I'm alive, just busy with school XD I'm graduating this year so yeah.
Anyway be sure to check out the prequel to this story called "Running Away from Gallifrey." It follows the Classic Who episodes starting with the episode "The Deadly Assassin."
The Time Lady and her Boys
Doctor Who Fanfiction
Paring: The Master/Time Lady OC (with some Doctor/OC moments)
Chapter 13: The Sontaran Stratagem
The Master and Fighter were sent flying everywhere in the TARDIS as it jerked. "What in Gallifrey is going on?" They were in the library as some of the books were falling off the shelves towards them. "Watch out!" The Master yelled to the Fighter as he quickly grabbed her hand pulling her towards him as the books fell to the floor.
With all the jerking, they fell to the floor with her landing on top of him. She looks to see him smirking at her as a blush fills her face. "Well hello Tiger." She looks around the room as the TARDIS continues jerking "We need to find the Doctor and find out what's happening."
"Aw, can't we stay like this?" She looks back at him, her face a bright red as she quickly gets up off him holding out a hand to help him up as he accepts it. She quickly gives him a kiss as they walk out of the room carefully to avoid anymore books that dare to fall.
Walking through the halls, they heard a female laughing happily. They exchanged looks as they continued on to walk into the TARDIS console room seeing Donna fly the TARDIS as the Doctor stood by the side keeping a careful eye on her as he watched. "Alright Donna, keep it nice and steady." Donna did as told "Very well done and I'm not just saying that either."
"I can't believe I'm doing this!" Donna exclaimed happily.
"Alright, mystery solved, now back to reading." The Fighter said as The Doctor turned to see the couple.
"No, neither can I" The Master said as he watched the female human flying the time machine. The Master looked over to the Doctor "Why are you letting her fly the TARDIS?"
The Fighter started giggling looking at Donna as the two females shared a look which made the Master look at her knowing "It was you, wasn't it?"
The Fighter shrugged her arms grinning "Oh a certain friend of mine might have come to me with a request that I went to a certain Doctor with and well, he owed me so..." Donna and her looked to each other again giggling as The Fighter walked over to her as they exchanged five highs causing the TARDIS to jolt forward as The Doctor and Master fell to the floor and The Fighter hung onto the part of the console.
"Whoa careful!" The Doctor exclaimed as he jumped up grabbing a mallet and hitting the console with it before lifting a lever.
"Doctor! Was that really necessary?" The Fighter gently patted the TARDIS console "You know she works better without doing that. You can't force someone to do something with using violence."
"Actually-" The Master was cut off by the Fighter punching his arm. He smirked at her laughing "Hey, I'm just saying-" He was cut off by her giving him a kiss to shut him up.
"Be quiet Bad boy." She smiled at him as he held her close to his chest.
The Doctor got distracted by watching them he forgot Donna was still flying the TARDIS as he looked back to her "Left hand down, Left hand down!" He told Donna nervously. The TARDIS lurched as Donna did as told "Getting a bit too close to the 1980's!"
"Fun times!" The Fighter exclaimed smiling at The Doctor as he smiled back to her remembering the adventures they had in their past incarnations together before the Time War happened.
"What am I gonna do? Put a dent in 'em?" Donna asked sarcastically.
"Well someone did" The Master replied smirking as a phone begin to ring.
"Hold on, that's a phone!" Donna exclaimed looking around. The Fighter walked around the TARDIS and pulled a flip mobile out of a socket in the console answering it.
Donna turned to the Doctor pointing as the Fighter "She has a mobile? Since when?"
"She had it when I first got her from here. Elizabeth got her it." The Doctor replied sadly as they looked back to the Time Lady.
"Ah ok." The Fighter over at them from the phone "You guys might want to hang onto something."
"Why?" The Doctor and Master asked curious at the same time.
"It's Martha! And she's bringing us back to Earth!"
The TARDIS materialised in an alleyway between two buildings as The Doctor opened the doors stepping out. He looked to the left then to the right as he spotted Martha standing there smiling at him. "Martha Jones." He greeted her.
"Doctor" Martha nodded to him as they gave each other a hug. She looked behind him curiously. "Where's the Fighter?"
As if on cue, the Time Lady came running out of the TARDIS "MARRRTTTHHHHAAAA!" taking Martha into a hug as the girls squealed happily "I missed you so much!" They pulled back from the hug looking at each other smiling "You're doing well, right?"
Martha nodded "Yes. Wow, so this is the new you. You look like you're doing fine after that whole regenerating thing."
The Fighter nodded as Martha's smile faded a little looking behind her to see The Master. The Fighter noticed this and told herself she would have to keep an eye on them so they didn't kill each other. The Fighter looked to The Master who smirked at her as she mentally told him to behave for her which just made him smirk at her more. She took his hand in hers as he watched them silently talking as she whispered to him "Prove to her you're a different man now."
The Fighter looked to The Doctor to help her break the awkward silence as he looked to Martha smiling "You haven't changed a bit!"
"Neither have you!"
"How's the family?" The Doctor asked as The Fighter flinched remembering what the Master had done to Martha's family. He was a changed person now, she was helping to guide him down the right path she knew he was capable of taking. She understood why Martha was still questioning about him after what he did to her family but The Fighter believed he was different from how he was before. He was helping her and The Doctor save the world.
"You know," Martha glanced at The Master quickly before looking back to The Doctor "Not so bad. Recovering."
"What about you?" The Fighter asked as Martha looked to her trying her best to not look at The Master but noticed they were holding hands as Donna stepped out of the TARDIS with them all looking to her.
Martha nodded slowly "Right. I should have known. Didn't take you too long to replace me."
The Doctor started looking uncomfortable even more "Now, don't start fighting. Martha, Donna. Donna, Martha. Please don't fight, can't bear fighting." The Fighter let out a laugh at his reaction as The Master watched amused by it as well.
Donna scoffed walking over to Martha smiling "You wish!" They looked at each other "I've heard all about you." They shook hands "They talk about you all the time."
Martha glanced to The Master quickly than back to Donna "I dread to think."
Donna shook her head "No, no, no. They say nice things. Good things. Nice things. Really good things."
"Oh my god, they've told you everything!" Martha's eyes widened.
The Fighter gave a nervous laugh looking at The Doctor as he shared the same nervous expression. "I'm sorry Martha, I seem to be quite talkative in this new incarnation of mine..."
Donna laughed looking at Martha "Didn't take you long to get over it though. Who's the lucky man?"
"What man?" The Fighter asked excitedly walking up to the two woman noticing the ring on Martha's hand.
"Lucky what?" The Doctor asked.
"She's engaged!" The Fighter and Donna exclaimed as Martha grinned lifting up her hand and wiggling her fingers showing off the ring. Donna shook her head at the Doctor "You Prawn."
"You're getting slow Dear Doctor." The Master commented grinning at him. "Even I knew what they were talking about."
The Doctor ignored his comment looking to the girls "Really? Who to?"
"Tom. That Tom Milligan. He's in pediatrics. Working out in Africa right now, and yes, I know." Martha noticed the smile on The Fighter's face "I've got a doctor who disappears off to distant places. Tell me about it."
Donna suddenly asked serious "Is he skinny?"
Martha shook her head slightly embarrassed "No, he's sort of...strong."
Donna gestured to the Doctor "HE is too skinny for words! You give him a hug, you get a paper cut." The Fighter let out a loud laugh as The Master chuckled at the comment and the Doctor's shocked reaction. Donna then gestured to the Master "I don't know about him though. Might want to ask the Fighter." She looked to the Fighter who suddenly stopped laughing as her face became red.
How would she tell Martha about The Master who treated her family badly? She wouldn't go "Oh yeah, by the way, the Time Lord who treated your family badly for a year makes me want to melt every time I kiss him and he's quite strong as well." No, there was no way she would say that.
The Fighter was broken out of her thoughts as Martha looked to her seriously asking "Speaking of him, what's going on with the two of you?" Martha glanced to The Master yet again to see him off to the side giving an amused smirk as she looked back to the Fighter.
The Fighter gave a nervous laugh. Oh great. She looked to Martha confidently "Well I love him." Martha's eyes widened "None of that matters right now. I know what he did to your family was wrong but The Doctor and I have been guiding him in the right direction since he is our responsibility and one of the last of our race along with us. You should have seen how he's been helping us save planets and worlds and as you know, I believe he is capable of good. Now I'm not saying to trust him right away but...give him a chance. And if not that, then trust The Doctor and I with taking care of him ok."
Martha hesitated at first but then nodded "Ok. I don't trust him but I'll trust in you guys to know what you're doing." The Master rolled his eyes smirking.
The Fighter nudged Martha and Donna gesturing over to The Doctor "Besides being too skinny for words, he's always seemed to have a weird sense of fashion. He's been a walking vegetable, worn a very long scarf and has also been a dashing rainbow!" This caused the two girls to burst into laughter along with The Master.
The Doctor looked over at her blushing embarrassed "I'd rather you were fighting." He knew it was a habit of hers to tease him, she along with The Master always teased him since they were little.
"Speaking of which..." Martha was cut off by getting a call on her walkie-talkie.
"Dr Jones, report to base please. Over."
Martha lifted the radio up to answer "This is Dr. Jones. Operation Blue Sky is go, go, go." She started walking down to the opening of the alley "I repeat, this is a go!"
The others exchanged looks as they followed after her stepping onto a street as two jeeps and a large black truck came down the road with soldiers marching alongside. "Unified Intelligence Taskforce. Raise that barrier, now!" A soldier shouted as they entered into the factory into the distance. "Leave your safeties on, lads, it's non-hostiles."
A voice was heard from a bullhorn "All workers, lay down your tools and surrender."
"Oh great, not these people again." The Master said rolling his eyes as him and The Doctor exchanged looks as remembering the first time back then when he came to U.N.I.T when the Doctor was in his third incarnation and he was in a different one as well. The Fighter knew the Doctor had known and even worked for UNIT from his third incarnation the one time they met in the tomb of Rassilon with all their other incarnations along with The Masters.
Martha spoke into her radio "Greyhound Six to Trap One. B Section, go, go, go! Search the ground floor, grid pattern Delta."
"What are you searching for?" The Doctor asked her as they all walked over to the factory.
"Illegal aliens."
The soldier on the bullhorn announced "This is a UNIT operation. All workers lay down your tools and surrender immediately!"
The Doctor and Fighter frowned watching the soldiers force the workers to their knees and holding guns to the back of their head. The Fighter whispered to him "Doctor, they don't have to hold the guns to the back of their heads."
"It's the way they do things." He replied as he noticed her trying to drift off over to stop them as he grabbed her by her shoulder "You know. Now, don't get involved ok."
Martha shouted over her radio leaving them "B section mobilised! E section, F section, on my command!"
Donna turned to look at them "Is that what you did to her? Turn her into a soldier?"
The Doctor gave an uneasy look.
Moments later, Martha walked back over to them as they watched UNIT soldiers and the workers. The Fighter nodded to Martha's ID tag "And you're qualified now? You're a proper doctor."
She replied "UNIT rushed it through given my experience in the field. Here we go." She turned leading them away from the factory across a road that went into the factory. "We're establishing a field base on site. They're dying to meet you." She looked to The Doctor and Fighter avoiding eye contact with The Master.
"Wish that I could say the same." The Doctor replied looking around at all the soldiers.
"Never expected to see UNIT soldiers ever again." The Master commented looking around as well.
The Fighter looked around as well wondering at the Brigadier. Though she met him in a weird way, he was a nice guy and became one of her friends. Martha led them over to the large truck they saw earlier as it was filled with computers, monitors, and high tech stuff.
Martha walked over to an older dressed man in a military uniform "Operation Blue Sky complete, sir. Thanks for letting me take the lead." She smiled and turned to the Time Lords and Lady" And, this is the Doctor, Fighter and..." She was hesitant to say his name as The Master cut in "Master."
Martha continued talking gesturing to the man "This is Colonel Mace."
"Sir's, Ma'am." Mace saluted them.
"Oh, don't salute." The Doctor grumbled.
"Oh come now Doctor, it's what they do." The Master told him smirking.
Mace looked to The Doctor "Well, it's an honour, sir! I've read all the files on you two and, technically speaking, you're still on staff. You never resigned."
"Wait! Us two?" The Doctor asked pointing to him and The Master.
"No, you and the Fighter." Mace replied. The Doctor and Master looked to The Fighter shocked.
She giggled putting her finger to her nose as she tapped it copying what the Doctor did in his fourth incarnation as she said "Who nose?"
"What, you used to work for them?" Donna asked.
"Yeah, long time ago. Back in the 70s. Or was it the 80s? But it was all a bit more homespun back then." The Doctor replied giving The Fighter a curious look before looking to Donna.
"Times have changed, sir." Colonel Mace replied.
"Yeah, that's enough of the 'sir'."
Martha smiled at him "Come on now Doctor, you've seen it." She glanced at the Master again before looking back to the Doctor "You've been on board the Valiant. We've got massive funding from the United Nations. All in the name of home world security."
"A modern UNIT for a modern world." Colonel Mace agreed.
Donna spoke "What, and that means arresting ordinary factory workers? In the streets, in broad daylight? It's more like Guantanamo Bay out there. Donna, by the way." She was not happy with being ignored by Colonel Mace. "Donna Noble, since you didn't ask. I'll have a salute." The Fighter gave her a thumbs up mouthing "You go Donna!"
Mace stared at her a moment before looking at the Doctor and Fighter who gave a nod. "Well, give the girl a salute!" The Fighter told him. Mace turned to Donna and saluted her "Ma'am!"
Donna nodded "Thank you."
The Master questioned Mace "Tell us. What's going on in that factory?" The Doctor shrugged his coat off tossing it to a computer behind him and sat in one of the chairs looking at the screen on the wall. The Fighter stood by the Master's side.
Mace began explaining "Yesterday 52 people died in identical circumstances, right across the world, in 11 different time zones. 5am in the UK, 6am in France, 8am in Moscow, 1pm in China."
The Fighter's eyes widened "They died simultaneously!"
Mace nodded "Exactly. 52 deaths at the exact same moment, worldwide."
The Doctor asked "How did they die?"
"They were poisoned. I checked the biopsies, no toxins. Whatever it is, left the system immediately." Martha informed them.
The Master questioned her "What have the cars got in common?"
Martha hesitated before answering him "Completely different makes. They're all fitted with ATMOS." She turned to point to where the factory was "And that, is the ATMOS factory."
"What's ATMOS?" The Fighter asked.
Donna scoffed rolling her eyes "Oh, come on. Even I know that. Everyone's got ATMOS!"
The Doctor, Master and Fighter exchanged curious looks with each other.
Martha was leading them through a factory walking along a catwalk above the main part "Stands for Atmospheric Omission System. Fit ATMOS in your car, reduces CO2 emissions to zero."
The Doctor's eyes widened "Zero?! No carbon, none at all?"
Donna added "Oh yes. Sat-nav and 20 quid in shopping vouchers if you introduce a friend. Bargain!"
"And this is where they make it, Doctor, Master and Fighter." Mace stopped walking looking down at the factory floor below them. "Shipping worldwide. 17 factories across the globe, but this is the central depot, sending ATMOS to every country on Earth."
"And you think ATMOS is alien?" The Fighter said looking at him curiously.
Mace nodded continuing "It's our job to investigate that possibility. Doctor, Master, Fighter?" He turned leading them down a set of stairs into the main factory area into a office. The workers were still being detained by soldiers. Mace gestured to a device sitting in the middle of the room "And here it is, laid bare. ATMOS can be threaded through any and every make of car."
The Doctor commented "You must've checked it, before it went on sale."
Martha nodded informing him "We did, we found nothing. That's why I thought we needed an experts."
The Doctor slipped his glasses on "Really, who'd you get?"
The Fighter facepalmed as The Master laughed. "3...2...1" The Doctor looked at them "Oh, right! Us! Yes! Good."
Martha shook her head exchanging looks with The Fighter and Donna before giving a quick glance to The Master as she left the room. Donna asked "OK, so why would aliens be so keen on cleaning up our atmosphere?"
The Doctor lifted up the device "Very good question."
Donna suggested "Maybe they want to help. Get rid of pollution and stuff."
The Master rolled his eyes as The Fighter punched his arm. "Ow Tiger, play nice!" The Fighter's face went a bright red as the Doctor and Donna along with Mace looked over at them. "Shut up!" She crossed her arms knowing he was teasing her as he chuckled. "Sorry continue."
The Doctor looked at her sadly as he continued his talking "Do you know how many cars there are on planet Earth? 800 million. Imagine that. If you could control them, you'd have 800 million weapons." He then took a quick glance back over to his childhood friends to see them holding hands yet again.
The Doctor, Master and Fighter were examining components of the ATMOS device as Donna wondered off to see if she could find anything to help them. Just then Mace and Martha walked in as The Master commented looking at the device "Ionising nano membrane carbon dioxide converter - which means that ATMOS works. Filters the CO2 at a molecular level."
Mace nodded moving forward to them "We know all that, but what's its origin? Is it alien?"
The Master rolled his eyes as The Doctor explained "No. Decades ahead of its time." He glanced up at Mace frowning how close close he was standing to him "Look, d'you mind, could you stand back a bit?"
Mace looked at them confused "Sorry, have I done something wrong?"
The Fighter explained "You're carrying a gun. He doesn't like people with guns hanging around him and I don't blame him."
The Master came over to her putting an arm around her waist "And I'm not a bit fond of them either, especially with them being around her."
"Look, I'm a big girl and can take care of myself." The Fighter looked at him blushing a bit from the way he was holding her. The Master just smirked at her then looked back to the Colonel.
Mace sighed looking a bit offended "If you insist." He nodded walking out.
Martha crossed her arms "Tetchy."
The Doctor shrugged as him and the Master said "Well, it's true."
The Fighter sighed "I didn't mean to offend him by what I said since he seems like a good man," She looks to the Master eyes narrowed and sticking out her tongue "But some people are a bit overprotective."
The Doctor commented picking up the ATMOS device and flashing his sonic "People with guns are usually the enemy in my books. You seem quite at home." He looked over to Martha.
"If anyone got me used to fight it's you." Martha looked at the Time Lords and Lady.
"Oh, right, so it's my fault." The Master shouted at her "You've been glancing over at me and after what I did you would think so."
"Please, don't do this right now." The Fighter elbowed him looking into his eyes pleading him to stop as he hesitated at first then stopped.
"Well it's what got me the job!" Martha yelled back to him. "I don't trust you one bit, but I do trust The Doctor and Fighter in knowing what they are doing." Martha looked to the Doctor "Besides, look at me. Am I carrying a gun?"
The Doctor looked "Suppose not."
"It's all right for you all. You can just come and go, but some of us have got to stay behind. So I've got to work from the inside and by staying inside, maybe I stand a chance of making them better." Martha told them.
A grin came to The Doctor's face "Yeah? That's more like Martha Jones."
Martha smiled at him "I learned from the best." The Master rolled his eyes.
"I agree." The Fighter walked over to Martha as they smiled at the Doctor. "All the centuries I spent traveling the universe with him, meeting all kinds of new people, making friends and such was quite a journey. Something I dreamed about when I was little and I never thought would come true. It helped make me who I am today."
The Doctor blushed a bit "Well..."
Donna walked into the office holding a binder in her hand "Oi, you lot! All your storm troopers and your sonics... You're rubbish! Should've come with me."
"Why, where have you been?" The Fighter asked.
Donna replied "Personnel. That's where the weird stuff's happening - in the paperwork. Cos I spent years working as a temp, I can find my way round an office blindfold, and the first thing I noticed is an empty file."
The Doctor asked "Why, what's inside it? Or what's not inside it?"
Donna held up a empty file to show them "Sick days. There aren't any. Hundreds of people working here and no one's sick. Not one hangover, man flu, sneaky little shopping trip, nothing. Not ever! They don't get ill."
Mace walked forward grabbing the file "That can't be right."
Donna looked to him "You've been checking out the building - should've been checking out the workforce."
Martha smiled at Donna "I can see why they like you."
Donna nodded looking at the Time Lords and Time Lady "Mmm-hmm."
Martha laughed "You are good."
The Fighter gave Donna a high five "She's super temp!"
Mace looked to Martha ordering "Doctor Jones, set up a medical post, start examining the workers. I'll get them sent through." He walks away.
Martha nodded turning away "Come on, Donna. Give me a hand."
The Doctor began following after Mace as The Master and Fighter followed behind him holding hands. The Doctor said to Mace "So this, this ATMOS thing. Where did it come from?"
"Luke Rattigan himself."
"And 'himself' would be?" The Master asked as they arrive at a computer with Luke's profile on it.
"Child genius. Invented the Fountain 6 search engine when he was 12 years old. Millionaire overnight. Now runs the Rattigan Academy. A private school, educating students, handpicked from all over the world."
"A hothouse for geniuses" The Doctor and Master both remarked as The Fighter joined in "wouldn't mind going there." Mace gave them a puzzled look.
"We get lonely." The Fighter told him as she went back to looking to her childhood friends as they shared an idea. "I know where we're going next!" She clapped happily as they smirked to her.
The Doctor, Master and Fighter are walking behind Mace through the factory heading towards the trucks. "You are not coming with us!" The Doctor gave Mace a look. "We want to talk to this Luke Rattigan, not point a gun at him."
Mace argued "It's ten miles outside London. How are you going to get there?"
"Well, then get us a jeep!" The Doctor remarked as The Fighter gave a laugh.
"According to the records you three travel by TARDIS."
"Yes, but if there is a danger of hostile aliens I think it's best to keep a super-duper time machine away from the front lines." The Doctor commented as the Master gave him a look.
Mace nodded giving them an irritated look "I see. So you do have weapons, but choose to keep them hidden." The Fighter glared at him referring to the TARDIS that way. "Jenkins!"
A young soldier ran over "Sir!"
"You will accompany the Doctor, Master and Fighter and take orders from them." Mace told him.
The Doctor cut in "Yeah, I don't do orders."
"But I do." The Master smirked cutting in. The Fighter shook her head smiling a bit.
Mace gave him an odd look "Any sign of trouble, get Jenkins to declare a Code Red. And good luck, sir." He gave them a salute.
"I said no salutes." The Doctor reminded him.
"Now you're giving orders." The Master smirked as The Doctor looked at him with eyes narrowed a bit.
The Fighter gave a nervous laugh as she pulled at the Master's cheek "Oh, you're getting a bit cheeky, you are." The Master gave her a laugh looking at her amused.
"Doctor!" Donna hurried towards them ac Mace walked away.
The Fighter smiled over to her "Oh, just in time! Come on! Come on, we're going to the country. Fresh air and geniuses, what more could you ask?" Her eyes sparkled with excitement.
Donna shook her head "I'm not coming with you."
"What!?" The Doctor and Fighter stare at her wide eyed with mouths open.
"I've been thinking. I'm sorry, I'm going home."
"Really?"
"I've got to."
The Doctor slowly nodded as The Fighter still looked at her shocked "Well, if that's what you want. I mean it's a bit soon... We had so many places We had wanted to take you. The Fifteenth Broken Moon of the Medusa Cascade, the Lightning Skies of Cotter Palluni's World, Diamond Coral Reefs of Kataa Flo Ko... Thank you. Thank you, Donna Noble, it's been brilliant. You've... you've saved my life in so many ways. You're..." The Fighter and Doctor's face filled with realization as Donna smirked at them "You're just popping home for a visit, that's what you mean." The Fighter said.
"You Dumbo!" Donna said looking at the Doctor. She gave the Fighter a hug "I'd never leave my new best girl friend. We've gotten to know so much about each other."
"You should have seen your faces!" The Master said laughing loudly in amusement.
The Fighter pouted "Donna that was so not cool. Never do that again!" She walked over to the Master with eyes narrowed at the laughing Time Lord as she pouted at him as well. When he went to take her into a hug she crossed her arms stepping to the side avoiding it as his face slowly filled with shock.
"Oh come now Tiger, Don't act like that."
She remained silent with her arms crossed not looking at him as she looked over to The Doctor and Donna giving them a wink as they smiled knowing what she was doing.
"Tiger..." His face began to become a bit sad along with his voice.
She decided to turn back not being able to handle the sad tone as she took him in a hug. Oh how he knew her weakness. The moment she hugged him he gave a smirk of victory. "Damn you for knowing my weakness." She told him as she pulled away "But honestly, you should have seen your face!" She smirked at him.
"So you're going to pop home for a visit and then you're coming back." The Doctor questioned Donna.
"Know what you are? A great big outer-space dunce."
The Doctor nodded scratching the back of his head "Yeah."
"Ready when you are, sirs and miss." Jenkins said from the jeep.
Donna laughed "What's more you can give me a lift. Come on!" They all climbed into the jeep.
The jeep pulls up to Donna's street and dropped her off. "I'll walk the rest of the way. I'll see you back at the factory, yeah?" Donna said.
"Yes! See you soon and be careful!" The Fighter told her.
"You too!" Donna replied.
They then drove off to the Rattigan Academy as Jenkikns explained more about the school to them. "UNIT's been watching Rattigan Academy for ages. It's all a bit Hitler Youth: exercise at dawn and classes and special diets."
"Reminds you a bit of the academy back home, huh?" The Master commented looking at the Fighter and Doctor as they nodded.
"Turn left." The ATMOS device told them. The Fighter exchanged a worried look with The Doctor and Master.
The Doctor questioned "Ross, one question. If UNIT thinks that ATMOS is dodgy..."
"How come we've got it in the jeeps? Yeah, tell me about it. They're fitted as standard on all government vehicles. We can't get rid of them until we prove something's wrong."
"Turn right." The device said.
"Drives me around the bend."
They look out the window to notice they are driving around a bend. "Oh nice one!" The Fighter commented.
"Timed that perfectly!" Ross grinned.
The Doctor smiled "Yeah! Yeah, you did!"
"This is your final destination." The device said as the Fighter gave it another worried look. It gave her chills.
They all climbed out of the jeep looking to a large manor as students in red workout clothes walked around. As they got closer to the building, they noticed a young man looking out at the grounds. "Is it PE? I wouldn't mind a kick around, I've got my chaps on." The Doctor commented as The Fighter gave a laugh and the Master rolled his eyes.
"I wouldn't mind running. I've gotten better at it thanks to traveling with you two." The Fighter commented looking at The Doctor and Master.
"I suppose you're the Doctor, Master and Fighter?" Luke asked eyeing them slightly.
"Hello!" The three childhood friends said.
"Your commanding officer phoned ahead." Luke told them.
The Fighter looked at him curiously as Luke looked over to her smirking. "Ah, but we haven't got a commanding officer. Do you?" Luke's eyes hardened looking at her as his smirk dropped.
The Doctor looked to Ross "Oh, this is Ross. Say hello, Ross."
"Afternoon sir." Ross gave a nod.
The Doctor began to walk to the main doors as The Master grabbed her hands and followed. "Let's have a look then, I can smell genius!... In a good way." Ross rolled his eyes as The Fighter whispered ti the Master about it. They pushed the main doors opening stepping inside as Luke took them through the academy and into a large laboratory room were students were working with many different projects which were too advanced for Earth tech. The Time Lords and Lady exchanged looks as they looked around the room.
The Doctor commented putting on his glasses "Oh, now! That's clever, look! Single molecule fabric, how thin is that?! You could pack a tent in a thimble."
The Fighter laughed happily as she pulled the Master along with her over to a project someone was working on "Oh! Gravity simulators!"
The Master commented "Terraforming, biospheres, nano-tech steel constructs! Haha! This is brilliant!"
"Do you know, with equipment like this you could... oh, I don't know, move to another planet or something?" The Fighter said looking to The Master then Luke.
Luke ducked his head replying "If only that was possible."
"If only that were possible. Conditional clause." The Master said correcting him as The Fighter looked at him. She hadn't seen him correct someone like that since she was in her 5th incarnation and the Doctor was in his 8th as they were in the back of the ambulance with their companion Grace. They didn't know it was the Master at first but he had corrected Grace the sentence Grace said as they gave him a strange look. Good times.
Luke looked to him with a surprised look "I think you better come with me." He began to walk away as the Master and Fighter exchanged wondering looks following after him as the Doctor did too. They walked into a larger room that appeared to be Luke's. "You're smarter than the usual UNIT grunts, I'll give you that." He commented.
The Fighter looked to Ross "He called you a grunt!" She looks back to Luke trying to keep her temper under control a little "Don't call Ross a grunt, he's nice! We like Ross!" Luke gave her a look as she looked around the room and spoke to the Master "Look at this place..."
Luke looked to them annoyed "What exactly do you want?"
The Master commented "I was just thinking, what a responsible eighteen year old. Inventing zero carbon cars? Saving the world..."
"Takes a man with vision."
The Doctor nodded "Mmmm, blinking vision. Cos ATMOS means more people driving, more cars, more petrol, end result: the oil's gonna run out faster than ever. The ATMOS system could make things worse."
Luke said quickly trying to gain the upper hand "Yeah, see, that's a tautology. You can't say 'ATMOS system' since it stands for 'atmospheric emissions system'." Luke looked to the Master. "So you're just saying 'atmospheric emissions system system' d'you see, Mr Conditional Clause?"
The Master's eyes narrowed glaring at him as The Fighter glared at Luke putting her hands on her hips "It's been a long time since anyone said no to you, hasn't it? You know, you remind me of my cousin Allia." She looked to the Master knowing she hit a nerve in him with mentioning her cousins name as their past together wasn't good. She looked back to Luke "Always thinking that if she acted like a smart ass, she was the most brilliant thing to walk the planet. I'm gonna tell you like I told her, "Think again honey."
Luke smirked at her "I'm still right though."
The Doctor stared at Luke "Not easy, is it? Being clever. You look at the world and you connect things. Random things. And think, 'why can't anyone else see it?' The rest of the world is so slow."
He nodded "Yeah."
"And you're all on your own."
"I know."
The Doctor shouted holding up the ATMOS device he stole from the factory "But not with this! Cos there's no way you invented this thing single handed. I mean, it might be Earth technology, but that's like finding a mobile phone in the middle ages." He chucks the device at Ross as he catches it. "No, no, I'll tell you what it's like! It's like finding this in the middle of someones front room." He points to the teleport pod behind him. "Albeit it's a very big front room."
"Why? What is it?" Ross asked frowning.
The Fighter started walking over to The Doctor grinning "Yeah, just looks like a thing, doesn't it? People don't question things, they just say 'oh, it's a thing'."
"Leave it alone!" Luke yells.
The Master walks over joining them "The Doctor, Fighter and I make these connections. And this, to me, looks like" He presses the button on the side of the pod "a teleport pod."
They disappeared and reappeared in a Sontaran battle ship. The childhood friends blinked looking around. "oh..."
The Sontarans turn to notice them as one shouts out "We have intruders!"
The Doctor grins "How did he get in?:
The Fighter replies "In-tru-da window?" The Sontarans start advancing towards them.
The Master waves at them grinning "Bye, Bye!" He presses the control pad as they teleport back to Luke's room as they ran out of the pod.
The Doctor looks to Luke as The Fighter pulls out her sonic trying to disable the pod "Luke, you've got to come with us!"
Suddenly the Sontarans appear in the pod stepping out of it. "Oh no you don't!" The Fighter aims her sonic at the controls causing it to spark before any other Sontarans could follow.
"Sontaran!" The Doctor shouted at them. "Thats your name, isn't it? You're a Sontaran. How did I know that, ay? Fascinating isn't it? Isn't that worth keeping us alive?"
Ross aimed his gun at the Sontarans demanding "I order you to surrender in the name of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce."
The Master walked forward to where the Doctor was as he looked at the Sontarans "Well that's not going to work. Cordolaine signal, am I right? Copper excitation stopping the bullets."
"How do you know so much?" The Sontaran demanded looking at the three Gallifreyans.
"Well..." The Fighter smirked at them.
"Who are they?" The Sontaran asked.
"They didn't give their names" Luke replied.
The Fighter walked back over next to the Doctor and Master looking at the Sontarans "But this isn't typical Sontaran behavior, is it? Hiding! Using teenagers, stopping bullets?" She said mockingly "A Sontaran should face bullets with dignity! Shame on you!"
"You dishonor me!" The Sontaran shouted at her.
The Fighter continued "Yeah, then show yourself!"
The Sontaran said removing his helmet "I will look into my enemy's eyes!" He had a brown dome like head with no viable neck.
Ross lowered his gun "Oh, my god..."
"And your name?" The Doctor asked.
"General Staal, of the Tenth Sontaran Fleet. Staal the Undefeated!"
The Doctor continued "Well, that's not a very good nickname. What if you do get defeated? Staal the Not-Quite-So-Undefeated-Anymore-But-Never-Mind?"
Ross scoffed talking to himself "He's like a potato - a baked potato - a talking baked potato."
The Master looked over to Ross "Now, Ross, don't be rude, you look like a pink weasel to him. The Doctor goes and picks up a racket and begins bouncing a small ball upon it.
The Fighter explains "The Sontarans are the finest soldiers in the galaxy, dedicated to a life of warfare. A clone race, grown in batches of millions with only one weakness..."
Staal shouted "Sontarans have no weakness!"
The Fighter grinned wagging her finger "Oh but you do and it's a good one."
Luke rolled his eyes at them "Aren't you three meant to be clever? Only an idiot would provoke them."
"Your the idiot for working with them." The Fighter glared at him.
The Doctor continued grinning "No, but the Sontarans are fed by a probic vent in the back of their neck, that's their weak spot. Which means, they always have to face their enemies in battle... isn't that brilliant? They can never turn their backs!"
Staal shouted "We stare into the face of death!"
"Yeah? Well, stare at this!" The Master said smirking as the Doctor threw the ball up in the air with the tennis racket sending it bouncing off the pod controls into the bck of Staals head hitting the vent. "Run!" The Doctor shouted as the Master grabbed the Fighters hand and they ran pushing Ross out of the room with them. Staal cried out in pain staggering to the floor.
The Doctor, Master, Fighter and Ross ran out of the manor back into the jeep heading toward the main road. The Doctor called into the radio in the jeep "Greyhound 40 to Trap 1, repeat, can you hear me? Over."
Ross was gripping the steering wheel as the jeep kept speeding up "Why's it not working?"
The Master commented "Must be the Sontarans. If they can trace that, then they can isolate the ATMOS."
"Turn left." The device said.
"Try going right!" The Doctor told.
"It said left."
"I know! So go right!" The jeep starts swerving.
Ross stared at the wheel shocked taking his hands off as the car was steering itself "I've got no control, it's driving itself! It won't stop!" The Doctor pulls out his sonic to fiddle with the ATMOS.
"The doors are locked!" Ross shouted.
The Doctor groaned "Ah, it's deadlocked, I can't stop it!"
"Turn left"
The Fighter comments "The sat-nav's just a box, wired through the whole car!"
The Master turned to the device "ATMOS, you're programmed to contradict my orders?"
"Confirmed"
"Anything I say, you'd ignore it?"
"Confirmed"
"Then drive into the river! I order you to drive into the river! Do it! Drive into the river!" The Master ordered as the jeeps breaks squealed loudly stopping on the rivers edge. They turned to the doors as they were unlocked and quickly jumped out. They started running back towards the road as the ATMOS was malfunctioning.
"Turn right... left... right... left..."
"Get down!" The Doctor shouted as the Master grabbed the Fighter close to him as they all fell to the ground covering their ears waiting for the explosion. The device banged loudly and let out a little smoke but nothing huge. "Oh, is that it?" The Master asked looking up. "Hmm..."
The Fighter stood up "Only you two." She laughed a little. "Well we might as well get moving."
The Time Lords and Lady were outside the front door of Donna's house. The Fighter knocked on the door as Donna answered "You would not believe the day we're having. Can we take a look at your car?"
Donna gave her a curious look "Why?"
"You said you had ATMOS right?" Donna nodded "That's what we're checking for."
"I'll requisition us a vehicle." Ross said.
"Anything without ATMOS. And Don't point your gun at people!" The Doctor told him.
Donna's grandfather came over to them from the front of the house "Is it them? Is it them? Is it the Doctor, Master and Fighter?" He walks to the side of the car seeing them clearly pointing "Ah! It's you!"
"Who?" The Doctor asks as he realizes "Oh! It's you!"
"You two know each other?" Donna and The Fighter asked.
The older man nodded "Yeah, Christmas Eve. He disappeared right in front of me!" The Master and Fighter looked to each other knowing when that was. The time the Doctor teleported to Earth with Astrid. The Fighter and Master stayed behind dancing.
"And you never said?!" Donna looked to her grandfather shaking her head.
"Well you never said!" He turned to the three childhood friends "Wilf, sirs and miss. Wilfred Mott. You three must be one of them aliens?!" He looked to the sky. The Master rolled his eyes.
The Fighter smiled at Wilf "Yeah," She put a finger to her mouth telling to keep secret winking "but don't shout it out. Hello, I'm the Fighter." She shakes Wilfs hand.
Wilf looks at it amused shaking back "Oh, an alien hand...!"
The Doctor shakes Wilf's hand next "Nice to meet you properly, Wilf."
"Oh another one!" Wilf smiled amused.
The Master gave him a wave "I'm the Master. I don't do hand shaking."
The Doctor turned to Donna "Donna, anything?"
Donna shook her head "She's not answering. What is it, Sontorans?"
The Master answered "Sontarans. But there's got to be more to it, they can't be just remote controlling cars. That's not enough."
The Doctor asked "Is anyone answering?"
"Hold on...Martha! Hold on, they're here." Donna gave the phone to The Doctor.
"Martha, tell Colonel Mace it's the Sontarans. They're in the file, Code Red, Sontarans. But if they're inside the factory tell them not to start shooting. UNIT will get massacred. I'll get back as soon as I can, you got that?" The Doctor hung up the phone after. "Alright got the message to her. Now let's try to find out more about this ATMOS." The Fighter pulled out her sonic fiddling with the device as the Doctor and Master helped her.
"But you tried sonicking it before, you didn't find anything." Donna told them.
"Yeah, but now we know it's Sontaran, we know what I'm looking for." The Master replied looking back to the Fighter.
Wilf started at the three Gallifreyans "The thing is that Donna is my only grandchild. You gotta promise me you're gonna take care of her you three."
The Fighter looks up from the device handing it to the Doctor as she nods "Yes of course! Donna reminds me a bit of my sister in a way" She gave a sad smile remembering her sister Romana she missed dearly as she continued "I'd never let anything happen to them! Cross my own hearts! Besides, Donna takes care of us!"
Wilf grinned laughing a little "Oh, yeah that's my Donna. Yeah, she was always bossing us around when she was tiny. The Little General we used to call her."
Donna looked to him embarrassed a bit "Yeah, don't start."
Wilf continued anyway "And some of the boys she used to turn up with, a different one every week! Yeah, who was that one with the nail varnish?"
Donna sighed "Matthew Richards. He lives in Kilbourn now. With a man." The Fighter gave a tiny giggle.
Suddenly, large spikes shot up from the ATMOS device as the Master commented "Woah! It's a temporal pocket! I knew there was something else in there. It's hidden just a second out of sync with real time."
Donna questioned "But what's it hiding?"
Donna's mother remarked shaking her head "I don't know, men and their cars! Sometimes I think if I was a car..." She catches sight of the Time Lords and Lady as she looks to the Doctor "Oh, it's you! Doctor... what was it?"
The Fighter and Master looked to the Doctor curious as he waved "Yeah, that's me."
Wilf asked "What, have you met him as well?"
Donna's mother replied "Dad! It's the man from the wedding! When you were laid up with Spanish flu! I'm warning you, last time that man turned up it was a disaster!"
The spikes from the ATMOS suddenly let off a cloud of white gas. "Get back!" The Master shouts grabbing the Fighter by her waist taking her with him as the others move away from the car. The Fighter takes out her sonic aiming it at the car as the smoke dies away. "That'll stop it." The Doctor then rushes back over to peer under the car hood.
Donna's mother shouted "I told you! He's blown up the car! Who is he anyway?!" She turns to the Master and Fighter "And who are they? What sort of doctor blows up cars?!"
"This kind." The Fighter replies smiling.
Donna snapped at her mom "Oh, not now Mum!"
Her mother asked sarcastically "Oh, should I make an appointment?" She walks back into the house leaving them.
"That wasn't just exhaust fumes... Some sort of gas. Artificial gas." The Doctor commented.
Wilf asked looking at them "And it's aliens, is it? Aliens?"
Donna looked around the street with eyes wide "But if... if it's poisonous... then we've got poisonous gas in every car on Earth."
Wilf shaked his head "It's not safe! I'm gonna get it off the street!" He walked to the drivers side getting into the front seat as The Fighter stopped him.
"I'm not letting you do that." She looked to him trying to keep him from getting in the car.
He looked at her shocked "But you heard him, we need to get rid of it!"
The Fighter looked to The Master sending him a mental message as he shook his head "Don't you dare!" He told her. She grabbed the keys from Wilf getting into the car as it locked shut on it's own. The car then turned itself on as smoke begins to pour from the exhaust pipe.
"Fighter!" The Doctor, Master and Donna called to her.
"Get out of there!" The Master shouted at her as she remained somewhat calm looking at them. She could only hold her breath for so long.
"I can't, it's locked!" She told them.
"It's them aliens again!" Wilf said looking to the sky.
"You stubborn, stubborn girl!" The Master yelled at her pounding on the car trying to get her out.
"She can only hold her breath for so long until she runs out." The Doctor said looking at her worried trying to find a way to get her out. He wasn't going to lose her.
Suddenly the Fighter begin coughing as she was out of breath. She begin looking around for a way to get out, something around the car to shatter the windows. She found an umbrella and threw it at the window shattering it as the Master and Doctor helped get her out of the car.
'You're an idiot, you know that!" The Master yelled at her.
She looked to him with eyes narrowed "I knew it was dangerous but I wasn't going to let Wilf get himself hurt, so I decided to go in instead of him. Besides, I could hold my breath for a while unlike a human."
"But you could've died!" He shouted at her shaking her a bit.
"Yes I could have. But after traveling around with the Doctor for centuries, I've learned to expect that happening."
The Master shaked his head, he was so angry with her not understanding why she couldn't understand she had him worried "You're not getting it-"
She narrowed her eyes at him "I'm not getting it?! No, you're not getting it! I also learned another thing from traveling with the Doctor."
"Oh and what's that?" He asked her sarcastically.
She raised her voice "I will NEVER EVER turn my back on people who need me no matter what the circumstances may present to me!"
"Oh, is that so? Then why don't you stay with him, I know when I'm not need. Goodbye." The Master begin walking away from them as the Fighter turned to him shocked feeling her hearts drop from him leaving. She didn't want him to leave.
She bit her lip, oh why did he always make her do this. "Wait!" She begin to run after him to apologize.
"No!" He told her firmly. "You don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine. I've been by myself for centuries."
"You are our responsiblity-" The Doctor tried to get the Master to stop.
"Not anymore, so long!" The Master began walking down the smokey road by himself away from them.
The Fighter bit her lip trying to hold back tears as she looked around the smokey road remembering their task at hand. They had to save the world from what was happening instead of focusing on her relationship. It hurt her to do so but it's what she had to do. She had always been an independent kind of woman who didn't need a man but he had to go around and make her fall in love with him without her knowing. Why did he always seem to do stuff like that?
The Doctor put a hand on her shoulder as she turned around to face him, Donna and her family "I'm sorry about that everyone. Let's get to work, shall we?"
The Doctor noticed the look on her face, the one of her holding back her tears "Fighter?" He whispered to her as she gave a small smile. "I'm fine, we have a world to save again. Let's go." He knew she wasn't fine but he knew she was a tough girl who had been through a lot and could handle herself after spending centuries saving the world by his side. He had to put trust in the Master to not cause trouble to the world right now like the Fighter believed he was capable of good.
Whoa! So the Master and Fighter had a fight causing them to go separate ways. What could happen now with the Master on the loose? Will him and the Fighter ever forgive each other?
So many questions to be answered. See you all in the next chapter~!
Notes: The Fighter's cousins, Ailla is from the Doctor Who novel "The Dark Path." Basically she was a Time Lady agent from the CIA (Celestial Intervention Agency) sent to spy on him a long time ago when the Doctor was in his second incarnation. The Master thought she was a human and they were lovers. After thinking she was dead, he killed a whole entire planet to bring her back only to find her regenerating. After finding out about the truth of her and his murder of a planet, it cause him to become the evil Master he is. That's what is thought happened in the novel. I just came up with the brilliant idea to make Ailla The Fighter's cousin.
We might get a visit from Ailla soon along with The Fighter's sister, Romana...maybe... just maybe...
Also be sure to read the prequel to this story called "Running Away from Gallifrey." It follows the Classic Who episodes with Doctor 4-8 starting with the episode "The Deadly Assassin." The pairing for it is Doctor/Fighter/OC but mostly Doctor/Fighter with some Master/OC. Thank you all.
