To say I'm sorry for taking so long, I have decided to give you the entire first episode of End of Time. That being said, that means we're very near the end, my friends. Thank you for sticking on for so long! I hope you've enjoyed it all! We're not quite done yet, but it won't be very long. R&R please!

No copyright infringement intended!

Athena sat in their room for twelve hours. She tried to paint, to read, to do anything, but she always found herself sitting on the bed. The Doctor had never acted this way before.

After the thirteenth hour she decided to go looking for the Doctor. She found him in a corner of the library, looking at their photo album. Athena watched him from behind a bookshelf for several moments before making herself known, "You okay?"

The Doctor looked up at her, he was smiling and crying. "No. But I will be. Please," he held his arm towards her, "Come sit with me."

Athena walked over and stood near the Doctor. He let out a small, sad chuckle and pulled her across his lap. They started looking at the photo album together. "Remember when I won you that stuffed alligator?"

Athena laughed, "Yeah…thanks, by the way."

"Of course." He smiled, "Some night we had that night, huh?"

"Before or after the Daleks?"

"After." The Doctor winked at her and kissed her cheek. "You remember what I told you about regeneration that day?"

"Yeah?"

"You remember everything?"

"I think so."

"Good." The Doctor nodded and set the photo album down on a table.

"That's what's about to happen, isn't it?"

The Doctor didn't verbally reply, he could only manage a nod. He tightened his grip on her and buried his face into her shoulder. He started to cry, quietly at first but it didn't take long before his body heaved with sobs. Athena did her best to console him. She hugged him and rubbed his back, even kissed his head a few times. Nothing worked. She knew he wasn't ready to die. He only had one regeneration left.

They sat there, for several hours, while the Doctor cried. They shifted positions so Athena could hold him better. The Doctor cried himself to sleep in Athena's arms. She didn't dare fall asleep. She held him and rocked him, and despite him being asleep, continuously told him it would be okay.

The TARDIS landed with a thud. The Doctor jolted awake and scanned the room. He noticed Athena, slightly shocked by his sudden alertness and he couldn't help but laugh a little. He then remembered where he was: the Ood Home Planet. Sadness crept up onto all of his features again. He inched towards Athena and took her hand in his. He took a few deep breaths and memorized her face before kissing her. She knew he was saying goodbye and her heart broke.

The two of them made their way to the console room. The Doctor plastered on a fake smile and made his body adapt the fake swagger that he usually had. He had once told her he met Shakespeare, she couldn't help but wonder if he ever acted during his travels.

"May as well dress for the occasion." The Doctor pulled a pink lei out of his overcoat pocket, some sunglasses, and a straw hat.

"What are you doing?" Athena said, much more accusatory than she meant.

"Ood Sigma saw us in Hawai'i. May as well look the part. Here's one for you." He gave her a blue lei and a pair of sunglasses similar to his. He took her hand and kissed it, gave Athena a quick kiss, and then faced the TARDIS doors. "Allons-y." he muttered.
Outside, Athena saw the creature again, Ood Sigma. The Doctor led Athena towards him in his usual fake swagger-filled stride. "Oh, now, sorry!" He started, "There you are! So! Where were we? I was summoned, wasn't I? An ood in the snowy rainforest, calling to me."

The creature looked very calm, but a little sad.

"Well I wasn't going to come straight here, had a bit of fun, you know?" He looked down at Athena for a split second and cracked a genuine smile, which made her smile up at him in return. He turned back to the ood and continued. "We travelled about, did this and that, got into trouble, you know me." He squeezed Athena's hand and let out another genuine smile. "It was brilliant! I saw the Phosphorous Carousel of the Great Magellan Gi-schtat."

"The what?" Athena whispered. He squeezed her hand in response.

"Saved a planet from the Red Carnivorous Moor!" Athena was grateful she had the sunglasses, otherwise her expressions would've given them away as complete liars. Unless these were more adventures the Doctor hadn't told her about.

"Named a galaxy Allison. Got married! That was a mistake…Good Queen Bess. And let me tell you, her nickname is no longer…" he looked down at Athena who, despite the sunglasses, was obviously very wide-eyed and shocked. Despite how much time they spent together, he still had hundreds of stories to tell.

The Doctor cleared his throat out of embarrassment, "Anyway…" he turned to the ood, "What do you want?"

"You should not have delayed." The ood's orb lit up as he spoke in an extremely mechanical voice. The sound sent shivers down Athena's spine whereas the Doctor accepted it all as normal.

"Last time I was here you said my song would be ending soon." He gripped Athena's hand even tighter, "And I'm in no hurry for that."

"You will come with me."

"Hold on…better lock the TARDIS." The Doctor pulled a car key out of his pocket, pointed it towards the TARDIS, and then locked the TARDIS like a car. That was a new trick. That must have been the tinkering on the TARDIS he was doing the other day. "See? Like a car. I locked it like a car. That's…funny. No?"

The ood turned from them and started walking away. The Doctor crouched down until he was more level with Athena, "Blimey, try to make an ood laugh." Athena laughed a little and let the Doctor lead her after the ood.

After a little while of walking the Doctor started talking again. "So, how old are you Ood Sigma?" Just then a marvelous city with spiraling towers appeared through the mountains. "Magnificent!" The Doctor exclaimed, "Oh, come on. It is! It's splendid! You achieved all this in how long?"

"One hundred years."

The Doctor's expression quickly hardened and he turned his attention back to the citadel before him. "Then we've got a problem. All of this is way too fast. Not just the city, I mean your ability to call me, reaching all the way back to the 21st century. Something's accelerating your species way beyond normal."

"And the Mind of the Ood is troubled."

"Why? What's happened?"

"Every night, Doctor. Every night we have bad dreams." The Doctor turned his attention back to the city. The ood started walking again and the Doctor pulled Athena along with him.

"What's going on?" Athena asked.

"I don't know what, but I bet you Ood Sigma is leading us to the Elders. They'll probably know what's going on."

Several minutes later the trio reached a cave. "Wait here, Athena." The Doctor hesitated a moment and then kissed Athena's forehead. He then went inside with Ood Sigma. Athena began feeling nervous. The Doctor wasn't answering her questions and she hated it when he did that.

She didn't have long to ponder her thoughts. Only a couple minutes after the Doctor had walked into the cave he came running back out. Without missing a beat he grabbed Athena's hand, spun her around, and kept running towards the TARDIS.

They reached the TARDIS and he unlocked it like a car. Normally this would make Athena laugh, but she was terrified that the Doctor wasn't telling her what was going on. They ran into the console room, the Doctor threw his overcoat off, and began speeding around the console, flipping levers and punching buttons and entering coordinates. He was moving with such ferocity that there were sparks flying from the console, causing Athena to back away and take refuge behind the jumpseat.

"What's going on?" Athena demanded.

"The Master!" The Doctor shouted back.

"The who?"

"He's a Time Lord, like me. He died, but he's somehow come back and is going to try to take over the human population again, I have to stop him!"

"But aren't Time Lords good?"

The Doctor looked up at her and, with a dark expression on his face, said, "Not all of them." He flipped one more switch and then they were hurtling back towards Earth.

They reached Earth and the Doctor ran out of the TARDIS doors. Athena followed him. "How did we get back so fast?"

"I knew exactly where to go, last time I was chasing a hologram, basic quantum physics and space and temporal dynamics."

"Yeah…sorry." Athena rolled her eyes and laughed, until she saw what was in front of them.

Before them stood a building that looked like it had been burned down. "Wait…I think I know where we are…" Athena looked around and then looked down at the ground at a sign. "Yep…Broadfell…I was imprisoned here once."

The Doctor glanced at her, nodded, and then looked back at her with his mouth agape. "You…you were…"

Athena's eyes widened and she took a defensive stance, "I'll tell you all about it…some other day. And you can tell me about Good Queen Bess." She teased. The Doctor gave her a slightly condescending look before turning back towards the wreckage. "We're too late. He's already back." The Doctor walked back into the TARDIS with Athena in tow.

"I'm going to set the TARDIS onto the Master's biologic signature. He stole my TARDIS once and so she should be able to do that." The TARDIS rematerialized in a scrapyard near some docks. The Doctor stepped outside and sniffed the air. "Stay here Athena. Do not follow me."

"No Doctor, I'm coming—"

"Please." He was pleading with her, "He's dangerous. I need to know that you're safe."

"He stole your TARDIS before, wouldn't I be safer with you?"

"No, you really wouldn't." The Doctor kissed her and then gently pushed her back into the TARDIS and locked her inside. He ran in the direction of the Master's scent.

He had heard a metal banging. Four times. He swallowed the lump growing in his throat. He knew that was the Master. He continued to run after him, even though he knew he was running towards his death.

He ran past mountains of garbage, scrap metal, and countless oil drums. Finally, he had caught up to him. He saw the Master's skin turn translucent, he could see his skeleton. "Please, let me help! You're burning up your own life force!" The Master laughed and ran off again. The Doctor groaned and moved to continue after him, but he heard a familiar voice.

"Oh my gosh, Doctor, aren't you a sight for sore eyes!"

"Out of my way!" The Doctor pushed past Wilfred. He felt bad about it, but he needed to get to the Master. He climbed up a stack of metal beams and realized he lost the Master. He sighed and climbed back down to face a crowd of ten or so senior citizens. It's a good thing he still had his wits about him, otherwise the colorful phrase 'What the fuck?' that was swarming about in his head would've escaped him.

The Doctor turned his attention to Wilfred, "Have you told them who I am? You promised me." He spat.

"No, I just told them you were the Doctor is all. Might I say sir, it is an honor to see you again!" Wilferd saluted him. Wilfred was the only person the Doctor let get away with saluting him, it was a bit of a joke between them. The Doctor lazily saluted back and eyed the crowd of curious bystanders.

"You never said he was a looker!" He heard some woman say. The Doctor's eyes widened out of shock. "He's gorgeous!" The Doctor stood baffled for a moment, trying to slowly back away from the crowd. "Take a photo!" The Doctor tried his best to keep from rolling his eyes but this was getting rather inappropriate. The Doctor phased out the rest of the process. He remembers someone named Minnie grabbing his arse and him being extremely grateful that Athena wasn't there to see it.

The crowd began to clear and start boarding a bus. Wilfred hung by the Doctor, as if waiting for orders. The Doctor looked around, he had completely lost the Master's trail.

"Wilfred, we need to talk."

"Anything for you, Doctor." He started leading the Doctor towards the bus.

"I need to go get my TARDIS."

"It can wait, Doctor, you seem to be all in a tizzy about something. So it's better to get it off your chest now, we'll come back for your box."

"No, it's important." How could he tell Wilfred he had replaced Donna?

"It can wait."

The Doctor stopped responding and let Wilfred pull him to the bus.

The bus ride was spent by the Doctor staring out at the suburban scenery while Wilfred talked to his friends. The Doctor felt more and more uneasy with every passing minute.

The two of them got off at a café. The Doctor followed Wilfred inside and they sat at a table in the middle of the room.

"We had some good times, didn't we though?" Wilfred was starting to reminisce about everything they had been through together. The Doctor phased him out and started studying Wilfred. He wasn't special. Sure, he was incredibly sweet, but he wasn't royalty or powerful or anything like that. "I keep seeing things…" the Doctor snapped back into focus. "Doctor, this face, at night." The Ood had shown him the Master's face. No one else on Earth had remembered, why him?

"Who are you?"

"I'm Wilfred Mott." He looked offended.

"No. People have waited hundreds of years to find me and you manage it in a couple of hours."

"Well, just lucky I suppose."

"We keep on meeting, Wilf. Over and over again, like something's still connecting us."

"What's so important about me?"

He didn't mean to be rude, but, "Exactly, why you?" The Doctor glanced out the window at the passer-bys. Marveling, how simple everything would be as a human. If he and Athena could just stop travelling and live life day to day rather than running head first into danger, everything would be marvelous. He could finally rest.

He sighed and turned back to Wilfred, "I'm going to die."

"Well so will I, one day."

"Don't you dare." He was fighting back tears at this point.

"All right, I'll try not to." Wilfred let out a small chuckle and smiled a warm smile.

"I was told 'He will knock four times.' That was a prophecy. Knock four times and then…"

"When I saw you before you said your people could change like, your whole body."

"I can still die. If I'm killed before regeneration then I'm dead. Even then, even if I do change it feels like dying. Everything I am dies and some new man goes sauntering away and I'm dead." He was not going to cry, not in front of Wilfred. Then he saw her, Donna. The brilliant and amazing Donna Noble.

"I'm sorry but I had to!"

"Stop it…"

"Can't you make her better, can't you bring her memory back? Just go to her now, just go across the street and up to her and say hello."

"If she ever remembers me her mind will burn and she will die!"

He heard her voice from outside. Her usual sassiness. He couldn't help but laugh. What he wouldn't give to have her back, their friendship back. "She's not changed."

"Oh, there he is. Shaun Temple. They're engaged, getting married in the spring." The Doctor's eyes lit up. He was so happy for them.

"Another wedding?" Wilfred grunted his approval. "Hold on…she's not going to be called Noble-Temple, that sounds like a tourist spot."

"No it's Temple-Noble." The Doctor nodded and turned back to watch Donna and her fiancé.

"She happy? Is he nice?"

"Yeah he's sweet enough. Bit of a dreamer. Mind you he's on minimum wage and she's still a temp so all they can afford is a tiny little flat. Then sometimes I see this look on her face, like she's so sad and she can't remember why."

"But she's living."

"She's making do." Wilfred dismissed the Doctor's comment with a wave of his hand.

"Aren't we all?"

"How about you? Haven't you got anyone?" The Doctor didn't respond for a moment. "Well do you, Doctor? You can't be all on your own."

"It's been almost three years for me, since leaving Donna with you."

"That's a long time to be on your own."

"I'm not." The Doctor couldn't look Wilfred in the eye. How dare he replace Donna so quickly.

"Well that's good to hear, yeah? Is she nice? She good for you? Does she take care of you?" Wilfred's response shocked the Doctor.

"Why…why do you immediately assume it's a woman?"

"Doctor…look in a mirror. Minnie wasn't kidding." The Doctor smiled and laughed. "She takes good care of me, yes. I don't deserve her."

Wilfred studied him for a moment. His eyes had a certain spark, there was something in his smile that wasn't there before. "I've been around the block, Doctor." Wilfred smiled at his alien friend, "Good for you."

The Doctor swallowed and tensed up, "What? What do you mean?"

"You love this girl, don't you?" The Doctor paled. "It's okay, don't feel guilty. You and Donna were never going to be anything. You're too soft for her."

"Am not." He argued.

"Are too." Wilfred laughed at him.

"Yeah I am…" The Doctor agreed. They laughed together and watched Donna out the window again. "As long as Donna's happy." They watched Donna drive off. Then the two of them decided it was safe to walk outside. "I need to go back to the docks. She's in my TARDIS."

"Oh…I should've let you get your box. I'm sorry."

"She's tough. Got a hell of a right hook." His jaw throbbed at the memory, but he deserved it. He deserved it a hundred times over. "She's okay."

"Here, take this." Wilfred handed the Doctor £40. "Take it. Donna once said you don't carry much money. Merry Christmas."

"Oh it's Christmas? Merry Christmas then." He shook Wilfred's hand and hailed a taxi.

He got to the docks and quickly located his TARDIS. He unlocked it and opened the door, "Athena!" There was no reply. He ran towards the entrance to the hallway, "Athena!" Nothing. Panic quickly found its way into his chest and he could feel his hearts constricting. He couldn't smell her. But he could smell The Master. He must have gotten in. Again. The Doctor's hearts raced.

The Doctor ran out of the TARDIS and sniffed the air, hoping to catch the Master's scent. Nothing. He slapped himself across the face to try and heighten his senses and inhaled again. He picked up a slight whiff of Athena about half a mile away. He started sprinting in her direction.

It didn't take him long before he reached an unconscious Athena. He got down on his knees next to her and tried to wake her.

"She won't wake up, Doctor."

There he was, the Master. "What did you do to her?" The Doctor shouted at him. "Wake her up!"

"To your human? Just hit her over the head a few times. She was in your TARDIS so I figured she was special. I thought I could get your attention with her."

"Well you have my attention so what do you want?" The Doctor sprung up and stepped over Athena, blocking the Master from getting to her, "What do you want?!"

The Master shot some sort of lightning bolt out of his hands. The Doctor stood in it's way, blocking it from Athena. He felt his body immobilize and he collapsed onto the ground.

"I want everything back."

"What do you mean?"

"Everything. Gallifrey, myself, everything. But not you, Doctor. You'll just take it all away again."

"I can't do that for you. Gallifrey is gone, you know that. I'm sorry, I really am." He struggled to breathe.

"You don't understand! The drumming…one two three four, one two three four…always…always!" The Doctor stared up at him with an expression that told The Master just how insane he was. The Master grabbed the Doctor's head and pressed their foreheads together. The Doctor heard it, the drumming. He backed away, in pure terror.

"I heard it…but there's never been any noise. It's just your insanity. What is it? What's inside your head?"

The Master started laughing, "It's real!" He pointed to himself. He kept laughing and then he took a deep breath and shouted, "It's real!" before launching himself into the night sky.

The Doctor followed as quickly as he could. It didn't take long for him to catch up, the Master was losing energy. "All these years, you thought I was mad! Well look at me now, King of the Wasteland! But something is calling me, Doctor. What is it, what is it?!" Then a searchlight from a helicopter illuminated the scrapyard. Both the Master and the Doctor looked up at the blinding light. It wasn't long before two dark figures descending from it. One of them drugged the Master, rendering him unconscious. The Doctor screamed at them and tried to run up to mound, but the other soldier began shooting at his feet. He ran towards the Master, despite the bullets. He reached the top of a rubbish heap, "Let him go!" He shouted to the helicopter. Suddenly, he felt heat coming from the back of his head and he fell down on the ground, unconscious.

A couple of hours later, Athena woke up. She was freezing and in the middle of a scrapyard. She quickly scanned herself for injuries and besides a headache she could feel starting, she figured she was fine. But she had no idea where she was. Some blonde man had found his way into the TARDIS. She tried to remember, but that was all she could remember. There was nothing past his terrifying grin. Then she remembered that it had been Harold Saxon. She stood up, a bit too quickly, and scanned the area. She figured she was alone. Alone…where was the Doctor?

She ran away from where she had been laying. She ran into the open and in the opposite direction of where she had been. She needed to get back to the TARDIS. It was by pure chance that she looked up at a rubbish heap and saw someone lying, unconscious, on top of it.

"Excuse me?" She shouted. "Hey, sir?" She reached the body and realized it was the Doctor. "Oh of course…" she muttered to herself. She kneeled down and shook him. "Doctor…Doctor can you hear me?"

The Doctor instantly rolled over and gasped for air. Athena sat back down and regained herself from the shock of seeing him move so suddenly. Without a word, the Doctor got up, slid down the heap, and ran in the direction of, she was assuming, the TARDIS. 'There is just no quitting with this guy.' She regrouped and ran after him.

They materialized onto some suburban street and the Doctor made her sit on the jumpseat. It wasn't long before she heard him arguing with some other man. Before she could learn anything useful, they were out of earshot. She patiently waited for the Doctor to return. Normally she'd follow after him, but her head was still throbbing.

Suddenly she heard some woman shouting from the street.

She then heard the Doctor say, just outside the door as he was trying to unlock it. "You can't come with me!"

She heard another voice, the same one as before, "You aren't leaving me with her!"

"Fair enough." Then the Doctor and some elderly man walked into the TARDIS.

The Doctor handed Athena a book and then he started flying around the console, flipping levers and punching buttons with his usual insanely high amount of energy. She looked at the book. There was a man on the cover posing with his arm's crossed across his chest and a smug look on his face. She instantly detested whomever the man was.
"Naismith! If I can track him down…oh, right, yes, bigger on the inside, do you like it?"

"I thought it would be cleaner." The old man mumbled.

"Cleaner?" The Doctor sounded offended while the new passenger looked around, awestruck but giddy. "I can take you back home right now!"

"Doctor, if this is a time machine, why can't you just pop back to yesterday and get that man you were chasing and catch him?"

"I can't go back in my own time line. I have to stay relative to the Master within the causal nexous." The man had a completely dumbfounded look on his face, "Understand?"

"Not a word." He replied.

"Welcome aboard!" Athena shouted and the Doctor mock glared at her.

"Oh, so this is the new travel partner, yes?"

"Yeah, hi!" Athena waved from the jumpseat. "My name is Athena. Or Stephanie. Or whatever, really…" Athena mumbled to herself.

"Wilfred Mott, I'm Donna's grandfather. Pleasure to meet you, sweetheart." Athena smiled at the old man. She had only known him for about sixty seconds and she already liked him. She was a fan of Donna, she loved the stories the Doctor told about her.

"What a gentleman…you could learn some lessons, Doctor." The Doctor rolled his eyes at Athena while she laughed. He flipped another switch, finalizing the TARDIS's destination.

"So where are we going?" Athena asked.

"The Naismith Mansion. We go there, we track down Naismith, we track down the Master." The Doctor responded while checking the levels on the monitor.

"The where?" Athena asked, utterly confused.

"Oi, sweetheart, where have you been these past few years?" Wilfred asked.

"Well, with him." Athena responded, pointing at the Doctor. "Lose track of time, you do."

"Oh I bet you do." Wilfred responding, smiling.

"We're here!" The Doctor shouted, running towards the door. Wilfred and Athena followed. The Doctor stopped right at the door and turned around to face the two of them, blocking them from leaving. "We have no idea what we're going up against. We need to stick together, do you understand me? No wandering off."

"Not bloody likely, Doctor." Athena replied, moving past him and opening the door.

"Athena, I—" The Doctor tried to start.

"She's got you under her thumb, eh, Doctor?" Wilfred teased. The Doctor gaped at him before following after Athena into a stable. Wilfred followed after and immediately stopped, "We've moved! We've really moved!" He exclaimed. He ran to the side of the TARDIS and looked around at the stables.

"You should stay here." The Doctor urged Wilfred, trying to put him back into the TARDIS.

Wilfred looked at Athena, who raised her eyebrow at him and winked. Wilfred turned to face the Doctor, "Not bloody likely!" He moved past the Doctor and caught up with Athena. The Doctor groaned and ran after his two companions. "Don't swear! Hold on…" The Doctor turned around and pointed the TARDIS key at the TARDIS, causing it to disappear.

"What did you do?" Athena responded, sounding slightly anxious.

"Just a second out of sync. Don't want the Master finding the TARDIS. That's the last thing we need."

The three of them quietly walked out of the stables. They stayed close to the wall, as if they may be less conspicuous. The Doctor walked in front of them, as if he could protect them. They moved to turn a corner when the Doctor pulled them back against the wall. "Soldiers…" The Doctor muttered.

"That book said he's a billionaire. He's got his own private army." Wilfred informed.

The Doctor audibly sighed, "Stay here you two." He peered around the corner and then ran across the clearing to the other wall. He sonicked open a crawlspace and climbed in.

"Stay here?" Wilfred asked Athena.

"Not happening." Athena replied. She peered around the corner and waited for a couple of soldiers to pass by the clearing. "Come on!" She ran towards the crawlspace and Wilfred followed. They climbed into the crawlspace. They ran, crouched down, for a couple minutes until they caught up with the Doctor. "I told you two to stay behind!"

"When will you ever learn?" Athena shouted back at him.

"This is the last place I want you, Athena." The Doctor argued back.

"Well that's just too damn bad." Athena snapped back.

"You two keep quiet, or they'll find us!" Wilfred shot back.

"Yes sir." Both the Doctor and Athena muttered.

The Doctor ran into the wall, causing Athena to run into him and Wilfred to run into her. "Let's see what's behind door number one." The Doctor pushed the door open. It opened with a creak and showered dust and rust on top of them. The Doctor climbed down out of the crawlspace and helped Athena down. The two of them helped Wilfred down and looked around in their new surroundings.

"Where are we?" Wilfred asked.

"It's quite cool, we must be in a basement of some sort." The Doctor muttered, looking around as if he could find a giant sign saying where they were. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Athena asked.

"People. Let's go meet them." The Doctor mused, running down the hall.

"Does he ever stop to breathe?" Wilfred asked Athena.

"Very rarely." Athena huffed. The two of them followed the Doctor. They found him, standing outside of what appeared to used to have been a storage area. But now it was being used as a room to store a super computer that didn't look completely human in design. Athena stood near the Doctor and followed his gaze throughout the room. There was a scientist in a white lab coat. She was short and had short, curly blonde hair. She was bouncing around the room, looking at different readings and observations. Athena realized they had come in while they were trying to make sense of the readings. The blonde woman continued, "Shatter trends have harmonized, fibre links have densified. Multiple overshots have triplicated!" She ran her hand through her hair out of frustration.

The Doctor smiled at his two companions before popping his head around the corner and into the room. "Nice gate!"

"Hello!" Wilfred spoke up. The three of them walked into the storage area and the scientist took several steps away from them.

"Look, sorry, don't try calling security or I'll tell them you're wearing a shimmer." The Doctor started. He glanced over at some of the monitors before continuing, "Cause I reckon anyone wearing a shimmer doesn't want the shimmer to be noticed or they wouldn't need a shimmer in the first place." He smiled at the female scientist.

The scientist composed herself before responding, "I'm sorry, what's a shimmer?" She hesitated on the last word.

The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out and pointed it at her. "Shimmer!" There were a couple of seconds of buzzing and then it appeared as if the woman's image glitched. Once she finished glitching, the female scientist had been replaced with someone with green skin and covered in small spikes.

"Oh my Lord, she's a cactus!" Wilfred exclaimed, clasping his hands over his mouth.

"Miss Addams?" A male voice on a PA system echoed throughout the room. "Miss Addams?" The PA system shut down, and Athena assumed that whoever had been on the other end was heading downstairs now.

"So, Miss Addams, may I ask what is going on?" The Doctor started.

"That's none of your business. More importantly, how did you even get in?" She asked.

"Oh, that's not important." The Doctor replied. "But what's more important is that that man upstairs has the ability to destroy the entire world and, as far as I'm concerned, you're helping him. Now I need a good explanation as to why you're here."

"What do you mean?" She asked. "Everything is working just as it's supposed to."

"He's got it working, but what is it?" The Doctor asked. He put on his glasses and ran over to one of the monitors, "What's working?"

A tall, lanky man with dark brunette hair ran into the storage area, "What are you doing here?"

The Doctor didn't look at the newcomer, he simply pulled his sonic out of his pocket and pointed it at him, "Shimmer!" The man turned into a green creature just like the other scientist had.

"How many more of you are there?" Athena asked.

"Now, tell me, quickly, what's going on? The Master? Harold Saxon?" The Doctor paused, neither of the aliens explained. The Doctor sighed and continued, "Skeletor, whatever you're calling him, what's he doing up there?" He shouted at the room.

The male alien responded, "I've checked the readings, he's done good work! It's operational!" He sounded gleeful almost.

"Who are you though?" The Doctor started, "Cause I've met someone like you. He was brilliant, but he was little and red."

"No, that's a Zocci." Miss Addams responded. The tall man continued, "We're not Zocci, we're Vinvocci. Completely different!" Miss Addams finished, "And the gate is Hipocci. We're a salvage team. We picked up the signal when the humans reactivated it. And as soon as it's working we can transport it to the ship."

"But why? What does it do?" Athena asked.

"Well, it mends. It's as simple as that." The man answered.

"Mends what?" Athena asked.

"It's a medical device to repair the body. It makes people better." He clarified.

"How bad can that be, Doctor?" Wilfred asked.

"No, there's gotta be more. Every single warning says the Master is gonna do something colossal." The Doctor replied, running between different computer screens to try to understand the readings as best as he could.

"So that thing is like a sick bed, yeah?" Wilfred asked.

"More or less." Miss Addams replied, shrugging.

"Well, pardon me for asking," Wilfred started. Athena finished, "Why is it so big?"

"Oh…good question!" The Doctor beamed for a second, "Why is it so big?

Miss Addams scoffed. "It doesn't mend just one person at a time." The other scientist chimed in, "That would be ridiculous." Miss Addams looked back at the trio, "It mends whole planets." She finished, somewhat cheekily.

"It does what?" Athena asked.

"It transmits the medical template across the entire population." Miss Addams replied, a little confused that they didn't understand what she was saying.

The Doctor's eyes widened and his face blanched. He took his glasses off, shoved them into his jacket pocket, and took off running.

Athena groaned, "And again." She sighed. She took off after him while Wilfred struggled to keep up. She ran through hallways, always seeing the Doctor just as he turned a corner. Athena finally caught up to the Doctor just as he kicked in a set of doors into a large ballroom. "Turn the gate off right now!"

"Man, at arms!" One of the soldiers shouted. The armed body guards pointed guns at the Doctor and Athena, who's hands instinctively went up. Athena looked around the room for a second. Harold Saxon, or the Master as he was better known, was sitting in a straight jacket with a dog collar around his neck and a guard holding the lead. There was a large, metal gate looking device across the room from her. There was a two room glass box with control inside and one man operating the controls.

"No, no no, whatever you do, just don't let him near that device." The Doctor warned, pointing at the Master.

"Oh, like that was ever gonna happen." The Master teased. Just then, the lights in the room flared, his skin turned translucent and he emitted some sort of electrical energy. He jumped out of his restraints and stood inside the metal gate, which now had a bluish field pulsating through it. "Homeless, was I? Destitue and Dying? Well, look at me now!"

"Deactivate it!" The Doctor shouted. The guards had since lowered their guns. He ran up to individual scientists, trying to get them to follow his command. "All of you, turn the whole thing off!" The Master laughed.

"He's inside my head." Naismith stated, shaking his head as if it would get the Master out. Athena walked over towards Naismith and examined him. She tried to figure out a way to help, but she had no idea what to do. Then she felt it. A sudden heating inside her head.

"Get out of there!" The Doctor shouted at the Master. "Athena! Athena?"

Athena stood rigid. She couldn't move. Her head was swarming with a greenish image of the Master laughing. She couldn't clear her head. She could hear the Doctor shouting for her, but he sounded so far.

"Athena!" The Doctor ran up to her. "Can you hear me?" Athena groaned in response. "Okay, okay, I'm going inside your head, okay? That's what's about to happen. This may hurt." The Doctor put his hands on Athena's temples. He was able to push the Master out and set up mental barriers. Athena screamed at the sensation of having two other people inside her head. As soon as the Doctor withdrew from Athena's mind, she lost consciousness. The Doctor caught her and laid her down.

Just then, Wilfred came into the room. "Doctor! Doctor, there's this face!"

The Doctor gaped at Wilfred. How could he be fighting it off so much better than Athena? Athena couldn't even construct coherent sounds, but Wilfred was forming complete sentences. Who really was Wilfred?

The Doctor ran up to him, "What is it, what can you see?"

"Well it's him! I can see him!" Wilfred pointed at the Master. "I can see his face!"

A television was on in the room. A female newscaster's voice made it's way through the air. "Something's wrong. It seems to be affecting the President!"

"I can't turn it off!" The Doctor was trying to shut down the gate, but to no avail.

"That's because I locked it, idiot."

"Wilfred!" The Doctor shouted. He ran back over to Wilfred, who was starting to struggle. "Okay, okay, let me try something." The Doctor put his hands against Wilfred's temples and he began fading instantly. "Okay, that's not going to work. Shit." He supported Wilfred as he regained his footing.

Athena sat back up, bolt rigid. She had a blank stare on her face. "Athena?" The Doctor tried to get her attention. "Athena?!" He shouted. Wilfred pried himself from the Doctor's grasp. He ran over to Athena and the Doctor joined him. "What do we do, Doctor?" Athena stared straight ahead. "I don't know. If he can get past my shields, I don't…" He looked around the room. His eyes fell on the two-roomed glass box. It was a radiation chamber. "Come on, this way!" The Doctor and Wilfred picked Athena up and practically dragged her to the chambers. The Doctor jumped into the vacant booth, pushed the release, and Wilfred pulled the scientist out. Wilfred dragged Athena into the booth with him and shut the door.

"Just need to filter the levels…" The Doctor mumbled to himself while he changed a few of the different settings on the software.

"Oh! I can see again! He's gone!" Wilfred cheered. He looked back down at Athena, who had begun to blink and relax a little. "And I think she's back, oh thank the stars!"

"Radiation shielding." The Doctor dismissed. "Now press that button, let me out!" The Doctor begged.

Wilfred pushed the button and the Doctor ran out of the radiation chamber, leaving Wilfred and Athena locked inside.

"Fifty seconds, and counting!" The Master announced.

"To what?" The Doctor asked, terrified of the answer.

"Oh, you're gonna love this." The Master cooed.

Athena felt herself regaining feeling in her limbs. She reached up to the desktop and pulled herself up, bracing herself against it. Wilfred rubbed her back for a couple seconds before his mobile started ringing. He pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket, "Oh, that's not it." He replaced the gun and pulled out his mobile. "Donna! It's Donna!" He answered the phone and Athena instantly got much more interested. No other human could compose themselves, why could Donna? Or, had the Doctor done something to her? She laughed to herself, that cheeky bastard.

"Donna!" Wilfred's face fell. "Wait a minute, I mean, what about you? Can't you see anything?" He pulled the phone away from his ear, "Not now, Winston!" Wilfred switched the call over anyways.

"What is it, hypnotism? Mind control?" Athena could hear the Doctor shouting at the Master. "You're grafting your thoughts inside their heads, is that it?"

"Oh that's way to easy!" The Master chided. "No, no, they're not going to think like me, they're going to become me!" The Master exclaimed, full of pride. Athena could feel her heart race. "And…begin!" The Master shouted. Everybody's heads in the room, except for her's, Wilfred's, and the Doctor's, began to spin violently.

Wilfred had switched back over to Donna. Athena could hear him trying to calm her down. His was distraught and his face was twisted in pain. "Doctor!" Wilfred shouted. "She's starting to remember!" Wilfred looked the Master straight in the eye, "What is it? What have you done, you monster?!" Everyone collapsed onto the floor. "Why are you doing this?" Athena shouted at him.

The Master looked at him like a complete innocent, "Oh, I'm sorry, are you talking to me?"

Another ex-human stood up. He now resembled the Master. "Or to me?"

Another stood up. "Or to me?"

Another. "Or to me?"

The soldiers stood up and raised their visors, "Or to us?"

The voice on the television was no longer the female anchor, but the Master's. "Breaking news. I am everything. And everyone in the world is me!"

The Master, the original Master, looked down at the Doctor, "The human race was always your favorite, Doctor. But now, there is no human race. There is only the Master Race!"

The Doctor ran back towards the radiation chamber. Three of the soldiers advanced on him. He tried to block the door to the vacant chamber, that way they wouldn't be able to get Wilfred or Athena out. The soldiers laughed at him and one of them struck him with the blunt end of their gun. He fell down to the floor, unconscious.