It only took the Doctor a few seconds to get over the shock of the Master disappearing with his TARDIS. Whirling around, he lunged for Jack, who yelped as he grabbed his wrist and forced it within reach. As his three companions worked to keep the Futurekind from capturing them, the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver on the vortex manipulator, barking, "Hold still. Don't move!"
"It's broken!" Jack shouted back, furious. "It hasn't worked for years!"
"That's because you didn't have me," the Doctor retorted. He shoved his sonic screwdriver back into his pocket, reaching behind him. "Martha!" he ordered, taking Jay's hand gently and planting it atop the manipulator with his own. "You, too!"
The moment Martha's hand touched the vortex manipulator, the Doctor stabbed a button with his finger and they were spinning through time and space. Between one moment and the next, they were deposited on the ground in an alleyway, all four sent sprawling. The Doctor, Martha, and Jack all grimaced, Martha gagging as she realized she suddenly felt ill.
"The moral is," Jack gasped in triumph, "if you're gonna get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his vortex - Jay?!" He crawled on his hands and knees to the nearby woman, who was shuddering, tears rolling down her face as she clawed at her chest until she drew blood through the T-shirt she wore. "Doctor-"
Martha and the Doctor both hurried over. Martha settled her body beside Jay's, holding her friend's hand after prying it from her chest. She ignored the blood flecking her fingers. Jay's eyes rolled blindly when the Doctor touched her cheek lightly and murmured in a soothing voice, "Hold on, Jay. Should be over soon."
"What's going on?" Jack demanded. "What's wrong with her?"
"It's a long story," Martha said shakily, watching as the Doctor sat back, "but the short version is that she has some kind of poison. It does this every now and then. She thought it was circulatory, and with the amount of running we did - it must have pumped it through her system quickly this time."
It was only a few more seconds before Jay gasped, gulping down air. A ragged sound of terror left her mouth, followed by a hoarse sob. Martha murmured soothingly as she slowly came back to herself. Eventually, she was simply lying there, exhausted. She put a hand over her face, drawing it down slowly as she composed herself, wanting - no, needing a nap. A long one.
"Alright there, Jaybird?" Jack teased gently as Martha checked Jay's pulse, unhappy that she couldn't do much else.
"No," she grumbled as she sat up slowly. She wavered, meeting his gaze weakly. "When and where are we?"
"Earth," the Doctor said, peering at a series of posters that had been plastered on the walls surrounding them. Vote Saxon, they all read. "Twenty-first century - your time, Martha. And he's here," he added before Jack could voice his worry. "Trust me."
"Who is he?" Martha demanded, folding her arms. "That voice at the end...that wasn't the professor. It was different."
"If the Master's a Time Lord," Jack said slowly, "he must have regenerated." Martha and Jay eyed him in confusion, Jay blinking sleepily. "It means he changed his face, voice, body, everything. Same mind, new man."
Bu-bu-bu-bump.
Jay's head snapped around, fear spiking through her at the sight of the homeless man tapping away on a mug as Martha asked, "Then how are we gonna find him?" The Doctor gave off an answer that Jay didn't hear, and Martha suddenly paused. "If he could be anyone...we missed the election! It can't be-"
Bu-bu-bu-bump.
She barely took notice of Jack helping her to her feet and throwing her arm over his shoulder, his arm around her waist to half-carry her when the three decided to emerge from the alley and figure out what was going on. She stared at the homeless man over her shoulder before shaking her head and focusing entirely in time to see a newsman appear on a TV in a window display they were staring at. "Mr. Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters," the newscaster reported cheerfully.
The Doctor stared silently at the face that appeared on the screen. A man, appearing not much older than any of them, was making his way down a flight of stairs with a woman tucked against his side, an entourage of people following him.
"I said I knew that voice," Martha said, dazed. Her dark eyes were full of horror. "When he spoke inside the TARDIS...I've heard that voice hundreds of times. I've seen him. We all have. That was the voice of Harold Saxon."
"That's him," the Doctor agreed grimly. "He's Prime Minister. The Master is the Prime Minister of Great Britain" The Master - Harold Saxon - suddenly leaned in and kissed the woman beside him, beaming at her. The Doctor wrinkled his nose a little. "The Master and his wife."
On the screen, the Master was shown stepping up to a series of microphones, leaving his wife a few steps behind. He smiled broadly at the cameras, looking proud as he spoke. "This country has been sick. This country needs healing...medicine. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that, what this country really needs right now…" That smile became a smirk as he directed his gaze straight into a camera. "...is a doctor."
The Doctor clenched his jaw furiously, not at all pleased with the apparent challenge. He didn't even know where to begin at this point. The Master had his TARDIS, which meant they had no place of safety. Jay looked as if she was going to pass out at any moment, the Master probably knew they were there all ready - scratch that, he had to know. He'd feel it as the Doctor felt him.
After a long tense discussion that Jay wasn't entirely conscious for, it was agreed that they'd go to Martha's flat. They took the shortest way possible to the flat, and Jay was nearly being carried by Jack by the time they got to it. "Home," Martha mused as she let them in. The Doctor immediately bustled in, searching for a computer. Martha rolled her eyes and helped Jack gently put Jay on her couch. The tired woman immediately closed her eyes.
Jack, ensuring she was okay for the time being, lifted his phone to his ear and turned away, listening to a dial tone. A moment later, he shook his head and put it down, scowling as the Doctor said sharply, "Jack, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here!"
"Some friends of mine, but there's no answer," Jack said grouchily, watching as Martha handed the Doctor a laptop and putting her phone in his pocket. Feeling grumpy towards the Time Lord, Jack reached out and plucked the computer right out of his hands. "I can show you the Saxon websites. He's been around for ages." He dropped into the chair at Martha's desk, prying the machine open.
"That's so weird though," Martha sighed, hunching her shoulders to show her discomfort. "It's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you," she added to the Doctor, scarcely able to believe that shed experienced so many good and bad things within a mere four days.
"We went flying all around the universe," the Doctor murmured somewhat bitterly, "while he was here the whole time. Another Time Lord. And I didn't even notice."
"Are you gonna tell us who he is?" Martha was prying for information now, Jay thought, listening as best as she could while resting at the same time. "What about all of it? I mean, who'd call himself the Master?"
The Doctor's voice was hard when he said, "That's all you need to know. Jack, show me Harold Saxon, would you?"
Silence fell as Jack tapped away on the laptop after taking a seat at the desk. Martha and the Doctor peered over his shoulder as he worked, though the Doctor stopped him from playing a commercial for a moment to retreat and check on Jay. She'd fallen asleep on the couch, her breathing deep and even, the newly formed shadows beneath her eyes dark and bruised in appearance. Frowning, the Doctor returned to the computer. "Go ahead."
They watched the commercial quietly, listening to people compliment Harold Saxon in every possible way. From being handsome, to what the people needed, and several people stated confidently that they'd be voting for Saxon in the elections. Each statement made the Doctor clench his jaw, not at all happy. This wasn't going to be good. None of it.
"Former Minister of Defense," Jack reported, leaning back in his chair. "First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve." He smirked at the Doctor. "Nice work, by the way."
The Doctor rubbed his hands over his face, frustrated. "Oh, thanks," he said sarcastically.
"He goes back years - he's famous," Martha said, running a hand through her hair as she studied the pased video. It showed an image of Saxon's smiling face. "Everyone knows his story. Look." She leaned in over Jack's shoulder and typed into the search bar a few things, pulling one after the other up on separate tabs. "Cambridge University, Rugby blue, won the Athletics thing, wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He might be a Time Lord, but he's got a whole life as a human. In any case, we can hang out here for a while, let Jay get some sleep."
The Doctor took over the computer when Jack climbed to his feet, eager to find something good to eat. Martha pointed him to her fridge before going to sit herself beside Jay's head, checking her pulse. Jack began shuffling around in it, deciding that tea would be the first best thing to make. As he prepared it, he called, "He's got a TARDIS, doesn't he? Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades." The Doctor rejected the idea almost immediately. "Why not? Worked for me."
"When he was stealing the TARDIS, the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates," the Doctor said, touching the sonic screwdriver stored inside his suit jacket. "I locked them permanently. He can only travel between the year one-hundred-trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed, which is right here, right now."
"Any leeway?"
"Eighteen months, tops. The most he could have been here is eighteen months, so how has he managed all of this?" The Doctor waved at the screen in frustration. "The Master was always sort of hypnotic, but this...on such a massive scale…"
"I was gonna vote for him," Martha told the Doctor. He looked surprised. "Well, it was before I even met you, and I liked him." Jack shouted from the kitchen that he'd felt the same, and the Doctor furrowed his brow in thought.
"Why do you say that?" he asked Martha patiently. "What was his policy? What did he stand for?" Martha wasn't at fault, and he knew it, even if it was somewhat frustrating that she and even Jack had fallen for Saxon's - no, the Master's - charms.
"I dunno," Martha said, lost in thought. "He always sounded...good. Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about...well, I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice." Her fingers started tapping a strange rhythm, but the second they did, Jay was shooting upright, her eyes wild with shock.
"Jay?" the Doctor said, distracted from the tapping. Martha had nearly fallen off the couch in her surprise. Jack peeked his head out to check on everything before going back to preparing tea.
But Jay was staring at Martha, the bu-bu-bu-bump racing through her mind as she stared at the other woman. "Stop," she breathed. "That tapping you're doing. Why are you doing it? Stop. It's...it's not good. I heard it in his mind," she added to the Doctor when he narrowed his eyes in thought. "The prof - I mean, the Master's. I could hear it. Just this constant, constant thudding, and-"
She was interrupted when the website still up on the laptop screen launched to life on it's own. The Doctor immediately forgot about what Jay was saying - for the time being, as he locked the information away for later to think about - and turned back to the computer screen. Martha climbed to her feet, joining him and helping Jay over when the Doctor said, "Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom." Jack even ditched his tea-making to come and watch.
The video that had appeared showed the Master standing before a beautifully ornate fireplace, his face pleasant and a smile on his mouth. He stared directly into the camera, fearless. "Britain, Britain, Britain," he crooned. "What extraordinary times we've had. Just a few years ago, this world was so small...and then they came, out of the unknown, falling from the skies." Images raced over the screen. Big Ben, destroyed by a spaceship that smashed into it, ghosts of creatures the Doctor knew to be Cybermen, a massive Christmas star in the sky destroying the city of London.
"You've seen it happen. Big Ben destroyed, a spaceship over London, all those ghosts and metal men, the Christmas star that came to kill...time and time again, the government told you nothing. Well, not me. Not Harold Saxon. Because my purpose here today is to tell you this,: citizens of Great Britain, I have been contacted. A message, for humanity, from beyond the stars." The Master nodded to someone who wasn't sown on the screen and the video changed from him to an odd metal sphere that must have been larger than it looked.
"People of the Earth," the sphere said in a soft, yet excited feminine voice. "We come in peace. We bring great gifts of technology and wisdom and protection. All we ask in return is your friendship."
"Oh, how sweet," the Master crooned, reappearing on the screen. "And this species has identified itself. They're called the Toclafane. And tomorrow morning, they will appear. Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman, and child. Every teacher, and chemist, and lorry driver, and farmer...and every, oh, I don't know…" A surprisingly malicious grin appeared, if only for a moment. "Medical student?"
"OUT!" the Doctor immediately ordered, hearts lurching into a racing panic. He didn't know what was going to happen, but something was. He grabbed the laptop, slamming it shut and ushered everyone out. Jay stumbled, but Jack grabbed her shoulders, helping her along. They'd just barely ran out the door when there was a large blast and the window to Martha's flat exploded, sprinkling them with broken glass. Jay and Martha winced, both of them cut. The Doctor carefully used one hand to remove any shards from his hair. "All right?" he asked, checking over all of them.
"Fine," Jack gasped. His blue eyes were wide with alarm, an arm around Jay's waist. "You good, Jaybird?"
"No," Jay gasped, her breath hitched in agony. An aftershock raced through her, locking her muscles She felt grateful when it passed a few seconds later, not remaining for much longer and nowhere near as bad as it had been earlier. "Okay," she wheezed afterwards, nearly slurring her words. "Okay, now I am."
"Martha?" the Doctor checked, looking to her. A frown appeared on his face when he found her on her phone. "What are you doing?"
"He knows about me," Martha breathed, nearly hysterical. "What about my family?"
"Don't tell them anything!" the Doctor snapped, horrified. "Martha!"
Martha shouted at him angrily, "I'll do what I like!" When someone on the other end picked up, she gasped, "Mum? Oh, my God, you're there!" She paused. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Mum, has there been anyone asking about me?" She scowled. "I can't. Not now. Don't be so daft, since when? You said you'd never…" She suddenly became suspicious. "You said you'd never get back with him in a million years."
"Martha?" Jay said gently. "What's wrong?"
Martha shook her head, holding up a finger. One moment, she told them with that gesture. "Dad? What are you doing there?" Her gaze darkened a moment later. "Dad? Just say yes or no now, okay? Is there someone else there?"
There was a pause, and then Martha nearly dropped her phone, tears gathering in her eyes. "Dad! Dad? What's going on? Dad!" She hung up, darting for a car parked alongside the street outside her flat. "I gotta help them!" she shrieked, nearly sobbing as she launched herself forward.
The Doctor lunged after the young woman, grabbing her wrist to stop her. "That's what they want!" he insisted, his dark eyes ablaze with a mixture of anger and worry for his friend. "It's a trap."
"I don't care," she replied, searching his gaze. Her voice cracked. "They're my family."
The Doctor pressed his lips together and let her go. He scrambled into the passenger seat, shouting, "Jack, Jay!" They rushed into the back of the car as Martha climbed in herself, strapped her seat belt on, and slammed her foot over the gas pedal after starting the car.
The ride was terrifying. Martha drove like a maniac, as fast as she could without killing them. The Doctor held on tightly with white knuckles to the handle in the door, his eyes wide with alarm. Jack and Jay were both gripping the seats in front of them. "Corner!" Jack suddenly shouted and Martha hit the brakes as she took the corner nearly on two wheels.
As she drove, Martha desperately tried for Tish's number, putting the phone on speaker and shoving it at the Doctor so she could drive. "C'mon, Tish," she said, her face pale. "Pick up-"
"Martha," Tish greeted a moment later, and all of them perked up, hopeful. "I can't talk right now. We just made first contact! Did you see - hey! What are you doing?!" Her voice became muffled. "Get off. Get off of me!"
"Tish!" Martha groaned when the phone call was ended by someone on the other line. She threw a nasty look at the Doctor, who was silent, looking horrified. "It's your fault!" she spat cruelly at the Time Lord. "It's all your fault!"
"Martha…" Jay murmured, voice lost among the sound of honking cars and squealing tires.
The car rounded a final corner and Martha hit the breaks. They all slammed forward and stared in shocked surprise at the sight before them. Jay supposed it was likely the home of one of Martha's parents, but there were two people - a man and a woman, who were being forced into the back of a massive black vehicle. Jay recognized the woman immediately. Francine looked at the car in horror and then screamed, "Martha, get out of here! Get out!"
The policemen and women surrounding the two lifted their guns, aiming at the car. "Martha," the Doctor said, eyes widening. "Reverse. Reverse!" His voice lifted to a cry when they cocked their guns. Martha rushed to do just as he'd said, and slammed her foot back on the gas when she'd completed the turn.
"Get your heads down!" Jack shouted, ducking his own when they opened fire. Jay slammed her head downwards, covering it with her hands when the rear window was shattered by bullets. A cry of fear escaped her, even as her hands stung from shattered glass. When they'd been driving for a short while, Jack said firmly, aware that Martha was staring angrily ahead, tears rolling down her cheeks, "Now, Martha, listen to me. Do as I say. We've gotta ditch this car. Pull over, now."
Despite her anger, Martha recognized that she needed to do as she was told. After pulling over on a city street, she dialed her brother's number. Jay heard her exclaim his name in relief, sobbing it aloud as she let Jack help her out of the car. She noted that his hands were as cut up as his. An aftershock, less enough to not cause too many problems, ran through her, and she sighed softly in relief when it was gone.
"Alright?" the Doctor asked she and Jack, checking in even as he tucked the laptop beneath his arm. He called Martha's name, telling her they needed to go, but she gave him a gesture that normally would have offended him in a petty way.
"Yeah," Jack replied. Jay nodded silently, running a hand through her short hair and letting out a gust of air.
This wasn't good at all, she thought, and then jumped when Martha suddenly snarled in a voice she'd never heard come from the other woman, "Let them go, Saxon." The Doctor snapped around like he'd been struck, immediately striding over. "Do you hear me?! Let them go!"
The Doctor plucked the phone from her hand, immediately serious with a darkened expression. "I'm here." A pause. "Master." He paused again as the Master spoke, and then smiled bitterly. "You chose it. Psychiatrist's field day. So...Prime Minister. Who are those creatures? 'Cause there's no such thing as the Toclafane. It's just a made-up name, like the Bogeyman."
Jay joined Martha, taking her hand and squeezing it. Both tensed when the Doctor's expression suddenly darkened, jumping when Jack put his hands on their shoulders. "Gone," the Doctor said shortly. "it burnt. Dead. And the Daleks...more or less. What happened to you?" It didn't take a brilliant genius, Jay supposed, to know what he was talking about. "I know. I was the only one who could end it." Misery crossed the Doctor's features. "I tried. I did, I tried everything."
The conversation continued like this for a short while longer, the trio listening to the Doctor deal with the Master's taunting.
Bu-bu-bu-bump.
Jay snapped around, ripping free of Jack and Martha to stare at a man that was leaning against a nearby building just before he began tapping his hands against his legs in rhythm to the beat. She looked terrified at the sound. The Doctor looked, too, and his gaze darkened furiously. "What have you done?" he snapped into the phone. "Tell me how you've done this. What are those creatures? Tell me!" He quickly grew angrier. "Stop it! Answer me!"
Whatever the Master said drained the blood from his face. He whirled around and Jack followed his gaze and sputtered at the sight of a TV in a display window, much like the one they'd watched from earlier in the day. "They are known to be armed and extremely dangerous," the newscaster said grimly, referring to the image of the four of them on the screen.
"Oh, no," Jay breathed, biting her lip.
"He can see us," the Doctor said, spinning in a slow circle until he found the camera. He kept the phone to his ear as he shut it off with his sonic screwdriver. "He's got control of everything."
"What do we do then?" Martha said shakily. "We've nowhere to go!"
The Doctor hung up the phone. He tossed it back to Martha and said grimly, "We run."
Jay didn't know why she'd thought otherwise and took off after him when he bolted.
Jay was silent, watching those with her uselessly while they waited on Martha to come back from grabbing food for them all. She'd been napping on and off, waiting for the last of her aftershocks to fade, and was growing tired of simply waiting around. Sitting on the hard cement floor of a warehouse beside her, Jack played around with the vortex manipulator and across from them, the Doctor tapped away at Martha's laptop.
When footsteps filled their ears, they all tensed, but it only turned out to be Martha returning. She held a grocery bag of takeout in her hand and Jack glanced up with a concerned look. "I don't think anyone saw me," she reassured, setting the bag down and starting to hand out food. "Anything new?"
Jack nodded curtly, "I've got this turned into the government wavelength so we can follow what Saxon's doing," he began, but Martha cut him off angrily.
"I meant about my family."
"It still says," the Doctor said quietly, not looking away from the screen, "the Jones family was taken in for questioning. Tell you what though, no mention of Leo."
Martha looked proud as well as miserable. "He's not as daft as he looks. I'm talking about my brother on the run," she said suddenly, laughing bitterly. "How did this happen?" She sat beside Jay and Jack. The Doctor came and joined them a moment later, Jay watched him closely, taking in the look on his face. He was exhausted in a way that didn't show on his face often.
"Doctor, who is he?" she asked gently. "The Master, I mean. How did a Time Lord become a man who acts as he does? Everything you've told us of Gallifrey...it sounded beautiful. Perfect."
"It was beautiful, perfect to look at. They called it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. On the Continent of Wild Endeavor, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords, the oldest and most might race in the universe." The Doctor met her gaze and then looked away, sighing heavily. "The Time Lords looked down on the galaxies below, sworn never to interfere - only to watch. Children of Gallifrey were taken from their families at the age of eight to enter the Academy, and some say that's when it all began. He was a friend, once. The Master. When he was a child...that's when he saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. It's a gap of reality through which you could see the whole of the vortex - a little like Rose did," he added to Jack. "You stand there at eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space. Just a child. Some would be inspired. Some would run way." His lips twitched at that. "And some would go mad. I, of course, ran away and never stopped."
Martha took a bite of food, nodding to herself, and then looked over when Jack's vortex manipulator beeped. Jay jumped, worried, but Jack beamed. "Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognize it. Can I patch it through to the laptop?"
"Go ahead," the Doctor said, grabbing another piece of food to munch on.
The Jack grabbed the laptop and brought it over. Settling down so the others could look over his shoulder, Jack smiled sheepishly. "Since we're telling stories, there's...uh, well, there's something I haven't told you." He'd barely finished speaking before a logo Jay or Martha didn't recognize appeared on the screen.
The Doctor, however, turned ice cold. "You work for...everything Torchwood did, and you're a part of it?" he snapped, furiously glowering at Jack.
Jack was immediately defensive. "I swear to you, it's different. Changed. Only half a dozen of us. The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it and changed and when I did that, I did it for you. In your honor. We don't go around slaughtering aliens who don't deserve it."
The Doctor only glared and then watched as Jack opened the file.
A woman appeared on the screen, looking serious. "This is Vivien Rook. if I haven't returned to my desk by ten o'clock in the evening, this file will be e-mailed to Torchwood. Which means, if you're watching this, I'm…" Vivien trailed off, looking a little bothered by the idea. "Anyway, the Saxon files are attached. But take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it all started. When Harry Saxon became the one in charge of launching the Archangel Network."
"Martha, Jack," Jay asked, leaning forward as an image of the Earth with satellites surrounding it appeared. "What is that? The Archangel Network?"
"I've got Archangel," Martha said, shrugging. She pulled her phone out, offering it when the Doctor held his hand out. "Everyone's got it."
"It's the mobile phone network," Jack agreed, and then huffed when Jay took the laptop from him, studying the screen closely.
"It's gone worldwide," she said, studying the image closely. "There are fifteen satellites in orbit. Look, even the other networks...they're all carried by Archangel." She wasn't entirely sure how these networks worked, but they seemed close enough to things she'd seen in her time. The Doctor glanced at her, and then took out his sonic screwdriver, using it to scan the phone.
"It's in the phones…" the Doctor murmured, and then suddenly brightened. "Oh, I said he was a hypnotist! Wait, wait, wait, hold on." He slammed his palm against the phone. Bu-bu-bu-bump began to fill the air in a beeping sound, and Jay hunched her shoulders, hating it now. "There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere. Ticking away in the subconscious."
"Mind control?" Martha guessed, looking worried that she'd be under the Master's control.
"No, no, no," the Doctor reassured, smiling at her. "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." He became annoyed. "That's how he hid himself from me. I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth - should have known way back, but the signal cancelled him out."
"Is there any way to stop it?" Jay asked quietly.
The Doctor shook his head, but fired off immediately after, "Not from down here, but now we know how he's doing it."
"And we can fight back," Martha stated, looking relieved with the idea.
Jack, Martha, and Jay all watched as the Doctor went to work taking apart the technological devices at hand. "Jack," he said after he'd set everything up, "do you still have a TARDIS key?"
"Of course." Jack dug around in his pockets for a few moments before producing it. Jay peered curiously at the key. It was the same exact key that resided on a chain around her neck, but from a completely different era of the Doctor's life. The Doctor took Martha's, and then hers, and Jay peered curiously at what he was doing as he connected them to the circuitry he'd messed with. He even produced his own key to do the same with.
"Okay," he said, tying string to Jack's and Martha's after handing Jay's back over. Jay studied her key curiously to see if anything was new as he put string on his own as well. "Four TARDIS keys, four pieces of the TARDIS with low-level perception properties because the TARDIS is designed to blend in. Well...sort of, but…" The Doctor waved it off without much concern. "Now! The Archangel Network's go a second low-level signal. Weld the key to the network and...Martha!" She jolted as he climbed to his feet, moving a short distance away. "Look at me! You can see me, yes?"
"Yes," Martha confirmed suspiciously, curious.
"What about now?" The Doctor grinned and slid the string over his neck. The second it resided there, Martha's eyes slid to the side and she furrowed her brow in confusion. Jack chuckled beside her, amused. "No," the Doctor confirmed, "over here, I'm right here. Look at me."
Jay giggled at her own struggles as Martha said, curious, "It's like...I know you're there, but I don't want to know."
"And back again!" the Doctor said happily as he removed the key. "Just shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible...just unnoticed. Oh, I know what it's like!" he suddenly added, spinning around on his heel. "It's like when you fancy someone and they don't even know you exist! Now c'mon!"
Jay immediately glanced over at Martha, who she found was looking at Jack. Jack gave Martha a sympathetic look that made Jay sigh a little. "You, too, huh?" Jack said, somewhat amused. Martha flushed and hurried after the Doctor. "Come on, Jaybird," Jack said cheerfully, nudging Jay forward. "Let's go."
"Don't run," the Doctor told them when they'd caught up, his voice low. He'd stopped at the entrance of an alley, his eyes studying the somewhat busy street before them. "Don't shout. Just keep your voice down. Draw attention to yourself and the spell is broken. Just keep to the shadows."
"Sounds easy enough," Jay murmured to herself, nodding slowly. She fingered the key after putting it around her neck. She didn't feel any different, but she knew it was working when Martha's gaze skimmed right past her.
"Ready?" Jack said, and they all nodded. "Let's go."
It took a little bit of time to track down the Master, although the Doctor was fairly quick in the general scheme of things. Confusion was clear in everyone as they found themselves on the tarmac of a landing strip, eyeing security men as they simply walked right past them.
The keys were quite useful with those perception filters on them, Jay thought, touching it again.
She heard the sounds before she heard his voice. Bu-bu-bu-bump filled her head, echoing over and over as they rounded a vehicle and then stepped into the shadows as a man Jay didn't recognize spoke. He stood before the Master without fear or concern, only anger as he said sharply in a clear American accent, "Mr. Saxon, the British Army will stand down. From now on, UNIT has control of this operation." Jay eyed him for a few moments, studying him. He was tall and middle-aged, with gray speckling a black beard. He was accompanied by men who were clearly there to protect him.
Jay snorted softly to herself, earning a warning look from the Doctor. Didn't matter what kind of protection that man brought; she had no doubt that the Master would win.
""You make it sound like an invasion, President Winters," the Master retorted, looking amused with his own words. He even grinned at himself.
"First contact policy was decided by the Security Council in nineteen-sixty-eight," said the current president of the United States, fierce in his tone. "And you've just gone and ignored it!"
"Well, you know what it's like." The Master looked the least bit concerned, waving him off with a pout. "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 bust ticket...oh! Have you met the wife? Lucy Saxon."
Jay eyed the blonde woman that smiled warmly at Winters, tucking her arm into the Master's after stepping forward. She held a look of love on her face when she looked at the Master, although he didn't seem to feel the same towards her. Jay could almost feel the iciness that prevented such love. It made her shiver. How could someone love someone else when that someone else clearly would never love anyone?
"Mr. Saxon," Winters exploded. "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?"
Leaning into Martha as they watched the Master mime zipping up his lips, Jay breathed into her friend's ear, "He's absolutely insane." Martha nodded her agreement, her eyes flickering nervously as Winters continued about a matter of things regarding the Toclafane and priorities, policies and a rendezvous that would be planned with the Toclafane themselves.
"So let me get this straight," the Master said with a thoughtful expression, not at all concerned. "America is completely in charge?"
"Since Britain elected an ass, yes," Winters replied angrily, not at all impressed with the man before him. "I'll see you on board the Valiant." He turned to leave, but the Master stopped him with a call of, "Oh, and President!" Winters glared over his shoulder at the Master. "It will still be televised though, won't it? Because...you know, I promised, and the whole wide world will be watching."
"Since it's too late to pull out," he spat back at the Master, "the world will be watching. Me." And then he was storming for a car, his servicemen following suit.
The Master watched him leave and then turned to Lucy Saxon, his gaze sparkling as he spoke to her about something the four time-travelers couldn't hear. "I can't hear him," Jack complained quietly.
"Neither can we, so shush," the Doctor said softly with a sharp tone. Alarm filled his gaze when a van owned by the police suddenly rolled onto the tarmac from nearby, catching the Master's attention. The Master lit up, bouncing on the balls of his feet as they all watched Martha's mother, father, and sister be dragged out of it, their faces filled with terror.
"Oh, my God," Martha whispered, body tensing as she prepared to launch herself towards them. Jay grabbed her wrist gently, whispering reassuringly to her. The Doctor said nothing as Martha hissed, "I'm gonna kill him!"
"Say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Jack said darkly as they watched the Jones family be transferred into another vehicle, their faces all filled with fear and misery. Martha was shaking with rage. The Doctor commented that Jack's question sounded like Torchwood, and Jack said fiercely as he began to fuss with his vortex manipulator, "Still a good plan."
"He's a Time Lord," the Doctor said firmly, "which makes him my responsibility. I'm not here to kill him, I'm here to save him." There was a look on his face that told them he was worried the saving bit would be near impossible. Martha looked at him in disappointed disapproval, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her look bordered on disgust, even.
Jack listed off the location of the Valiant, an aircraft carrier, as it turned out, and Martha immediately wanted to know how to get on board. Jay remained silent throughout the entire conversation until the Doctor asked without looking at Jack, "Does that thing work as a teleport?"
"I really don't think we should go there," Jay said, shifting back and forth on the balls of her feet as she bit her lip, looking between them. "Something doesn't feel right."
"Come on," Martha urged, "we have to."
Jay shook her head, looking suddenly very concerned with everything. "Something's wrong," she said insistently, voice hot with anger that Martha wasn't paying attention to what she was saying. She turned to the Doctor in desperation. "I can feel it," she said as he met her gaze, frowning. "If we go there, something really bad will happen."
"When has that ever stopped us before?" he said pointedly, voice gentle despite his words.
"...it hasn't," she admitted, running a hand through her hair as she spoke, "but isn't there something we can do to make sure?" Jack shook his head and she sighed heavily before placing her hand on the vortex manipulator when Jack offered it. "If we're killed, I'm haunting you all," she grumbled, glaring at nothing in particular. "You especially, Jack."
"Why are you haunting me especially? I'll make sure you live, Jaybird," he said, grinning at her in response.
As soon as everyone was ready, the vortex manipulator sent them flying through space and time. Jay felt ill the second their feet landed in the Valiant. She retched quietly, her stomach churning, and Jack rubbed her back comfortingly as Martha groaned softly. "That thing is rough."
"I've had worse nights," Jack said cheerfully as the Doctor peered around, his dark eyes sharp and alert. "Welcome to the Valiant."
Martha waited until her head wasn't spinning before making her way over to a nearby window. She blinked, startled, and looked back as the Doctor came to join her. "Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea? I just see...white."
"It's a ship for the twenty-first century," the Doctor said with a chuckle. He looked out the window alongside her just as the Valiant crested the top of the clouds, leaving a blinding amount of sunlight peeking over the edge. Martha cursed under her breath and threw a hand up to protect her eyes. "Protecting the skies of planet Earth."
"Enough sightseeing," Jay huffed grouchily, rubbing her stomach as she threw Jack a grateful look, but stepped away from him. "I want to get all of this done and over with so that we can save the world and get off this ship." Something wasn't wright. She knew it. She could feel it, deep in her bones. She had the feeling that the Master likely wanted them there for some reason, and it was the only reason they were actually on the ship itself.
The Doctor nodded his agreement and ushered Martha away from the window. "Let's figure out what's going on here," he said firmly. "The Jones family will likely be somewhere on board and the Master, too. Don't go after your family if we find them," he warned Martha sharply, and she scowled at him in annoyance. "They'll be waiting for it."
"I know that," she said angrily. "I'm not stupid."
Jay rolled her eyes.
This was going to be a very long day.
They quickly made their way through the ship, finding their way into maintenance areas that were left unattended. They didn't see many people as they did so, if any at all. It was as they were passing a window displaying a beautiful view to those in the depths of the ship that Jay suddenly stopped, whipping around. Her breath hitched. "Jay?" the Doctor questioned when he nearly ran right into her.
"Sh," she said, slapping a hand over his mouth. He sputtered in outrage. Her eyes scanned the space around them. "Don't you hear it?"
"Hear what?" Martha snapped, impatient. Her family was on board, and she considered that more of a priority than whatever Jay was freaking out about. She shifted back and forth on the balls of her feet, glaring a little. "Come on, my family's on board-"
"Sh!" Jay snapped right back at her, listening. She suddenly frowned and then dropped her hand from the Doctor's face. He frowned at her, rubbing his own hand over his chin - and then hissed her name when she shot off like a bullet, darting around a corner.
"Jayden!" he called sharply, taking off after her. Jack followed and Martha made a muffled frustrated scream before giving chase. They followed the blonde through the twisting maintenance areas and it wasn't long before the Doctor felt it. Felt her, knew exactly where they were heading. His annoyance became a laugh of delight as he sped up. "Brilliant!"
"Brilliant?" Martha demanded. "What's brilliant?"
"Found her!" Jay crowed as they stepped into a storage space that held a beautiful and familiar police box. The TARDIS was just as they remembered it, although the reddish light gleaming from the window panes made them all wary. Martha lost her agitation and laughed in delight. Jay lost her smile, worried by the strange song the TARDIS was singing now that they were there. It had been strained before, but now...
Grinning, Jack studied the TARDIS as the Doctor stepped around Jay to unlock the doors. Impatience filled each of them until the lock clicked open and then the Doctor pushed the doors open. His expression dropped as he stepped in, filling with anger. Jay followed him in, her eyes filling with horror.
"What the hell's he done?" Jack's voice was muffled by the sobbing. The screaming. The pleaful song that begged for their help. Jay stumbled forward towards the console, but the Doctor stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, warning her not to touch it.
"What's he done?" Martha said, echoing Jack's question when the Doctor didn't give them an answer. "Sounds like it's sick…" She trailed off, staring at a section of the console that had been stripped clean of parts. It was barred off. None of them would dare to touch anything after the Doctor's warning anyways.
"He's cannibalized her," he breathed. The Doctor looked heartbroken and furious. "It's a paradox machine," he added, gesturing to the console and the screen that was displaying symbols the other three couldn't read. It was flickering green, glitching every now and then. "As soon as this hits red," he said, pointing carefully to a meter on the screen, "it activates. At this speed, it'll trigger at two minutes past eight."
"First contact is at eight," Jack told them, eyeing Jay as she began to meander around the TARDIS, her face unreadable. There was a set to her shoulders that hadn't been there before that moment, not throughout the time he'd known the young woman, and when she glanced at him, noticing that she was being watched, there was a fury unlike any other Jack had seen in her gaze. He hastily yanked his gaze away from Jay and focused back on the Doctor. "What's the paradox machine going to do, Doctor?"
"More importantly," Jay said quietly, finally coming to a stop. "Can you stop it?" She got the feeling that what it would do the time machine she'd grown so fond of since joining the Doctor and Martha was anything but good.
The Doctor shook his head, much to all of their disappointment. "Not until I know what it's doing. If I touch the wrong thing, it'll blow up the solar system."
"Great," Martha said irritably, rolling her eyes. "So we've got to rely on getting the Master to cooperate. How do we stop him from doing whatever this is going to do?" She gestured to the mess the Master had made of their home.
The Doctor surprised his friends with a massive grin, his dark eyes twinkling with mischief. "Oh, did I tell you? Sorry, I've got a plan."
Jay glared at him and gave him a shove that didn't have much effort put into it. "Jerk," she hissed and he flashed her a cheeky wink before sprinting for the doors. They followed him almost immediately, determined to find out what the Doctor's plan was and to stop the Master's plan in its tracks.
The Doctor called his plan over his shoulder as they nearly ran through the many maintenance halls. "If I can get the key around the Master's neck, cancel out his perception, they'll see him for real. It's just hard to go unnoticed with everyone on red alert. If they stop me…"
"We've all got keys," Martha said darkly. "I'll get him no matter what."
Jay threw her friend a worried look. Something told her that when this was all over and done with, if they succeeded, then Martha would be very unhappy with the Doctor. More so than she was now. Maybe not unhappy, she told herself, but upset with him nonetheless, although she'd known there was danger when she'd joined along. Jay thought about that as they began the process of finding the Master again.
She'd accepted that there was danger the second she'd started tagging along with the Doctor. Martha had to have accepted that, too...but Jay wasn't entirely sure that Martha had understood just how much. Jay loved her friend, but Martha hadn't prepared for this outcome, and she should have.
Traveling with a Time Lord had proven to be dangerous for all involved time and time again, even if they weren't directly attached to him like she and Martha were, and Martha had failed to realize that applied to her, too.
They arrived at where the president of the United States was giving his speech to the world with the master somewhat nearby. Almost eight, Jay thought when Jack checked his manipulator and scowled. They'd have started the meet-and-greet between the Toclafane and the rest of the planet by now. They were proven right as they stopped, somewhat breathless, at the entrance to a massive room in which several were gathered.
The second Jay looked to the Toclafane, she knew what they were, and it nearly drove her to her knees as she listened in silence to the screams and cries no one else could hear, tears gathering in her eyes and falling. She was crying far too much, she thought.
"My name is Arthur Coleman Winters," the president was saying proudly, "and I am President-Elect of the United States of America as well as the designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon." He looked calmly at the odd metal spheres that circled him.
That calmness turned to shock when the first of the three Toclafane that circled him spoke. "You're not the Master," it said in a distinctively masculine voice.
"We like the Mr. Master," another supplied, voice higher pitched and feminine.
"We don't like you," the third added darkly in a deeper voice.
Jay felt the blood drain from her face. This wasn't going to end well. She could tell right off the bat. She took Martha's hand and squeezed. Martha returned the gesture of comfort, her face full of worry.
Winters looked rather confused. "I can be Master, if you so wish," he said, looking to a woman off to the side in confusion. She looked just as puzzled as he did. "I will accept mastery over you if that is God's plan."
"Man is stupid," the Toclafane with the deep voice snickered.
"Master is our friend," the first agreed.
"Where's my Master, pretty please?" the second sang.
Jay spared a quick look to the Doctor, and found his face as unhappy as she felt. He knew as well as she did that something bad was about to happen, and the tensed way he held his shoulders told her was ready to spring into action if need be. Their thoughts were proven correct when the Master could seemingly no longer hold himself back and stood from his place beside his wife, holding his hands up with a laugh. "Oh, fine. It's me. Ta-da! Sorry, sorry, I have this effect on people. They just get obsessed. Is it the smile? The aftershave? The capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know. It's crazy, isn't it?" He laughed again when Winters scowled and demanded to know what he was talking about. The Master lost his smile and threw Winters a look that sent chills down Jay's back. "I'm taking control, Uncle Sam. Starting with...you. Kill him."
In a matter of seconds, one of the Toclafane had shot Winters with something bright that turned him to dust. Jay flinched back as chaos erupted. Several dozen people tried to leave the room, only to be stopped as a series of guards removed their weapons, dealing with the problem until they'd all been forced to the floor on their knees.
Martha's nails dug into Jay's hand as the Master turned back to the series of cameras that had been set up. "Now then, peoples of the Earth, please attend carefully."
The Doctor didn't let him get any further than that, expression shifting as he lurched forward. The guards had been waiting for something to happen, it appeared, and Jay briefly wondered how they'd seen past the Doctor's perception filter as they wrestled the furious Time Lord to the ground. He knelt alongside everyone else, a guard on either side of him as the Master beamed at him. "We meet at last, Doctor! Oh, I love saying that!"
"Stop this," the Doctor said quietly. There was no desperation, nor anger, nor even a plea in his voice. The Master seemed to falter a little at the way he spoke, but quickly erased his own look of worry. "Stop it now."
The Master curled a lip at the Doctor and then clicked his tongue. "As if a perception filter gonna work on me. Oh, and look! It's the girlie, the freak, and the monstrosity! Although, I'm not entirely sure which one's which…" Jack made a split second decision and Jay saw his expression barely change before he lunged forward. He was met by a blast from a weapon that Jay had never seen before. He hit the ground, dead, and Jay and Martha exchanged terrified looks. Jay pushed back her own fear and threw herself for him, hitting the ground hard on her knees. The Doctor was saying something as she did so, urging the Master to see things in the right way, but she barely noticed as she felt for a heartbeat.
He'd be alright, she knew. Logically, he'd be fine. But it was still terrifying as hell to see his gaze staring so blankly at the ceiling of the room within the Valiant.
The Master looked smug as he waved at the guards. They threw the Doctor painfully to the floor, hard enough that he hit the ground on his hands with a grunt. He only just barely managed to catch himself before his face hit the hard floor. The Master flounced over to crouch before him, grinning. "It's that sound," the Doctor gasped, "that sound in your head. What if I could help?"
Jay could hear it now. Bu-bu-bu-bump, over and over, enough to drive her towards the brink of sanity. She understood what the Doctor meant and wished she could have told him sooner about just how intently she heard it when the Master was around. She shook the thought out of her head and focused on Martha when she joined the pair on the floor, too anxious to remain alone.
"How to shut him up?" the Master questioned to himself, grinning. "I know! Let's take a trip down Memory Lane. Professor Lazarus. Remember him, Doctor?" He smirked at the furious Time Lord. "And his genetic manipulation device? Did you think that little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all of that technology into one little screwdriver...oh, if I only had the Doctor's biological code."
Jay could feel furious tears rising in her eyes. She hated this man with a passion that she'd granted only to her father. She heard Martha mutter in her ear, but didn't hear what she said as the Master gasped, producing a silver device from his pocket. "Oh, wait! I do! I've got his hand! And if Lazarus made himself young...what if I reverse it? What do you think?" He frowned at the two women, his eyes glimmering with malice. "Another hundred years?"
"Stop," Jay began to demand, but the Master ignored her in favor of aiming his device at the Doctor. The sounds that left the Doctor - the screams as he convulsed in a manner that looked incredibly painful. Jay gave a choked sob, snapping her gaze to Jack when he suddenly gasped, "Teleport," and shoved the vortex manipulator at Martha. "Both of you."
Martha nearly dropped it, tears streaming down her face as another cry rang out from their friend. Jay said nothing as Jack said, "We can't stop him. Get out of here. Now."
Martha looked back when the Doctor suddenly fell silent. Jay's heart broke a little as she stared at the ancient-looking Doctor. Gone was the youthful Time Lord she'd tagged along with; in his place was an incredibly old and pained man, who was heaving for air. Martha didn't hesitate to crawl over to him on her hands and knees, grabbing his hand with a word of sympathy.
As the Master laughed, mocking Martha in the form of gesturing for a series of guards to escort her parents and Tish in, earning her horror, Jay remained where she was. Instead of following Martha, knowing that she should have if she was to accompany her off of the Valiant with the manipulator, Jay took Jack's hand and squeezed it tightly. "I'm not going anywhere. Not if you guys aren't." He said her name warningly, looking ready to force her to, but Jay shook her head, a soft choked sound leaving her face. "I won't leave you. I won't."
She would not escape to safety, no matter how temporary it was, and leave the Doctor and Jack behind.
The Doctor's breathless voice, quivering slightly in a way it never had, filled her ears. "The Toclafane. Who are they? Who are they?"
"Doctor," the Master purred, eyes alight with excitement. "If I told you the truth, your hearts would break." The Toclafane began to sing and demand to know if it was time. He checked his watch and lit up like a Christmas tree. Jay's stomach twisted with terror when he cried, "Time for the show!" He pointed that strange sonic device upwards and then hit the button.
Jay didn't know what was happening outside as the Master offered his hand to his wife and lead her over to a porthole to watch. "Shall we decimate them? That sounds good. Nice word…decimate. Remove one-tenth of the population!" he ordered the small metallic orbs.
Jay helped Jack sit up and he winced, rubbing his chest. "Are you okay?" she whispered, her voice echoing weakly in her own ears. She listened numbly to the messages that filled the air a few seconds after the Master's orders, various places demanding help as the Toclafane went to work. She gripped the Jack's hand and he tugged her against him for a hug, not speaking. She buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing quietly. He put his chin on her head and exchanged a look with the Doctor, who was watching them. Martha had disappeared, he realized, and left the rest of them behind.
The Doctor had a plan, Jack thought as he stared at the Time Lord, offering what comfort he could to the distressed woman. He'd put it into action. Jack couldn't say he knew when it would finally truly begin...but he had a plan.
And all they could do as the Earth fell to pieces beneath them was wait.
Whew! Hit a bit of a wall there, but the start of the thirteenth Doctor bro
ught me back! Loving her so far. She's pretty damn good.
One more chapter with Martha, and then we move on! I love Martha, but I'm excited for what's to come.
Thanks to the loveliest of reviewers (bored 411) as well as those who favorited and followed!