"But you said he's only been here eighteen months," Jack called from the kitchen while the Doctor looked over the site some more. "How'd he manage all this?"
"Not sure," the Doctor said slowly, straightening when Jack came back into the living room with tea. "He can only travel between the year 100 trillion and now. Mind you, The Master was always sort of…hypnotic, but this is on a massive scale."
"I was gonna vote for him," Martha said.
"Really?" he asked.
"Well, it was before I even met you," she said with a shrug. "And I liked him."
"Me too," Jack said, his eyes glazing a little as the Doctor glanced between them, frowning.
"Why do you say that?" the Doctor asked. "What was his policy? What did he stand for?"
"I dunno," Martha said, in a dreamy voice, and he tilted his head as her fingers started tapping a steady rhythm. "He always sounded…good. Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about…I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice."
"What's that?" he asked.
"What?" she asked, startled.
"That!" he cried, pointing at her hands. "That tapping, that rhythm! What are you doing?"
"I dunno," she said. "It's nothing. It's j—"
He waved a hand to shush her as he turned back to their only real source of information.
Rose, what's with the tapping? he asked. I've seen it before, I swear. What's he doing? What's he told you about his plans?
Nothing, she thought. He put a lot of effort into the Archangel network, but he won't talk about any of his plans. Seems he thought I'd tell you if you made it back. Gone are the days of the villain monologue that conveniently include the one way to stop them.
Standards are falling all over, he quipped distractedly. What's the Archangel Network?
System of satellites, she replied. He became the golden boy for that one. He won't say what it's for, though.
Satellites. As he considered this, something else about what she'd thought nagged at him. Before he could examine it further, though, a chime from the computer distracted him. He looked down to see a message pop up alerting them to a broadcast by Saxon taking place.
"Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom," he said, moving to the television and flipping it on before sitting back on the coffee table.
"Britain, Britain, Britain," the Master said. "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 Doctor winced as clips were played of the Slitheen spaceship crashing into Big Ben, then of the Cybermen marching through the streets. These were followed by a clip of the Racnoss webstar being shot down on Christmas. "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, and the display switched to a view of a metal sphere hovering in the air, lights blinking on its surface.
"People of the Earth, we come in peace," it said. "We bring great gifts. We bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship."
The camera switched back to the Master smiling. "Ooh, sweet. And this species has identified itself. They're called the Toclafane."
"What?"
What're Toclafane? Rose asked quickly.
Imaginary, for one thing, he replied. A story told to children on Gallifrey. What the hell is he doing?
"And tomorrow morning they will appear," the Master continued. "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 and chemist and lorry driver and farmer. And every…oh, I don't know…medical student?"
The Doctor started, then whipped around to look at Martha before lunging forward to spin the TV around, revealing a bomb counting down.
"Out!" he shouted, grabbing his coat and Martha's laptop and following the other two as they raced out of the flat and onto the street just as the front windows of her flat exploded outwards.
Doctor! Rose's voice screamed in his head, making him wince.
I'm fine, he thought quickly. TV?
TV in my cell, she thought, her relief palpable even as his jaw locked at the word "cell". He controls it. Your old friend likes to gloat.
Always has, he thought. Martha's flat is gone, but we're fine.
He could imagine her pacing and either hitting something or chewing on her nail, possibly both, and suddenly missed her so much he had trouble breathing. It had only been a couple of hours since he'd seen her, but they had been full, so it felt like a lifetime.
And she's been here a year and a half, he thought to himself. In a cell.
He shook himself and turned to his friends. "All right?"
"Fine, yeah, fine," Jack said, shaking his head to clear it.
"Martha?" He looked over at the girl to find her pulling out her mobile. "What are you doing?"
"He knows about me," Martha said, putting the phone up to her ear. "What about my family?"
"Don't tell them anything!" he warned, knowing that they'd simply be in more danger.
"I'll do what I like!" she shouted at him before turning away as her mother answered. The Doctor opened his mouth to say more, but Jack put a hand on his arm and shook his head.
"We can't all talk to our families in our heads," the captain reminded him. He made an irritated noise, but let it go as he pulled on his coat. He looked up again, though, when Martha turned and stepped closer, her face concerned.
"Dad? What are you doing there?" There was a pause, and she looked at the Doctor with alarm. "Dad? Just say yes or now. Is there someone else there?"
Then there was shouting on the other end, some scene at her parents' house exploding into chaos as he said yes.
"I gotta help them!" Martha shouted when the line went dead, sprinting for her car.
"That's exactly what they want!" the Doctor cried. "It's a trap!"
"I don't care!" she yelled at him before getting into the driver's seat. The Doctor and Jack exchanged a glance and piled in after her.
They careened through the streets, taking corners nearly on two wheels and weaving through traffic at a break-neck speed. While driving, Martha tried to call her sister, only to for them to hear her get taken into custody.
"It's your fault!" Martha shouted at the Doctor. "It's all your fault!"
He frowned and remained silent. He realized that part of that was her lashing out because her family was in trouble, but he couldn't deny that she was completely right. The entire situation was his fault. Even apart from the fact that he'd been the reason they'd met Professor Yana at all, this was his life that was once again putting the people he cared about in danger.
Martha slammed on the brakes when they entered her parents' street. Police vehicles blocked off the street, and both her parents were being loaded into a van to be taken into custody.
"I was helping you! Get off of me!" Francine was screaming at them as she struggled, then she looked up and caught sight of Martha's car. "Martha, get out of here! Get out!"
A blonde woman said something, and the police crouched into shooting positions.
"Martha, reverse," the Doctor said. He glanced at her, shaking and breathing hard as the police took aim. "Get out, now!"
She snapped back to herself, making a quick three point turn.
"Move it!" Jack yelled as the police opened fire, shooting out the rear window as she mashed her foot down on the gas and sped away.
"The only place he can go…planet Earth," Martha spat as she once again weaved through traffic at high speed. "Great."
"Careful!" the Doctor yelled as she nearly clipped yet another car.
"Now, Martha, listen to me," Jack said, taking over. "Do as I say. We've gotta ditch this car. Pull over. Right now!"
They managed to stash the car under a bridge and take off on foot. Martha once again pulled out her mobile, trying to find her brother and alert him to what was happening, while the Doctor's mind whirred. Instead of gaining any further understanding of what was going on, the situation was only spinning more out of control with the new involvement of the Jones family. Martha's anger at him was understandable and probably unavoidable, but would lead to more problems if it became more volatile, because he needed to know that he could trust her when he did manage to come up with a plan.
Of the many plans and schemes that the Master had concocted over time, this was by far the largest scope for his talents the Doctor had seen. Everywhere he turned, it seemed that some part of his life was being torn away and used to taunt him, from the woman he loved, to the friends he held close, to the planet and species he's more or less adopted, and he was at a complete loss how it was being accomplished or how to stop it.
"Let them go, Saxon," he heard Martha yell suddenly, breaking into his thoughts, and he wheeled around to see her still clutching the phone. "Do you hear me? Let them go!"
He stepped over to her quickly, handing off the laptop to Jack and grabbing the phone. "I'm here."
There was a pregnant pause at the other end before the Master acknowledged him. "Doctor."
"Master."
"I like it when you use my name," the Master said, sounding delighted indeed.
"You chose it," the Doctor said derisively. "Psychiatrist's field day."
"As you chose yours," the Master said. "The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?"
"Where's Rose?" the Doctor demanded, not in the mood for trading barbs. "Where's my wife?"
"What, not even a congratulations on the election?" he asked, sounding hurt.
"Where is she?" the Doctor repeated. "What have you done to her?"
"Oh, Rose and I have had a lovely time together," the Master said. "She really is quite remarkable, Doctor. You must be so proud of her. So strong, so brave, so resilient...so quick to heal."
The Doctor's jaw clenched painfully and he threw a fist into a nearby tree, wishing to god it was the Master's arrogant face.
"Leave her alone," he said through gritted teeth. "I told you, she's nothing to do with you."
"Oh, but she has everything to do with you," the Master said. "And, in answer to your question, she's quite safe...well, relatively...in a secure facility. And I promise you, if you make any attempt to free her, she'll die before you even walk through the doors. I'm sure my new friends would love to take care of that for me."
The Doctor paused, closing his eyes and breathing deeply, trying to control the fear and fury that were threatening to overwhelm him.
"Who are those creatures?" he asked finally. "'Cause there's no such thing as the Toclafane. It's just a made-up name like the Bogeyman."
"Do you remember all those fairy tales about the Toclafane when we were kids?" the Master asked. "Back home. Where is it, Doctor?"
"Gone," he replied tersely.
"That's what she said," the Master said. "She said it was all destroyed. That you ended it."
"She told you the truth," the Doctor said, then suddenly grinned. "But you couldn't tell, could you? You couldn't verify that. Because you couldn't get into her mind, that's why you're asking me. Oh, that must have been irritating."
"I'd rather not root around in a mongrel's mind anyway," the Master said, and the Doctor arched an eyebrow. "Good trick though."
"Oh, that wasn't all me," the Doctor said. "She really is just too good."
"Not too good to be broken," the Master said. "Would you like me to tell you about her bleeding and crying on the floor of your beloved ship?"
The Doctor sobered immediately. "You were there, in the War. What happened to you?"
"The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War," the Master said, spitting the words. "I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human so they would never find me because…I was so scared."
"I know," the Doctor said.
"What did it feel like, though?" the Master asked. "Two almighty civilizations burning. Oh, tell me, how did it feel?"
"Stop it!" the Doctor snapped.
"You must have been like God," the Master said.
"Thing about being God," the Doctor said. "It's lonely. I was lonely for so long. And I know you feel it too. We're the only two left. There's nothing left to prove, Master. They're gone. You could stop this right now."
"Too late," the Master said.
"Why do you say that?" he asked.
"The drumming," he said. "I thought it would stop but it never does. Never ever stops. Inside my head, the drumming, Doctor. The constant drumming."
"I could help you," the Doctor said. "Please, let me help."
"It's everywhere," the Master said. "Listen, listen, listen. Here come the drums. Here come the drums."
The Doctor looked up to see a man tapping his legs to the same rhythm that Martha had been earlier.
"What have you done?" the Doctor demanded. "Tell me how you've done this. What are those creatures? Tell me!"
"Ooh, look. You're on TV!" the Master said.
"Stop it!" he snapped. "Answer me!"
"No, really," the Master said. "You're on telly! You and your little band, which, by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So, congratulations on that. Look, there you are! Ha!"
The Doctor glanced round until he saw a TV in a shop window, showing him, Jack, and Martha as wanted criminals.
"...They are known to be armed and extremely dangerous..." the newscaster was saying.
"You're public enemies number one, two and three," the Master went on as Jack and Martha joined him. "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. Now, go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the right?"
He turned, glancing up to see the CCTV camera. "He can see us," he told them, disabling the camera with his sonic screwdriver amidst a shower of sparks.
"Ooh, you public menace," the Master said. "Better start running. Go on. Run!"
The Doctor made a growling noise, snapping the phone shut, nearly chucking it at the wall in frustration.
"He's got control of everything," the Doctor said. "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Martha demanded. "What're we gonna do?"
"Run," he said shortly, taking off.
oOoOo
"So what's the team he mentioned?" the Doctor asked Jack, glancing up from computer screen. They were alone in the abandoned warehouse they'd found and holed up in, Martha having gone out in search of food. "What have you been up to in Cardiff all this time?"
"You…might not be happy," Jack said carefully.
"Well, that sounds promising," he said, leaning back to give the captain his full attention.
Jack hesitated, then sighed, reaching over and pulling the laptop to him, typing quickly as the Doctor stood and looked over his shoulder. When the logo came up, his jaw dropped.
"Torchwood?" he asked, staring at Jack in disbelief.
"I swear to you, it's different," Jack said quickly. "It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now."
"Everything Torchwood did, and you're part of it?"
"The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf," Jack explained. "I rebuilt it, I changed it. And when I did that, I did it for you, in your honor."
The Doctor snorted in disgust. "My honor? The activity with the rift, was that in my honor as well?"
"Miscalculation," Jack said, looking down, then glanced back up at him. "Hey, fun fact, turns out the Devil was trapped under the rift, and his shadow kills everything it touches."
"Really?" the Doctor asked, sitting back down and leaning back, wresting an ankle on the opposite knee. "Huh. Rose and I met him on a planet orbiting a black hole. Thought we got rid of him."
"Pesky demon," Jack said.
"Mmm," the Doctor said, nodding. "Except…that implies that you opened the rift, which could easily have destroyed the planet."
He kept his gaze steady on Jack as the captain stared back. "Mistakes happened. People were driven to do the wrong things…but for good reasons."
"Oh, that's very Torchwood," the Doctor said.
"We fixed it!" Jack said quickly. "And really, you're one to talk."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Are you serious?" Jack asked, laughing. "How do you think I can tell when you've had your hand in things?" He held up a hand, ticking things off on his fingers. "Henrik's blew up before the mannequins came to life…I'm guessing that's when you met Rose. Ten Downing Street blew up a year later. There's the earthquake in Cardiff, Canary Wharf taken care of by a transdimensional hole in the wall, the Thames drained completely—"
"Yeah, alright," the Doctor said, scrubbing a hand down his face and dropping his foot back down to the floor to lean forward, his elbows on his knees.
"No one can say you don't have style," Jack said with a grin, and the Doctor smirked. Then Jack sighed and sat back. "I'll say this, though…I'm glad Rose made it. She's good for you. It's good for you to have something to come back to."
"Yeah," the Doctor said, tensing slightly. She was still locked down when they weren't in actual conversation, and while she always responded to him, she hadn't initiated anything, except for the moment of the explosion.
"It's good for her to have you, too," Jack said. "You've gotta know that. It's a credit to you that whatever he's done to her, she never doubted you'd come for her."
And then it hit him, what had bothered him about her thoughts earlier. Why she was keeping herself locked off and distant after the initial happiness and relief.
Rose? he thought. You said "if".
What?
You said he thought you might tell me his plans if I came back for you, he thought painfully.
Don't, she thought after a moment.
Rose…
Don't, she repeated forcefully.
How could you think I wouldn't come for you? he asked.
In a sterile white cell, walls marked only by the stains of bloodied fists beating against them in impotent rage, Rose Tyler lost control. She'd tried to keep it locked, to keep it from him, knowing he couldn't change it, he couldn't fix it, but with the simple question, she broke down, the gate around the bond bursting open and everything she'd been holding back from him pouring through at once.
The Doctor stiffened as he was overwhelmed by Rose's memories of the previous eighteen months. He saw every injury inflicted, heard every word designed to wound, felt the emotional storm created by her various levels of isolation. With every example of physical and psychological horror, his rage grew. Before it was over, he was on his feet and shaking, his fists and jaw clenched painfully. Of course she'd doubted him; between the bump in time, the torture, and the seclusion, the Master had created a situation in which her faith in anything was systematically beaten from her.
In their entire history, the Doctor had never actually desired to end the Master the way he did in that moment. More than that, he wanted to end him as painfully as possible. He wanted to rain down fire on the man who thought he could take something so precious and try to destroy it.
His eyes slid closed as the memories faded and he struggled to contain some of his fury before he threw away all rational thought and hunted the Master down, regardless of the consequences.
She hadn't been broken, not completely. He could tell that. Through all the doubt and anger, the fear and resentment, she still loved him, still believed in him, no matter how hard it got, because she was Rose. But she was still alone, still scared, still unsure of anything, even herself. The Doctor took a few deep breaths, thinking quickly as he tried to figure out some way to start undoing the damage the Master had caused.
Rose, listen to me, he thought once he'd gotten some control over himself again. Everything the Master's done, everything he's said, it was with the express intent of breaking down your faith in yourself and in me. But you are so much better than that, so much better than him. Don't give him that power over you. Even if I can't be there yet, you're not alone anymore. And I swear to you, you were never abandoned, never forgotten. You were stolen. He wasn't supposed to be able to have you this long. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for that, but I went after you as soon as it was physically possible, and there is nothing, nothing, that is going to stop me from getting you back now. Do you understand me, Rose?
He held his breath until he heard a quiet yes from her mind, followed quickly by: God, I've missed you.
Not for much longer, he assured her. I love you, Rose.
Always, my Doctor.
