CHAPTER 17
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SILENCE FALLS NO MORE
Even as the Silents threatened to electrocute him and the others, the Master touched a button on his laser screwdriver and smiled wickedly as it released a beam of pure concentrated heat from it that instantly set the three aliens on fire. The Silents ran from the room screaming in pain as the Doctor and Jenny looked at him in disbelief.
"What? They were trying to kill us you know," The Master said with seemingly no remorse whatsoever.
"Yeah, you've really changed alright," The Doctor grumbled.
"Here. Put these on before they leave or you'll forget them. Your attack won't stop them for long, Koschei. There are probably several of them on this ship if my past encounter with them is anything to go by," Jenny said as she put on an eyepatch that would allow her to remember the Silents and handed one to each of the other two Time Lords.
The Doctor smiled at her in approval as he said, "Your armor has a little bit of everything in it, doesn't it? You seem to be prepared for anything. You're the Queen of Preparation!"
Jenny giggled and smiled as she said, "Otherwise known as Jenny. Calling myself a Queen sounds . . . a bit pretentious."
"That's another way in which you differ from your father. You actually have a sense of humility," the Master said with a chuckle.
"Who are you to talk about my lack of humility, 'Master'?" The Doctor shot back.
"You used my name. So you finally admit that I'm your superior at last," The Master said with a smug smile.
"That wasn't what I meant! I was being sarcastic!" The Doctor protested.
"Stop it, you two! We're here to find Clara, remember? Stop acting like children and let's go," Jenny ordered.
The two Time Lords both looked at her in surprise as she suddenly said in an apologetic tone, "Sorry. I know that I don't have any right to order you two about like that. I'm just worried about her."
The Doctor smiled at her as he said, "You're right actually. Sorry, Jen. I just get so wound up by him sometimes that I can't stop myself. For the record, Clara would be very proud of how you took charge just now."
"You acted just like her," The Master agreed.
Jenny smiled mischievously as she asked, "Does this mean that I'm in charge now then? Am I the new boss while Clara's not here?"
"No," Both Time Lords said at once making her laugh and forget her worries about Clara for a moment which she really needed.
The Doctor took the lead now as he went forward and started to search the ship for clues as to where Clara had gone. The Master meanwhile followed close behind him and kept one eye ahead of them even as he kept the other eye out for Jenny who followed directly behind him.
He was beginning to think very highly of her and had already felt himself becoming protective of her. To his surprise, he had actually found himself automatically checking to see if she was alright as soon as he had driven off the Silents. That had truly shocked him because he hadn't thought of the safety and well-being of anyone else besides himself for a long time now.
No, that wasn't entirely true. He had always been protective of Romana since he had fallen in love with her. He wasn't in love with Jenny of course, but he had found himself starting to care for her. He was actually thinking of her more and more as a friend and in some ways even as a daughter. He already knew that he would never let anything happen to her if he could possibly prevent it.
He could already feel himself changing and he didn't know if this was his true self coming out at last now that the drums were gone or if he was changing because of Clara and Romana's influence on him.
Whatever it was he actually welcomed it because he wanted to be worthy of Romana. He wanted her to be proud of him.
Maybe one day she would even learn to love him again.
"Are you alright?" Jenny asked.
"I'm fine," The Master said smiling at her.
"Okay. Good. You just looked very serious for a minute there," Jenny said.
The Master said nothing and just nodded.
"Stop worrying about her. It'll all turn out alright in the end between you two. I know it will," Jenny suddenly said out of the blue.
"Thank you. I'm glad that someone thinks so," The Master said looking at her gratefully.
The Doctor continued to look at the Master in amazement as he talked away with Jenny as if they were two old friends. He wasn't sure what was happening here, but it almost seemed as if his old friend Koschei was coming back again at last. He really hoped that it was true and not just some trick of his.
He had really missed him.
Even while the three Time Lords searched the ship for her, Clara was safe and sound back in Torchwood. Well as safe as anyone could be around Jack Harkness anyway.
She had fallen unconscious soon after Jack had found her and now woke up in a strange bed in a room that she had never seen before. She started to bolt upright and run until she remembered that she had been found not by the Silence but by a very handsome man instead.
She smiled as she saw that very same man now smiling at her as he sat at the foot of the bed that she was lying on.
"Finally! I thought that you'd never wake up. I've been watching over you for an hour now. Not that I'm complaining about the view," Jack said as he flirted with her.
"You'd better stop that, Handsome. I'm very flattered but I already have a boyfriend," Clara said even though she was still smiling at him.
"Who would that be? I need to know so that I can officially start hating him now," Jack asked.
"The Doctor that's who," The Moment said as she suddenly teleported into the room.
"Oh, well I guess you're definitely hands off then for sure. I don't want the Doctor going all Oncoming Storm on me like he did when I hit on Rose," Jack said with an almost frightened look on his face.
"Oh, come off it, Jack. He never did that," The Moment said.
"Yes, he did. He gave me the stare of death any time I even looked like I was about to hit on you," Jack said.
"Not me. Rose," The Moment said.
"You are Rose whether you want to admit it or not. You're a part of her and I'm so glad that you unlike some people still like to visit me every once in a while," Jack said.
The Moment smiled as she said, "That was never going to happen, Jack. I would never forget about my friends."
Jack looked at her pointedly as you said, "You called me your friend."
"You are. That doesn't make me Rose though," The Moment said.
"Rosie, the way that I see it if it looks like a duck, acts like a duck, and walks like a duck then it's a duck," Jack said.
"I really don't like your comparisons, Harkness," Rose said with a frown that quickly became a smile.
"Rose, where are the others? Have you told them where I am yet? Is Merry okay?" Clara asked.
The Moment didn't even bother to contradict Clara about her name anymore as she said, "Merry's back at your parents' house. I let her see that you were okay first though because she got very upset at first. As for the others, they're on the Silent ship that you just left looking for you."
"What?! Tell them that I'm here then. They're in danger up there," Clara said in alarm.
"I can't interfere in any of this, Clara. I'm sorry," The Moment said in a sad voice.
"What do you call leaving me a message to meet with you so that I'll find Clara just as she arrives then?" Jack asked having already realized what the Moment had done.
"Bending the rules as much as I can without actually breaking them," The Moment admitted.
"Part of me understands that you can't interfere, but the human part of me wants you to at least tell them that I'm here so that they'll leave that ship. Please, Rose," Clara begged.
The Moment looked at her sadly as she said, "I'm sorry but I can't."
Then she smiled mischievously as she said, "Nothing says that someone else can't though."
The Moment gestured in front of her and opened a portal to Tish's house. Tish wouldn't be able to see her, but she could still hear her through it.
"Hello, Tish. How are you doing? Did Martha's ears recover yet?" The Moment asked.
Tish looked at the portal in surprise as she said in an imperious manner, "Rose, are you always watching everything that we do? No, scratch that question. Of course you are. I suppose you're calling for a special reason and not just because you're concerned about my sister's aching eardrums."
"Oh, you're acting all high and mighty already just like your other selves, Romana. You've even gotten all posh with your accent. I take it Martha's not there right now is she?" The Moment teased her.
Tish sounded like her human self once again almost immediately now as she said, "Sorry. I still keep slipping without meaning to from time to time. Martha is here but she's on the phone right now in the other room trying to get in touch with the Doctor about our visit from Count Grendel. Maybe you can tell him about it and warn him in case he comes after him too."
"Sorry, Tish. This one won't warn anyone about anything. She says that she can't interfere. I wanted her to tell the Doctor that I'm okay after the Silence kidnapped me, but she absolutely refuses to," Clara said in an angry voice.
The Moment smiled at her. She had hoped that she would say something. Now Tish knew that Clara was there, and she still hadn't broken any rules yet. Clara suddenly saw her in a new light as she realized what she had just done and gave her an apologetic look for ever doubting her.
"You're okay now though, right? Where are you?" Tish asked with concern.
"I'm with a handsome bloke named Captain Jack Harkness at Torchwood. He's a friend of the Doctor's. Have you ever heard of him?" Clara said.
"Heard of him?! I got to know him very, very well once since I was stuck on the same ship with him for a year. Hello, Jack," Tish said with a smile in her voice.
"Hello, Tish. It's good to hear from you again. I had no idea that you were a Time Lord, but I should have guessed. You always were an unearthly beauty," Jack said.
"Stop it, Jack," Tish said laughing.
"Is that Jack Harkness?" Martha asked as she suddenly came into the room still holding her phone.
"Martha Jones, voice of a nightingale!" Jack said with a smile.
"Hello, Jack. What's going on?" Martha asked.
"Clara's at Torchwood and the Doctor's about to walk right into trouble looking for her," Tish said.
"Does he really need that as an excuse to get into trouble?" Martha joked.
"Martha, this is serious. He's gone up to a ship full of Silents because they kidnapped me. You have to let him know that I escaped and that I'm here if you get ahold of him on the phone," Clara said.
"I will if I can ever get through to him. He still hasn't answered his phone yet," Martha said with a frown.
"I don't even know why he has that thing myself. He never answers it," Tish said.
"Listen, you two. Why don't you come here and pick up Clara? Keep trying to call the Doctor until then. Maybe you'll have gotten ahold of him by the time that you get here. Or maybe you'll find another way if you think real hard about it," The Moment said as she put extra emphasis on her last sentence.
"Is that some kind of hint, Rose? If it is, I'm not getting it," Tish said.
"Think about it. Everything's connected just like people are," The Moment said.
Tish's eyes widened as she realized what the Moment was trying to tell her. There was another way to contact the Doctor. Or at least there used to be. It was a way that only she could use to get through to him. She couldn't help but wonder if it would even still work or not after all of this time.
"Are we calling her Rose now? I thought that she didn't like that," Martha said not realizing that Tish wasn't paying any attention to the conversation anymore and had suddenly gone silent.
"I don't but I've just stopped trying to correct people. It just gets frustrating after a while, yeah?" The Moment said.
"Now you even sound like Rose too. Did I detect a trace of Cockney there?" Martha teased her.
"Shut up. Just come here and get Clara, Martha. Don't stop over for any snacks on the way either. I really hope that I'll see you soon," The Moment said.
As the portal closed, Martha began to realize that the Moment was really stressing the fact that she needed to come quickly. Something was wrong. Or it was soon about to be anyway.
"I think that we need to get there fast, Tish," Martha said.
Tish wasn't paying attention to her though. She had just made contact with the Master through the mental link that they had established when they had gotten married.
Koschei. Tish said telepathically.
Romana? The Master asked in surprise.
It's Tish. How many times do I have to tell you that it's Tish? Never mind that right now. I need to warn the Doctor. An old enemy of his called Count Grendel attacked me on Earth and he might be coming after him next. Also Clara says that you need to get off of the ship that you're on because it's filled with something called the Silents whatever they are. She's safe at Torchwood with Jack by the way. We're going there to pick her up right now. Tish replied.
Alura's on Earth? She must have escaped. I'll tell the Doctor then. Grendel attacked us too. Jenny actually captured him all by herself, and he's our prisoner in the TARDIS. The Master answered back in a voice filled with pride in her.
Tish was surprised that he was actually bragging on Jenny. He seemed different to her somehow now.
So how are you doing? The Master asked in a nervous tone.
Tish almost laughed at her awkward that he sounded. This was nothing like the Koschei that she knew and was light years away from the Master.
I think the question is how are you doing? You sound like a nervous schoolboy about to ask me out on a date. Tish responded in an amused tone.
Romana, I'm so sorry. For everything. The Master answered.
I'll see you later, okay? Tish answered quickly not wanting to go into this right now.
Romana, I . . . don't want you to hate me. I really wish that you could find it in yourself to forgive me. The Master responded back quickly as he tried to stop her from breaking the connection.
I can't forgive you. I'm sorry. I – I just can't. Part of me wants to so much but I can't. I can't because the other part of me is just so angry. What you did really hurt me, Koschei, and I can't let that go. I – I . . . I still love you and I always will. Things can't ever be like they were between us before though. I'm sorry. Tish answered in an emotional voice before breaking contact.
Tish burst into tears and Martha instantly comforted her. She had figured out halfway through Tish's sudden silence what must have been happening. Her sudden breakdown just now had only confirmed it to her.
"Come on, sweetie. Forget about him. Let's go get Clara," Martha said as she pulled her along towards the front door of the house while she prepared to leave.
"I wish I could forget. I really do," Tish said in a voice that was almost a whisper.
Even as the two sisters prepared to leave for Cardiff, the Master felt like his hearts were breaking. Jenny immediately put a comforting hand on his shoulder as she looked at him in concern.
"What happened?" The Doctor asked as he realized that the Master had just finished talking to Tish.
"Nothing. Just . . . nothing. Alura's back on Earth at Torchwood with Harkness. We can leave now," The Master said in a voice completely devoid of emotion.
"Clara's with Jack?! I have to get back there now!" The Doctor said in a panicked voice.
"I really have to meet this man. He must be gorgeous to get Dad so worked up, right?" Jenny said to the Master as she tried to make him smile.
The Master never even looked at her. She looked to her father for help, but he was already running back to the TARDIS.
"Come on, Kosch. Let's go back to Earth," Jenny said.
"Yes, of course," the Master said in a flat, lifeless tone.
"I'll talk to her. Maybe I can help," Jenny offered.
The Master actually smiled a bit at that as he said, "No, I don't want her angry at you too. Thank you for the offer though."
"No problem. That's what friends do," Jenny said.
Just as they started to follow the Doctor back to the TARDIS however, Cobb suddenly appeared out of nowhere through a secret door in the wall and began to attack them! Before Jenny realized what was even happening, Cobb had completely taken her by surprise and knocked her out cold with a sucker punch to the back of the head. Then he shot the Master with a stun blast that left him lying unmoving on the floor.
"Finally you're mine at last. All you've done is constantly get in my way ever since I shot you. That ends now. Now the Silence will use their abilities to reprogram your brain until you become the perfect killing machine in my war to retake Messaline just as they promised me. I don't know why they wanted this Clara Oswald and I don't care. I'll help them get her back as long as they keep their side of the bargain," Cobb said to the unconscious Jenny.
"Give her to us and we will process her. Now go back to Earth and find Clara Oswald," One of the Silents said as he emerged from the hidden room to join Cobb.
"I don't think so," the Master said as shot Cobb in the chest with his laser screwdriver sending him to his knees in agony.
"You will stop what you are doing. You will serve us," The Silent ordered.
"No, you will serve me," the Master said in a commanding tone.
"You will let Cobb go and you will go find the Doctor and bring him to us so that we can kill him," the Silent said.
The Master laughed as he said, "As much as I'd truly love to see the Doctor dead, I'm not about to help you in any way. Your mind tricks don't work on me. I'm an old hand at hypnotic control, and I'm not about to fall to an upstart like you. Now go back to the other Silents and tell them that we've escaped. Then I want you to do something else for me."
"I . . . will not," The Silent said in a faltering voice as the Master whispered something in his ear.
"I am your master and you will obey me! Now go!" The Master said in a furious voice.
"I obey," the Silent said as he turned around and left.
Then the Master turned his full attention to Cobb as he said to the still weakened general, "Now what shall I do to you, hmm? You tried to turn that girl into something sick and twisted, and I can't let that go unpunished. Oh, I know the perfect thing for a petty little man such as you."
"No!" Cobb shouted as the Master pointed his Tissue Compression Eliminator at him and fired.
Moments later, the Doctor saw the Master walking towards him carrying a still unconscious Jenny slung over his shoulder. He had gone back to find them because he was concerned about Jenny when he suddenly realized that the two of them weren't following him.
"What happened?" The Doctor asked.
"The Silents ambushed us but I won the fight. Don't worry about her. She'll be alright," the Master reassured him.
"How did you 'win' exactly?" the Doctor asked him suspiciously.
"Through superior intelligence, Doctor. Let's go back to Earth and find Alura now and stop wasting time here," the Master said as he evaded the question.
The Doctor didn't press the issue because he was too worried about Clara. Even at Torchwood, she was still in danger from an attack by the Silence . . . not to mention Jack.
He was actually more worried about Jack than he was the Silence.
As the Master followed the Doctor into the TARDIS, he dematerialized it and they were instantly on the way back to Earth. The Master gently sat Jenny in the Captain's Chair and made sure that she was comfortable while the Doctor watched him still a bit unbelieving at what he was seeing.
"You never tried to accuse me of hurting her. Why?" the Master asked.
"I've seen the two of you together. You're just like we were once. I also see the way that you look at her. You adore her almost as much as I do," the Doctor said.
"So you're actually starting to trust me now?" the Master said in amusement.
"I trust you to protect Clara and Jenny. I also trust you to shoot me in the back the first chance that you can get that you can make it look like an accident," the Doctor said as he looked him straight in the eyes.
The Master laughed as he said, "You were always the clever one, Doctor."
"What really happened back on that ship?" the Doctor asked.
"Let's just say that I cut Cobb down to size," the Master said laughing.
The Doctor stiffened at that until the Master explained to him what he had done.
"You really do have a sick sense of humor," the Doctor said shaking his head at him.
Back on the ship, Cobb looked around him in despair as the Silents, who all looked like giants to him now, looked at him with undisguised curiosity.
"The Time Lord actually perfected a way of shrinking a subject without killing them. If we could only learn this technique for ourselves, it would greatly benefit our cause. Maybe we could find the answer by doing research on the General," One of the Silents said to the others.
"Research?! I'm not your lab specimen to do with as you please!" Cobb protested.
"I don't recall giving you any choice in the matter, General. Try not to kill him. It would be better to find the answers that we seek if we kept him alive in order to ask him questions," The same Silent who had spoken before said.
"You can't do this!" Cobb protested but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
Back at Torchwood, Clara and Jack were about to have problems of their own. The Moment had left and had only been gone a few minutes when several Silents suddenly broke into the base and began to quickly make their way through it.
Jack was instantly alerted and quickly armed himself with an enormous gun while tossing one to Clara. Clara looked at it with distaste as Jack smiled at her.
"I see that you have the same attitude that the Doc has to guns," Jack said.
"Yeah, I do. I can and will use them if I have to, but I generally don't like them especially not something like this. This is just used to blow people in two," Clara said.
"Well, that is necessary on occasion, Clara. I know that the Doc always tries to find another way, but that's not always an option in my experience," Jack said.
"I still won't use it unless I have to," Clara said.
Suddenly the Silents finally made their way into the room where Jack and Clara were, and Clara regretfully pointed the gun at them.
"Don't make me do this," Clara said to them.
"You will put the gun down," One of the Silents commanded.
"I already told you that that doesn't work on me," Clara said.
"We weren't talking to you," The Silent said.
Clara turned to see Jack struggling not to obey as he tried to fight the Silent's programming. He slowly aimed at the Silents as he continued to fight back.
"You will put the gun down," Another Silent ordered.
"Jack, don't!" Clara yelled as he began to slowly move the gun down.
Suddenly the Silents screamed as Tish started shooting them down one by one with a staser. Clara smiled in triumph as she saw that Tish and Martha had arrived just in time to ambush the Silents from behind.
Jack now regained enough control of himself to bring the gun he was holding back up and club the Silent who had been controlling him in the head with it. The Silent immediately fell to the ground with a thud.
"I like that use for the gun much better," Clara said in approval.
As soon as Tish had shot the last Silent unconscious, she said to Clara, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. It looks like I didn't quite put an end to people coming after me though. These Silent blokes don't seem like the quitting type to me," Clara said in a worried voice.
"Don't worry about that, Alura. I think that I may have just sent them a very clear message not to bother you anymore," The Master said as he, the Doctor, and a now conscious Jenny walked into the room.
"What else did you do?" The Doctor asked in disbelief not having heard about this part before.
The Master grinned evilly as he told them.
Back on the Silent ship, the Tissue Compression Eliminator that the Master had told the Silent that he had hypnotized to set on overload and hide somewhere finally went off. The Silents all screamed as they too were shrunken down to the same size that Cobb was now!
"Why don't you experiment on yourselves now?" Cobb said with a smirk.
"This Master is much more dangerous and clever than we thought. Next time we strike we will have to plan for his interference accordingly," One of the Silents said to the others.
"That's always presuming that we can get back home of course," Another Silent said while Cobb laughed at them.
The Moment smiled as she briefly watched them and then vanished. The Master hadn't killed anyone. He was heading exactly on the course that she had wanted him to go on. Now she was glad that she hadn't interfered and possibly ruined her chances at redeeming him. He had to be confronted with an opportunity to kill when no one was there to stop him. Thankfully he had succeeded with flying colors.
At least he had this time anyway. The Moment knew that she still had a hard road to go with him, but she was willing to take it if she could save him as she had Clara. She knew that Rose would want it that way.
The Doctor, Clara, and Jenny were laughing back at Torchwood as well as soon as the Master finished his story of what he had commanded the Silent to do. Tish, Martha, and Jack however were not. They would never laugh along with the Master after what he had put them through.
The Doctor at least was feeling a lot easier about things when Clara greeted him with a passionate kiss as soon as she was able to get a spare moment alone with him. He had finally stopped worrying about Jack then.
That was all about to change in the next minute though.
After locking Count Grendel away until he could be dealt with later by UNIT, Jack decided to concentrate on Jenny instead of the Master as he smiled at her while pulling her away from the others and said, "Hello, I'm Captain Jack Harkness."
"I know. My dad's told me all about you," Jenny said as she looked him up and down with an approving smile on her face.
"You're the Doctor's daughter?" Jack said in shock.
He felt eyes burning into the back of his head and turned to see the Doctor looking at him like he wanted to rip him apart and then toss the pieces into the nearest star. He knew that he really shouldn't be messing around with her if he valued his continuing existence, but she was just so beautiful and sweet that he couldn't help himself.
She might just be worth dying for a time or two.
"And you're still interested in me after all of the terrible stories that I'm sure that he told you about bad old Jack?" Jack asked her with a chuckle.
"Oh, definitely. You can't be too bad if Dad trusts you with his life. He finally admitted that he did when I pressed him about it. Reluctantly," Jenny said with a grin.
"I promise that I won't try to pull anything. Unless you want me to of course," Jack said with a wicked smile.
"You'd better not, Mr. Harkness, or I might just have to show you why my last couple of boyfriends were never seen again," Jenny said with a dark look on her face.
Jack actually shuddered as she looked just like her father at that moment.
Then Jenny started laughing and playfully hit him in the shoulder as she said, "I'm so sorry! I just couldn't resist. You actually believed me! I really had you going, didn't I?"
Jack smiled and laughed. He loved a girl with a good sense of humor.
At least he hoped that was all it was.
"Doctor, quit worrying about Jenny. She can take care of herself. I think she may have just scared Jack to death for a minute there. He'll know not to mess around with her now I think. She's pretty clever your daughter just like her father," Clara said before giving the Doctor a tender kiss.
"Yeah, she is pretty smart isn't she? She may be even smarter than me. I wouldn't be a bit surprised by that. I'm still a little worried about the two of them dating though. I'm definitely going to keep an eye on them," the Doctor said.
In order to keep his mind off of Jack, he immediately turned to the Master and started to talk to him instead.
"You do realize that that's not going to deter the Silence for long," The Doctor said.
"Perhaps not but it will certainly make them leave you alone for a while anyway, Alura. It'll take them all ages just to get that ship back home at that size," the Master said with an evil grin.
"Thank you, Koschei," Clara said.
"For defeating the Silence?" the Master asked.
"For not killing them and for saving Jenny from Cobb. Thank you for being that man that I used to know so long ago again," Clara said as she kissed his cheek and then embraced him.
Tish looked at them with great sadness. She wanted to be the one embracing him like that, but she just couldn't. She just couldn't forgive something like that.
Could she?
Next: Whatever happened to Romana's K-9 anyway? In the next chapter, we'll find out as he finally returns at last to be reunited with her. Is everything as simple as it seems though or is K-9 not exactly the same loyal companion that Tish remembers anymore? Plus Clara runs across an old friend of the Doctor's who she's definitely not sure should be around Merry. I'll give you a hint. She has a very explosive personality. Plus Jack starts to date Jenny. We already know that's not going to go over well with a certain bow tie wearing Time Lord.