Spark of Adventure
Last of the Time Lords
it had been a year since the Master had seized control of Earth. The Shadow Proclamation had wisely declared the planet off-limits to space-faring races. The planet was in a terrible state, with it's resources having been plundered by the Master to fuel his thirst for conquest. In the early hours of one morning, a stubbled man stood on a beach waving a lamp, signalling to a small boat, which signalled back. The boat made shore and Martha Jones disembarked. She was dressed in black combat gear and looked rather battle-weary. "What's ya name, then?" she asked the man
"Tom Milligan." he answered "No need to ask who you are, the famous Martha Jones. How long since you were last in Britain?"
"365 days." she replied wearily "It's been a long year."
"So what's the plan?" Tom asked as they began to walk along the beach
"This Professor Docherty." Martha replied "I need to see her. Can you get me there?"
"She works in a repair shed, nuclear plant 7. I can get you inside." Tom answered "What's this all for? What's so important about her?"
"Sorry, the more you know, the more you're at risk." Martha told him
"There's a lot of people depending on you. You're a bit of a legend."
"What does the legend say?"
"That you sailed the Atlantic, walked across America. That you're the only person to get out of Japan alive. 'Martha Jones, she's gonna save the world'. Bit late for that."
Then Martha noticed a pickup parked nearby "How can you can drive?" she asked him "Don't you get stopped?"
"Medical staff. Used to be in paediatrics, back in the old days." Tom replied "But that gives me a licence to travel, so I can help out at the labour camps."
"Great, I'm travelling with a doctor." Martha snorted, getting into the vehicle.
"Story goes, you're the only person on Earth who can kill him." Tom remarked, getting into the driver's seat "That you and you alone can kill the Master, stone dead."
"Let's just drive." Martha said briskly. Her long mission was nearly complete, and there was no time to lose.
On the Valiant, Scissor Sister's I Can't Decide blared over the speakers as the Master swaggered into the conference room, full of smug arrogance. Everything was going well for him. He had Earth under his control, the Doctor overpowered and he felt that nothing could stop him. He went over to Lucy and gave her a forceful kiss, then swivelled in a chair, then took a cup of tea that had been brought up by Francine Jones, who was dressed in a maid's uniform. He spat the tea out, threw the cup away, then pranced onto the steps and rang a bell.
The aged Doctor crawled out of a tent by the stairs. The Master grabbed him by the lapels and threw him into a wheelchair. The Doctor had been silent and stoic all year. He hadn't Gazelle since the day after the Master took control. He'd tried to sway her to join him, but she'd simply given him a black eye, so he'd put her in solitary confinement. The Doctor couldn't sense her anymore. He suspected the Master had put a mental dampener on her.
The Master wheeled the Doctor over to a porthole. "It's ready to rise, Doctor." the Master crowed "The new Time Lord Empire." a squad of Toclafane whizzed past "It's good, isn't it? Anything?" the Doctor didn't answer, he just stared solemnly at the Toclafane. "Oh, but they broke your hearts, didn't they? Those Toclafane." the Master taunted "Ever since you worked out what they really are. Your lovely Gazelle was the same. She cried, the silly girl. They say Martha Jones has come back home. Now why would she do that?"
"Leave her alone." the Doctor rasped. He felt tremendously guilty for what Martha had no doubt gone through this past year. This year of hell was all his fault. Once again, Earth had paid the price for his arrogance.
"But you said something to her, didn't you?" the Master pushed "The day I took control." he recalled seeing the Doctor whispering to Martha before she teleported away "What did you tell her?"
"I have one thing to say to you." the Doctor answered "You know what it is."
The Master suddenly looked rattled "Oh no you don't!" he snarled and pushed the Doctor away.
"Valiant now entering Zone One airspace." the PA announced "Citizens rejoice."
"Come on, people. What are we doing?" the Master called out to his minions "Launch day in 24 hours."
The Doctor put his hand on his leg, making a signal with three fingers to Francine as she passed him. Francine walked out into the corridor where Clive was mopping the floor. As she passed him, she held up three fingers. Then, Tish came by with another food tray. As she passed Clive, he put three fingers on his broom, signalling to her.
Tish walked into a cage, where a rather grubby-looking Jack was chained up "Morning, Tish." he called cheerfully, seemingly unfazed by his predicament "Ah, smell that sea air! Makes me long for good old British fish & chips!" he laughed "And what do I get? Cold mashed swede. Some hotel! Last time I book over the internet."
Tish fed him a spoonful of food and held three fingers against the tray. Jack winked, getting the message.
It was now afternoon in Britain. Martha and Tom were in a valley, looking at a massive statue of the Master. "All over the Earth, those things." Martha observed "He's even carved himself into Mount Rushmore."
"Best to keep down." Tom cautioned as they reached the top of the ridge "Here we go..." they crouched behind some rocks and looked out at a massive missile silo below. "The entire south coast of England." Tom grimaced "Converted into shipyards. They bring in slave labour every morning. Break up cars, houses, everything, just for the metal. Building the fleet out of scrap."
"You should see Russia." Martha remarked "That's shipyard number one. All the way from the Black Sea to the Bering Strait, there's 100,000 rockets getting ready for war."
"War? With who?"
"The rest of the universe. I've been out there, Tom, in space. Before all this happened. And there's a thousand different civilisations around us with no idea what's happening here. The Master can build weapons big enough to devastate them all."
"You've been in space?"
"Problem with that?"
"No, no, just... Uh, anything I need to know?"
"I've met Shakespeare."
Just then, two Toclafane came buzzing up behind them. Tom turned to face them, while Martha stayed still where she was. "Identify, little man." the first sphere demanded
"I've got a licence." Tom told them, showing his pass "Thomas Milligan, Peripatetic Medical Squad. I'm allowed to travel. I was just checking for..."
"Soon the rockets will fly and EVERYONE will need medicine." the first Toclafane crowed "You'll be so busy!" the spheres both laughed and buzzed away.
Tom turned to Martha "But... they didn't see you."
Martha showed him her TARDIS key "How d'you think I travelled the world?" They headed back towards the pickup "Cos' the Master set up Archangel, that mobile phone network." Martha explained "15 satellites around the planet. But really it's transmitting a low-level psychic field. That's how everyone got hypnotised into thinking he was Harold Saxon."
"Saxon? Feels like years ago." Tom scoffed
"But the key's tuned into the same frequency. Makes me sort of... not invisible, just unnoticeable."
"But I can see you." Tom frowned
"That's cos' you wanted to." Martha laughed
"Yeah, I suppose I did."
"Is there a Mrs Milligan?" Martha asked suddenly. This man was rather ruggedly handsome, and in another time and place, she'd be interested.
"No, no. What about you?"
"No." Martha replied, then decided to get back on track "Come on, I've gotta find this Docherty woman."
"We'll have to wait till the next work shift." Tom replied as they got back in the pickup "What time is it now?"
"It's nearly three o'clock." Martha answered, checking the dashboard clock.
On the Valliant, the clock in the conference room showed 14:59. The Doctor, Francine and Tish all exchanged glances, knowing it was nearly time. In his cage, Jack saw the time and began to pull at his bonds with all his strength.
The Master came striding into the conference room. "Time for my massage." he said "Who shall I have today? Tanya, come on sweetheart. Lucy have you met Tanya?" he asked Lucy, who was rather quiet and sullen these days, and sporting a bruise below her eye. "She's gorgeous." the Master continued, as he took off his jacket, ready for his massage "Tanya, when we go to the stars, I'm going to take you to the Catrigan Nova. Whirlpools of gold. You two should get to know each other." he said to Lucy "Might be fun."
As the clocks struck three, Jack finally broke his chains. He wrenched a pipe from the wall and blasted his guards with steam. In the hallway, Clive threw a bucket of water on some wiring, setting off alarms.
In the conference room, alarms started going off. "What the hell?" the Master grumbled, going up to the bridge to see what was happening.
While he was distracted, Francine grabbed the Master's jacket and threw it to Tish, who gave it to the Doctor. He fished around in the pockets and pulled out the Master's laser screwdriver, then aimed it at the evil Time Lord.
"Oh, I see." the Master rolled his eyes, putting his hands up.
"I told you." the Doctor rasped "I have one thing to say." he pressed the button on the screwdriver, but nothing happened.
The Master laughed and took the screwdriver. "Isomorphic controls." he said, and backhanded the Doctor, sending him to the floor "Which means, they only work for me. Like this." he fired a shot at Francine, who managed to duck just in time. "Say sorry!" the Master demanded
"Sorry, sorry." Francine hissed through gritted teeth, while Tish rushed over to help her.
"Didn't you learn anything from the blessed Saint Martha?" the Master snarled at them, as Lucy gave him his jacket back "Siding with the Doctor is a very dangerous thing to do. Take them away." he ordered his guards, who roughly led the Joneses away. The Master grabbed the Doctor and heaved him into a chair "Oh, d'ya know, I remember the days when the Doctor, oh that famous Doctor, was waging a Time War, battling Sea Devil and Axons, he sealed the rift at the Medusa Cascade, single-handed. Look at him now. Stealing screwdrivers. How did he ever come to this? Oh yeah, me!" he laughed cruelly
"I just... need you to listen." the Doctor croaked
"No, it's my turn." the Master retorted "Revenge. Best served hot. And this time... it's a message for Miss Jones."
At a nuclear plant, Tom cut a hole in a chain-link fence and he and Martha crept in. They crept into a shed, where a middle-aged woman was struggling with a telly. "Professor Docherty?" Tom called
"Busy." the woman waved him off
"They sent word ahead. I'm Tom Milligan. This is Martha Jones."
"She can be the Queen of Sheba for all I care, I'm still busy." Docherty grunted, smacking the telly in frustration.
"Televisions don't work anymore." Martha reminded
"Oh God, I miss Countdown." Docherty sighed "Never been the same since Des took over. Both Deses. What's the plural for Des, Desi? Deseen? But we've been told there's gonna be a transmission. From the man himself. There!" she gave the telly another whack and it sprang into life.
The screen showed a grainy black & white image of the Master "My people." he said to the camera "Salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there, stories of a child, walking the Earth, giving you hope." he walked away from the camera to reveal the aged Doctor in his wheelchair "But I ask you... how much hope has this man got? Say hello, Gandalf. Except, he's not that old. But he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. What if it showed? What I suspend your capacity to regenerate?" he said to the Doctor "All 900 years of your life, Doctor, what if we could see them?" he promptly blasted the Doctor with his screwdriver, causing him to fall to the floor, screaming in agony "Down, down the years." the Master said callously. He switched the screwdriver off, and all that was apparently left of the Doctor was his empty suit. The Master pulled the suit away to reveal a little goblin-like creature. This was the Doctor, aged over 900 years. "Received and understood, Miss Jones?" the Master said to the camera, and the transmission ended.
"I'm sorry." Tom said to Martha
"The Doctor's still alive." Martha said simply. She could only hope that Gazelle was alright. The Master seemed to be focussing mainly on the Doctor, so there was a chance he'd leave the Time Lady alone.
They were soon discussing the situation. "Obviously the Archangel network would seem to be the Master's greatest weakness." Docherty mused "15 satellites, all around the Earth, still transmitting. That's why there's no resistance. It's broadcasting a telepathic signal that keeps people scared."
"We could just take them out." Tom suggested
"We could." Docherty said sarcastically "15 ground-to-air missiles. Got any on you? Besides, any military action, the Toclafane descend."
"They're not called Toclafane." Martha told her "That's a name the Master made up."
"Then what are they then?"
"That's why I came to find you." Martha replied "Know your enemy. I've got this." she pulled out a CD from her rucksack "No one's been able to look at a sphere close-up, they can't even be damaged. Except once. The lightening strike in South Africa brought one of 'em down. Just by chance. I've got the readings on this." she held up the disc.
Docherty put the disc into her computer. "Oh, whoever thought we'd miss Bill Gates." she grumbled as the computer took it's sweet time.
"So is that why you travelled the world?" Tom asked Martha "To find a disc?"
"No, just got lucky." Martha replied
"I heard stories that you walked the Earth to find ways to build a weapon." Docherty remarked. Then, the computer decided to co-operate "There." Docherty noted "A current of 58.5 kiloamperes, transferred charge of 510 megajoules, precisely."
"Can you recreate that?" Tom asked her
"I think so. Easily, yes." Docherty grinned
"Right then, Dr Milligan. Martha said "We're gonna get us a sphere."
Tom was soon standing outside the warehouse, a pistol in his hand. He fired three rounds in the air, attracting the attention of a sphere. He made a run for it, the sphere in close pursuit. Martha watched, while Docherty messed about with some wires "Incoming! Are you ready?" Martha asked her
"You do your job, I'll do mine." Docherty retorted
"NOW! Tom yelled as he raced past. Once he was clear, an electrical field sprang up, striking the sphere and causing it to fall to the ground.
"That's only half the job." Docherty remarked as they approached the deactivated sphere "Let's find out what's inside."
In the Valliant's conference room, the Doctor had been put in a cage and given a replica of his suit. The Master strutted in, a docile Lucy following. "Tomorrow they launch." the Master said, hoping to get a response. He didn't get one, the Doctor just sat in silence. "We're opening up a rift in the Braccatolian space." the Master continued "Won't see us coming. Kinda scary."
"Then stop." the Doctor croaked
"Once the Empire is established and there's a new Galifrey in the heavens, maybe then, it stops." the Master replied "The drumming. The never-ending drumbeat. Ever since I was a child. I looked into the Vortex. That's when it chose me, the drumming, the call to war. Can't you hear it? Listen, it's there now, right now. Tell me you can hear it, Doctor. Tell me."
"It's only you." the Doctor answered
"Good." the Master smirked
The door opened and a sphere flew in "Tomorrow, the war." it said "Tomorrow we rise, never to fall!"
"You see?" the Master said to the Doctor "I'm doing it for them. You should be grateful. After all, you love them. So very, very much."
Docherty worked on opening the sphere they'd captured. "There's some sort of magnetic clamp." she noted "Hold on, I'll just trip the..." she stuck a cutting pen in, and the clamp released. Docherty then opened the sides to the sphere. "Oh my God!" she gasped when she saw what was inside.
Martha and Tom came over and saw what appeared to be a wizened Human head inside, wired up to machinery. Suddenly, the head's eyes opened. "It's alive!" Docherty gasped
"Martha. Martha Jones." the head said
"It knows you." Tom said in disbelief
"Sweet, kind Martha Jones." the head continued "You helped us to fly."
"What d'you mean?" Martha questioned
"You led us to salvation."
"Who are you?"
"The skies are made of diamonds."
Martha paled, remembering Creet saying those exact words "No." she breathed "You can't be him!"
"We share each other's memories." the head said "You sent him to Utopia."
"Oh my God." Martha whimpered, as the realisation as to what these things were struck her.
"What's it talking about?" Tom asked her "What's it mean?"
"What are they?" Docherty added
"Martha." Tom said, gently shaking Martha out of her shock "Martha, tell us. What are they?"
"They're us." Martha breathed "They're Humans. The Human race from the future."
On the Valliant, the Master was elaborating to the Doctor about the spheres "I took Lucy to Utopia." he said "A Time Lord and his Human companion, I took her to see the stars. Isn't that right, sweetheart?"
"Trillions of years into the future." Lucy said in a blank voice "To the end of the universe."
"Tell him what you saw." the Master instructed
"Dying. Everything, dying. The whole of creation was falling apart. And I thought... there's no point. No point to anything, not ever."
"And it's all your fault." the Master said to the Doctor.
"I'd sort of worked it out with the paradox machine." Martha explained to Tom and Docherty "Because the Doctor and Gazelle said on the day before the Master came to power, they said..." she recalled them telling her about fusing the co-ordinates on the TARDIS. "The Master had the TARDIS, this time machine. But the only other place he could go was the end of the universe. So, he found Utopia."
"You should've seen it, Doctor." the Master said "Furnaces, burning. The last of Humanity screaming at the dark."
"The Utopia project was the last hope." Martha explained "Trying to find a way to escape the end of everything."
"There was NO solution." the head said bitterly "No diamonds. Just the dark and the cold!"
"All that Human invention that had sustained them across the aeons." the Master continued "It all turned inwards. They cannibalised themselves."
"We made ourselves so pretty." the sphere added
"Regressing into children." the Master confirmed "But it didn't work. The universe was collapsing around them."
"But then the Master came with his wonderful time machine to bring us back home." the head said to the Humans
"But that's a paradox." Docherty pointed out "If you're the future of the Human race, and you've come back to murder your ancestors, you should cancel yourselves out. You shouldn't exist."
"And that's the paradox machine." Martha said
"My masterpiece, Doctor." the Master said gleefully "A living TARDIS, strong enough to hold the paradox in place, allowing the past and the future to collide in infinite majesty."
"But you're changing history." the Doctor pointed out "Not just Earth, but the entire universe."
"I'm a Time Lord. I have that right." the Master said callously
"But even then, why come all this way just to destroy?"
"We come backwards in time, all to build a brand new empire." the sphere answered "Lasting one hundred trillion years!"
"With me as their master." the Master finished smugly "Time Lord and Human combined. Haven't you always dreamt of that, Doctor?"
"What about us?" Tom asked the head "We're the same species. Why d'you kill so many of us?"
"Because it's fun!" the head replied and laughed manically. Tom promptly shot it, silencing it for good.
"Human race." the Master said to the Doctor "Greatest monsters of them all. Night, then." and he, Lucy and the sphere left. The Doctor was left alone with his thoughts. Just a little longer, and this nightmare would all be over. He just hoped Gazelle was alright. Francine had told him that she was alive and healthy, but he would feel a lot better if he could see her for himself.
Martha, Tom and Docherty were in the professor's living quarters, discussing their next move. "I think it's time we had the truth, Miss Jones." Docherty said "Legend says you travelled the world to find a way of killing the Master. Tell us, is it true?"
"Just before I escaped the Doctor told me what to do." Martha replied, opening her backpack and pulling out a case. "The Doctor, Gazelle and the Master, they've been coming to Earth for years." she explained "And they've been watched. "There's U.N.I.T and Torchwood, all studying Time Lords in secret. And they made this." she opened the case to reveal a silver gun inside "The ultimate defence."
"All ya need is to get close." Tom said "I could shoot the Master dead with this." he produced his pistol
"Actually, you can put that down now, thank you very much." Docherty told him, pushing the gun down.
"Point is, it's not so easy to kill a Time Lord, they can regenerate." Martha continued, remembering Gazelle telling her about it "Literally bring themselves back to life."
"Ah, so the Master's immortal. Wonderful." Docherty grumbled
"Except for this." Martha said, holding up the gun and three phials, one containing a blue liquid, one a red liquid and the third, a green liquid. "Four chemicals slotted into the gun, inject him... Kills a Time Lord, permanently."
"Four chemicals? You've only got three." Tom pointed out
"Still need the last one." Martha replied "Cos' the components of this gun were kept safe, scattered across the world. And I found them. San Diego, Beijing, Budapest and London."
"Then where is it?"
"There's an old U.N.I.T base, north London. I've found the access codes. Tom, you've gotta get me there."
She and Tom got up and got ready to leave "We can't across London in the dark, it's full of wild dogs. We'd get eaten alive. We can wait til the morning and go with the medical convoy." Tom said to Martha
"You can spend the night here, if you like." Docherty offered
"No, we can get halfway." Tom replied "Stay at the slave headquarters in Bexley. Professor, thank you." he shook her hand
"And you. Good luck." she said
"Thanks." Martha said, kissing the professor on the cheek, then going after Tom.
"Martha." Docherty called after her "Could you do it? Could you actually kill him?"
"Got no choice." Martha replied gravely
"You might be many things, but you don't look like a killer to me."
Martha just turned and left with Tom. They soon arrived in Bexley, and crept past the Master's goons towards a row of terraced houses. Once they were in the clear, Tom knocked on the door of one of the houses. "Let me in, it's Milligan." he whispered urgently. The door was opened and they snuck in to find the house packed with people.
"Did ya bring food?" a woman asked Tom
"Couldn't get any and I'm starving." Tom replied
"All we've got is water." the woman told him
"Sorry." Martha said to the people as she shuffled past them to get to the living room.
"It's cheaper than building barracks." Tom explained to her "Pack 'em in, 100 to each house. Ferry 'em off to shipyards every morning."
"Are you Martha Jones?" a boy asked her
"Yeah, that's me." she confirmed
"Can ya do it? Can you kill him? They said you can kill the Master, can you? Tell us you can do it, please. Tell us you can do it."
"Who is the Master?" a woman added, and they all began talking at once.
"Come on, just leave her alone." Tom told them "She's exhausted."
"No, it's alright." Martha reassured him "If they want me to talk, and I will."
In her shed, Docherty entered part of the room that was curtained off and opened a panel to reveal a hidden computer "Access priority one. This is Professor Alison Docherty"
"State your intent." an automated voice answered
"First of all, I need to know about my son." Docherty said
"State your intent."
"Is my son still alive?"
"State your intent."
Docherty swallowed hard. She didn't want to do what she was about to do, but she had no choice "I have some information for the Master. Concerning Martha Jones."
On the Valliant, the Doctor was asleep in his cage when the Master came in, waking him up. "Guess what?" the Master smirked, happy that the last thorn in his side was about to be crushed.
In the house, Martha was talking to the slaves "I travelled across the world. From the ruins of New York to the fusion mills of China, right across the radiation pits of Europe. And everywhere I went, I saw people just like you, living like slaves." she told them "But if Martha Jones became a legend, then that's wrong, because my name isn't important. There's someone else. The man who sent me there. The man who told me to walk the Earth. And his name is the Doctor. He has saved your lives so many times. He and his partner, Gazelle, and you never knew they were were. They never stop, they never stay, and they never ask to be thanked. But I've seen them, I know them. They're my best friends, and I know what they can do. What he can do."
Suddenly, a woman came frantically rushing into the house "It's him!" she cried "Oh my God, it's him! It's the Master, he's here!"
"But he never comes to Earth!" the boy from earlier said "He never walks upon the ground!"
"Hide her!" the woman said, pointing to Martha.
"Use this." Tom said, throwing her a blanket, and she put it over Martha, while Tom peered through the letterbox.
Outside, the Master strolled down the street, flanked by his guards and accompanied by spheres. "Martha?" the evil Time Lord called out "Martha Jones? I can see you!" he said in a sing-song voice "Out you come, little girl. Come and meet your Master. Anybody? Nobody? Nothing? Positions." he ordered his men, who aimed their rifles at the houses "I'll give the order unless you surrender. Ask yourself, what would the Doctor do? Or Gazelle? Would she let innocent people die just to save herself?"
Martha took her TARDIS key off and made for the door. She steeled herself, and made her way outside. "Oh, yes!" the Master smirked "Oh, very well done. Good girl. They trained you well. Bag, give me the bag. No, stay there, just throw it." Martha threw the bag with the gun in it over to him, and it landed on the ground in front of him. He promptly fired his screwdriver at it, destroying it. "And now, good companion, your work is done." he aimed his screwdriver at Martha
"NO!" Tom bellowed, running out of the house, his gun in hand. The Master simply shot him dead with the screwdriver.
The Master simply laughed at the murder he's just committed, then he turned to Martha "But you, when you die, the Doctor and Gazelle should be witness, hmm?" he inhaled the air deeply "Almost dawn, Martha. And planet Earth marches to war."
As dawn broke over Britain, Martha had been brought to the Valiant. As she was brought into the conference room, she saw her family on the left, dressed as servants and looking very weary. On her right stood Jack, dressed in prisoner's overalls and looking very grubby. At the bottom of the room was the Doctor in his cage, with Gazelle standing next to him. Like Jack, the Time Lady was dressed in prisoner's overalls and was looking rather grubby, but she also had a metal band over her forehead, a mental dampener that stopped her from telepathically communicating with the Doctor.
The Master stood on the stairs, full of confidence. "Your teleport device." he demanded "In case you thought I'd forgotten." Martha tossed him the vortex manipulator "And now... kneel." Martha complied. "Down below, the fleet is ready to launch." the Master announced to everyone "200,000, ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready?" he asked into a comm channel.
"The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice!" an automated voice answered
"Three minutes to align the black hole converters." the Master noted, checking his watch "Counting down!" he looked at a clock on the wall "I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?"
"We will fly and blaze and slice!" the spheres answered in unison over the comm
"At zero, to mark this day, the child, Martha Jones, will die." the Master said triumphantly "My first blood. Any last words?" Martha didn't answer, she just glared daggers at the evil Time Lord "No? Such a disappointment, this one." the Master remarked, turning to the Doctor "Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the Time Vortex. This one's useless!" he aimed his screwdriver at Martha, ready for the kill "Bow your head." Martha complied "And so it falls to me, as master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward..."
Martha suddenly started to chuckle
"What... what's so funny?" the Master glared
"A gun?" Martha scoffed
"What about it?"
"A gun in four parts?"
"Yes, and I destroyed it."
"A gun in four parts scattered across the world? I mean, come on!" Martha snorted "Did you really believe that?"
"What d'you mean?"
"As if we would ever ask her to kill." Gazelle told the Master, her voice a bit hoarse from having rarely spoken during her year in solitary confinement.
"Oh, well, it doesn't matter, I've got her exactly where I want her." the Master shrugged
"But I knew what Professor Docherty would do." Martha told him "The resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun so she'd get me here. At the right time."
"But you're still gonna die." the Master pointed out
"Don't you wanna know what I was doing travelling the world?"
"Tell me."
"I told a story, that's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all my own, and everywhere I went, I found the people, and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor, and Gazelle too, and I told them to pass it on, so that everyone would know about them."
"Faith and hope, is that all?" the Master scoffed
"No, cos' I gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said." Martha retorted, getting to her feet. She remembered what the Doctor had whispered to her before she'd escaped 'Use the countdown'. "I told them that if they that if everyone thinks of one specific word at one specific time..."
"Nothing will happen." the Master rolled his eyes "Is that your weapon? Prayer?!"
"Right across the world." Martha smirked "One word, just one thought, at one moment, but with 15 satellites."
That wiped the smile off the Master's face "What?!"
"The Archangel network." Jack realised
"A telepathic field, binding the Human race together with all of 'em, every person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time." Martha told the Master "And that word... is Doctor."
The Master paled as realisation struck him. The countdown hit zero and a white glow enveloped the Doctor in his cage. "Stop it." the Master spluttered "No, no, no, no you don't!"
Jack, realising what was happening, began to chant 'Doctor' repeatedly. The chant spread, with Francine following suit, then Tish, Clive and Martha herself, all ignoring the Master's protests. On his screen, the Master could see people all over the world chanting 'Doctor'. Even Lucy started chanting too, having had enough of her abusive husband. As the chanting continued, the Doctor de-aged back into the wizened old man he'd been for the past year. "I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with it's matrices." he told the Master
"Never underestimate the power of words." Gazelle added
"Make them stop, I order you!" the Master demanded, going up to her. She simply headbutted him, and because she had the mental dampener on, it hurt him like hell. He fell to the floor, clutching his sore head, while the chanting across the world continued until finally the Doctor was restored to his normal youthful appearance.
"The one thing you can't do, stop them finking." he told the Master "Tell me the Human race is degenerate now, when they can do this." he used telepathic energy to wrench the mental dampener off Gazelle, who immediately launched herself at the Doctor, hugging him.
Martha ran over to her family and they all hugged each other in relief, while Jack grinned at seeing his friends back to normal.
"No!" the Master screamed, firing a shot from his screwdriver at the Doctor, which was harmlessly absorbed by the telepathic field.
"I'm sorry." the Doctor said "I'm so sorry."
"Then I'll kill them!" the Master snarled, turning his screwdriver on the Jones family. The Doctor simply telepathic swatted the screwdriver from his hand. It landed by Jack, who promptly snapped it in two. "You can't do this!" the Master cried "It's not fair!"
"And you know what happens now." the Doctor told him
"No! No!" the Master whimpered, backing away as the Doctor walked towards him. He was soon backed against the wall, and slid down to the floor as the Doctor towered over him.
"You wouldn't listen." the Doctor said "Because you know what I'm gonna say."
"No!"
The Doctor crouched down beside him "I forgive you." he said
The Master wasn't beaten yet "My children." he snarled "Protect the paradox!"
The Doctor jumped to his feet "Captain! The paradox machine!" he ordered Jack
Jack nodded, knowing what he had to do. "You men, with me." he said to the guards, who complied now that the Master's control on them had been broken, and they rushed off to deal with the paradox machine.
The Master, taking advantage of the distraction, pulled out the vortex manipulator. The Doctor saw him "No!" he shouted, grabbing hold of the Master just as he activated it.
Both men disappeared from the Valliant, and reappeared in the valley Martha and Tom had been through the previous day. "Now it ends, Doctor." the Master smirked, regaining his confidence "Now it ends!"
On the Valiant, Martha rushed to the computer on the bridge. "We've got six billions spheres heading straight for us!" she reported
"On it." Gazelle said, pressing some buttons on another console, and the Valiant's lasers opened fire on the approaching spheres. She'd set the guns to disable them. They were basically Humans, after all, and she wouldn't kill them, no matter what they'd done.
"We've got control of the Valiant, you can't launch." the Doctor told the Master
"Oh, but I've got this." the Master smirked, pulling out a remote control "Black hole converter inside every ship. If I can't have this world, Doctor, then neither can you! We shall stand upon this Earth together as it burns!"
On the Valiant, Jack and the guards reached the cargo bay where the TARDIS was, only to find their way blocked by three spheres. The Humans opened fire on the spheres, but their bullets didn't even dent them. "Can't get in, we'll get slaughtered." a guard said
"Yeah, happens to me a lot." Jack remarked. He took his chance and made a break for it.
In the valley, the Doctor was unfazed by the Master's threat "Weapon after weapon after weapon." he shook his head "All you do is talk an' talk an' talk, but over all these years an' all these disasters, I've always 'ad the greatest secret of them all. I know you. Explode those ships, you kill yourself. That's the one thing you can never do." he held out his hand "Give that to me."
Defeated, the Master handed him the control over.
Jack had made it past the spheres and ran into the TARDIS. He promptly opened fire on the paradox machine, which blew in a shower of sparks.
In the valley, the Doctor and the Master were suddenly thrown to the ground. The Doctor managed to activate the vortex manipulator to send them both back to the Valiant. On the ship, the attacking spheres suddenly vanished into the thin air and the ship shuddered. "Everyone down!" Gazelle warned, grabbing Martha and pulling her to the floor. Everyone else followed suit just as the Doctor and the Master reappeared.
"Stay down, time is reversing." the Doctor called, and hit the deck next to Gazelle. They both held on tightly to each other as the wild ride commenced.
On the ground, time reversed, undoing everything the Master had done. The missile silos vanished, leaving no trace that they were ever there.
The Valiant finally settled and everyone got to their feet. The Doctor rushed over to the monitors "The paradox is broken." he announced "We've reverted back, one year an' one day, two minutes past eight in the morning."
He switched on a comm channel to hear a man's voice "This is U.N.I.T central, what's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated!".
The Doctor switched the comm off and turned to everyone else in the room "See? Just after the President was killed, but before the spheres arrived. Everyfink back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terro, it never was."
"What about the spheres?" Martha wandered
"Trapped at the end of the universe."
"But I can remember it." Francine remarked
"We're at the eye of the storm." Gazelle told her "We're the only ones who will ever know."
The Doctor, meanwhile, turned to Clive "Oh 'ello! You must be Mr Jones, we 'aven't actually met."
The Master took advantage of the Doctor's distraction to make a break for it, but he didn't far. He reached the door just as Jack came back in. "Woah, big fella." the American remarked "You don't wanna miss the party. Cuffs." and some guards handcuffed their former boss. "So, what do we do with this one?" Jack asked everyone.
"We kill him." Clive spat
"We execute him." Tish agreed
"No, that's not the solution." the Doctor told them
"Oh, I think so." Francine sneered, grabbing a discarded pistol off the floor and aiming it at the Master "Cos' all those things, they still happened. Because of him. I saw them."
"Go on." the Master goaded "Do it!"
"Oh, you can shut up." Gazelle told him, then turned to Martha's mother "Francine, you're better then him." she said gently, lowering Francine's gun had and hugging the woman. The gun clattered to the floor, landing at Lucy's feet.
"You still haven't answered the question. What happens to me?" the Master said
"You're our responsibility from now on." the Doctor told on "The only other Time Lord left in existence."
"Yeah, but you can't trust him." Jack pointed out
"That's why he's safer with us." Gazelle replied "If he's with us in the TARDIS, he can't harm anyone else."
"You mean you're just gonna... keep me?" the Master grimaced
"If that's what we have to do." the Doctor nodded "We're the last three of our kind, we need to stick together."
No sooner had those words left his mouth when a gun shot rang in the air. Everyone looked to see the Master stagger back, clutching his punctured stomach, and Lucy holding the pistol, a blank expression on her face. Jack disarmed Lucy, while the Doctor and Gazelle both ran over to the Master and grabbed him as his legs gave out. "We've got you, we've got you." Gazelle said as they both helped him to the floor.
"Always the women." the Master croaked
"I didn't see 'er." the Doctor said
"Me neither. I'm sorry." Gazelle added
"Dying in your arms, happy now?" the Master said to the Doctor
"Ya not dyin', don't be stupid." the Doctor reassured him "It's only a bullet, just regenerate."
"No."
"Come on, it's just one little bullet." Gazelle tried
"I guess you don't know me as much as he does." the Master smirked "I refuse."
"Regenerate, please just regenerate." the Doctor pleaded "Come on!"
"And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you two lovebirds?" the Master scowled
"But you've got to, come on!" the Doctor continued to plead "It can't end like this! You an' me, all the things we've done. Axons, remember the Axons, an' the Daleks..."
"We're the only three left." Gazelle added "Come on, regenerate. We can help you. We can stop that drumming in your head. Please, just regenerate. We can't loose anyone else."
But the Master wasn't listening "How about that?" he smirked "I win." his eyes rolled into his head and he drew his last breath.
The Doctor limply fell back. Despite all the Master had done, he still cared for his old friend and he began to well up with tears. Gazelle came over to him and pulled him into her arms, letting him sob into her shoulders.
That night, the Doctor stood stoically by a funeral pyre as the Master's body was burned. Gazelle stood by his side, now cleaned up and back in her regular clothes. She gave the Doctor's hand a reassuring squeeze as they watched the flames consume the Master's body, then they turned and walked away together.
A few days later, Professor Docherty walked through a park when Martha came up to her with a bunch of flowers "Just to say... I don't blame you." Martha said to her and walked away
"But who are you?" the confused professor called, though smiled when she looked at the flowers. Whoever this strange young woman was, the flowers were rather lovely.
Later, the Doctor, Gazelle, Martha and Jack were in Cardiff bay, looking out at the people happily going about their daily lives, blissfully unaware of the year of hell that had just been erased from existence. "Time was, every single one of these people knew your names." Martha remarked to the Time Lords "Now they've all forgotten you."
"Good." the Doctor said simply
"It's for the best." Gazelle agreed
"Back to work." Jack said and began to walk away
"We really don't mind, though." the Doctor said to him. The Year-That-Never-Was had given him time to think, and he'd re-thought his stance on Jack's condition. After all, it wasn't Jack's fault that Rose couldn't control the Time Vortex "Come with us."
"Yeah, plenty of room in the TARDIS." Gazelle encouraged
"Thanks, but I had plenty of time to think that year." Jack replied "The-Year-That-Never-Was. And I kept thinking about that team of mine. Like ya both said, responsibility."
"Defending the Earth." the Doctor nodded "Can't argue wiv that." then he grabbed Jack's arm and began to run his sonic screwdriver over the vortex manipulator, disabling the teleport function.
"Hey, I need that!" Jack protested
"We can't have you walkin' around wiv a time-travelling teleport." the Doctor told him "Ya could go anywhere, twice. Second time to apologise."
"And what about me? Can either of you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?"
"We honestly don't know, Jack." Gazelle replied "And I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do."
"You're an impossible thing, Jack." the Doctor added
"Been called that before." Jack chuckled, then started to walk away again, then turned back to salute the trio "Sir, Ma'am, biker girl." they half-heartedly returned the salutes "But I keep wandering, what about ageing? Cos' I can't die, but I keep getting older, the odd little grey hair, ya know. What happens if I live for a million years?"
"Like Gazelle said, we really dunno." the Doctor shook his head
"Ok, vanity, sorry." Jack chuckled "Can't help it. Used to be a poster boy, when I was a kid, living in the Boeshane Pennisula. Tiny little place. I first one ever to be signed up to the Time Agency. They were so proud of me. The Face of Boe, they used to call me." the other three could only stare at him "I'll see you all." Jack finished and went on his way.
"No." the Doctor murmured as he processed Jack's revelation
"Can't be." Martha shook her head
"If it is, it explains a lot." Gazelle muttered
They all shared a laugh, and they walked off back to the TARDIS.
Next day, the Jones family had gathered together. Leo was safe and sound, blissfully unaware of what his parents and siblings had been through, and Clive and Francine were patching up their relationship. The Doctor walked past the house, having popped to a jewellers on a personal errand. He paused outside and watched the family. Francine came to the window and gave him an acknowledging look, seeing the Time Lord in a new light now. The Doctor returned the look and went inside the TARDIS.
The console room of the box was back to normal now, the Doctor, Gazelle and Jack having removed the Master's modifications. The Doctor's eyes were immediately drawn to Gazelle, who was up on the gantry, sonicing some wiring and humming along to an AC/DC song that was playing over the stereo. He'd missed her over the past year. The year separated on the Valiant had made him truly realise how much he loved her. His hand automatically slipped into his pocket and around something he'd bought from the jewellers. When Martha returned from seeing her family and they got underway again, he was going to take them to somewhere nice. He had something important to ask Gazelle. He walked round the console, glancing at his hand, which was now tucked away under the console, then he slouched down on the jump seat to watch Gazelle finish her work.
Martha came out of the Jones house on her mobile "Yeah, could you put me through? Hi, I'm looking for a Dr Tom Milligan.
"Yeah, hello?" Tom's voice came over the other end
Martha just grinned at hearing his voice and hung up. Maybe she could meet up with him one day and they could get to know each other better. She entered the TARDIS and the Doctor got up. "Right then, off we go." he said cheerfully "The open road. There is a burst of starfire right now, over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio. The sky's like oil on water, fancy a look? Or... back in time, we could, I dunno, Charles II, Henry VIII? I know, what about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie, I bet she's brilliant!"
"Doctor." Gazelle cut in, coming down from the gantry. She could tell by the look on Martha's face that she was staying on Earth.
The Doctor fell silent and saw the look too "Ok." was all he could say
"I just can't." Martha said
"Yeah." the Doctor nodded sadly. He may have been reluctant to accept Martha as a full-time companion, but he'd grown fond of her and would miss her terribly.
"Spent all these years training to be a Doctor, and now I've got people to look after." Martha continued "They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't just leave them."
"Of course not." Gazelle said, coming over to Martha and hugging her "Not gonna lie, I'm gonna miss ya, Martha. Thank you for everything. Best of luck"
"You too." Martha replied, then moved over to hug the Doctor goodbye too.
"Thank you." he said "Martha Jones, you saved the world."
"Yes, I did." Martha smiled "I've spent a lot of time with you two, and I learned I am good."
"Brilliant, I'd say." Gazelle told her, and the trio shared one last group hug.
"You two gonna be alright?" Martha asked when they broke apart
"Always, yeah." the Doctor replied, slipping an arm around Gazelle
"I'll look after him, don't worry." Gazelle smiled
"Right then." Martha nodded, and pulled her mobile out of her pocket, giving it to Gazelle "Keep that." she remembered Gazelle had told her that they'd had to disconnect the console phone as they kept getting spam calls from something called Kerblam. "Cos' I'm not having you both disappear. If that rings, when that rings, you'd better come running, got it?"
"Got it." the Doctor nodded
"Crystal clear." Gazelle added
"I'll see you both again." Martha finished "I promise you." they all smiled at each other and Martha left the TARDIS for the last time. Halfway up the garden path, she paused as she heard the TARDIS dematerialise behind her, then she resumed her journey to re-join her family.
As the Master's funeral pyre burned down, a hand picked up his signet ring from the ground...
Author's notes: And so we say goodbye to Martha, a very underrated companion. Hope everyone likes how I wrote her in this story and how I improved her treatment by the Doctor. I know Gazelle is barely in this chapter, but I found it hard to think of how to integrate her into this episode, so I had her be kept in solitary confinement. As for what the Doctor bought... well, we'll just have to wait and see. And we're nearly at the end of this story, just a mini-sode and a Christmas special to go. Looking forward to Voyage of the Damned. See ya all next time!