ONE YEAR LATER...
Martha shivered as she waded through the near icy water, her face serious. Her dark hair was drawn out of her face, her brown eyes fierce with a hard look that hadn't been there a year prior. Nearby, a man waited patiently for her to join him, his face scruffy with a beard despite his youth. Not much older or younger than her, Martha thought, offering him a tight smile. "What's your name then?"
"Tom Milligan," he told her with a curt nod in greeting. "No need to ask who you are...the famous Martha Jones. How long since you were last in Britain?"
"Three-hundred-sixty-five days," she answered, grimacing. She remembered the day she'd left with ease, knew that for every second of every day that she'd been gone, people she loved and cared deeply for had been suffering. "It's been a really long year." A very lonely one, too.
The pair began to walk, making their way up the beach. Martha was grateful that Tom had been waiting for her, willing to guide her. They'd used back channels to contact one another. "So what's the plan?" he asked her.
"This Professor Docherty I've heard of. I need to see her...can you get me there?"
"She works in a repair shed, at Nuclear Plant Seven," he informed her confidently. "I can get you inside...what's all this for? What's so important about her that you came all this way?"
"Sorry," Martha replied immediately, shaking her head. "The more you know, the more you're at risk."
Unbothered by her answer, Tom shrugged to himself. "There's a lot of people depending on you, you know. You're a bit of a legend." Martha glanced at him, curious, and arched a brow in question. He eagerly answered her wordless demand. "Legend says you sailed the Atlantic, walked across America. That you're the only person to get out of Japan alive. 'Martha Jones,' they say. 'She's gonna save the world.' Bit late for that, mind you."
Martha said nothing. She knew what she was doing. She was doing exactly as the Doctor said. He had a plan, and although it was taking some time, it would come through. He would come through. He always did. She frowned when they came across a large truck. "How come you can drive?" she demanded, knowing that it wasn't generally allowed. Most vehicles were stopped by the Toclafane, their drivers murdered to ensure that no one did what the Master didn't want them to do.
"Medical staff," Tom said proudly. "Used to be in pediatrics back in the good old days, but that gives me a license so I can travel to and from the labor camps."
Martha winced at both the reminder of the camps and the fact that no matter what she seemed to do, she was always traveling with a reminder of the Doctor. Still, she said nothing about it as she hauled herself into the truck.
"You know," Tom said suddenly, starting the engine. "The story goes that you're the only person on Earth who can kill him. That you and you alone can kill the Master stone dead."
Martha would, if given the chance. But she only muttered, "Let's just drive," and looked out the window, desperately worried for those she knew remained skyward.
It only took a few hours to get to where Martha wanted to go - to where Tom had promised to take her: the edges of where Nuclear Plant 7 resided.
"All over the Earth," Martha grumbled, eyeing a massive version of the Master that had been carved into a series of rocks. She scowled at it. She'd seen several. She and Tom were crouched atop a small cliff, watching with care what happened beneath. She could see what looked like hundreds of strangely shaped silos that resembled the silo the people aiming for Utopia had been fired from. "He's even carved himself into Mount Rushmore."
Rather than responding, Tom hissed, "Keep down. Over here." She crawled over to him to peer over the edge. "The entire south coast of England," he said, nodding to the silos, "was converted into shipyards. They bring in slave labor every morning. Break up cars, houses, anything. Just for the metal. They built a fleet out of scrap."
Martha had seen them before, knew precisely what they were. "You should see Russia," she told him. "That's Shipyard Number One. All the way from the Black Sea to the Bering Strait. There's one hundred thousand rockets ready for war."
"War?" Tom asked immediately. "With who?"
"The rest of the universe." Martha's voice grew wistful. She remembered the fun days, the days before everything had gone wrong just a year prior. She missed them dearly, and though she couldn't say that she'd go back at that moment, she'd always be grateful for having the chance. "I've been out there, Tom, in space. Before all this happened. There's a thousand different civilizations all around us with no idea of what's happening here." She felt a stab of fear for them. They didn't deserve what the Master planned for them. "He can build weapons big enough to devastate them all."
"You've been in space?" Tom said, the only thing he gathered from the statements she'd made. Martha rolled her eyes. "Anything else I should know?"
"I've met Shakespeare," she said dryly just to amuse herself before snapping her head around when a dark voice demanded, "Identify, little man."
Tom scrambled to his feet. They found two Toclafane hovering behind them, and Martha made herself remain entirely still as he stammered, "I...I've got a license. Thomas Milligan, Peripatetic Medical Squad. I'm allowed to travel. I was just checking-"
The pair laughed together, one voice high the other low. "Soon the rockets will fly and everyone will need medicine," the higher-pitched voice crooned. "You'll be so busy. So, so busy."
Tom blinked when they flew off and said nothing about Martha. When he looked at her, she climbed to her feet and held out the key that still hung around her neck. She flashed a tiny smile at him and then waved for him to lead the way back to his truck. "How do you think I traveled the world? 'Cause the Master set up Archangel, that mobile network, fifteen satellites around the planet, but really it's transmitting a low-level psychic field. That's how everyone got hypnotized into thinking the Master was Harold Saxon."
God, had that really only been a year ago? She remembered sitting in that warehouse, figuring all of this out with the Doctor and Jay and Jack. She remembered how each of them had looked, and she missed them - and her family - dearly.
"Anyways, the key's tuned into the same frequency," Martha finished. When they were both in the truck, Tom started it and they were soon off again. "Makes me sort of...not invisible, just unnoticeable."
"But I can see you," he pointed out.
"That's cause you wanted to." Tom laughed, and she flashed him a brief smile. She liked Tom. He was a good person, doing his best to help where he could in the battle against the Master. "Is there a Mrs. Milligan?"
"No, what about you?" he asked, looking vaguely interested.
Martha's lips quirked a little as she sighed, "There used to be someone. A long time ago." She shook her head. "Not anymore." She cared deeply for the Doctor, but she'd never forgive him for allowing her family to be dragged into their problems. His problems. He'd not told her that such a thing could happen, although she supposed she should have known after everything that had happened with the O'Connors family.
She wished she'd realized the truth sooner.
A year had done a great deal of pain to those on the Valiant. Martha's family, turned into servants who did as the Master demanded. The Doctor, tormented daily, yet managing to appear patient and calm despite everything that the Master said and did. Jay, tending to Lucy's every desire, often times resulting in doing what the Master wanted. Jack, chained in a backroom for the Master to play with when he saw fit, more often than not tortured simply to see how much he could take before dying and coming back. No one was happy with it. No one could do anything.
From where she was placing a platter of sweets onto a table, Jay winced as the Master suddenly bustled by with a cheerful whistle. Bu-bu-bu-bump, when that sound in his head, making her wince. She'd managed to keep it from him thus far. She wasn't entirely sure how. Likely constant interference from the Doctor, who she'd ensured was fully aware of just how intense the sound was to her. The conversation had occurred out of luck and on a rare occasion that she'd been alone in the same room with him, no guards or the Master or even Lucy in sight. The Master rarely left the Doctor alone in the same room with anyone, although he wasn't as careful with the Jones family, and bits and pieces of plans had filtered in through the grapevine as time went on.
"Doctor," she said after a few moments of silence, pausing in the cleaning she'd been told to do. She knew what would happen if it wasn't done - mocking, tormenting, possibly worse. She'd been forced to deal with such things alongside everyone else - particularly since the Master seemed to hold a strong dislike for her. She'd started that on her own power, naturally, when she'd snapped out of the blue at him one day, furious that he'd been pushing and pushing. She'd known he'd been waiting for it but hadn't been able to help herself, the constant thudding and his words driving her to the edge.
The Doctor glanced at her, looking far more tired than he usually did. He was in a wheelchair that the Master oftentimes used against him. She winced, remembering when he'd been able to sprint around and barely lose his breath. She supposed that age eventually caught up to everyone and that Time Lords were of no exception.
Clearing her throat, she quickly strode across the room to stand before him. She refused to bend even the slightest, knowing that he hated it. She'd seen it in his eyes when the Master would do so, as soon as he'd turned away. Not wanting to lose any time, she said, "I hear them. The drums he hears. It's...it's horrible, all the time, and it's worse when he comes around. And sometimes I hear the TARDIS. At least, I think it's her. I've always heard her when she's near."
She didn't think the Doctor had ever truly understood just how much she heard. Perhaps the realization had truly started the moment they'd found the paradox machine, when she'd heard the TARDIS even before he had. It clearly struck him now though. "Don't let him find out." His words were hoarse but firm, curt. He'd been waiting for the chance offered now. "Don't let him find out about the attacks, either. He'll use them."
He'd already noticed the scars on her arm, the black veins, and had expressed intense interest in them despite knowing already that there was something different about her. He'd known long ago, Jay knew, recalling how he'd called her a kind of monstrosity.
"I won't," she said quietly. She took a shaken breath. She missed how things used to be. They'd been on the Valiant for a few weeks now, and she was constantly on alert. It was exhausting. She could have slept for hours. She hesitantly reached out and took his hand, seeking comfort. He squeezed her hand gently before dropping it.
"The Toclafane," he said quietly. "Do you know what they are?"
"I've known from the second I heard them," she whispered, heart immediately swelling with pain. "I hate him. I hate him for everything he's done, Doctor."
The Doctor said nothing, only quietly told her to go back to what she'd been doing so the Master didn't have an excuse to torment the pair of them further in some way.
It took everything in her not to flinch when the Master suddenly wheeled the Doctor in, his face alight with excitement as he sang, placing him beside a porthole that showed off the world outside, "It's ready to rise, Doctor! The new Time Lord Empire. It's good, isn't it? Isn't it good? Anything? No?"
Jay smirked to herself for the briefest of seconds. The Doctor's ability to keep a straight face and not react bothered the Master more than anything else. Good for you. "Oh, but they broke your hearts, didn't they? Those Toclafane." Jay lost her smirk, her own heart aching at the thought of them. She didn't know when the Doctor had worked it out, didn't know if Jack had. But she knew it killed her every time they came around.
The Master's next statement made her freeze in her tracks. "They say Martha Jones has come back home. Now why would she do that?"
The Doctor said nothing, but Jay spat immediately, bristling, "Leave Martha alone."
The Master grinned, flashing a mocking look over his shoulder. "I haven't forgot about you, Miss O'Connors!" Jay stiffened, glaring right back at him. There went a year's worth of work avoiding his attention. "So, Doctor, you said something to Miss Martha Jones, didn't you?" He leaned back down to smirk at the Doctor's neutral expression. "What did you tell her?"
The Doctor finally spoke, shifting his gaze quietly to the Master. "I have one thing to say to you and you know what it is," he told him evenly.
Jay didn't miss the brief fear that crossed the Master's features before he suddenly kicked the wheelchair so that the Doctor went rolling away. She abandoned what she was doing to make sure he was okay as a voice called out over an intercom, "Valiant now entering Zone One airspace. Citizens rejoice."
The Master strode across the room, clapping his hands as he beamed. "Come on, people! What are we doing? Launch Day in twenty-four hours!"
"Are you okay?" Jay breathed when she'd reached the Doctor, frowning. She was worried about him, and she crouched carefully beside the wheelchair. Francine, who'd been crossing through the room, paused when she saw them. Martha's mother furrowed her brow a little in worry.
"Fine," the Doctor muttered back and then suddenly flashed three fingers at Jay, where no one could see Jay's eyes widened and she quickly masked her surprise before straightening, her lips pressed together. She caught sight of Francine and flashed the same signal, remaining where she was.
Francine inclined her head just a fraction before sliding out of the room. Jay let out a soft gush of air. She wasn't sure what the Doctor's plan was for Martha, but their more relevant one was being put into action and she was admittedly worried about it as she looked back towards where the Master was nearly dancing around.
One wrong move, she knew, and he'd have no problem with using that sonic device to turn them into ash.
The day went as most of them did. The Master mocked them all in a variety of ways. He left the Doctor in the wheelchair to watch everything that he did, although the Doctor did nothing to react. Francine and Tish were soon standing confidently in the room that Jay and the Doctor were in, keeping equal distances between them for when the plan went into action. Jay made sure to stay beside him, enjoying his presence despite the tense situation. She kept her expression neutral, however, hands tucked behind her back.
Hopefully everything would go well. She hoped desperately that it would.
Francine glanced over to Jay, seeking reassurance when the Master strutted into the room with his quietly smiling wife, musing, "Time for my massage. Who shall I have today?" He eyed the people within the room as he shrugged off his jacket and slung it onto a table that resided within the center of the room, gaze sweeping briefly past Tish, Francine, and the Doctor before he smirked at Jay. She tensed, knowing fully well what he was going to say despite the clear professionals nearby.
"Jay," he said, smiling widely at her in a mocking manner. "Why don't you give it a try?"
Jay spared a quick look to Francine and Tish. Tish sent her a worried, sympathetic look, but shrugged. Biting the urge to tell him no, because she knew it wouldn't end well for more than just one person, Jay made her way over to the Master and stood behind him after he'd draped himself across a nice chair, Lucy beside him. She hesitated to do what he wanted, and had just begun to lift her hands to move through with it when a voice suddenly blared out along with several flashing red lights, "Condition red! Repeat: condition red!"
The Master rocketed to his feet, bristling as Lucy rose, too, looking worried. Jay jerked back, retreating to safety as Francine lunged for the Master's shed suit jacket. She threw it to Tish, who snagged it with quick fingers and darted over to the Doctor, slipping it into his hands.
The Doctor had the sonic device that the Master had used to "kill" Jack on their first day there, one he'd used several times after, in his hand and pointed at the Master with a few smooth movements. "Oh," the Master muttered, putting his hands up in surrender. "I see."
"I told you," the Doctor said. "I have one thing to say."
He pressed the button and nothing happened.
Sheer terror swept through Jay when he tried again and it failed. She pressed her back against the wall behind her as the Master grinned, not the least bit surprised.
"Isomorphic controls, which means they only work for me," the Master purred, sauntering over to the Doctor. The Doctor looked a mixture of shocked and not surprised, all at the same time. Jay got the feeling he was annoyed with himself. He should have expected such a thing and hadn't.
Jay knew that was something that would likely bother him to the end of his days.
Just as suddenly, the Master's expression blackened and he whirled around, using the sonic device to shoot a laser at the wall near Francine's head. She screamed, sobbing and flinching away. Jay didn't move, though she wished she could have gone to the terrified woman. "Say sorry!" the Master snarled, voice lifted to a shout.
"Mum!" Tish cried as Francine sobbed her apologies hysterically. She flew to Francine's side, wrapping her arms around her as she glared at the Master.
His face was cold as he stared them down. He barely reacted as Lucy quickly clicked her way over in her heels, picking up his suit jacket and brushing it off before helping the Master into it. "Didn't you learn anything from the blessed Saint Martha?" he said coldly. "Siding with the Doctor is a very dangerous thing to do." He gestured to some guards. "Take them away."
The guards stepped forward and four went to take care of Francine and Tish while another two went towards Jay. Jay flinched when her wrist was grabbed, yanking her forward.
A chill ran down her spine when the Master pointed at her. "Not her. Leave her."
"Leave her alone," the Doctor warned quietly, eyes narrowing. Jay pressed her lips together, silently shouting at him to not make things worse. She didn't know just what the Master was planning now, but she knew that one wrong move from either of them would mean something bad.
The Master waited until the Jones women had been escorted from the room and then flashed Lucy a smile. "Bring her over, would you?"
"Of course," Lucy murmured, striding across the room. She grabbed Jay's wrist and pulled her along, not quite as roughly as the guard had been, but tightly enough that she winced. The stabbing tingles raced along her fingers and despite everything that had happened in the past year, Jay felt a stab of relief that at least there'd been only one attack that had occurred during the night, when she was supposed to have been asleep. Her theory was likely correct, she thought, although she expected that it should have been confirmed long ago.
Lucy planted Jay right where the Master pointed to, a few feet away from the Doctor. Jay kept a calm look on her face despite the fear in her chest. She didn't know what was coming, but it was going to be bad.
One smooth movement and the press of a button had a laser fired off so that it missed her head by mere centimeters. Instinct had her reacting faster than she thought she could, dropping to the ground without a sound, hands protecting her head. She winced at the sting of her knees, shivering as she realized just how close she'd been to death. Her heart thudded away painfully to her chest, offbeat with the bu-bu-bu-bump in the Master's head.
The Doctor reacted only slightly, forcing himself to do nothing more than clench his jaw and glare at the Master. The Master smirked, unbothered. He left Jay on the floor, sauntering over to lean against the table. His gaze lingered mockingly on the Doctor. "Look at you. All helpless. You wouldn't think that there were days when the Doctor - oh, that famous Doctor - was waging a time war. Battling Sea Devils and Axons. He sealed the rift at the Medusa Cascade single-handed. And look at him now. Stealing screwdrivers that don't even work. How did he ever come to this?"
"I just need you to listen," the Doctor insisted, sounding a little angry.
The Master seemed to thrive off of it. "No," he said excitedly, "it's my turn. Revenge! Best served hot and this time...it's a message for Miss Jones."
Jay's head snapped up, her eyes widening.
Just like that, things had gotten worse.
Martha and Tom were silent as they squeezed through a hole in a chain-link fence. Tom had cut it only moments prior and he urged for her to keep down as they dropped through to the other side and then bolted across an uncomfortably open field that surrounded the compound they were trying to get into.
When they reached the compound itself and slipped inside, they nearly groaned in relief, sharing matching looks of happiness. They'd made it. A loud sound made them falter, but a quick search revealed that it was merely an older woman with graying hair striking an old computer monitor. Martha furrowed her brow and then glanced over when Tom said hesitantly, "Professor Docherty?"
"Busy," the older woman snapped curtly, striking the computer again. She scowled.
"They sent word ahead," Tom said hesitantly, exchanging a wary look with Martha now. Martha kept herself calm despite the impatience creeping through her. Things were going to change soon. She could feel it. "I'm Tom Milligan. This is Martha Jones."
Docherty spat at the floor, still focused on the computer. "She can be the Queen of Sheba for all I care. I'm still busy." She scowled viciously at the monitor. "We've been told there's gonna be a transmission from the man himself." A final hit brought static to the screen and a cry of relief to Docherty. "Ha! There."
Martha immediately strode around the table that blocked the path between them as a voice she knew well filled the air, somewhat strange because of the speakers. A shiver went down her spine when she found herself looking at the smiling face of the Master.
"My people," he crooned on the screen. "Salutations on this, the eve of war. I know that there's all sorts of whispers down there. Stories of a child, walking the Earth, giving you hope." Martha bit back the urge to smirk. She was doing more than just that. Her smirk vanished when the camera followed the Master as he suddenly walked away, going to stand beside the wheelchair bound Doctor. Her breath hitched. "But I ask you...how much hope has this man got? Say hello, Gandalf!" He laughed. "Except he's not that old, but he's an alien with a much greater than you stunted little apes."
The Master turned his attention down onto the Doctor, his face still showing a broad grin. "What if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? All nine hundred years of your life, Doctor...what if we could see them?" He laughed again and aimed a familiar device that Martha remembered quite clearly at him. "Older...and older...and older…" he hummed as the Doctor hit the ground with a pained cry, writhing about. Martha kept her silence as the Doctor seemed to disappear into nothing, the only thing left being his clothes. Her fingers curled into fists when he reappeared.
She didn't know what to think of the odd-looking Doctor that glared weakly up at the Master. Off screen, Martha could hear a familiar cry. Jay. She was alive, too. The Master lost his smile as he turned his face to the camera, expression cold. "Received and understood, Miss Jones?"
The connection ended.
"I'm sorry," Tom said softly, horrified by what he'd seen.
But Martha wasn't worried. She had work to do and the sight of the Doctor alive as well as the realization that Jay was okay, too, had given her the push to keep going that she'd found herself needing as of late. Instead, she turned to Docherty. "I need help. What do you know about the Archangel Network?"
The professor looked surprised by the question, her fingers playing as she looked at Martha for a long moment through quiet dark eyes. "Obviously the Archangel Network would seem to be the Master's greatest weakness." This. This was only part of why Martha had sought out the woman who knew far more than most did about the Master. Fifteen satellites all around Earth, still transmitting. That's why there's so little resistance. It's broadcasting a telepathic signal that keeps people scared."
"We could just take them out," Tom said and Martha wanted to smack his head.
"We could," Docherty agreed, clearly feeling the same as Martha did as she arched a brow. "Fifteen ground-to-air missiles. You got any on you? Besides, any military action, the Toclafane descend."
"They're not called Toclafane," Martha said. They immediately looked to ehr, curious. "That's a name the Master came up with. That's why I came to find you. Know your enemy. I've got this." She pulled a disc from her coat, offering it to Docherty, who took it with a wary look. "No one's been able to look at a sphere up close. They can't even be damaged...except once. A lightning strike in South Africa brought one down by chance. I've got the readings on this."
Docherty studied the disk before putting it into the disk drive of the machine she'd been banging on previously. "Whoever would have thought that we'd miss Bill Gates?" she muttered under her breath.
"Is that why you traveled the world? To find a disc?" Tom was staring at Martha in confusion. She shook her head and declared it luck.
"I heard stories that you walked the Earth to find a way to build a weapon," Docherty added, and Martha smiled to herself. In a way, perhaps. She was doing it in a way. She just hoped that the Doctor's plan worked out. She crossed her fingers when Docherty suddenly gasped, "There! A current of fifty-eight-point-five kilo amperes transferred charge of five-hundred-ten megajoules precisely."
Martha couldn't say she knew exactly what was being said other than Tom's question of "Can you recreate that?"
She nodded slowly. "I think so...easily, yes." She grinned.
"All right then, Dr. Milligan," Martha replied, turning to Tom with twinkling eyes. "We're gonna get us a sphere!"
"Tomorrow, they launch," the Master declared as he led Lucy out onto the bridge in which so many things had happened aboard the Valiant. From where he was caged in an a somewhat over-sized bird cage, the Doctor watched knowingly, patiently. Patience. It was something that was harder to keep now a days. "We're opening up a rift in the Braccatolian space and they won't see us coming." The Master made a face. "Kinda scary."
"Then stop," the Doctor said coldly. He gripped the bars of that bird cage, furious that he was trapped within. Perhaps it would have been better to remain quiet, but the Master, as much as he enraged him...he was his friend from so long ago.
"Once the empire is established and there's a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then...it stops." He walked swiftly over to the bird cage, peeking through the bars at the Doctor. The Doctor remained firm. "The drumming, the never-ending drumbeat." He tapped it out, so familiar, with a finger on one of the bars. "Ever since I was a child. I looked into the vortex and that's when it chose me. The drumming, the call to war. Can't you hear it? Listen, it's there now. Right now. Tell me you can hear it, Doctor. Tell me."
The Doctor's mind flashed back to the conversation he'd had with Jay months ago. The worry on his friend's face as she considered what the Master would do if he ever found out. The Doctor found himself concerned about the matter as well. "It's only you," he lied.
"Good." The Master's voice was edged with something that made the Doctor only more certain. He could not find out. He spun around, away from the Doctor as a door slid open and a Toclafane entered, hovering. It declared the next day the day the war began and the Doctor grimly hoped that Martha had done as he'd told her.
Without her...he wasn't sure that the Earth would be salvageable.
"You see?" the Master said cheerfully as he gestured to the Toclafane. "I'm doing it for them! You should be grateful. After all, you love them. So very, very much." The Doctor's grip tightened on the bars. He spun around and reached a hand for his wife. "I took Lucy to Utopia. A Time Lord and his human companion, off to see the stars. Isn't that right, sweetheart?"
Lucy smiled warmly and put her hand in his. "Trillions of years into the future, to the end of the universe." Her gaze flickered suddenly and the Doctor became curious. She didn't seem too intent on anything that the Master was doing. "Dying," she breathed. "It was all dying. The whole of creation was falling apart. And I thought...there's no point. No point to anything. Not ever."
"You should have seen it, Doctor," the Master purred, pressing his lips to the back of her hand. "Furnaces, burning. The last of humanity screaming at the dark...all that human invention that had sustained them across the eons. It all turned inwards. They cannibalized themselves. Regressing into children. But it didn't work. The universe was collapsing around them, and I saved them with my paradox machine.
"My masterpiece," he added proudly. "A living TARDIS, strong enough to hold the paradox in place, allowing the past and the future to collide in indefinite majesty."
The Doctor was furious with what he was doing. Furious with what had happened to his beloved TARDIS. The ship was more than just that - it was his home. It was where he and his family had lived throughout his incarnations. And it was technically gone. "But you're changing history! Not just Earth...the entire universe." Keep him talking, the Doctor told himself. Perhaps he'd learn something of value.
"I'm a Time Lord," was the Master's irritable response. "I have that right."
"But even then, why come all this way just to destroy?"
The Toclafane suddenly spoke, making him feel a flash of despair for what had happened to the poor humans who'd sought Utopia. "We've come backwards in time to build a brand new empire lasting one-hundred-trillion years."
"With me as their Master," the Master finished, laughing again. "Haven't you always dreamt of that, Doctor?" He made his way back over to the cage, arm in arm with his wife. "Human race, greatest monster of them all! Night-night, Doctor." He smirked, and then turned, guiding Lucy out of the room with an arm sliding around her shoulders. The Toclafane followed.
The Doctor let out a soft gust of air when he was gone, frustrated with his situation. Patience was running thin, and he hoped fiercely that Jay, Jack, and Martha's family would be able to hold out for the time being.
The Master left his wife to rest in favor of one more opportunity. The drums raced through his head, and Jay could hear them as he approached. Her eyes blazed with anger as she sat curled up in the prison cell with the Jones family. Tish and Francine were sleeping, Clive dozing despite trying his best not to. Jay had offered to stay up and watch, as they always did.
She didn't wake anyone when the Master crouched beside the bars of the cell and purred, "Look at you, like helpless rats in a cage."
Jay wanted to slap herself when she retorted, "Look at you, as blind as a bat."
His gaze sharpened with agitation, that mad glint worrisome. Bu-bu-bu-bump, thudded the drums in his head. Thudded the drums in her head. She wanted to scream. She just wanted him to leave her alone and go away so she could have some semblance of peace, listen for the hints of the TARDIS's beautiful song despite the agonized screams interwoven with it. "You know something. About what Miss Jones is doing. Tell me."
"I don't know anything," Jay said truthfully. "I really don't. The Doctor's not said anything to me. I'm as clueless as you." She curled her knees to her chest, putting her arms around them as she stared him down. Bu-bu-bu-bump, bu-bu-bu-bump, bu-bu-bu-bump.
"I think you're lying."
Jay looked him in the eye and smirked. "And I think that sound in your head is making you deaf." Damn it, she thought immediately when interest crossed his face.
"And what sound is that?" he said, grinning. "You hear them," he realized when she hastily clamped her mouth shut and said nothing in response, and she barely concealed the panic that filled her. "You hear the drums." He hummed the rhythm. "And you didn't even tell the Doctor. How fascinating...the Doctor claims to hate violence and yet his own companion hears the drums of war."
Jay stared him down coldly, her eyes narrowing. "I hear the drums you're creating, Time Lord," she hissed, "and I hear them ending."
Rage flashed across his features. The Master looked half-inclined to drag her out and kill her, she thought. "So you think," he said, and then stood. He turned to leave, pausing only to say one more thing. He threw her a smirk. "You'll sing another tune when the war actually starts," he said confidently, "and if you're lucky, maybe I'll have a spot open for you. Anyone who hears them is meant to create destruction, and don't think you're any different, Miss O'Connors."
The process of actually catching a Toclafane was actually fairly easy, Martha thought. She watched as Docherty worked furiously to open the sphere up. A simple trap laced with the electricity to town it and there they were, a down Toclafane on the table before them. Martha eyed her cautiously. She knew better than to trust most people, and Docherty was particularly one she knew better than to have faith in. She'd known that walking in.
"There's some sort of magnetic clamp," Docherty grumbled, looking excited as she worked. "Hold on, I'll just trip the - there we-" She cut off with a gasp, jumping. "Oh, God!"
Martha snapped her attention to the situation at hand and gasped as the old head within, attached to machinery, pried its eyes open. "It's alive," she breathed, and then stiffened when it whimpered her name.
"Martha," the head breathed, voice strange. "Martha Jones. Sweet, kind Martha Jones. You helped us to fly. You led us to salvation." Martha's hands shook and she quietly asked who it was. "The skies are made of diamonds, Martha Jones."
"No," she whispered, a hitch in her voice as tears shimmered in her eyes. "You can't be him." She could practically picture the boy as she'd last seen him, smiling and excited to go to Utopia. She understood now. Where these spheres had come from, and she wanted to scream. How could anyone let this happen?
"We share each other's memories," the head informed her as the tears spilled over. "You sent him to Utopia."
"What's it talking about?" Tom demanded, full of questions. "Martha, tell us. What's it mean? What are they?"
"They're us," Martha breathed, biting back a sob. "They're humans from the future." She wasn't sure why she was surprised. She should have seen it coming. "I should have known," she said, echoing her thoughts aloud. "The Master….he had the TARDIS, this time machine, but the only other place he could go was the end of the universe. So he found Utopia. The Utopia Project was the last hope, trying to find a way to escape the end of everything."
"There was no solution," the head croaked, "just the dark and the cold." The creature that had once been Creet giggled. "We made ourselves so pretty! But then the Master came with his wonderful time machine to bring us back home."
"But...that's a paradox," Docherty said, confused, looking to Martha. She blinked at the young woman. "If they're the future of the human race, and they've come back to murder us - their ancestors - shouldn't it cancel them out? They shouldn't exist."
"He's got this paradox machine." Martha nodded to herself. That would explain it. That would explain everything about what was happening with the Toclafane.
"But then...what about us?" Tom demanded, suddenly concerned. "What are they shooting us for?"
They all felt chills run down their spines when the head began to laugh hysterically. "Because it's fun," it squealed. Its laughter was halted by a single gunshot. Tom lowered his gun with a cold look, though his hands shook. He pressed his lips together when no one said anything.
Docherty looked impressed as she took them by their arms and said, "Come. I think it's time we had the truth, Miss Jones." She began steering them through the small workshop she'd used, leaving the Toclafane behind them. No one disagreed; they all wanted to leave the creature behind them. Docherty lead them to a room at the back, the living quarters. Martha studied them, fully aware of what Docherty was trying to do. She settled them into some chairs after Martha had dropped the bag slung over her shoulders and then settled herself into one, sitting back. "The legend says you've travelled the world to find a way of killing the Master. Tell us, is it true?"
A spy indeed, Martha thought. "Just before I escaped, the Doctor told me something," she said. Not a lie. Those were always the best lies, she'd been told. Lies mixed in with the truth. "He and the Master have been coming to the earth for a very long time and they've been watched." She bent over, digging through her bag until she'd pulled a large black case out. "There's UNIT and Torchwood, all studying Time Lords in secret." She'd only heard of both because of the Doctor and Jack, she thought, prying the case open. "And they made this," she said, gesturing to the gun within. It looked unlike any other gun the pair had seen.
"All you need to do is get close," Tom said, frowning. "I could shoot the Master dead with my own gun...why do you need this one?"
"Not so easy to kill a Time Lord, because they can regenerate, literally bringing themselves back to life." Docherty grumbled about that and Martha smirked, patting the gun in the case. "Except for this. Four chemicals," she told them, tapping the three vials within. "Slotted into the gun, inject him. Kills a Time Lord permanently."
"Four chemicals?" Tom questioned, checking with her as he peered at the vials. "You've only got three."
Martha grimaced. "Still need the last one," she admitted. "The components of this gun were kept safe, scattered around the world. And I found them. San Diego, Budapest, Beijing, London. Now, there's just one more. It's in an old UNIT base, north London. I've found the access codes."
Tom vowed that he'd get her there. Martha's gaze flickered briefly over Docherty as Tom said, "We can't go across London in the dark...it's full of wild dogs. We'd be eaten alive. We can wait till the morning, then go with the medical convoy."
"You can spend the night here, if you like," Docherty offered and Martha noticed the shift in her stance. She was eager for them to stay so she could turn them in. Too bad, she thought as Tom denied the offer. Sighing, the professor admitted defeat and told them, shaking their hands, "Good luck."
Martha smiled at her, thanking her. She kissed Docherty on the cheek and Docherty studied her for a moment before asking, "Could you do it, Martha? Could you actually kill him?"
No. Martha had never been one to kill. She'd been one for protecting people, and the Doctor had shown her other ways of doing that then just being a doctor, although she still intended to finish that, too. But to Docherty, she said evenly, "I've got no choice now."
"You might be many things," Docherty called after them as they left, "but you don't look like a killer to me!"
Martha thought about Docherty's comment the entire way to the quarters Tom decided would be safest for the time being. Slave quarters, he'd called them. She hated the term. Tom pulled his truck over some ways away and then led her quietly through some backways to a street of houses. Martha kept low, her eyes flashing as they slipped past a series of guards, the dark sky helping keep them hidden.
"This way," Tom whispered. He led her over to a specific house and silently knocked on the door. When there was movement on the other side, but no one opened the door, he called quietly, "Let me in! It's Milligan." The door opened and they bustled in, the door closing quietly behind them.
Martha wasn't surprised by the amount of people that had been gathered into the house. This was a common sight in areas like this, throughout the country and other countries. People could barely move. "Did you bring food?" a woman asked, no one seeming to pay much attention to Martha.
"Couldn't get any," Tom said apologetically. "And I'm starving."
"All we've got is water," the woman answered mournfully.
"I'm sorry," Martha said softly. She knew the reasoning behind these crowded houses. It was cheaper than building places for them to stay. The people, sometimes over one hundred, were shoved into one house like sardines.
A hand suddenly tugged at her arm. Martha looked down and found a small boy who reminded her of Creet studying her anxiously and with awe. "Are you Martha Jones?" he asked. When she confirmed it, whispers broke out among the people in the house. "Can you do it? Can you kill him? They said you can kill the Master...can you? Tell us you can do it. Please."
Commotion broke out within the house as Martha studied his face, horrified. A child should not have been praying that she could kill someone. He should have been in school, playing in the streets. Tom urged everyone to leave her alone as questions began to pop up, but Martha shook her head, smiling warmly at the boy. "No," she told Tom, "it's okay. They want me to talk...and I will."
That was what she'd done, all these months.
She was ready to continue doing so until the Master came himself.
Eager, people made way so that she could sit down and tell her story. Someone got her a drink of water, which she drained gratefully before beginning. She settled herself confidently on a stair before looking around at them all. "I travelled across the world," Martha told them all. "From the ruins of New York, to the fusion mills of China, right across the radiation pits of Europe. And everywhere I went...I saw people, just like you, living as slaves." She wanted them to know that they weren't alone in their suffering.
"But if Martha Jones became a legend," she said, frowning suddenly when someone moved past the others to peer out a window, "then that's wrong because my name isn't important. There's someone else. The man who sent me out there. The man who told me to walk the earth and his name is the Doctor." Not really, she knew, but what else could she tell them? "He has saved your lives so many times, and you never even knew he was there. He never stops, never stays, never asks to be thanked. But I've seen him." Her breath was ragged. She missed he and Jay desperately. "I know him. I love him. And I know what he can do."
He would stop this reign of terror, she trusted.
"It's him!" the woman who'd gone to the window suddenly gasped, and they all looked towards her. "Oh, my God, it's him! It's the Master! He's here!"
His voice was muffled by the closed door as he called for her, demanding she come out unless she wanted him to order the deaths of everyone around.
And so it began, Martha thought, standing. The woman gestured for them to hide her, but Martha shook her head. She knew what she needed to do. It was time to put the Doctor's plan into action, and she just hoped that Jay and Jack were up there, ready for it. Slowly, she removed her TARDIS key and pocketed it. People watched her in horror as Martha smiled at Tom softly before sliding out of the door.
"Oh, yes!" the Master cried, clapping his hands together in excitement. "Well done, good girl!" Martha ignored him, stopping in the middle of the street, a good dozen or so feet in front of him. The Master lost his smile, jabbing a finger in her direction. "Give me the bag." Martha began to take a step towards him, but he stopped her. "No, stay there, just throw it."
Martha did as she was told, throwing the pack to the ground in front of her. The Master pointed his sonic device at it and fired, watching as everything within was destroyed. Martha forced herself not to respond. Everything was fine, she told herself. This was supposed to happen.
"And now," the Master said, pointing the device towards her, "I think that when you die...the Doctor should be witness, hm?" He glanced to the sky, grinning. "Almost dawn, Martha, and planet Earth marches to war."
"Are you okay, Jay?" Tish asked.
Jay looked over, tapping her fingers irritably on her knee as she listened to the distant drums that were coming closer. Tap-tap-tap-tap went each finger on her knee, pressed to her chest. "No," she admitted. He was coming again. To mock them, or something else. She wasn't sure. The TARDIS's song had changed a short while ago, still full of pain, but almost...hopeful, so perhaps it was a good thing?
Jay rolled her eyes at her own indecision.
It was some time before the Master appeared before them. Jay was suspicious when he didn't pay any of them much attention, only pointing to two guards. "You two, keep an eye on her," he said, nodding to Jay. "You two, with me," he added to another pair. "The rest of you, Miss Jones's family. I want these four in the bridge."
Something was most certainly happening, Jay thought as she, Tish, Francine, and Clive rose to their feet and were practically dragged out of their cell. They were pushed along paths, the Master disappearing with two guards further into the ship. When they reached the bridge, Jay looked to the Doctor, horrified by the cage he was imprisoned in. He met her gaze evenly.
For the second time, Jay felt her suspicions were confirmed.
Something was changing, happening, about to occur.
She couldn't tell if she was excited or not. This could be horrific - or fantastic. She supposed it depended on Martha.
Jay couldn't help the smile that flashed across her face when a few minutes later, Jack was led into the room. "Jack," she breathed, ignoring the snap of the guard that she remain where she was to lunge for him. She slammed into him, throwing her arms around his neck. She was impressed when they weren't stopped as Jack returned the hug tightly, grinning as he lifted her.
"Hey, Jaybird," he chirped playfully although he supported a wary look in his eyes.
They were shoved to the other side of the room, separate from the Jones family, but Jay didn't mind for the time being, keeping her hand in Jack's. She'd only seen Jack a handful of times. Less than she'd even seen the Doctor. Despite admittedly knowing very little about him, she thought of him as a good friend and had missed him just as much as she'd missed Martha.
"Something's changed," Jack said under his breath.
"I thought as much," she replied, biting her lip. She glanced at the Doctor and he watched them grimly as if knowing what they were talking about. He was expecting something, too.
The Master ducked into the bridge then. Lucy was with him, her body clad in an elegant dress that ended at her knees and swished as she strode beside him. The pair looked fancy enough that Jay knew he'd be making an announcement to the world. Jack slid a comforting arm around her as the Master waited until cameras were rolling to say, "Citizens of Earth...rejoice and observe."
Jay's stomach jolted as the doors to the room opened and in walked Martha, two guards on either side of her. "Martha," she breathed as Jack took a step forward, dragging Jay with him, and was only stopped when a gun turned on them. He stepped back, glaring at them. Martha offered them a faint smile, her dark eyes darting between them, the Doctor, and her family as the trio expressed their relief in simultaneous sighs.
"Your teleport device," the Master said once she was before him, his eyes glimmering. "In case you thought I'd forgotten." Martha calmly retrieved the vortex manipulator from her pocket and tossed it to the Master. He caught it neatly. "And now kneel."
Jay felt a stab of rage cross through her as Martha did as she was told, dropping gracefully to her knees. She was different, Jay thought, studying her friend - very different. And something told her that if they got through this alive...she'd no longer be traveling with the Doctor. It hurt her, would hurt the Doctor more, probably, but Jay found she understood.
"Down below," the Master told the cameras, cocking his head, "the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe. Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down!" He grinned, pointing at a screen that had been installed into a wall. A series of numbers began counting down from three minutes. "I could never resist a ticking clock…"
Jay pressed her lips together, gaze hardening when he spun around and sent a mocking grin in her direction. "Listen to those drums, Miss O'Connors," he said, and Jay winced when all eyes turned on her briefly. "Sounding rather loud, aren't they?"
Careful not to look at the Doctor, Jay said evenly, "I think they're rather quiet, actually. But that might be because you talk too much. You're drowning them out with that annoying voice of yours."
"Really?" Jack hissed in her ear, reminding her of the day everything had gone wrong. She'd snapped at the Master then, too, and he'd scolded her for it sharply much like the Doctor had during their encounters with Lazarus.
Not that she could back anything up with that statement. She was as helpless as could be.
But her words annoyed the Master, and she supposed that was a victory in itself as he spun around, sneering, "You won't be laughing when Martha Jones becomes my first blood in the war. Any last words?" he added to Martha. When she said nothing, he told the Doctor, "Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the time vortex." Jack stiffened beside Jay, arm tightening briefly, and she knew precisely who the Master meant. Rose. "This one's useless!"
Jay's hands curled into fists. She wanted nothing more than to punch him in that moment. Martha was not useless.
And then, Martha laughed. The Master faltered, not having expected this, and Martha smirked at him. They changed places now, Martha looking smugly up at him while he stared down at her in wary confusion. "A gun?" she snickered. When he narrowed his eyes and confirmed that he'd destroyed it, she laughed harder. "Did you really believe that there was a gun in four parts scattered across the world?"
A smile began to creep across Jay's face when the Master displayed his confusion openly and the Doctor said smugly, "As if I would ask her to kill."
The Master's uncertainty grew. He still tried to put up a proud, unintimidated front, however, as he said, "It doesn't matter, I've got you exactly where I want you." Except...he didn't, Jay thought, exchanging a quick look with Jack. Because Martha was right where she wanted to be. "You're still going to die."
"Don't you want to know?" Martha challenged. She slowly rose to her feet, and Jay thought she looked incredibly powerful in that moment, staring down a Time Lord who'd killed so many as he began to understand that something was off. "What I was doing, travelling the world? I told a story. That's it. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said and I went across the continents all on my own, and everywhere I went, I found people and I told them my story - our story," she added with a smile she threw at Jay. "I told them about the Doctor, and what and who he is, and then I told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."
They could see it on the Doctor's face. The anger, the fear. "Faith and hope?" he said, keeping up his front. "Is that all?"
"No, I also gave them an instruction. Just as the Doctor said." Her eyes flashed with excitement. "I told them that if everyone thought of one word, at one specific time…"
"Nothing will happen!" the Master shouted, taking a threatening step towards her. He was quickly growing panicked. "Is that your weapon? Prayer?"
"All it takes is one word, one thought," Jay told him and he snapped his head around to glare hatefully at her. She smirked at him. "If everyone thinks of the same thing...there's the Archangel Network, a telepathic field that bound the whole human race together. Every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time." Martha laughed, smiling excitedly at her, relieved that the others knew. "How are those drums now, Master?"
Jay turned her gaze to the countdown and he spun around to stare in horror as the number turned to zero.
Simply to herself, she murmured aloud, "Did you really think for an instant that you'd trap someone who's as good at running as the Doctor?"
"No," the Master shouted viciously as he whirled around and found that the Doctor had managed to break free of the cage that he'd been in. He no longer looked like that odd creature that he'd once been, Jay noticed with growing excitement. There was a glow to the Time Lord that had not ever been around him before.
"I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices," the Doctor informed the Master, voice growing stronger. He took a step forward, and then another. Each step that brought him closer seemed to bring him more strength, the white in his hair receding. "And there was one thing you couldn't do: stop them thinking. Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this."
The look on the master's face dragged laughter from Jack and Martha, who took advantage of the situation to throw herself at her family. She threw her arms around Francine, and Tish hugged both, the three women nearly sobbing in relief. Clive wrapped his arms around them as best as he could. Jay smiled at the sight widely, her face alight with relief. She squealed when Jack decided to show off his excitement with another tight hug, twirling her in the air.
The Master panicked. "No!" he cried, immediately pointing his sonic device at the Doctor. Jay flinched when the glowing space around him deflected it, and uttered a sound of relief. The Doctor didn't look the least bit bothered, even apologizing softly. Wild, the pointed it at Martha and her family. Martha threw herself in front of them, eyes wide, but a mere nod of the Doctor sent the device flying. "You can't do this!" the Master screamed in terror. "You can do this! It's not fair!"
Jay almost felt bad as the Doctor advanced on him. She hated the Master, and she knew that the Doctor was unlikely to hurt him, but the terror on his face as the Doctor chided gently that he hadn't listened to him previously...Jay understood fear like that. No one said a word as he crumbled to the ground, looking as if he was trying to curl into a ball and disappear. The Doctor ignored his efforts, kneeling beside him.
The heartbreak in his eyes was terrible to look at as he wrapped his arms gently around the Master and murmured, "I forgive you."
Of course he did, Jay thought, shaking her head a little. She didn't think anyone else would have been able to forgive the Doctor for what he'd done. She'd certainly never be able to.
"Captain," the Doctor said without looking up. Jack stepped away from Jay, ready. "The paradox machine."
"On it," Jack declared, smirking at the men who'd pointed their guns at him moments ago. He paused to snatch one of their guns, ordering that man to remain where he was. He pointed to the others. "You, you're with me. Jaybird, you, too!" He tore off without hesitation and Jay gave chase. The Doctor briefly watched them go, but was distracted by something. She heard him cry out in protest at something, followed by a shout from Martha.
She wasn't sure what it was, but she knew she had something else to worry about. Jack sent her a look and she took the lead, following the TARDIS's agonized song. She wondered when he'd realized she could hear her. Likely that first day, Jay thought.
She pushed her legs to shove her forward as fast as she could, enjoying the running. It'd been so long since she'd run like this. She knew Jack was enjoying it, too.
It was only a matter of minutes before they found the TARDIS and Jack hauled her back with an arm around her waist when she nearly rounded the corner and ran straight into the Toclafane protecting it. As it was, they were immediately on alert. Jack and the guards that had come along with them began to fire their weapons at the spheres, Jack nudging Jay back to safety.
"Can't get in," a guard told him. "We'd be slaughtered."
Jack winked at Jay and told the guard, "Happens to me a lot. Jay, stay here. If anything happens to her," he told the guards, "I'm holding you accountable." He stepped out of the cover they'd taken and started the long process of getting into the TARDIS. Jay winced as she listened to the gunfire, listened as her friend shouted in pain but fired off a few shots anyways.
And then, just as suddenly, there was a loud crack and she was thrown backwards.
Jay hit the ground hard and winced, crawling over even as she felt something try to hurl her backwards. She peeked around the corner and found the TARDIS doors open, Jack on his back on the grated TARDIS floor. He caught her eye and grinned; she laughed, not entirely sure what was happening but knowing it was good.
It was some time before it stopped and the second it did, Jack was on his feet and out the door. "Come on, Jay, the Doctor's going to need some help, I bet," he said, dragging her to her feet. She clung to him for a moment, unstable. Without waiting for the others to get to their feet, they tore off for the bridge again.
Jay was gasping painfully for breath by the time they got there, just in time for the doors to slide open and for the Master to dart through, nearly running right into Jack. He smirked as he caught him. "Whoa, big fella! Don't want to miss the party. Cuffs!" he shouted to the guards he'd left behind, and one tossed them to him.
As Jack cuffed the Master's hand behind his back, Jay gave the Doctor a wide smile and abandoned Jack to run over their friend. She threw her arms around the Doctor in a tight hug, and he hugged her back just as fiercely before releasing her as Jack led him over. Jay threw Martha a warm smile that was quickly returned as Jack asked, "So, what do we do with this one?"
The answers that left Martha's family made Jay frown. "We kill him," Clive said as Tish simultaneously spat icily, "We execute him."
"No," Jay said firmly and the Doctor glanced at her with a flicker of approval. "That's not a solution, that'd be lowering ourselves to his level. We're better than that. Better than him." Those drums raced wildly through her head, almost faster than normal with the Master's panic.
"Oh, I think so," Francine said and earned several anxious looks when she suddenly lifted a gun. Martha gawked at her. Where had she even gotten the weapon?! "'Cause all those...things, they still happened because of him. I saw them."
The Master grinned at Francine, daring her to do it, but the Doctor hastily intervened, saying gently as he reached out and pushed the gun down, "Francine, you're better than him, just like Jay said." Francine searched his gaze and then nodded, throwing the gun aside. The Doctor smiled kindly and gave her a quick hug before pulling back to let Martha back her mother up. He turned to face the Master, frowning slightly. "You're my responsibility from now on. The only Time Lords left in existence."
"Yeah," Jack said pointedly, "but you can't trust him."
"No," the Doctor agreed quietly. "The only safe place for him will be the TARDIS."
Jay understood what he was saying in that moment, listening to the endless bu-bu-bu-bumps. The Master was ill. Just like humans could be, he had some kind of illness that needed tending to. He needed to be cared for - not imprisoned, his thoughts about everything pushed to the forefront of his mind. He needed caring people to show him what life was truly like, no matter what he'd done.
Movement in the corner of her eye had her glancing over. Her eyes snapped wide with alarm as Lucy straightened, bracing the gun in her hands. "No-" she began to shout, but Lucy's finger had already pulled the trigger.
The crack of the gunshot made everyone jump, but a cry of horror left the Doctor when the Master staggered and hit the ground, sputtering in surprise. Jack immediately went to deal with Lucy, taking the gun from her and glaring.
The Doctor threw himself to his knees beside the Master, horrified. "I didn't see her," he whispered as Jay hesitantly remained where she was, glancing over at Martha. Martha looked stunned, but Jay didn't miss the look of relief that was on her face. It hurt her. Martha had changed a lot in the past year. And by no fault of her own.
"Always the women," the Master spat, blood flecking his lips. Jay hesitantly knelt beside him, eyeing the blood blooming and soaking the cloth covering his stomach. There would be no saving him, she realized, and the Master recognized that, too. "Dying in your arms," he said as the Doctor tried to help him sit up a little, ignoring Jay for the time being. She felt guilty after a moment; this was a moment for the two Time Lords, not for anyone else in that room, and it was for that reason that she rose again and retreated to stand beside Martha and her family. "Happy now?"
"Don't be stupid," the Doctor snapped, distressed. His voice echoed through the otherwise empty bridge. "You're not dying. It's only a bullet - just regenerate." The Master bluntly refused. "One little bullet. Come on."
"No," he said, smirking again, as if he was having the last laugh over the situation.
"Regenerate," the Doctor begged. Just for an instant, he'd not been alone anymore. He'd not been the last Time Lord, the only one left after eliminating their entire race. "Just regenerate. Please! Come on, please! We're the only two left! There's no one else. Regenerate!" His voice rose, tears falling when the Master continued to refuse. He nearly sobbed.
"How about that?" the Master breathed. "I win." He faltered, breathing ragged and wet-sounding. Jay stiffened when his gaze suddenly locked on her, even as he continued to address the Doctor. "Will it stop? The drumming...will it stop?"
Bu-bu-bu-bump. Bu-bu-bu-bump. Bu-bu-
"Yes," Jay breathed just as it did and the Master stilled, eyes staring blankly. The Doctor gave a broken sound, rocking slightly as he gave an anguished sounding near-scream that no one had ever dreamed he'd make.
Jay happily gulped down the salty breeze as it washed over her face, Cardiff loud after the terrified silence from the Valiance. She briefly wondered where Lucy Saxon had gone. On one side of her was Jack, on the other the Doctor. He'd been quiet since they'd burned the Master's body the night prior, although he'd started returning to the bouncy Time Lord she knew him to be. She got the feeling it was a face he was putting on, to hide his pain from them, and decided that later, she'd offer her support if he needed it.
For now, she was content to play along.
She glanced away from the water before she and her friends when Martha spoke. "You know, they all knew you. Every single one of these people knew your name, and now they've all forgotten you." She looked saddened by it, but the Doctor was clearly content, not minding at all.
"Back to work," Jack commented, and the Doctor nodded.
"I really don't mind though." He did like saving these silly humans, who couldn't seem to help themselves. They needed his help and he was more than willing to provide it. He suddenly glanced at Jack. "Come with me." He'd gotten over that odd feeling Jack gave off long ago, had appreciated having him around now.
"I had plenty of time to think that past year. The Year That Never Was." That's what they'd started calling it, and it seemed like a good name for that odd year. "And I kept thinking about that team of mine, my friends. Like you've said a thousand times before, Doctor...responsibility."
"Defending the Earth," Jay chirped, earning a grin from Jack. "Can't argue with that, Doctor."
He agreed, reaching around Jay to shake the other man's hand. Jack grasped his hand, and then sputtered when he yanked Jack closer, nearly making him crash into Jay so he could use his sonic screwdriver on the vortex manipulator strapped to his wrist, home where Jack thought it belonged. "I can't have you walking around with a time-travelling teleport. You could go anywhere, twice. The second time to apologize!"
"What about me?" he asked quietly, not bothered. "Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?"
Jay threw a curious look at Martha and Martha returned it. The Doctor gave him a soft faint smile. "I'm sorry, Jack. You're an impossible thing and there's nothing I can do."
Jack merely laughed it off and gave Jay a quick bump with his shoulder before taking a step back. He gave them a mock salute that Martha and the Doctor returned. Jay merely giggled, giving him a warm smile. "Sir, ma'am, Jaybird...goodbye." He turned to leave, but stopped. He glanced back, suddenly frowning. "I keep wondering...what about aging? I can't die, but I keep getting older. The odd little gray hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?"
The Doctor shrugged, and Jack grinned, chuckling. "Guess I'll find out. Used to be a poster boy, you know, back when I was a kid on the Boeshane Peninsula. Tiny little place." He looked so fond of that place as he spoke of it and Jay guessed it was his hometown. "I was the first one to ever be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me." He turned and started walking away, waving as he called over his shoulder, "Face of Boe, they called me!"
Jay's smile vanished, replaced by stunned shock. When she slowly turned to look at the Doctor and Martha, their expressions matched hers. All of a sudden, her meeting with the Face of Boe made sense. Jaybird, I knew you would come. The nickname...the playful way it had been said, combined with wisdom of endless life and death…
"No," she breathed.
"Can't be," Martha agreed.
"No," the Doctor furthered, "definitely not. No." He squinted after Jack as he strode across the plaza beneath them, and then sputtered, looking over as Martha threw her head back and laughed. "No!"
"The Face of Boe," Martha said with another laugh. "Who would have thought?"
Jay got the feeling she'd not seen the last of Captain Jack Harkness.
A few hours after dropping off Jack found Jay curled on the surprisingly comfortable seat before the TARDIS console. Her eyes were half-closed as she dozed, dressed comfortably in a simple pair of jeans and a T-shirt, but she kept them on the console, listening to the TARDIS cheerful hum.
God, she'd missed all of this.
She looked up entirely when the Doctor suddenly stepped inside, thoughtful. They were waiting on Martha, Jay knew. She could see it in his face. He knew what was coming, but was clearly hoping otherwise as he began to trail his fingers around various controls around the console, saying nothing.
After a few moments in which she watched him, Jay asked quietly, "Are you okay?"
"Yes," he said simply, clearly not, "because I have to be."
"No one ever has to be okay," she murmured, unfolding her legs and patting the seat beside her. He reluctantly crossed the TARDIS control room, shrugging off his trenchcoat. He draped it over the back of the seat and settled beside her, comfortably propping his feet up on the console. Jay pouted, wishing she could do the same. Her legs were too short. Clearing her throat, she told him, "Doctor, he did bad things...but he was still important to you. And it's okay to be sad, you know. I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but if you decide eventually that you do…" She shrugged. "I'm not going anywhere."
Martha would leave, they both knew. They could feel it every time they looked at her. But Jay had no intentions of following suit. She loved this life and would live it as long as she could.
Something loosened in his shoulders. He said nothing, but she knew then that he'd worried that he'd be entirely alone again. Just for that, she silently vowed that she'd ensure that he was never alone in such a way. Never. Quietly, he said, "Thank you."
She bumped his shoulder gently and then added, "If...if you don't mind, I want you to promise me something." He glanced at her, curious and wary. "I have no doubt in my mind that you've traveled with a lot of people. And...and I don't know if you've ever just...left someone behind against their will. I mean, I'm assuming you have, and I'm not saying anything against it because I'm sure you've had your reasons. But Doctor...if you're going to do that...can you promise me that you'd tell me at least? I don't want to turn around and just never know."
He looked shocked by her request. "I won't leave you somewhere," he protested, but she threw him a sharp look. The pair were quiet for a few moments. Jay's expression was hard. She'd not take no for an answer. Not on this. "...I promise," he finally said. "I won't just leave you somewhere and not say a word."
"Thank you," she murmured, and offered him a bright smile.
The doors suddenly opened and Martha ducked in. The Doctor peeked up and then hopped to his feet, cheerful. Jay knew immediately it wouldn't last and didn't bother to get up as he flounced around the TARDIS console, crying, "Right then! Off we go, the open road! There is a burst of star-fire right now, over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio. Oh, the sky is like oil on water! Fancy a look? Or...back in time!" He threw a lever, and Jay thought she could see his hands shake a little as he did so. "I don't know, Charles the second? Henry the eighth? I know, what about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie. I bet she's brilliant!"
Throughout his entire rant, Martha patiently waited. She watched with a sad look on her face until he finally stopped and looked at her, losing any semblance of bouncy cheerfulness. Instead, he took on a sad, accepting look and said, "Okay."
"I just can't," she said gently, knowing that despite everything the Doctor was, everything he had been...he was fragile when it came to things like this. "Spent all these years training to be a doctor, and now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet, slaughtered. They're devastated. I can't leave them."
"Of course not," he admitted softly and then smiled warmly at her as he stepped closer. "Thank you." There was so much in those words, and Jay rose to her feet, ready to say goodbye herself. She'd miss Martha dearly, she realized, eyes filling with tears. "Martha Jones, you saved the word." He wrapped her up in a tight hug, and she returned it, pressing her face to his shoulder before pulling back.
"Yeah, I did," she said, flashing the Doctor a quick smile. "I spent a lot of time thinking I was second best while I was with you, Doctor, but you know what? I'm damn good." She turned to Jay and wrapped her arms around her. Jay returned the hug with a soft grieving sound, burying her face in Martha's shoulder. "Stay with him," Martha said softly in her ear.
"I will," Jay said back just as quietly and pulled away. "You worry about your family, Martha. We'll be okay."
"Right then." Martha took a shaken breath and then turned to leave. She'd almost made it to the doors when she suddenly stopped and dug in her pocket. The Doctor almost dropped what she threw to him after pulling it out. He blinked at the phone she'd thrown at him. "Keep that," she said sharply. "I'm not traveling, but you're still my friends. And if that rings...when that rings...you better come running. Got it?"
"Got it," Jay echoed, and the Doctor nodded.
"I'll see you again," she promised them, giving them pointed looks. And then Martha was gone, the door of the TARDIS shutting behind her in a final way.
There was a moment of silence as the Doctor studied the door. And then he began to pace around the console, tucking the phone into his pocket. Jay trailed after him, taking up a stance so that she was leaning against the console. "So where are we going?" she said casually as he flipped a switch, the TARDIS humming soothingly in her ears.
He glanced at her, surprised. "What?"
She wiggled her eyebrows, determined to distract him from the guilt he clearly felt over everything that he'd done to Martha. "You mentioned something about star-fire? That sounds amazing."
She was relieved when the Doctor's gaze lit with relieved excitement. "Meta Sigmafolio!" he declared, and she waved at him, indicating that she'd meant that. "The skies are fantastic, one of the prettiest in my opinion."
"Then what are we waiting for?" she demanded. "Let's go!"
The Doctor looked much more like his usual self as he grinned and threw a lever - only for a loud blaring horn to suddenly fill their ears. Jay screamed as something hit the TARDIS hard enough to send them both tumbling to the floor, dust flying and nearly blinding them.
Jay winced, rubbing her head as she lifted her head. "Jay?" the Doctor called. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she wheezed. "You?"
"Yes." He shook his head to clear it and then climbed to his feet, turning to see what had hit them. "What?" he cried and Jay snapped her head around after staggering to her feet to see what he was so surprised about. Her own jaw dropped.
The bow of a ship protruded through the TARDIS wall. Wood and simple rubble decorated the floor of the irritated TARDIS. Slowly, Jay spun in a circle and found a red and white life preserver that she immediately reached over and picked up. The Doctor stumbled around the console to look at it with her. The letters printed across it made them both frown.
TITANIC.
I pumped this chapter out in just days and although I wasn't excited to write it, I think it turned out well. The Master wasn't shown interacting often with Jay, but during episodes in which Ten regenerates...he won't forget that Jay heard the drums, too. ;)
Initially, I was going to write a chapter covering the year...but I needed to push past this block I've had. I chose to just put out this chapter so I can focus on things I want to write. I'll be doing an original chapter after the one involving the Titanic and Astrid, and then...off to Donna! From here on out, we'll have more original chapters that I'm incredibly excited to write.
Thanks to the loveliest reviewers (bored411 and m!) as well as those who favorited and followed!