Chapter 7:

The Master laughed evilly as the woman looked up, eyes wide, and spotted the Doctor.

"Rose?"

"Hi Doctor." Rose greeted weakly from the arms of the soldiers holding her. The Doctor stared at her in shock, confused as to how she was here. Last he saw of her she was on Bad Wolf Bay with another version of him, a human version. Scenario upon possible scenario ran through his head, but the Time Lord could not fathom a reasonable explanation for her being here.

"Rose," he said again. "What are you doing here?" The young woman shrugged guiltily and gave him a meek smile in reply.

"I was scanning for alien tech," she explained. "Saw a big blip on the radar and thought it was the TARDIS. I've never seen anything else with that much technological complexity, so it made sense." The Doctor simply blinked in reply. His feisty pink and yellow human had defied all odds once again, and he still hadn't a clue why. As he was opening his mouth to voice his confusion, the Master cut him off.

"Yes yes, the little companion came back once more!" He sang before turning to face Rose. "But your timing Miss Tyler, I must say it's atrocious." Rose looked at the crazed Time Lord in shock as the Master lifted her face with his hand, tilting her chin up. Suddenly outraged, the Doctor burst forward with a yell.

"Don't you touch her!" He screamed. The guards reacted instantly, grabbing the enraged man as he ran by, forcing him to the floor and lifting their guns to his head.

"You're not really in a place to be giving orders Theta." The Master laughed, continuing to examine Rose's face. "You impossible little human you..." he murmured.

"How do you know my name?" She asked suspiciously, eyeing the Master as his skull illuminated through his skin again.

"I do my research of course," he said, clicking his tongue. "Back when I was Saxon, I knew the only way to come out on top was to learn everything I could about the Doctor since we last met. Then, there was the year that never was." The Doctor cringed noticeably from his place on the ground. "Oh, how I loved that year. Having the earth's precious Doctor at my mercy. For twelve glorious months I tortured him, trying to get a ruse out of him. Every time he screamed in pain, I thought I had won, but every time the same thoughts projected throughout his head." Rose was horror stricken by the words of the lunatic in front of her. She didn't know much about the Master's reign over the earth for a year that was later undone, but she new enough from the way the Doctor's face twisted in regret. She also recalled Martha saying something about it in the TARDIS after the Dalek crucible. "The same bloody thoughts, about the same bloody girl. Thank Rassilon that Rose isn't here! Rose is safe! Rose is far away from me, living a safe and happy life! Rose this, Rose that, Rose, Rose, ROSE!"

The Master screamed and jumped over the heads of everyone in the room, using the same electrostatic energy beams he had used on the Doctor before. He landed in the Gate causing sparks to fly everywhere.

"No!" The Doctor screamed, pushing the momentarily distracted guards away and hopping up. "Get him out of there!" He ran forward only to be stopped by another energy beam crashing into his chest. The Doctor fell as he heard Rose scream out his name. Her voice... A sound that he was so sure he would never hear again. Crazed laughter burst from the Master's lips and Rose's calls were quickly silenced.

"He's in my head!" Naismith cried, clutching his hands to his skull. Everyone in the room was performing a similar action, holding their heads in their hands. Everyone, he noticed, except for Rose and Rossiter. The Vivocci he could understand as he wasn't part of the human race and Addams had said that the genetic transfer was species wide. That didn't however; explain why Rose was standing wide-eyed between two pained guards, looking around in panic.

"Doctor!" Wilf cried, pulling the man out of his thoughts. "There's...There's this face..." The Doctor turned to look at the elder man, finding him in a similar state as everyone else. His hand was pressed into his forehead with his eyes scrunched closed as if he were fighting a headache.

"What is it?" The Doctor asked frantically, running up to stand next to Wilfred. "What can you see?" He placed a comforting hand on Wilf's shoulder and the old man looked up, pointing to the Master.

"Well, it's him! I can see him!" Frantically, the Doctor ran to the main computer in the room and started typing away frantically, trying to shut down the machine.

"Doctor, how can I help?" Rose asked, running up to join him at the computer.

"It's not working! I can't turn it off!" He exclaimed in a strained voice. He turned to look at Rose, finding an equal amount of panic in her eyes.

"Doctor, what's happening?" She asked. Behind them, Wilf let out a loud groan as everyone's heads began spinning rapidly.

"Wilf!" The Doctor cried, running over and pushing the man towards the glass cubicles on the side of the room. "Rose, take him inside the cubicle!" He called as he ran into the opposite cubicle and pressed the button, unlocking it for them. Quickly, the blonde woman grabbed Wilf and pulled him into the small space with her. Once they were safely inside, The Doctor pressed at a few buttons, allowing the Gate's influence to cut out within the cubicle. One he was finished, Rose slammed her hand down on the button and unlocked the Doctor's side. He stepped out and ran towards the computer once more.

"Fifty seconds and counting!" The Master sang happily, stopping the Doctor in his tracks.

"To what?" he asked. In response, the other Time Lord turned his head and flashed him a large smile.

"Oh, you're going to love this."

Meanwhile, in the small sheltered cubicle, Wilfred's phone began to ring. Manoeuvring himself around Rose, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

"Hello?" He asked into it before visibly paling. The young woman in the space with him put a comforting hand on his shoulder as he continued to speak. "Oh God, Donna?"

"What is it?!" The Doctor shouted. "Hypnotism? Mind control? You're grafting your thoughts inside them, is that it?"

"Oh, that's way too easy." The Master replied. Unnoticed by both Gallifreyans, Wilf was having a frantic conversation on his phone while Rose motioned for Rossiter to open their side of the cubicle. "No, no, no. They're not going to think like me!" Quickly, Rossiter reached the glass and entered the one side, pressing the release button and opening the door before Wilf and Rose.

"Stay here," she whispered to the old man as she slinked out. Behind her, Wilfred pushed the button, letting Rossiter out of his side. The cactus like man shifted back to where he was standing moments before while Rose silently moved towards the Gate.

"They're going to become me! And- wait! Why aren't you changing?" The Master exclaimed, his head whipping to look at Rose. She stood rooted to the spot as both men turned to look at her (and by both men, she realized startlingly, it was the Doctor and about thirty Masters).

"You're human!" The Master that was once Naismith shouted. They all eyed her suspiciously while the Doctor looked at her in concern.

"Or maybe you're not..." Said the head security guard Master. He came up close to her and examined her closely. Stopping in front of her face, he leaned in and stared at her eyes. Rose felt a growl threatening to make its way out of her chest but held it back as best she could. A little noise still escaped her, sounding more like a muted hiss. The guard-Master took a step back and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Naismith-Master, his daughter-Master, and two scientist-Masters surrounded Rose. Before he could blink she was being picked up and dragged across the room, shouting all the while.

"ROSE!" The Doctor hollered but was quickly silenced by the butt of a guard's gun. He fell painfully to the floor, looking up at the once human and scowling at the Master's face.

"Doctor!" He heard Wilf shout from inside the glass cubicle. He whipped his head around, forcing himself to ignore Rose for the time being. "She's starting to remember!" The Doctor groaned in frustration and made a move to get up and help the old man, but once again the guard-Master stopped him. "Doctor!" Wilf cried.

"Doctor!" Rose cried frantically from near the Gate.

"Doctor, Doctor, Doctor!" The Master imitated cruelly as the said man looked frantically back and forth between his two friends.

"Doctor!"

(A/N): Hi everyone! Sorry for this chapter being so short... This chapter was extremely difficult for me to write but I didn't want to leave you waiting another week after last week's cliffhanger. I'm still not entirely happy with it; I ranted to my poor beautiful Beta reader about it for a while, but she assures me that it is acceptable, so I hope you agree!

Please feel free to drop a review and let me know what you're thinking. Love it? Hate it? I'd love to know!

Until next time,

~JL