Doctor Who
Author's Note:
Once again, I've borrowed some sections from the Sound of Drums, that is all.
Chapter Two
The Doctor was pondering inside the abandoned warehouse where they had taken refuge. Jack was setting up a fire in the waste bin and his laptop, and Martha had gone out in search of some food for them.
"Doc, I can hear the gears in your head working overtime. Don't worry, Rosie will be alright." Jack tried reassuring him, although he was doubting himself. "She's strong, she's dealt with worse than a crazed Time Lord."
"Not like him." The Doctor said, shaking his head. "The Master, he's insane Jack. If he has somebody that I l - care about, then he'll stop at nothing to rain hell on the both of us. She wouldn't tell me on the phone, but I could tell that Rose was hurt. I'm scared about what he's done to her, he'll mess with her head in some of the worst ways imaginable. He's a big fan of psychological torture."
Before Jack could respond, the two men could hear the soft footfalls approaching the warehouse, indicating that Martha was returning.
"How'd it go?" Jack asked, relieved that she was safe.
"I don't think anybody saw me." Martha confirmed, handing them each a bag of chips and taking one for herself. "Is there any news?"
"I've tapped this into the government wavelengths so that we can see what Saxon's doing." Jack said, indicating his vortex manipulator.
"Yeah, I meant about my family." Martha snapped, rolling her eyes.
"It still says that the Jones family taken in for questioning." The Doctor explained. "Tell you what, though. No mention of Leo."
"He's not as daft as he looks." Martha beamed proudly, and then her smile faltered. "I'm talking about my brother on the run. How did this happen?"
The three fell into a comfortable silence, enjoying the food that Martha had brought for them.
"Nice chips." Jack commented to break the silence.
"Actually, they're not bad." The Doctor agreed, and then remembered that chips were one of Rose's favourite food. He stopped eating, putting the chips down. He recalled the times when he and Rose would return to the Powell Estate after a draining adventure, just so that Rose could get some of her comfort food that she needed at the time. Considering who she was with right now, the Doctor couldn't bring himself to enjoy the food not knowing what the Master was doing to her.
"So, Doctor, who is he?" Jack asked. "How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?"
"And what is he to you?" Martha wondered. "Like a colleague or -"
"A friend, at first."
"I thought you were going to say he was your secret brother or something." Martha chuckled, albeit nervously.
"You've been watching too much TV." The Doctor acknowledged, raising his eyebrow.
"But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect." Jack countered.
"Well, perfect to look at maybe. And it was. It was beautiful. They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe, looking down on the galaxies below. Sworn never to interfere, only to watch. Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's when it all began. When he was a child. That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken from initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring into the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired, some would run away, and some would go mad." The Doctor shuddered involuntarily. "Brr. I don't know."
"What about you?" Martha contemplated, although she had a pretty good idea.
"Oh, the ones that ran away, I never stopped." The Doctor established.
After that, Jack's vortex manipulator beeped, indicating an update on Saxon's whereabouts. "Encrypted channel with files attached." Jack murmured. "Don't recognise it."
"Patch it through to the laptop." The Doctor instructed.
"Uh, since we're telling stories, there's something I haven't told you." Jack said with trepidation, wary of the Doctor's reaction. The Torchwood logo appeared on Jack's laptop.
"You work for Torchwood?" The Doctor asked with a slight growl, resisting the urge to hit him.
"I swear to you, it's different." Jack insisted. "It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now."
"Everything Torchwood did, and you're part of it?" The Doctor snarled, practically seething. "Torchwood is the reason that Rose and I were separated. Did you know that?"
"The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it, and when I did that, I did it for you guys in your honour."
The Doctor hit the play button on the laptop.
"What's the Archangel Network?" The Doctor asked. "Rose even mentioned it."
"I've got Archangel." Martha noted, pulling out her phone. "Everyone's got it."
"It's a mobile phone network." Jack explained. "Because look, it's gone worldwide. They've got fifteen satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel."
"It's in the phones!" The Doctor gasped excitedly. "Oh, I said he was a hypnotist. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on." The Doctor tapped Martha's phone on the table, and a rhythmic beeping could be heard. "There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere, ticking away in the subconscious."
"What is it, mind control?"
"No, no, no, no, no. It's subtler than that. Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code, Vote Saxon. Believe in me. Whispering to the world. Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me, because I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal cancelled him out."
"Any way you can stop it?" Jack was eager to know.
"Not from down here. But now we know how he's doing it."
"And we can fight back."
"Oh, yes!"
After being knocked unconscious, Rose awoke in her bedroom on board the TARDIS that the Master had stolen. Although, it wasn't much like her bedroom anymore. There was a single bed against a concrete wall, and the only thing in the room was a toilet. Basically a prison was now her home. She moaned, holding a hand to her pounding head. Before she had an opportunity to adjust for the darkness, the singular light directly above her turned on, practically blinding her and making the headache worse.
"Wakey wakey, Rose Tyler." The Master cooed in a sing-song voice. "I've got a surprise for you."
"For some reason I'm not entirely thrilled with that idea." Rose grumbled, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and sitting up. "What is it?"
"That's no way to greet your Master." He pouted, bringing a chair into the room and sitting in front of her, sitting in the chair back to front. "Now, shut up and listen." He ignored the glare that was directed at him. "I hope you're good at acting, because you're going to be playing the part of my wife."
Rose spluttered, her mouth dropping open. "Excuse me?!"
"I need to keep up the pretences of being Harold Saxon, and the press have been speculating as to whether or not I have a romantic interest. Humans." The Master rolled his eyes in disgust. "So, since you're already here, you might as well play the part. To play the part, you need to look the part." The Master tossed a dress bag cover beside her on the bed. "You'll put this on." He instructed her. "And this." The Master rummaged in his pocket, before withdrawing out a simple, yet delicate, silver bracelet. "Hold out your arm."
Rose almost did, but then hesitated. "What is it?" She didn't trust him. "I think I have a right to know."
"It's Time Lord technology, called a bio-damper." The Master explained. "It'll cancel out your bio-signature, or mask your identity. Officially, you're on the list of the dead after Canary Wharf. We couldn't have you suddenly pop up out of nowhere, could we?" He nodded towards her wrist, indicating for her to lift it up.
Reluctantly, Rose did so. She lifted up her left wrist, and the Master clasped on the bracelet, which fit perfectly. As soon as it was fastened, Rose felt a strange sensation inside her. She doubled over and inhaled a gasp of air as it felt as though she was being held under water and suffocated, all at the same time. As soon as started, it ended.
"What the h-hell was that?" Rose gasped, clutching at her chest as her heart rate adjusted.
"An electro-muscular constrictor." The Master smiled deviously. "A little invention of my own. This little beauty is hooked up to my laser screwdriver, and with this device I am able to subtly control you as I see fit. Oh, and if you're doing something that I don't like or if you try and take this thing off, you receive an electric shock that could potentially stop your heart. It could shock it so much that you don't come back. So, I suggest you be a good little companion and play the part if you want to stay alive and see the Doctor again." The Master rose to his feet, leaving her speechless. "Now, hurry up and get dressed. You've got five minutes."
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Martha whispered, the three of them now observing the Master from a distance as he interacted with the President. They now wore the perception filters, disguising them from the Master.
"Positive." The Doctor affirmed with a nod. He then turned his attention back to the Master, who now had a young woman beside him. It only took him a second to realise that it was Rose. His Rose. For a split second, he barely recognised her. She was dressed in a pair of black trousers, a white blouse with a navy blue blazer. Her hair was pinned up in a sleek, high ponytail. He barely recognised her, but now that he did, he had to do everything in his power to not run up and pull away from the crazed Time Lord.
He also didn't like how the Master held her possessively to his side, his arm draped loosely around her waist.
"You alright there, Doc?" Jack asked, having noticed Rose also.
"I think so." The Doctor murmured, and then saw Rose glance over her shoulder in their direction. She wasn't looking at them directly, more like over their shoulders.
"Can she see us?" Jack wondered.
"I don't know. Hush a minute."
"Mister Saxon, the British Army will stand down. From now on, UNIT has control of this operation." President Winters was telling the Master.
"You make it sound like an invasion." The Master said.
"First Contact policy was decided by the Security Council in 1968, and you've just gone and ignored it." The President reminded him irritably.
"Well, you know what it's like. New job, all that paperwork. I think it's down the back of the settee. I did have a quick look. I found a pen, a sweet, a bus ticket, and er, have you met the wife?" The Master tightened his grip on her waist, holding her closer, although Rose knew it was a warning for her to behave.
Rose smiled sweetly at him. "It's nice to meet you."
The President barely even glanced at her. "Mister Saxon, I'm not sure what your game is but there are provisions at the United Nations to have you removed from office unless you are very, very careful. Is that understood? Are you taking this seriously?" The Master continued to act childishly, taking through muffled lips. "To business. We've accessed your files on the Toclafane. First Contact cannot take place on any sovereign soil. To that purpose, the aircraft carrier Valiant is en route. The rendezvous will take place there at eight am." The Master continued to mimic him. "You're trying my patience, sir."
The Master 'unzipped' his lips. "So America is completely in charge?"
"Since Britain elected an ass, yes. I'll see you onboard the Valiant."
"It still will be televised, though, won't it? Because I promised, and the whole world is watching."
"Since it's too late to pull out, the world be watching. Me." The President walked away to his motorcade.
The Master leaned into Rose, and she had to do everything she could not to pull away from him. "The last President of America." He grinned. "We have a private plan ready and waiting. We should reach the Valiant within the hour. My darling."
Before Rose was led away by the security guard to the plane, she got a strange, overwhelming feeling that she was being watched. But it wasn't an unnerving presence. She held her hand behind her back, fingers outstretched. She tucked her thumb in, and covered it with the rest of her fingers. She hoped her intuition was right as she was led away to the car.
"What was that?" Jack deliberated, having noticed Rose's strange signal.
"It's a sign that victims use if they're trapped in an abusive relationship." Martha told them gently. "Rose is letting you know that she's trapped and can't get out."
Once Rose had been led away to the car, the Master turned as a police van arrived, and Clive, Francine and Tish Jones were hauled out, their hands bound together. "Ha ha ha! Hi, guys!"
"Oh my God." Martha gasped, taking a step forward.
"Don't move." The Doctor warned her, holding out a hand to stop her.
"But the -"
"Don't."
Martha watched helplessly as her family were bundled into another car and driven away. The Master turned around when the family were whisked away, and looked ominously in their direction. Martha glared at him, her fists clenching, an unnatural rage building up inside of her.
"I'm going to kill him." Martha growled.
"What say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Jack suggested, a similar expression on his face.
"Now that sounds like Torchwood." The Doctor hissed at him.
"Still a good plan." Jack countered.
"He's a Time Lord," the Doctor reminded them. "Which makes him my responsibility. I'm not here to kill him. I'm here to save him. Does that thing work as a teleport?"
"Since you revamped it, yeah." Jack said, pressing some buttons on his vortex manipulator. "Coordinates set."
The three had their hands held on the vortex manipulator, and they disappeared in a flash of blinding blue light.