes shut in a feeble attempt to stop the horrible torrent. She stumbled around the console, her legs hitting the jump seat, and she nearly lost her balance.
The images ceased and she was left panting, leaning heavily on the seat.
"Ok…" she breathed, chest heaving. "Not a friend. Not a friend. Got it."
The world outside shuddered violently and the TARDIS with it. She pitched forward onto the console. Over the hum of the ship she heard the distant, but very loud rumbling of the rocket blasting off. She smiled, holding onto the console edge for dear life. The rumbling slowly died down as the rocket got further and further from them until it eventually faded altogether.
Rose let go of the console and looked around, and then let go of the console. She massaged her wrist and chewed on the inside of her lip. What were they going to do? On the one hand, they'd found another Time Lord—the Doctor wasn't the last anymore. On the other, he was a psychotic mass murderer and the Doctor would probably have to spend the rest of his days keeping him in check.
Perhaps if she could get the watch off Yana before he opened it then she could let the Doctor decide to open it or not. It wouldn't be too difficult to do. She could just go over and ask to see the watch because she thought she might have found one like it during their travels or something.
She was getting ready to do just then when from outside, she heard a panicked cry. "Chan—Rose, help me—tho!"
She took off across the room, down the ramp, and pulled open the door. The laboratory was now mostly dark, but she could still make out the forms of Yana and Chantho. The latter had some sort of gun in her hand and it was pointed at Yana who was advancing on her with one of the live cables. His face was twisted in a mask of fury and the fob watch dangled at his side. Open.
She was too late. Shit.
"Chan—Professor, please—" the woman whimpered as she was backed into a corner.
"THAT IS NOT MY NAME!" He roared. Chantho jumped. "The Professor…" he sneered, "was an invention. So perfect a disguise that I forgot who I am."
"Master!" Rose shouted, pushing the door open wider. The Time Lord jerked around in surprise at hearing his name. "Get away from her!"
The Master leered at her. "Aahh… you know who I am," he crooned. "I'll be right with you, dear." He let out a loud roar and thrust the cable into Chantho's chest.
Rose's cry of, "No!" was completely drowned out by the Malmooth's shrill scream of agony.
Her body convulsed several times, the gun slipping from her hand, and then the Master pulled the cable back. She crumpled to the floor.
He turned towards Rose. She gasped and backed into the TARDIS. She tried to slam the door shut but the thick cable the Doctor had brought out for extra power was still in the way. She looked around frantically for some way to disconnect it and spotted a connector just near the top of the ramp. Tripping over it in her haste, she clambered up the ramp towards the connector and twisted it frantically. Her hands slipped on the metal and she cursed the Doctor's superior strength for making it so tight. She finally managed to untwist it when she heard the door open.
Rose looked up. The Master stood there with the jar containing the Doctor's hand, smirking at her. He set the jar down near the door and grabbed the cable, yanking it from her grasp with one sharp tug. Rose scrambled to her feet, backing away towards the console as the Master tossed it outside and shut the door behind him. He flipped the lock.
Rose's heart galloped in her chest. She could always run. It would be easy to lose him in the maze of the halls and the TARDIS would definitely assist her. But doing so would leave him to do as he pleased in the console room. He would steal the TARDIS if she gave him the chance. Well, that wasn't going to happen. She swallowed, steeling herself. She'd have to fight him. If she could just…just get him down long enough for the Doctor to get here then he could do something. He knew how to defeat the Master. He'd done it time and time again.
The Master was looking around the console room with interest, like he had all the time in the world. "Well, I must say, this is a change. It's never been so…brown and uneven before. What is this, coral?" He rapped on one of the struts. "Pah. Still, it's been worse." He finally settled his gaze on Rose. "But this is the most unusual thing of all."
She glowered at him.
"Rose, wasn't it? Human, too, I take it? From Earth?"
She said nothing but began to edge around the console, glancing down periodically. Where was that damn mallet?
"The Doctor's always been fond of your species and that ridiculous planet," he went on. "He likes to keep a little posse around to help him out. You're always so loyal, like dogs. Your friend was right. He picks you stray mutts up, trains you to be good, and you're loyal for life. But I never thought I'd see the day that he'd lower himself to actually mate with one of you!" He laughed mockingly. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen!"
"Fuck off," she spat.
He laughed again and advanced towards her. "Feisty! Is that what he likes about you? Or is there…more?"
Rose stepped backwards again, glancing down. There! Just in front of the jumpseat! The mallet! She licked her lips. He was only about four feet from her now. She'd have to be quick. But first she had to get his attention off her.
"Get off my TARDIS."
"Your TARDIS? Your TARDIS?" He guffawed.
Get his attention! Rose thought at the ship. Do anything! "Last chance!" she warned. Now!
A huge shower of sparks burst up from the console, hitting the Master right in the face. He cried out in shock and hopefully pain and Rose dove for the mallet. He saw what she was doing and lunged at her. She swung the mallet up with a loud grunt of exertion. It hit him in the shoulder hard and knocked him off balance. Rose leaped towards him and swung the mallet again. It hit him in the side and she managed to knock him into the console, which released another shower of sparks.
Someone started pounding furiously on the doors. Rose turned to look automatically. "Doctor?!" she shouted.
"ROSE, ARE YOU IN THERE? LET ME IN!"
The TARDIS was soundproof; the Doctor wouldn't be able to hear her even she shouted. Rose glanced at the Master and tried to dart past him but he lunged at her. She swiped the mallet at him, missed, and scrambled away from him.
She heard the lock rattle for a few seconds and he smacked the door. "He's bolted it! You have to open it from the inside." the Doctor shouted.
The Master pushed himself up and pressed a button on the console, activating the external speakers. "I'm afraid she's a bit busy right now, Doctor!"
"Who are you?!"
"It's the Master!" Rose shouted and swung the mallet again but the Master was ready. He avoided it easily, swinging his fist around. It connected with the side of her face and she was sent sprawling to the floor. The mallet landed a few feet away. She let out a pained yelp and the TARDIS's hum deepened until it was so low it may as well have been a growl.
The Doctor started to pound on the doors furiously. "LEAVE HER ALONE!"
Rose pushed herself onto her hands and knees and crawled frantically towards her only weapon. The Master kicked her hard in the side, knocking her aside. She yelped again as she collided painfully with the railing.
"JUST LEAVE HER ALONE!"
The Master laughed and kicked her in the stomach. She curled in on herself, to protect her stomach, covering her head with her hands, and she received a sharp kick to her arms. One to her shin. Then he reached down, seizing her by her hair and pulled her head out from behind her arms. She screamed in pain. He fisted one hand in the front of her shirt and hauled her the rest of the way up.
"STOP IT!" the Doctor shouted.
"Say please!" the Master ordered.
"PLEASE!"
The Master grinned at Rose and tossed her back against the railing. She crumpled to the ground.
"Please what?"
Rose's entire body felt hot and when she exhaled it sounded like an angry hiss. He'd broken at least one of her ribs and she'd have plenty of bruises and he hadn't even really put forth much effort. He was gonna kill her before she ever got a chance to let the Doctor in. She couldn't let him and if that meant killing him, well…
But he's a Time Lord, a tiny voice piped up in her mind.
He's an evil bastard of a Time Lord that's fixin' to kill you and then steal the TARDIS, a louder voice snapped, silencing the quieter one.
The Master was looking at the door, not at her. Good. She could use that to her advantage. The mallet was still only a few feet away, closer to the Master than to her, but if she could just get to it… No, there was a good chance that wouldn't work. He was too quick.
From outside, she could hear Jack and Martha shouting. Something about the Futurekind. In fact, if she listened hard enough, she could hear feral shouting and snarling. If they'd somehow gotten into the silo then that meant the TARDIS was the only place. So she had to get it open for them or else they'd die.
"Please, leave her alone," the Doctor begged.
"Use my name," he ordered.
There was only one thing for it. Rose pushed herself into a crouch, hardly noticing the pain in her side. It was as if it was in some other body. His attention was still on the door but his injured side was facing her. She coiled to spring.
"Master, please, just leave her alone!"
Rose leaped. She rammed into the Master right on the spot where she'd hit him with the mallet. He went sprawling to the floor and she fell back on her bum. But now she was close enough to the mallet and she had it in her hands and was on her feet before he could even roll onto his knees. The Master only had time to look up and see her standing over him, eyes blazing vibrantly gold, before she swung the mallet down and hit him in the head.
He crumpled to a heap on the ground just under the console and did not move.
Rose stood over him, breathing heavily for a moment, listening to the Doctor bang on the door and the TARDIS hum furiously. But slowly the heat in her blood faded and as she stared at the dent in his head, a horrible feeling of dread began to fill her and she dropped the mallet.
"Oh God. Oh God. Oh God," she whimpered.
"ROSE?! ROSE!"
"I—I think I've killed him!"
The Master exploded in a flash of blinding colorful light. The force of it sent Rose flying and she hit something solid. Pain exploded in the back of her head and things went dark. She thought she might've heard someone screaming.
When she came to, the old man was gone and a younger man with short, light brown hair, maybe in his 30s, wearing the old man's clothes was jumping to his feet. He looked around at the console room in surprise and whooped loudly. He raced around the console, cackling with glee.
Rose lifted her hand to the back of her head and her fingers came away wet with blood. Not good. She whimpered softly and the Master's eyes zeroed in on her.
"Now then, Doctor. Ooh, new voice. Hello!" he bellowed. "Anyway, let's get right to it, shall we? Your little wife here just killed me. How rude! And inappropriate."
"She's not my wife!" The Doctor cried desperately. "She's just a companion!"
The Master knelt down in front of Rose. "Oh, I think she's more than that. Is that Plyra Seut around your neck?" His hand shot forward and seized Rose's necklace. It held fast and dug into Rose's skin and she found herself behind pulled up like a dog by its collar.
She cried out in pain. "Let go!"
He ignored her. "Oh, yes, I think it is. How romantic," he sneered. Letting go of the necklace, he gripped her arms so tightly that she couldn't even struggle, and never looked away from her as he spoke. "I'm going to leave you here, Doctor. But before we go, I just want you to know that I am going to do to her exactly what she did to me. And then some."
Rose worked up a mouthful of saliva and blood and spat it in his face. He dug his nails into her skin then tossed her unceremoniously to the ground, stalking towards the console.
The Doctor banged on the door again. "Master, I'm begging you, please stop! Stop and think! Everything's changed! We're the only ones left! Just let me in and let her go!"
"Uh, let me think. How about no!" He flipped the dematerialization switch.
"No! You can't!" Rose shouted.
The Master moved around the console, spinning knobs and flipping levers. The console sparked and popped violently. The rotor stopped moving. "Oh no you don't!" the Master snarled and he pushed a lever as far up as it would go and the rotor began wheezing up and down again.
"End of the universe!" he shouted. "Have fun. Bye-bye!"
And then he advanced on Rose.
... *blink*... :D ... um... OH LOOK IT'S DAVID TENNANT! *runs away*
