The swirling time vortex opened up and dumped the Doctor, Jack, and Martha in an alley. They collectively groaned.
"Oh, my head!" Martha grabbed her forehead and her stomach.
"Time travel without a capsule, that's a killer," the Doctor groaned out and cracked his neck. Jack, feeling the same stiffness, and cracked his neck and followed the Doctor out to the streets of London.
"Still, at least we made it. Earth, 21st century by the looks of it. Heh heh, talk about lucky," Jack replied.
"That wasn't luck. That was me."
"Oh, my god! We left Angel!" Martha yelled, halting in her tracks. Jack froze in shock.
"No, no, Martha. She got spooked and snuck back into the TARDIS. I was keeping track of her with my sonic, tuned it to the frequency of her circlet. She must've seen the signs before us that he was the Master. She'll be safe for now considering she thinks of him as a father." Martha and Jack took a deep breath, relieved. The three comrades found a place to sit.
"The moral is, if you're gonna get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his vortex manipulator," Jack said, pointing to the device on his wrist.
"But this Master bloke, he's got Angel and the TARDIS. They could be anywhere in time and space," Martha brought up.
"No. They're here. Trust me," the Doctor confirmed. He looked all around them, noting the posters plastered everywhere.
"Who is he anyway? And that voice at the end, that wasn't the Professor," Martha continued with her concerns.
"If the Master's a Time Lord, then he must've regenerated," Jack pointed out.
"What does that mean?" Martha said, still missing vital information.
"It means he's changed his face, voice, body, everything. New man," Jack added. The Doctor looked over at a homeless man, observing his rhythmic tapping of four.
"Then how are we going to find him?" Martha asked.
"I'll know him. The moment I see him. Time Lords always do."
"But hold on, if he could be anyone…" Martha trailed off as she looked around at all the posters for Harold Saxon. "We missed the election. But it can't be…"
They stand up to watch the news on a jumbotron. A female newscasters said, "Mr. Saxon has returned from the Palace, and is greeting the crowds inside Saxon Headquarters."
"I said I knew that voice. 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," Martha concluded as she walked up to the screen. They watched a young man smiling and walking in a crowd of photographers with a young blonde woman at his side.
"That's him. He's Prime Minister. The Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain," the Doctor said. The Master leaned down to kiss the blonde next to him. "The Master and his wife?" He added in shock.
"This country has been sick. This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact, I'd go so far as to say, that what this country really needs right now… is a Doctor."
Angel sat in Martha's flat, waiting for her to finally return to her time. She had been squatting there since she watched the incident with Professor Lazarus on the news. Her stomach fluttered, so nervous about finally reuniting with her friends.
She tugged on the cuffs of her black leather jacket. It took so long to perfect her psychic camouflage, she got used to wearing all black to blend into the dark. She dyed her hair blonde and chemically straightened it to shake off whatever pictures the Master put up in search of her. Boy, did she look forward to seeing them again.
She heard keys turning the Martha's locks. She heard voices that she hoped were her friends on the other side. She did her best to psychically camouflage herself from their view by actively overlaying her image with the rest of the room. She had been visited once already in the past few days, when the Master sent the bomb squad to plant his bomb behind Martha's television.
"Home!" Martha said with urgent relief as she bursted through her door.
"What you got? Computer, laptop, anything," the Doctor comanded. Several phone beeps could be heard behind him. "Jack, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here!" He looked at Martha, who was squatting to grab something from under her television.
Jack stood by the door with his cell phone up to his ear. "Just some friends of mine but there's no reply."
Angel lowered her psychic defenses and yelled to her best friend, "Careful, Martha! It's rigged to blow. Get out of here, now!"
"Angel!" They shout in unison.
"Out, now!" She yelled in reply. She grabbed Martha and tugged her to the door, laptop and all. The Doctor and Jack followed them out. They all sat in Martha's silver hatchback.
"Here you go, any good?" Martha says while passing her laptop over to the Doctor in the passenger's seat. He used his sonic to boost it's wifi signal.
"I'll show you the Saxon websites, he's been around for ages," Jack said as he grabbed the device, leaning from the backseat where he sat with Angel.
"Yeah and so have I," Angel admitted. Jack and Martha looked at the Doctor in shock. "I don't know exactly when, but it's been well over a year." She looked directly into the Doctor's eyes. It was then that he realized how different she looked. He felt the tendrils of her psyche gently bush his own. He noted her lack of the circlet as well.
"Oh, Angel! You've been without us for over a year?" Martha held Angel's hand through the seats and squeezed. "That's so weird, 'cause the day after the election, that's only four days after I met you," Martha said, directing the last bit at the Doctor.
"We've been flying all round the universe while he was here all the time," the Doctor responded.
"You gonna tell us who he is?"
"He's a Time Lord."
"What about the rest of it? I mean, who'd call himself "the Master"?
She crossed her arms, anger evident. "My kidnapper. Well, he took me from my real family. Kept me alive and well most of the time, but confined," Angel answered. "I was holed up in his mansion for something like a year." The Doctor noted her acceptance of his position on her so-called-father, but needed to get back to the task at hand.
"That's all you need to know. Come on, show me Harold Saxon," the Doctor said. Angel thought about bringing up Martha's family, but decided not to wreck the Doctor's direction.
"Former Minister of Defense, first came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve," Jack read, then turned to the Doctor. "Nice work by the way."
"Oh, thanks."
"But he goes back years, he's famous, everyone knows the story. Look. Cambridge University, rugby Blue, won the athletics thing, wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life," Martha said while exploring the website.
"But he's got the TARDIS. Maybe the Master went back in time, and has been living here for decades," Jack said, giving his input.
"No," the Doctor dismissed.
"Why not? Worked for me."
"When he was stealing the TARDIS the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates. I locked them permanently. He can only travel between the year 100 trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed. Which is right here, right now."
"Yeah, but a little leeway?"
"Well, 18 months, tops. The most he could have been here is 18 months. So, how's he managed all this? The Master was always sort of hypnotic, but this is on a massive scale."
"I was gonna vote for him," Martha admitted.
"Really," the Doctor asked, curious.
"Well, it was before I even met you. And I liked him."
"Me, too," Jack said.
"Why do you say that?" Jack inhaled as if to give a long winded explanation, but his mind drew a blank. "What was his policy, what did he stand for?"
"I don't know, he always sounded good," Martha said while tapping a four beat rhythm. "Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about…" *tap tap tap tap* "I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice," Martha said as she stared off into space and smiled, her tapping continued.
"What's that?" The Doctor broke her trance.
"What?" Martha jumped.
"That! That tapping, that rhythm. What are you doing?"
"I don't know, it's nothing…it's just… I don't know!" Martha defended.
"It's the drums, Doctor," Angel said. "He somehow used me to boost them. Had me locked up in his mansion."
"How did you escape then?"
"He's been busy with the election. I've had a lot of time to develop a new way of using my psychic abilities to my advantage. You may have noticed earlier in the flat."
"Yes, you've come a long way," the Doctor said with a smile and his head cocked. A pop-up appeared on the laptop screen along with strange music, interrupting their catching up.
"Our Lord and Master is speaking to his kingdom," the Doctor whispered. The Master sat with his hands folded in front of him, speaking through the video feed.
"Britain, Britain, Britain. 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. 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 and 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 video feed turned to a metal sphere floating next to the Master. "People of the Earth. We come in peace. We bring you great gifts. We bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship," said a young voice.
"Oh, sweet," said the Master. "And this species has identified itself. They're called the Toclafane."
"What?!" The Doctor said in disbelief.
"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, oh, I don't know, every… medical student?"
They collectively looked up at Martha's apartment, awaiting the bomb. It went off a few seconds later. They turned to Angel appreciating her warning them. Jack patted her on the back, "Good one, Ang."
The situation became much more dangerous in Martha's eyes. She whipped her cell phone out of her pocket, using the speed dial to call her mother.
"Martha, what are you doing?" The Doctor asked Martha in alarm.
"He knows about me, what about my family?"
"Don't tell them anything," the Doctor yelled at her.
"I'll do what I like!" She yelled back. Then she got out of the car and slammed the door.
She gets back in the car. "I've gotta help them!"
"That's exactly what they want, it's a trap!" The Doctor warned.
"I don't care!"
"Corner!" The Doctor warned Martha, who was driving like a madwoman to her mum's in her car. She dials Tish with her speed dial.
"Come on Tish, pick up!" The phone continued to ring.
"Martha, can't talk now! We've just made First Contact, did you see? What are you doing! Get off! Linda, tell them!"
"What's happening? Tish?" Martha slammed down her phone. "It's your fault! It's all your fault!" She said, focusing her anger on the Doctor. They screeched to a halt when they arrived at the scene of her parents' arrest.
"Martha! Get out of here, get out!" Francine screamed at them. An armed squad came running at their car.
"Martha, reverse!" The Doctor commanded. The armed men raise their guns at them. "Get out now!" Martha maneuvered her quickest 3-point turn around. The car took some gun shots as she sped away from danger. Angel and Jack ducked just in time. A bullet broke the rear window. Angel grabbed onto Jack's middle. Jack covered Angel with his own body until the bullets ceased.
"The only place he can go was planet Earth!" Martha shouted as she continued to speed.
"Careful!" The Doctor yelled.
"Martha, listen to me, do as I say. We gotta ditch this car. Pull over. Right now!" Jack said, taking command of the situation. She pulled the car into a small tunnel under an bridge.
"Martha, come on," the Doctor urged as they walked away from the car.
"Leo! Oh, thank God. Leo, you've gotta listen to me. Where are you?" Angel heard Martha say over the phone.
"I'm in Brighton. Yeah, we came down with Boxer. Did you see that Saxon thing on telly?"
"Leo, just listen to me, don't go home. I'm telling you, don't phone Mum or Dad or Tish, you've gotta hide."
"Shut up."
"On my life, you've gotta trust me. Go to Boxer's, stay with him, don't tell anyone, just hide," Martha begged.
"Ooh, nice little game of hide and seek, I love that! But I'll find you, Martha Jones. Been a long time since we saw each other. Must be, what, a hundred trillion years?"
"Let them go, Saxon! Do you hear me? Let them go!" The Doctor ran to get Martha's phone as she yelled into it. Her voice turned shrill.
"I'm here."
"Doctor."
"Master."
"*sigh* I like it when you use my name."
"You chose it. Psychiatrist's field day."
"As you chose yours. The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?"
"So, Prime Minister, then?"
"I know! It's good, isn't it? And the Time Lords?"
"Dead. And the Daleks. More or less. What happened to you?"
"The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War. I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human so they would never find me, because… I was so scared."
"I know."
"All of them? But not you. Which must mean…"
"I was the only one who could end it. And I tried, I did, I tried everything."
"What did it feel like, though? Two almighty civilisations burning." He inhaled deeply. "Oh, tell me, how did that feel?"
"Stop it."
"You must have been like God."
"I've been alone ever since. But not any more. Don't you see, all we've got is each other?"
"Are you asking me out on a date?"
"You could stop this right now, we could leave this planet. We can fight across the constellations if that's what you want. But not on Earth."
"Too late."
"Why do you say that?"
"The drumming. Can't you hear it? I thought it would stop, but it never does. It never, ever stops. Inside my head. The drumming, Doctor, the constant drumming."
"I can help you. I was able to help Angel. Please let me help."
"It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen." *tap tap tap tap* "Here come the drums. Here come the drums."
The Doctor looked up and noticed a guy patting his knees, matching the Master's beats. "What have you done? Tell me how you've done this. What are those creatures? Tell me!"
"Ooh, look, you're on TV!"
"Stop it. Answer me," the Doctor growled out.
"No, really, you're on telly! You and your little band. Which, by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So, congratulations on that. Look, there you are!"
The Doctor looked through a business window to see all four of their faces projected onto the screen. He was just able to make out the newscaster claiming that they were armed and extremely dangerous.
"You're public enemies number one, two, three and four. Oh, and you can tell handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas so he won't be getting any help from them. Now go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the… right?"
The Doctor turned and found a camera watching them. "He can see us," he said to the group as he held up his sonic to short it out.
"Ooh, you public menace. Better start running! Go on, run!"
"He's got control of everything," the Doctor said, lowering the phone.
"What do we do?" Martha asked.
"We've got nowhere to go," Jack said in defeat.
"Doctor, what do we do?" Martha urged.
"Run, Doctor. Run for your life!" The Master growled through the phone.
"We run." They took off running.
"I said run!"
They found an abandoned warehouse to set up a hideout for the night. Angel went out with Martha to find food and supplies. The whole time she couldn't think of anything to say. She felt awkward. Her guilt was at the forefront of her mind. Martha led the conversation, at ease with her good friend Angel.
"How was it?" Jack asked Martha and Angel as they carried supplies back to their hideout.
"Nicked it all, we stayed camouflaged. I'm quite sure no one noticed. I've been doing this for months now." Angel replied.
"Anything new?" Martha asked as she held up a bag for Jack.
"I got this tuned into the government wavelength so we can follow what Saxon's doing," Jack informed.
"Yeah, I meant about my family."
"Still says the Jones family are taken in for questioning. Tell you what, though, no mention of Leo," the Doctor noted.
"He's not as daft as he looks," Martha said with a smile as she leaned over to hand the Doctor some food. The Doctor nodded. Her face fell. "I'm talking about my brother, on the run, how did this happen?"
Jack sat down and started eating. "Nice chips," he said.
"Actually, they're not bad," the Doctor agreed. Martha looked at them and realized they were changing the subject.
"So, Doctor, who is he? How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?" Jack asked.
"And what is he to you? Like a colleague, or…" Martha added.
"A friend at first," he answered before shoveling chips in.
"Thought you were gonna say he was your secret brother or something," Martha joked and looked at Jack. Angel noticed Jack's back straightened. Did he have a secret brother?
"You've been watching too much TV," the Doctor dismissed.
"But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect," Jack said. The mention of Gallifrey piqued Angel's interest.
"Well, perfect to look at, maybe. And it was, it was beautiful. They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the continent of Wild Endeavour, in the mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords. The oldest and most mighty race in the universe, looking down on the galaxies below, sworn never to interfere. Only to watch. Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families at the age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's where it all began. When he was a child. That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism, it's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the Vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space. Just a child. Some would be inspired. Some would run away. And some would go mad. I don't know."
"What about you?" Martha asked.
"Oh, the ones that ran away. I never stopped."
Jack's device started beeping. "Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognise it."
"Hmm, patch it through to the laptop."
"Since we're telling stories, there's something I haven't told you," Jack began his confession.
"You work for Torchwood?"
"I swear to you, it's different, it's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now," Jack said, looking down.
"Everything Torchwood did and you're part of it?" The Doctor clearly didn't approve.
"The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it, and when I did that, I did it for you. In your honour." He looked up at the Doctor, hoping it was enough. The Doctor stared him down for a moment, then moved on to playing the video.
A woman appeared on the screen. "If I haven't returned to my desk by 2200 this file will be emailed to Torchwood. Which means if you're watching this, then I'm… Anyway, the Saxon files are attached, but take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it all started, when Harry Saxon became Minister in charge of launching the Archangel Network."
"What's the Archangel Network? Angel, sounds somehow related to what the Master used you for." The Doctor asked the group.
"I've got Archangel, everyone's got it. It's the mobile phone network. 'Cause look, it's gone worldwide. They've got 15 satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel."
"It's in the phones!" The Doctor pulled out Martha's cell phone and used his sonic. "Oh, I said he was a hypnotist. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on." He banged the phone on the table, then a rhythmic beeping began to play. "There it is! That rhythm. It's everywhere. Ticking away in the subconscious." The rhythm triggered Angel to cover her ears and curled into herself. Jack rubbed her back.
"What is it, mind control?" Martha asked.
"No, no, no, no. Subtler than that. Any strong-willed people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code, Vote Saxon. Believe in me. Whispering to the world. Oh! Yes! That's how he hid himself from me! 'Cause I should've sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should've known way back, but the signal canceled him out."
"Anyway you can stop it?" Jack asked.
"Not from down here. But now we know how he's doing it."
"And we can fight back?" Martha rallied the group.
"Oh, yes!" The Doctor reflected her enthusiasm.
He then got to work building perception filters for the group, even Angel. He thought it would be better for her to have hardware to fall back on, just in-case. "Four TARDIS keys. Four pieces of the TARDIS all with low-level perception properties because the TARDIS is designed to blend in. Well, sort of, but now, the Archangel Network's got a second low-level signal. Weld the key to the network, and Martha…" He stood back away from the group. "Look at me, you can see me, yes?"
"Yep!"
"What about now?" He put on the string with the key around his neck. Martha's head looked to the side of him. She blinked trying to refocus on him, the struggle evident on her face. Jack chuckled.
"No, I'm here." The Doctor waved.
"It's like I know you're there, but I don't want to know."
"And back again!" He pulled the necklace off. "See, just shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible. Just unnoticed. Oh! I know what it's like! It's like…" He glanced at Angel, then focused on Martha. "It's like when you fancy someone, and they don't even know you exist." He smiled, proud of the accuracy of his comparison. "That's what it's like. Come on!" He bounded to the door, half propelled by a sliver of embarrassment. Angel trailed after him. Martha stood there, heart aching.
Jack looked at Martha, "You too, huh?"
They walked in the dead of night. "Don't run. Don't shout, just keep your voice down. Draw attention to yourself and the spell is broken. Just keep to the shadows," the Doctor instructed. The Doctor and Jack walked at the front of the group. Angel stayed in the back with Martha.
"Like ghosts," Jack said.
"Yeah. That's what we are. Ghosts."