Abi's POV, guys, just thought I'd try something new.
I shuffled back slowly, hoping he wouldn't notice, but he didn't seem to care, he just looked really dazed.
"Salia?", he repeated,
"Yeah", I replied, watching him was weird, it felt weird. I mean obviously I was older than him, because I was a fully established Time Lord when he was a kid, but age didn't seem to matter, and now I'm finding myself attracted to him- No, can't think that. I really don't know why but it feels like I'm betraying someone, but who? He stared into my eyes, and without warning he pulled me into a bone crushing hug, I yelped and pushed him away, remembering my anger,
"You can't do this, we're going back!", I warned, moving around to change the coordinates, he grabbed my wrists as I moved away, I glared down at it then up at him, I must have looked dangerous he loosened his grip,
"You'd better let go, if you know what's good for you",
He glared back, much to my surprise, "You're not the boss", he let go of my arm and walked around,
"Oh so we're doing bosses now, okay, well I'm older so-",
"I'm cleverer", he snapped back, smirking slightly,
"Stop it, stop doing this", I flicked a lever, which he flicked back up. "I don't get it, the Doctors you're friend!",
"And you believed him?", The Master sneered,
"Yes", I snapped back, "I'm guessing there's a reason I shouldn't have?",
He scoffed, but didn't say anything, "Just take me back",
"You got in, I didn't force you", he pointed out,
"Yeah, I couldn't let you regenerate on your own",
He laughed, not looking up, "You could, believe me, I'm not worth it".
I frowned at him, thinking he couldn't actually think that of himself
I sighed, I had to think of another way to get him to listen, "Do you remember what I said?",
He looked up at me, I continued, "I'm sorry, the drums won't ever go away but you cannot let them control you.", I looked him in the eye, "You are better than that...yeah?", I anticipated what he was going to do next, he laughed, "Well, that's not what you want", I mumbled, "What's funny?", he looked up,
"You're Salia, the Guide, the cleverest Time Lord in existance and you haven't stopped me. You would have to even blink an eye",
"You make out like I'm some god", I said, not feeling good about that,
"You were back home",
I laughed gently, "Home", I sighed, "Home is Earth, Koschei, my home is Earth",
He frowned, "What?",
"I'm human because its the only life I want, I'm not like you or Theta or Rassillon, I'm human", he shook his head, not understanding at all, I sighed, "I was Salia, a long time ago, but before the War, before everything they sent me away, to hide until I could find a way out for them. I was placed on Earth, to grow, a Time Lord hiding as a human. I found out about everything but...but it wasn't fair, I didn't want to be a blood soaked Time Lord, I decided to be and stay a human. I'm not you. I don't want to be",
He scowled, "You decided to be a human over a Time Lord, what was so bad that you didn't want to be a Time Lord?".
So he didn't know about the Moment, obviously. I didn't know how I was going to respond honestly, but the Tardis signaled our arrival at wherever we were, cutting me off, much to my joy. He looked at me, then at the door, before walking back, leaving me no choice but to follow.
We arrived in London 21st century, I stepped out to see him at a newspaper stand, checking the date, behind him was the owner who looked slightly annoyed. I sighed and went up to him, giving the owner what I hoped was the right money and smiling in apology. The Master frowned at me,
"You don't just take newspapers like that, people only do that in movies...American movies", I looked at the paper, "17 May 2006", I looked at him, "Why did we come here?",
"You'll see", he smirked at me and I rolled my eyes, I was about to say something when Sky beeped,
"Abigail, 5 minutes till return", she warned, I looked up to see the Master adorable confused face,
"What the hell?",
I sighed, not really comfortable in telling him about Sky and the whole situation, "I need to go", I said, trying to walk around but he was in my way,
"Where?", he demanded,
"Just.." I snapped, "Let me go",
"No, I'm not letting you out of my sight, where you I go".
I knew he wasn't letting up and as long as Sky was ready to trap him, there wasn't much damage her could do, to Dasdre or to me, so reluctantly I set the coordinates and within seconds he realised what I was doing and immediately held my wrist, we both arrived on Sky, facing the view. I moved away from so that the containment vortex didn't hold me too. He frowned at the light before a look of knowledge graced his face. Of course he would know.
"Clever", he muttered at me,
"It's a precaution, sorry, I had to", I shrugged, "Why do you need me, I'm not gonna help with whatever you've got planned",
He looked at me like I was stupid, "What do you mean, why do you need me? We're Time Lords, we're the same",
I glared at him, "We are not the same", I hissed,
"Whether you like it or not, you are a Time Lord", he spat back,
I shook my head, "I choose who I am, I choose my biology", I told him, but he didn't look convinced so I turned to Sky, "Sky, cardio-vascular exam on me", I ordered. I turned back to him and behind me a screen show biological systems, one heart. I knew it showed one heart without even looking back. He looked back at me, lost for words, "I am human", I repeated. And I walked down to the chairs, and flopped down, wondering what my next move was, the Master looked at the light around him,
"What, are you just gonna leave me?", he questioned,
"I can't trust you", I snapped,
"True. But you could stop me doing something before I do it." I nodded, knowing that Sky was very secure and he really couldn't move, with or without the prison.
"Why did you take me?", I asked, changing the subject,
He looked at me, eyes boring into mine with a ferocious intensity, "Because you helped",
"What?",
"You left that message for me, in my head, you were the kindest Time Lord I had ever met. And my only friend",
"What about the Doctor?", I asked, trying not to dwell on the 'friend' bit.
"He didn't understand the drums", He muttered, looking down, and for the first time he actually looked sad, and vulnerable, when 5 minutes ago he was this evil genius. Mad genius.
"What happens now?", He asked.
I regarded him, thinking. I couldn't send him back to Earth, god knows what he would do. I couldn't let him stay on Sky, it was too risky. I couldn't call the Doctor, he didn't have his Tardis. Just then Sky lit up, flashing vividly.
"Are you gonna tell me what Sky is for then", he asked, frowning at his surroundings,
"Nope", I replied, not bothering to look at him, "Sky, what's wrong?",
"News report, on screen, Time Lord detected",
I frowned as she showed me a news report, showing a man, Harold Saxon, speaking to his nation, I looked back at the Master and frowned, he did too. Because Harold Saxon looked exactly like him. Sky paused the recording, "What is this?",
"Harold Saxon, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. Report taken from 13 December 2007 election day",
"That's him, that's the Master, Sky why would you show me the future!", I fumed, now that she did that, the future was written in stone. I knew that, the Master knew that, hell, even Sky knew that!
"This is a fixed point in time, the Master must always become the Prime Minister",
I looked down, so this was my choice, I had to let him go, and let him destroy England and probably the world, or I could keep him and destroy the fabric of reality itself. Mess up the timeline of the universe. Rupture time and space simultaneously. Or kill around 7 billion people. Which was worse?. I blinked back tears, knowing what I had to do, I looked back at him, expecting his malicious grin, but instead he looked depressed,
"Fixed points in time can be rewritten", he suggested,
"You know they can't, and even if they could why would you care, you've got what you wanted, you get to destroy Earth", I hissed at him, "Sky let him go", I mumbled.
The light disappeared and he was left standing, just looking at me, I couldn't look back at him so turned to Sky, "Send him back", I ordered and let him disappear without looking back. It's funny, looking back I kind of wish I looked back at him that one last time. Just so I could see the device he threw before he left, the device that chocked me into unconsciousness and sent me far away from Sky. And so close to where I wanted to be.
I gasped into the cold concrete, then I started coughing, coughing so hard that I had to roll over so that I was coughing into cleaner air. I looked up to see not the beautiful blue sky or the crisp white ceiling that I usually saw when I awoke on Sky or the Tardis, but a dull grey ceiling. I shot up, breathing deeply,
"Sky?", I whispered, looking around. I knew I wasn't on Sky but my mind was left in a frazzle, I couldn't collect my thoughts,
"Abi!".
I turned to see the Doctor, frowning, obviously as confused as I was. I stared back at him, but only for a moment because I then threw my arms around him, hugging him. I pulled away from him and smiled, showing him I was ok for now, he kissed my forehead and let me go so I could see Martha and Jack, standing and staring, I grinned,
"Hi", I wiggled my fingers as they stared, Jack was the first to move towards me, he pulled me against him and squeezed me, I really didn't know what to do, so I draped my arms around his neck and tried to respond as best I could. What really surprised me was when he pulled back and kissed my cheek, I felt an enormous amount of love and passion. But that's not what surprised me, what surprised me was my reaction. I didn't turn stiff and I didn't push him away, instead and leaned into him and sighed, in comfort. My eyes widened as soon as the sound left me, I expected him to be slightly confused too but he just smiled at me and released me. I averted my eyes to Martha and embraced her tightly, though my mind did wonder to Jack. When we pulled apart I finally looked at where we were, and saw food, laptops but not much else.
"What's going on?", I asked sitting down in between Martha and Jack.
"We're on the run", The Doctor began, eating a chip, "Because a certain Mr Harold Saxon has named us public enemies 1,2 and 3",
"Harold Saxon being the Master", Jack added,
"I know who he is", I replied, quietly,
"Well, everyone does, I did before I even met you two", Martha explained,
"No", I shook my head, "No I knew about Harold Saxon because..", I looked around at them, "He took me to earth, 19th May 2006",
"So?", The Doctor frowned at me,
"I had him, I had him sealed and contained but I had to set him free again", I sighed,
"What?! Why would you do that?", the Doctor exclaimed,
"Because Prime Minister Harold Saxon is a fixed point in time, he has to exist, I couldn't change that", I said.
The Doctor nodded, finally understanding, and I looked at the other two who both smiled back.
Jack cleared his throat, "I've got this tuned to government wavelengths so we can follow what Saxon's doing.",
"What about my family?", Martha asked, I sensed something was wrong there,
"It still says the Jones family taken in for questioning. Tell you what, though. No mention of Leo.", The Doctor said, pointing at the screen
Martha smiled, "He's not as daft as he looks. I'm talking about my brother on the run. How did this happen?", I took a chip from Jacks bag without even thinking, he playfully slapped my hand but let me have it, I stuck my tongue out at him before saying,
"Nice chips."
"Actually, they're not bad.", The Doctor agreed,
"So, you two, who is he? How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?", Jack asked me and the Doctor
"And what is he to you both? Like colleagues or is he your boyfriend or something?", Martha directed that last bit at me, I didn't notice Jack tense,
"I've seen him once before this, and he was a kid",
"A friend, at first." The Doctor muttered,
"I thought you were going to say he was your secret brother or something.", Martha commented, looking down, we all snapped our heads at her, frowning,
"You've been watching too much TV.", the Doctor said,
"But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect.", Jack continued, obviously interested in Gallifrey.
The Doctor looked at me, I smiled back, letting him describe it, seeing as it wasn't really my home, he looked down wistfully, "Well, perfect to look at, maybe. And it was. It was beautiful. They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe, looking down on the galaxies below. Sworn never to interfere, only to watch. Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's when it all began. When he was a child. That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired, some would run away, and some would go mad. I don't know.",
"What about you?", Martha breathed, astounded by the description,
"Oh, the ones that ran away, I never stopped.", the Doctor said, as if it were obvious,
"And you?" Jack asked me, I smiled,
"I didn't just looked at it, they connected me to it, forcing my mind to absorb it like some sort of experiment. Made me a genius, made me Salia", I explained, remembering my past life.
"But what about your family", He asked, concerned,
"I didn't have one, that's what made it so easy. They just took an unimportant abandoned kid, some child that no one wanted.", I looked down, fiddling with my laces, till I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked back up at Jack and frowned at his act. I cleared my throat and was about to distract myself when his bracelet beeped. He looked at it,
"Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognise it.",
I got up and away from him, "Patch it through to the laptop." I said as worked the laptop.
"Since we're telling stories, there's something I haven't told you.", Jack began, carefully, I knew why once I saw the Torchwood logo.
"You work for Torchwood.", The Doctor growled, I frowned at him, yeah Torchwood was a bad cooperation, but that was years ago, now, it was the shining example of what the old regime should have been
"I swear to you, it's different. It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now.", Jack pleaded but he didn't need to defend himself,
"Doctor, don't you dare judge him, you haven't seen it, Torchwood is amazing. What they did and what they are are two very different things." I spoke calmly but he knew I wasn't messing. He just frowned at me,
"The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it, and when I did that, I did it for you in your honour.", Jack continued, he was looking at me when he said it, but I presumed he was talking about the Doctor.
We watched as a Torchwood representative spoke about her suspicions and what the Archangel network was about.
"What's the Archangel Network?", the Doctor asked, frowning
"I've got Archangel. Everyone's got it.", Martha said as she brought out her phone
"It's a mobile phone network. Because look, it's gone worldwide. They've got fifteen satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel.", I explained, my eyes widened as I said it, so did the Doctor's,
"It's in the phones! Oh, I said he was a hypnotist. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on.", he explained, he held Martha's phone against the table. We all heard a drum beat, with a rhythm of four,
"There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere, ticking away in the subconscious.", I mumbled,
"What is it, mind control?", Martha guessed.
"No, no, no, no, no. It's subtler than that. Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code, Vote Saxon. Believe in me. Whispering to the world. Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me, because I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal cancelled him out.", The Doctor exclaimed, piecing everything together,
"Any way you can stop it?", Jack inquired,
I shook my head, "Not from down here. But now we know how he's doing it.", I said,
"And we can fight back.", Martha concluded, nodding.
"Oh, yes!", the Doctor exclaimed, grinning, he looked at me, concerned that I didn't seem as excited as he was. And I wasn't. "Abi?".
I looked up at him, wide eyed, "We can't hurt him, Doctor, we need to stop him, but we can't hurt him", I said, firmly. Jack frowned at me,
"What happened when he took you?", he asked me,
"He didn't take me, I went with him, and we went to London 21st century, then Sky-",
"Sky? You took him on Sky", the Doctor asked,
"I didn't take him there, I had to go back and he was going to stick to me like glue", I reasoned,
"You could have worked around it, you just didn't want to leave him", Jack accused,
"Well can you blame me?!", I exclaimed, frustrated, "I knew him since he was a kid, and it wasn't his fault. I know what its like to be an experiment to the Time Lords. I just wanted to help. And that shouldn't be any of your business", I snapped, after that i sighed, feeling stupid for going off track, "That's not the point, he did something to me, made me come here, because I know Sky didn't send me to Earth, he did something", I said, looking at the Doctor. He nodded,
"We'll find out", he soothed.
I looked looked after nodding, wondering why in the world Jack cared so much about my relationship with the Master, or any one for that matter. I've known for just under a day, this is was getting ridiculous, and what's more, the Doctor and Martha seemed to be taking this in their stride, like it was normal and expected. So they knew something. I, however, was left in the dark, which was extremely frustrating. But not nearly as frustrating as the dizziness I had begun to experience. I wobbled slightly and almost keeled over were it not for the warm strong hands that caught me. It was Jack's, of course it was. He looked down at me, brushing hair from my eyes,
"Abi, hey", he whispered, "Ok?",
I blinked a couple of times, trying to get everything into focus again whilst I got up slowly from him arms and nodded gently, I felt like if I nodded any more than that I would have fainted for real. I still did faint, but it was onto a different set of arms entirely, paired with a different person.