Chapter 2: The Master's end
There was a delay of three seconds after the Master pushed the button. Three seconds in which the plan the Doctor and River set up took effect.
At the end of the three seconds, the Master screamed in agony.
The Doctor, still running, caught the Master as he fell to his knees. Suddenly, there was an explosion somewhere in the spaceship, and the whole room rocked.
"It was a feedback setup!" The Doctor yelled over the noise. "Designed to knock out both satellites simultaneously as soon as they were activated! The input of one satellite is directly linked to the output of the other, and vice versa, so even a single thought would destroy the entire system!"
The master's scream reached a new octave as a fresh wave of pain flew through his mind.
"Don't think about it!" The Doctor yelled as another explosion rocked the ship. "Your own thoughts will cause feedback in your own mind! I TOLD you linking your brain to the system was a bad idea! Now, don't think about ANYTHING!"
The master got the message, and before long stopped screaming. There was a moment of peace; both Time Lords were too afraid to move in case it would induce a thought into the Master's head.
Another explosion rocked the ship.
More screaming came from the Master as new thoughts filled his head. The Doctor hoisted him up, and supported him with his shoulder.
"All right, now come on, block it all out." he told the Master as he guided him out of the room. The process was slow going – the Master would go through cycles of attempted thoughtless bliss before sinking back into intense mental anguish with the appearance of a rouge thought.
As they made their way through the door, there was another explosion, and the room behind them collapsed. "Oh, you just HAD to set EVERYTHING on the archangel network… Your spaceship, your brain, it'll be a miracle if you didn't hook up the TARDIS somehow," the Doctor yelled, over the noise, to his screaming companion. This simply caused the Master to yell louder, as new thoughts echoed and exploded inside his head.
Suddenly, the ceiling gave way. The Doctor managed to dive, Master in tow, out of the path of the falling debris. The Doctor stood up, and brushed the dust off his jacket. He noticed a strange lack of screaming, then in a panicked rush checked the floor around him. The Master was lying on the floor, unmoving.
"Oh no, not good, this is very not good," the Doctor said as he scanned the Master with his sonic screwdriver. "phew. Ok, just unconscious. So, good! Yes, very good! Not awake means no thoughts, no thoughts means no brain ripping feedback! Extremely good!"
The Doctor hoisted the Master over his shoulder, and continued on his way. "Ok, so you've packed on a few pounds since the Time Lord academy, I'll give you that," the Doctor muttered, voice straining in the effort. There was another explosion somewhere below them. "At least it's better than the screaming…I think…"
Before long, the Doctor managed to lug the Master back to where he had parked the TARDIS. He put the Master down abruptly on the seats near the console before turning to the controls. "Ok sexy, get us out of here!"
Flipping one final switch, the familiar sounds of the parking brake left on filled the air. Not two seconds after the TARDIS finished dematerializing, the space ship exploded completely, casting a blue light that was the signature of the energy generated by the archangel network.
On a planet far below, the Doctor watched the explosion happen from the outside of the TARDIS. He smiled slightly, thinking of all the lives saved by that one small blue light in the night sky. Creatures from planets in the entire galaxy would look upwards to see similar lights as the entire network was obliterated in an outward thought feedback wave. No one would know what caused this, and not one would ever believe how close they came to utter destruction.
But for now, the Doctor had other things to worry about. There was a single bellow from the interior of the TARDIS, and the Doctor dashed back in. After all that happened that night, he was afraid of what he might find.
The Master had rolled off the seats, and was lying on the floor. The Doctor ran over and helped him up, noticing that he was very weak. Once on his feet, the Master surveyed the scene in apparent wonder.
Feeling as if the worst had passed, the Doctor relaxed a little. "You're acting as if you've never seen a TARDIS before, Master," he told him.
The Master whipped around and stared at the Doctor, caught between confusion and wonder.
"Who are you?"
The Doctor stood, dumbfounded. The question was in all honesty – The Master had no idea who the Doctor was.
Suddenly, the Master's eyes caught the blinking lights of the controls. He started to take a step towards the console, arm outstretched.
"Don't touch-!" The Doctor yelled, starting to dash forward. The moment the Master's foot touched to floor again, however, the Doctor was forced to shield his eyes as a brilliant golden light filled the TARDIS. The explosion of the archangel network must have damaged his mind enough to force a regeneration, the Doctor thought, as the Master obtained a new body.
Once the light had died down, the Doctor looked again at the spot where the Master had been standing. When he saw the new regeneration, he nearly laughed out loud. "Who would have thought the Master would regenerate into a seven year old?" he said aloud.
Suddenly, the Master grew faint. The Doctor ran forward and caught him before laying him gently back onto the seats. He noted that the master now had light brown hair that was much longer than his previous regeneration, and a quick check of his eyes showed green. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and did a quick scan of the Master's new body.
"Looks like a healthy one…finished quite nicely…Oooh, the two heartbeats even got in sync, if I didn't know any better, I'd say he only had one!" The Doctor stopped once he reached the Master's head.
"Well, that can't be right…" he muttered, scanning the head again in confusion. "nearly empty of memories… He's just as old as me, there should be a millennia stored away up here!" A third scan only brought up the same results. "It's not like they're hidden, or locked away somewhere...all of his memories are just…Gone! Perhaps the Archangel network did more damage than I thought… Oh, of COURSE! If he was using a two way transfer…That would explain how he managed to survive the feedback of the entire population of this galaxy – information flowed in AND back out… But when he was disconnected…Well, that would be like unplugging the USB without safely removing the hardware!"
The Doctor laughed to himself. "Of course, NOW I can find a good analogy without anyone around that I need to explain it to…"
The Doctor stood up and started pacing. "Now, what am I going to do with you?" he asked rhetorically, looking at the Master's sleeping form. "You're just a helpless child at this point…No memory left…I could look after you yourself…" A sudden image of a Dalek bursting through the doors of the TARDIS while he taught the Master to tie his shoelaces came to mind. "Nooo, far too dangerous! Hmm…" the Doctor continued to think.
"I could leave you with…No, that's just plain rude, you can't show up on someone's doorstep with a seven year old child, expecting them to take care of him…Even if it IS Martha and Mickey the Idiot… What to do, what to do… Stormagedden- er, Alfie, made it very clear he did NOT want a brother…or sister for that matter... What to do, what to do…"
This went on for about five minutes.
"Oh come on, Doctor! You've saved civilizations, planets, galaxies, and the universe! Deciding on what to do with a seven year old can NOT be your greatest challenge!" he told himself.
"Well, what does a seven year old need? Hmm…Friends! Yes, yes, he needs friends! Most important thing of all. What else?... School! He needs to go to a school! Fill that empty head of his with knowledge, for now it's bare and full of air, dead flies and bits of fluff… Oh, there I go with J.K. again, I must remember to meet her one day…Ok, so friends, a school… Somewhere I know is safe to grow up, safety is good…He looks human, very human, so it'll probably have to be on Earth…But where and when on Earth is safe to grow up? And how can I be sure the friends he makes are decent? I don't want him growing up with a psychopath…maybe a highly functioning sociopath, but that's where I draw the line…"
Suddenly, realization dawned on the Doctor's face. "Oh….Ohoh… OHHHH! THAT'S IT! I'm brilliant! I can't believe I didn't think of it before!" With that, he started running around the console, performing all the required controls to get him when and where he needs to go.
When the TARDIS started to move through the vortex, the Master mumbled in his sleep, "Where're we going…"
"Hold on tight! We're going to meet the Ponds! At the only point in time where you are guaranteed find all three at once: primary school!"
And there's chapter two. Not as much action, but the first was the only one with a real amount of action in it. The rest are filled with the real story behind it. Again, reviews would be greatly appreciated.