The faint echo of a scream made everyone look up.
"Sounds like they found something," Ianto said.
"I hope it tore them apart," Gwen said.
Jack looked at her but said nothing. He couldn't blame her...twenty years of fighting not just the Master but the one time champion of a now non-existent world. For a few hours there'd been hope, just a glimmer when they'd had the Doctor within their grasp...but the arrival of White Coat and his callous treatment of the Doctor had ripped that away.
Now Jack knew they could be fighting on two fronts, but for him it meant he'd lost his chance to get the Doctor away from the Master and the consequences of that would haunt him for eternity; he had the awful task now of making three young Time Lords parentless and for that he would be eternally damned.
His thoughts were interrupted by White Coat's men rousting them into standing.
"Seems they found my property," White Coat said. "How fortunate that I have more than enough collars. Put one on her."
Ashena didn't even struggle and she was pushed forward to join her brother.
White Coat looked them over. "I have your younger sibling, soon I will have your parents and I will have myself the perfect weapons."
Jack let out a short laugh and White Coat turned to face him.
"Something amusing you Captain?"
"Perfect weapons, do you think you can control them forever with those?"
"Training eventually tames even the wildest creatures, observe," White Coat said and took out the control box and his hand hovered over the dials.
Jack looked over at Seska and Ashena and he saw Seska back away and Ashena flinched.
"Lesson learned, I believe," White Coat said. "Now, shall we proceed?"
Jack shook his head and started walking; as he passed Gwen he heard her mutter. "Doesn't believe in a mother's protective instinct then?"
The Master hadn't been happy about having the soldier with them; he didn't need a potential informer. So he disposed of him as soon as possible, not that the Doctor or whatever he was noticed...or so he thought.
"You enjoy the violence...the kill. You are not like other Time Lords."
The Master took that in...so, whoever controlled the Doctor knew about Time Lords; not a new race then. If he could find out who they were, he could use it to his advantage.
"It's a lot like killing an ant, I suppose, they don't feel it."
"Perhaps, but you are not entirely heartless. You have an emotional attachment to this body."
"Oh, he's pretty, but that's just sex."
The Doctor stopped. "You cannot lie to me. I know what this body knows. This body has born your offspring and that is more than just sex."
"Not now, like you said, he's not mine anymore."
"That can be discussed...my master is not without compassion. Sometimes a velvet glove is better than an iron gauntlet."
The Master frowned, not sure what to make of that comment.
Whatever was speaking through the Doctor continued.
"You desire for this body is not just physical. Serve him well Time Lord and this body will be yours once more...for a short time at least."
The Master, who was too suspicious to trust anything, snorted in derision.
"You need proof?"
The Doctor went very still and the light faded from his eyes. He would have hit the floor if the Master hadn't caught him.
The Master felt the shiver run through the Doctor's body and then he was looking to eyes he thought he would never see again...and those eyes were full of lust and the Master found himself on the floor of the tunnel and an aroused Doctor on top of him.
He was just starting to react when he caught a flash of light in the Doctor's eyes and he let out a cry of disgust, and pushed the Doctor off him and the light returned to the Doctor's eyes.
"Not into voyeurism," he snarled.
The Doctor smiled...well whatever inhabited the Doctor smiled. "Fair enough, then take me to the gateway."
The Master straightened his clothes and let out a breath and started walking.
Eventually they came to a section he recognised and he knew this was the way to the machine they had used to change the Earth.
"How far to the gateway?" the Doctor asked.
"Down this tunnel," the Master replied, but he smiled inside; finally he had the advantage.
Whatever controlled the Doctor didn't know the machine needed the Doctor to operate it...a Doctor that wasn't under the control of another. The machine needed a pure Time Lord; specifically one Time Lord and then whatever it was would learn who was the Master.
Jack and the others tried to keep close to Seska and Ashena and they did their best to slow the pace.
But eventually a shout went up when one of White Coat's men found a body and another tunnel.
White Coat let out an annoyed breath. "This is getting tedious, enough playing catch-up. Now do your job and hunt them down."
The soldier he was talking to nodded and gestured to the others.
Jack's eyes widened in surprise when the men began to change shape and then they widened with horror when he realised what they were.
The tunnel was suddenly filled with snarls and hisses and Jack couldn't stop the shiver that ran down his spine.