The world returned to Max's vision but time remained frozen. She remembered the Doctor's explanation, how a tunnel between her prison and the Tardis would be maintained. Now for the part that demanded literally stretching physics.

Reaching forward, Max pressed into the barrier until her fingers pushes through stilled particles of energy. She carefully glided down until there was a clear hole created. Stepping through, Max turned her head to just make sure everything was still stuck in not-killing-me phase of frozen. Keeping calm, she carefully stepped towards the Tardis.

Pushing through the door, Max found some comfort in the ship but knew it couldn't last. Luckily, the field had apparently spread through a good amount of the Tardis, more than enough for where Max needed to go. Zipping by the swimming pool, making three rights and four lefts, and snapping her fingers forty times the door to the chemistry lab opened. Inside, the Doctor stored trillions of ancient pathogens, vaccines, varying degrees of bacteria throughout millennia. This place also contained genetic material attained during adventures in time and space. Including Tilorian essence, perfect killer of Shadow Skins.

To call Max Lin's experience with chemistry poor would be an understatement after an experiment on a squirrel had resulted in her being banned for life from taking science classes in in her academia. How was she to know creating a fire-breathing rodent would 'create a neighborhood menace', it's not like she had an actual dragon to play make believe with as a kid. Now those days were far too innocent compared to the actual monsters faced. Luckily, she didn't need to know anything about science, just what the machine that mixed/cloned liquid solutions looked like. A nearby transporter was wide enough for multiple jars of the Tilorian slime to be held, with coordinates a few meters off from where the Doctor beamed down to Yardingale. There was no way to know what the doctor encountered on the planet surface, but this stopped one of the more problematic elements. The rest relied on Time Lord ingenuity, which Max could attest always measured up.

What followed would be more unpleasant. Max had to break the bubble.

This was the worse part of the plan, all or nothing. 11 had tried to explain it like popping a bubble, but not, which prompted 12 to swat him on the back of the head. 11complained while 12 massaged his cranium. 9, the best with words at times, explained how Max could bend the bubble so it stretched towards the console. When it broke, she'd have at least ten seconds. She knew what button to press and what to do afterwards. None of them had been too reassuring after that point but ultimately this would be up to Max's skill to resolve.

Thinking she was in a bubble, the most flexible one ever made, the companion pressed both hands against its blurred layer and pushed. Max didn't dare to curl her fingers in case the slightest puncture worked. She pushed a foot ahead, stepped to stretch it then repeated the process. The steady walk towards the console was slow, it demanded looking right at the Rani. Not the most pleasant thing to observe when trying to keep cool.

Eventually Max close enough to kick the wicked Time Lord right in the jaw. Temptation… eventually subsided. She did stumble a bit but recovered and carefully moved closer to her destination. So many buttons were laid out, enough to rewire the entire universe. Luckily prep-work had prevented things from being too much of a guessing game. A few more minutes would have helped, but then Max heard the hissing.

Turning her head, she realized the bubble had wobbled from the earlier stumble. The Rani had contacted the layer, at the elbow. Time has slowly come back to the Time Lord, gritted teeth and unholy fury within their eyes as the sound made expressed nothing but rage.

Well, no reason to make it boring now. Max did her best to focus on not making those thoughts the last. Slamming her hand through the barrier, the right button was pressed as time resumed. A certainly fatal energy blast had been hitched slightly, taking out a screen that would have been Max's head. Kicking back into the chair, struggling to stay planted now that gravity had been shut off, Max clicked a switch that enveloped her in an energy. A bright flash implied the Rani's second shot had been ineffective. Now it became much easier to hear the Time Lord screech in real-time.

"You're going to pray the leeches had finished you off before I'm done with you, wretched human!"

A new sound entered Max's ears. She knew it quite well.

MAAXXX

The constant peril had just become more annoying than harrowing. Still, the companion couldn't help looking up. Sponsors, three of them, soaring down like chatty missiles.

YOU SHOULDN'T UPSET MANAGEMENT!

This was it, one little moment to save it all. Best bit, Max Lin got show why they never should have taught her how to play in zero gravity. Time for a field goal, Max thought.

Rolling about so she be could pressed into a ball, Max flipped the switch. Shields shut down and as the companion kicked off. Spinning helped make the third shot buzz by and hit one of the Sponsors. A steady roll from there picked up momentum into a spinning kick. She'd timed the maneuver too many times, lives had been on the line; Max Lin always made her kicks count.

A roar turned into cry of pain as booted-heel clanged into a metal head. Managing not to black out, Max haphazardly floated about before grabbing an upper railing from the floor. Looking down, the Rani could be seen prepping to take aim, failing to notice what made Max smile through the pain. She had felt a head lurch downwards.

The Sponsor had no way of stopping Its moment, crashing right through the Rani's console. Both Time Lords were knocked back while the third Sponsor landed with only a slight crater. It prepped to jump after Max but a sudden buzzing made Its head pop off.

The Doctor's screwdriver then aimed at what little remained of the console. The Time Lord then aimed at her Tardis, which radiated with life. Before the Rani could do anything, the Doctor whacked her with the sonic which now carried an electric charge. Sparks of electricity jolted the Rani, making her twitch before going still in the growing darkness. It made the Tardis's light so much more welcoming.

"Max," the Doctor voice called out. "You okay?"

"Been better, Doc," Max said, she couldn't tell if the tears floating out her were from pain or joy. "Are we done?"

"Almost," the Time Lord said, happily, it was the joy that made hope real. "Just got to stop a war. Send the Tardis in about ten minutes. She'll know the way."

A sudden flash and Max knew the Doctor had reactivated the badge for one last fight. She wasn't worried, even after everything while floating down to the Tardis, Max Lin knew the fight had been finished. Ramification Nightmares had been taken down and all it took was a busted leg. The Doctor could handle everything else.

Afterall, stopping a war was just cleanup for a Doctor.