AN: Uh…hi. It's still 2019, am I right? All jokes aside, if you told me back in early November when I had completed "The Sound of Drums" that the next chapter would take until early February 2020 to complete…I would probably laugh at you, but…here we are. Better late than never. So, first things first, I do apologize for taking so long, mainly because I actually didn't expect it to take so long, but when the Christmas break happens…some days I find myself being distracted by life. But really, and I am going to be completely honest with you, the main reason why I took so long is because I was actually going to do an extra chapter before my adaptation of "Last of the Time Lords". The chapter had a working title, "The Master's Reign" and was going to cover what the Master was up to during "The Year that Never Was"…..only problem is that when I tried to write something, 1, it never was something I was quite happy with, and 2, it was getting really hard for me to justify the chapter's existence beyond, "I just love me some John Simm as the Master". So I ended up cancelling the idea, also because a lot of things that would've been covered in that chapter…would've just been needlessly repeated here. I will share that "The Master's Reign" would've seen our first true appearance of Davros, the Dark Lord of Skaro himself, but…I didn't like that we were going to get a proper Davros scene this early when he doesn't appear until…well, you already know when he's going to appear. So after that happened, it took me about 2-3 weeks to remember what actually happened in "Last of the Time Lords", and by that time I said to myself, "It'll be fine. It's been a while since the last one, but it was only a few weeks, it's all good." I checked the date that day, and it was the 18th of December with Christmas quite literally right around the corner, and it had been over a month since the last update. But hey, that's what happens when I pull a George R.R Martin and take too long…just without the whole hating fanfic thing, but that's another story. More stuff to be said, but I will leave that for the notes at the end of this chapter with the exception of this. The episode was called "Last of the Time Lords" but I found very early in the writing of this chapter, that title was not going to work. So, it's working title was "The Year That Never Was", but as the chapter went on, I decided on a more appropriate title due to who is the main character of this chapter. Anyway, I've taken too much of your time, and I appreciate all your patience/impatience, but now, please, do enjoy my long-awaited adaption of the Series 3 finale.
The Woman Who Walked the Earth
9:30pm, 1st May 2009
Lying motionless atop the rocking longboat, a form of a young female, clad all in thick, black clothes, shifted and shivered against the cold, midnight wind. Her lips were moving just slightly as if muttering to herself, yet the words were soundless to even her own ears. But within the chambers of her mind however, she could hear herself singing, except the words were unintelligible mutters. They were following the pattern of a song, yes, but what song it was, she could not tell. All she saw and felt in her mind was a blurred field, but for just a few seconds, some forms shifted themselves into focus in her mind's eye. There was a form of a short woman being restrained. There was a form of a tall man standing in the pose of a menacing stalker, and what would be his arm was outstretched before him, but she could not see for what purpose or why. In front of the man was another, but this one writhed back and forth in a massive blur that it was hard to truly focus on him. Suddenly, the wordless song seemed to fade a little, and she heard a voice of a man that came from beside her, as if he was lying on the ground. All he said, or all she could truly understand, was two words on a repeating loop, a gentle whisper in her mind. "Get out. Get out. Get out." Then, the words began to grow louder, and were accompanied by a light piercing sound, almost like a high-pitched ringing…or was it screaming? "Get out. Get out. Get out." The ringing grew louder, yet the more it persisted, the more it sounded like a man's voice in agony, and behind it all was another voice, but this one was cold, without mercy yet full of delight. It bore no words, for all it did was laugh. It was continuous, it was unchanging, and it grew louder, but it never overlapped the man's groaning words. "Get out. Get out. Get out." Then, the words ceased, and the inaudible song seemed to clear and focus in her mind, and the words became recognizable.
Wipe those
Tears off
And make your 'pa proud
Soon I'll come around
"Ma'am?" Came a voice, but the woman ignored it, continuing to let the song wash over her like a comforting wave of relief.
Lost and never found
Waiting for my words
Seen but never heard
Buried underground
"Excuse me, ma'am." Martha shook awake with a shivering gasp, her eyes rapidly blinking away her unconsciousness, the song in her mind immediately shutting itself off and she found herself…staring at the bottom of the longboat. Groaning, she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and another hand came to take hold of her arm, bringing her slowly up into a sitting position before stopping, bracing her still as she brought herself back to the world of reality. "Ma'am?" Came the voice of the man that helped her up, and Martha took a deep breath to compose herself before sighing and opening her eyes to the pitch-black world around her. "We've arrived."
His words made her look around to see a land, no, a beach, getting closer and closer, if the shadow covered sand and the lapping, foaming waves proved anything. Giving a wordless nod of thanks, Martha took hold of her backpack strap with her left hand, whilst her right grasped the side of the boat. When the boat was but a step away from the beach, Martha climbed out of the boat to land with a splash into the ice-cold ocean water, before she darted straight towards the sand, watching with a weary expression as a man stood still, waiting in front of her. 6 ft. 3 with black hair and dressed in simplistic jacket, shirt and trousers, the only source of color or light from his form was the lit lantern hanging loosely from his left hand. "Evening." He greeted, and Martha returned it with a small nod.
"What's your name, then?"
"Tom. Tom Milligan." He introduced. "No need to ask who you are. The famous Martha Jones." He said as he switched the lantern off before giving a sniff and raising his head with a small squint of his eyes. "How long since you were last in Britain?"
"365 days." Well…roughly. "It's been a long year." Martha added in a weary tone, the pair of them walking up the beach towards a nearby, abandoned shack.
"What's the plan, then?" Tom asked. "Why did you come back?"
"There's someone I need to see. Professor Docherty. Can you get me to her?"
"She works in a repair shed, in Nuclear Plant Seven. I can get you inside, but I need to ask. What's this all for? What's so important about her?"
Everyone's important, Mr. Milligan. "Sorry, but I can't tell you." Martha said not unkindly. "The more you know, the more you're at risk."
"But there is a lot of people depending on you." Tom retorted, making Martha blink. "You're a bit of a legend."
Martha raised her eyebrows up at him before looking away. "And what does the legend say?" She asked curiously.
"That you sailed the Atlantic, walked across America. That you were the only person to get out of Japan alive." Tom listed, and Martha nodded slightly at that.
Didn't really "Walk" across America. I…more or less hiked.
"Per the rumors of the legend, Martha Jones is going to save the world."
"And do you believe it?" Martha asked without a change in her fixed, emotionless face.
"…it's a bit late for that." Tom admitted in a mutter, and it made Martha's expression melt slightly into sadness. "Just around the back." He added, motioning towards the shack, and they walked through the ruined back gate and down alongside the broken fence before turning the corner. "Hop on in, ma'am." Tom said, motioning a hand to the car, and Martha walked around and jumped into the front passenger seat, whilst Tom occupied the driver's seat.
"How come you can drive?" Martha asked. "Don't you get stopped?"
"You don't know?" Tom asked in surprise, and Martha shrugged with a blank face.
"Two months alone in the Himalayas kept me out of the loop." She explained simply as Tom got the car started.
"Medical staff." Tom explained simply for her as he slowly got the car into motion. "Used to be in pediatrics back in the old days. But that gives me a license to travel so I can help out in the labor camps."
Ah. I'm traveling with a doc-
"Can you kill him?"
Martha held back the urge to sigh, and instead, without looking, asked Tom, "Kill who?"
Tom blinked and gulped a little before he responded. "They say you are the only one that can kill the Master stone dead. Can you?"
Martha did not answer the question. Instead, she leaned back in her seat, staring out of the window at the surrounding, empty landscape. "Just drive." She ordered, and Tom did so without another word. Leaning back into the passenger seat, Martha stared out of the window, her eyes quickly glazing over in a haze as the world blurred around her and-
When Martha opened her eyes, she was no longer within the vehicle on the coast of Britain. She was standing beneath a cliff face, belonging to one of the most recognizable monuments in the world. Everyone knew its name, knew what it was, what it meant, what it looked like, but now…it was none of that. Standing by herself, alone in the pitch-black night, the wind and the rain smacking against her face yet unable to feel it within the dream, she kept her gaze upon the four desecrated faces on the cliff, scarred beyond recognition except for one new face. The face looked like a British male, but he was anything but that, and his face bore a deeply mocking expression of confidence and inspiration. The Master's face was carved into the cliff without any form of artistry, crude and horrifically rushed, looking terrible in every sense of the word. When Martha finally tore her gaze away from the…"Monument", she immediately glanced down into a pool of water in the ground, rippling like mad from the rain and the wind. Her dreamlike face bore only one expression: A…melancholic sense of longing, almost sorrowfully so. For even the area around the monument was desecrated, the ground charred black like a battlefield, yet no true war was fought here between Humanity and the Toclafane. Any trees that once stood here were hollow skeletal shells, not a leaf to be found on them. A boom of rumbling thunder far above in the dark sky briefly made Martha look up, the rain of the dream both drenching her face yet not blinding her eyes. Martha felt herself give out a sigh, yet the sound did not reach the ears of her mind, and she looked back to the cliff face, the water streaming down her head, her single key still dangling deep within her clothes, as she took a deep breath and began to sing to herself. Her voice was a haunting whisper, yet she could hear it clearly over the sounds of her dream. "Well we know where we're going, but we don't know where we've been. And we know what we're knowing, but we can't say what we've seen. And we're not little children."
"Ma'am?" A voice called, rumbling through her dream like an earthquake, but she ignored it.
"And we know what we want, and the future is certain. Give us time to work it out."
"Ma'am?" The voice called again, and this time she couldn't ignore it, feeling the dream fade away into a blurring mass, all sounds muted except for the voice. "Martha?" Martha woke up back in the real world, groaning and sighing as fatigue stayed attached like a heavy weight upon her. "Martha?" Tom called again, one of his hands gently grasping her shoulder, and Martha began to blink and grumble before she answered, her eyes still a little heavy and her mind still ringing from the interruption.
"Yep. I'm awake." She grumbled as she wiped at her eyes, which didn't really do much, but it was confirmation to Tom, who nodded silently as he took his hand off her shoulder and resumed driving.
"What song was that?" Tom asked, his question making Martha blink in surprised puzzlement as she turned to look at him.
"What song?"
"You were singing in your sleep." Tom answered. When Martha frowned, he just smiled kindly. "You were too quiet for me to hear the words." He added, and Martha sank back further into her seat.
""Road to Nowhere"." Martha answered. "Or at least…a cover of it."
Tom frowned at that. "I don't remember…"
"It hasn't been made yet." She responded quickly yet her tone was not rude, and it made Tom nod despite his puzzled blink. "I was feeling a little bit naughty one night." She teased with a small smile, and it made Tom chuckle, even with his puzzled look still lingering for a moment.
"Rather pompous of him to make those." Tom said, nodding to a point a little out of her view. Martha craned her head to look as he brought the car to a stop before a rocky hillside, and she finally saw, right at the top, crossing his arms, was a grey statue of the Master himself, albeit there was an addition of a scruffy goatee, which briefly made Martha blink before she shrugged it off. "All over the Earth, those statues." Martha said as they climbed out of the car and began to scale over the rocks.
"And he's erected them at every farm." Tom added, Martha blinking a bit at the term as she tried to keep her decently heavy black bag from moving too much.
""Farm"?"
"Nuclear Plants. Everyone prefers the name "Farm" or "Shipyard"." He reiterated with a small shrug and a shake of his head. "The entire south coast of England is covered with them. Keep down." He added in warning as they arrived at the top of the bank, lying down low behind large rocks with enough of a gap between to see the farm beyond. A long stretch of barren plains covered entirely with massive, dormant space rockets, most of them already completed, yet some were still unfinished, massive steel cranes lifting the heaving loads onto the rockets. "They bring in slave labor every morning, have them break up cars, houses, anything that has metal."
"And actual ships." Martha reminded, briefly raising Tom's eyebrows. "You should see Russia." Martha reiterated for him. "That's "Shipyard #1". All the way from the Black Sea to the Bering Strait, with hundreds of thousands of rockets, all ready for war." Martha blinked for a moment as her eyes grew uncertain. "There might be more now, all over the world."
"But what "War"?" Tom asked. "War with who?" Martha just glanced up at the sky for a moment, making Tom blink before he frowned with squinting eyes. "Aliens?" Martha didn't respond, her silence enough of a confirmation, and Tom began to blink again before he shrugged. "Aliens fighting aliens. That would be a sight." He said, missing Martha's small little sad frown before it disappeared at the sound of a distant humming.
"What's…" She started in a mutter, quickly growing silent as the humming grew louder, pressing herself further into the rock face. Martha heard Tom scrambling to stand up from the rock face, most likely holding up his hands in peaceful surrender as the sound of two Toclafane came to a stop above them. The spheres whirred and hummed in the air for a moment before metal unsheathed itself, the sphere's arming themselves against potential trespassers.
"Identify, little man." A male voice spoke from one of the sphere's, to which Tom immediately responded, his voice quick with uncertain fear.
"I-I-I've got a license." He said, followed by a quick leather flap like the opening of a wallet. "Thomas Milligan, Peripatetic Medical Squad. I'm allowed to travel-" Before Tom could finish his sentence, the Toclafane quickly interrupted him by laughing like an amused child.
"Soon the rockets will fly, and everyone will need medicine. You'll be so busy." The sphere taunted before the low humming grew immensely loud for a single moment before it was gone, Martha carefully turning her head to find that the spheres had vanished from sight.
Tom put his license wallet away, giving out an audible sigh of relief before he paused and turned to look at Martha with a frown of puzzlement as she shifted into a sitting position. "How…how did they not…" He tried to say but the words wouldn't come, and Martha smiled, a kind yet teasing smile of mischievousness.
"Can't tell you that. Classified." Was her simple, dismissive answer, and Tom, to Martha's slight surprise, did not protest to that or ask another question. Instead, they quickly and quietly walked back down the rocky hill towards their dormant vehicle.
"It will take a short moment before we reach Professor Docherty. Her workshop is on the other side of the farm." Tom reported as they climbed back into their respective seats. "Well…give or take ten minutes." He quipped lightly, but Martha made no response to it, instead staring out of her window at a silhouette hovering lightly in the sky. Martha heard Tom rolling down his window and shuffling about for a moment, before he audibly sat back in his seat and rolled the window back up. "Well, well." He muttered as he started the vehicle up. "Our lord and Master is back."
Martha did not respond to his dry remark. Instead, she stared out of the window again, her eyes fixed on the silhouette of the Valiant, illuminated through the dark clouds by the light of the moon. "I wonder…" Martha muttered in a low whisper, her eyes becoming a little heavy as her body began to lull away-
"You wonder what?" Tom's voice cut through, causing her head to jerk up again with a sharp intake of breath, her eyes wide open and blinking repeatedly as she briefly took in her surroundings again, before sighing for a moment as she turned to look at Tom. "Were you…" Tom started with a frown on his face as he continued to drive, but Martha interrupted him.
"About to fall asleep again? Yes."
Tom continued to regard her with that strange look of puzzlement, his eyes constantly flickering between her and the road ahead. "Do you…" He paused for a moment as he slowed the vehicle down, driving on a small dirt road between a stone covered plain and a rocky hillside, "do you not get much sleep anymore?" Martha smiled for a moment, but it was a distant, somber smile. Then, she looked at Tom with a small glare of warning, her smile thinning into a small line. Then, the smile came back, a glow of apology and guilt in her eyes before she let the smile melt away as she glanced back out of the vehicle. "When was the last time you talked with someone?"
Martha's eyebrows flew up as she glanced back at Tom, and a small laugh escaped her smirking lips. "Where did that question come from?" She retorted, and Tom found himself chuckling as he continued to stare at the dirt road ahead, his vehicle picking up a little bit of speed as he entered into a barren dirt plain next to the massive shipyard.
"I was curious." Tom said simply with a shrug.
"The last time was…" Martha paused for a moment, her eyes drifting off as she tried to think, remembering only one cold night in an abandoned warehouse so long ago, "I…I can't remember." She admitted in a half lie, her voice a low, meek mutter before she let her sudden somber tone melt away with a small sigh. "Besides, there's not much to gossip about anymore."
"Except with the world ending." Tom quipped lightly and dryly, but he left no room for Martha to respond as he added, "We're here." Pulling the car over to the side of the dirt road, they looked out to the side of the shipyard, which was a fenced off, small workshop facility. "You'll be fine to enter. The spheres won't care to see us." Tom said as he and Martha stepped out of the vehicle.
"Why?" Martha asked.
"They only patrol the shipyard itself, and they couldn't care less about the adjacent workshops even if they tried." Was his answer.
When Martha re-equipped her black backpack and looked over at Tom, she found him staring off into the sky, and she followed his line of sight to the silhouette of the Valiant before looking back at him. "What is it?" She asked.
"Do you think he sleeps easy up there?" Tom asked without taking his eyes off the ship's shadow. When Martha did not respond, he took his gaze off the ship and towards the woman, but she was staring at him in solemn contemplation. "Martha?"
Martha blinked and took a deep breath for a moment before she answered. "He has everything a ruler could want. A world on its knees, servants at his beck and call, and an indestructible army to carry out his every order."
Tom tilted his head to the side for a moment. "But?"
Martha looked back to the Valiant, thinking, wondering about the occupants on that ship, her family, her two close friends, the immortal Captain, before she looked back at Tom. "Agents of chaos are not meant to rule, Tom." She responded, her voice devoid of pity or sadness, acting like she was merely stating a fact about nature, and it made Tom blink. "No, I don't think the Master is sleeping very well up there. But I also don't think he wants anyone to know."
"And you?" Tom asked with soft curiosity, and Martha shrugged.
"The last time I saw him was the day he took over the world, and a lot has changed since then." With that, Martha sighed and cleared her throat, gripping her backpack straps with her hands as she walked up to stand beside Tom. "Come on. I've got to meet this Docherty woman. Lead the way." Tom nodded, the pair of them walking through the open gate entrance of the workshop grounds, the double steel doors of the workshop dead ahead. "Is Docherty the only one here?" Martha asked, slowing down her pace a touch to look around, the only other life forms in sight where three patrolling Toclafane spheres above the primary shipyard.
"Unless help is requested, all workshops at every farm are occupied by one worker." Tom answered as they trotted up the small flight of steps to the steel doors and carefully swung one open, stepping inside before they closed the door. The interior was…not exactly pleasing to the eye, just a mess of scrap and loose tools, but it was properly lit by lights, yet they gave off a rather warm, light orange glow that it almost made the place feel like a gentle welcome home. Almost.
"Could she be asleep?" Martha asked, but an answer from Tom quickly proved to be unnecessary, as they heard, albeit a bit distantly and quiet, a thumping sound of someone smacking an object out of aggravated frustration, accompanied by snarling grunts, and the occasional curse of "Dammit!" or "Go to hell, you piece of scrap!" Martha and Tom exchanged a small look of raised eyebrows as they began to walk along the hallway, coming to a fork in the building with three paths. Listening closely, they realized that the aggravated sounds were coming from the left path, behind a plastic door curtain. "Professor Docherty?" Martha called, but the source of the sounds did not respond to her, only continuing her aggravated abuse on the "Useless, good for nothing, piece of scrap!" "Professor?" Martha called again, still receiving no response, so she sent a shrug to Tom and the pair walked through the plastic curtain. "Professor Docherty?"
"Busy." Martha almost sighed in relief at an answer, even if it was short and snappy from the woman in question. Alison was 54 years old, had mildly short blonde hair, dressed in an unkempt brown coat over a purple jumper and a brown-green turtleneck with matching fingerless gloves. "Come on, you." She muttered under her breath, leaning by the tool and scrap covered table in front of her, and on it was a device that looked suspiciously like a TV. Well, really it was a cathode ray tube modified into a makeshift television, but the fact that Alison was still hooking up wires, cables and other pieces of scrap to it, only to smack the device out of frustrated anger made Martha realize that her "Experiment" was not working in the slightest.
Martha, for a small moment, found herself just a little bit speechless as she and Tom continued to watch Alison, her puzzled gaze flickering between the woman and her strange yet stubbornly non-functional television, but Martha just blinked the thought away and pressed on. "Alison Docherty?" Martha called, but Alison did not look up at her, still stubbornly trying to get the "Useless hunk of junk" to work. "My name's Martha Jones."
"You could be the Queen of Sheba for all I care, I'm still busy." Alison responded, smacking at the TV once again, but still nothing happened.
"Alison…" Martha started with a slight squint of her right eye, "you do realize that televisions don't work anymore?"
Alison gave a snarl and started smacking the stubborn TV thrice more before she gave up and sat down on a nearby chair. "You'd think that the moron couldn't give us his message through a different manner than television." Alison snorted sarcastically, making Martha blink.
"Who?"
Alison finally turned to look at her, spending a moment to properly gaze at Martha before she frowned, as if she thought Martha was utterly mad. "The moron." She said, but Martha didn't get it, and Alison briefly rolled her eyes. "The Master." She said, and it made Martha slowly nod in response. "Rumor is that the "Smart" twat is going to send us an announcement today, at 0800." Alison shook her head for a moment as she returned her gaze to the TV scrap. "If it's true, he must think we've forgotten what happened a year ago. It's bloody hard to miss what happened." She added in a mutter under her breath as she reached across the table to grab a mug filled with coffee and took a sip, before wincing and groaning at the taste. "Oh, Jesus." She swore under her breath as she sat the mug back down and stood up, brushing her hands against her coat to remove some of her collected grime. "Tastes like someone threw dried mud into an oven and baked it for 40 minutes." She then looked up at Martha with a smile and held out her hand. "Ali-" She stopped as she looked at her hand again, moving it back to wipe it on her coat again, but it barely made a difference, and she just shrugged with a slightly distasteful look as she held it out again. "Alison. But you already…" She trailed off with a few blinks, and Martha quickly understood, reaching out to shake her hand.
"Martha, but you already…" She, like Alison, left the sentence hanging, and Alison nodded with a slightly apologetic smile as she looked at her hand again.
"I would've washed my hands before, but no one is able to make soap anymore." She sat back down and indicated to the wall of the room, where two extra foldout chairs stood, and Tom moved to bring them both over for him and Martha. Tom sat down with his arms crossed, whilst Martha intertwined her hands together upon her knees. "And you are?" Alison asked, looking at Tom.
"Tom." He quickly said, holding out a hand, which Alison promptly shook. "Tom Milligan. Peripatetic Medical Squad."
Alison nodded as she glanced back to Martha. "So, why are you here?"
Martha frowned. "We sent word ahead about that."
Alison just shrugged. "Well, I didn't get anything. I was too busy…you know…" She looked to the TV, pulled the finger at it, muttering "Piece of scrap" under her breath as she did. "So?" She asked again.
"Know your enemy." Martha responded simply, and Alison blinked once, then twice, before she scoffed and started to laugh lightly.
"What more is there to know that we don't already?" She asked rhetorically. "The pompous prick hangs above our heads all day long and doesn't tell us shit."
"Now that's rude." Martha admonished lightly despite the small smile.
"What, the moron can't hear us anyway." Alison retorted, causing the pair in front of her to chuckle lightly as she looked up at the pipe and cable covered ceiling, cupping two hands over her mouth. "So we can say whatever we want, you pompous twat!" She called, and the chuckles quickly turned into laughter for a few short minutes before it subsided into a somewhat comfortable silence. "Anyway…" Alison muttered, leaning back in her chair to return her gaze to Martha.
"Like I said, know your enemy. More specifically, the spheres."
"Ah." She slowly nodded, adopting a frown for a moment. "That…" Alison trailed off, her frown turning into a look of contemplation, blinking slowly for a moment. "Well…do we even know what the Toclafane are exactly?"
"Well, they're not called "Toclafane"." Martha pointed out. "That's just a name the Master made up."
"But…" Tom's voice cut in before he could stop himself, but when the curious faces of Martha and Alison looked at him, he knew he had to finish his thought. "But what exactly are they? What do they do? How do these millions of tiny spheres even work?" He asked in a hasty tone, but Martha and Alison heard his words perfectly fine. "And has anyone looked-"
"No." Martha quickly answered, having already guessed his question. "No one's been able to look at a sphere up close." Martha, for a brief moment, smiled. "But…" She started, and her sudden change in tone made both Alison and Tom almost childishly curious, "there was a lightning strike in South Africa, 8 months ago, and it damaged a few spheres." Martha quickly rolled her eyes as she added, "Yes, it didn't last long and at least a hundred more spheres came in and repaired them before anyone could do anything, but it showed clearly that the Toclafane have a weakness."
Alison huffed at that for a moment. "If that's not irony, I don't know what is. A species advanced enough to travel from planet to planet gets brought down by a lightning strike. It almost sounds…like it was done on purpose." She finished, the thought furrowing her eyebrows into puzzlement.
"Which is why I need to find out what they are." Martha responded in finality, but Alison just blinked.
"How?" Martha just pointed to the monitor with a devious smirk. "You are-"
"Going to hack into it? Yes." Martha answered with a simple nod.
"And I assume you are going to need a sphere?"
"Yes."
"How?" Alison asked, but she ended up answering her own question after Martha's deadpanned glare. "Oh. Lightning."
"And how are you going to do that?" Tom asked.
"All farm workshops have a laser defense barrier." Alison said. "I can easily turn it into an electrical field." Martha and Tom exchanged a quick, silent glance before they just stared at Alison, making her blink as she looked behind her, but there was nothing of interest there. She looked back, and they still kept on staring, forcing her to ask, "What?"
30 Minutes Later…
Turning the last few dials on the control console and flicking a switch, Alison felt the sudden heat and light of the electrical barrier crackling for a second before her eyes, and she cast a glance at a patient Martha, whilst Tom stood on the other side, ready with a single branch in his left hand. "Okay. Try it." Alison called, pressing her hand down on a large red button at the same moment as Tom tossed the branch up in the air. The barrier crackled for a moment, but when the wood attempted to pass through, electricity flared up and instantly shattered the wood, prompting the trio to flinch their eyes away before the barrier shut itself off again, and Alison chuckled in victorious relief for a moment as she switched the console off. "It works." She concluded as she turned to Martha. "What now?"
"We need to get a sphere's attention, jam it's signal before it can send out a plea for help." For a moment, she paused, and blinked before she asked, "Do you have a stereo system?"
Alison nodded with a smile. "Yes, we do."
The sphere hung lazily in the air above the farm, watching as the moon shone down over the farm, regularly interrupted by the dark clouds. The farm itself was quiet, all the labor currently inactive, or as the Humans called it, "Sleeping". The sphere, and the rest of its kind, found the term…odd, but it never dwelled on it for very long. As it continued its lazy hovering, a sound reached the hearing sensors of the sphere, and it was…well, it wasn't something the Toclafane recognized. It sounded quite similar to what the Master liked to play, "Muissic" or whatever it was. Swiveling around, the Toclafane could see other comrade spheres, but they were far away and unable to hear the strange sound, and unable to deny its childish curiosity, the sphere sped off, following the sound that quickly became a man singing.
Didn't know what time it was, the lights were low
I leaned back on my radio
Some cat was layin' down some rock 'n' roll
"Lotta soul" He said
The sphere continued to fly over the farm until it reached the back of the workshop, a maze of fences and walls covered in corrugated iron. Before it knew what it was doing, the sphere found itself inside of the maze, looking back and forth at each direction, the singing echoing around him.
Then the loud sound did seem to fade
Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase
That weren't no DJ, that was hazy cosmic jive
"Hello?" The sphere's male voice spoke, but the only response was the uninterrupted singing, and the sphere was suddenly flying through the left turn, then a right, then straight ahead, then left again, but still nothing.
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
Rounding a corner in the maze, the sphere found itself face to face with a stereo system set up, and it was quickly confirmed to be the sound's source. Then, without any warning, it's sensors flared up into static and screeching metal, it's sphere shell scorching and become cut and bruised by the second before it was over, and the sphere fell to the ground, unmoving. The strange singing was turned off, silence all around as the sphere's sensors all died out, one by one, unable to call for help, unable to do anything, and the last thing it knew was a pair of hands picking it up from the ground.
Silence had fallen inside the workshop, filled only by the steady yet uneasy breathing of the trio, gathered around the table and staring down at the unmoving sphere. Alison had given both Martha and Tom protective goggles, which surprisingly came equipped with a magnifying glass. There was a small slam to Martha's left as Alison placed a black toolbox upon the table and flipped it open. Before she took out any tools however, Alison looked back to the sphere for a few more moments, her eyes squinted in contemplation. Then, she took a deep breath, reached a hand over to the toolbox and took out a small silver scalpel, yet even Martha from a distance could tell that it was blunter than a tiny kitchen knife. "What do you reckon?" Alison muttered, looking up at the pair of them as she put on a pair of full gloves as opposed to her worn fingerless ones. "No touching?"
"Yeah. No touching." Martha agreed as she passed Tom another worn pair of full gloves whilst she put a pair on herself.
Alison smirked to herself for a moment. "Even though we've got jack for protective equipment." She quipped dryly under her breath as she stood back in front of the sphere. "Okay." She breathed as she flicked the magnifying glass back down in front of her right eye and placed the tip of the blunt scalpel against the bottom of the sphere where she was sure that sharp spikes would emerge from. "First thing we notice of them is the spikes." She muttered, grabbing a loose piece of torn fabric and piercing it onto the scalpel, carefully moving it into touching distance of the sphere's lower half. There was a sharp noise like an unsheathing sword, and the spikes emerged, making the trio jump with a gasp, but the spikes all came out at different distances. Half of the spikes were out only an inch, two were barely poking out, whilst the last could not emerge, budging for a few moments before it seemed to give up and remain still. "Still not entirely sure why they have these." Alison muttered with a frown, flicking at one of the spikes with her scalpel. "Their laser is fine enough."
"Could just be for show." Tom offered, and Alison shrugged.
"Could be." Alison muttered in agreement as she ran the tip of the scalpel along the unlit black lines on the sphere. Just for a moment, the edge of the scalpel slipped under a protruding edge of a plate in the shell. Alison blinked, yanking the scalpel out, then she paused and looked closer. Carefully putting the tip of the scalpel back under, she ran it down the edge of the plate before removing it and looking over the rest of the shell. There were four pairs of protruding edges, and they all were beside the four black unlit lines, and Alison immediately got an image of the shell opening from the top and outwards, rather like a flower pod. "Look at these." Alison muttered, pointing at the plate edges, and the pair on the other side of the table did so, their curious frowns deepening into a blend with puzzlement.
"Does it open?" Tom asked, and Martha just shrugged slightly.
"Never heard of one opening." She admitted. "Could just be for show, and the inside is just all…" She waved her hand for a second before figuratively vomiting out examples, "cables and wires and computer…stuff."
Alison, for a quick moment, raised her eyebrows in teasing amusement. "Great end to that sentence."
"Hush." Martha retorted, and their attention returned to the sphere. "But…if it could open, then…"
"What had to be placed inside?" Alison finished for her. She moved back to the toolbox and placed the scalpel back inside, performing a quick search but growling a little to herself as she produced nothing. "I had a heat knife somewhere." She grumbled, closing the toolbox and moving into a small cupboard, peering over every shelf and into each other toolbox for minutes on end before she let out an exclamation of relief as she came back out with a heat knife in her hand. A very budget cut heat knife. "I know, it looks like crap. But it's better than nothing." Alison defended with a light quip as she placed the knife down and went back into the cupboard.
"What now?" Martha called, her voice filled with confusion.
"Ah! Found it!" Alison came back out of the cupboard and let out a "Huff" as she dropped her carried object onto the table. The object in question was a device at least half of Martha's size, and looked suspiciously like a mortar weapon, or at least a…modified version. Instead of leaning forward just a touch, it was pointed straight up, supported on a tripod, even equipped with a large, black power box at the bottom, covered in switches, reading gauges and a foot pedal trigger, which was currently folded up into the device. Martha looked at it with a strange stare before she looked up to Alison. "What?" She asked with a shrug. "You didn't think that the stereo system gets its power on its own, right?"
"You're weird." Was all Martha could say, and it made Alison laugh.
"If I had a penny…" She said, not bothering to finish her sentence as she hooked the heat knife into the power device and turned it on. "Okay." She muttered as she flicked the goggles back over her eyes and set to work, running the edge of the knife along the joint plates of the sphere, creating a hiss of steam as she went, careful to keep her hands away from the knife and from the plate edges. The knife scraped along, Alison pausing for a moment to shuffle to her right, moving the knife to the next. Her breathing got heavy for a second before she paused to take a deep breath and continued, her pace a bit slower but more confident and reassured. Two plates down. Alison's attention started to drift away, the process quickly growing tedious, and the knife gave a small jerk in the direction of her left hand, which was holding the sphere steady on the table. Alison paused again and shook her head to refocus herself. Three plates down, one left. Then, before she realized it, she was finished. Giving out a small sigh of relief, Alison nodded to Martha who quickly disconnected the power and Alison put the knife down in a safe spot before moving to the cupboard and pulling out a small black and grey nail puller. "If you two would be so kind…" Alison said, trailing her sentence off as Martha and Tom already had a firm grip on the sphere, keeping themselves away from the warm lines. For a moment, Alison paused and gave the pair a slightly frightened stare. "Am I the only one that doesn't like this?"
Martha and Tom looked at each other for a moment before looking back to Alison. "No."
Alison gave a short nod, took a deep breath and set to work, grunting and growling as she pressed and pulled, flinging the sphere straight open, only to find her eyes filling with horror. "Dear god." Alison muttered, for what was revealed to the trio was a shrunken, wrinkled head, and a mass of blue wires and cables injected deep into its skin. And instead of a mouth and nose, it had a small panel mouthpiece. It's eyes, almost crimson red, were closed and unmoving.
"What the hell is that?" Tom asked through a deep breath, but Martha had no answer.
"Is it even…" Alison's question was cut off as the eyes of the head started to twitch, but it only lasted for a few seconds before the twitching stopped and the eyes kept themselves closed.
"It is alive." Martha said in response. "If you can call this "Living". Either way, I need to find out what this is." She added in a low mutter, before moving over to her bag and pulling out a small needle on a cable, before she plugged the cable end into Alison's monitor. Then, standing before the opened sphere, she took hold of the needle and gently pierced it into the head, the skin caving a little like outside pressure on a balloon, accompanied by a very disgusting squishing sound that made everyone flinch and scrunch their faces in response. "Sorry." Martha quickly muttered as the monitor whirred into life, and a sudden clicking noise came out of the speakers, making everyone turn to look at the screen. A series of words in green against a black screen began to type out before them.
-That hurt.
The trio blinked for a moment, and Alison muttered, "What?" before she could stop herself. But the sphere did not answer back aloud, only in text form.
-I said, "That hurt".
"It can hear us." Alison confirmed with a small frown. "But if it's awake…what's to say it hasn't called for help?"
"The twitching." Martha interjected, causing Alison's frown to deepen for a split second before Martha reiterated. "The twitching was it waking up. And if it had called for help, we would know by now. The sphere needs to be closed in order to function."
"Oh." Alison muttered with a quick breath. "That's nice." She added dryly.
-Martha Jones.
Martha blinked and frowned as her name appeared on the screen, and Tom gave a small intake of breath as he read it. "It…knows you."
-You are Martha Jones, correct?
Tom shook his head as if to say, "Don't answer", but Martha did anyway, in a silent, relenting sigh.
-Sweet kind Martha Jones. You helped us to fly.
"What?" Martha blurted out before she could help herself, and she leaned a little closer to the sphere in confusion.
-You led us to salvation, to our Master.
"No, I didn't." Martha denied, but the sphere ignored her protest.
-Alas, there was no solution. Just the dark and the cold. The skies were not made of diamonds after all.
"No, you…" Martha found herself quickly growing silent, and just for a second, she could almost hear a young kid speaking into her mind.
"The skies are made of diamonds." She heard his voice echo, and she found herself taking a step back, her ears ringing from the echoing words for a moment before the pair beside her cut through her attention.
"Martha, what is it?" Alison asked in confused concern.
-You sent us to Utopia, Martha Jones.
"Martha, what is it talking about?" Tom cut in, but Martha did not answer. "What are they?"
-The Master saved us, Martha Jones. He came with his wonderful machine to bring us back home, and we made ourselves so pretty.
"Martha-" Alison tried to interject, but Martha quickly ignored her.
"Why?" Martha asked, her voice deadly cold, a stark contrast with the blazing fear in her eyes. "You know who we are, and you kill us all anyway. Why?"
-Because it is fun.
-HAHAHAHAHAHA
Was the response, and it made Martha's jaw clench. Then, Martha quickly took a nearby hammer and started to smash the Toclafane's head in, Alison and Tom gasping and yelling in surprise, but before they could even think to stop her, the head was already in pieces, and the sphere turned off completely. Martha began to breathe in and out, trying to get herself under control as she tossed the hammer back onto the table, before leaning slightly onto it. "Martha!" Alison's stern yet fearful voice cut through her thoughts, and Martha looked back to her with a cold look, even as she gulped a little, almost inaudible but not completely. "Martha, what the hell was that?"
"They're us."
Alison and Tom frowned and shot each other a look before Alison spoke up again. "What?"
"The Toclafane. All of them. They're Human." Alison and Tom did not emote for a second, but it quickly became a wide-eyed look of horrified realization, even as Martha's dead look did not change in the slightest. "They're us from the future."
Alison scoffed at that. "Don't be-"
"Stop." Martha ordered, and Alison did as she was ordered as Martha's dead look turned stern.
Alison blinked as she remained silent for a moment before she spoke again. "Martha, it's time you start admitting the truth." Alison said as calmly as she could, and Martha relaxed her stern look. "If the Toclafane are us from the future, then how? Why? Why would we jam ourselves into these spheres?" Alison asked, her voice getting louder as she carried on. "How did they get here? Why on God's Earth would they come back and get fun out of murdering their ancestors?! That doesn't even work!" Alison quickly blurted in anger. "They should just cancel themselves out, so how-"
"The Master." Martha interjected, silencing Alison. "The Master stole a time machine from two dear friends of mine." She explained calmly, Alison still shaking in anger, but she tried her best to calm herself down with even breathing. "Before he did, they locked the machine to only being able to travel between now and the end of the universe." That's how the sphere's got here, was the unspoken extra words, but Martha carried on anyway. "After he had done enough, the Master cannibalized the ship into a paradox machine. That's how the Toclafane have their…"Fun"."
Alison nodded just a bit, her anger calmed down, yet still present. "Always comes back to him. The arrogant cock." Alison spat, earning little snorts in response. "Can you do it?"
Martha blinked, puzzlement settling onto her face. "Sorry, what?"
"Rumor is you've travelled the world to find a way of killing him. Can you do it?" Alison asked bluntly.
Martha remained silent for a few moments, just staring back at Alison before she answered. "If I have to."
Alison shook her head as if unable to believe her. "You don't look like a killer." She retorted, and Martha just cocked one eyebrow, saying nothing in response. Alison then gave out a sigh of defeat and sat down in a nearby chair, which Martha and Tom echoed by sitting in the two remaining chairs. All of a sudden, Alison let out a breath as she ran a hand through her hair and felt herself give out a long yawn. "Oh, Jesus." She cursed lightly. "I need some sleep."
"We all do." Martha agreed, then, for a small moment, she looked a little bit awkward and sheepish. "Um…do you-"
"There are a few spare living quarters in this workshop." Alison cut in, letting her agreement to Martha's proposal go unspoken. Then, she looked at Tom. "What about you?"
Tom shook his head apologetically. "I would love to, but I have to head back out. I'm a doctor, after all. Whether or not your plan works, Miss Jones, I still have a job to do."
Martha sighed, but agreed. "All right. Go on. Skedaddle." She quipped, and Tom chuckled for a moment before standing up and shaking hers and Alison's hands. "Take care, all right?" She asked almost in an order, and Tom nodded.
"Be seeing you, Tom." Alison said in farewell before Tom left the workshop. Then, Alison sighed and looked at Martha. "Do you think he'll be okay?"
"Honestly?" Martha sighed and shook her head. "I have no idea."
Alison nodded a bit but stood up and removed her gloves. "Well, I'm going to sleep for a while. My eyes are drooping already."
Martha nodded with a small smile. "I'll be following right after." She stood up and gave a small salute of "Goodnight" before Alison left the room, leaving Martha alone. She stood in the silent room for a few more minutes until she was certain that there was nothing happening, and then, she left the room and moved into a nearby bed. Lying down after shedding a few layers of clothes underneath the surprisingly decent blankets and sheets, Martha sighed. The small world of the tiny room came to a slow standstill, her mind growing quiet and her breathing calming down and-
Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Her eyes remained shut as she stood upon the Earth, the world around her silent yet full of unwavering horror. A single order rang through her mind as she used the tiny Manipulator in her hands, the order from one man far up above her.
A madman, his hearts cold yet his face bore a bright, deadly smile, even as he slaughtered the President in cold blood. "Remove one tenth of the population!" Turning her gaze skywards, far above the Valiant, a loud crackling explosion rang across the sky, and a crack in the shape of a murderer's smile revealed itself for all to see, and all that could be seen through it was nothing but dead, empty space. From within came the swarms of metal spheres by the millions that descended upon the Earth, and with cold, gleeful laughter that matched their Master, they began to thin the herd without mercy or remorse. All homes in sight were set ablaze, the air filled with smoke and the screams of the damned. And then, it just grew quiet. The flames continued to burn, and the spheres kept flying in the sky, but all Martha could hear was her own breathing.
Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. A sudden blast of broken glass flew past her vision, yet the explosion was muted to her ears. Martha turned to look into the broken window of a London shop, its name, brand and style incinerated out of recognition. The woman who looked back at her bore an expression of cold, unshaking anger, her eyes twitching, and her mouth set in a grim line, but Martha did not feel that. She just felt…nothing. No. A little voice said in response, and Martha found that it was true. She felt…pity? No…remorse. Her reflection whispered three words, muted at first before she felt the wind blowing past and her voice came in like an echo from the damned.
"I'm coming back."
Martha gave a sharp intake of breath as she woke up, her mind pounding a little from the jarring throttle from her dream. Sitting up from the bed, Martha closed her eyes and rubbed at them with a groan. She held her right wrist out as if to check for the time, quickly recognizing the absence of a watch. A few minutes passed, Martha sitting still on the bed, her mind exhausted yet somehow not tired. She found herself getting out of the bed, dressed only in black trousers and a ragged shirt, and exiting the room, walking straight back into the main work room with her black bag still there. And then, Martha stopped, watching Alison working and of all things singing to a song on low volume. Martha just leaned against the open doorway, peering with a small frown at Alison who seemed to be once again working on her "Piece of scrap" monitor.
I've lost all ambition for worldly acclaim
I just want to be the one you love
And with your admission that you'd feel the same
I'll have reached the goal I'm dreaming of, believe me
I don't want to set the world on fire
I-
"Ow!" Alison cursed as she connected to cables and a spark brushed against her bare fingertips, making her shake them with a scowl, muttering "Motherfucker" under her breath. Martha sniggered, and the noise made Alison jump a little as she turned to the doorway, and then relaxed a little in relief. "Oh, it's just you." She said as she switched the song off. Then, she paused and looked back. "How long-"
"Just got up." Was Martha's simple answer, coming out of the doorway to stand by the table. "You can't sleep either?"
Alison scoffed. "God no." She said as she tossed a pair of pliers onto the table and leaned her head back to click her neck, letting out a little "Ow" as she did so.
"What you up to?" Martha wondered aloud.
Alison tossed off her safety goggles and leant into the table. "Been trying to make a TV for a year now, and it still doesn't work." She then sighed, and ran a hand over her face. "Oh god, I miss "Countdown"." Martha blinked repeatedly at that, but Alison continued anyway. "It wasn't the same since Des took over. Both Des' actually." Then, Alison frowned. "Hold on, what's the plural for "Des"? Desi? Deseen?"
Martha blinked and stared off at the wall, silence falling for a few moments causing her to look back, almost jumping a little as Alison was staring patiently at her. "What?" Alison raised her eyebrows, but Martha just shrugged. "I don't know."
"Figured." Alison spat dryly, making Martha blink for a moment as she sat down. Then, Martha followed suit and sat down in another chair. "Martha, why exactly are you here, in England?"
Martha took a breath and leaned back in her seat, Alison following suit. "You know the paradox machine I was talking about?" Alison nodded. "It's easy to destroy it and fix everything. Just blow it up. One problem though." She quickly added before Alison could say anything. "It's shielded, and the Master, for all of his…strange, moronic choices, did not put the shield generator on the Valiant."
"Where would it be?" Alison asked.
Martha ran a hand over her forehead for a moment. "You remember a year ago, when the whole world saw a man age before their very eyes?" Alison nodded. "It was technology taken from a Professor Richard Lazarus."
"Lazarus." Alison muttered almost in awe, and Martha nodded.
Then, she smiled and tried her best at an impersonation. "Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. A long-" Martha stopped and gave a series of coughs, Alison laughing at her which caused Martha to laugh through the coughing fit. "Yeah, I can't do old Guinness." She admitted, and Alison just shrugged. "Anyway, what I was going to add is that the Master did not take and use all of Lazarus' technology." She then held her hands apart in question. "So what happened with the rest?"
Alison frowned, yet her eyes were wide. "He cannibalized it into a shield generator."
Martha nodded. "I have to get back to the lab. Or…what's left of it at least." She added somberly.
Alison blinked for a moment. "And how are you going to get there?"
Martha shrugged dryly. "I'll walk."
Alison raised her eyebrows in surprise. "But that could take hours. Days, even."
Martha sniggered. "And I've walked through the ruins of America." She retorted, standing up from the chair, and Alison followed suit.
"Okay. But if you do destroy this…"Generator", the Toclafane are going to attack."
"And I am prepared." Alison frowned, and Martha scoffed. "That bag is not for show."
Alison cocked an eyebrow. "Okay, but…what have you got to fight them?"
"Weapons." Martha blinked. "I think. They…" Martha suddenly turned sheepish and started to scratch at the back of her head. "They're not exactly tested."
Alison rolled her eyes. "Okay, but why would you think that they are going to work?"
"I got them from Torchwood."
Alison blinked for a moment then shook her head. "Never heard of them."
"Secret alien investigation company…thing." Martha blurted, and Alison raised her eyebrows as if unimpressed. "A-a-and they're guns." She stuttered, pointing to the bag for a moment. "They shoot plasma…stuff. It'll make the Toclafane seize up like…I don't know, I give up explaining." She blurted with a nervous laugh as she sat back down.
"Bloody idiot." Alison spat, earning a gasp from Martha.
"Language!" She retorted, and Alison scoffed.
"Look who's talking now." The pair of them descended into sputtering chuckles for a few moments before they quietened down, and Alison spoke again. "So…if you do beat the Toclafane-"
"'I'm not aiming to beat them." Martha interrupted. "I need to…shall we say, get someone else's attention."
Alison's eyes widened just a touch at her words. "The faggot upstairs?"
"Can we move on from the insults?" Martha retorted dryly, and Alison nodded silently. "And yes, I need to get his attention."
"How?"
"Weren't you listening?" Martha retorted. "I blow up the generator and hold off the Toclafane."
"And he will just come down?"
"Yes."
Alison shrugged a little. "If you say so." Then, Alison turned to look at the power generator on the table for a moment before turning back to Martha. "You could use that."
Martha blinked. "What am I going to do with that?"
"Martha, look at it." Alison ordered with a stern roll of the eyes. "Why does it look like a mortar?"
Martha just shrugged. "Point taken."
Alison continued. "It's a weather manipulator."
"Say what?"
"A weather manipulator. Farms aren't just called that by coincidence. Every farm has a farm inside it." Alison then grumbled a little to herself. "Trouble is the food tastes like crap."
"Really?"
"It's fast food farming."
"Uhh…"
"I'm not kidding, Martha." Alison retorted at Martha's dumbfounded expression. "So, you can take it and create a thunderstorm."
Martha raised her eyebrows up at that with a soft smile. "Yeah." She muttered after a moment, then frowned a little. "You sure I can lug that into London?"
"You can trust me. It isn't that heavy. Ish." She quickly added.
Martha sighed, then shrugged as if to say, "Why not?" then stood up from her chair. "Might as well get my bag packed."
"Already?" Alison asked with a surprised yet concerned frown as she also stood up.
"Alison, my family and my friends are up on the Valiant. Whatever the Master is up to, I have to stop him."
Alison, for a moment, did not emote anything. Then, she sighed and gave a little nod. "All right. But I'm giving you a better bag than that." Martha was left standing in puzzlement as Alison left the room before swiftly returning with a bigger backpack, this one being just a simple emerald green in color. Minutes passed with the pair of them working in silence, moving Martha's strange music player into the bag, along with a pair of plasma weapons shaped like pistols and a sleeping bag. Then Alison packed in enough supplies of "Fast Food" and water, along with a powerful lamp, the disassembled weather manipulator, and before they realized it, they were both standing at the entrance of the workshop, shaking hands. "You better be safe out there." Alison ordered softly, and Martha just gave a small, two fingered salute. "Oh, Martha." She quickly called as Martha opened one of the doors. "If you do…reset everything…will I remember all of this?"
Martha just sighed and gave her a sad look. "I don't know. I mean…the world will go back an entire year, so you might not remember me."
Alison nodded dejectedly. "Well then…good luck, Martha."
Martha smiled as she exited the workshop and without another word, she closed the door, equipped her music player through a headset and walked away. The world entered into a blur around her, her face wearing an unreadable mask, and her hearing focused only on the music emerging from her headset.
Well we know where we're going
But we don't know where we've been
And we know what we're knowing
But we can't say what we've seen
Martha walked over abandoned highways, across a bridge or two, the day getting brighter as the Sun rose, but Martha bore it no mind, starting to hum along to the repeating song in a low silence. "And we're not little children. And we know what we want. And the future is certain. Give us time to work it out." Martha walked past ruined buildings, fallout shelters with burning cauldron fires outside their door, a small group of homeless men and women huddled around it. But due to her TARDIS key, no one noticed Martha. When the Sun was approaching sunset, Martha reached the abandoned ruins of Central London, yet she never stopped. She kept on walking, only taking breaks when she needed to, until she found herself standing in front of an empty ruin. The world then came back into focus for her, and Martha switched off her music player, putting her headset back into her brand-new bag before she sighed and thrust her hands into her trouser pockets. "Hello again." She muttered, walking up the broken stone steps and through the caved in entrance, stopping as she arrived into the middle of the barren reception room. Martha suddenly felt…nothing. No remorse, no solemn longing, no nostalgia of any kind. For a single second, she wanted to imagine how it was over a year ago. The old man stepping into the capsule to be reborn again, but not as he expected. The party guests that had no idea what was in store. Her mother…Mum. That made Martha feel sad, remembering Francine's face as she stood before the blurry mass of the monster. Her face then morphed into Tish, then dad, then Leo, then Jack and the Doctor and Clara then back to Francine and Martha doubled over, her face sweaty from the sudden hyperventilation.
Breathe, darling. Francine soothed in her mind. Just breathe.
I… Martha closed her eyes, willed her mind to calm and just breathed. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. The noises of her mind settled into nothing, and Martha stood back up with a little sniff and refocused her sight on the room. The roof was full of holes where the sky could be clearly seen through, the windows shattered, the staircase to what were the offices and laboratories were shattered and splintered, even the floor itself was damaged from the fallout. There was only one thing that looked clean and stable in the whole "Building". It was the capsule, it's glass surface clean with nary a crack nor a scratch to be seen on its surface. What was different now was that it had a giant console attached to its side and the capsule was filled with a strange liquid that glowed with a dim and soft light, a…very similar light to what the paradox machine had. Martha smiled just a little to herself in relieved victory. "Found you, at last." Martha walked up to the console and could not make sense of the buttons, dials and switches, but she knew one thing she had to do. But first, Martha took off her bag and set it on the ground. She re-assembled the weather manipulator to sit beneath one of the holes in the roof, took a good drink of water and a quick bite to eat, then she pulled out the pair of plasma pistols and…she just paused, staring down at the guns as a smile started to slowly spread across her face. I've been unemotional and bored and unhappy for so long. It's time I had some fun again. Martha then stomped on the manipulator's foot pedal and for a split second, she saw a pale light shoot out of it and into the sky before it disappeared. The sky above, colored with the last rays of the setting Sun, quickly began to rumble and blacken, growing thick with clouds, but Martha turned away, picking up the pistols and pointing them at the capsule. She pulled the triggers and blue light shot out, almost making her stumble a bit from the force, but she was then pushed onto the ground by the force of the explosion that shattered the capsule into fire and smoke. Her ears rang, her pistols a few feet from her, her body aching a little from the impact. Slowly with a groan, she stood up, found herself dusty, somewhat bruised, but nothing major. Brushing the dust of, she pulled the lamp out of the bag and switched it on, placing it down upon the floor, her form and the area around her illuminated in a warm, orange light. Then finally, she pulled out her music player and re-equipped her headset, watching as the thunder began to crackle, illuminating the already dark sky above, and for just a few seconds, Martha could already see the Toclafane flying around, closing in on her position, yet their movements were jerky and static, trying to avoid the booming lightning. Martha smiled, lifted one pistol up and pulled the trigger, shooting the plasma beam far into the sky and disintegrating any spheres in its path. She watched as the Toclafane all stopped for a moment, then started to fly down towards her, all funneling into a line to avoid the weather. But Martha did not care. She just took her music player, selected a song and pressed play. "Well?! Come on!" She taunted to the spheres, a careless grin spread across her face as she closed her eyes, leaned back and let the music float through her mind.
Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where's the streetwise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night, I toss, and I turn, and I dream of what I need
Martha opened her eyes as the Toclafane drew nearer and quickly fired another blast, watching gleefully as the spheres tried to dance around it, halting their pursuit as they got lost in amongst the crackling thunder, and Martha laughed.
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
"Larger than life." Martha started to do a joyful yet horrendous dance to the music, before firing off four more blasts to further confuse the little children in the sky, and she began to sing along to the lyrics. "Somewhere after midnight, in my wildest fantasy. Somewhere just beyond my reach, there's someone reaching back for me." Two more shots, a short pause, then a third shot. "Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat, it's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet." Martha then skipped over and stomped again on the weather manipulator, the blast it sent further exciting the thunder into greater effect, but it did nothing to temper her mood. "Up where the mountains meet the heavens above, out where the lightning splits the sea, I could swear that there's someone somewhere watching me. Through the wind and the chill and the rain, and the storm and the flood, I can feel his approach like a fire in my blood." Timing the shots with the music, she fired them to her left and right, in every possible direction in front of her, disorientating the Toclafane into further disarray, and Martha returned to letting the song take over her mind.
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
And he's gotta be sure
And it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
Halting her movements for a moment, she stared back out into the sky and could see the shadow of the Valiant facing her and getting closer by the second, and she let another wicked smile spread across her face. "Hello again." Then, she noticed the Toclafane routing for another attempt, and she shook her head in amused disappointment, returning to fire back at them. "Oh, he's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast, and he's gotta be fresh from the fight. I need a hero!" The song then came to an end, Martha breathed in and out deeply, sweat almost pouring off her face as the Toclafane army began to retreat away, yet the Valiant came closer and closer. Almost stumbling a little, Martha moved back to the manipulator, switched the settings to rain, and fired. The thunder came to a crackling stop, only to be replaced with a pouring downfall, and Martha quickly retreated with her equipment to a point of the building that still had shelter. She then sat down with a huff, her poor heart racing as she wiped the sweat off her forehead and put the pistols away in the bag. The world became a muffled blur once again, the sound of the pattering rain soothing her mind into silence, waiting patiently with each passing second. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. How long has it been now? Her mind asked but the question was quickly forgotten. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Was that a jet? Martha opened her eyes, but there was nothing, just the endless, pattering rain. Martha wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the air around her growing cold from the weather. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. A pair of footsteps clicking against the ground-what? Martha opened her eyes, and for a second, she thought she saw a silhouette through the haze of the rain, but when she blinked, it was gone. And then, it was back, still accompanied by a single pair of footsteps. Martha quickly rubbed at her eyes, before realizing that the burning was no longer there, only a part of the strange vision, so she opened them again. The footsteps drew closer, the silhouette getting clearer as it continued to trek through the rain, a large black umbrella bobbing over its head. This "It" became a man. The man became clearer, until she could see as clear as day, that not only did he wear the same outfit she saw a year ago, he even bore the same mischievous, cold grin.
"Martha, Martha, Martha." The Master swiftly stepped beneath cover and lowered his umbrella, closing it and pressing the point of it down onto the ground. When Martha's only response was simple silence, the Master cocked an eyebrow for a moment before raising the other up to meet it. "A whole year since we last saw each other and not even a hello?"
"Hello." Martha answered dryly, and the Master chuckled.
"I'll admit, I thought you would've done this earlier." He said with a small frown, and Martha shrugged lightly, a strange contrast with the burning anger in her eyes.
"So did I."
"And…why didn't you?"
"I like walking." She said dryly, and the Master chuckled again. "Why are you not trying to kill me?"
"Because the Doctor doesn't want to talk." Came his answer, sounding just a tad bit childish, or was it bitterness?
"You made him an old man without his consent." Martha retorted, and the Master chuckled again.
"What, did you think I was going to kill him?"
Martha found herself frowning at that. "You didn't want…"
"No!" The Master interrupted with a snarl, as if he was disappointed in her, but it made Martha give out a dry chuckle.
"What about Clara?" She asked, and the Master just blinked at her. "Why keep her alive?"
"Because she has-"
"I'm not talking about-" Martha cut off her snarl with a shaky breath, the Master watching with squinting eyes as she regained herself. "Why do you want her alive?"
"She…intrigues me." Was his answer, and Martha rolled her eyes.
"Why?"
The Master didn't answer for a moment, looking off to his left before he glanced back. "Because the Doctor doesn't keep his strays."
Martha's glare intensified for a moment, her jaw clenching as she strained out her next question. "The Doctor does not pick up stray-"
"Yes, he does!" The Master retorted with a laugh as if he couldn't believe her. "Let me put it this way Miss Jones…" He started as he placed the umbrella down on the ground before thrusting his hands into his pockets, "Humans are goldfish. A single Time Lord life could survive for at least 900 years, if not more. You will only live for another…70, 80. 90, if you're lucky." The Master shook his head with a chuckle, purposefully ignoring Martha's clenching of her fists. "The Doctor goes through his companions quicker than a Human will go through pets. So, what is it that makes Clara any different, aside from being arm candy?"
Martha, for a moment, wanted to scream. The way the Master talked about her friend made her blood boil, and she could already envision herself wringing his arrogant neck. But then, she thought about it, and to the Master's surprise, she started to laugh. She pointed at him as if to say something, but the laughter intensified, and the Master took a shaky breath to contain his annoyance with her. "You think you know their full story, don't you?" The Master blinked, and Martha continued laughing for a few more moments to herself. Then, she pointed at him again and just said, "You are a pompous twat."
"Oh, Martha, resorting to name calling? That's low." He retorted as if he thought it was cute, but Martha just shook her head.
"In all of this…" She started, indicating between the two of them for a moment, "you still failed to answer my question." The Master looked at her as if she grew a second head, and that made her snap a little, letting out an aggravated snarl. "Why are you not trying to kill me?!" The Master still regarded her with that same look, and slowly but surely, the answer came like an ice-cold shower through her mind. She straightened herself up, her eyes wide before she smiled a little. Alison was onto it. "You want to lose, don't you?"
"No, I don't want to lose." The Master denied, but Martha just scoffed. The response to her scoff took her by surprise. The Master, rather like her just mere moments earlier, began to laugh. The laugh intensified, until he was almost doubling over, holding a hand mere inches from his mouth as he kept on laughing. "Martha Jones, I don't want to lose, I want…something else."
Martha blinked. "What?"
The Master squinted his eyes at her again. "You already have the answer. You have it in your bag."
Martha shook her head. "No, I don't believe you."
The Master sighed with a slight roll of his eyes. "It'll come to you eventually. Let's say…it's something that I don't want to do alone." He said, and Martha blinked at him but didn't get a chance to ask as he was already pulling out his laser screwdriver from his pocket, and holding it up before her. "You know the problem with this device?" Martha just shook her head a little, her face as uninterested as she was confused. "It's isomorphic. It can only be used by me and me alone. Yes, I could hack in and change it but…" The Master suddenly appeared just a tiny bit embarrassed, "I don't have the technology to do it. I-I-I mean, I would have…" He added with a tiny stutter, "but for one, I had the technology in my reach, and I forgot all about it, and two, I cannibalized the Doctor's TARDIS, so I couldn't use that one. And my TARDIS is Somewhere, beyond the sea. Somewhere, waiting for me."
"Uhh…" Was all Martha could say as the Master started to hum aloud.
"My lover stands on golden sands and watches the shi-"
"Hello!" Martha called, interrupting his tangent and making him jump a little.
"Sorry, got off track there." The Master said, but he didn't exactly sound like he was sorry. Then, he sighed with a smile and shook his head for a moment before looking back up to her and pointing the screwdriver right at her. "Course, if I really wanted to win, all I could do is just kill you right here and now." He switched the settings over for a moment before staring at her with a deadly smile. Martha found herself feeling…nothing, and her expression remained dull and unimpressed. Then, after a moment, the Master relented, and pocketed his laser screwdriver away. "But then again…wouldn't it be better to do it on the Valiant, hmm? Your friends and family should be witnesses, after all." He turned around, and motioned for her to follow as he picked up his umbrella and opened it.
"This is your whole plan?" Martha called, making him halt before he would start walking, but he didn't turn around just yet. "Because if it is, you really suck at your job." The Master spun back around, regarding her with a puzzled gaze, yet his eyes were aflame with…is he excited?
"Martha Jones, you really need to start paying attention." Then, he shook his head with a small shrug. "I was going to offer you a place under this umbrella with me, but…you might need to do this last walk on your own."
With that, the Master turned back around and walked away, his umbrella bobbing on his shoulder. Martha could then see, just beyond the reach of the rain, a small private jet, colored only in deep red. Martha then moved to follow after she re-equipped her bag. As Martha walked back out into the rain, her mind once again made the world fall into a blur around her. Never once did her pace increase, even as her gaze fixed itself upon the Master, until she was suddenly sitting down inside of the private jet, waiting for it to take off for the Valiant. The sudden thought of the Valiant made her think back over a year ago, but this time, the memory was not of her family, or her TARDIS friends. Now, it was the feeling she felt when the Master was looking down upon the dying President, or when he taunted the world with his song, or how swiftly he took control of the room, it made Martha's hands tremble. Her breath became shaky for just a moment too long, and she could guess that the Master had glanced at her, but she quickly composed herself into…a very timid stillness. It didn't last very long, however, as her mind kept switching memories, going between her house blown up by his men, what he did to the TARDIS, capturing her family and her mother and…Chantho. The anger in her mind turned briefly into sorrow, before it returned to rage, and she almost let out a little gasp of pain at how much she clenched her jaw, but she didn't. Instead, once again, she composed herself, only to open her eyes, and suddenly spotted the Master sitting in front of her, the private jet already well into flight, and his eyebrows raised up in a sort of amused curiosity.
"You want to kill me, don't you?" The Master asked with a small smile, and Martha's head shuddered a little from the rage welling up again, but she fought it back down, deciding to answer his question by asking another.
"If you want to lose, why are you keeping up this ridiculous pretense?" Martha asked, and the Master rolled his eyes.
"I don't want to lose." He muttered under his breath before shaking his head slightly and leaning back in his seat. "I kept up this "Ridiculous pretense", Miss Jones, for the sake of your people." Martha frowned as she watched the Master blink and shake his head to himself. "To clarify, I meant-"
"The Toclafane." Martha interrupted, and he nodded with a little grin.
"After all, the Doctor loves you all…so very very much." He said with his hands pressed together.
Martha just shook her head. "What did you tell them, then?"
The Master shrugged. "A brand-new Time Lord empire in the heavens, a glorious war of rockets, filled with black hole converters ready to burn across the universe." He said with an almost dreamy tone, but Martha found it was rather mocking, especially when he stopped with a disappointed smile and shook his head. "Do you want to know where they came from, Miss Jones?"
"The end of the u-"
"Not when!" The Master snapped, and Martha stopped talking. "Where?" Martha…found herself unable to answer that, blinking to herself, and the Master sighed. "I went to "Utopia", Miss Jones. Do you want to know what it was like?" Martha shook her head, but he chuckled, not convinced at her silent answer. "It was a planet, a…dead planet. All barren and black, not a living thing on it, all except for the last of Humanity, crying out into the dark, watching as the universe collapsed all around them, trapped on quite possibly the last planet to ever live." The Master suddenly gave out a small shudder, as if he was pleased by it, and the tiny thought made Martha feel sick. "You should have seen it, Martha. Furnaces burning, all of Humanity turning themselves inwards with what they had left, cannibalizing themselves, regressing into children." Then, he sighed and shook his head. "It didn't work. They were still going to die."
"And that is where you came in."
The Master nodded. "With my masterpiece, Miss Jones." He said with a soft, dreamy smile. "A living TARDIS, strong enough to hold the paradox in place, allowing the past and the future to collide in infinite majesty."
"You want to change all of history, then, is that it?" Martha asked, holding back the urge to snarl. "Not just Earth's but the entire universe?"
"I'm a Time Lord." The Master refuted with a dull expression. "I have that right."
"Excuses and lies." Martha admonished with a shake of her head. "Why? What do you even want?"
"I've already told you, Martha. You have what I want." The Master answered leaning forward slightly. "You need to pay attention."
Martha just found herself getting aggravated with the Master. "Even if I did have it, what do you even want me to do with it?!"
"Use it."
"Why?!"
The Master smiled, but this time, his smile was cold and unforgiving. "Someone has been lying to me, Martha, for my whole life." He placed a single hand on his knee and started to tap. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. "That sound, Martha, it never stops, never. I've had a whole year to think about it, and I can tell you now that I know that sound is real. And if that sound is real, then someone put it there." His smile turned into a cold, thin line. "I can already guess who, but what I don't know is why."
Martha frowned. "That's what you want? A little bit of soul searching?"
"It's half of what I want." The Master answered. Suddenly, the jet gave a little jolt, and then, it stopped, turning off completely until the only sounds outside was the natural weather and wind. "You've got mere minutes, Martha Jones. Think. Figure it out. You've got the answer in your head." Then, the Master stood up and motioned for her to follow.
Martha stood up and walked after him, making the world fall into a quick blur as she emptied her mind and tried to think. Okay, he keeps denying that he wants to lose, so whatever it is that I shall "Give" him will let him win. And what he wants me to give him is in my bag. So...there's supplies, big fat "No". Music player? No, he already has one. At least…I remember him having one. Disassembled weather manipulator? No, of course not. That leaves… Martha found herself halting her walk, picturing the pair of plasma pistols, and blinking. Why would he… Martha's eyes grew wide, jerking back to reality as the Master came to a halt and turned around to look at her, the pair of them standing in the lower decks of the Valiant. His eyes were knowing, already having guessed what her mind was thinking about. It was a mental picture of Martha, at least one gun in her hand, and on the receiving end…was him, standing before her, patient and waiting. That's what he wants. A tiny voice in Martha's head whispered, and Martha found herself taking in a breath, for just a moment. After everything he has ever done to this planet, to my friends, and to my family, THAT is what he wants?! As she thought it over, the look of realization on her face turned…cold, with a careless smile on her face as she stared back at him. "To be clear, I never liked you, Master."
"The feeling's mutual, Miss Jones." The Master returned in the same voice, and her smile grew wider. "You know that the Doctor won't like it at all?"
Martha pursed her eyebrows together for a moment. "That…might be debatable."
"Well then?"
""Well then"?" Martha repeated, and he nodded. "I won't be the one that will apologize." The Master smiled in approval and turned, motioning for her to follow, and she did, letting out a calming breath as she walked, the pair of them quickly reaching the elevator, and the Master entered first, motioning for her to wait. It wasn't really that long, waiting only a few minutes for the elevator to reach the flight deck before she called it back and stepped in. Breathe in, breathe out. Martha let herself calm down, closing her eyes to cherish these short few minutes of peaceful silence. If only he listened to his own advice. Martha reached into her pocket with a sly smirk and pulled out both Jack's Vortex Manipulator and the Master's laser screwdriver, quickly hacking in and removing the isomorphic controls before pocketing them away just in time for the elevator to ding, bringing her precious few minutes of silence to an end, and the doors slid open. Suddenly, Martha found herself back on the flight deck of the Valiant, the Master standing at the top of the stairs, looking down upon her, waiting patiently. To her left, almost drowning her in relief, was her mum, her sister, her father and Captain Jack. To her right was the Doctor and Clara. The couple were sitting on the floor, looking tired, but surprisingly okay. The same could be said of her family and Jack, except that Jack looked like he hadn't had a shower in months. Even the Valiant's flight deck itself look like it had not been cleaned in a long time, the big table in the middle gone. Surprisingly…there were no guards, and Martha was sure she remembered some from a year ago. He must've gotten rid of them...I don't really want to know how.
"Martha Jones, if you would kindly…kneel."
Fine. Martha got down on her knees, and the Master smiled as he darted back up the stairs. "Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships…set to burn across the universe." He smiled down at Martha, and she just stared back without emotion. He then moved over to the flight deck console, and Martha could hear him speak into it. "Are we ready?"
"The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice!"
Martha blinked. That…was just his own voice. He just… Martha let out a snort, before blinking with wide eyes to herself.
"Five minutes to align the black hole converters….counting down!" The Master announced, and it was quickly followed by a loud, electronic ticking sound.
Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
Hold on, five minutes?! Martha snorted again.
"My children, are you ready?!" The Master called again.
"We will fly and blaze and slice! We will fly and blaze and slice!" Came the unified response of the Toclafane army.
How many are left? 15? Martha felt the snort become a snigger of amusement, for sure earning some confused blinks from her watching friends and family, but she could not even be bothered to be horrified by it.
"To mark this day, before the countdown reaches 0…Martha Jones shall die." The Master sighed with a soft smile. "My first blood."
Uh…bull. Just…just bull.
"Any last words?" The Master asked, and Martha did her best to hide her snigger, pursing her lips into a thin line, but she was sure that he saw it. "No?" He murmured when she didn't answer, and when the silence carried on, he just shook his head and stepped down to the middle landing of the staircase. "Such a disappointment, this one." He said, now looking over to a very worried yet confused Clara, as well as the aged Doctor who bore the same expression on his face. "Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the Time Vortex, but all this one did was walk."
And I will walk 500 miles, and I will walk 500 more. A voice hummed in her mind.
"Bow your head." The Master ordered, and Martha bowed her head, her will to restrain her smile getting weaker by the second.
I shall bow my head…and pray. Martha sniggered, but the sound did not reach the Master's ears, making her eyes widen. How did he not hear that?!
The Master spread his arms out as if he was giving a speech, but it somehow seemed amusing to Martha, knowing she now had only mere seconds before she would laugh. "And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day forward, a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward-" Martha could not help it any longer, and her laughter burst forth in uncontrollable giggles, her grin spreading across her face, not realizing for a second that the room fell into puzzled silence, and all eyes turned to Martha. "What-what-what's so funny?" The Master asked, and Martha raised her head to look back up at him.
"Sorry." She said as she shook her head. "You just look too ridiculous." She added through her giggles, which quickly descended into uncontrollable, hearty laughter, making her close her eyes as she leaned forward just a bit.
The Master shook his head with a squint of his eyes. "This is an embarrassing way to die, Miss Jones."
"Nah, it'll be fine!" She retorted as she looked around and quickly said, "Hi! How you all doing?!"
Everyone looked at each other with a puzzled look, before quickly answering with words like, "Yeah, fine", "Tired", "Could be better", or in the case of the Doctor, just a low grumbling noise. The Master shook his head again, this time accompanying it with a sigh as he descended down to the bottom of the steps. "Changed my mind. I'd rather just kill you now…" He trailed off however as he reached into his pockets, and his face morphed into worried confusion, his hands searching for something but coming up empty.
"Yeah, sorry." Martha said as she stood up with a little groan, reaching into a pocket to pull out the Master's screwdriver.
"When the hell did you take that from me?" The Master asked through a low, warning growl as she twirled it between her fingers.
"Just before you went into the elevator." She admitted with a shrug.
He held out his hand with a menacing, ice cold glare in his eyes. "Give that back."
"Nah."
"Give that back now."
"Don't think so."
"Miss Jones, give that back now!" He snarled out, and Martha sniggered again.
"Good." She purred in a drawl, attempting a low, "Evil" voice. "Good. Give in to your anger. It gives you focus. Makes you stronger." Martha stopped abruptly with a blink of her eyes, looking around briefly to see everyone frowning at her as if she was mad, and she hung her head in sheepish dejection. "Sorry. I couldn't resist."
"Martha Jones, give that-"
"Shut up!" Martha retorted, pointing the screwdriver at his feet and firing, the blast piercing a scorch mark into the floor and he flinched back to the stairs in fright, making Martha's eyes widen. He didn't expect me to take it, or use it. Heh, moron. "I think you should just stay right there." She ordered softly, stepping back a few before she slung her bag off onto the floor and clicked the fingers of her free hand. "Jack, could you come here please?" Jack immediately walked over and gave her an admonishing look. "What?" Martha asked dryly.
"No hello kiss?" He asked with a smirk, and Martha rolled her eyes with a groan.
"Just open the bloody bag." She cursed lightly through her teeth, and he opened it.
"Yes, ma'am." He said as he reached in and pulled out the two pistols, giving her an intensified look of confusion. "Where did you get these from?"
"Uh…long story." Martha said with blinking eyes. "Do you mind keeping an eye on him?" She asked, nodding to a frightened yet confused Master.
"Yeah, sure, fine." He quickly said, pointing the dual plasma pistols at the Master. "All right, turn around and put your hands on your head." Captain Jack ordered, and the Master gave out a sigh but complied, turning around and putting his hands on his head. Then, without warning, Jack ran up and hit the Master over the head, and he fell to the ground with a groan, unconscious but fine.
"I would've said, "No need for that", but whatever." Martha muttered as she walked over to Jack, quickly reaching over and fiddling with the settings on the guns.
"Oi, what-"
"Don't want you to blow us all up." She simply said and he nodded with a sigh as she turned to the Doctor and Clara. "Hi." She greeted with a soft smile as Clara helped the Doctor to stand up. "You two doing all right?" They just shrugged in unison, and Martha sniggered softly as the Doctor looked over at her with his, quite literally, tired old eyes.
"Do you mind?" He asked, his voice almost unrecognizable, and Martha blinked.
"Do I mind what?" The Doctor indicated to the screwdriver and to his own face, making her eyes widen. "Oh. Um…sorry, Clara." She quickly apologized as Clara stepped away with a concerned look, and Martha fiddled with the settings. "Hold on…" It took longer than she expected, but Martha found the desired setting, and pointed it at a patient Doctor. "This is-"
"Gonna hurt, I know." The Doctor interrupted in a mutter accompanied with a nod. "I've done this before."
"I know." Martha then switched it on, and the screwdriver hummed and whirred as the Doctor went into a blurry mass of writhing limbs and groans of pain. Martha spared a glance to Clara, who didn't look away yet looked like she wanted to. But the thought quickly slipped Martha's mind as she returned her gaze to the Doctor, starting a little countdown in her head. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Martha then stopped, and the Doctor collapsed to the ground, Clara quickly rushing to his aid.
"Doctor?" The Doctor didn't respond at first, just groaning and moaning from the aggravating pain, and Clara grasped his shoulders. "Doctor?"
"Yeah?" He muttered…and his voice was back to normal again. Martha smirked as relief seemed to shine out of Clara's face as the Doctor raised his own, all wrinkles and signs of old age absent, his hair back to brown, his eyes alight like a child, and a bright grin spreading over his face. He just wrenched Clara into a hug and laughed, whilst Martha just rolled her eyes at their display. "Oh, Clara. My Clara."
Ew. Martha looked away for a moment, slightly puzzled that her family's attention was now distracted by something outside, and she moved to look.
"Hey, you okay?" Clara asked, pulling back to look into his eyes, and he nodded with his scrunched face of confused concentration.
"Aside from the slight click in my neck, I'm fine." He answered, and Clara laughed.
"No offence, but can you two just postpone any flirting you might do?" Martha called, moving away from the window to look back at them. "We're still not done yet."
"Not done?" The Doctor muttered as he jumped up from the floor with a renewed energy that made Clara grin, and she got up to join him, moving over to the window. "How'd you mean, "Not done"-oh." The couple stopped moving at the sight of the Toclafane coming down from the sky and getting closer towards them.
"Jack?" Martha called, who was currently darting up the stairs to the console. "How did they-"
"Oh, of course he did." Jack spat dryly with a groan. "He left his com channel with the Toclafane open, and he muted their end. They would've heard everything, and we would've heard nothing."
"Martha, the paradox machine!" The Doctor ordered, but Martha was already moving to the door, having quickly fetched one last thing out of her bag.
"Already on it!" She called, darting over whilst sparing her family a single look. "Stay right here, okay? I won't be long."
"Martha, you'll need something to destroy-"
"I've got something!" Martha interrupted the Doctor with a roll of her eyes, brandishing the laser screwdriver in her hand. "Jack, keep those spheres back!"
"Why wouldn't I?!" He retorted, and Martha just laughed, slamming the appropriate elevator button, the doors sliding shut as she began her descent to the lowest deck of the Valiant.
Feels…feels much better, you know…having everyone back. God, I've missed them. With a smile, Martha placed her headset on, put the music player in her pocket after selecting a single song, leaning her head back, closing her eyes and giving out a pleased sigh.
Didn't know what time it was, the lights were low
I leaned back on my radio
Some cat was laying down some rock 'n' roll
"Lotta soul," He said
Then the loud sound did seem to fade
Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase
That weren't no DJ, that was hazy cosmic jive
The elevator doors slid open and Martha started her slow, almost waltz like trek through the corridors of the Valiant.
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
Martha paused, laughing as she tried, and failed, to air guitar to the rift, shaking her head at herself as she continued on.
I had to phone someone, so I picked on you
Hey, that's far out, so you heard him too
Switch on the TV, we may pick him up on channel two
Look out your window, I can see his light
If we can sparkle, he may land tonight
Don't tell your poppa or he'll get us locked up in fright
Martha arrived at the stairwell of the lowest deck, and she knew, from a year ago, that this led to the TARDIS, and without hesitation, she walked down the steps.
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
Martha, at the last line, as she walked down the steam filled hallway to the closed steel doors, could not help herself and began to sing aloud with the last lyrics of the song. "Starman waiting in the sky. He'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'd blow our minds. There's a starman waiting in the sky. He's told us not to blow it, cause he knows it's all worthwhile. He told me, let the children lose it. Let the children use it. Let all the children boogie." Martha swung the steel doors open, spotting impatient Toclafane hovering in the air between her and the blue police box that was the TARDIS. Martha grinned and raised the screwdriver in her hands towards the Toclafane and began to fire, the laser impact piercing through the spheres and sending them slamming down onto the floor, unmoving and dead. "La, la, la, la-la. La, la, la-la. La, la, la-la. La, la, la-la. La, la, la-la. La, la, la-la. La, la, la-la." The last sphere fell with a "Clang" to the floor and Martha raced on past their battered remains and straight into the TARDIS. The same light as the shield generator greeted her, the console room still a mess and the ship around her still groaning in pain. Martha stopped the music and took off her headset, moving up to the center of the room and placing her hand on the steel mesh, feeling no resistance from any shield whatsoever. "Hello, old girl." She whispered, and the groaning grew a little quieter at her words. "Been a while. Sorry about this." With that, she stepped back, turned the strength of the laser up and fired. The console shattered and exploded in sparks, sending her tumbling out of the TARDIS with a yelp, landing back first onto the floor with a loud, painful groan, her ears ringing from the explosion, but the rest of it and any potential fallout of fire and exploding debris was blocked by the TARDIS closing and audibly locking her outside. Around her however, she could feel the Valiant suddenly lurching and moving, Martha sliding a little until she hit a wall, the shifting and the rumbling and the lurching all lasting for a few solid minutes, but just as Martha's hearing came back and her mind remembered where she was, the lurching all stopped. The room around her grew still and quiet, yet it was…relieving. The whole situation seemed to crash down upon her at once, and Martha realized right there and then just what had happened. The Earth was safe, time was reversed, the paradox erased. Her family was safe, her friends were safe, the TARDIS was safe…she was safe. Martha laughed, but this laugh was almost a joyful, sobbing laughter, which she couldn't control as she just lay there on the ground, also realizing that the battered remains of Toclafane spheres were now gone, no evidence that they were ever there at all. Martha stood up, her knees shaky, her head and body throbbing, very obviously bruised, maybe a few cuts, but all in all…she was fine. Martha smiled, leaning against the wall to catch her breath and bring herself back down to reality. Martha looked down, smiling as she found her headset and music player were also fine, if a bit dented. A simple explosion isn't enough to take us out then, eh? Taking a deep breath, Martha re-equipped it, got off from the wall and played a different song as she took a much calmer, and relieving walk back to the elevator.
Faintly
I'll go
To take this
Head on
Soon I'll come around
Lost and never found
Waiting for my words
Seen but never heard
Buried underground
But I'll keep coming
Martha reached the elevator, stepped inside and set it for the flight deck, leaning her head back to let the song wash over her.
Wipe those
Tears off
And make your 'pa proud
Soon I'll come around
Lost and never found
Waiting for my words
Seen but never heard
Buried underground
But I'll keep coming
Martha saw the elevator doors slid open through the slits of her barely open eyes, and quickly switched off the music, taking off her headset. She was immediately wrapped into a large embrace from her mother, father and sister. "Ow, ow, ow, ow." She quickly hissed, feeling the bruises and sore bones flaring up, and they eased the embrace.
"Sorry." They all said, letting the hug go on for a few moments before pulling away.
"How are you, darling?" Francine asked, and Martha smiled, a soft yet almost tear-filled smile.
"Now?" She nodded fervently. "I'm doing great. How about you guys?"
"Great." Francine responded.
"All right." Tish responded bluntly.
"Eh, could be better." Clive responded dryly, and Martha giggled, the four of them restarting the hug for a few more moments before parting at the sound of the Doctor and Clara rushing over and pulling a startled Martha into a tight hug.
"Long time, no see, Miss Jones." The Doctor and Clara beamed, and Martha just replied with-
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"
"Oh, sorry." They immediately muttered with sheepish faces, letting go of her slightly as she put one hand on her back to massage it.
"Everything okay?" Clara asked, those same big brown eyes filled with concern as she looked at Martha, the Doctor's rejuvenated face echoing the same feeling, and Martha nodded.
"We did fix everything, right?" Martha asked, but they shook their heads.
"No, you did." The Doctor replied, and Martha blinked. "We're back to where it started, a year ago. Just got a transmission from U.N.I.T, talking about the President." His tone got a bit serious at that, and Martha nodded solemnly. The Doctor scratched the back of his neck with a sniff and added, "In about 15 minutes, U.N.I.T is going to help us land." Both his and Clara's face got rather dreamy, almost melancholically sad. "Haven't set foot on Earth since-"
"Why don't I get to join the reunion party?" Captain Jack teased in a very flirtatious manner, making Martha laugh, whilst the Doctor and Clara rolled their eyes. "Come here." He said, and Martha immediately brought him into an embrace, the pair of them laughing until they pulled away, and Jack gave her a rather genuine salute. "Excellent work, Miss Jones."
"It did take me a year." She tried to deny, but he just shook his head with a grin.
"Better late than never." The moment was halted however as the Master seemed to sprint, shoulder shoving through Martha and darting past the briefly shocked Jones family, heading straight for the elevator, but Jack sprinted and quickly stopped him, bringing him back out and shoving him into the middle of the room, training one of the plasma guns on him in silent warning. "All right, so…what do we do with this one?"
"We kill him." Was Clive's dead serious answer.
"We execute him." Tish echoed, but the Doctor immediately jumped in between.
"No!" He fervently denied. "That is not the solution!"
"Really?" Martha turned to look at…her own mother, raising the other plasma pistol at the Master, and suddenly, Martha wanted to jump in between, but it was not for the Master's sake. "Oh, I think so." She snarled, but the snarl was…shaky, almost sobbing like, and the Master grinned, seemingly relishing the lack of emotional control the woman had over herself. "Because all those things…London destroyed…the islands of Japan burning…I saw it all. And it was all your fault."
"Then what are you waiting for, Ms. Jones?" He snarled, or was it purred? "Go on then. Do it." He urged.
Martha suddenly felt horror well up inside her at the very thought, the Master's goading intensifying it and all of a sudden, any previous thoughts she once had about this moment were kicked out, her mind focused only on her mother. Francine straightened up, taking in a deep shuddering breath…and Martha took that moment to step over and put her hand over her mother's. "Mum?" Francine didn't look, so Martha tried again. "Mum?" Francine broke her gaze from the Master and looked at Martha, who just gazed at her in solemn sorrow. "Mum…put the gun down, please."
"Martha-"
"Mum, don't do this."
"Martha, that man-" Francine tried to say through her whimpers, but Martha interrupted her again.
"I know. Mum, please, put the gun down. You are better than him." Francine blinked once, then twice, then her eyes closed shut as her sobbing poured forth, letting the gun drop lazily into Martha's hand whilst Francine's arms wrapped around her daughter, and Martha returned the hug, sending a deadly, ice cold glare back to a very disappointed Master, feeling anger such as she had never felt in her entire life, and she knew that man was responsible for it. Martha heard her father and her sister come over to bring Francine into a hug, relieving Martha for the moment, but her deadly stare down with the Master did not break for a second.
"What about you, Miss Jones?" The Master asked, and Martha could barely see the Doctor, Clara and Jack tensing up, right on the outskirts of her vision blurred by rage.
"Stop it." The Doctor warned.
"You've seen more on my Earth than anyone here." The Master continued, ignoring the Doctor.
"Don't." Jack warned.
"You know everything that I ever did on Earth, and you can solve it right here, right now." He continued, his voice back into its imploring purring.
"Don't you dare." Clara warned, but the Master ignored her.
"So how about it, Martha Jones?" The Master asked, and Martha breathed in and out, breaking the stare for a moment to see Clara turning to look at her.
"Martha, please, just ignore him." Clara pleaded, her eyes serious but her voice an almost desperate pleading, but Martha held up a hand for silence, looking back to the Master with a grim, thin line on her lips.
"You are right, you know?" She started, but the Master did not emote to it. "I've been everywhere and seen everything you have ever done. China, the islands of Japan, the Russian graveyard, the deserts of South America, the ruins of London." She listed as her breathing started to become rather shaky and a bit unstable. "I've seen statues of yourself erected at every worksite, I've seen your face brutally carved into Mount Rushmore, I've seen and heard men, women and children dying left and right all under your watch, all terrified by your spheres, your…children." She gulped a little and gave a small nod as she raised the pistol up and pointed it straight at the Master, feeling everyone else getting scared at the sight, but the Master's face started to a grow a pleased, dreamy smile, juxtaposing terribly with his ice-cold eyes. "I know you are responsible for it all, and I could end it all properly, never to start again, simply…with this." For a split second she looked down at the gun before looking back up. "You think you know me, but you really don't." She said with a trembling, cold laugh. "Oh, you have no idea how much I want this. But honestly….no." She smiled, still cold, still merciless as she let the gun slack down in her grasp. "I have only one thing left to say to you now: If you want something done right…get off your ass and do it yourself." She broke the stare to glance at the Doctor, allowing him to take the gun away without a word as Clara came in and took her hand, letting Martha relax with a sigh of relief, feeling every ounce of anger she had ever felt through that entire year just…disappear, floating away and leaving her body alone. What brought her back was a sigh, coming from the Master, and she opened her eyes, watching as he just stared...at nothing in particular, his eyes solemn yet somehow…Martha didn't trust it. Some nagging feeling in the back of her head whispering to her, the words incomprehensible, but…they were a warning nonetheless. But warning me of what?!
"You still haven't answered the question, Doctor." The Master said, his tone rather dull, almost dead…almost. "What happens to me?"
The Doctor looked to his side, Martha looking over to see Clara, who was giving him a soft, reassuring smile, and Martha glanced back as the Doctor turned to the Master. "You're our responsibility from now on. The only Time Lord left in existence."
"Doctor, Clara." Jack's voice floated in, and everyone looked at Jack, who was staring intently at the Master, but his eyes flickered into a soft, pleading desperation when he looked at the TARDIS couple. "You know you can't trust him, right?"
"Absolutely, we can't." Clara agreed bluntly, and the Doctor nodded.
"I know a few good places that will hold him." The Doctor added before he gave out a little breath, accompanied by a sniff as he thrusted his hands into his suit pockets. "Until then, the only other safe place for him is inside the TARDIS."
The Master frowned, and Martha saw his eyes growing…horrified, almost desperately horrified, like the very thought was going to drain all the life out of him in an instant. "You mean you're just gonna…keep me?" He finished, almost choking out the words.
The Doctor and Clara looked at each other for another moment before they looked back and nodded in unison. "If that's what we have to do." The Doctor answered.
The Master blinked, tears visibly prickling the corners of his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling, closed his eyes and took a deep breath before looking back down and shaking his head. "I can't do that, Doctor."
"Yes, you can." The Doctor retorted simply and without much emotion. "It's time to change, Master." The Doctor looked over at Clara with a fond look, to which she returned. "I stopped wandering, and I found someone I care about." He looked back over at the Master and shrugged. "Maybe it's time you do the same."
The Master just…stopped. Martha blinked as she watched his eyes close, almost able to hear his mind working at a very accelerated pace, trying to work everything out. Then, he opened his eyes, and Martha saw a range of emotions darting around inside. Fear, disbelief, shock, puzzlement, terror, confusion, denial, and then…nothing. His eyes became fixed, as if he had resolved his inner conflict, and suddenly, Martha did not know what was going to happen, just for a second. The Master dragged his eyes back up to the Doctor's. Then, he looked at Clara, then Martha, then the Jones' family, and last but not least, Captain Jack. He turned back to the Doctor, gazed at him for a moment before he sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry." He said, and for a second, Martha was deeply surprised…at how genuine it was, but the moment was quickly over as the Master pulled out his re-acquired laser screwdriver from his pocket and pointed it at himself. The moment came so quick, the Doctor drawing in a deep breath, everyone tensing up, Clara about to yell out, "No!" but he had already fired. His body was engulfed in the yellow light, quickly becoming burnt and bruised and cut, a kind of crimson fountain pouring from his head as he screamed and screamed before he shut off the laser beam and his trembling, weak hand dropped the screwdriver to floor, creating a clattering sound upon impact that echoed throughout the deathly silent room. The Master looked up, gave the Doctor a weak smile, then he gave out a groan of pain and collapsed onto his knees as the Doctor raced over and brought him into his arms, lowering him down to the floor, and the Master groaned again from the pain, yet the smile never left his face. "That…hurt." He gasped out with a weak, hoarse voice as Clara moved to stand by them, looking down with a sad face, but deciding to stay back from this.
"When the hell did you get that back?" The Doctor demanded in a pleading voice, and the Master, as best as he could, cocked a single eyebrow.
"…when I t…tried to…run." He gasped out and gave out a little laugh which descended into a hoarse cough that pained everyone's ears to listen to, but they didn't block it out. "D…d…dying in…your arms. H-h…appy n-now?"
"Don't be stupid." The Doctor admonished. "You've survived worse than this, you can still regenerate."
The Master laughed through his clogged throat, closing his eyes for a moment before gazing back up at him. "…no."
"It's just one little laser beam, come on." The Doctor pleaded.
The Master laughed again, managing to shake his head a little before he gave out another cough. "…I g-guess you…don't know m-me so well. I refuse." He managed to add in a clear voice, but it obviously pained him to do so, and he closed his eyes again.
"Regenerate, just regenerate, please. Please!" The Doctor pleaded, his voice growing more desperate as the Master's eyes grew heavier. "Just regenerate, come on!"
"A…and spend…the rest of m…my life imprisoned…at your beck…and call?"
The Doctor shook his head, unable to believe it, small sobs starting to escape from his control. "You've got to, come on. It can't end like this." The Master shook his head again, but the Doctor was urgent. "You and me, remember all the things we've done?" He pleaded again as Martha came to stand on the other side of them, looking down upon the Master's agonized face. "Axons, and the Cybermen, remember them? And the Daleks, and the Daemons?" The Master did not respond, and the Doctor's breathing started to turn sharp and shaky. "We're the only two left. There's no one else. Please. Regenerate!" He added in a scream, but all the Master did was give out a hoarse laugh.
"How about that, huh?" For a second, he opened his eyes and looked up at Martha with that smile and said, "I win." The Master laughed again, his eyes closing before he silenced himself and looked up at the Doctor, and for a second…his eyes became a mirror of the Doctor's own desperate pleading. "Will it stop now, Doctor? The drumming? Will it stop?" The Master's eyes closed, his breathing for a second became desperate, and then it slowed, calming down, his closed eyes becoming lazy, and then…nothing. The Doctor shook him, but still nothing. His hands and his feet became numb, the Doctor desperately feeling for a pulse, almost gasping at feeling something, possibly something, and then, it was gone. The Doctor shook his body, his sobs getting heavier, almost whispering out a cry, but it was in vain. He shook him again, and the cry grew louder, and louder, until the Doctor brought the Master deeper into his arms, buried his face into his shoulder and gave out an agonized wail of despair. The Valiant grew silent around them, the Doctor continuing to cry and curse at the Master's dead body until he had nothing left in him. Clara silently moved over and brought the Doctor into an embrace, no longer giving out any loud sobs and wails, instead just leaning his head on Clara's shoulder as the tears streamed out of his face. Nothing happened for a while, even when U.N.I.T came through, helping Jack and Martha to land the Valiant safely, carefully and meticulously dodging any questions that came their way, rain checking them for another time. It wasn't until night, outside the abandoned Torchwood warehouse they had used a year ago, where the Jones' family, Jack and Martha helped the Doctor and Clara create a bonfire, before swiftly placing the wrapped body of the Master on top. There was a moment of silence that fell, only filled by the sounds of nature, the birds chirping and the crickets minding their own business before the Doctor took a lit torch and set the funeral pyre ablaze. The Doctor then tossed the torch away and started to walk away from the pyre…then he stopped. He stood there, by himself, his hands in his pockets as his long coat swayed in the wind, and he turned back to look at the pyre, saying nothing, for nothing needed to be said at all. Now, after all was said and done, he was the only one left. The last one. The last of the Time Lords.
AN: I should've probably added earlier that it's a bad idea when you're trying to figure out how to adapt a big series finale episode when you're also playing "Death Stranding" at the same time. So, yeah, that's another reason for the wait, because I kept trying to figure out what was happening. I didn't succeed, but that's…something else. So, in the process of writing this, there were a number of ideas and moments that were cut out, including the whole Doctor goes super sayan at the end. Not because it wasn't cool in the episode itself, but because it would not have fit with the story I was telling here. Same goes with Alison "Betraying" Martha, Tom getting killed, the whole spreading hope thing to connect it to the Archangel Network, and the Doctor leading a revolt on the Valiant that fails and causes him to turn into Baby Yoda's demented, long lost cousin. Also, if you were a little confused on the music selections…
I'll Keep Coming – Low Roar
Road to Nowhere – Rachel Keller (FX's Legion)
Starman - …you know who did this.
I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire – The Ink Spots
Holding Out for a Hero – Jennifer Saunders (Shrek 2)
Also, just in case you were a little confused, there will be another chapter after this called, "Last of the Time Lords" and it will essentially be an aftermath chapter, and will (Hopefully) lead into the next bit of the story I want to tell, which…is the Doctor admitting a long awaited secret to Clara before they take their final step. But we'll get to that one eventually. Also, just before I go, one of the reviews that was posted in my…*coughs*…absence was from "Koschei" asking about an approximate ETA. That is an idea I might start employing for all future chapters, (Just in case this sort of long wait happens again), so, when the next chapter's writing stage is either finished or nearly finished, I will update the most recent chapter with an extra author's note at the end, letting you know the status of the next one and when it will hopefully come out (As long as life doesn't get in the way…again). So either way, I do apologize for the long wait, but I hope it was all worth it. Thank you so much for reading and please leave a review if you wish. :)