Time is Still A-Flying

by chocolatequeen

Part 3 of Being to Timelessness. With a bond and a promise of forever, the Doctor and Rose have managed to escape the trap set for them in Torchwood, but Time is not yet done with them. The Master is still in London and Election Day draws ever closer. He's tried to separate them once; will they survive a second attempt? Sequel to To Make Much of Time

46. Back to the Beginning

Chapter 46: Back to the Beginning

Martha took a deep breath and started to explain, not looking away from the creature in the sphere. "I'd sort of worked it out with the paradox machine, because the Doctor said, on the day before the Master came to power, he said he'd made it so his ship could only travel between London, 2008, and the year one hundred trillion. The Master had the TARDIS, this time machine, but the only other place he could go was the end of the universe, so he found Utopia."

"Utopia isn't a real place," Professor Docherty said.

"The Utopia Project was the last hope." Martha looked up at Professor Docherty and Tom. "Trying to find a way to escape the end of everything."

"There was no solution, no diamonds." All three of them looked back at the sphere. "Just the dark and the cold. But then the Master came with his wonderful time machine to bring us back home."

"But that's a paradox," Professor Docherty said. "If you're the future of the human race, and you've come back to murder your ancestors, you should cancel yourselves out. You shouldn't exist."

"And that's the paradox machine," Martha said matter-of-factly.

"But what about us?" asked Tom. "We're the same species. Why do you kill so many of us?"

"Because it's fun!" The former human cackled madly.

Tom took half a step back, pulled out his weapon, and shot the face.

oOoOoOoOo

The Master sat down and leaned back in his chair, tilting his head back to he could keep eye contact with the Doctor. "I took Lucy to Utopia. A Time Lord and his human companion. I took her to see the stars. Isn't that right, sweetheart?"

Lucy swayed on her feet. "Trillions of years into the future, to the end of the universe."

"Tell him what you saw," the Master ordered quietly.

"Dying. Everything dying."

The hair on the back of the Doctor's neck stood up at the flat affect in Lucy's voice. Even talking about the end of the universe and the death of creation didn't elicit an emotional reaction from her.

Lucy stared at a point on the wall somewhere to the right of his shoulder. "The whole of creation was falling apart, and I thought, there's no point. No point to anything. Not ever."

The Master levelled a gaze at the Doctor. "And it's all your fault."

For once, the Doctor didn't flinch at the accusation. So many things were his fault, but not this. He'd helped Professor Yana get the footprint engines working. He'd sent humanity to Utopia. If they'd been left to wander aimlessly instead, he knew exactly where that blame lay.

"You should have seen it, Doctor," the Master said. "Furnaces burning. The last of humanity screaming at the dark."

And of course it didn't occur to you to offer help.

"All that human invention that had sustained them across the eons. It all turned inwards. They cannibalised themselves."

"We made ourselves so pretty," the sphere said in a young child's voice.

The Master nodded slightly. "Regressing into children. But it didn't work. The universe was collapsing around them."

"You shouldn't have done it, Master," the Doctor said harshly, shifting his arms so the chains rattled a bit. "If you weren't going to help them, you should have left them there, rather than cause a paradox by bringing them back here."

"Oh, but that's where the paradox machine comes in. My masterpiece, Doctor," he said, his eyes glittering with madness and pride. "A living TARDIS, strong enough to hold the paradox in place, allowing the past and the future to collide in infinite majesty."

The Doctor let his head thunk back against the wall, frustrated by the illogic of the Master's actions. "But you're changing history. Not just Earth, the entire universe." The warped timelines made the Doctor ill, and he wondered how the Master could stand it.

"I'm a Time Lord," the Master said coldly. "I have that right."

The Doctor looked at the sphere. "But even then, why come all this way just to destroy?"

Lights flashed on the sphere. "We come backwards in time, all to builda brand new empire lasting one hundred trillion years."

"With me as their Master." The Master was trying to keep a straight face, but a smirk kept peeking out. "Time Lord and humans combined. Haven't you always dreamt of that, Doctor?" He chuckled. "Oh, but of course you have—you don't need to look any farther than your precious wife to see how much you loved the idea of Time Lords and humans mixing together."

The Doctor's fingers twitched, but with his arms chained above his head like this, he couldn't clench them into fists. He had to settle for pressing his lips into a thin line and glaring at the Master.

The Master pushed his chair back and walked towards the Doctor. "I think I prefer my way of blending with humanity," he whispered in the Doctor's ear before turning towards the door.

"Take him back to his room for the night," he ordered the guards as he left the flight deck.

Lucy looked at the Doctor, an unspoken plea in her eyes, before she followed the Master.

oOoOoOoOo

Professor Docherty blew out a loud breath. "Let's go someplace more comfortable." She led the way through the facility to a small room, furnished with not much more than a bed and an armchair.

Martha clenched her fists and then forced herself to relax. The hardest part was here—lying to a woman who'd done nothing wrong, save wanting to protect her son.

"Can I get you anything?" Docherty asked, gesturing to the small kitchenette. "I'm afraid I don't have much, just cheap tea and instant coffee."

Martha sank down onto the bed. "I'm fine."

"I'll take coffee," Tom said.

They waited for the kettle to boil, then, once Tom and Professor Docherty both had their drinks, the professor settled down in the armchair and said, "I think it's time we had the truth, Miss Jones. The legend says you've travelled the world to find a way of killing the Master. Tell us, is it true?"

Martha spoke without looking at her. "Just before I escaped, the Doctor told me how to do it."

Those words electrified her audience. They started talking over the top of each other, asking how it could be done, and why she hadn't done it yet.

"Hang on." Martha stood up and carried her pack over to the kitchen counter. She pulled out the small case that held the decoy weapon. "The Doctor and the Master, they've been coming to Earth for years. And they've been watched. There's UNIT and Torchwood, all studying Time Lords in secret. And they made this, the ultimate defence."

She flipped the case open, letting them see the gun and the three vials.

Tom frowned when he saw the complicated weapon. "All you need to do is get close. I can shoot the Master dead with this." He held his gun out.

The professor put a hand on his arm and forced him to lower the weapon. "Actually, you can put that down now, thank you very much."

Martha didn't look at either of them. "Point is, it's not so easy to kill a Time Lord. They can regenerate. Literally bring themselves back to life."

"Ah, the Master's immortal. Wonderful," Professor Docherty said sarcastically.

"Except for this." Martha lifted the gun and blue vial out of the case. "Four chemicals, slotted into the gun. Inject him. Kills a Time Lord permanently." She smiled at Tom as she set the vial down.

"Four chemicals?" he repeated, taking the vials from the case. "You've only got three." He held them up.

Martha nodded. "Still need the last one, because the components of this gun were kept safe, scattered across the world, and I found them." She took the vials from him and put them away, along with the gun, then closed the case. "San Diego, Beijing, Budapest, and London."

"Then where is it?" he asked.

"There's an old UNIT base, North London. I've found the access codes. Tom, you've got to get me there."

"Well, let's get going then." Tom downed the last of his coffee and set the mug down with a hard thud, then led the way back to the workshop.

"We can't get across London in the dark." Tom and Martha grabbed their coats from the desk where they'd left them. "It's full of wild dogs. We'll get eaten alive. We can wait till the morning, then go with the medical convoy."

"You can spend the night here, if you like."

Martha tried not to wince at the professor's offer. It made her a little sick to think she'd gladly take her up on it if she didn't know the other woman was a collaborator.

Tom answered for her. "No, we can get halfway, stay at the slave quarters in Bexley."

Martha marvelled at the smooth way he passed the information.

He took the professor's hand and shook it firmly. "Professor, thank you."

Professor Docherty smiled up at him. "And you. Good luck."

"Thanks." On impulse, Martha leaned in and pressed a kiss to the woman's cheek—a hint of affection she suspected the professor needed. Then she followed Tom, but Docherty's voice stopped her at the door.

"Martha, could you do it?" Professor Docherty asked. "Could you actually kill him?"

Martha looked back at her. "I've got no choice."

"You might be many things, but you don't look like a killer to me."

Rather than answer, Martha turned on her heel and walked past Tom, through the doors. He caught up with her at the lorry but didn't say a word until they were miles away from the shipyard.

Then he laid a hand on her arm, and when she looked up at him, he simply said, "Good work."

oOoOoOoOo

Dodging the guards patrolling near the slave quarters was old hat to Martha, after a year of travelling and avoiding the Master's minions. Tom led them to a mustard-coloured building and tapped lightly on the door.

"Let me in. It's Milligan." The door swung open almost immediately, and they quickly stepped inside before the guards could spot them.

Martha's eyes swept over the cramped quarters, taking in the people lined up in the hallway, sitting on the stairs, finding a little bit of space to call their own, no matter how small it was. When she considered that this was what humanity had been reduced to, she thought that yes, she could kill the Master if the Doctor asked her to do it.

"Did you bring food?" a woman asked, hunger showing in the gaunt lines of her body.

"Couldn't get any, and I'm starving," Tom said.

"All we've got is water."

Martha met the woman's eyes. She'd thought Hooverville had taught her what poverty was, but it was nothing compared to this. That had been awful, but it was only a percentage of the population, and the world had come back from the bleakness of the Depression.

This… this was everyone, everywhere she went. No matter what colour their skin or what their social status had been before, everyone on the entire planet had been reduced to slavery, serving at the whim of the Master. In her darkest moments, Martha wondered if the Doctor had a clue what he was dealing with. What good could a story do when people were literally starving to death?

Tom led her deeper into the house, and Martha inevitably stepped on toes as she shouldered her way through. "I'm sorry."

"It's cheaper than building barracks," he told her when they got to what would have been the living room. "Pack them in, a hundred in each house, ferry them off to the shipyards every morning."

"Are you Martha Jones?"

Martha turned around and looked at a young man, maybe sixteen. "Yeah, that's me."

"Can you do it? Can you kill him?" His words came faster and faster, spurred on by desperation. "They said you can kill the Master, can you? Tell us you can do it. Please, tell us you can do it."

"Who is the Master?" another voice asked, and then everyone started talking at once. It was a familiar scene to Martha, but that didn't make it any less overwhelming.

Tom's voice carried above the din. "Come on, just leave her alone. She's exhausted."

"No, it's all right." Martha took a deep breath and shoved her own doubts back down where she'd kept them hidden for twelve months. "They want me to talk, and I will."

oOoOoOoOo

In his room, the Doctor lay stretched out on his back with his hands folded on his stomach so he could rest his shoulders. They were so close, so very close to finally being able to stop the Master.

He tried to go over the details for the next day, but he couldn't get past the knowledge that by this time tomorrow, he would have Rose back.

His eyes shut and he imagined her as he'd seen her on the floor of that warehouse, her blonde hair fanned out across the makeshift pillow he'd created by folding his coat up, the love tinged with desperation in her eyes, the gentle touch of her hand running down his arm.

The Doctor clenched his hands into fists and rubbed them at his eyes. Blimey, he missed her.

He'd known, on a purely academic level, that losing the full marriage bond would be far worse than what he'd experienced for those twelve hours after Canary Wharf. Practically, he hadn't had a clue how agonising it would be.

And he'd missed her before the Master found a way to completely suppress their bond. Her voice, the way she'd look at him when she thought he was being exceptionally daft, the sound of her laughter when he made her happy.

Less than twenty-four hours, he reminded himself, grabbing onto the slender thread of sanity that thought promised.

The door slid open, letting light filter in from the corridor. The Doctor refused to look, but he heard footsteps and a moment later, the Master was looking down at him, dressed in his suit even though it was the middle of the night.

"Guess what?" he asked gleefully. The Doctor raised an eyebrow, and the Master laughed—almost giggled. "I'm off on a retrieval mission. I was just told where I could find the faithful Martha Jones."

The Doctor kept a stoic mask over his face. He hadn't even considered how Martha would get back to the Valiant. He was fairly certain he'd told her that she needed to be on the ship when the paradox reversed—he had, hadn't he?—but he'd left the how up to her.

"Your little plan has failed, Doctor."

The Doctor looked at him in bemusement, and the Master laughed.

"A gun in four parts? I'm almost impressed. But no matter. It'll all be taken care of tonight, and tomorrow, the war begins."

oOoOoOoOo

Martha sat down in the narrow stairway, and the downtrodden citizens of London gathered around her. "I travelled across the world," she began, thinking about her year, "from the ruins of New York to the fusion mills of China, right across the radiation pits of Europe. And everywhere I went, I saw people just like you, living as slaves."

She looked around at her audience as she spoke, but there was almost no reaction. Tired, empty eyes looked back at her, and she wanted to cry when she remembered the fire people had still possessed when she had visited France.

"But if Martha Jones became a legend, then that's wrong, because my name isn't important. There's someone else. The man who sent me out there. The man who told me to walk the Earth. And his name is the Doctor. He has saved your lives so many times, and you never even knew he was there. He never stops. He never stays. He never asks to be thanked. But I've seen him. I know him." She looked slowly around the room, and a faint light of hope shone in a few eyes. "And I know what he can do."

There was a commotion in the front of the house, and a bedraggled woman pushed her way through the crowd. "It's him! It's him! Oh my God, it's him! It's the Master. He's here."

Even though this was part of her plan, Martha still couldn't stop the instinctive recoil. Her reaction was nothing compared to the panic of the slaves though.

"But he never comes to Earth," said the teen who'd asked if she could kill him. "He never walks upon the ground."

"Hide her!" the woman said, pointing at Martha.

Tom tossed a jacket over the top of the crowd. "Use this."

Martha allowed herself to be hidden for the moment. From beneath the jacket, she heard someone cock a weapon and guessed that was probably Tom—it seemed unlikely that anyone who lived in these slave quarters would own a weapon.

"He walks among us, our lord and Master," the boy said, his voice awed.

"Martha. Martha Jones," a familiar voice sang out. "I can see you! Out you come, little girl. Come and meet your Master."

The inhabitants of the house all quivered in fear, and Martha gathered up her courage for what she knew she needed to do. The hardest part, honestly, would be convincing these people to let her go to him.

Apparently, she took a little too long thinking about that, because the Master started talking again. "Anybody? Nobody? No? Nothing? Positions. I'll give the order unless you surrender. Ask yourself: what would the Doctor do?"

That was the cue she'd been waiting for. There was only one thing the Doctor would do in this situation, and the Master knew it as well as she did.

Martha fumbled with her key, nerves making her clumsy, but she finally managed to take it off. Once it was tucked away into her pocket, she pushed the jacket back, stood up, and made her way down the stairs.

Tom looked at her uncomprehendingly when she put a hand on his gun and gently pushed it out of the way. She held his gaze, hoping he at least would understand that this was all part of the plan. She saw when it clicked, and he stepped out of her way so she could exit the house.

The Master started clapping when he saw her. "Oh, yes. Oh, very well done. Good girl. He trained you well." He grinned, clearly expecting a response.

When she refused to give it to him, his fake approval disappeared and he reached into his coat. "Bag. Give me the bag." Martha took another step towards him. "No, stay there. Just throw it."

Martha took her backpack off and threw it towards the Master, hoping she looked reluctant and resentful enough as she did it. A single shot of the laser screwdriver was all it took to set the bag and its contents on fire.

"And now, good companion, your work is done."

She didn't have time to react to the screwdriver being pointed at her before a voice distracted them both. "No!"

Martha turned in time to watch the Master fire the laser screwdriver at Tom, instead of her. She watched in horror. Tom hadn't known what she had, that the Master wouldn't kill her down here because he'd want the Doctor to watch. And because he hadn't known, he'd died.

The Master laughed. "But you, when you die, the Doctor should be witness, hmm? Almost dawn, Martha, and planet Earth marches to war."

oOoOoOoOo

At half seven the next morning, the Doctor was pulled from his room by two guards and chained back to the wall in the flight deck. He had plenty of company; Martha's family and Jack were all escorted in and held at gunpoint.

The Master stood at the head of the conference table and clasped his hands together. "The day has finally arrived. Today, the rockets launch and the spheres fly, and the new Time Lord Empire will begin. And you—the Doctor and his associates—will get to witness it first hand."

Lucy sat at the table, wearing the same red formal dress she'd worn the day before. Her vacant smile concerned the Doctor, but it seemed to please her husband, who cooed at her, then offered her a hand and led her to the bridge.

At 07:55, he picked up the horn, then looked down at the Doctor. "Are you ready, Doctor? You are about to discover why they call me the Master."

Only a master of evil, Darth. The quote almost spilled from the Doctor's lips, but he managed to hold it back. Not that the Master would have heard it, since he turned the comm on and broadcast a general announcement to the planet.

"Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe."

The doors opened, and two more guards shoved Martha into the room. She glanced over at her family, then at Jack, and finally at the Doctor as she walked slowly towards the Master. The sympathy in her eyes suggested she'd heard about Rose.

The Master held his hand out. "Your teleport device, in case you thought I'd forgotten."

Martha took the Vortex manipulator from her cargo pockets and tossed it to the Master, who caught it handily.

The Master started to speak, then looked as if he'd just remembered something. "Oh, but wait," he said. "There's someone else I want to witness this moment." He nodded to the guard by the door, and Rose was led into the room.

The Doctor's gaze swept over Rose, taking in the minor changes to her appearance. Her light brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail that was still blonde where the ends brushed against her back. Her face was a little thinner and there were circles under her eyes, but all of that was forgotten when he looked in her brown eyes and saw the familiar love shining out at him.

"I'm afraid I wasn't quite honest," the Master said. "I didn't actually kill Rose Tyler; I simply fitted her with a telepathic dampening field that has made her… unreachable."

The Doctor noticed the choker she wore then. His hands clenched into fists when he spotted the little flashing light—of course the Master had booby-trapped the device he'd used to suppress their bond; Rose would have just taken it off, otherwise. But that thought opened the door on all the possibilities he tried not to think about, possibilities of what the Master might have done to her in the last five months.

It was so tempting to reach for her telepathically, to ask her if she was truly as okay as she appeared to be. But he couldn't afford to be incapacitated by a migraine today, so he locked that impulse down as tightly as he could. In less than an hour, this entire year would be rewritten. Then, hopefully, he could get that collar off of her and their bond would come back. He could wait an hour.

Rose tilted her head as she returned his rapid assessment. When her gaze reached his clenched fists, the slight furrow on her forehead smoothed away, and he realised his tenseness had confused her. Her eyes returned to his, and the smile on her face eased his fears—for the moment, at least. The Doctor grinned back and wiggled his fingers in greeting.

The entire exchange took less than a minute, but apparently that was too long for the Master's liking. "Do you mind?" he said. "This is supposed to be my moment of triumph, and your smiling is ruining it."

Rose snorted and looked back at the Master, and he motioned for her to stand by Martha. "And now, kneel." The women obeyed, but while Martha took a subservient posture with her head bowed, Rose tossed her ponytail back over her shoulder and looked the Master in the eye.

The Master clenched his jaw. "Feisty to the last, Miss Tyler."

"Never take your eyes off a snake, Harry."

The Doctor tapped his knuckles against the wall behind him. That two-line exchange had the dual effect of making him ridiculously proud of his bond mate, and bringing back all his fears about what the last year had been like for her.

The Master tossed his screwdriver in the air and caught it without looking. "Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe." He tapped a button on the comms. "Are we ready?"

"The fleet awaits your signal," a man answered. "Rejoice!"

"Three minutes to align the black hole converters." The Master pushed a button on his watch, and the digital display on the wall started ticking down the seconds. "Counting down. I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?" he asked the spheres.

Billions of voices answered in unison. "We will fly and blaze and slice. We will fly and blaze and slice."

"At zero, to mark this day, Martha Jones and Rose Tyler will die."

"Like hell they will," the Doctor growled. He tugged uselessly on his chains, heedless of anything but the overpowering fear of losing Rose again.

The Master raised an eyebrow and laughed at him. "How exactly do you plan to stop me, Doctor? Your hands are tied at the moment, quite literally."

The Master's goading reminded the Doctor of his plan. He relaxed back against the wall and took a few breaths, managing to slow his heart rates back to normal.

Confusion crossed the Master's face, but after a moment, he shrugged and looked at Martha and Rose again. He pointed the screwdriver at them. "Bow your heads."

Rose and Martha bowed their heads, but the Doctor saw faint smiles on both of their faces.

"And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward—"

Martha laughed quietly, but it caught the Master's attention. "What?" he demanded. "What's so funny?"

Martha and Rose both looked up at him. "A gun," Martha said incredulously.

The Master shrugged. "What about it?"

"A gun in four parts?"

The Doctor had been baffled by this reference the night before, until he realised this must have been the cover story Martha devised to explain why she was travelling around the world.

A hint of understanding crossed Rose's face, and she grinned at the Master, which only drove him crazier.

"Yes, and I destroyed it."

The clock kept ticking, and the Doctor felt a faint buzz of energy over his skin as people started a little early.

"A gun in four parts scattered across the world?" Martha said. "I mean, come on, did you really believe that?"

The Master blinked. "What do you mean?"

"As if he would ask her to kill," Rose said derisively. "Really, Harry."

The Master looked over at the Doctor, then back at Rose and Martha. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. I've got you all exactly where I want you."

"But I knew what Professor Docherty would do," Martha told him. "The Resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun, so she'd get me here at the right time."

"Oh, but you're still going to die," the Master insisted, holding onto the control he thought he had over the situation.

"Don't you want to know what I was doing, travelling the world?" asked Martha.

The Master heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Tell me," he said and flopped down on the steps.

Watching his companion face the Master with conviction and confidence in her voice filled the Doctor with pride. After a year of telling his story everywhere she went, this time, she told her own.

"I told a story, that's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went, I found the people, and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor. And I told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."

The Master leaned forward. "Faith and hope? Is that all?"

"No, because I gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said." Martha stood up, and Rose followed her lead. Around them, the atmosphere in the room was electric. "I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time—"

"Nothing will happen," the Master interrupted as he got to his feet. "Is that your weapon? Prayer?"

Martha continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "Right across the world, one word, just one thought at one moment but with fifteen satellites."

The dawning comprehension on the Master's face was almost amusing. "What?"

"The Archangel Network," Jack said, and it didn't surprise the Doctor that he'd figured out part of the plan.

Martha wrapped up her explanation. "A telepathic field binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word is 'Doctor.'"

The shackles on the Doctor's wrists and ankles glowed white, but they didn't burn him. He held the Master's gaze while he waited for the chains to dissolve.

"Stop it," the Master ordered. "No, no, no, no, you don't."

Everyone in the room, except for the guards, was whispering his name. Even Rose, whose special collar didn't allow her to connect to the satellites.

"Don't," the Master ordered uselessly. Everyone continued to whisper the Doctor's name, but the Master ignored them, staring at the Doctor instead as he jumped around the bridge. "Stop this right now. Stop it!"

"I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices," the Doctor said as his right hand became free.

"I order you to stop!"

The Doctor's other hand was free now, and the psychic energy of four billion people all thinking his name at once had created a force shield around him. "The one thing you can't do. Stop them thinking."

The shackles on his ankles dissolved, and the chains clanked to the floor. The energy swirling around the Doctor raised him up to the level of the bridge, and he looked the Master straight in the eye.

"Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this."

"No!" The Master fired his laser screwdriver at the Doctor, but the psychic energy still protected him.

What was more, the interference with Archangel broke the last telepathic hold the Master had on the people. As the Doctor had planned a year ago, everyone in the room could see the Master as he really was. Rose looked around the room and saw guards lowering their weapons when they realised who they'd been working for.

"I'm afraid your reign is over, Master," the Doctor said as he hovered in mid-air.

"Then I'll kill her for real this time." The Master pointed his laser screwdriver at Rose.

The Doctor's lips curled back in a snarl, and the feral growl that escaped through his bared teeth sent a shiver down Rose's back. Looking at him now, she could understand why Lucy's fear had outweighed her self-preservation enough to risk telling him that Rose was alive.

He stretched his hand out, and the screwdriver flew out of the Master's hand.

"You can't do this." The Master shoved his hands through his hair as he stumbled down the stairs to the far side of the bridge. "You can't do it. It's not fair!"

"Fair?" The Doctor barked out a laugh, his eyes still wild. "When have you ever cared about fairness? Specifically, what in the last two and a half years did you do because it was fair?"

The energy around him carried him towards the Master, dropping him down gently on the other side of the flight deck, where the Master cowered against the bulkhead.

"Was it fair to delete the flight plan from the rocket bound to Utopia and then use those poor people's broken minds for your own twisted purpose? Or to brainwash the people of Great Britain into voting for you for Prime Minister, only to enslave them, along with the rest of humanity?"

The Doctor's voice was getting louder with every word. Rose stepped around Martha to stand beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, hoping to calm him. It was hard, without the bond, but finally, she felt him take a deep breath.

His calm was an illusion, though. A moment later, he crouched down and spat the next sentence out in the Master's face. "Was it fair to make me think you'd killed my wife, to make us both suffer the pain of a broken marriage bond?"

"My children," the Master whispered.

The Doctor leapt to his feet. "Captain, the paradox machine!" he ordered Jack.

"You men, with me!" Jack ordered, pointing to Greg and another guard. "You stay here," he told the rest as they ran from the room.

Rose watched the Master carefully as he glared at the Doctor's back. He'd forgotten she was there, which meant he didn't bother to conceal his motions when he reached into his jacket pocket to retrieve the Vortex manipulator.

Her muscles had lost their tone after a year without exercise, and her body was weak following five months of contending with the huon particles. However, the element of surprise made up for the strength she lacked when she kicked the Vortex manipulator out of his hands.

"Leaving so soon, Harry?" she said sweetly. "But you were the one who invited us here!"

The Doctor, who'd spun back around when he heard the Vortex manipulator skitter across the deck, smiled brilliantly at her.

"I'm afraid, Master," he said nonchalantly, "that you've fallen victim to one of the classic blunders." Rose snorted at the reference. "Never underestimate Rose Tyler."

"Oh, but I've got this." The Master straightened and took off his watch. "Black hole converter inside every ship. If I can't have this world, Doctor, then neither can you. We shall fly above this Earth together and watch it burn below us."

Alarms sounded around the ship, and Martha flew up to the bridge and checked the displays. "We have all six billion spheres heading right for us!"

Getting rid of the paradox machine would take care of them, though, so the three Time Lords ignored her.

The Doctor shook his head at the Master. "Weapon after weapon after weapon. All you do is talk and talk and talk."

The Master slumped, the hand holding the watch falling limply at his side. Rose watched as the Doctor took slow steps towards him, talking all the while.

"But over all these years and all these disasters, I've always had the greatest secret of them all. I know you. Explode those ships, you kill yourself. That's the one thing you can never do." The Doctor held his hand out. "Give that to me."

The Master looked down at the device, then handed it over to the Doctor, who took it from him just before the ship started shaking violently.

"Everyone get down!" he ordered. "Time is reversing!"

Rose lost her footing, but the Doctor caught her before she could hit the ground. He pulled them both to the deck and curled himself around her protectively.

"I love you," the Doctor breathed in her ear as the ship rocked back and forth.

Rose looked up at him, hardly able to believe he was right there with her. "I love you, too. Finish this up so you can fix this, yeah?" she said pointing at her neck.

The Doctor scowled at the collar, and Rose laced her fingers through his and brought his hand to her mouth to kiss his knuckles. "You can take care of it, right?"

His scowl melted away, and he brushed her hair back over her ear. "Oh, yes," he promised.

Wind picked up inside the ship—not something you see every day. Rose's time senses went hazy as her limited knowledge of history from the last year was archived, for lack of a better way to put it. Japan and those other things… had never happened.

The events in her own life remained crystal clear, however, and Rose pressed her lips into a thin line. It would have been nice to only have vague memories of the year on the Valiant, of meeting the Master and losing her bond to the Doctor.

The shaking stopped abruptly, and the Doctor looked around carefully, making sure that was the last of it. Then he realised his time senses answered that for him—they were back to where they'd started.

He stood up carefully, then helped Rose up once he was certain the turbulence was over. He hugged her quickly before taking the stairs to the bridge two at a time. "The paradox is broken," he said as he checked the controls. "We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning."

He moved to the comms station and turned the horn on. "This is UNIT Central. What's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated."

The Doctor nodded; as he'd expected. "Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was."

"What about the spheres?" Martha asked.

The Doctor kept his gaze fixed on the Master, who was trying to get to his feet and looking a little shaky. "Trapped at the end of the universe," he said, in answer to Martha's question.

"But I can remember it," Francine protested, confusion and bitterness colouring her words.

The Doctor turned to look at her as he offered his explanation. "We're at the eye of the storm. The only ones who'll ever know."

They all heard a loud thud, followed by a groan. The Doctor turned around and grinned when he saw Rose standing over the Master, who lay splayed out on the floor.

"Come on, Harry," she taunted. "How many times are we going to do this bit where you try to run away and I stop you?" She looked at the guards by the door. "Cuffs," she demanded.

Jack walked in just as she flipped the Master over onto his stomach and cuffed his hands behind his back. "Oh, I see how it is," he complained. "You send me to take care of the paradox machine so you can play with handcuffs."

"Jack." To the Doctor's delight, Rose chastised their friend along with him.

"Right. Sorry." Jack looked at the Time Lord now sitting inelegantly with his back against the ship's hull and yanked him to his feet. "So, what do we do with this one?"

Behind him, the Jones family spoke up quickly, but their answers weren't acceptable. "We kill him," Clive said first.

"We execute him," Tish agreed.

The Doctor knew he was supposed to tell them they couldn't do that, but looking down at the smirk on the Master's face, he couldn't force the words past his lips. This was the man who had killed Rose—no, not killed her, just let him think she was dead. And who knows what he's done to her since then?

He opened his mouth, but his anger made his throat close up, and even though he moved his lips, no words came out.

In the end, it was Rose who said, "No, that's not the solution."

Then what is the solution, Rose? The demand was on the tip of his tongue, and he barely choked it back.

All questions were deferred when he heard the distinctive sound of a gun's safety being removed. He looked down from the bridge and saw Francine holding a gun on the Master.

"Oh, I think so." Her hands shook slightly, and she took a shuddering breath.

In his peripheral vision, the Doctor spotted Rose moving slowly towards Francine. He tried to catch her eye, to convince her to let him approach the hysterical woman, but she didn't look at him once. Afraid of what Francine would do if she heard two sets of footsteps moving her way, he was forced to watch instead.

"Because all those things, they still happened because of him." Francine's voice wavered. "I saw them."

Madness glinted in the Master's eyes. "Go on. Do it."

Rose's quiet voice broke the tableau. "Francine, you're better than him."

Francine pressed her lips together, but she couldn't restrain a strangled sob. Rose reached for her slowly, pushing her hands down and knocking the gun to the floor.

Martha shoved past the Doctor to reach her mum, and Rose let her take over comforting Francine.

The Doctor released a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, and his knees went weak for a moment. He suspected he would be even more protective of Rose than usual for a while, until he got past the constant fear of losing her again. Rose smiled up at him, and he nodded slightly.

"You still haven't answered the question," the Master pointed out, interrupting their silent conversation. "What happens to me?"

The Doctor left the bridge. "I'm sure UNIT has a nice cell someplace where they can keep you, until your regenerations run out." He crossed his arms and stared at the Master. "Their headquarters are located in the Tower of London, after all."

"You're just going to… lock me up?" the Master stammered, his nose wrinkled in disgust.

"What did you expect, Master?" the Doctor snapped. "An open hand and a welcome onto my ship, when you killed my wife?" He took a deep breath. "I won't let you die when you're the only other Gallifreyan in existence, but that doesn't mean I have to let you be part of our life."

The Master smirked. "That's the only thing keeping you from doing it, isn't it, Doctor?" He tipped his head back insolently. "You would kill me yourself for what I did to your precious Rose, if it wasn't for the fact of my genetic code."

"Oi, all you did was give me a fancy bit of jewellery," Rose retorted. "Quit trying to rile the Doctor up."

The Master's gaze flickered over to Rose, and the Doctor bit back a laugh at the consternation in his eyes. He still didn't speak, though, and the Master's taunt lingered in the air between them, despite Rose's attempt to dispel the tension.

Would he kill the Master, if it wouldn't leave him once again the last of the Time Lords from Gallifrey? All the bitterness he'd kept locked down for the last year swirled through him, and there was a large part of him that wanted to kill the Master anyway.

Rose took his hand, and he jumped a little—it had been a long time since she'd been able to sneak up on him like that. But her hand in his gave him strength, just like it always did. He shook his head. "That's not the way I do things."

The gunshot took them all by surprise. The Doctor looked towards the sound and saw Lucy Saxon, pale, frightened, and angry, holding the gun Francine had discarded. His head swivelled in the opposite direction, just in time to watch the Master slump onto the deck.

"Put it down," Jack ordered Lucy.

The Doctor walked over to the Master and knelt at his side. The Master's face contorted in pain, his mouth working as he gasped for breath. "Always the women."

"I didn't see her," the Doctor said truthfully.

"Are you happy now, Doctor?" The Master grunted. "You can watch me die, and you didn't have to pull the trigger yourself."

The Doctor frowned down at him, a little disturbed by how accurate that was. "You're not dying," he said curtly. "Don't be stupid. It's only a bullet. Just regenerate."

Victory shone in the Master's eyes. "No."

Rose knelt down beside him. "Don't you remember what I told you, Master?" The Master looked at her, but his eyes refused to focus. "It doesn't need to be like this. You could come with us, and maybe eventually the Doctor could find a way to get the drums to stop."

The Doctor bit back a protest. He did not want the Master anywhere near his TARDIS or his Rose.

But the Master didn't seem inclined to take her up on the offer, anyway. "I didn't want to spend the rest of my lives tied to you before; what makes you think I've changed my mind?"

"It's only the two of you left, though," Rose argued. "He's got me, but the two of you have known each other for so long."

The Master's lips twisted into a pained, vindictive smile. "How about that? I win." He grunted, and swallowed hard. "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?" He drew one last rasping breath, then his eyes closed.

The Doctor stared down at the limp body in his arms. There was a time when the Master had been one of his closest friends, when his death would have sent him into shattering grief. Even a year ago, he would have been devastated to find another Time Lord, only to lose him again. But with Rose beside him and yet not in his head, the only thing the Doctor could think was that the person responsible for all the pain and anguish of the last five months was dead.

Rose wrapped her arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. With the Master's death, the only presence in his head was the weakened TARDIS, and suddenly, the emptiness was unbearable. He had to get them out of here so he could take care of their bond, but they couldn't just disappear—there were things that had to be done first.

The Doctor jumped up, letting the body of his friend-turned-foe slide to the deck. "Captain, have a guard carry the Master's body to the TARDIS infirmary," he ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Jack said as the Doctor raced up the steps to the bridge. He settled in at the comms station and picked up the horn. UNIT was still demanding answers, and the faster they got here to take care of the fallout, the faster he and Rose could go home.