"Cardiff!" The Doctor shouted, confusing Martha and I.

"Cardiff?"

"What's so special about Cardiff?" I asked, giving him a look.

"Ah, the thing about Cardiff, it's built on a rift in time and space, just like California and the San Andreas Fault, but the rift bleeds energy. Every now and then I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy and use it as fuel." He explained, moving around and flipping switches.

"So it's a pit stop."

"Exactly. Should only take twenty seconds. The rift's been active."

I sighed, standing up and stretching. "Twenty seconds, right? Can I catch a breather?"

"If you hurry." I nodded, just barely hearing Martha talking to him as I headed out.

"Wait a minute. They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple of years ago. Was that you?"

"Bit of trouble with the Slitheen…"

I chuckled as I stretched outside the Tardis, before I suddenly spotted a man running towards the Tardis and me.

"Doctor!"

I raised a brow, when the Doctor called out from inside.

"Riley! Get back in here!"

I hesitated. "But there's this guy—"

"Now!"

I glanced back at the man and opened the Tardis door, going to walk in as the Doctor flipped the switch to move; planning on leaving the man behind. Thing was, just before we took off, the back of my coat was grabbed and—having been caught off guard—I tumbled out of the Tardis just as it took off, leaving me hanging onto the hand that grabbed me desperately as the Tardis flew through the Time Vortex.

"A-Ah! Pull me back! Pull me back!" I shouted and I could feel the man trying to lift me back up, but my coat was slipping off.

I took one last look at the man holding me, him mouthing his apologies as he begged me to hang on, before my coat finally slipped off and I tumbled through time.

The Tardis landed roughly after supposedly traveling to the end of the universe.

"Well, we've landed."

Martha turned to him in shock. "And what about Riley?! She just fell out of the Tardis! She could be dead!"

The Doctor's face fell, remembering Riley's desperate look at him just before she fell out of the Tardis.

"If she was lucky, she fell out while we were still in Cardiff." He muttered, toggling some switches on the Tardis' console.

"And if not?" Martha questioned, looking worried as the Doctor stopped and stared down in worry.

"Then she fell through the Time Vortex…"

"Okay. Alright." Martha nodded, trying to look hopeful. "Then what does that mean, hm?"

The Doctor stayed silent and her throat constricted tightly.

"No. N-No, no, no. You're lying. Tell me you're lying! We just met her a few weeks ago!"

"You think I don't know that?!" He shouted back, surprising her and he let out a long breath and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. It's my fault. I should have made sure she was inside before taking off. God! I'm so stupid!" He yelled again, slamming a fist down on the Tardis console.

Martha wasn't sure what to do as he flicked switches on the Tardis, muttering to himself about trying to check the scanners for Riley. This was a side to the Doctor that she hadn't seen before. She knew he would be angry about what happened, but she assumed that it wouldn't be too bad because Riley and the Doctor seemed to of had a going-out after what happened with the Family of Blood. Even when they were sent back to 1969 by the Weeping Angels not too long ago, the two seemed to argue more and go out of their way to push each others' buttons. She got angry with them a few times, but for the most part it seemed like their bonding time, so she stayed out of it. The most she found out about their bickering was that it had something to do with Riley's watch.

Even she had some suspicion about that after the Doctor turned human with his own watch. There was just something about Riley's that made her think that perhaps, Riley had done the same to herself to hide from something. But that would mean that there's another Time Lord. Someone other than the Doctor. She reminded herself of this time and time again, which was why she allowed them to playfully bicker despite her slight jealousy towards Riley—who was able to just be friendly with the Doctor like they were long time friends, a connection Martha wished she had with the man. She knew though, that the Doctor had his own suspicions about this but he seemed to dislike the person Riley was, and yet he also empathized with what she'd been through. They were both such complicated people that it was difficult for her to figure them out sometimes. So seeing the Doctor this upset about Riley was something worrying.

Is it because he thinks she's one of him? And that if she died, he'd be alone? Or is it because he felt bad for giving her such a hard time lately, only for her to possibly… die while they were on bad terms? The questions were endless and things only got worse when the Doctor stopped to check a scanner. Martha could practically see the heartbreak in his eyes, stirring that little green demon of jealousy in her gut, as he spoke in a quiet whisper.

"No… She can't be…"

"Doctor?"

He ignored her, rushing out of the Tardis and going outside with her following after him, only to find him glaring down at a man lying on the ground.

"Oh my God!" Martha rushed to his side, checking for a pulse. "Can't get a pulse. Hold on. You've got that medical kit thin—"

"Don't bother." He growled out, stopping her with this voice alone.

"What, do you know him?"

"Friend of mine." He spat out, just as the man sat up, gasping for air; making Martha scream as he grabbed onto her.

"Oh, so much for me!" She said, glancing back at the still furious Doctor as she tried to help the man calm down. "Alright, just breathe deep. I've got you."

"Captain Jack Harkness." The man said, introducing himself, brushing his hand over her chin. "And who are you?"

"Martha Jones."

"Nice to meet you, Martha Jones." He smiled, before the Doctor walked over and picked him up by his collar.

"Oh, don't you start."

"W-Woah there! Hold on a second! I'll have you know, I tried to save her!" Jack quickly spouted out, recognizing the heated glare the Doctor was giving him. "I grabbed her coat before she fell out of it! I swear!"

"You're the one who pulled her out there! You dragged her out of the Tardis to her death!"

"W-Wait! Hold on! She's dead?! Riley's dead?!" Martha gasped out, shocked.

The Doctor didn't even glance at her. "I couldn't find her on my scanners. Through all of time and space, nothing. All because this man couldn't just leave things be!"

"You abandoned me!"

"Did I? Well, here, let me do it again!"

"No wait!" Jack called out. "What about Rose?! She alive? 'Cause I'm sure she wouldn't want this!"

"Yeah, she's alive, in a parallel world, safe and sound! Unlike Riley!"

"I told you, I didn't mean it!" Jack yelled back. "I tried! Really!"

"She could have been a Ti—" He cut himself off, before throwing Jack back and storming off, set on looking around to take him mind off things.

Jack stared at him in surprise, before turning to Martha. "Is she really that important?"

Martha nodded, the two of them following after the Doctor. "She only joined us a few weeks ago. She'd been experimented on for 50 years and… I guess the Doctor just wanted to give her a life after that."

"50 years? She didn't look much older than 25!"

"The Doctor probably thought of her as a mystery. She has no memories of who she was before 12 with only the occasional dreams, so she says. But we just found out that… she has this watch… We were thinking that she might be… you know… like him."

She nodded towards the Doctor and Jacks eyes widened.

"No kidding…" He glanced over at the downtrodden Doctor and suddenly felt a million times worse, because he may have just allowed the only other person who could connect with the Doctor to fall out of the Tardis to her death.

The Time Vortex. Not the best place to be hanging around for any length of time unprotected. Falling through it was even worse. Time winds tore at my body and I screamed in agony, but there was no sound. Even my voice was torn to pieces. Then, it was done. I hit the ground, grass brushing across my face, but that was it. I was dead. I knew it. It wasn't hard to figure out. No heartbeat, no air filling and leaving my lungs, no brain functions. And yet, I was seeing things. Things I had forgotten. Fears I had locked away in a watch. A watch that had fallen out and clicked itself open in front of me when I hit the ground.

My parents had died, just as I'd dreamed, and I discovered a few other things I hadn't know. Half breed… Hunt her down… get rid of her… disgrace… imprisonment… never supposed to happen… attack… run… I finally realized who I was. Who I had been. Why I was so scared. I was scared now. I just learned all of this and now I was dying. I didn't want to be afraid anymore. I wanted to have fun. To enjoy myself. To have people to care for. To be someone new. To be… like the Doctor. But I still had so much to learn. Knowledge I hadn't tapped into yet. I wanted to learn! I was… I was the Knowledgeable. That was my name. The name I had chosen for myself back then. A name that made me want to learn. To teach. To experience new things. But that couldn't happen if I died. No. It couldn't.

"Ahh!" I screamed as light poured from my body, pain ripping through me before everything suddenly stopped and I laid panting on the ground, aching. "Well… That was unexpected. Very unexpected, actually."

I sat up abruptly, looking around to find myself in a desolated field with no signs of civilization in sight. I pulled a hand through my hair and blinked quizzically.

"Oh? My hair grew a little." I tugged a strand in front of my face and jumped up in shock. "Blonde?! I'm a blonde now?! Woah!"

I wobbled and tumbled back down to the ground, staring up at the sky with a chuckle.

"Ahaha, new body. Right, right. Forgot about that bit. Memories, memories all in a jumble. Come on brain, think!"

I sat back up again. "Oh! Oh-ho! There we go!"

I looked around and found my open watch, grinning, I picked it up and closed it, tossing it up in the air once and pocketing it.

"My faithful companion, you have finally restored my memories! A half! Only half, but half is good enough." I rambled, standing up once more and actually being able to stay up this time.

"Let's see, different body, different body. Taller. Dirty blonde hair." I tugged a hand through my hair and then walked in a circle, pacing. "New voice. Hm, deeper, but quick. English. And—"

I paused, looking down as I suddenly realized something. I slowly reached down and pulled the waistband of my pants out and quickly releasing them.

"My God! I'm a man!" I spun around then, getting a little dizzy. "Extra parts. Oh, what am I going to do about the extra parts. Not used to that. Definitely not. But still two legs. That's good. Only one head." I pat my head and face, double checking. "Very good. Nose could've been better, but ah well."

I shivered then, tugging on my hair that now tickled the back of my neck. "Oh, but I'm a man! Now what am I going to do about that. Nothing, I suppose. Rather not kill myself again, although…" I paused, looking up again in confusion. "Wasn't exactly my fault. Ah, well. More importantly…"

I spun around once more, holding my hands out. "Where the bloody hell am I?"

England, it turns out. Though it wasn't the England I remember. No, this one was barren. No people milling out other than the occasional medical truck and I quickly learned to stay hidden from the flying metal ball things. Didn't know what to call them other than ball things, but I'd get back to that later. Managed to fasten up a cloaking device of sorts out of an old radio and a cell phone. I rather liked the telepathic satellites, though not for what they were doing.

What can I say? I've made friends. Human friends. Shocking, right? But nah, I still was rather displeased with them, but hanging out with some kids and even a few nutty ones here and there keeps me from getting out of hand or anything. Can't hate all of them. Especially when they have someone over them who's worse. Didn't know the man—that surprised a few people—but apparently he used to be Harold Saxon, a candidate for prime minister. Now he's ruler of Earth. Kind of silly, but I've watched him on tele a few times and there's this weird connection thing we've got going on. Like I know he's different from the rest of the humans. Can't quite place it though. Probably a Time Lord thing. I was still trying to figure that half out.

I managed to get together with a small refugee group though. A team of people hiding from the newly named Master and hoping to get back at him too. Found a nutty professor in the group, Professor Docherty. She had issues with electronics sometimes, especially the tele, but electronics were my thing, so I helped her out. I heard a familiar name recently though. One that dredged up some memories from a few months ago when I accidentally got dropped off in the Time Vortex. Martha Jones. A legend now, though I couldn't help but think that she had a plan and I figured she could take me to the Doctor eventually. I'd hate to leave him thinking I was dead or anything.

"Ah! Ugh!"

I rolled my eyes at hearing the professor clanging about behind me with an old tele, another voice calling out from the outside entrance.

"Professor Docherty?"

"Busy." She replied, and I turned around, giving her a smile.

"Let me."

She frowned, but moved aside to let me handle the tele as the man and his companion walked in; myself not taking much notice at the moment.

"They, uh, they sent word ahead. I'm Tom Milligan. This is Martha Jones."

"She can be the Queen of Sheba for all I care. I'm still busy."

"You mean I am?" I said with a smile, catching sight of Martha and putting down what I was working with as the Professor took over with a roll of her eyes. "Martha! It's been far too long! I know how long it's been for me, but how long's it been for you?" I hugged her and pulled back, still grinning. "Either way, far too long, I'm sure. How're you doing?"

"I-I'm sorry. Do I know you?"

I blinked. "You don't recognize me?" I then smacked myself in the forehead repeatedly. "No! Right! Of course you don't! New face. I keep forgetting that bit. Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"Don't mind him. That's Knoll. He's got a habit of rambling nonsense." The Professor said.

"Oi! It's not nonsense! It's very important information, I'll have you know!" I argued back.

"You rambled on about bananas being a better fruit to eat than apples for over three hours!"

"I-It could be important to some people!"

"Oi!"

We both went quiet at Martha's shout and she glared at us. "As much as I like you two arguing, can someone please tell me who you are and how you know me?"

I pointed to myself and grinned. "Well, you know me as Riley."

She looked confused. "Riley who?"

"Just Riley."

I continued to smile, but she just gave me a blank expression.

"Yeah, no. I have no idea who you are."

I tossed my hands up. "Ugh, look, I—"

"There!" Professor Docherty shouted as she slammed a hand against the tele, turning to me with a frown. "You can talk about this later."

The screen flickered a black and white image of the Master as he adjusted the camera and I scratched my head.

"My people. Salutations… on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there. Stories of a child, walking the Earth, giving you hope." He moved to stand beside and older man, who gave me the same feeling he did. "But I ask you, how much hope as this man got? Say hello, Gandalf. Except he's not that old, but he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. But what if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? All nine hundred years of your life, Doctor. What if we could see them?"

"Doctor?" I muttered, shocked and disgusted as the Master pointed his screwdriver at the elder man until he shrank to the floor in convulsions.

"Older and older and older. Down you go, Doctor. Down, down, down the years." The Master moved around to where the Doctor would've been if the camera was angled low enough to see him. "Doctor."

There was silence, making myself think the worse, but I swallowed the feeling down, focusing on that connection and barely finding it there. He's not dead.

"Received and understood, Ms. Jones." The Master said, before switching off the camera.

One look at Martha though, and I knew she had come to the same conclusion as I had.

"I'm sorry." Tom said, but she smiled.

"The Doctor's still alive."

"Of course he is!" I grinned, thumping her on the back and earning a glare as she doubled over slightly. "Right. Sorry. Still working on the strength part."

I flexed my hand and went back around the room, trying to fix things here and there as dusk turned into night.

"Right… So who are you again?" Martha questioned the blonde she'd met who apparently knew her.

He turned to her with a grin. "The Knowledgeable. You can call me Knoll!"

She frowned as the Professor shook her head.

"He introduced himself like that to us too. We thought he was mad, but well… A good number of us are, actually."

The man turned back to his work, humming a random tune as he fiddled with a computer nearby.

"He's good with the kids 'round here though, and a whiz when it comes to mechanics. He's probably the first to figure something out about the Master."

"And what's that?" Martha asked as the Professor explained, passing Tom a paper, him showing it to Martha.

"Obviously the Archangel Network would seem to be the Master's greatest weakness. Fifteen satellites all around the Earth, still transmitting. That's why there's so little resistance. It's broadcasting a telepathic signal that keeps people scared."

"We could just take them out." Tom said, but Knoll turned back around, snatching the paper out of his hands and waving a finger around.

"No, no, no. Can't do that. Not unless you've got fifteen ground to air missiles." Knoll dropped off the paper back to the Professor. "That, and if those ball things sense any military action, they attack."

"Ball things?" Martha questioned.

Knoll waved his hand about. "Toplane, togame, tolawane—"

"Toclafane, Knoll! We've told you this a million times over."

"And I still don't like it." He said, as Martha nodded.

"They're not called Toclafane. That's a name the Master made up."

"Then what are they, then?"

"Ball things." Knoll piped up, earning a smack from the Professor.

"Shut it."

Martha rolled her eyes, before looking seriously at the woman. "That's why I came to find you. Know your enemy… I've got this." Martha got up and pulled a CD out of her backpack. "No one's been able to look at a sphere close up. They can't even be damaged, except once. The lightning strike in South Africa brought one of them down, just by chance. I've got the readings on this."

The Professor took the CD and brought it over to a computer by Knoll, trying to get it to read it. When it took a little too long, she smacked it, but Knoll called out in outrage.

"Oi! Be nice! She's working on it!"

"She?" Martha questioned and Knoll sent her a look.

"What? She looks like a 'she', don't you think? I mean, I did too, at one point. Not so much now. Not with this honker."

He messed with his nose for a moment before Martha rolled her eyes behind his back and Tom spoke up.

"So is that why you traveled the world? To find a disc?"

"No. Just got lucky."

"I heard stories that you walked the Earth to find a way to build a weapon." The Professor said, before the computer binged. "There! A current of fifty eight point five kiloamperes transferred charge of five hundred and ten megajoules precisely."

"Can you recreate that?" Tom asked

"I think so." The Professor responded right before Knoll grinned and answered again.

"Easily. Yes."

"Right then, Doctor Milligan, we're going to get us a sphere." Martha grinned.

Everyone split up once the machine was finished and Tom was in charge of getting the sphere's attention. Once he fired up a few shots, he ran for his life; Martha waiting around a corner for him. Once she caught sight of him, she rushed towards Knoll and the Professor.

"He's coming! You ready?!"

"You do your job, we'll do ours!" She replied just as Tom ran in.

"Now!"

Knoll put the two plugs together and electricity shocked the Toclafane until it fell to the ground. The group then walked up to it once the electric field was down and grinned at their successful retrieval.

"That's only half the job. Let's find out what's inside. Knoll!"

Knoll nodded and picked up the ball, carrying it for the Professor, but he was the only one not smiling; having figured out what the Toclafane were a long time ago. Once they opened the Toclafane, Knoll's eyes saddened and the Professor was even shocked.

"Oh my God."

They gathered closer to the small head, before the lights flashed on inside and the face opened it's eyes.

"It's alive." The Professor gasped, Martha coming closer as the face spoke.

"Martha. Martha Jones."

"It knows you." Tom said, glancing over at Knoll who continued to look down at the face sadly.

"Sweet, kind Martha Jones. You helped us fly."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"You led us to salvation."

"Who are you?"

"The skies are made of diamonds."

"No." She took a step back, realizing then. "You can't be him."

"We share each others' memories. You sent him to Utopia."

"Oh my God." She gasped, coming back towards it as Tom looked on in confusion.

"What's it talking about? What's it mean?"

"What are they?" The Professor even questioned.

"Martha. Martha, tell us. What are they?"

She didn't get a chance to answer before Knoll did. "They're humans."

Martha and the others turned to him in shock as he gazed down at the creature before them.

"How… How do you know? How could you know?"

Knoll simply shook his head, stepping back and giving them a small smile. "I'm clever. More clever than you would think, Martha and… I figured out long ago how to catch one of these." Knoll sighed, pulling a hand through his hair. "I shouldn't have. I should have just remained clueless. Innocent, but that never lasts, does it?"

Knoll shook his head and turned around, heading for the door outside. "Sorry. I just need some air."

A gunshot rang out and I flinched, having not known that was going to happen, but my mind shouted that I did and I could have prevented it.

"You could have saved us!"

"You left us to die!"

"Coward! You coward!"

"Shut up!" I shouted, grabbing my head as the voices shouted at me.

Voices of my past, the past I thought would've been better left forgotten.

"Knoll?"

I quickly snapped my head back up with a grin, hiding any traces of my previous emotions. "Hello, Martha. I hope you've managed to come up with a suitable plan then?"

She gave me a strange look. "Yeah… I'm sorry though. For making you witness that again."

I stared up at the night sky with a small sorrowful smile. "It's alright."

"Why didn't you tell us though? Why keep it a secret?" She questioned, simply curious.

"Because secrets keep us safe." I said, staying quiet for a bit longer before turning to her with a grin. "That's what I used to believe anyway. Kept me safe for a long time, but it also made me naive, so it's a double edged sword, so to speak… I wonder if they still make those…"

Martha chuckled, making me look at her in confusion.

"Was that funny? Double edge swords? How's that funny?" I questioned more to myself than her.

"No, no. It's not that. You just…" Her face fell a little. "You remind me of someone, is all."

"Someone handsome, I hope?" I asked with a wink and she smiled.

"Yeah. Yeah, I suppose he was."

"That's good. Wouldn't want to be compared with someone… well, not handsome. 'Ugly' is not a very nice word… Not pretty? No, that doesn't roll of the tongue very well." I pointed to my tongue as I stuck it out. "New tongue. Only had it a few months."

"Uh-huh…" She shook her head then. "Right, I might as well tell you what I told them about the paradox machine."

And she did, telling me about the Tardis and what the Master had done to it, as well as the fact that it was stuck between traveling here and the end of the universe. She also mentioned heading out to find the last piece of a weapon she was told to find by the Doctor, though the idea of him telling her to get a weapon was odd. She mentioned leaving and I immediately perked up.

"I'll come with you."

"What?"

I nodded. "I can come. Help. I'm good with machines and I… We're old friends, the Doctor and I."

She raised a brow at that. "Really? Are you immortal too? The last guy was and the Doctor didn't really care for him too much."

"Immortal… no, not really." I mused. "Takes a bit to kill me, but that's no matter. There's something I need to tell him and I'm sure he'll have been waiting far to long to hear it. And, as I said, I can help." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a pass, waving it. "See? I have an ID. I can travel just as well as Milligan. No problem."

She looked at it and glanced at me. "That says Robert T. Scott."

I held it up next to my face with a grin. "Looks just like me, eh?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "Look. I can't take you with me."

"But I can hel—"

"No." She repeated sternly. "I can't risk… I can't risk it."

She turned to go back inside, but I frowned.

"Then I'll go alone."

That stopped her and I continued.

"I can move around freely, those ball things can hardly notice me anyway with the perception filter and—"

"Wait, wait, wait. Perception filter?"

I nodded with a smile, fishing out my watch from inside my shirt. "Convenient, eh? Made it with some spare parts after wandering into town and figuring things out." I frowned then, remembering those days. "I had to walk through the sewer system for a while, gross, but handy!"

I was suddenly yanked down to her level as she grabbed my watch and looked at it closer.

"Agh! You're choking me!"

"Sorry!" She let it go, allowing me to rub my neck as I stuck my tongue out. "Y-You made a perception filter though?"

I nodded, tapping my temple. "Like I say. Clever."

She eyed me. "Why do you have a fake ID then?"

I pointed to the watch I was holding up. "Fizzes out sometimes. Darn thing." I dropped the watch back down my shirt and leaned closer to her. "He has an attitude problem."

"What? So the computer's a 'she' and now your watch is a 'he'?"

I tilted my head with a confused frown. "Of course. I wouldn't call them both 'she'. That's just ridiculous."

She shook her head with a chuckle. "Right, right. My bad… what about the people here? You can't just leave them."

"Why not? I've no connection to them other than the Professor and she's just the crazy old bat I stuck around to keep sane."'

She raised a brow. "You do realize what you're saying, don't you?"

I nodded. "Oh yes. The insane keep me sane. Well, them and children. I've got a soft spot for children."

"Alright… Alright, I guess you can come with." She finally agreed. "I can't have you going out on your own and doing something stupid."

"Aw, you care." I smiled, following after her as we went back inside and I grabbed some things and followed her and Tom as they headed out.

"We can't get across London in the dark. 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." The Professor offered.

"No." Tom said. "We can get halfway, stay at the slave quarters in Bexley. Professor, thank you." He reached out a hand that she shook.

"And you. Good luck." She then turned to me as he took off, smacking me upside the head. "And you, you better keep that idiot blonde head of yours out of trouble, you hear?"

"Yes, ma'am." I chuckled, rubbing the spot where she hit me and giving her a hug in return. "And next time the computer's on the fritz, try unplugging it and plugging it in again."

"Go on you." She scolded as I mock saluted her and went to stand over by Tom, as Martha thanked her.

As she walked away though, the Professor called out.

"Martha? Could you do it? Could you actually kill him?"

"We've got no choice."

The Professor shook her head. "You look like many things, but you don't look like a killer to me."

Martha stayed silent and she hurried out with Tom right after her, and I sent the Professor one last smile.

When we reached the small apartment, sneaking past the guards outside, I felt worry and sadness creep up on me for the multitudes of people packed away in here.

"Did you bring food?" One woman asked and Tom shook his head.

"Couldn't get any and I'm starving."

I waved my hand with a cheeky grin. "I may be able to help with that."

All eyes went to me as I pulled off my pack, unzipping it to show off the mountains of food within, passing it to the grateful woman once I'd taken a protein bar for Tom and Martha.

"Oh, thank you."

"Where'd you get all that?" Tom questioned. "I hardly saw a single bar in the camp."

"I save mine for the people who really need it." I replied, looking around as the people cheered up as the sight of food, even if it was just one bar or half a bar.

"But that's got to be at least a months worth of food. You've only been with the Professor for a little more than that. How could you have survived?"

I pat my stomach with a smile. "Don't eat like you do. Simple as that."

He gave me an odd look, as did Martha, before a younger man spoke up.

"Are you Martha Jones?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Can you do it? Can you kill him? They said you can kill the Master, can you? Tell us you can do it. Please, tell us you can do it." He begged as another woman spoke up.

"Who is the Master?"

The rest started babbling too, all wanting to ask questioned and Tom tried to stop them.

"Come on. Just leave her alone. She's exhausted."

Martha shook her head. "No, it's alright. They want me to talk and I will."

She proceeded to speak to them, telling them the stories of the Doctor and her, gathering everyone at the stairs. I simply leaned up against the wall with a small smile as I listened, before a woman rushed in, panicking.

"It's him! It's him! Oh my God, it's him! It's the Master! He's here."

"But he never comes to Earth. H-He never walks upon the ground." The young man from before said, but Tom and the others were more worried for Martha.

"Hide her!"

"Use this!" They covered Martha with an old sack, but I silently wondered if it would work.

"He walks among us, our lord and master." The young man said, seeming to doom us all.

"Martha. Martha Jones." The Master called out making his voice higher. "I can see you! Out you come, little girl. Come and meet your master… Anybody? Nobody? No? Nothing? Positions."

Gun's cocked outside and the people in here tensed. "I'll give the order unless you surrender. Ask yourself. What would the Doctor do?"

I watched as Martha pulled on a perception filter, I myself seeing her because I wanted to, and I watched as she headed towards the door. She touched Tom's hand, making him stand and lower the gun and smiled at us, making to go, but I grabbed her arm, handing her a small device.

"Take this. Hide it. Anywhere. In your shoe even and forget about it." I smiled. "Trust me."

She slowly nodded, bending over and tucking the small circular object into her shoe before heading outside.

"Oh, yes. Oh, very well done. Good girl. He trained you well." The Master clapped, before pointing a gun at her. "Bag. Give me the bag. No, stay there. Just throw it."

She threw her bag and he destroyed it with his sonic.

"And now, good companion, your work is done." He went to kill her, but Tom suddenly rushed out before I could stop him and took the hit instead.

"But you, when you die, the Doctor should be witness, hmm?" He said after laughing at Tom's death, but I could see it.

Something changed in Martha's eyes. Something that even I could recognize. The eyes of a soldier.

The Master took a deep breath through his nose before taking Martha with him. "Almost dawn, Martha, and planet Earth marches to war."

I watched and watched and watched from an old tele that I managed to fix with some spare parts and a screwdriver—a regular one, mind you. I stared seriously at it up until Martha told the Master about what she'd been doing while traveling the world. Oh, what a wonderful thing it was. As the time counted down, everyone flooded out of the houses and stood outside calling out for the Doctor, but I knew it wasn't over. The Doctor had been returned, yes, but the ball thin—Toclafane— were still there and I took off my perception filter, watching as they flooded up towards the sky ship that the Master was at. And it was that moment, that I knew I could help. And help, I shall.

"Here I come, Martha Jones." I put a hand over the button on my wrist. "Here I come."

"Captain! The Paradox machine!" The Doctor shouted at Jack, who took a couple of guys and made a bolt for it, just as the Doctor spotted the Master pulling out the Time Manipulator. "No!"

He grabbed it and they both disappeared, leaving Martha to hurry towards the console on the flight deck, checking the scanners.

"We've all six billion spheres heading right for us!"

"Looks like you're in a bit of a pickle."

She turned around at the familiar voice in complete shock at the dirty blonde man standing there.

"Knoll! But how did you—"

"No time to talk. Bit of world saving to do at the moment, though I'll tell you, an old time manipulator is one hard thing to find." I winked at her, the wristband peeking out from under my dirty lab coat as I moved past her and began messing with controls on the console.

"W-Wait! What are you doing?!"

"Working my way into the controls of the satellites that converse to the ball things to send an electrical impulse through their system before they realize what's happened." I then pushed a button on the console and spoke over the alarm through the intercom. "Give me another 45 seconds and make sure you're all away from the ball thin—"

"Toclafane!" Martha shouted.

"Yeah, those. They're about to get a little shock." I grinned, hearing responses through the ship, though one caught my attention.

"Who's that? How do you know how to get past their system?!"

"You're that punk who pushed me into the Time Vortex!"

"What?!"

I stood up from my leaned over position in front of the console and wagged a finger at it, despite the fact that the man couldn't see me. "No, no, no. I know you're him. And I expect to hear one big apology from you or you can forget about me helping."

"What?!"

Martha looked at me in shock as I folded my arms across my chest. "You're kidding me, right?! You won't stop them—You won't save the world and stop them if he doesn't apologize?!"

"I'm waiting!"

Martha stared at me in shock before shouting into the intercom. "Do it!"

"Alright! Sorry!"

I grinned. "Alrighty then! I expect a face-to face one by the time—"

"Knoll!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'm going."

I flicked a switch and the Toclafane shuddered on the spot, sparking and falling to the ground with loud 'thunks', I myself using a magnetic field along the outside of the ship to catch the ones outside without them falling to Earth and knocking out some unsuspecting people.

"Oh, thank you!" Martha grinned, hugging me on the spot as I awkwardly stood there with my arms up.

"A-Ah! Stop it! Hugs are a no-no in this body!"

She stopped but gave me a look. "But you hugged Professor Docherty."

"Ah, yes. But if you remember right, I hugged her. Not the other way around. Still not used to that bit. How you doing down there, Jack?"

"Give me a minute!" He replied, before the Toclafane started disappearing and the ship shook violently.

"Everyone get down!"

I heard the Doctor shout, having returned it seemed.

"Time is reversing!"

Papers flew about and everyone held on as best they could before time finally went back to normal; the ship stopping and the Doctor and I standing up and rushing around the console.

"The paradox is broken!" I smiled.

"We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning." He twisted a dial on the radio as a voice came through.

"This is UNIT Central. What's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated!"

He clicked it off. "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 questioned.

"Trapped at the end of the universe."

"Poor things." I muttered, earning a sad nod from him and a curious look.

"But I can remember it." An older woman said, Martha's mother, was my guess.

"We're at the eye of the storm." The Doctor explained. "The only one who'll ever know."

The Doctor spotted one of the guys on the ground and helped him up with a grin. "Oh, hello! You must be Mr. Jones! We haven't actually met!"

He then turned to me, but before he could do anything, the Master tried to make a bolt for it, until Jack caught him.

"Whoa, big fella! You don't want to miss the party." He turned to the officer beside him. "Cuffs." He then turned back to the rest of us. "So, what do we do with this one?"

"We kill him."

"We execute him."

"Humans. Always the same." I said with a roll of my eyes as the Doctor argued with them.

"No. That is not the solution."

I spotted Martha's mother picking up a gun though and sighed as I headed down the stairs around the side.

"Oh, I think so." She said, aiming it at the Master with tears in her eyes. "Because all those things, they still happened. Because of him. I saw them."

The Master smirked. "Go on. Do it." He dared.

I sighed loudly, drawing attention to me as I stood between them with my hands up in surrender.

"Really now? I thought humans were better than this. And trust me, that's a tall order to fill, especially with me."

The woman frowned, confused. "Who are you?"

"Knoll." Martha said up on the flight deck. "What are you doing?"

I smiled. "Just standing in the way. Helping her make a choice, because I know that she's better than him." I looked at Martha's mother right in the eye, getting serious. "You are better than him."

"A-And how do you know that?" She asked. "I don't even know you!"

"No, but I know Martha. And I know that she's grown up to be a great woman who makes great choices, and in order for that to of happened, she must have had a great mother who taught her to make those choices. And that woman is standing right here before me, right now." I smiled gently and walked towards her as her hands shook and she dropped the weapon to the ground, hugging me and crying.

I grimaced a bit, not really sure what to do now and quickly passed her off to Martha as the Master spoke.

"You still haven't answered the question, Doctor. What happens to me?"

The Doctor moved forward and I turned around to watch.

"You're my responsibility from now on. The only Time Lord left in existence."

I thought about speaking up then, but closed my mouth, thinking that now wasn't exactly the best time as Jack went over to the Doctor in confusion.

"Yeah, but you can't trust him."

The Doctor shook his head. "No. The only safe place for him is the Tardis."

"You mean you're just gonna…" The Master's face fell. "…keep me?"

"Hm." The Doctor nodded. "If that's what I have to do." He then turned to Jack. "It's time to change. Maybe… I've been wandering for too long. Now I've got someone to care for."

A loud gunshot went off then, making everyone jump as the Master took a step back, his wife having shot him. The Doctor rushed to his aid as Jack took the gun from the woman, and I felt a pull towards the Master, heading over as well.

"I've got you. I've got you." The Doctor said as I stopped a little ways back.

"Always the women." The Master joked.

"I didn't see her."

"Dying in your arms. Happy now?"

"You're not dying. Don't be stupid. It's only a bullet. Just regenerate."

"No."

"One little bullet. Come on."

"I guess you don't know me so well. I refuse." The Master said, making the Doctor sound more desperate.

"Regenerate. Just regenerate. Please. Please! Just regenerate. Come on."

"And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you?"

"You've got to. Come on. It can't end like this. You and me, all the things we've done. Axons. Remember the Axons? And the Daleks." The Doctor began to cry and I felt a tear slip down my face as well, feeling my hearts being torn apart at the sight of another Time Lord dying in front of me. "We're the only two left… There's no one else… Regenerate!"

"How about that. I win." He glanced over at me, having caught on. "Well, not quite…" He then looked back at the Doctor desperately. "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?"

The Master's eyes rolled back and he died in the Doctor's arms.

"No!"

After a while, he calmed down and covered the Master's body with his coat, turning to the others in the room with an apology.

"I'm sorry. I, um…" He pulled a hand through his hair and tossed a thumb over his shoulder at the body. "I'll need to take care of this. A Time Lord's body… carries a lot of secrets."

Martha shook her head, still holding onto her distressed mother. "No, it's okay, Doctor. We understand."

Jack nodded as well. "Yeah. I'll, uh, have someone drop them off at home. It's no big deal."

I stepped forward then, catching everyone's attention as I put my hands in my pockets solemnly. "Can I come?"

The Doctor looked at me, confused. "What?"

I nodded towards the body. "Can I come?"

He frowned, shaking his head even more confused. "And who are you again?"

"Oh! That reminds me." I turned around towards Jack and punched him square in the face, hissing as I waved my hand at the pain. "Ooh, that smarts."

"Ow!" Jack said loudly as he sat up, a hand on his cheek. "What was that for?!"

I smiled sickly sweet. "For pulling me into the Time Vortex, thank you."

He looked confused. "What? But that wasn't—" His eyes widened then as did Martha's and the Doctor's.

"Riley?"

I turned to the Doctor with a big grin. "Hello again."

Martha came down from the stairs then. "Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. Riley? The Riley?! The same Riley that hated humans, liked to push people's buttons, and had an attitude problem?! That Riley!"

"Oi! I did not—" I cut myself off, thinking. "Well, alright, I guess I did. But yeah, That's me! The one and only!"

"No way! But that chick—"

"Had short red hair and looked to be about 25, right?" I waved at Jack. "That's me. I'd say nice to meet you, but…" I dropped my smile. "…you pulled me out of the Tardis and killed me."

"Sorry about that." He apologized with a small smirk.

"No." The Doctor said, drawing my attention back to him as he came closer. "That's impossible. You… You were sucked into the Time Vortex! You would've been ripped apart!"

I winced. "Yeah, sort of was, but I slipped out pretty quickly so it wasn't enough to… kill me, kill me. Though the winds were pretty. I'll have to study those sometime…"

"Wait, I'm confused." Martha said, coming forward. "You don't look like Riley. You don't act like Riley. And even if you were her, how could you… how could you be alive?"

"Ah… Funny story about that—"

The Doctor grabbed the front of my shirt angrily. "Explain. Now."

I held my hands up in surrender, one hand reaching into my pocket and pulling out my watch.

"Remember this? You two figured it out, I'm sure."

The Doctor took it and opened it, looking at it and then back at me. "The Chameleon Arch."

I nodded. "That's right. I was locked away, just as you were. The only difference is, the people chasing me… were Time Lords."

His eyes narrowed as he growled at me. "The Time War. Everyone was supposed to fight and you ran away like a coward!"

My eyes quickly narrowed in anger as well as I snapped back at the Doctor. "I did not run away. They were coming to kill me, Doctor, not drag me back to Gallifrey."

He was still angry, but his confusion pushed past that. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would they try to kill you while we were in the middle of a war?"

"Because I'm not like you, Doctor. My parents broke a taboo. An ancient taboo that no one should ever break because the consequences were devastating. So devastating that the success rate was a mere .01 percent."

"What are you talking about?" He questioned, eyes searching mine as we glared at each other.

"They had me."

"I-I don't understand." Martha said, reminding the Doctor and I that there were other people in the room. "How is having a child a taboo?"

"It's not." The Doctor said, still trying to figure me out.

"Oh, come on, Doctor. Can't you feel it?" I questioned, closing my eyes along with him. "The connection. It's not as strong with me as with the Master, is it?"

We looked back at each other as he frowned, still not quite catching on and I sighed, glancing at Martha over my shoulder.

"While it's not a taboo to have a child, what my parents did was. Because my father was a Time Lord… and my mother… was human."

The Doctor released me and took a step back in shock as Martha spoke.

"Half? Half Time Lord?"

"No, no, no. But how? Your energy signature would've been off the charts!" The Doctor said as I waited silently for him to figure it out. "The watch. The Chameleon Arch. Your parents made you go through that to hide you. That's why you had no memories from before you were 12! That would've been when they changed you!"

"But why would they do that to their child?" Martha questioned. "Wasn't there anything else they could do?"

I sadly shook my head. "No. My mother died when I was five and my father did what he could to keep me hidden, but after time, it wasn't just them that were after us. Everyone was."

"Is a half Time Lord that important?" Jack asked and the Doctor nodded.

"Oh yes. Very. The chances of it happening are maybe five percent, but the chances of it happening successfully are far less. They'd have to get just the right amount of both in the brain and the body or else one won't be able to handle the other and they'll die."

I nodded. "I was successful, but being half comes with a price."

"What do you mean?"

I looked over at Martha with a sad smile. "I'm more powerful than a Time Lord. I have the Time Lord body, but a human and Time Lord mind. Combine that with an overabundance of regenerative energy to make sure everything in me cooperates, and I become the greatest power source or the biggest weapon you could think of. I had to be hidden and when my father died, there was no way for me to know when to stop other than the whispers coming from my watch."

"But… you aged!"

"The watch made me human, but only to a point. After time, the Time Lord part of me started leaking out which is why I… had the past I did."

I looked back over at the Doctor and smiled a little, scratching the back of my head. "I didn't mean to hide it from you. I just wanted to know everything for certain before I started spouting—"

I suddenly had my face grabbed and he was right there in front of me, eyes searching mine for any sort of lie, making me chuckle slightly.

"I promise I'm not lying. I'm real, Doctor. A real, half Time Lord."

His eyes started to well up with tears and I stiffened as he suddenly grabbed me in a hug and cried; still emotional after what happened with the Master, no doubt, not to mention what I just dropped on him.

"I-I thought I was alone. I-I thought… I thought they were all dead! That I was the last one now that the Master…"

I glanced hesitantly at Martha, mouthing the words 'help me' and she made a pointed glance at how she was rubbing her mother's back and patting her head, mouthing for me to do it as well. I did so, not really comfortable, but the connection between us as Time Lords made it a little easier. Once he'd calmed down a bit, he pushed himself away from me, clearing his throat and adjusting his suit as though he hadn't just cried on my shoulder; though the tear stains on my lab coat proved otherwise.

"Right then. I, uh, would be glad to have you join me, Riley. If you would."

"Knoll." I smiled. "Call me Knoll."

He raised a brow. "Knoll? Where'd you get that from?"

"My name. The one I chose for myself. The Knowledgeable. I'd say call me that, but it's too long. Doesn't roll of the tongue very well."

He mouthed the word as well and nodded. "Ooh, yeah. Definitely not. Knoll it is. You still getting used to the body?"

"A bit." I glanced down at myself and winced at my raggedy pants, dirty shirt and lab coat. "Need some new clothes though. These don't suit my taste." I snapped my head back up. "How do you stand being a guy? It's weird with all those extra parts down there just—"

"Alright, then!" Martha shouted, interrupting us and making us both turn towards her. "I'm going to assume the new body thing you've been blabbering on about has to do with regeneration?"

I nodded and she went on before I could say anything.

"That's all I wanted to know. It's weird knowing that you can change sex—"

"And species!" The Doctor and I both called out, turning to each other and smiling.

"And species…" She said, but then reminded us of our current situation. "But weren't you two going to do something?"

We both lost our cheery attitudes and looked back at the covered body of the Master, the Doctor pulling a hand through his hair.

"You're right. We can't just leave him." He went over and picked up the Master, the two of us heading towards the area where the Tardis was, but he stopped to look over at Martha with a small smile. "I'll see you."

"Yeah."

The two of us stayed silent the whole ride down to the cliffed area where the Doctor wanted to burn the body and we watched as it burned, before turning to leave. We met up with Martha and Jack the next day and all leaned against a rail outside once Martha had delivered some flowers to the new Professor Docherty.

"Time was… Every single one of these people knew your name. Now they've forgotten you." Martha told the Doctor.

"Good." He replied, just before Jack ducked under the railing. "Back to work."

"I really don't mind though." The Doctor said, grabbing his attention. "Come with me."

"I had plenty of time to think that past year. The year that never was." Jack looked off into the distance. "And I kept thinking about that team of mine. Like you said, Doctor." He turned back around. "Responsibility."

The Doctor wrinkled his nose with a nod. "Defending the Earth. Can't argue with that." The Doctor then grabbed his wrists where the Time Manipulator sat, him pulling out his sonic screwdriver.

"Hey! I need that."

The Doctor ignored him. "I can't have you walking around with a time traveling teleport. You could go anywhere, twice. The second time to apologize."

"And what about me?" He questioned. "Will you be able to fix that? Will I ever be able to die?"

"Nothing I can do." The Doctor apologized. "You're an impossible thing, Jack."

He laughed. "Been called that before."

I poked my head between them, gesturing to Jack. "You're saying I could've killed him as revenge instead of that punch?!"

"Now, Knoll." The Doctor scolded. "There'd be a mess to clean up. You know that."

"Hey!" Jack whined as we chuckled, before he smiled and headed off, only to double back and salute. "Sir."

The Doctor saluted back as Jack winked.

"Ma'am."

Martha saluted as well and Jack rolled his eyes at me.

"Knoll."

"Jack." I said, sticking out my tongue at him childishly, as he lowered his hand and turned around, only to turn back.

"But I keep wondering. What about aging? Because I can't die but I keep getting older. The odd little grey hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?"

"I really don't know."

"Okay, vanity. Sorry. Yeah, can't help it. Used to be a poster boy when I was a kid living on the Boeshane Peninsula. Tiny little place. I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me. The Face of Boe, they called me. Hmm. I'll see you."

He headed off and Martha and the Doctor seemed to share a moment there, both looking between each other and Jack.

"No."

"It can't be."

"No. Definitely not!" The Doctor denied. "No."

Martha laughed, but the Doctor continued to gape in shock.

"Nooo."

"Is there something I'm missing?" I questioned, not sure what was going on.

"There's this guy called the Face of Boe in the future." Martha explained. "A big ol' face in a glass container. He's said to be billions of years old and one of the wisest creatures in the universe."

"Oh, and Jack's him?" I said, connecting the dots, though I frowned. "Yeah, no. I'm not seeing it."

The Doctor laughed too, before we climbed into the Tardis and dropped Martha off at home to see her family. I stayed in the Tardis as the Doctor walked her out, before he returned looking a little upset as he tossed his jacket over a column. He looked around as the Tardis hummed in slight worry and I glanced up at him from the chair I was in, fiddling with a Rubik's cube.

"She's worried, you know." I told him as he plopped down and propped his feet up on the console. "And she doesn't appreciate that." I said, glancing at his feet.

"Yeah, well. It's just for a moment."

I sighed, just as the door opened and Martha walked in, surprising the Doctor.

"Right then! Off we go! The open road!" He clapped, getting up and messing with the console. "There is a burst of starfire right now over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio. Oh, the sky is like oil on water. Fancy a look? Or back in time. We could, I don't know, Charles the Second? Henry the Eighth. I know! What about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie. I bet she's brilliant." He stopped when Martha said nothing. "Okay."

"I just can't."

"Yeah."

I stood up, moving towards the stairs and pointing at them. "I'll just go then. Don't leave anywhere without telling me first. I'm just… gonna change out of these clothes."

The Doctor turned to me and nodded." Right. Yeah. Go ahead. The Tardis will move the room closer for ya."

I nodded and glanced at Martha with a small sad wave, knowing what she was planning on doing. "Goodbye, Martha."

She waved a little back. "Bye, Riley."

I smiled fondly at the old name, knowing that, to her, I would always be Riley. And I headed off up the stairs and into the room that the Tardis had for me. There wasn't much. I hadn't been in here long enough for more than a bed, a desk, and mounds of books in a bookshelf. I set the Rubik's cube on the shelf as well and sighed, gazing up to the ceiling of the Tardis blue room with a small smile as she hummed.

"Don't worry, old girl." I told her, patting the wall. "We'll keep him company, eh? And who knows? Maybe he'll pick up another one."

She hummed back as I grabbed some clothes and got in the shower, hoping that I would be enough to keep the Doctor sane and him me.