Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who
The story is now close to the end, only this and the next chapter left to go.
The Master Chronicles 21 - Last of the Time Lords Part 1
Beach on the British Coast, Late Night…12th Month of the Master's Rule…
A single man stood on the beach in the pitch-black night, holding a lit lantern as he patiently waited for someone.
Out the darkness a small boat appeared, out of it hopped three figures who came quickly running through the surf and up the beach towards the single man. Martha Jones led the trio while John and Becca came up behind her. The three reached the waiting man and Martha asked him.
"So, what's your name then?" Not winded from the run as they spent a lot of time running.
"Tom. Tom Milligan. Not need to ask who you are, famous Martha Jones." He said as he looked at her and her party. "How long since you've been in Britain?" He asked out of curiosity.
"Three hundred and sixty-five days. It's been a long year." Martha said with exhaustion having literally travelled to every corner of the Earth she could to spread the Doctor's story and ensure his plan's success. John who had been with her the entire time was similarly weary while Becca was just tired as she was only just getting used to this life.
Tom led them up the beach while he asked Martha.
"So, what's the plan then?"
"There's this Professor Docherty I need to see her. Can you get me there?" Martha said, for once doing something other than the plan, maybe so they could learn what the Toclafane finally were.
"She works in a repair shed, near Arclight. I can get you inside. So, what's this about then?" He asked but John interrupted.
"Sorry, need to know."
Becca then added.
"The more you know the more danger you're in so best you know as little as you can. Just know we need her help."
Tom didn't like the sound of that and changed the subject till he could figure out just what the three of them were up too.
"There's a lot of people depending on you." Tom said referring to the entire world really. "You're a bit of a legend."
"And what does the legend say?" Martha asked with some scorn that targeted at people thinking her a legend.
"That you sailed the Atlantic. You were the only person to get out of Japan alive." Tom said picking the biggest things people said about her. "Walked across America. Martha Jones, they say, she's going to save the world. Bit late for that." Tom said negativity but Becca interrupted.
"Hey, we're not beaten yet! We can still take back the world from him." Becca said stubbornly with loyalty to Martha. She honestly had only grown to admire her more as they spent more time together.
"I know it seems hopeless but we have a plan. It's nearly time." John said cryptically which intrigued Tom but he said nothing as they came up to his truck.
"Are you medical? I know they usually can drive." John asked Tom as they approached his rather battered looking truck.
"Yeah." Tom said with an air of sadness as he remembered his life before. "Used to be in Paediatrics back in the old days. Now I take care of the slave workers." He said not sugar-coating what the human race had been reduced too.
"Great, I'm travelling with a doctor." Martha said with some irony given that had been what got her into this mess to begin with. Seeing there wasn't room for all four of them in the cab John and Becca got in the rather cluttered back. They settled themselves in as best they could for the uncomfortable ride to come.
"Story goes you're the only one that can kill him." Tom said to Martha as they buckled up. "That you and you alone can kill the Master stone dead." He said looking at her expectantly but Martha didn't want to answer that question and told him.
"Let's just drive."
Tom didn't like that she hadn't answered his question and started the truck before telling her and John and Becca in the back.
"There's a cottage nearby where we can spend the night. These roads are a bit dangerous when you can't see where you're going." He said as the truck started moving.
They all stayed in silence for the short drive, arriving at the cottage that had all its windows blacked out, Tom stopped the truck and they all got out. John and Becca were a little bruised from the rough ride but didn't complain as Tom went to the door and knocked several times.
There was a noise from inside and eventually the door opened slightly, eyes peeking through the gap to see who it was before it finally opened all the way. A rather nervous looking man stood there with thinning black curly hair and a rather tired face.
"Tom! Get inside! They might be past any minute." The man told him urgently with an Irish accent. Tom rushed in and Martha, John and Becca followed. The door was immediately shut and they caught a look at the inside.
It was cluttered with all sorts piled everywhere mostly supplies or parts. Two young boys peaked out from behind a pile of boxes nearby, Martha smiled at them warmly while a rather tired woman, a few years older than her came up to them and pulled them into her arms.
"Sorry about that, we just don't like to take chances." The Irish Man said with a calm voice. "Tom Jackman, Doctor Tom Jackman at your service." The man introduced himself and offered them his hand which they all shook. "This is my wife Claire and our two boys Eddie and Harry." He said indicating the woman and two boys.
Becca smiled at the boys and came over, kneeling before them and offered them her hand. The boys rather hesitantly shook it after sharing some kind of silent conversation with each other. Martha meanwhile held her hand out to Mrs Jackman who was much more cautious than her husband or children but eventually took it.
"Pleasure." John said and the lights, probably running off a generator dimmed briefly with a strange noise but then it stopped. Dr Jackman and Claire shared a look but Dr Jackman just shook his head.
"So, no Hyde tonight?" She asked with some relief and some worry. The mention of Hyde confused them all so as they crowded into the living room while Mrs Jackman put the boys to bed, Dr Jackman explained.
"Well, you all know the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?" He started and they all nodded before he carried on. "Well, it turns out there's some truth in it. Settle in this might take a while."
He explained about the situation with Hyde and what had transpired, all three of the newcomers were shocked that such a famous story was actually real but then told him what had happened after they had found the truth.
"Teresa bloody Saxon infiltrated us!" He said with scorn at the woman he had known as Katherine Reimer. "She fought Hyde and beat him so badly that he just doesn't come out anymore. I think he's scared of her coming back." Dr Jackman said with some sadness as he had grown somewhat used to Hyde and despite all the trouble that he had caused it unsettled him not having him around, maybe the feelings of fear from Hyde coming over to him somehow or a part of him was missing he just wasn't sure.
Martha and John nodded with grimaces, already knowing much of the nasty actions of the Master's adopted sister.
Becca stayed quiet, wishing she could correct them on Jaime but couldn't yet…not till they were on the Valiant.
Not till she had found her sister.
The following morning, they left the Jackmans and were walking towards the nearby shipyard, waiting for a gap in the patrols to have the best chance of getting to the Professor. As they walked through the gravel, they saw a statue of the Master in the distance.
"He builds those things everywhere." Becca said with disgust before Martha added with equal revulsion.
"He's even carved himself into Mount Rushmore."
"And changed the face of the Jesus statue in Rio." John finished, wondering just how big his ego really was to go to those lengths.
"Best to keep down." Tom claimed as they reached the half way point and all four of them crouched down to look at the enormous shipyard beyond. "The entire south coast of England converted into shipyards. They bring in slave labour every morning, breaking up cars, houses anything just for the metal. Building the entire fleet out of scrap."
The sight was impressive, but all three of them Martha and John in particular had seen it elsewhere.
"You should see Russia." Martha said with dismay at what was happening. "That's Shipyard Number 1. All the way from the Black Sea to the Bering Strait there's a hundred thousand rockets getting ready for war."
"War with who?" Tom asked incredulously given the Master had so completely conquered the Earth where else was there to fight?
"The rest of the universe. I've been out there Tom. In space before all of this happened." Martha told him honestly while John smirked and Becca just nodded, neither of them having had the pleasure. "There're a thousand different civilisations all around us with no idea of what's happening here. And the Master can build weapons deadly enough to destroy them all."
"You've been in space." Tom said but said it like a statement rather than a question.
"Problem with that?" Martha asked while John and Becca watched them with interest.
"No." Tom said quickly, looking actually impressed. "No just…whoa." He said now smiling. "Anything else I should know?"
"She's met Shakespeare." John said quoting one of her stories.
"What?" Tom asked but none of them could say anymore as two Toclafane appeared. Martha, John and Becca all crouched down and let their perception filters shield them while Tom stood up.
"Identify…little man." The Toclafane demanded as they hovered threateningly overhead. Tom grabbed his licence and said quickly.
"I've got a licence. Tom Milligan Medical Squad, I'm licenced to travel." He said holding it up so they could see it.
"Soon the rockets will fly and everyone will need medicine. You'll be so busy." The Toclafane said before laughing and flying off.
Now with the spheres gone they all breathed a sigh of relief and Becca and John took the opportunity to say something to Martha.
"He's into you." Becca said with a smirk.
"This hardly the time." Martha told her sternly. But John now smirking himself added.
"Well, there might not be another time." John said.
Martha was a little uncertain as she did like Tom, she liked him a lot even though they'd only just met but the idea of romance had been a dream she just didn't have the time to spare for. She saw them looking at her encouragingly before getting up to explain the perception filter and the Archangel Network to Tom and ask if he was married, out of pure curiosity and would never admit to really wanting to know before returning to the van.
The Valiant, Over Britain…
The clock showed 14:58, all around the ship the Joneses, Jack and the Doctor waited for the time to make their move.
The Doctor of course knew it wouldn't work, even if the Laser Screwdriver would work for him, he would never shoot the Master with it. But he would be suspicious if they all and in particular he did nothing so he would give him what he expected.
Teresa Saxon was on the flight deck monitoring everything and to the Doctor's dismay, the Master had put Charley, Lucie, Constance and Zoe on duty so he could see them to taunt him more. The Master had even hinted that he would do the same thing to Martha that he had done to them when he caught her which only made him more urgent to throw him off the scent.
The Master right on time entered the flight deck, accompanied by Echo, Whisky, Sierra, Victor and November his regular security squad while Lila nearby was working a laptop.
"Time for my massage. Who should I have today? I think Tanya." The Master said while Lucy Saxon just stood there dazed behind him. The Doctor despite her being with the Master at the beginning had begun to feel sympathy for her as she bore the brunt of his anger these days, her latest blackeye was proof of that.
The woman who had been working nearby got up and came over to do his bidding as the Master sat himself down in the chair and waited. He couldn't help though as he took off his jacket to send a barb at Lucy. "Lucy, have you met Tanya? She's gorgeous. Tanya when we go to the stars, I'm going to take you to the Catrigan Nova. Whirlpools of gold." He said, clearly meant to hurt Lucy and it did, you could see the flickers of hurt in her eyes but she covered it quickly especially when Teresa whispered in her ear.
"Been there. It's a bit overrated." She whispered to Lucy.
The Doctor didn't have much time but he had noticed occasional moments of kindness from 'Teresa' or whoever she was especially to Lucy. She also treated the other lieutenants that he had ensnared like his own former companions with much more respect and more like friends than the Master did. Perhaps there was something more beneath the surface he wondered but couldn't think of that more as the time came to make their move.
Clive down in the engine room threw filthy water on the engine parts causing a short circuit while Jack pulled his restraints clean from the wall and then overpowered the soldier who was guarding him.
The distraction allowed Francine and Tish to get a hold of the Master's jacket and they tossed it to the Doctor but with her inhuman speed Teresa Saxon caught it and then with a casual shrug threw it back to the Master.
The Doctor's heart sank while the Master's people all smirked at the failure and then to add insult to injury Teresa pulled a familiar looking device from her top pocket.
"You want this? Don't you?" Teresa said with a vicious smirk as she held his sonic screwdriver in her hand. "You could unlock the isomorphic controls on the laser screwdriver with it, you could take over the Valiant. Too bad." She said with a taunting sneer while the Master laughed and pointed his laser screwdriver at Francine and Tish.
"Say that you're sorry." He told them, Francine broken hearted herself at the failure immediately did as he asked to make sure Tish was alright.
"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!" She shouted and the Master gave them a speech about siding with the Doctor and how dangerous that was before having them, Clive who had been recaptured and Jack who was currently being shot by the Actives were being taken back to their cells. Meanwhile as he taunted the Doctor, the Master decided to make his punishment a personal message to Martha Jones.
Arclight Power Plant, South England…That Morning…
Martha, John and Becca led by Tom arrived at the fence around Arclight and climbed through the gap in the fence, running across the scrubland until they reached the messy and unkept workshop. Stepping inside they discovered an older woman smacking a very dodgy looking computer around with great frustration. Tom called out.
"Professor Docherty?"
"Busy." The woman said without even looking up.
"They sent word ahead. I'm Tom Milligan, this is Martha Jones, John Conner and Becca Sommers." He said introducing them all but the Professor didn't bother to look away from her computer.
"They could be the king and queens of Sheba for all I care. I'm still busy."
The small group a little amused by her and Martha felt the need to remind her of something.
"Televisions don't work anymore."
The Professor seemed to get fed up with the reminder and sighed before admitting.
"Oh god I miss Countdown. Never been the same since Des took over. Both Deses. What's the plural for Des? Desi? Deses?" Her eccentricity coming out before getting down the real reason she was doing this.
"We've been told there's going to be a transmission." She told them as she resumed hitting the computer. "From the man himself. There!" She cried out in success as a grainy black and white image appeared on the screen. The clearly familiar face of the Master looming for all to see as the five of them watched.
"My people." He said with that bloody annoying smirk on his face. "Salutations. On this the eve of war, lovely woman." He said with excitement. "But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there, stories of a child walking the Earth, giving you hope."
The Master then walked back and brought a wheel chair forward containing the very Doctor who doggedly refused to speak.
"But I ask you. What hope has this man got?" The Master said, quite content to speak for both of them. "Say hello Gandalf. Except he's not that old. He's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. But what if it showed?" The Master said to those watching.
Those in the repair shed and the Joneses didn't quite understand what he meant by that but Jack did as he pulled at the freshly reinforced restraints.
"What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? What if we could see them? All the nine hundred years of your life Doctor." The Master said as he adjusted his screwdriver. The Doctor grimaced as he understood what was about to happen but said nothing, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.
The Master then pointed his screwdriver at the Doctor and pressed the trigger, the Doctor then gasped out in pain as the effects hit him while everyone watching grimaced at what was being done to him.
"Older and older and older." The Master said with glee as he reduced the Doctor down.
Eventually it stopped and they all looked at the pile of clothes on the floor, thinking the Master had killed him for a moment until a small movement appeared and out of the now too large shirt emerged a small creature with overly large eyes and very wrinkled skin.
Back in the repair shed Martha was watching the screen doing her best to appear unaffected even if she was horrified at what was being done right before her eyes, and she couldn't help but feel a shiver run down her spine as the Master turned to the screen and said directly to her.
"Message received and understood? Miss Jones?" He asked before the transmission cut out.
There was silence as they all took in what just happened.
"Sorry." Tom told her while John gently squeezed her shoulder.
"The Doctor's still alive." Martha said with determination to finish her mission and end the Master's rule.
Becca though was silent; she had looked into the background and saw Jaime standing there in the background. She was now so close to her sister, closer than she had been in two years and now all they needed was to get onboard the Valiant and finish this.
Hold on Jaime, I'm coming. Becca thought to herself with determination.
The Valiant, Former British Airspace…
In one of the ship's holds that night, Teresa sat on one of the supply boxes with the other actives, at least those that weren't on duty and indulged in some alcohol largely to cut loose a bit.
"Do you reckon he'll get bored of us and kill us?" Lila said from the side and threw back more vodka. The others including Teresa all turned to look at her. "I mean, we are all loyal and would die for him but given what I saw in the 23rd Century and now, he will kill us eventually."
"Pretty much." Whisky said as she leaned back against the wall. "He cares for no one but himself. We are all just toys to him."
"Amen." Echo, Sierra, Victor and November all said together as they drank.
"That is treasonous talk." Zoe said with a warning edge to her voice.
"They have a right to say the obvious Zoe." Charlotte Pollard said with a sigh. "We are all bound to the Master and we live and die at his command but we don't need to be blind about it."
"I have to agree with that. During the war I saw the British do many terrible things not to mention the Russians but what we were fighting was either just as bad or worse. I think we all need to know just what we are all into." Constance Clarke said sadly remembering all the horrors that war had unleashed. Neither side had emerged with clean hands.
"But at least as we know, we can all just enjoy the ride while it lasts." Lucie Miller said was she put her feet up.
All of them, knowing the Master would destroy them one day. Teresa thought with resignation, just like me. The Master will destroy us all eventually and we all will serve him regardless.
"We used to say that, pirates in the Caribbean back in the eighteenth century. It was a short life, but a happy one." She said with a smirk and the Actives all looked at her like she was mad at first before Echo managed to get the guts to ask.
"You were a pirate? During the Golden Age of Piracy?" She asked astonished and Teresa laughed before giving her some of the details.
"When I was travelling with the Master yes, he left me stranded there for several years and I took a ship and established myself as a pirate captain. Christina Cunningham, at your service." Teresa said with a mock bow.
The mention of her alias back then meant nothing to most of them but Whisky looked stunned and asked her quickly.
"Is it true you once took an entire convoy of treasure ships by yourself and snuck away with all the loot? That would be worth twenty million dollars in today's money." Whisky asked and Teresa smirked before telling her and the other interested actives.
"Buckle up, time I told you some tall tales."
Arclight Power Plant, South England…That Night…
Later that night as they all crowded around the Professor as they discussed the Archangel Network.
"The Archangel Network is the source of the Master's power. Fifteen satellites still operating, transmitting a signal that keeps people scared. That's why there's so little resistance." Professor Docherty said as she considered the problem. There would never be any kind of large-scale uprising unless they were able to stop that signal somehow.
"We could take them out?" Tom suggested but the Professor pointed out two major problems with that.
"We could, with fifteen ground-to-air missiles. Got any on you? Besides any military action the Toclafane descend." She reminded him but Martha interrupted.
"They're not called Toclafane, that's just a name the Master made up."
"So, what are they then?" Professor Docherty said with annoyance but John spoke up.
"That's why we came to you because we know how to take one down." He said with a smirk while Becca took a disc out of her bag and held it up.
"No matter what we use on the spheres they just don't seem to take any damage so we've never been able to find out what's inside. But Martha got this." Becca said indicating the disc with a smile.
"A lightning strike in South Africa brought one down, just by chance. I've got the readings on this." Martha said with a smirk and Becca handed the disc to the Professor who stared at it for a moment before going to her beat-up computer and started extracting the data. The computer was slow and stopped working randomly and the Professor eager to know how to stop the Toclafane hit it with frustration.
"Work!" She said with annoyance. "Who'd think we'd miss Bill Gates."
"So, is that why you travelled the world?" Tom asked Martha, curious. "To find a disc."
"No just got lucky." Martha said, eager herself to find out just what the Toclafane were and how they could be stopped.
"I heard stories that you walked the Earth to find a way to build a weapon." The Professor said grimly which put Martha, John and Becca who all knew she couldn't be trusted on edge. Martha closing her eyes as she remembered the real plan and just hoped to hell it worked.
But finally, they managed to get the readings they needed.
"There." Professor Docherty said with excitement as she managed to pull up the data. "A current of fifty-eight point five kiloamperes, transferring a charge of 510 megajoules precisely." She said now knowing just what kind of power they would need to take a Toclafane down.
"Can you do that? With this equipment?" Becca asked eagerly, she wanted to know just what was inside that shell. She had heard all kinds of rumours but no actual proof of what the Toclafane really were.
Machines? Or something more.
As they all looked at the Professor who smiled.
"I think so…yes easily." She said now eager herself to finally uncover the truth about the Master's enforcers.
- x -
An hour later they were ready and Tom was bravely acting as bait to draw in the Toclafane, shooting several rounds from his handgun into the air to attract their attention and right on cue one appeared.
Tom began running through the large equipment that covered the area until they were ready and Martha and the Professor activated the trap.
A net of electricity formed in its path just as Tom got clear, hitting the Toclafane that was just behind him and sending it to the ground. All of them came over and stared at it, regardless of how innocent it looked now it was helpless they had no intention of giving it a chance to kill them. Tom was even pointing his gun at it not that it would have done any good but it seemed to make him feel better.
"Well, now we have it. But here's the difficult part, cracking it open." Becca said and the Professor turned to her and smiled.
"You took the words right out of my mouth."
- x -
Sometime later they had moved the sphere inside the workshop and the Professor and Becca worked on opening the sphere up.
"There's a magnetic clamp holding it closed but if we can apply pressure in right place, the clamp should disengage." Becca said as she worked the tools with the Professor who looked at her with a smile.
"You're good at this. Ever thought of taking it up as a career?" She said knowing it was a strange place and time to be giving career advice but it seemed criminal to let the girl's talents go to waste.
"Maybe, but me and Jaime could never afford to really pursue it." Becca said sadly, maybe after Earth was freed and they were together again, she could try but for now it remained a dream.
Martha and John who knew her story or at least what she had shared with them sadly looked at her, wondering if maybe they could help after all this was over. Tom was passive not really knowing the young girl well enough to understand.
But then the sphere finally unlocked and opened, they all became quiet as the Professor pulled back the four segments and revealed an extremely old looking face which was wired into machinery with a device where the mouth should be.
"Oh my god." The Professor said as they all looked at it in shock, not having imagined this.
"What is that?" John asked in disgust having never seen anything like it.
Then red and blue lights activated and the eyes of the head opened, clouded it would appear blind to most but it seemed to see easily enough and focused on Martha.
"It's alive!" Becca said with revulsion and all of them took a step back.
"Martha. Martha Jones." The old head said in the electronic voice of the Toclafane.
"It knows you." Tom said which given they had been hunting her across the world was hardly surprising but what it said next most certainly was.
"Sweet, Kind Martha Jones. You helped us to fly." It said and they were confused at what it meant.
"What do you mean?" Martha asked, disturbed by it saying that she had helped it to fly. Not sure what it meant.
"You led us to salvation." It continued to say which didn't really help given all that Martha had gotten up to with the Doctor.
"Who are you?" Martha asked, a chill running up her spine.
"The sky is made of diamonds." The Toclafane said and it all fell into terrible place.
"No." Martha said with horror dawning on her just what the Toclafane were and what that meant. "You can't be him." She said with desperation not wanting to imagine that sweet and lovable little boy she had known to have turned into this.
"We share each other's memories; you sent him to Utopia." The Toclafane said which hardly made the situation better. The other four people in the room all looked to Martha in confusion not understanding just what they were talking about.
"What are they?" The Professor asked.
"Martha. What's going on?" John asked.
"What is it?" Becca asked and Tom to asked.
"Martha, what is it?"
Martha took a moment to realise much to her own sadness that she would need to explain the situation to them. She didn't want too but it had to be done.
"They're us! Humans! The Human Race from the Future!" She said with grief at how it had all turned out from such promise. She explained further to make them understand just what she meant.
"I'd sort of worked it out, with the Paradox Machine. Because the Doctor said on the day the Master came to power that he locked the Tardis on two places. Modern day Earth and the Year One hundred trillion. The Master had the Tardis, this time machine but the only other place he could go was the End of the Universe and so he found Utopia."
She explained more about what had been going on while the other four listened, the weight of it all dawning on them.
"The Utopia Project was the last hope, trying to find a way to escape the end of everything." She told them and now they all could see just what that 'solution' had been.
"There was solution, no diamonds. Just the dark and the cold." The Toclafane said with bitterness before brightening up. "But then the Master came with his wonderful time machine, to bring us back home."
"But that's a paradox." Professor Docherty realised as she listened to the story. "If you're the future of the human race and you come back in time to murder your ancestors, you should cancel yourselves out. You shouldn't exist." She said and then Martha added.
"And that's the Paradox Machine."
"The Tardis, turned in a machine to hold the paradox in place so time can be rewritten without danger." Becca said, knowing what a Paradox was and from Martha's stories what the Master had done to the Doctor's Tardis.
Martha nodded and John wondered if the Paradox Machine was the Master's greatest asset and weakness all in one. Without it the paradox would take effect and erase the Toclafane, they would be gone and the human race, the real human race he thought looking at the desiccated head in revulsion could take back their world.
"What about us? We're the same species, why kill so many of us?" Tom asked his voice trembling with emotion as he dealt with all the horror and the scale of death they had caused. But the Toclafane's reply was as chilling as it was disgusting.
"Because it's fun." The Toclafane said and started laughing manically until Tom couldn't take it anymore and shot the revolting excuse of a human in the head.
They all went silent for a while as they all took in what they had learnt, they could hardly believe that the human race would eventually become the Toclafane. Not with all they had done and worried that viciousness and disregard for life was in them too but as they all settled down in the Professor's small makeshift bedroom.
"I think it's time we had the truth, Miss Jones. Legend said you travelled the world to find a way to kill the Master. Tell us, is it true?" The Professor said from her armchair while Martha sat stunned on the bed.
Martha, John and Becca all knew that she was fishing for information that she could sell to the Master and so they gave her their cover story.
"Just before I escaped…the Doctor told me." Martha started saying before Becca pulled a strange looking box and three small tubes of coloured liquid from their bags and placing them on the bed. "The Master and the Doctor, they've been coming to Earth for years. And they've been watched. There's UNIT and Torchwood, all studying Timelords in secret and they made this." Martha said pulling the gun from the box. "The ultimate defence." She added for dramatic effect.
"There's no need." Tom said thinking it was stupid to invent a special gun when a normal bullet would need him just as easily. "You get close enough and just." He said holding his own pistol up as an example. But John shook his head.
"Timelords aren't that easy to kill. They can renew themselves at the point of death and change their entire appearance while they do it. They call it regeneration." He told them Martha having explained it to him.
"So, the Master's immortal. Wonderful." Professor Docherty said with bitter sarcasm but Becca told her.
"Nothing's immortal. Those organisations made this, a gun in five parts. The gun and four chemicals. Scattered the parts across the world for security and just one shot will kill the Master…stone dead. Martha went all around the world to collect them all." She added with a smirk as she knew it was just a stage prop that they'd picked up in a studio where they'd stayed the night once and the tubes were just coloured water but they just needed to make Docherty believe it was possible.
Tom and Docherty both looked at it in awe thinking it would be able to finally end the Master once and for all. But Tom then noticed something.
"You said four chemicals. You've only got three." He said noting the obvious. Martha then told him.
"Still need to get the last one. There's a UNIT Base in North London. I've found the access codes. Tom, I need you to get us there." Martha told him and he nodded without hesitation while the Professor looked at them with contemplation.
She'd taken the bait, the three thought with confidence and knew everything was going to plan. Now there was only one thing left to do.
"We can't get across London in the dark, its full of wild dogs we'd get eaten alive." Tom said as they packed up their bags to move out. "We can wait till morning and go with the Medical Convoy." He suggested and then the Professor made her move.
"No stay here, it's safer." She said trying to trap them but Tom without even meaning too thwarted her plan.
"No, we can go half way, make it to the slave quarters in Bexley and spend the night there. Save us some time." Tom told her and then added not knowing she was a traitor. "Professor thank you." He said honestly for all her help.
The Professor seeing that she wasn't going to trick them into saying here nodded, intending no doubt to inform on them the first moment she was able. She shook Tom's hand and told him good luck and Martha even kissed her on the cheek, the woman had no idea she was doing exactly what they needed her to do and John and Becca gave her a nod before the quartet left the shed and went to make their way to the slave quarters. Leaving the Professor to make a phone call.
Bexley, London…Later that Night…
It took most of the night to get to the slave quarters, needing to avoid not just the Toclafane but actual soldiers working for the Master that patrolled the streets. Arriving in the dead of night at a row of terraced houses they ran quickly across the dark street till they managed to reach one of the houses. Tom quickly knocked on the door in a series of fast taps and the door opened revealing a starving looking young woman who ushered them inside quickly.
"Did you bring food?" The woman asked with a look of desperation in her eyes but Tom shook his head.
"No, I'm starving just like you." The woman looked disappointed but hardly surprised.
"All we've got is water."
"It's cheaper than building barracks." Tom explained as they all squeezed their way inside and through the obviously overcrowded house. "Pack them in, a hundred in each house. Send them off to the shipyards every morning." The smell was awful but after traveling around slave camps like this hardly unfamiliar.
"Are you Martha Jones?" A young man with blond hair asked from the stairs.
"Yeah, that's me." Martha replied and the man asked her with some considerable desperation in his eyes.
"Can you do it? Can you kill him? They said you can kill the Master. Please say you can kill him." He said needing her to say it as it was all they had to believe in. That started many of the people around them asking the same questions and both John and Becca moved closer to Martha as if to defend her from being mobbed. Martha herself was unsettled and didn't want to answer but Tom came to her rescue and made them quiet down.
"Come on, leave her alone. She's exhausted." He said quietly but forcefully to make them stop and they did. But Martha knew what she had to do and told them.
"No, it's alright. They want me to talk and I will." Martha reassured them and they all perked up but what Martha did next would surprise and enthral them all. She sat down on the stairs and began to talk, telling her captivated audience all about her travels with the Doctor. Telling them what they needed to do at the right moment.
Even Tom was giving her his complete attention which hardly surprised John and Becca who were pretty sure he was already in love with her which they both quietly smirked about to themselves.
But the moment was then suddenly interrupted by the lookout who came in looking terrified.
"It's him!" She said in a panic. "Oh my god, it's him! The Master! He's here!"
"But he never comes to Earth. He never walks upon the ground." The same young man from earlier said with terror as they all started to panic, the lookout yelled.
"Hide her!"
One of them threw a blanket which was quickly used to cover Martha while John and Becca made themselves as inconspicuous as possible.
The hum of the Toclafane could now be heard along with boots as more soldiers lined the street, the Master walking with complete confidence down the centre of the road before he started calling out.
"Martha? Martha Jones?" He said loudly so all could hear. "I can see you." He then said in stupid squeaky voice like a child. "Out you come little girl. Come and greet your master." He told her and they all huddled around Martha to protect and hide her as much as possible. She was shaking with fear as the worst man she had ever seen or heard of let alone met was just outside. John and Becca both were scared too and looked to each other and prepared themselves for the death they were pretty sure was coming.
When nothing happened, the Master seemed to get bored of waiting and decided to up the stakes.
"Anyone? Everyone? Nothing?" He said wondering if someone might point her out to save their own skins but no one did much to his surprise.
"Positions." He called out and the soldiers aimed their rifles at the doors of the houses, each containing a hundred or so people. His intent was clear and they all knew he'd do it but he still told them. "I'll give the order, unless you surrender. Ask yourself, what would the Doctor do?" The Master teased her.
Martha knew she hadn't got a choice, even if this hadn't been what she wanted she had no intention of letting these people die so she got off and shook off the blanket covering her and as they all looked at her with awe and sorrow in equal measure, they parted for her to get to the door, even Tom reluctantly. Becca and John came up to her and when she went to tell them to stay quiet and hide John told her with a smile.
"We started this together. Whatever happens, we do it together." He said while Becca nodded in agreement and opened the front door, allowing Martha, John and Becca to step out into the street.
The sight of the Master terrified them all but the man proved as childish as ever when he started clapping and mocking them.
"Oh, good girl! He trained you well." He said speaking to her like she was a pet which angered them all but they stayed silent as they walked into the street. "Bag. Give me the bag. No stay there. Just throw it." He commanded becoming serious and had taken the story they'd told Docherty to heart. Martha did as he said and threw it to the ground between them.
The trio all acted defeated and angry on the surface but glad he had bought the ruse. Seeing him destroy the gun with his laser screwdriver. Becca having a slight flashback to the last time she had seen it and the other Master the old one had shot her with it, leaving her paralysed until dawn and powerless to comfort and help Jaime.
However, when he said as he turned the screwdriver on Martha and told her. "And now good companion, your work is done." Ready to kill her and they all braced ready to die, Tom shocked them by running out of the house pointing his gun at the Master only for the Master to shoot him dead in the blink of an eye.
Seeing him die right in front of them gutted the three, they had liked him…they really had and now he was dead at the hands of this lunatic. Another in a long line of victims.
"You really can't do anything but kill can you?" Becca said as her anger boiled over, glaring at the Master before Martha or John could stop her. "You end lives and for what? Power over corpses?" She said with complete fury on her face.
The Master seemed amused by her statement and then looked at her strangely before suddenly gasping in surprise and chuckling while Martha and John stood between Becca and the Master.
"Oh, I remember that glare! Your sister used it last time we met. You were the little whiny brat who just couldn't do anything right." The Master said with a grin on his face. "What was the name? Actually, I don't care." The Master said with a laugh.
"Where's my sister?" Becca asked with her anger not letting her be afraid. The Master clapped his hands excitedly and told her.
"Oh, she's up on the Valiant. Maybe it's time for a family reunion." He said with eagerness for Teresa to finally end the last thread of her life as Jaime Sommers while Martha's family and the Doctor would see her transformed into one of his little dolls just like his other little friends, enforcing his will on the Earth and beyond. "Almost dawn my little gang, when Planet Earth marches to war. Bring them." He told the guards who grabbed them and dragged them over to the waiting car. As all three were forced into the back seat, John looked around and whispered them.
"Wait till we get to a sharp corner, then all three of us throw our weight onto one side. It might flip the car and let up get out." He said trying to come up with a plan but Martha shook her head.
"Everything is going to plan John. Don't worry." She whispered to him.
Becca meanwhile was just glad she had concealed the devices Will had prepared for her on her person before they were arrested and the guards didn't seem that bothered in searching them.
Jaime, I'm coming. Becca thought with some trepidation as the time to face her sister came.
The Valiant, Former British Airspace…That Morning…
After a ride in the car to an airfield nearby and then a plane, they had landed on the Valiant, the sight of the ship was an ominous one for the three especially for Martha and John who had been lucky enough to escape it once before. After they landed they were marched to the flight deck by the Actives, no Toclafane thankfully, none of them wanted to ever see those things again.
The door slid open and revealed the flight deck, looking the same as it had a year ago but Martha was relieved to see her family and Jack standing there. All looking terrified for her but did their best to send encouraging looks. Martha honestly felt her heart break as she saw their trauma written all over their faces. Who knows what torments the Master had subjected them too in the last year and it made her hate him all the more.
John meanwhile was ready to defend Martha and Becca with his life if needed. He cared nothing for his own life but he wanted to make sure they survived whatever was about to happen.
But Becca tuned out all of that and looked over to the stairs where the flight controls could be seen. There standing at 'his' side she thought with anger was her sister. Jaime looked good she thought, wearing a suit rather than the jacket and jeans her sister would always have worn before but what unsettled her was that vicious sneer on her face. It didn't belong there she thought with anger and she was going to put things right.
"The teleport. In case you think I've forgotten." The Master told Martha who did as he instructed and handed the Vortex Manipulator over. The Master smirked and turned to the Doctor and told him.
"Oh Doctor, look at her. Such a good little girl you've trained. But you've had companions you controlled the power of the Time Vortex, this one's useless." He said clearly trying to insult Martha before revealing what he intended to do to her. "But still, she managed to stay free so long. I think I will have a use for her as another doll in my collection." The Master said to the Doctor which confused the others who didn't know what he meant while Becca paled as she knew what that meant while the Doctor having seen what the Master had done to Zoe, Charlotte, Constance and Lucie was immediately angered at the idea he would try to do the same to Martha.
But Becca then walked forward and looked straight up at her sister.
"Jaime." She said, almost scared of what her sister might say, shocking everyone especially John and Martha who knew her story. "Do you remember me?"
Teresa looked down at the girl below her, one that she had thought she would never see again and told her with a dismissive voice.
"Becca, this hardly the time or the place." Her voice now so different it was hard for Becca to reconcile it with the one she remembered. It was cold and sharp, lacking the familiar accent she recognised or any of the warmth it once had.
"That's her?!" Martha said with shock given how Becca had described her sister compared to the cruel Teresa Saxon.
"That's your sister?" John asked, just as confused at how the two could possibly be the same person.
"She used to be. She was just like you Martha." Becca said with sadness. "Before he came and took her away. Before he filled her with his machines and stripped her of all her feelings and humanity, taking a bright caring woman and turning her into a twisted version of himself!" Becca said with anger now creeping into her voice.
The Master was hardly embarrassed by this and actually looked rather proud of what he'd done while the others on the flight deck looked them with horror at what had happened to them. The Jones Family not really understanding but did get that she was just another puppet of the Master and not really in control of herself.
Jack meanwhile understood as he had heard of such things before and now seeing what had happened made a lot of things that she did make sense, she literally couldn't act in any other way. He pitied her and wondered if she would ever be really human again.
The Doctor on the other hand now understood completely and was appalled at what the Master had done, feeling a lot of sympathy for both sisters who had been torn apart by his machinations.
"You mean he freed me from things that were holding me back. Like you." Teresa said with scorn and anger on her face as she looked down at her sister who only looked at her with a sense of longing for the one that she remembered.
The Master realising that he wasn't the centre of attention anymore decided to turn their attention back to him.
"I filled Jaime Sommers up with some rather nice nanites." He said making sure he had their full attention before continuing. "They gave her incredible strength, speed and healing far beyond the rest of you stunted little apes. Made her into the perfect soldier for the Time War and a perfect companion for me." He said with a total pride in what he'd done. "I erased Jaime Sommers and Teresa was born and oh all the fun we had." The Master said proudly, wistfully remembering those glory days of long ago alongside Teresa who was also wistfully staring into the distance.
Now Martha and John understood just what Becca had meant and realised what the Master had stolen from her and what had been done to Jaime. Neither of them able to think of her as Teresa Saxon anymore. Becca though was now closer to the stairs and told them as she pulled at her sleeve.
"You turned my sister into a monster, turned her into your slave." She said looking at Teresa who just yawned mockingly at her and judging the distance…Becca made her move.
She pulled out a small rod-shaped device and pressed a button on the side.
Teresa suddenly screamed and fell down the short stairs, falling in a heap. Becca went to run to her but the Actives aimed their guns at her and Martha and John had to pull her back.
The atmosphere in the room immediately changed as the Master became furious.
"What have you done you stupid little girl?" He yelled at her but despite the danger he posed Becca told him with scorn.
"We've spent two years working on the program you put into the antrocytes. We couldn't figure out most of it but we did manage to crack the code on the emotional inhibitor!" Becca taunted the Master as the woman at the foot of the stairs started moving. "To set her free! To give her back all the emotions and feelings you took away!"
- x -
The woman at the foot of the stairs looked around dazed as if not sure what was happening at first but then as her brain adjusted and all her memories came flooding back along with all the emotions that she hadn't felt in so long she let out a horrified and terrible cry of despair.
'What had she done?' Jaime thought with horror as she remembered everything now, everything she had done, everything he had forced her to do. All the people she had hurt or killed.
She had helped the Master take over so many worlds, including her own she thought with despair filling her up. She had killed and tortured and destroyed so many lives across all of time and space. She was monster now, a horrible creature that was worse than most of the nastiest people on Earth…in the universe she thought with disgust aimed solely at herself. Sobs began to make her shake as her grief took over and all the humans and the Doctor looked at her with surprise to see the woman that they had all thought a vile creature for so long, finally humbled.
"You stupid little ape!" The Master raged, angered over his creature now being effectively crippled and out of his control. "It could take months to undo the damage you've caused!" He sneered at Becca and aimed his laser screwdriver at her but Jaime hearing this and seeing what he was going to do moved forward and faster than they could blink was standing in front of Becca like a human shield, snarling at the Master.
"DON'T EVER THREATEN HER!" Jaime screamed at the Master; her tear-streaked face screwed up with rage as she glared at him. The Actives, all still loyal to the Master pointed their weapons at her in case she decided to charge him. The change in behaviour shocked all of them and the Master looked at her with angry disappointment.
"Jaime Sommers, I thought I had destroyed you for good." He said with scorn but Jaime told him back with rage.
"I was always there. Underneath, always struggling to get to the surface. You couldn't take that away." She taunted him, so full of anger that had been building for so long it was ready to explode out of her like a volcano. But she was still bound by the safeguard that prevented her from acting against him or she would have killed him right there on the spot.
"Jaime! You're back." Becca said with so much joy despite the horrible situation they were in. She was openly smiling and tears were starting to run down her face as she realised her sister had come back to her. Jaime turned and grabbed her sister in a hug, kissing her forehead.
"I tried! I tried so hard!" Jaime said as she held her sister close, still making sure to protect her from the Master as best she could. They just held each other crying at finally being back together again.
"How sweet. Sisters reunited." The Master said with disgust. "Been a long time…for Jaime at least."
"What do you mean?" Becca demanded as she tried to glare at the Master but Jaime just told her quickly.
"It doesn't matter." Jaime said but the Master sneered as he told Becca anyway.
"I'm a time traveller, or at least I was till I ended up stuck on this miserable little planet. She travelled with me for so many years and what a bad girl she was! For you, it's been two years…for her…well she turns four hundred and ninety-three years old next month." The Master said loving to rub salt in the wound.
The news of her actual age stunned Becca; Jaime had tears in her eyes as she knew the truth would break Becca. She hadn't wanted her to know, just how long it had been for her but it didn't matter as she felt the other device under Becca's sleeve and they shared a look, it was the device meant to wipe the other actives so they could be freed of the Master's control and restored later but Jaime with her mind now much expanded ironically thanks to the Master realised what it was and with the Doctor's Sonic screwdriver in her jacket pocket, she had an idea. She managed to look over to the Doctor, catching his eye and concentrated her limited psychic powers to send a message to him, letting him know what she intended. He nodded to show he had received it even if he was surprised that she could do that and decided to spring his own plan to distract the Master while she made her move.
"Give me the disruptor. I need to make some modifications." She whispered to her sister pretending to give her another hug, Becca was surprised as but she did as Jaime said who covertly pulled the Doctor's sonic screwdriver out of her pocket as the Doctor started talking.
"But you know, you really are so stupid because…I mean a gun in five parts! Like I would ever ask her to kill, I guess this new regeneration made you thick." The Doctor said, the sight of the ancient small shell of a person taunting the Master made all of them look at him like he was crazy.
"I know." Martha said as she knew full well just what the Doctor had planned. "I mean who would ever believe that?" She said chuckling at the Master which he certainly didn't like being mocked.
"Well, it doesn't matter anymore does it. The fleet is about to launch." He said but that was when Jaime made her move.
Faster than she had ever moved before she ran up the stairs, past all the actives and to the PA system and activated both it and the PA at the same time. A loud high-pitched sound filled the air throughout the ship and all the actives around including the Doctor's former companions held their ears as if they were listening to something so loud that they had to shield their ears but it was only for a moment as the Master called out in furious anger. "NO! NO! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"
The Actives all blinked for a moment as they rebooted, not sure of where they were for a moment until they remembered and Jaime who was still standing at the PA yelled to them.
"All Actives! Take the Valiant repeat take the Valiant!" She called out and they didn't even hesitate as they realised what was happening.
Echo, Sierra, Victor, Whisky and November all began to attack the Master's normal guards alongside Zoe, Constance, Charley and Lucie. Lila on the command deck put up the ship's shields to prevent the Toclafane from coming to the Master's rescue before joining in the struggle.
As all the chaos was going on around, the Actives overwhelming all of his loyalists with all the fighting skills and superior abilities he himself had given them, it was all falling down around his ears and then just as he thought it couldn't get any worse, Martha told him what it had been she was really doing.
"As I travelled the world, I told a story, all the stories I know about the Doctor. All of the humans in all the world thinking the same thing at the same moment but with fifteen satellites to connect them. And that word…is Doctor." Martha said before the Doctor started to glow. All the humans on the flight deck including Jaime and the Actives and even Lucy all added their thoughts to the network.
"NO! STOP IT! YOU CAN'T!" The Master screamed in horror as the Doctor's cage disappeared with white energy and he began to grow, turning back into the old man version of himself before telling the Master.
"The only thing you can't do. Stop them thinking." The Doctor told him before he reverted back into his normal younger self much to Martha's delight who ran back to her family. Her mother grabbed her and pulled her into a hug alongside Tish while Clive stood protectively in front of them. John meanwhile stood with Becca along with Jaime and held her protectively as the storm created by the Doctor who was now levitating above the ground.
"Tell me the human race is degenerate now? When they can do this?" The Doctor said and the Master now genuinely afraid, more afraid than Jaime had ever seen him began trying to shoot him with the laser screwdriver.
"No! No!" The Master said, he couldn't believe this was happening, not after he had been so close but the shots achieved everything and to make matters worse the Doctor was saying sorry, like he was sorry for him.
The Master in desperation to regain some control turned the screwdriver towards the Jones Family and told him with some fire in his voice again.
"Then I'll kill them."
But the Doctor was ready for him and with an outstretched hand blasted the screwdriver out of the Master's hand.
The Master watched as his only remaining weapon was sent flying across the room and turned back to the Doctor and childish look of indignation and fear crossed his face.
"You can't do this! You can't do this! It's not fair!" The Master cried out in misery before the Doctor said something that made him even more scared.
"And you know what happens now." The Doctor said as the Master stumbled away from him to try and delay the inevitable as the Doctor floated down to him as he cowered against a wall with nowhere else to go. "You know what happens now. You wouldn't listen, because you know what I'm gonna say." The Doctor told him as the glow faded and he held the cowering Master in his arms, saying.
"I forgive you."
That confused a lot of the people present, after all he had done to him how could the Doctor to forgive him?
Jaime however knew how much that would damage the Master's incredible ego, he could never take that someone was smarter than him or at least on his level. The idea that the Doctor would say that he forgives him, that he tried his best and would do better next time with a pat on the head from his oldest friend and most bitter rival.
That would be like hell for him.
"Captain! The Paradox Machine." The Doctor called out abandoning the Master for a moment and Jaime called out.
"Victor, go with him. Shoot the console." She told him as she knew what would happen if the machine was stopped. Victor did as he was told and ran off with Captain Jack and a bunch of the other actives to try and undo the damage the Master had inflicted.
The Master though was not beaten and began to use the Vortex Manipulator to escape, the Doctor noticed and went to stop him disappearing in a blue flash of light.
Meanwhile the Joneses, John, and Becca all followed Jaime and the remaining Actives as they went to man the different positions.
"We've got all six billion spheres heading right for us." Martha said as she saw the swarm of Toclafane heading straight at them but Jaime who knew the Valiant like the back of her hand told Echo, Sierra, Whiskey and Lila who manning the different stations while November and the others were securing the Master's remaining loyalists.
"Activate the cannons, we only need to hold them off till they manage to destroy the Paradox Machine." Jaime told them and Echo who had the weapons console told her.
"With pleasure, they've had this coming for a long time." Echo said quickly with anger at being used like they had.
- x -
All along the outer edge of the Valiant small guns deployed and began to shoot at the Toclafane, automated tracking allowing them to keep up with the fast-moving Toclafane. The blasts were blue in colour and short bolts that fired at an incredible speed. The spheres they targeted and hit exploded on contact while the Toclafane that strafed the ship's shields but their red lasers didn't penetrate its rather impressive barrier.
- x -
"Shields are draining but only slowly." Sierra reported from her console impressed and Whiskey turned to Jaime with somewhat suspicious if happily so eyes.
"Almost like someone designed the ship to defend itself against the Toclafane." Whiskey said carefully and with all eyes turned to Jaime who just shrugged.
"I like to be prepared, in case the Toclafane turned on us it seemed like a good idea to make sure the ship could withstand them if needed." Jaime said with a smirk.
"The Master designed this place to fight his own servants. Sounds like him. He never changes." Lila said with disgust given her own experience not just with this version of the Master but a previous incarnation of him too but Jaime laughed.
"He didn't design the Valiant…I did." Jaime said with a smirk of satisfaction much to their surprise. "I followed his directions for how he wanted it to look and he chose the décor of course but the engineering of this thing and defences was my job and I added some ideas of my own. He likes to delegate so he could work on his plans and if I could save him the bother of designing the ship himself why wouldn't he do it?" Jaime asked them and they couldn't disagree given what they had seen in him.
"You designed the ship?" Becca asked confused as Jaime while clever had never been into engineering and Jaime suddenly became downcast for a second before telling her younger sister.
"I picked up a lot while I was travelling with him. Seeing all of time and space especially at the side of a Timelord alters how you see the universe. You can never go back, not to how things were before not as you anyway." Jaime told them sadly as she knew she could never be the woman she had been before all this happened.
But while John himself checked defences to make sure they were holding Martha was the most effected by what Jaime had said. They had both travelled in time and space with a Timelord although they had been very different and like she said, she could never see the world or indeed the universe in the same way ever again.
She wasn't the same young medical student that the Doctor had met in Royal Hope Hospital, not anymore, she realised with some sadness as she knew that innocent version of her was gone now.
- x -
Jack, Victor and some of the other actives had managed to reach the cargo hold were the Tardis, three Toclafane floated in front of the Tardis. Jack grimaced as he knew this was going to suck when Victor who had killed him three times in the last year along with his comrades switched their weapons to another setting. Victor told him as they hid in the doorway.
"Incendiary rounds will blind their scanners; let you get through. Incendiary." Victor said and the pistol in his hand clicked over to that setting and then fired with the accuracy of a seasoned and trained sniper as did his two colleagues. All three found their mark and the sound of the Toclafane 'screaming' for lack of a better term filled the air as their shells burned.
Jack having never heard this from them was stunned for a moment but not for long and ran forward and opened the Tardis door, getting inside he saw the twisted version of the console room but aimed his borrowed rifle at the place where the central console had once been and fired.
The bullets were primitive especially when compared with the incredible technology of the Tardis but they got the job done. They tore through the covering and hit the tubes and components the Master had added inside.
It took a moment or two but power was lost, and the Paradox Machine shut down allowing the Tardis to begin the process of repairing itself.
- x -
The flight deck of the Valiant at the same time this was happening they all looked out of the window in time to see the paradox assert itself, the spheres that were attacking the Valiant suddenly disappeared as did the ones outside the Tardis and then the ship was rocked by turbulence, they all stumbled around and Jaime grabbed Becca, securing her to make sure she wasn't injured.
"What's happening?" Becca asked and then the Doctor seemed to appear out of nowhere and fall to the floor with Martha as they all hung on for dear life.
"Everyone! Get down!" The Doctor called out with excitement. "Time is reversing." Ending with a laugh of triumph. Unnoticed in the chaos was a gun falling across the deck and before being picked up by Francine Jones.
Jaime and the Actives like him could feel it although not as much, they felt time running backwards, moving at a rapid pace that made them all feel somewhat sick wherever they were clinging too. The feeling was intense but fortunately brief, lasting only a minute or so before everything settled back into place.
They all got up after the shaking had finally stopped and the Doctor rushed over to the communications panel and flicked a switch to check what transmissions were going about.
"The Paradox is broken, we've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes passed eight in the morning." The Doctor as he turned on the communicator and one voice sounded on the system.
"This is UNIT Central! What's happening up there? We just saw the President assassinated." The voice claimed and the Doctor was about to flick it off absentmindedly but John pushed past him slightly and spoke.
"This is John Connor aboard the Valiant, aide to the President. We've had an alien incursion and time manipulation on board. Ship is now secure. Need a relief crew to be sent up to the ship and a team to help with the clean-up. The Master was involved." John mentioned and the man he was speaking to went quiet before responding.
"Okay Connor. Understood, we will send the people to the Valiant, hold position until they arrive." The man said before John acknowledged the signal.
"Understood, Valiant out." John said before closing the channel.
The Doctor looked at him for a moment before smiling and telling them all what had happened.
"See? 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." The Doctor said breathlessly.
The news shocked those around the room that heard it, Martha asked with some worry that the Toclafane would return.
"What about the spheres?"
"Trapped at the end of the universe." The Doctor said with some regret that the human race was going to go out like that but after what they had done to themselves, and to others he had to accept it was their time. Sad that it ended but knew it was their time, the time of all things he thought with some awe they had managed to survive so long.
"But I can remember it." Francine said with some distress as if she had hoped the memories of what had happened would disappear and they would all be spared that but Jaime answered this time as she got up with Becca still in her arms.
"We are right at the centre of the paradox, the eye of the storm so to speak. We were protected while everything and everyone else was reverted back. We alone will remember what happened." Jaime said as she hugged Becca closer, not keen to let her sister go.
The Doctor went over to greet Clive Jones who had never met face to face but the Master who had returned apparently with the Doctor made a break for it, Jaime though picked up a tray and threw it across the room, it didn't hit the Master but landed right in front of him just as he was putting his foot down, it slid across the floor and sent him face first into the floor with a hard thud.
Everyone on the flight deck saw it and Jack then returned with Victor, both of them grabbing him by the arm and dragging him back towards the centre of the room. Victor then took the cuffs from his belt and secured the Master's hands firmly to make sure he wouldn't get up to anything.
"So, what do we do with this one?" Jack asked them as they all looked at the Master most of them with the most intense hatred and disgust.
"We kill him." Clive said without any hesitation and Tish added much to Martha's shock.
"We execute him."
"No, that's not the solution." The Doctor said quickly and Jaime openly called him out on it.
"What on Earth Doctor makes you think that you have any say in this?" Jaime said as she came up to the railing and she glared at the Doctor who looked at her strangely, still not sure what to make of her now she had her true personality restored. "What would you have us do? Imprison him? Lock him up and throw away the key? There is no prison in the universe that could hold him! Trip him into a collapsing galaxy! A blackhole! He will find a way to escape and kill more people! How many have to die for your mercy Doctor?!" She asked him with eyes blazing as she saw dangerous arrogance and contradictions in him that she felt needed to be addressed. "Just like the Family of Blood! Oh yes, I know about them. If you had merely faced them rather than hiding to 'be kind' how many would have lived? The four innocent humans they took as hosts including a little girl who was only six years old! And a few more! You know Martha would have been taken as a host by the Family if I hadn't interfered." Jaime told him to call him out on his pacifism but also his casual neglect for the lives of others because it suited him.
The Doctor became downcast as he was reminded of the incident but the idea that she had been there surprised him, he certainly hadn't seen her nor had John Smith but Jaime explained to a surprised Martha.
"You were being tailed by one of their scarecrows and then it fell down. Remember that?" She asked her and Martha nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I thought it slipped." Martha said uncertainly but Jaime shook her head.
"The school was close to the Master's house on Earth. I was watching over it at the time and I detected the alien activity. I saw the scarecrow coming for you and on a whim, I shot it." Jaime revealed to a shocked Martha and her family who unknown to them had saved her life on a whim.
The Master was angered that she had even hinted at Blackfield's existence but then Francine revealed the gun as she pointed it at the Master, Victor holding him tightly to make sure he couldn't escape.
"I think so." Francine said her eyes filled with tears at all she, her family and the human race had endured in the year that never was. The Doctor slowly walked down the stairs towards her followed by a worried Martha. "Because all those things…they still happened. Because of him." Francine said with hate burning in her eyes. "I saw them!"
The Master actually hoping given his situation as he had a way to return if he was killed urged her on.
"Yes, go on! Do it!" He said intently, staring at her to will her to pull the trigger. The air was tense all around them as they all wondered if she would actually shoot him. Especially as he knew it would likely break her eventually but the Doctor interfered and told her as he gently took the gun away from her and threw it away, telling her before giving her a brief hug of comfort before handing her back to Martha and the rest of her family.
"Francine, no. You're better than him."
The Master then asked now wondering if any of them would actually kill him, the Actives looked ready but unsure and Jaime would he knew kill him given the chance but she still had the block in her programming to stop her so he pressed the question.
"You still haven't answered the question. What happens to me now?" The Master asked.
The Doctor then turned back to the Master and despite them already having shown how against it they were the Doctor was never one to give up and knew given the chance they would kill the Master, he stepped forward.
"He'll be my responsibly from now on, the only other Timelord left in existence." He didn't want to lose the Master, the only other one left besides him and maybe if he could redeem the Master…maybe he could redeem himself the Doctor thought with desperate hope given what he had done.
Jack was astonished at what the Doctor intended and came over looked exasperated.
"But…you can't trust him." He like Jaime could see the billion ways this could go wrong but the Doctor wouldn't acknowledge it and continued.
"No. The only safe place for him is the Tardis." The Doctor said and the Master's face visibly looked unnerved at the prospect.
"You mean…you're just going to…keep me?" The idea of being trapped for the rest of existence with the Doctor honestly filling him with disgust and his hatred boiled over, he would rather die than that! The Master thought.
"Safe place for him?!" Jaime said with disgust as the Doctor was more concerned with keeping the Master safe than the rest of the universe if he got out.
"You mean lock him a room in the Tardis and try to reform him? That is your plan?" Echo said with disbelief at how naïve the Doctor was being. The other actives including the Doctor's former companions who had been twisted by the Master all looked on in great uncertainty.
The Doctor though never answered her question as a shot rang out, while they had all been distracted by the Doctor Lucy Saxon had picked up the gun Francine had discarded and shot the Master once in the chest. The Doctor rushed over as the Master fell, his eyes wide with shock as he saw his assassin was the one person he had thought completely under his control.
While Jack relieved Lucy of her gun who was staring at the scene before her with vacant eyes, the Doctor held the Master in his arms. Jaime walked down the stairs and took Lucy into her arms and hugged her gently, knowing full well all the things he had subjected her too. Becca was confused but Jaime caught her eye and nodded while comforting the now broken Lucy.
The Doctor meanwhile was cradling the Master.
"I've got you." He said now worried as he knew the shot would kill the Master but not stop regeneration.
"Always the women." The Master taunted the Doctor with mocking irony.
"I didn't see her." The Doctor said knowing he should have been paying more attention. The Master though was not upset, far from it he was glad as he would be able to break the Doctor and return later.
"Dying in your arms. Happy now?" The Master said with a sneer at the Doctor who was now beginning to worry as the regeneration should have started by now but the Master was purposefully fighting it.
"You're not dying, don't be stupid it's only a bullet. Just regenerate." The Doctor said almost like a command but like normal the Master would not obey.
"No." He said and the Doctor now becoming more desperate told him again like his will would overpower the Master's decision and make him do as he commanded him.
"One little bullet now come on." The Doctor said but the Master made it clear he wouldn't.
"Guess you don't know me so well." The Master said with triumph in his eyes. "I refuse."
"Just regenerate." The Doctor, he kept pressing for the Master to just do the one thing he needed to do to survive. "Please, please! Just regenerate!" The Doctor said now becoming frantic.
"And spent the rest of my life imprisoned with you?" The Master said with disgust at the mere idea of it.
"But you've got to…come on!" The Doctor said as he realised the Master wasn't going to just change his mind and that if he didn't do something soon, he would die. "You can't let it end like this. You and me…all the things we've done. Remember the Axons? And the Daleks? We're the only two left! I've no one else." The Doctor said with terror gripping him at the idea of being truly the last of the Timelords.
"You have someone else." Jaime said suddenly, leaving Lucy to Becca she came over and knelt next to the Doctor who looked at her confused. "During the Time War myself and the Master freed your old friend Romana from her prison and forced her to regenerate. She abandoned her old name and ran away from the war. She might still be alive." Jaime told him, doing this as however much she didn't necessarily like the Doctor she was feeling compassionate and wanted to ease his pain a little if she could.
The Doctor looked shocked that his old friend could still be alive even if she didn't call herself Romana anymore.
"But I would sense her!" He insisted and Jaime just shook her head.
"You've been away from your own people too long, that connection to them has faded and broken under the distance. That's the reason you couldn't sense the Master before he put the Archangel Network up." Jaime told him. "You might not be the last of the Timelords after all." Jaime said trying to give him some hope in this moment before looking to the Master who smirked at her.
"Oh, Jaime!" He said now struggling to breathe as his injury took hold. "All the things we did, the places we went too! Do you remember? The Palace of Versailles in its glory days, alternate universes, pirates, watching Rome burn! All those amazing adventures we had."
"I remember, the journey of…several lifetimes." Jaime said with tension as despite the awful things they had done together, it had been an amazing experience to travel all through space and time. She had seen the glory and the splendour of not only the past and future but of universe itself. She would carry those things with her for the rest of her life.
"Can you forgive me? For all the things I did?" The Master asked her surprising both the Doctor and her that he was asking for her forgiveness and the Doctor looked at her intently as if pressing her to say so and Jaime looked between them before telling the Master.
"Oh Master…never!" Jaime said with a vicious snarl on her face and the Doctor looked angry at her words but the Master actually laughed and told her.
"That's my girl! My greatest student. I will always be there, in your head. You can never be free of me." The Master said with triumph that tore at Jaime as she knew he was right. He would always be a part of her, she would never be free of him she thought with grief. He then looked between them and told them with pride.
"How about that?! I WIN!" The Master said with satisfaction before asking the Doctor. "Will it stop Doctor? The drumming? Will it finally stop?" The Master asked before he closed his eyes and the Doctor was overcome with grief as he realised that for once the Master had actually allowed himself to die, just to spite him.
The Doctor sobbed as he held the Master's body, Jaime and the rest of them let him be.
X
There we are, hope you liked it and please leave a review to let me know what you thought.
Next Chapter - Everyone has to deal with the aftermath of the Master's actions as they come to terms with what's happened. Those that have been taken by the Master must face what they have done and discover just what the future might hold as an unexpected consequence of the Master's actions has big ramifications.