Chapter 5

The Eighth Doctor roamed the streets of Manhattan with a purpose. The Great Key of Rassilon was here in the hands of the Neverwere; Ramaus. If there was a more simplistic piece, it was that key. In the hands of a knowledgeable individual, it could unlock a power so great that it could erase anything from existence. The Doctor couldn't chance Rassilon getting that key. It was far too important that he retrieved it, and then if things went according to his plan he would use it for another function. The mere thought of it made him somber. Still, he knew that the Time Lords weren't going to stop with the Daleks. He knew the Daleks wouldn't stop at the Time Lords. Romana was his one true companion in this fight, and the tide was against her. She knew it as well as he did. She continued anyway. It wasn't out of sheer bravery. It was because she knew it was the right thing to do.

The Doctor was lost in deep thought about all that had happened as he followed the trail through people. He saw his fourth incarnation as he traveled through the vortex. He hadn't expected that. Four seemed intent that Eight wasn't doing the right thing. No better than the Daleks is how he put it. The Keeper said he was dangerous. He knew the Time Lords would try to stop him in any way possible. If he survived past this gambit, they wouldn't dare to try to gather his future selves. No, they would understand his reasoning. At least he hoped they would. There were doubts, of course there were. But how it the name of Rassilon could it be ended any other way. He searched all of time and space looking for that answer. This was the last ditch effort of a desperate Time Lord. No matter what the Gallifreyans had become, this wasn't what he wanted. He knew that younger versions of himself wouldn't understand why this was deemed necessary. They haven't lived through this experience, nor would they likely be reasoned with until they telepathically linked with him. It would be so simple to do that, but he would adamantly refuse to do it. They cannot know, it was bad enough to know that he was in the Time War much less know the events that caused it to go downhill towards this end.

As he turned the next street corner he noticed that he was leaving the nicer districts of the city. Now he was getting into areas that were only walked far enough to grab the next available taxi. He realized that he'd been following this trail for quite awhile. Where had the time gone? Never a question that he ever thought he'd ask himself. There he noticed a lady up ahead who had a man standing next to her dressed rather shabbily, and had a knife in his hand. He had it pointed at her and looked like he was moments from running him through. The Doctor looked at the tracking device and back towards the situation and put the scanner back into his pocket.

The man with the knife put the point under the frightened woman's chin. The switchblade was very sharp and drew a trickle of blood. "C'mon, lady. You got more than a few bucks to hand over. You better come across!" He growled at her.

"I swear that I don't! I promise!"

"That's a real shame, because I'm gonna have to get my money's worth some other way." As he started to push her backwards into an alley, he moved the knife down to her throat, the tip still pointing upwards. He heard the approach of footsteps and turned quickly to see who was coming his way, afraid that it was a cop. Instead he was treated to a man in a Victorian Era outfit holding something metal. He wasn't sure what it was. Could be a weird shaped taser or maybe an electric prod. If it were the later he would have to get close. If it was the taser he would have to shoot him directly. He decided the best way to go was to shift the lady to the front of him and use her as a shield. "What're you playin' at man? Me and the lady got business."

"Yes, I can see that. But I think she's rather hoping that you had everything concluded."

"Well we ain't done! So why don't you get back on the boat you came in on and head back home."

"I would, but home's a real mess these days. You understand, broken homes and such… By the way, miss? Or is it missus? In any case, what is your name."

Tearful and too scared not to answer she quietly said, "Nancy…," she gasped a little looking a the strange man.

The crook behind her tightened his grip, "Shut up! I didn't tell you to talk!"

"Nancy, eh? I don't believe I've ever met a Nancy before. Very difficult to remember all the names and faces these days. Well, Nancy, I'm the Doctor and I'm here to help." The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver.

The man laughed at the Doctor, "You ain't gonna use that while I got her! You'd hurt her too."

"Well it might cause a bit of a headache yes, but other than that I think she'd prefer it over your company." He hit the button and a high sonic pitch came screaming out. The criminal loosened his grip, but more importantly the blade of the knife fell back into the sheathe. With that, Nancy ran towards the Doctor. As she came nearer, he upped the pitch and the thug dropped to his knees. Once he was satisfied that it would take him a bit to recover and even longer to figure out why his knife wasn't working properly, he stopped. He looked towards the grateful woman with a reassuring smile. "Sorry about that, ultra high frequency. Do you carry a mobile? It might not work very well right now…"

"I think I can get a new phone, thank you, Doctor! Shouldn't we run now?"

"Yes, I believe we should!" He pulled out the scanner and it was still blinking in a forwards direction from his location. "This way!" He grabbed the woman's arm and took off in a sprint. The pace was kept for a lot longer than Nancy was comfortable with. She was panting like crazy and as the Doctor looked back towards her he noticed that she wasn't doing nearly as well as he was. He stopped and allowed her to catch her breath.

"Why aren't you out of breath too?" She said with a heavy pant, noticing that he had turned his attention back to the device in his hand.

"Well, it takes quite a bit to wind me. It's probably running through all those rock quarries. I also have two hearts, which tends to give me a distinct advantage of not exhausting me so quickly."

She scanned his face, trying to look for any sign that he was being sarcastic or joking with her. His face remained completely blank as he studied the screen of his device. Her eyes widened a bit in some disbelief. He was strange, but insane now too? All these fancy gadgets, and extreme personality. He must be one of those eccentric geniuses. She wanted to believe that of her strangely dressed benefactor. As he looked up at the oncoming street, he pointed towards a direction. "That's where we'll find him."

She looked at him with fear in her eyes, she'd just been freed from the hands of some thug who was looking to rob her or more. Now she was running in a direction away from her apartment or the police station, and what's worse she was with man who called himself the Doctor. This man who saved her was looking for someone else. "Find him?" She said nervously. She evaluated everything again and again in her head. She came to the conclusion that she traded one danger for another and that the adrenaline of the situation made her follow the Doctor in the first place.

The Doctor looked back towards Nancy whose look of fear was obvious. He realized that he'd managed to drag her here and she truly didn't have a clue of what, or why she, was here. "Oh, Nancy. I'm so sorry about all this. I suppose an explanation would be in order, wouldn't it?" She nodded slightly. "First of all, I'm not from here."

"New York?"

"Yes, I'm not from New York, or the United States, or even Britain. I'm not from Earth. I'm a Time Lord, and I'm trailing something that plans on using your planet as a threat to keep me from going back to my Homeworld and stopping the corruption that has plagued our end of the galaxy."

"Are you crazy?" She started to tremble in fear and cry a little.

"No, but it would make things far easier on me if I were. Look, the individual down the road is very dangerous person and he holds a very dangerous object. One I can't allow him to take back to his masters. If he does, there's a fair chance that everything you and I know will be erased forever. Forgotten as if it had never been here. I have to stop it, but you don't."

"You're serious?" He grabbed her hands and placed them on his chest. She felt the hearts beating underneath his clothing. She looked at him in astonishment. He was telling the truth. He smiled at her with understanding of how difficult all this was.

"Nancy, back in Manhattan I left a very special box. It's blue, and says police box. Take this key, and keep it safe with you. Go to the box and wait there for me. It was near the theatre district within an alleyway. Step inside. It will be a bit more of a surprise."

"So you want me to grab a cab and let you stop whoever this guy is?"

"Yes, very simple."

"Simple's not the word Doctor. Luckily the cabbies take cards."

"Go Nancy, it's vital that you get there. When you're inside, there will be a large control panel. The panel that is right in front of you as you enter the door has a switch, flip it and it will shut you inside. I will come back for you as soon as I've managed to stop this madman."

She nodded, unsure of what else to say or do. If she ran, she could catch the cab that just passed them. With that she took off. He smiled until she was out of range and then the gloom of something more serious crept over. "Good Luck, Nancy." He didn't want to take the chance that Ramaus or any other Time Lord would get his hands on that key. They'd expect it with him, but not with some random woman that had never been associated with him before. He was sorry that he couldn't ease her into this information, but much like any other time he'd met a companion it was an all or nothing situation. "C'mon Doctor, into the fray with us!"

He walked towards the building his scanner indicated. What an eventful evening it had been thus far. This was the sort of thing that happened all the time before the Time War began. Sure it all tied in together, but it felt like it was the odd sort of trouble he used to always get in to. The scanner said he would find what he was looking for a the top of the building. He looked up and saw only darkness and the glint of a stray light hitting the side of a semi-tallish building. As he strolled in, he noticed that it was a nicer apartment building. Not the normal pick for a villain. He thought they would go for something like the Statue of Liberty, or the Empire State Building. A randomly tallish apartment building was odd. However, as he thought it over, he realized that it wasn't the same old place every villain would choose. Who would expect a villain here? He road the elevator up all the way he could and found the access to the roof above. There he saw Ramaus trying to tinker with the vortex manipulator.

Ramaus had been trying to fix the thing since he landed here. The ride was vicious and caused him to black out far longer than he was comfortable to admit. When he tried to make the jump back into the vortex he realized that it wasn't happening any time soon. The Doctor's infernal tampering had caused the device to malfunction and may have rendered it useless. He was hoping he could repair it, but he was no quantum mechanic. He didn't want to believe he was stranded there. He knew that the Doctor would follow him though and if he found the Doctor he could take the time machine back to Gallifrey and he would be rewarded by Rassilon for his service. Given the chance to be something other than a Neverwere. This would be a dream come true. As he kneeled on the ground trying to do whatever he could to make the device work again, he heard footsteps approaching. He turned to see who it was and found that the Doctor had found him. "Meddling Time Lord… Time Renegade."

" It doesn't quite have that ring to it. I think Doctor will suffice, Ramaus. Now how about you be a good little non-person and give me the key."

"Never, Doctor! Lord Rassilon has promised me a chance for real life. You're destruction will assure me a place in the universe instead of this!" His arm glowed with a certain energy.

"Ah, yes! I heard you Neverwere's had a bit of an energy build up. That's why you choose not to take full human forms that often."

"Lord Rassilon stabilized the human form, but the energy inside can still be burned out."

"Nothing but a meat suit after that. And I'm betting you're desperate because you've used quite a lot of energy already."

"Clever, Doctor. So clever. You think I would've let Romanadevoratrelundar live if I could've just vaporized her? I have to be very selective on what I expend energy on. It wouldn't take much to kill you and it should be leave me enough to make it to Gallifrey and have Rassilon…"

"A few things before you finish that sentence. First of all, just call her Romana. It's far shorter. Second, you missed the Lord part in Rassilon. You must keep proper terms at all times. Third, and most important, Rassilon will kill you as soon as he has the opportunity."

"No! He's promised!"

"His promises aren't worth the breath it took to say that sentence. Rassilon's madness has spread throughout the Time Lords. It started before his resurrection and has only continued since. The precipice we stand at will end anyone that Rassilon does not want towards oblivion and ascend him to a much more powerful position than that of Time Lord."

"You lie!" His anger flashed and the energy built up.

"You mean, you hope I'm lying. Believe me, I'm not."

"You're going to die, Doctor! DIE!" He fired off a blast of energy and the Doctor ran. He felt the pain of loss wash over him. He realized that the next blast would end him. The Doctor's plan all along, of course. He needed to get out of there, find some place with weapons and then return. The vortex manipulator was only good for one thing now. He could set it to overload. It was still easy enough to do that.

The Doctor peeked around the corner of the wall that kept the access door to the roof. "Are we done wasting our energy now? You energy beings are all the same! You use too much and then when you can't press the advantage you've got nothing left! I mean most of you don't realize just how much of your own life force you put behind those little stunts, do you? " He scanned over Ramaus holding the vortex manipulator by the wristband and smiling wildly. The Doctor stepped out, his head turned slightly in curious tone. "What are you doing, Ramaus?"

"I've set this to overload. It won't open the vortex properly, you made sure of that. But the influx of energy that it's trying to build to do the job will rip a hole large enough to remove half of this planet from space time and what's left to burn in the dust."

"That doesn't have that much power in it."

"It doesn't take much, and once the rip is open it will start to pull things in. The more that gets pulled in, the bigger the hole gets. Bluffing your way out won't work. It's simple, really… You can stop me, or you can stop the pending bomb. It's your choice Doctor." Ramaus tossed the watch to far end of the roof. The Doctor's face flashed into anger, which made Ramaus smile. He ran away from the scene leaving the Doctor and the useless device.

The Doctor reached the device and saw that it was already getting very warm from the build up. He thought about Nancy, and how he was glad that no matter what at least she would be safe, at least for awhile. It wasn't enough, not by far. He had to stop it from going up. As he started to work on it, he chastised himself. "Next time, I save my speech and use the screwdriver!"