Dark shadows flitted through the empty streets of the capital, heading like a pack of wolves for one particular prey.
The guards at the gates were no match for these trained and silent killers and they had no resistance to their entrance as they passed recumbent figures, sleeping the sleep of the drugged.
They thought nothing of killing the woman that tried to protect the little boy that was hiding under his parent's bed.
There was no father to fight of the man that kicked the bedroom doors in and there was no mother to stop the man dragging the little boy out by his feet and sling him over his shoulder.
There was no-one to hear his screams for his mother as he was spirited away.
White Coat was watching the Master and the Doctor as they entered the tent and then watched the Master emerge and walk away.
He looked away when he heard hoof beats and waited till the group of riders had halted.
"Well, did you get it?"
"Yes sir," one of the men said and gestured to one of the other men, who rode forward whilst trying to hold a squirming bag.
He dismounted and dumped the bag on the floor and opened it and dragged out the contents.
White Coat smiled. "It seems to have my properties spirit."
He dismounted and stood over the little boy that had now stopped struggling.
"You, my little friend are going to get something back that belongs to me."
He put a hand out to grab hold of the boy and the boy tried to bite him but was restrained by his captor.
The men around the little boy laughed and the same man that had held him scooped him up and held him tight.
"Oh, I'm going to have fun training you," White Coat said. He turned to the man who had spoken to him.
"Are your men in position?"
"Yes sir."
"Then get on with it...distract the whole camp."
White Coat adjusted his coat and brushed some dust off of it. He'd waited an eternity for this moment...well in the place he'd been sent to, it seemed like an eternity.
His escape hadn't been easy and he knew that his jailers would not be far behind him and he wanted to leave with his property before they arrived.
The presence of the other Time Lord was a complication...one he hoped was about to eradicated; he had no use for something he couldn't control and the other Time Lord was such a thing, he had sensed that much back on his properties wonderful vehicle, another thing he intended to get back.
But his property, it showed him the proper respect and fear and he'd grown weary of losing it to those unworthy of keeping it and had had every intention of keeping it this time; he just had to find a tighter leash and he done just that when he'd learnt that his property had bred and produce offspring.
Three to be exact, two of which were within the camp he was looking down on and therefore unattainable.
But the third, now that had been vulnerable and now he had it and he would use it to lure his property and there was only one way to do that.
He looked down at his property's off-spring and reached into his pocket and took out what he needed.
The man held the little boy and White placed it round the little boy's neck and adjusted it.
He stood back and took out another object and without the slightest hint of guilt twisted the dial.
He didn't even flinch at the scream it produced from the child...why should he, to him it was like experimenting on a lab rat.
He didn't even register the first explosion as he twisted the dial again.
The Master was as startled by the explosion as his men; he was on the other side of the large encampment...the explosion could only mean one thing...they were under attack!
By the time of the second explosion he was snarling orders at his men and trying to get back across the camp and back to the Doctor.
He spotted Ashena stalking towards him, her own elite guard behind.
"They're inside the camp," she growled.
"Then find them and kill then," the Master snarled.
She gave a quick bow and began bellowing her own orders.
The Master knew she would find them and turned his mind back to getting to the Doctor...the Doctor would not sleep through this.
As he moved another explosion erupted only metres away from him and he was caught by the blast and thrown to ground and didn't move.
After a few moments he managed to get to his feet but was nearly knocked off them again by the wave of rage that poured into him through his bond with the Doctor.
Something other than the explosions had happened to enrage him.
He tried to call out to him but the Doctor's rage was all encompassing and he could do nothing. So he called out to Ashena who answered and they met at the edge of the camp.
She cast around and stopped. "It's not just mother...Seska too and someone else. They're heading that way," she said and began walking towards the mountain range.
The Master and several of the elite guard followed her.
As they continued along the pathway, he remained focused on the rage coming off of the Doctor...it hadn't lessened and now he was getting something else; he tried to focus and then he heard it and his own anger boiled.
Somehow Jakaar was here and someone was hurting him.
Ashena turned at his snarl, a look of fear on her face and she thought she was a formidable hunter...but the look on her father's face and the rage she felt coming from her mother far ahead told he she was nothing but a mewling kitten and for once she actually felt pity for whoever was causing harm to her little brother.
The Doctor stirred at the first explosion but didn't come to, lost as he was in his nightmare but the creature that had a hold on his torso suddenly winked out of existence when another scream filled the air and this time the Doctor did wake.
"Jakaar!" he cried and shot up...it was his youngest child's scream he'd heard.
He was up in an instant and went to move but found his way barred by the Master's ghost men.
Get out of my way," he snarled, but they refused to move.
He flinched when another piercing scream filled his head and he let out a groan as he saw Jakaar's colour flicker inside his mind.
With another snarl, this time more feral he grabbed hold of the two ghosts and filled them with the fire that was burning inside him and they became ashes.
He staggered when another scream threatened to tear his mind apart.
Any sense of danger or reason fled him then and he stopped becoming just a Time Lord...he became the Oncoming Storm and more dangerously, a mother out to protect his child, willing to kill the one causing them pain.
He exited the tent and took no note of the noise and the smell and heat of fire...nor did he register the voice calling to him.
He moved quickly and was out of the camp in seconds, following the echo of his son's scream.
Seska was the nearest to the tent and as he picked himself off of the floor after the second explosion he saw his mother leaving the tent.
"Mother!" he shouted but he didn't hear him. "Mother...stop!"
He was about to go after him when he heard someone shouting his name...it sounded like Jack Harkness.
He turned and saw the cage he was in on its side; it must have been tipped over by the blast.
"Hey kid, get me out...I can help!"
Seska was torn between helping Jack and going after his mother, who was nearly out of sight.
He made a decision that he was going to regret and went to Jack's aid...he might need Jack's help.
He ran to the cage but he didn't have a key, so he looked around for something to break the locks with.
He spotted something and picked it up and aimed with the gun, but his hand was shaking.
"Give it to me!" Jack yelled, putting his hand through the bar.
The first explosion had tipped his cage and the second had nearly deafened him...the camp must be under attack.
Then he'd seen the Doctor emerge from the tent and he could see by the look on his face that he was intent on doing something...something murderous, but he was heading out of the camp.
Then he saw Seska and called out to him...the kid looked torn between helping him and going after the Doctor.
He was surprised when Seska turned and picked up the discarded weapon and pointed it at the locks; he was shaking so badly he was liable to shoot him and not the lock.
So he'd taken the gun off him and had wasted no time in getting out.
"C'mon kid, let's go get your mother before he hurts himself or someone."
Jack spared one glance back at the camp as they left it in pursuit of the Doctor...it was in flames; why did he have the feeling it was all a distraction for something else.
They'd only gone a few metres when Seska suddenly staggered and Jack caught him.
"No...no!"
Jack grabbed of him and looked at him and saw the look of horror on his face.
"My brother...he's in pain," Seska breathed.
The Doctor had left the camp behind, not caring if it was destroyed. He was focused on only one thing...find Jakaar and kill whoever or whatever was causing him pain.
He had no idea how far he'd gone from the camp but he was brought up short when up ahead he saw him...his little boy in the hands of a brute of a man.
With a snarl that was pure maternal rage he flew up the rise towards the man but never made it as he felt a sharp pain in his neck and his world started to become blurry and as his world went dark, the last thing he saw was the tear-stained face of Jakaar but as he succumbed to the dark he saw something around his son's neck that he thought he would never see again...something he'd worn once...something that terrified him.
A collar.