She was awakening. That much she knew almost instantly.
To be waking, meant she had been asleep.
That knowledge was strange. Usually, she could remember falling asleep, usually she knew where it was she had laid down to rest. Sometimes, every now and then, she might wake and for a split second, forget where she was, forget who she was. But, as always, a moment later the confusion would be gone.
Not now.
The confusion swirled as her mind tiptoed back into consciousness.
The heaviness of sleep didn't want to leave her. It felt, unnatural. Synthetic.
There was a presence in the room.
Someone was there.
It lingered before it spoke.
Muffled words against the cotton wool inside her head.
Then, the presence left.
So fleeting.
Then she was alone.
Light burned her eyes as she blinked up at the white ceiling. A lingering ache ebbed through her mind as awareness trickled back into her body. She was lying down in a room she did not recognise. A slight chill bit at her skin.
Recent memories played out to her from her mind.
They'd been in Cardiff.
Was this Torchwood?
It didn't feel like Torchwood.
Jack? Could this have been Jack?
No… no, Jack had been there.
Gas.
She remembered gas and pain.
Falling asleep.
Someone had drugged them.
Someone had attacked them.
And now she was here.
Where was here?
Her body protested as she sat up, taking in the stark white walls. She was lying in a bed, a hospital like bed in a windowless room that was far too big considering there was barely anything else in it. Hally was hungry and her mouth so uncomfortably dry. She tried to swallow, wetting her lips.
Uncomfortable energy fizzed underneath the surface of her skin, nodding towards the probability that she'd been unconscious for a little while at least. A stone of dread dropped into her stomach, her nerves itching.
Where was she?
Where was Koschei?
Fear and panic sliced through her chest. She fully sat up, pushing the thin sheet off her body and pulling the sticky pads from her skin, detaching the wires. She noticed that someone had removed two IV drips from her arms, they hung uselessly down by the side of the bed. Although, she didn't linger on it, pushing herself from the bed and to the floor. The way her muscles strained and protested only unnerved her further, unable to pin down exactly how much time had passed.
Pausing, she let her mind extend out from the box room and into the building beyond.
She wasn't alone. The building was large. Humans moving about it like ants. Some were close.
Even closer, she could feel something else.
A presence that didn't feel like the others.
Something scattered.
It was familiar, yet wrapped in a condensed tornado of warped, twisted wrongness. The furthest thing from familiar. And yet… it wasn't human. So it could be him.
Unease blanketed her as fear tried to grip at her hearts. She moved to the white door at the other end of the room. It was possible that there was something wrong with her, that they had done something to warp her senses. The door pushed open with no complaint. Unlocked. No alarm. No guard. The strangeness of it wasn't lost on her. She pressed herself out into a long, white corridor and looked both ways along it. There was no one in sight.
She couldn't help but feel as though she was being set up for something. That someone was drawing her out to escape, or into a trap. Hally moved towards the door next to hers, assuming it would take her into the room where the wrongness was emanating. For a moment, after crossing the threshold, she wondered if she'd entered the wrong room, it was identical to the one she'd just left. As she took another step inside, however, she noticed the bed on the far side wasn't empty.
Cold, steel machines beeped, attached to the lying form like a sterile spider's web. The air in the room tasted of copper. The wrongness seemed to weigh heavier on her chest with every step she took.
Something was incredibly wrong.
Every cell within her was screaming at her to turn away and leave the room.
To get away from the wrongness.
Whatever it was.
Some poor creature.
Some, thing. Tortured.
Half.
Not whole.
Wrong.
But her feet inched her forward, the inappropriate need to see. It drew her in.
At first, as she moved closer, a swell of relief blossomed in her chest at the shock of blonde hair but as her eyes focused, the feeling shrivelled and died.
Wrong.
Somehow the creature, the half, thing, had her husband's face.
A visceral kind of fear gripped her.
The room, it stank of death.
Her body shook as though plunged into ice water.
She reached out, afraid to touch, hoping that the image before her wasn't real. That it wasn't him, that it was something else.
His skin was hot to touch. Too hot. Burning.
Her mind fearfully tiptoed around the edge of whatever was in front of her. A block of immovable concrete met her, an unfamiliar maze with no door. No warm welcome and yet the familiarity of him was unavoidable. She swallowed the bile rising in her throat and tried to shake him.
"Koschei…"
Nothing.
She tried harder, pressing her mind against his but the impenetrable dome knocked her back with a sharp kick of pain. He was hurting. A gnawing, violent pain. She shook him again but he wouldn't wake. Her eyes trailed over the wires and tubes sticking out of his arms and torso and she began to frantically remove them in the hopes that he would come around as she had.
Nothing.
Suddenly, the white of the room flashed to red and an obnoxious bell began to ring painfully in her ears. An alarm. She needed to get them out. It had to be now. She shook his shoulders, face splitting with desperation. "Koschei! Wake up! WAKE UP!"
A wave of panic smacked into her chest. She could feel the humans moving. Incoming. Closing in.
She wrapped her arms around his torso, dragging him off the bed and towards the door. She didn't get very far, a sob shook her as she was forced to lower his body and herself to the ground, cradling him.
What had they done to him?
They had done this to him.
Agony clutched at her hearts as her eyes scanned over his limp, lifeless form. His hair, a shock of white blonde, as if something had burnt the colour from it. The dark circles across his eyes. He was naked, his whole body a graveyard of bruises, scars and newer red lines.
Then there was that smell, suffocating her, invading her senses. Almost Death.
The fear clutching her chest sank down into her abdomen, fanning out and blooming into a furious, hot, storm.
Someone had done this to him.
She shifted him in her arms, tilting his face towards hers. His skin scorched the palm of her hand and still his face remained blank, his body limp.
The door on the far side of the room burst open, she heard them fan inside and surround them, their boots stomping and squeaking on the polished, shiny floor. She didn't need to look up at them to know they'd trained guns on them both, she could feel their fearful attention. 'Protected' by their weapons.
Whoever they were.
She didn't really care.
They had done this to him.
Someone was shouting, a human no doubt. Her eyes fell closed as she wrapped herself around The Master, holding him into her chest. A safe cocoon in her arms.
She would keep him safe.
The rage within her had built, she could feel it spitting and hissing with impatience, intent on being released. A vast, endless hatred grew within her, its roots watered with the heat spilling out of the man in her arms, the meaningless warnings barked at her from above and the wetness that had spilt onto her cheeks.
This time, she didn't fight it as it built within her. The desperation, the rage and hopelessness. The chaos within her battered at its internal prison, a maelstrom waiting for its moment of freedom. It hurt. Stabbing at her insides.
A shrill ringing in her ears brought her back into her body.
She was screaming.
A primal, broken sound, filled with rage and pain.
From within, the blast burst outwards, ripping through everything outside of her and the man lying like a rag doll in her arms. Shockwaves of unavoidable destruction and death spiralled from her like a bomb.
Death.
Screaming.
Endless.
Hate.
Until, there was only silence.
Her throat scratched with discomfort as she swallowed and opened her eyes.
This time, the complete destruction around her wasn't a surprise. Her gaze grazed across it with little conflict. Wherever they had been, whatever building or facility had imprisoned them, no longer existed. The rubble and dust the only sign that it had ever been standing at all. Now, it was gone. In every direction. She couldn't see where her destruction had ended.
She didn't care.
Hally looked back down to his face, still, somehow a distorted peace etched on his features. He was too pale and his hearts were fluttering helplessly in his chest, she could sense them struggling. Her hand came to press at his skin, her own heat building and forcing its way inside his rib cage. Something within him resisted against the tendrils of her power as she pushed into his hearts, as though pushing a boulder up a mountain. But Hally would not let the effort stop her, she needed him to wake up, to be ok. She would give him strength whether his body wanted it or not. The force within him fought against her, an internal struggle, invisible to the world, occurring within his body, until it restlessly relented, allowing her to fuse her own force into his.
She could not wait for him to heal.
She would not let him regenerate.
She needed him to wake up.
Now.
Her own strength careened across him, within him. She took in a bated breath. Waiting. Begging.
Until he finally stirred.
Dark brown eyes flickered open, irises contracting in confusion, followed swiftly by fear before his gaze focused on her and his face broke with relief. Her vision blurred with immediate tears as a pained cry scratched up her throat. She grasped at him, holding him tightly into her chest. Koschei's hand curled into hers, squeezing.
He was shaking.
She could feel him uncontrollably shivering in her arms.
Hally pulled back, eyes searching his as her hand gingerly pressed against his face. She let herself fall through his eyes, her mind edging at the doorway to his. The Master let out a pained grunt and levered himself up until he could sit unaided.
Even ghosting next to the barrier of his consciousness, she could feel the nauseating chaos within.
Wrong.
His attention moved past her as he allowed himself to become aware of their surroundings. The familiar blast rings indented in the ground around them. His tongue flicked out, wetting his bottom lip as a shuddered breath fell from him.
He shifted, moving to try and stand up. If not for her help, he most likely wouldn't have been able to. His body screamed at him and pain flashed so viciously across his face that Hally couldn't help the whimper that fell from her. A growl vibrated in his throat as he straightened and without a word his hand came to catch her jaw, angling her face up towards his. Dark brown burned into her, his jaw flexing as clumsily and quite uncomfortably he clambered into her head.
The intrusion stung, seemingly more for him than her, but she didn't pull back as her husband flicked through her memories in a rush. He withdrew with a sharp ache after realisation had trickled through from him. Eyes scanning across the destruction with renewed understanding. His grip on her jaw softened as he looked back down at her. A slow, tired exhale passed through his lips and his eyes fell closed, his head tilting downwards to rest his forehead against hers.
An unwelcome shiver ran down her spine as his aura fell across her. Broken and deceased and uncomfortable. Tears pricked at her eyes.
He eased back, eyes opening to scan across her face, a grimace of his own marring his features.
"We need…" He spoke finally, his voice a weak rasp. Pained and stretched. He swallowed and attempted to clear his throat, but the sound was just as scratchy and broken when he tried again. "Move… we need to go." His eyes conveyed the rest.
Her head tilted in a nod. They needed to get away from wherever they were. Get away from the scene of her complete destruction.
Anger overwhelmed her senses at her own realisation that she was shaking in his arms. Disgusted at her own weakness, he needed her to help them and she had practically fallen into a state of catatonic shell-shock. Her arms came up to grip onto his, needing to ground herself somewhere familiar. Everything within her wanted to break. To fall into his arms and scream and cry but she could not.
She would not.
He was right.
And yet, he was in no state to do anything.
Hally straightened herself up and looked around.
Where?
Where were they?
The energy within him shifted violently, as though he'd suddenly been struck by lightning.
Momentarily snapping apart and back into place as energy crackled through him. The Master hunched over, groaning in pain. His body was fighting him. Fighting against the energy she'd forced into him. She gripped onto him tighter, staring at him with deep concern all over her face.
That wasn't right. It shouldn't have been happening. Her power had never hurt him before.
He wasn't right.
They'd done something.
He recovered with a groan, rolling his neck impatiently. "Hungry…" He managed to rasp.
She took in a deep breath. She needed to move.
Needed to fix this.
She needed to fix him.
It was up to her.
She straightened up and looked around. Everything nearby was gone, destroyed. But in the distance, barely visible and yet just on the edge of her reach. London. They were nearby. South of the river.
Clothes.
He needed clothes.
Food.
Clothes. Food. Help.
Help.
She needed help.
Before her hopeless panic could overwhelm her, she wrapped her arms around him, taking in a slow deep breath.
She was still fucking shaking.
Hally forced her eyes closed tight.
Help.
She wasn't really sure how she knew that it would work. As seemed to happen when she needed it most, her body took over, the force within her took over and when she opened her eyes, they weren't standing in the middle of her destruction anymore.
They'd moved.
Hally unwrapped herself from The Master, his eyes scanned across her face, a rare look of disbelief etched across his features. She was sure he would have said something if not for the fact that he barely had the energy to stand.
There was a sharp, feminine scream to her left which drew both of their attention.
Huh.
She'd transported them to what appeared to be, judging by the massive written menu on the wall, a fish a chip shop.
Empty, luckily, apart from the two utterly fearful and bewildered staff members staring at them from behind the counter. Hally's eyes flicked back over The Master, becoming immediately aware of his nakedness.
Their options swiftly flashed through Hally's mind, The Master wouldn't be able to hypnotise either of them in his current state, and quite frankly Hally couldn't be bothered to attempt any intricate mind manipulation, so she did the first thing that came to mind. The male member of staff slammed back into the tiled, white wall behind him, held, inches from the floor by an invisible force.
The female screamed again at which Hally sent her an impatient sneer.
"Shut up!"
The woman whimpered, backing herself as far away from the intruders as possible.
"I need clothes and I need food and then you can both go." Hally growled, eyes burning as she glared at the human.
The woman offered a weak nod in understanding.
"If you call the police, he, you and everyone within a mile radius will die… do you understand, ape?"
Eyes wide with fear, she nodded and scurried away to unwillingly fulfil Hally's demands.
The Master watched his wife, but didn't say a word.
Barely five minutes later, husband and wife were sat in a now empty Fish and Chip shop, Koschei dressed in the black jeans and hoodie the staff member had found in the staffroom, the edge of a bright red T-shirt sticking out of the bottom, as he feasted on the table full of food. He ate as though he hadn't eaten in months. Ravenous. Starved and unapologetically vicious.
She sat opposite him, arms crossed over her chest, watching him devour the impromptu banquet in a way that was actually making her feel quite sick.
She swallowed the bile that was rising in her throat.
"You should eat something…" The Master grunted, eyes meeting hers with a glint of a command.
She shook her head, her stomach rolling. "I'm not hungry."
He scoffed in disbelief, openly scowling at her. His eyes glinted as he scanned her face. "You're pale."
She scoffed. "So are you."
"Eat."
"No."
Anger flashed behind his stare but he didn't argue further. She let out a long exhale, leaning forward to rest her head in her hands. The Master let her exist like that for a few minutes, the sound of him eating the only distraction as she forced herself to not submit to the urge to vomit. When eventually, he emitted a meaningful grunt, stealing her attention. He jutted his chin to something behind her and she turned, noticing the TV screen that had been haphazardly attached to the wall of the shop. Warmth prickled across her skin at the picture on the screen and the subtitles underneath.
Breaking news:
'CHRISTMAS EVE BOMB kills over 60,000 in South London, destruction over a mile radius in South London, Crystal Palace area.'
'MET Police suspect terrorist involvement, city on highest alert. South city evacuation in progress.'
Hally watched as the picture switched from the news presenter in their studio to what looked like drone footage, flying across the scene of destruction. She turned away from the screen, a heaviness settling in her stomach. Hally made the executive decision not to think about it.
She ignored it.
Ignored the immediate, pressing guilt. The suffocating pain.
Instead, she pushed it away and focused on the man in front of her. His eyes remained fixed on her, something akin to expectant, worrisome suspicion flickering behind his gaze.
If they didn't move quickly, all focus would be on them.
She took in a quick breath.
"We should call The Doctor." She stated emotionlessly.
The Master paused, ceasing the movement of his hand from the pile of chips to his mouth.
"No." His tone of voice lingered on the edge of danger.
He could see how much effort it was taking for her not to break. Her eyes reddened as she furiously blinked away the water that filled them. Her jaw twitched. "Plea-…" A noise vibrated in her throat as she swallowed. "I don't know what else to do." She spat, the venom in her words masking the utter fear underneath.
"I'm fine." He tried to drawl, although the sound that came from him was more of a weak growl.
A sharp breath hissed from her. "You're not fine." Her hand shook with effort as she brought it up to her face to angrily wipe away the trail of water that had tracked down her cheek. "What have they done to you?"
Although she didn't mean to, her words managed to sound like an accusation.
Hurt flickered across his features and he shook his head. "I'll be fine."
"Koschei you're not fine! You are not fine! You are anything but fine! I can't… I can barely feel you…" Tears had started to fall uncontrollably down her face. "You're hardly there… I don't… I need to fix you!"
He moved from his seat with considerable effort and with a burst of speed he yanked her to her feet, shoving her backwards until her back hit the wall behind her.
"Breathe!"
Hally didn't quite process his words the first time he shouted them at her, mainly affronted by his sudden attack and his hand curled into the front of her top.
"Hally, look at me. Look at me!" Her eyes slid to meet his and the rest of the world seemed to fall blissfully out of focus. Koschei was breathing hard. Her head tilted to one side in confusion, the movement drawing her attention to the warmth of his hand cradling the back of her head, between her and the wall.
"I am breathing…" She muttered, face creasing with a scowl.
Concerned eyes filtered across her face as he watched her, his grip only easing once he was convinced that she was, indeed, breathing and once the unnatural tremor shaking the shop windows slowed to a stop. Although he didn't back away, still smothering her up against the wall. Neither of them wanting to increase the space between them.
Releasing her collar, The Master ran his hands up her arms, his voice low. "I can't tell you what they did Hal, because I don't know…" She immediately searched his face for a hint of dishonesty, but found none.
"… and I would prefer… to not have to relive it." One of his hands came up to brush a tear away from her face.
"Let me help…" She whispered.
The Master offered her a sympathetic smile. "You already have… I'm awake." He pressed a soft kiss against her forehead.
Hally shook her head. "But it hurt you… it made you worse…"
"Not worse… I'm awake." He repeated, offering her a stupidly lopsided grin, completely inappropriate considering their situation.
"Koschei…" Her hand moved up to caress across his cheek, her voice lilting with soft pleading. "I can feel you… it's like you're broken…" She winced at the words as they left her mouth. "I should have been able to heal you… but you fought me…"
He hummed in acknowledgement, grimacing. "I know…" He moved, wrapping her up fully in an embrace. Holding her. Doing his best to shield her from the pain etched onto his face. The Master didn't want to talk about it, he would have preferred to ignore it, but in his current state, he wasn't able to merge with her without causing the both of them pain. The knowledge that she was hurting for him was not a comfortable realisation. He did not like it. Being weak. Broken. Broken. He could not convince her that he was fine because he was not fine. The Master was minute by minute teetering on the brink of complete collapse and his wife could feel it. It was impossible to hide from her.
Her voice was heavy with emotion when she spoke, muffled against the fabric of his hoodie. "What if you… regenerated?" The way she said the word told him without a doubt that she would prefer anything else, that she didn't want him to regenerate. He offered her a low hum of bitter amusement.
"Oh… believe me, I think if I could… I would have done."
She shifted backwards, catching his eyes with hers, round and full of concern. "What?"
"My body has tried to regenerate at least half a dozen times since we've been sat here." He muttered. "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd imagine that my regeneration energy has been split. Inaccessible but internally present. The misbalance is draining my life force, what's keeping me conscious is the energy pouring into me from you."
She swallowed, hands gripping onto him. "My energy should have merged with yours… whatever they did… it's fighting me."
"Indeed."
She took in a deep breath, considering him. "I know you don't want to ask him for help… I don't want to call him either but he would help."
The growl rumbled in his throat as he took a step back, dropping his arms from her. "No."
"Koschei, please… I don't know how to get us out of this…" She had begun to tear up again, much to her own frustration. "We have no idea who did this, no idea who we can trust, we have nowhere to go, you are dying, and the majority of the planet know our faces and soon enough someone is going to link us to that bomb and we can't hide!"
The Master shifted his weight, not taking his eyes off her. His arms crossed over his chest
"I have an idea…"
Hally let out a pained sigh in response.
He cut across her before she could protest. "If it doesn't work… then, and only then… can we call him…" His face slipped into a scowl. Her eyebrows arched upwards in surprise at his option of a compromise.
Hally let out a soft sigh of resignation. "Fine."
"Wonderful." He grunted. "We need a computer."
She cocked an eyebrow at him. "What for?"
The Master chucked. "To hack into UNIT… obviously." He shot her a wink, picking at a final chip before turning to leave. His exit might have been suave, if not for the evident limp, almost trip as he pushed into the door to leave. Hally swiftly followed him, in part to join him but also to ensure he didn't collapse.
Captain Jack Harkness sat at his desk, his new desk, in his new, temporary hub. He missed the old Hub, their new setting far too much like an office block for his liking. He skimmed through the data Gwen had sent him that morning, although his heart wasn't really in it.
The unwelcome stone of guilt sat, unmoving in his stomach.
Luckily, the rest of his team had been untouched and unharmed after the attack two months ago. They'd awoken exactly where they'd passed out in the street, barely half an hour after being ambushed. For the following two months, Jack and tried and failed to find the two missing Time Lords.
Whoever had taken them, hadn't left a trace.
He'd called Martha, UNIT, Armitage, even Hart. No one had even a whisper of a lead.
It shouldn't have been possible.
Jack wasn't sure why, but he'd told Martha not to tell The Doctor. She'd argued, told him that he might have been able to help track them down, but Jack had used the excuse that it might put The Doctor in danger. If whoever had taken them could take out two Time Lords, then a third would be no trouble at all. Begrudgingly, Martha had agreed.
But it had been two months, with no sign.
He would have to contact him soon.
And tell him what, exactly?
That they'd lost his daughter?
Jack shifted in his chair, clearing his throat and forcing his eyes to scan across the page header again.
"Jack."
Alina strode into his office.
She never did knock.
He would have to have words.
"Turn on the news." The blonde barked at him, her eyes were alight with a burning intensity.
She evidently sensed his incoming quip as her eyes flashed with impatience. "Now Jack!"
Barely containing his eye roll, he loaded up BBC news on his laptop, before his face set into a frown. The page was littered with similar headlines and images. A bomb had been set off in South London, tens of thousands were dead. The crease of his forehead deepened as his eyes moved across the pictures and footage. The blast radius was almost perfectly spherical. There had been no leads on the cause. The pit in his stomach squeezed uncomfortably as possibilities flashed through his mind. He swallowed, looking up at Alina. "What was it?"
The cocked eyebrow that she gave him indicated her suspicions. "The blast destroyed houses, offices, but here's the interesting thing… the centre of the blast… apparently that location doesn't exist. It's not on any maps, no Government documents, nothing. The bomb… or whatever it was, detonated in a place that supposedly, doesn't exist."
"What?"
"There's no address. Nothing. Whatever was there, in the centre, even we can't pull up the files."
The pair shared a look of dread. Sixty-thousand people were confirmed dead and while part of him hoped that this meant they'd found her… he found himself praying that in fact, they hadn't.
Jack opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Toshiko entered, sending a look towards Alina before turning to him, her face grave. "Jack…"
"Dare I ask?"
Tosh swallowed, placing her laptop down on his desk so he could view her screen. "I was looking into the bomb… after Alina flagged the location, I checked our readings and… well… there's a corresponding temporal energy spike over London just as the bomb supposedly went off… and then another one just a few minutes later."
Jack and Alina shared a look as Jack rose to his feet, pressing his fingers against his temple. Tosh offered him an apologetic look. "There's something else…" Jack frowned, but motioned for her to continue. "About three minutes ago, someone hacked into UNIT systems from an Apple Store in Westfield, London… I only noticed because I was scanning through all the networks for information on this bomb but… well… this is a live feed…" Tosh pressed a button on her keyboard and the image on the screen changed to a video feed from the perspective of a laptop camera.
Jack paled, heat prickling across his skin.
"How long is it going to take…?" Hally's voice crackled through the speakers of Toshiko's laptop, her tone shaky and fearful. He couldn't see her fully, as she was stood behind him. The Master. The Time Lord's attention focused on whatever he was looking at on the screen. The pair in front of him were nothing like the pair he'd seen two months ago. He could see the fear in Hally's eyes even through the screen, the desperation. The Master let out a low hum, the sound strained. A dark hood obscured a portion of his face, but Jack could see the painfully dark circles around the man's eyes.
"If we can see this, who else can?" Jack looked up at Tosh.
Tosh bit her lip. "UNIT, most likely Government, us, anyone who can hack the UNIT system."
"Can we see what's on their screen? What they're looking at?"
Tosh shook her head. "No… I tried but I think someone's already in, they've jammed me out."
The Master's eyes were flicking left and right, evidently scanning for something.
"Master, hurry up… they'll have tracked this location within seconds of you logging in…" Hally muttered, the sound barely picked up.
Again The Master hummed and spoke, his voice a grumbling rasp. "Indeed, no doubt they're already watching." Dark brown eyes flicked up towards the camera integrated into the laptop screen and for a second it felt as though somehow Jack felt as though The Master was looking right at him. "Smile and wave, Hal." He mumbled, the ghost of a smirk playing at the side of his mouth before his attention flicked back down to his screen. Hally's eyes grazed upwards to the camera too, tension flickering across her face before she looked away, checking behind them.
The Master's eyes shifted towards the edge of the screen and he paused, his eyes narrowing with suspicious interest. Hally, sensing some kind of shift in him peered back over his shoulder. "Have you found…?" Her voice trailed off, her eyes flicking to the same spot on the screen that The Master was staring at.
Jack huffed irritably. "Are you sure we can't see what they're looking at? What about CCTV?"
Tosh shook her head. "No. I've tried. We're jammed out. We've got CCTV, but the screen is too far away." Jack's impatience hummed in his throat.
The Master turned his head to look at his wife, she met his gaze and a look passed between them. His, glint of interest met with her grimace of uncertainty. "You said if your idea didn't work, we could call him…"
The Master hummed. "Mmhmm, and perhaps this was my idea?" He cocked an eyebrow at her.
She sent him a dark scowl. "This has nothing to do with you… we have no idea who this is…" Hally motioned towards the laptop screen.
"Well, we'll compromise… let's call this my 'new idea'." The Master grinned at her. "Do you have a better option?"
"Yes." Hally grumbled. "We call my Da-." The feed cut out as The Master slammed the laptop screen shut.
Jack, Tosh and Alina stared at the now blank video feed. Jack moved first, running a hand through his hair. "Call in the others…"
Tosh and Alina shared a look. "Jack, it's Christmas Eve…" Tosh started.
"Yes! And she just killed sixty-thousand people Tosh! What?! You want to wait to resume 'saving the world' on Boxing Day? Give her a chance to kill more?!" Jack had rounded on her, his eyes wide.
Alina turned to him, raising her hands in a gesture that was probably supposed to calm him down. "We don't know that for certain..." However, it was clear from her tone that even she didn't believe the words coming from her mouth.
He forced himself to take a deep breath, turning his back on the two women.
Alina swallowed, and took a slow step towards him, her hand coming up to offer a comforting squeeze of his shoulder. "Jack… we can't try and track them down all guns blazing. We don't know what's happened… we don't know who else is going to be tracking them. But what I do know is that they're evidently running from something, or someone, or everyone and they're scared." Jack turned to meet Alina's gaze. "…and we know what happens when she's scared…" The blonde looked from Jack to Toshiko and back again. "They don't need more people running after them to try and contain them… they need help." She kept her stare level on him, watching as the cogs turned in his mind.
Jack looked away, towards the floor as he brought his hand up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. Then, he let out a long exhale, practically deflating, and he nodded. "Tosh… stay here, track them. Call Martha and tell her to contact The Doctor." He turned back to Alina and nodded. "You and me… let's go."
Hally felt it as The Master's attention shifted away from whatever he had been searching for. She moved to his side so she could view the screen. "Have you found…?" Her eyes flicked to the top, right-hand corner of the screen where a new message box had popped open.
24/12/09 – XX-039485 – Source Hidden:
Good Afternoon.
You have less than 190 seconds before UNIT Squadron X have you surrounded.
I'm waiting for you in a black car outside.
We can help each other.
It's your choice.
The Master turned to look at her, an annoyingly excitable expression on his face. She sent him what she hoped was a withering look. "You said if your idea didn't work, we could call him…"
The Master hummed. "Mmhmm, and perhaps this was my idea?" He cocked an eyebrow at her, eyes glittering with amusement.
She sent him a dark scowl, considering for a moment that perhaps if he'd remained unconscious, keeping him alive would have been easier. "This has nothing to do with you… we have no idea who this is…" Hally motioned towards the hovering message.
"Well, we'll compromise… let's call this my 'new idea'." The Master grinned at her. "Do you have a better option?"
"Yes." Hally snapped. "We call my Dad." The Master slammed the laptop screen shut and took her by the arm, moving them swiftly out of the shop and into the shopping centre. He took a sharp left, shooting a look over his shoulder to check they weren't being followed and led her down the escalator.
"Master, this feels like a stupid idea. It could easily be a trap, or UNIT just trying to remove us from a populated area." She hissed at him as he sped them towards the exit.
"UNIT wouldn't be that clever." He sneered.
Hally grabbed at his arm, forcing him to stop. "I'm not walking into a completely unknown situation Koschei. We're calling The Doctor." She ripped herself away from him, their slight scuffle drawing the unwanted attention of passers-by.
He caught her wrist, pulling her to his chest. "Hally, we've been gone for two months!" The Master spat back at her. "Do you really think Daddy doesn't know?!" His face curled with an ugly sneer. "If he wanted to save us, he'd already be here!" The Master doubled over as pain wracked through him, energy crackling across the surface of his skin for barely a second before it snapped back into place.
Hally, ignoring the screams of shock around them, grabbed him, supporting his weight as he staggered. Recovering, his eyes met hers, the chaos within knocking the breath from her. She stared at him. His words sank into her chest. She couldn't deny his logic. She couldn't deny that he was right. She swallowed her fear and nodded, taking his arm and moving them back in the direction he'd been dragging them.
It only took a few steps before The Master had straightened himself up and taken the lead, the pair of them exiting the shopping centre, passing through the crowds as they headed towards the road. Hally's breath was coming out in short sharp bursts, checking over her shoulder every few seconds.
As they approached the sleek, black car, the side door opened as a man got out from the back. He offered them a small smile as they approached, undeterred by the sharp look of suspicion shot his way by the both of them.
"Mr and Mrs Saxon. It's a pleasure. Apologies for all the cloak and dagger, but as I'm sure you're aware, getting hold of you both is quite… difficult at present." He pressed the palms of his hands together, his eyes twinkling.
"Who are you?" The threat underneath her tone was heavy.
"My name is Joshua Naismith, and I have a proposition for you. Now, you're correct to immediately distrust me but unfortunately, we don't have much time. Mrs Saxon, if you'd please take my hand." The man, Naismith offered Hally his outstretched hand, an offer of a handshake. She looked up into his eyes, understanding flashing behind her own and reached out to take his offered hand. With no resistance, her mind fell into his as he projected forward what he wanted her to see.
What he had to offer.
She could not sense any deception within him.
She pulled her hand back and cocked her head to one side.
"I appreciate your scepticism… but we don't have time. We have about 20-seconds until we're no longer alone. So, either get in the car, or don't. It's your choice." Again, Naismith offered them both a quietly confident smile, seeming to be in no rush himself despite his words.
Hally turned to The Master and offered him a short nod of approval, but before she moved she looked back up at Naismith. "If you lay a finger on him… I will destroy you."
His smile didn't falter. "Oh, I know."
Naismith strode ahead down the gravel driveway, two security guards flanking him and the pair of Time Lords bringing up the rear.
"Welcome!" He called back to the pair of them, rotating to shoot them a wide grin, his bright white teeth practically gleaming. The Master's hand wrapped around hers, giving it a squeeze. Certain determination was bleeding from him and she was sure he could feel the guttural fear seeping through her pores. He followed Naismith, leading her with him. Hally focused on the warmth of his hand, engulfing hers. Twists of guilt knotted in her stomach as she walked up the drive and into the mansion ahead. Naismith was talking, offering surface information about his home, welcoming them.
All Hally wanted to do, was to get Koschei safe. To stop the pain eating at him from within. Her abdomen knotted, she couldn't help but feel responsible. It had been her plan to stay on this planet, she had trusted the humans. If perhaps they'd gone with The Doctor… this wouldn't have happened. Had it been her own selfishness that had brought them here? He wouldn't share his pain with her, boxed away so tightly inside his mind. Then… there was what she'd done. She had killed… so many humans…
And yet…
The knot of guilt that she expected to twist, did nothing.
She felt, numb to the knowledge.
She didn't care.
Hally knew, wholeheartedly, that she would do it again to set him free.
This, hadn't been her fault.
This was them.
This, ugly, torturous planet and the ants that lived on it.
Two, large wooden doors were opened up ahead of them, revealing a grand circular central room. White and black marble floors stretched out and upward along marble columns up to a domed glass ceiling. The dark red walls gave the room a strange regal feeling, which was starkly contrasted by the plethora of scientific-like stations, desks, men and women in lab coats flitting around and just in front of the far wall, an archway. At least, that's how it appeared at first glance. The further they moved into the room the more Hally could see of it. In fact, it more resembled a large, standing med bay. Reflective tiling lining the inside, wires snaking from it towards the control desk.
"Ah, Abigail… come, you must meet our guests." Naismith ushered over a young woman, her eyes bright and her smile just as perfect as his. "Mr and Mrs Saxon… please, meet my daughter." The man said the words with such pride, his eyes gliding over the face of his daughter in awe. "All of this… is for her, you see." He brought up his hand, caressing his thumb across her cheek in a sickeningly sweet caress.
"Charmed." Hally clipped.
Naismith chuckled, his attention moving back to his new guests. He motioned behind them, towards the archway and they turned.
"Oh, that's not from Earth…" The Mastered muttered, cocking his eyebrow towards Naismith.
The man simply smiled another of his white, perfect smiles. "And neither are you. A perfect combination, don't you think?" He chuckled, taking a few steps forward towards the archway. "The Gate was found inside a spaceship buried at the foot of Mount Snowdon. It was moved to an institute known as Torchwood, but when Torchwood fell, let's just say I acquired it." He hummed softly. "Anyway, the device came equipped with its own power supply. A Nuclear Bolt." He motioned to the station to the left of the device. Two, glass cubicles allowing access to a control panel. "One technician remains in charge of the feedback twenty-four hours a day, and the power feeds through to the Gate, where it encourages some sort of cellular regeneration. Miss Collins was our test subject." As he spoke, a young woman in a white lab coat stepped forward, presenting her arm to them both. "She carried some burns as a result of an accident when she was a child, down her left side."
Both Time Lords stared at the perfectly unmarred milky white skin.
"The Gate mended her. Thank you." Naismith nodded to the girl and she went back to work.
"But what do you want it for?" The Master asked, tilting his head an inch to the left as he surveyed the man.
Naismith nodded, his gaze flicking between hers and The Master's. "We calculate that if this device can be fully repaired by your good selves, it can restore the body forever. Something I am sure… interests you greatly… But as for myself. Well, we named it The Immortality Gate. Because that's what I want. Not for me, but for my daughter. I want her never to die. My gift to her. She will be immortal."
Abigail practically keened next to him. "Abigail. It means bringer of joy."
Hally was sure her face was not doing a wonderful job of hiding her disdain. She heard her husband chuckle beside her, before he clapped his hands together. "Better get to work."
Naismith and his daughter backed off, allowing the pair of them to get to work. Well, it was mainly The Master. Hally knew getting in the way of his 'genius' would only result in sharp words aimed in her direction. He moved to the gate first, inspecting the infrastructure. He tinkered, moving pieces, replacing others. After barely ten minutes he straightened up and waved her over towards one of the desks. "The couplings on the screen, make sure they match." He barked her way. She sat herself down in front of the computer and orientated herself. The system wasn't complicated and it didn't take her too long to execute his instructions.
"Lower the density field but half a point…" He murmured, flicking his gaze over towards her. Hally wished she could creep inside his head, what she really wanted to do was talk to him without being overheard. As she adjusted the settings via the desktop, she bit her lip and cleared her throat.
"I'm not 100% sure we can trust these physical density readings." She clipped back, her tone matching his. He paused, for barely a millisecond, picking up on her double meaning.
"Mhmm… no. Most likely not. There should be a failsafe built into the mainframe. Default settings really… if you consider, its intended function." The Master sucked in the sides of his mouth, switching two wires around inside the device.
"Wonderful." Hally chipped back, her tone tight.
Failsafe.
Hally clicked against the keyboard, adjusting the settings initially for what the pair of them wanted from the device. If all went without a hitch, it could heal The Master and they could leave. She wasn't sure if it could heal him fully, but certainly enough to stop him from dying. Enough that they could get themselves off this fucking planet for good.
The Master had been right.
They should never have stayed.
Then, there was the failsafe. Programmed in just behind the main function, if everything went to shit, she could still protect him.
As they worked, the gate began to whirr, and the lab technicians moved around them, checking the new readings.
The Master moved away from the gate, coming to her side to check the readings on the screen. He offered her a grunt of approval before tapping 'ENTER'. The gate sprang to life, a blue energy field fizzing into life in the middle.
"Oh, excellent. Excellent!" Naismith exclaimed, stepping forward towards the gate in excitement.
Hally got to her feet. "We fixed it, now hold up your end of the deal."
Naismith held up his hands, giving her a knowing smile. "Oh, I'm not an idiot. I've seen the destruction you can wage. Use the gate…" He motioned towards it. "…then, leave us in peace."
Alina had to jog to keep up with Jack's wide stride. The man had reverted to his usual, 'on the offensive' stance as they moved through the corridors of the Naismith mansion. "Just wait a minute, Jack! You can't go in there on the attack!"
"I'm not!" He shot back at her.
"You are! Jack seriously. Stop, just wait." Alina grabbed at Jack's arm, slowing him.
"We're on a bit of a time crunch here, now is not the time."
"Jack!" Alina hissed. "You saw what she did. Hours ago. You can't seriously believe running in on the offensive is going to go down well?"
He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "We're on her side."
"She doesn't know that!" Alina pressed urgently, letting out a sharp sigh she squeezed his arm. "Just… we'll go in quietly. Let me do the talking…"
Jack's face fell into a dark scowl, but before he set off again, he lowered his head in a barely perceptible nod.
The Master had only just stepped into the gate when the single, side door swung open and Captain Jack, Fucking Harkness strode in, followed swiftly by Alina. Hally's body, hovering over the gate controls, seized up, engulfed in a sudden, white-hot panic. Alina, immediately sensing the tension, raised her hands in a placating gesture. "We're not here to stop you..."
A palpable shiver of energy emanated from Hally towards the trespassers, a subtle warning. Her gaze darted down to the gun in Jack's hand.
"Walk away, Harkness." The Master barked.
Alina's eyes widened, a hint of fear flickering across her features, her concern solely fixated on Hally as she followed Hally's gaze to Jack's hand. "Jack, give me your gun..."
Jack furrowed his brow, shifting uneasily. "Huh?"
"Your gun... pass it to me, slowly," Alina reiterated, extending her hand. Jack, after a few moments, reluctantly complied, transferring his weapon into her outstretched palm. Holding it up as a gesture of surrender, she tossed it towards Hally—a peace offering, a token of trust. Hally caught it, clutching it at her side, a visible tremor running through her.
"I'm just healing him... and then we'll go," Hally murmured, her voice low and tinged with fear.
Alina nodded reassuringly. "Okay... that's okay... we just want to make sure nobody gets hurt."
An undercurrent of anger surged within Hally at the implied accusation, as if The Master hadn't already been irreversibly hurt. Alina flinched at the intensity of her gaze. "I know... I'm sorry."
"Where the fuck were you lot?" Hally spat, her tone laced with hate.
Jack shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, kid. There was nothing, no trace..."
A swell of anger coursed through Hally once more, directed at them, at the entire feeble human race. However, before she could turn back to the controls another figure ran into the room, arms waving madly.
"Turn the Gate off right now!" The familiar voice of The Doctor rang out through the room. The guns of the guards, that had previously been aimed at Jack and Alina shifted towards the new intruder. "No, no, no, no, no. Whatever you do, just get him away from that device!"
The Doctor's eyes darted around the room as the tension increased to a suffocating level. Hally barely noticed Donna's grandfather, Wilf step into the room after her father. The Doctor's eyes landed first on her, hovering above the controls, then shifted to The Master, situated inside the gate.
How dare he.
Rage blossomed inside Hally's chest.
"Deactivate it. All of you, turn the whole thing off!" The Doctor waved his arms wildly as though it would somehow help the guards do what he wanted. The Doctor's panic seemed to shift the atmosphere in the room, Naismith's men, now confused, lowered their guns. Some even turned them their way. Jack's face fell into a dark from as he looked from her to The Doctor. She knew, it was only a matter of seconds before Jack took his side. Her body tensed, bracing for the inevitable storm.
"Doctor, wait!" Alina cried out, her hands were raised again, desperately trying to keep some semblance of control over the room. The Doctor's wild, fearful eyes swivelled down to her, a look of confused recognition passing over his face.
They were now surrounded.
Again.
Caged.
A delicate weighted scale, tipping one way or the other.
She wasn't going to let anyone else touch him.
Whatever it took.
"Where's your TARDIS?" All eyes turned to her, The Doctor's countenance falling.
"Hally... just take a breath." He begged.
"Where. Is. Your. TARDIS?"
"Turn the machine off... and we can talk. I can help."
Anger bubbled within her. "Help?" She laughed bitterly. "How are you going to help me, Doctor?" She spat. "Save me from your precious humans, are you? I don't need your help. I am going to fix him, and we are going to take your TARDIS and go. So where is it?" Her voice dripped with heated, hateful rage soaked with desperation.
The Doctor's gaze shifted from her to The Master, wide, sad eyes skimming across the visible damage. He turned back to her. "Hal... I know you're angry... I'm sorry but... let me help. Turn off the machine."
"I'm just healing him! That's it! If I turn this off, I've got nothing... Doctor, where is your TARDIS? Let me go... please..." Tears welled in her eyes, her stomach churning. "Just let me do this... I don't want to hurt anyone... please."
"He's not going to let you." The Master's voice, weak yet laced with anger, interjected. "After everything, he'll never not be on their side."
Rage surged within her as she turned her gaze back to him, her father's silence speaking volumes. "If you won't give me the TARDIS, then I will take it." Her voice dropped to a menacing growl, casting a shadow of danger over the room.
The Doctor straightened. "Hally, no."
The Master emitted a slow, mocking laugh, energy crackling around him. "Just remember, Doctor, you did this..."
"Doctor… just wait…" Alina tried to interject, but she was immediately ignored.
The Doctor met the stare of his daughter, his eyes pleading, begging her. She met him with defiance, unwavering resilience against him. Because that there, was the truth of it. Neither of them had any trust in the other. It was broken. She could not trust him to help them, and he could not trust her with his TARDIS.
Miserable understanding passed between them. The Doctor released a broken sigh.
The Master's voice cut through the tense air. "We would have gone," he sneered, his gaze fixed on The Doctor. "We would have left this filthy, stinking cesspit and ran."
Hally trembled, the walls were closing in. They were cornered. There was one final card left to play, a desperate move, but perhaps it would compel him to hand over the TARDIS. Surrounded, it seemed like the only way out. With shaky hands, she clicked three keys on the keyboard, altering the function of the gate from singular to plural, encompassing the entire planet. Her gaze shifted upwards and met with the dark, certain eyes of The Master darkened.
"It would have been more than they deserved," she spat, glaring at The Doctor. "I'm going to ask one last time..." Her tone softened, barely a whisper. "Where's your TARDIS?"
The Doctor heaved a sigh of resignation. "Hally, just stop... just think..."
But she was beyond listening to him. Anger surged through her veins.
Fuck this.
She refused to listen to his words any longer.
All she had wanted was to fix The Master.
This would be his fault, his interference that had led to this.
She grit her teeth, as fury surged within her.
Fuck the humans.
They deserved it.
With a decisive flick, she activated the gate.
For a long few seconds, nothing happened, then…
"He's inside my head." Naismith muttered, shaking his head as he pressed his hands over his eyes.
"No!" The Doctor cried out, his eyes darting through the room, taking in the effect they were having on every single human in the room. He made to dash towards her, towards the controls but Wilf staggered up next to him.
"Doctor! Doctor, there's, there's this face." The Doctor turned to him, grasping him by the shoulders.
"What is it? What can you see?!"
Wilf whimpered, trying to shake his head as though the action would dispel the visions in his mind. "Well, it's him. I can see him."
The Doctor lunged towards her, pressing desperately at the controls. "I can't turn it off…"
"That's because I locked it, idiot." The Master sneered at him, his face curving with a smirk of victory.
Her father grabbed the old man, moving towards the pair of glass cubicles.
"And to think… if only you hadn't gotten in the way…" Hally muttered bitterly.
"Oh, you're going to love this." The Master drawled, grinning wildly.
Jack had been watching her, his gaze moving between her and The Master. As The Doctor locked Wilf inside the glass cubicle, Jack turned himself towards The Master, and lunged towards him. He barely made it two paces across the marble floor before the gunshot rang out. He staggered backwards, cradling his shoulder.
A second shot echoed through the room, hitting him square in the chest. He crumpled to the floor.
Hally lowered the gun, panic flaring within the room.
The Doctor released himself from the glass cubicle, taking a step towards the gate.
Alina, despite everything, still had her gaze trained on Hally. "Hally, stop…" She met her stare, gritting her teeth against the torrent of unwelcome emotion.
"No."
"What is it, hypnotism? Mind control. You're grafting your thoughts inside them, is that it?" The Doctor yelled towards The Master.
Her husband tilted his head back, laughing in delight. "Oh, that's way too easy. No, no, no. They're not going to think like me, they're going to become me."
"You can't have…" The Doctor turned to the humans in the room, all of their faces merging. Shifting and changing.
Hally stood, silent and still.
Wilf banged furiously on the glass of the cubicle The Doctor had confined him to. "What is it? What have you done, you monster?"
The Master barked a laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry, are you talking to me?"
"…Or to me?" The human that had been Naismith stepped forward, now with her husband's face.
The Doctor whirled around, his eyes widening with complete fear and disbelief.
"Or to me?" The face of The Master grinned at The Doctor from the place Alina had stood moments before.
The Doctor swivelled, turning to his daughter to be met only with a blank, uncaring stare.
"Or to us?" Multiple voices rang out through the room.
Every, single, one, had turned into him.
The Master.
What better way to secure their safety.
"The human race was always your favourite, Doctor. But now, there is no human race. There is only the Master race!" The Master yelled, spreading his arms wide as his laughter echoed around the room.