Abel shouted audibly as his communicator greeted him with static, "Martha! Martha!"
The Doctor quickly rushed into the room noticing Abel's response. As much as he knew he had to stop Abel from ending the world he had to begrudging accept that the man had feelings for Martha. Something had definitely gone wrong and because of Abel's reaction he was doubly concerned.
As soon as Abel caught the Doctor's eyes he looked away. "I… I killed her."
Unfortunately, the Doctor was not ready to forgive this man in the slightest. "You sent her into a battle she couldn't win. Martha, you sent Martha into this war!" There was no chance. Martha couldn't be really dead. He had to know because all this death was really beginning to hit home.
"She crashed, Doctor. The whole Dalek fleet, gone too!"
"It's all your fault, Abel! You with your dramatic plans to take over the universe. See where it gets you? You're just like the rest of them and then you take away the ones that I hold dear with you every bloody time!"
"I'm sorry, Doctor. She… she was the only one I couldn't let… She's the only one I couldn't spare."
"But you'll spare me? You'll spare Rose? You'll spare all your bloody soldiers and Daleks too? All for dominance? What does that bloody make you?"
"I was sure it'd be easy. There's no way the Sirians could have that technology."
"Do you know exactly what is in that citadel, Abel?"
"Caan tells me it's the key to everything."
The Doctor sighed. He knew exactly what was in there. "That's because it is."
Back in the TARDIS, Rose was beginning to finish up her work. Tears flirted in her eyes to fall as she stared at the walls around her. This might be the last time she set foot in the TARDIS as the ship seamed to hum emotions in response at her. Rose knew the TARDIS was alive and her relationship with the ship was indescribable. They had been one being at one time called the Bad Wolf and just like the other they would give their life up in a heartbeat if it meant saving their Doctor. Rose knew what she needed to do. It was time to march into battle herself.
Rose pressed a button on the console that the Doctor had once shared with her as a communication device and announced with as much strength as she could muster, "Ship is all plugged in, Doctor."
"Rose… Rose, Martha is. I mean, Martha, we…"
"What?"
"Martha just cra…" Suddenly, the Doctor's voice went up a level in excitement. "Crazely unbelievable! Don't worry about anything at all she's fine!"
Rose was utterly confused. "We knew that didn't we? Anyway, I'm ready when you are."
The Doctor barely heard her as he watched a nearby screen showing a blip back on the screen representing an alive Martha. With not even a thought he reached happily and hugged his enemy Abel with wonderful delight.
The Doctor spoke into a nearby communicator. "Martha! You're alright! You brilliant little women, you!"
Martha answered back with a playful confidence, "Course I am! Bit trashed about and a hard fall, but back up again. I'm ready for you to let me in."
The Doctor's playful demeanor was suddenly gone. "Only I won't. Don't go in there, Martha."
"But, Doctor. The Time Lords. What about the mystery?"
"The single greatest weapon ever discovered lays in those walls, Martha. Time itself can even be attacked. It can't be risked."
Abel's voice responded commandingly, "Except that you're still going to."
Martha responded. "Like hell I will, Abel."
Abel drew out his futuristic gun quickly thumbing it to click and bringing it right to the Doctor's temple. The desperation was back in his actions and a strong anger stared down the Doctor. "You… will… open…. that citadel… Doctor."
As soon as Abel commanded the Doctor both their eyes transitioned to the whirling sound moving into the room. Dalek Caan came in eyestalk positioning toward the Doctor. It knew something and the Doctor knew exactly what this foul abomination knew.
The gun may have been at his temple via Abel, but it was the Dalek he addressed saying, "All this time. You knew what was in there the whole time!"
"The-Doc-tor-is-clev-er."
With a slight humor the Doctor added, "And you fooled Abel here to help build you a small Dalek army to get you there who we both know are useless. The technology only allows them of any use to follow through with only direct commands. Absolutely no thinking for themselves. Only reason I'm alive is because of their incompetence."
"Cor-rect. Pres-ent-Dal-eks-are-weak-fu-ture-Dal-eks-will-be-su-per-ior."
Despite being insulted by the creature he trusted, Abel's gun remained trained on the Doctor's temple not saying a word. Nobody knew what the Time Agent was thinking because his face reflected pure stone.
"Hu-mans-are-pawns-to-new-Dal-ek-em-pire. Ent-er-the-code-Doc-tor-and-o-pen-the-Time-Lord-cit-a-del-now."
The Doctor could still feel Abel's gun in the back of his head ready to fire and Dalek Caan was trained on him as well, yet he would not budge and input the codes. They wouldn't kill him, but he could expect a lot of torture in his future. The universe was always more important to him than a little pain.
Suddenly almost out of nowhere Abel began laughing cruelly into the Doctor's side in response to his selfless bravery. "I was hoping that it wouldn't come to this. Check the feed coming from camera twelve over there."
One of the screens changed showing the TARDIS door ajar with Rose standing terrifyingly still. Her hands stood straight up defenseless staring at a couple men with guns standing just inside the ship's doors with their guns ready to shoot. The Doctor suddenly knew how the one he loved was going to die and only his decision could change the time lines he perceived.
Abel exclaimed victoriously as he removed his gun from the Doctor's head and put his gun back into its holster, "Checkmate."
Top of Form
Bottom of Form