With Kiam safe, he explained to them his plan. They used the perception field from the Tardis to watch the Master and get aboard the Valient. But the Master was able to see through it from the beginning. Using a laser screwdriver the Master turns him into an old man.
Thinking quickly he sent Martha back to the Earth while him and Jack stayed aboard. Jack he knew was chained up somewhere while he stayed in the conference room where it all started. A year had almost passed and he lay in the tent he now called home. He spent most of his nights connecting psychically with the Archangel Network, but his days were filled with the thoughts of Kiam.
He wondered where Jack had taken him. If he was loved, healthy. If he had started to talk yet. His second birthday had passed and it had nearly killed him to think that neither one of them had been there this year for it. He wanted to know what he looked like. He imagined a little boy with his messy hair and with Roses eyes.
He was lonely and he missed Rose more than ever, he wondered if she was able to make a life in Pete's world. He wanted so badly for her to be happy even if it wasn't with him. He pictured her as he had last seen her, when she was happy, but even seeing her smile, made him sad. Not for the first time he felt as though he were truly alone.
-DW-
Sitting in the wheelchair he holds three fingers against his thigh, hoping Martha's mom, Francine, sees them. As the clock turns to 2:58 pm. He sees the Master enter the Flight Deck.
"Time for my massage. Who shall I have today? Tanya. Come on, sweetheart. Lucy, have you met Tanya? She's gorgeous. Tanya, when we go to the stars, I'm going to take you to the Catriga Nova. Whirlpools of gold. You two should get to know each other. That might be fun."
"Condition red." the computer says.
"What the hell?"
"Repeat, condition red."
He takes the Master's jacket from Francine and takes the laser screwdriver from the pocket and points it at the Master.
"Oh, I see."
"I told you. I have one thing to say." He tries to get the screwdriver to work but it won't respond to him.
"Isomorphic controls."
The screwdriver is ripped out of his hands and than he is punched in face.
"Which means they only work for me. Like this." The master sends a laser beam at Francine.
"Say sorry!"
"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry." Francine cries.
"Didn't you learn anything from the blessed Saint Martha? Siding with the Doctor is a very dangerous thing to do. Take them away." The Master turns back to him. "Oh, do you know, I remember the days when the Doctor, oh, that famous Doctor, was waging a Time War, battling Sea Devils and Axons. He sealed the rift at the Medusa Cascade single handed. And look at him now. Stealing screwdrivers. How did he ever come to this? Oh yeah, me."
"I just need you to listen." he says trying again.
"No, it's my turn. Revenge! Best served hot. And this time, it's a message for Miss Jones."
"My people. Salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there. Stories of a child, walking the Earth, giving you hope. But I ask you how much hope has this man got? Say hello, Gandalf. Except he's not that old, but he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. But what if it showed?
The Master walks over to him " What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? All nine hundred years of your life, Doctor. What if we could see them?"
He feels his body twisting and being pulled in all directions. He screams in pain as he feels himself and older and older. Down you go, Doctor. Down, down, down the years.
"Doctor."
He crawls out of his clothes and stares up at the Master. The Master lifts him up and places him in a bird cage.
"Tomorrow, they launch. We're opening up a rift in the Braccatolian space. They won't see us coming. It kind of scary.
"Then stop." He replied.
"Once the Empire is established, and there's a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then it stops. The drumming. The never ending drumbeat. Ever since I was a child. I looked into the vortex. That's when it chose me. The drumming, the call to war. Can't you hear it? Listen, it's there now. Right now. Tell me you can hear it, Doctor. Tell me."
"It's only you." He taunted the Master.
"Good."
-DW-
The Master had told him that he had a surprise for him. That had been a couple of hours ago. Not having much choice he waited and was not surprised to see the Master return and then guards bring in Martha. Another set of Guards brought in her family and than finally Jack.
"Your teleport device, in case you thought I'd forgotten." Martha threw the vortex manipulator at the Master. "And now, kneel. Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready? Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down. I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?" The Master looks happy. "At zero, to mark this day, the child Martha Jones, will die. My first blood. Any last words? No? Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the time vortex. This one's useless. Bow your head. And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward "
Martha laughed.
"What. What's so funny?"
"A gun in four parts."
"Yes, and I destroyed it." The Master Replies hotly.
"A gun in four parts scattered across the world? I mean, come on, did you really believe that?"
"As if I would ask her to kill." He says.
"Oh well, it doesn't matter. I've got her exactly where I want her."
"But I knew what Professor Docherty would do. The Resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun, so she'd get me here at the right time."
"Oh, but you're still going to die."
"Don't you want to know what I was doing, travelling the world?"
"Tell me."
"I told a story, that's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went, I found the people, and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor and I told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."
"Faith and hope? Is that all?" The Master sounded disgusted.
"No, because I gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said. I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time"
"Nothing will happen. Is that your weapon? Prayer?"
"Right across the world, in word, just one thought at one moment but with fifteen satellites."
"The Archangel Network." Jack says.
"A telepathic field binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word is Doctor."
He feels himself begin to grow as the numbers hit zero. He thinks about his previous body and begins to grow younger. "I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices. The one thing you can't do. Stop them thinking. Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this."
"No!" The laser screwdriver fires at him but the energy field protects him. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. And you know what happens now."
"No! No! No! No!" The Master Screams.
"You wouldn't listen. Because you know what I'm going to say."
"No."
He puts his arms around the master who is curled into a ball. "I forgive you."
"My children."
"Captain, the paradox machine!" He yells at Jack.
He sees the Master activating the Vortex manipulator and grabs him. With a flash they are down in the Quarry. The master stands up and looks at him. "Now it ends, Doctor. Now it ends."
"We've got control of the Valiant. You can't launch."He tells the Master.
"Oh, but I've got this. Black hole converter inside every ship. If I can't have this world, Doctor, then neither can you. We shall stand upon this Earth together, as it burns."
"Weapon after weapon after weapon. All you do is talk and talk and talk. But over all these years and all these disasters, I've always had the greatest secret of them all. I know you." He says. "Explode those ships, you kill yourself. That's the one thing you can never do. Give that to me." He takes the trigger from the Doctor and than tries to take the Vortex manipulator. He finds himself back on the Valiant.
"Everyone get down! Time is reversing!" He calls out. "The paradox is broken. We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning. Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was."
"What about the spheres?" Martha asks him.
"Trapped at the end of the universe."
"But I can remember it." Francine says looking scared.
"We're at the eye of the storm. The only ones who'll ever know."
"Whoa, big fella! You don't want to miss the party. Cuffs. So, what do we do with this one?" Jack ask the Doctor.
"We execute him." Tish responds.
"No, that's not the solution." He says.
He sees Francine point a gun at the Master. "Oh, I think so. Because all those things, they still happened because of him. I saw them."
"Francine, you're better than him." He gently lowers the gun and then gives her a hug.
"You still haven't answered the question. What happens to me?" The Master Demands.
"You're my responsibility from now on."
"Yeah, but you can't trust him."
"No. The only safe place for him is the Tardis."
"You mean you're just going to keep me?"
"Mmm. If that's what I have to do. It's time to change. Maybe I've been wandering for too long. Maybe it is time I settle down."
A gunshot sounds and he grabs hold of the Master as blood stats to spread from the Master's wound.
"There you go. I've got you. I've got you."
"Always the women."
"I didn't see her." He tells the Master.
"Dying in your arms. Happy now?"
"You're not dying. Don't be stupid. It's only a bullet. Just regenerate."
"No."
"One little bullet. Come on." He knew he could easily like through a bullet wound.
"I guess you don't know me so well. I refuse."
"Regenerate. Just regenerate. Please. Please! Just regenerate. Come on."
"And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you? "
"You've got to. Come on. It can't end like this. You and me, all the things we've done. Axons. Remember the Axons? And the Daleks. We're only two of three that is left. There's no one else. Regenerate!"
"How about that. I win. Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?" The Master says and than dies in His arms. He holds the Master tightly to him crying for his lost friend and the last connection he had to Gallifrey.
He burns the Master's body because it is tradition among his people. He wonders briefly if someone would be there to burn his body when he passed away. He turned away from the fire and headed back his Tardis.
-DW-
"Time was, every single one of these people knew your name. Now they've all forgotten you."
"Good." His face lights up as he sees Jack coming across the square with Kiam in his arms. Jack sets the little boy down and he leans down and hold out his arms, watching him run to him. He scoops him up and hugs him tightly. Finally he examines him and is happy to see that Kiam is only a few days older than when he last saw him.
"Back to work." Jack says interrupting his thoughts.
"I really don't mind, though. Come with me." He tells Jack.
"I had plenty of time to think that past year, the year that never was, and I kept thinking about that team of mine. Like you said, Doctor, responsibility."
"Defending the Earth. Can't argue with that." He grabs Jack's hand and sonics the vortex manipulator.
"Hey, I need that."
"I can't have you walking around with a time travelling teleport. You could go anywhere, twice. The second time to apologize."
"And what about me? Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?"
"Nothing I can do. You're an impossible thing, Jack."
"Been called that before. Sir. Ma'am. But I keep wondering. What about aging? Because I can't die but I keep getting older. The odd little grey hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?"
"I really don't know." He says honestly.
"Okay, vanity. Sorry. Yeah, can't help it. Used to be a poster boy when I was a kid living on the Boeshane Peninsula. Tiny little place. I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me. The Face of Boe, they called me. Hmm. I'll see you."
"No. Definitely not. No. No." He thinks of Jack as the Face of Boe and begins to laugh.
-DW-
He waits for Martha to enter the Tardis and then begins to press buttons. "Right then, off we go. The open road. There is a burst of starfire right now over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio. Oh, the sky is like oil on water. Fancy a look? Or back in time. We could, I don't know, Charles the Second? Henry the Eighth. I know. What about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie. I bet she's brilliant."
"I just can't."
"Yeah." He had know she was going to leave him. He just had hoped it wouldn't be so soon.
"Spent all these years training to be a doctor. Now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't leave them."
"Of course not. Thank you. Martha Jones, you saved the world."
"Yes, I did. I spent a lot of time with you thinking I was second best, but you know what? I am good. You going to be all right?"
"Always. Yeah."
"Right then. Bye, Because the thing is, it's like my friend Vicky. She lived with this bloke, student housing, there were five of them all packed in, and this bloke was called Sean. And she loved him. She did. She completely adored him. Spent all day long talking about him."
"Is this going anywhere?" He had a feeling he knew where.
"Yes. Because he never looked at her twice. I mean, he liked her, but that was it. And she wasted years pining after him. Years of her life. Because while he was around, she never looked at anyone else. And I told her, I always said to her, time and time again, I said, get out. So this is me, getting out." She throws her phone at him. "Keep that, because I'm not having you disappear. If that rings, when that rings, you'd better come running. Got it?"
"Got it."
"I'll see you again, mister and you take good care of that baby you hear me."
"Don't worry. I will." The door closes and he looks at Kiam. "Where to now."