A/N: It's two days late. I'm sorry. I got three hours of sleep the day I planned to put it up. Technically, the chapter never did get five reviews. (The story did though, so I had planned to post anyway.)

For waiting, I give you an extra scene! It's still a short chapter, but there's a little more tension building now. -rubs hands gleefully- And next chapter there'll even be PLOT!

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Martha had just walked out of the TARDIS when the Doctor sensed him.

"No," he whispered, his hand on the control panel. "No, he died. How—?"

He couldn't do this. He couldn't lose the Master, not again. But there it was, that insistent sense of his old enemy. He'd walked through that mind far too often during their Academy days not to recognize it now.

He took a steadying breath. Assuming it was the Master, there were certain precautions he needed to take before he could go get him.

Moving over to the TARDIS controls, he put them on isomorphic control; then he dug out of storage an old tool he'd never had a use for, one that had been forced on him as a necessary tool of the President's office, and put that on isomorphic control too. Finally ready, he headed out, following his sense, praying he wasn't wrong and at the same time, praying he was.

---

Ianto busied himself recording the Himalayan wild goose chase for the archives while they waited.

The Master was sulking at the back of their mind, irritated that Ianto had taken off the TARDIS key. Koschei was nervous, hoping against all hope Theta wouldn't recognize him, even knowing there was no chance of that. Ianto Jones was afraid of nothing except fading from existence, and so distracted himself so completely that he didn't notice the new arrival until he spoke.

"I thought you said you weren't going to regenerate," the Doctor commented from the doorway.

Koschei's breath caught; his childhood friend had never sounded so cold. Ianto's polite words tangled around each other, inadequate for the situation. Half a breath after the Doctor had spoken, the Master turned to face him, smiling his old, cocky smile.

"I did," he answered. "I changed my mind."

The Doctor's expression didn't change. "How did you get here?" he asked.

"Wrong question," the Master scolded. "You should have asked, 'How long have you been here?' or 'How is it I never sensed you before?' You see, I've been here for nearly two decades, and you're only finding me now."

"That's not possible," the Doctor said.

The Master laughed and held up the TARDIS key, swinging it gently back and forth. "Still think it's not possible, Doctor?" he asked mockingly. "You should really keep better track of your things."

The Doctor stepped forward, reaching out. The Master snatched the key back, smiling.

"Where'd you get that?"

"A video store," the Master answered, perfectly honest for once in his life. The Doctor's expression darkened, then cleared as he understood.

"Why'd you take it off?" The million-dollar question. Possible answers, ranging from sarcastic to almost serious, swam through their shared mind. I just missed you so much, Doctor. Believe me, it wasn't my choice. What, not even a hello? I thought you'd be happy to realize I wasn't dead. I liked you better when you didn't notice me, too. But in the end, what came out of their mouth did in the polished toned of Ianto Jones. "The Year that Wasn't just ended; Torchwood has been alerted to my existence. I don't have the patience to hide any longer, or," he admitted reluctantly, "an escape route if they figure it out."

"So you contacted me," the Doctor finished. "Or at least, let me find you."

"Believe me, you wouldn't be my first choice." The Master was back.

"You know I can't let you stay here," the Doctor said as though in warning, as though at this point there could be a warning.

"I was counting on it," they said, and none of them could have been sure who said it.

The Doctor reached into a pocket and pulled out a metal strip. It would have looked innocuous enough to a human, but the Master had to suppress a shudder at the sight of it. Instead he said dryly, "Really, Doctor. Is that necessary?"

"You even need to ask?" The Doctor held out his free hand. "Your wrist." When the Master hesitated, he said very softly, "You're not getting out of here without this on you, Master."

Jack's furious face floated into Ianto's mind, and he held out their left wrist before the Master could stop him. The Doctor snapped the band around their wrist.

"It's on isomorphic control," he said unnecessarily, "tuned to my biosigns. You're stuck with me."

The Master inspected the wristband to avoid looking at the Doctor. The Doctor added, "It's on the lowest setting… for now. The controls are linked to the TARDIS, which, incidentally, is also on isomorphic control."

Lowest setting. So for now, all the wristband would do was tell the Doctor where he was. On the highest setting, it would force him to stay within a designated radius of the Doctor and cause nearly instantaneous death if he left that radius.

"You've changed," the Doctor mused. "You care about these people."

"Believe me, my dear Doctor, nothing could be further from the truth." Nevertheless, the Master looked at the security camera feeds and stood. "We should go," he pointed to one of the monitors. "Gwen's coming."

The Doctor nodded and motioned to the door. "After you."

---

"Ianto?" Gwen asked as she entered the office in the front of the Hub. "Ianto, Jack just got back—Ianto?"

Whether by luck or by some trick of the TARDIS key's removal, her eyes landed almost immediately on the security camera display showing their former archivist leaving with a very strange man in an even stranger police box.

"Jack!" she yelled. "Jack, come in here!"

Jack was there in under five seconds, as alert as if he was about to charge into battle. Feeling slightly guilty for alarming him so badly, Gwen pointed at the screen. Jack looked just in time to catch the last glimpse of the police box, and rewound the tape to the point where Ianto and the man exited the Hub before hitting play, allowing Gwen to see occasional glints of light coming off something on Ianto's wrist.

A rapid-fire series of emotions played across Jack's face like a fireworks display: shock, confusion, disbelief, horror, betrayal, vulnerability, regret, disgust. Finally anger rose to cover them all, like a cloud of smoke from a forest fire rising to block Gwen's view of the light show.

Jack tapped the computer, activating the comm system. "Tosh, run a background check on Ianto for me."

Tosh sounded confused. "On Ianto? Why?"

"I'll tell you if anything comes up."

The sound of tapping on a keyboard was already coming over the comm. "Anything in particular I should be looking for?"

"Anything," Jack said. Then he added, "Name changes," and wouldn't say more.

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A/N: If it seems unlikely for Jack to figure things out that quickly… I had the reasoning all worked out in my head, but with the scene being in Gwen's POV, it didn't seem to fit in. I'll try to have a Jack-scene in a later chapter to explain, but if you'd like the reasoning now, I'd be happy to oblige. Which seems like a perfect segue to say…

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