The Conclusion

Nardole was in charge of finding them a new secret headquarters away from the Monks' sight. He looked thankful that the Time Lords had survived visiting Missy. "What did she say?" he asked them, rushing forward from where he'd been standing with the guards the Doctor had deprogrammed.

"Nothing."

Bill stepped forward. "There's a way to defeat them."

The Doctor glared at her briefly. "There isn't. Well, there is, but not that."

"Come on. You knew she was going to say something like this. It's why you needed me back. You could have escaped from that ship. You could have started something to defeat the Monks without me."

"I wanted you back by our side because it's the safest place in the world."

"Can someone..." Nardole turned to Adelaide. "What did she say?"

"Since Bill is the one that asked the Monks for help, she has to be the one to finish it."

Bill nodded. "The only downside is, if that's what we do, well, it's not worth me starting any long books."

Nardole swallowed. "Okay, well, er...let's...er...put a pin in it for now, as they say, and...er...see if we can think of something else."

Bill crossed her arms, looking back to the Time Lords. "You said the safest place for me was by your side. That's what protecting the Monks. It's why their plan works."

Adelaide stepped closer to the Doctor. "We will be back in a moment."

"Where are you going?"

She took his arm and pulled him to the side. "We need to talk. In private."

"About me?"

Adelaide didn't answer Bill. She just turned the Doctor to face her properly. "If it's necessary..." she whispered.

"We're not sacrificing Bill."

"I don't want to sacrifice Bill either. But we waited to do anything until we knew for certain that using her would be an immediate solution. We have to agree, right now, that if Bill properly consents, we will let her."

The Doctor's jaw clenched. "No one is dying today."

"Apparently, she doesn't have to. She may just end up brain dead." Adelaide released her hold on the Doctor's arms. "We could leave Earth if we wanted to, Doctor, but we haven't, because we both want to see it freed."

"Missy may be wrong. We don't really know how the Monks work."

"Which is why we're going to try not to use Bill. We're going to try to use ourselves first. But if we don't work, we have to agree right now that if Bill is willing and able, she will do it herself. It is her choice."

The Doctor swallowed. "Her choice."

Adelaide nodded and stepped back, turning to Nardole and the rest of the soldiers. "Do you have a map?"

Nardole gestured for the Time Lords to come over to a table off to the side. As they moved, the Doctor took Adelaide's hand, and she was thankful for it. The map showed where the Monk's pyramid had landed, crushing a rather large portion of the city. "The Cathedral," the Doctor said, focusing on the pyramid. "The Monks' headquarters. Oh, yes. We're going to have to break in there."

Bill, who'd been watching the Time Lords during their entire conversation and likely attempting to listen in, shook her head. "Why?"

"Somewhere in there, the Monks have some kind of a machine that creates and broadcasts the myths of their history. The ones that are powered by, carried oy, fed by your brainwaves." He gestured at Bill. "So, we get in, either Adelaide or I plug myself into it, and replace the signals that they are receiving with one of our brainwaves and beam out the true history of the world. It'll likely be me since I know more about Earth than Adelaide." His eyes widened. "Oh, yes! I could even throw in some other stuff. The things that I could change just by thinking. Racism. People who talk in cinemas."

Nardole stepped closer to the Doctor. "Are you sure? This would be an incredibly sophisticated transmitter, powerful enough to beam highly detailed propaganda to the entire world twenty-four hours a day, and you're going to plug your brain into it?"

The Doctor grinned. "I know. It doesn't stand a chance."

Adelaide sighed. That seemed to be part of the Doctor's purpose.

|C-S|

The Time Lords had already examined the entrance to the Pyramid, but they still permitted Nardole and Bill to look for themselves. Nardole frowned at what he could see when standing close to the window. "That's odd. There's no Monks guarding the entrance."

"Come away from the window," the Doctor instructed. Nardole obeyed. "How many Monks were there?"

"About twelve Monks there."

"Twelve?"

Nardole stepped forward to look close through the window. "Well, you have to admit that's ever so clever."

The Doctor nodded. "You see? Another way they hang on to power is to create a myth that they're here in greater numbers than they really are."

Bill frowned, as though she was fighting a high-pitched sound. "The beam's stronger here, isn't it? I can almost hear it. It's so hard to hang on to any thought of life before the Monks."

"Yes, and it's going to get stronger the closer we get to the transmitter. The lies are going to become more convincing." The Doctor focused on Bill. "You'll want to turn around. You won't know what you're doing here or why you're working against the Monks." After a pause, he turned to the rest of the humans. "Now, have you all got your stereo headphone iThing?"

"Yeah." Bill held it up. "You never told us that we needed these for."

"Ah, this is where you come in." They needed Bill to record a message for the humans to listen to in an attempt to block out the Monks' power.

|C-S|

None of the humans were actually injured as they entered the Pyramid. Adelaide found that slightly remarkable and worrying, but she supposed that the Monks were not used to a population rising up in any sense. Monks were not prepared for weapons.

They reached the door that the Time Lords recognized. "It's in here," the Doctor mumbled, looking to Adelaide, but froze. A gun cocked and Adelaide knew that it was pointed at her head, given she was the one behind the Doctor. The Time Lord was the only one who could see exactly who it was. "Everything all right, Alan?"

"You tricked us," the human sneered. "You tried to make us believe the Monks were invaders. How could you say that? They've always been here. You know that."

The Doctor looked down Alan's body to his recorder, which Adelaide guessed was damaged. One of the Doctor's hands was hovering over Adelaide's. "Ah-ha. Ah. Oh, I see."

"The Monks are our friends. I won't let you hurt them. I'll die first. I'll kill you first."

The Doctor touched Adelaide's hand, prepared to pull her out of the way, but Alan let out a small gasp and crumbled. She turned. Nardole was standing there, thumb and forefinger held up. "Tarovian Neck Pinch. Yeah, I...er...I studied their martial arts for a while, actually. Yeah, reached the level of Brown Tabard. Can't do it with this hand though." He held up his left hand. "Kind of bugs me. Course, this wasn't my original hand, as you know. I won this in a game of..." he coughed, "er...yeah, let's crack on."

Adelaide shook her head at Nardole. She pulled out her sonic as she turned, joining the Doctor in opening the door. It was different than the tree of predictions that the Monks had shown them when they'd first landed, instead being a room full of screens depicting Monks with various people from history. "Fake News Central," the Doctor said, turning in a small circle to look around.

Carefully, especially after what had happened to Alan, Bill removed her headphones. "I can think. They're not in my head. Why is that?"

"We're in the eye of the storm." The Doctor looked back to the humans. "Guard the doors. We can't be interrupted." As the humans obeyed, Adelaide moved towards the Monk sitting in the center of the room. It had a metal circlet on its head, almost like a crown, and looked entirely non-responsive.

The Doctor, giving Adelaide a wink, moved behind the center Monk. "Boo!"

Everyone in the room but the Monk and Adelaide jumped. "Not necessary," Nardole glared.

Adelaide went up to the front of the Monk and leaned close. "They're out." She looked back up to the Doctor, who was still standing behind the Monk. "You can begin."

He grinned, both to reassure Adelaide and Bill, and placed his hands on the circlet. The metal glowed and Adelaide took a step back. She still focused on the Doctor, but she was vaguely aware of the fact the Monks were vanishing from the images on the screens around them.

"It's working!" Bill cheered. "The Monks are disappearing!"

But before he could continue, the Doctor released the circlet, gasping. "Oh, I didn't agree to this."

"What's happening?" Adelaide asked, forcing herself not to move closer.

"He's fighting back. He's blocking me, countering every move." The Doctor reached for the circlet again. As he held it, the sides of the Monk's chair turned red. His eyes glowed red, his face scowling from the pain. All Adelaide could hear was the Doctor's suffering. The Time Lords had never dealt well when the other was in danger or pain, and the Doctor was in both. She wanted to do something, anything to help him, but she also knew he would hate her to interrupt, even if it was equally possible for her to want to try.

The Doctor was thrown back with a shout, falling unconscious before he'd even hit the ground. Adelaide rushed to his side, scanning him with her sonic. "He'll be fine," she said, comforting herself and the others. She took a deep breath and looked to Bill. "The same would happen if anyone else tried."

"What about me?"

"You're the lynchpin, but you're a human. It's entirely possible that the Monks would just use you to reinforce their control. You may just be sacrificing yourself to secure their victory."

Bill glanced at the Monk. "Is there anything else we could do?"

There was a chance, a small one, that Missy may have been able to give them another option, though Adelaide highly doubted it. Missy had made it clear that she didn't actually want to make the Doctor suffer through the death of a companion unnecessarily anymore. "It is entirely your choice, Bill. I can and am willing to try to do what the Doctor was doing, and then even Nardole can try. But it may not be enough. If it is at all a comfort, Earth will not die under the Monks' control. It may even flourish. It may be better to leave them."

Bill almost smiled. "You're just saying that to keep me from doing it."

"I'm saying it so that you know there is another option. There is always another option. But you must always be ready to overturn the chessboard."

Bill focused on the Monk, and her answer was clear. "Secure the Doctor. I need to...I need to prepare."

Nardole came over to help Adelaide and she was thankful for that. Adelaide hated that it was necessary at all, but she knew that, if the Doctor regained consciousness, he would not care that Bill had made a choice, or that Adelaide had approved it. He would try to stop them.

"You're sure?" Nardole whispered to Adelaide as he stepped back from the Doctor. "This can't be the right thing to do."

"It is the only thing."

Bill drew in a deep breath. "I'm ready."

Adelaide looked back at the Doctor. He was stirring. "He'll be awake for it."

Bill nodded. "Good." She moved closer to the Time Lords just as the Doctor's eyes opened. "I wanted to do it before you woke up. But I had to say goodbye."

The Doctor pulled at his bonds. "Bill, whatever you're planning, there's no need for this. Let me try again. He caught me unawares. Cup of tea and I'll get my second wind."

"Even your brain couldn't stand trying again," Adelaide told him. "Mine may be capable of more, but it would not be enough."

"You're letting her do this?"

Adelaide nodded. "Yes. Bill made a choice. I am respecting it."

"We can find another way. We can talk to Missy again."

Bill shook her head. "We have the answer." She glanced at Adelaide, who gave her a small smile. "Please, I don't want our last conversation to be this."

"I don't want this to be our last conversation." Now, the Doctor was avoiding looking at Adelaide.

"Goodbye, Doctor." Bill bent down and kissed the Doctor's cheek. "Thank you. God, it was worth it." She straightened, turning to face Adelaide. "And thank you, Adelaide. For everything." She hugged Adelaide, who tolerated it because it was almost certain that Bill was going to die – or, at the very least, become braindead.

The Doctor pulled at his bonds as Bill went towards Nardole, hugging him. "Bill. Bill, no, don't, Bill. Bill, Bill. It will kill you, Bill. It's too powerful. Bill, I...I order you." Bill hugged Nardole. "I'm ordering you not to do this! Bill! Nardole, untie me! Nardole, untie me now!"

"Doctor," Adelaide snapped, harsher than she originally intended. "Shut up." It worked to silence the Time Lord, though only out of pure shock that Adelaide, of all people, would be saying something like that.

Bill flashed her a brief smile before turning to fully face the Monk and the circlet.

"Bill, don't do this," the Doctor's voice almost broke, quiet nearly to the point of silence.

Bill ignored him. "Okay," she said to the circlet. "I don't usually let someone erase my brain on the first date, but seeing as it's you."

The Doctor freed his hands, but Adelaide spun, grabbing his shoulders to force him down. She said nothing, but she held him, forcing him still, eyes locked. Behind her, Bill touched the Monk. The human's face flashed on all of the screens. Slowly, Adelaide released the Doctor, letting him stand.

"Oh, no," he breathed. "No, no, no, no, no, no! They're hijacking her memories, infecting them like a virus. She's just reinforcing their lies. She's dying for nothing!" He ran forward, grabbing at the base of the chair. "There must be a way to shut this thing down!" Adelaide didn't bother stopping him. She just watched Bill. She'd known it was possible that Bill would be immediately overtaken, that it was all for naught, but Bill was a lynchpin who'd still managed to remember a time before the Monks. She knew what that was like.

It wouldn't have been that easy for the Monks to win.

Nardole gasped. "Doctor, look!" He pointed at the screens.

Adelaide didn't recognize the pictures that began to flash, but the Doctor clearly did. He laughed. "Oh, you clever, brilliant, ridiculous girl. Look at that!" he spread his arms wide, encompassing the screens. "All the pictures I gave you. I thought I was just being kind, but I was saving the world." He turned back to Bill. "Bill, if there's any of you left in there, listen. You have to keep thinking about your mum, the memory you created. Her voice, her smile. The Monks can't get near it. Fill your mind with it! Push it into every corner."

Bill, somehow, managed to smile. "Mum."

The Doctor clapped. Adelaide smiled. "She's filling its mind with one pure, uncorrupted, irresistible image. And it's broadcasting it to the world because it can't help it. All those years you kept her alive inside you, an isolated subroutine in a living mind. Perfect, untouchable. She's a window on the world without the Monks. Absolutely loved, absolutely trusted. And that window is opening everywhere." The image changed to the woman who bore much similarity to Bill, possibly her biological mother, reaching out. "A glimpse of freedom. But a glimpse is all you need. The lie is breaking." The Doctor laughed. "Bill's mum, you just went viral!"

There was a flash of bright light as the change settled around the Earth and the Doctor caught Adelaide's gaze. He still smiled, gleeful, victorious. Adelaide had to return it. She did love him like that.

|C-S|

Though the Monks took their pyramid when they left, they left behind the statues they'd erected around the world, although they were almost completely destroyed. Together, the Time Lords sat on the pedestal beneath it. Their arms were touching, but that was it. Beside the Doctor was Bill, looking up at the destroyed statue. "This is exciting, isn't it?" Bill asked the Time Lords, lowering her gaze to the rest of the humans around them. "You know, kind of, it's like a turning point. Humans have learned that they can overthrow dictators and stuff, they just have to band together."

The Doctor shrugged, leaning forward and pouring Bill a cup from a thermos. "Well, it's not quite as simple as that. You, Appalling Hair." He pointed at a passing student, who looked up from her phone to frown at him. "This thing that we're sitting on. What is it?"

The student glanced at it. "Er, we thought they were just like filming something here or something?"

The Doctor smiled at her. "Thank you. Very helpful. Now go away, or something." The student kept walking. "You see? The Monks have erased themselves. Humanity's doomed to never learn from its mistakes."

Bill chuckled. "Well, I guess that's part of our charm."

"It's actually rather annoying," Adelaide said. "Adapting should be a requirement for a species' survival."

The Doctor turned and patted Bill's shoulder. "Anyway, we mustn't keep you. Three thousand words. The Mechanics of Free Will. Now six months overdue." He took the cup from Bill and turned it out into the grass to empty it before screwing it back into place.

Bill watched the Time Lords as she stood. "Why do you put up with us, then?"

The Doctor was quiet, for a brief moment. "In amongst seven billion, there's someone like you. That's why we put up with the rest of them."

|C-S|

Inside the Vault, the three last Time Lords sat together. Adelaide was closer to Missy, though there was no real reason for that. It was merely how they'd fallen after their six months under the Monks' reign. They still needed a moment on their own, but they were both thankful to see Missy again.

The other Time Lady was staring into the distance, her chin resting on her hand. This was, according to the Doctor, what their sessions together had tended towards, especially when the Doctor was particularly tired. Sometimes he'd be enthusiastically trying to teach Missy something about goodness, but, most often, they just sat together and allowed Missy to speak of what she wished.

This time, her voice was quiet, as though she spoke without fully realizing it. "I keep remembering all the people I've killed. Every day I think of more." She swallowed. "Being bad...being bad drowned that out." Another pause. Adelaide briefly closed her eyes. "I didn't know I even knew their names. You didn't tell me about this bit."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said, his voice careful, "but this is good."

It was Missy's turn to turn her face away, though her voice's crack was enough to let the other two know how she felt. "Okay."

Missy's tears were quiet, but the other Time Lords did not mention it. They let her feel the emotions without interruption. It was strange for Adelaide to be helping someone feeling emotions, but she supposed that, rather quickly, her opinion on emotions had changed. They served a purpose. After all, love had saved Earth from the Monks.

Love was annoyingly powerful.

Of course, Adelaide still felt uncomfortable about the fact that the Doctor was, essentially, using feeling emotions as the judgment of how good someone was. It was placing someone's worth entirely on something immaterial, indefinable, and personal. It didn't help Missy was being shown goodness by being shown how to love and regret and feel pain. All things Adelaide was just learning how to embrace herself.

Perhaps she and Missy could learn together. They already were, in a way.

Adelaide hated that she, unlike Missy, could not remember the people she'd killed. Granted, she had never outright caused death for cruel glee as the Master was known for, but she had not stepped in to save people when the chance had been given to her. She was still responsible, in the end, if only for what her action may have done. And she didn't even remember how many they'd been.

But it had worked. Bill's willingness to sacrifice herself had worked. The Doctor would have kept throwing himself at the Monks until it destroyed him, and humanity would be no safer for it. But Bill's choice had saved people. Had she died, her death would have helped.

Adelaide drew in her own breath, making the Doctor look at her. He seemed to guess what she was thinking, his expression hardening. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so used..."

"What did you do?" Missy asked, seeming prepared to jump onto focusing on someone else's mistakes.

"I didn't attempt to find a solution that didn't involve someone sacrificing themselves," Adelaide said, still watching the Doctor. "And I'm sorry for that. But it was right. It may not have been good, but it was right."

And that distinction, clear, settled within Adelaide. She may not be good, she may have never been good, but she didn't have to be. As Missy had said earlier, the good she was holding herself to was the Doctor's and there was no reason for his to be the definition of absolute truth.

Sometimes, bad things had to happen. It was a fact of life. Everyone couldn't always live. Sacrifices had to be made. And Adelaide was okay with that. She was comfortable with that.

The Doctor was good, Adelaide wasn't, and she didn't mind.