After stepping out of the gate the first thing the Master did was restrain and gag the Doctor bounding and strapping him upright on a trolley while the Stone was bounded to a chair next to him with chains digging into her ankles. Wilfred however was only tied by rope opposite not that far away with the Master standing between him and the bounded Time Lords.

"Now then, I've got a planet to run." The Master rubbed his hands together. "Is everybody ready?"

"Six billion, seven hundred and twenty seven million, nine hundred and forty nine thousand three hundred and thirty eight versions of us awaiting orders." Naismith-Master called onscreen making the Stones eyes widen. One Master was enough but this was just ridiculous.

The screen then changed to President-Master. "This is Washington. As President of the United States, I can transfer all the United Nations protocols to you immediately, putting you in charge of all the Earth's defences."

"UNIT HQ, Geneva reporting. All under your command, sir."

"And this is the Central Military Commission here in Beijing, sir, with over two point five million soldiers, sir. Present arms!"

"Enough soldiers and weapons to turn this planet into a warship." The Master grinned then looked at the Stone. "Well Stone are you impressed?"

"You disgust me." She hissed. "I have nothing more to say to you."

"But you can't stop me cousin." He laughed then swivled on the balls of his feet looking at the Doctor who was gagged. "Nothing to say, Doctor?" He raised a brow. "What's that?" He leant in cupping his ear. "Pardon? Sorry?"

"You let him go, you swine." Wilfred snapped.

"Oh, your dad's still kicking up a fuss." The Master joked to the Doctor as he watched him.

"Yeah? Well, I'd be proud if I was." Wilf added.

"Hush, now." The Master turned to him leaning closer placing a finger to his own lips. "Listen to your Master." He then turned to leave but stopped when a phone rang.

"But that's a mobile." The Master frowned.

"Yeah, it's mine." Wilfred said trying to hit the end call. "Let me turn it off."

"No, no, no, no, no." The Master shook his head walking over. "I don't think you understand. Everybody on this planet is me. And I'm not phoning you, so who the hell is that?"

"It's nobody. I tell you, it's nothing." Wilfred pleaded. "It's probably one of them ring-back calls." He said. The Master ignored his pleading and searched his pocket finding a revolver inside.

"Ooo, and look at this." He held it up showing the Doctor and the Stone who watched without a reaction. "Good man!" He nodded at Wilf then tossed it on the floor going to his pocket again and finding the phone reading the caller ID. "Donna. Who's Donna?"

"She's no one." Wilf said in a begging voice. "Just leave it." He asked a moment before the Master opened the phone holding it to his ear.

"Who is she?" The Master looked at Wilfred. "Why didn't she change?"

"Gramps, I can't hear you." They heard Donna through the phone.

"Well, it was this thing the Doctor did." Wilf nodded at the Time Lord. "He did it to her. The Metacrisis."

"Oh, he loves playing with Earth girls and to think that you married my cousin." He looked at the Doctor then turned to the Stone. "How in Rassilon you agreed to that with what he does I will never know. Ugh!" The Time Lady rolled her eyes in reply. Her cousin truly was an idiot.

"Are you there?"

"Find her. Trace the call." The Master ordered.

"Are you still there?" Donna asked. "Can you hear me?"

"Say goodbye to the freak, Granddad." The Master ordered.

"Donna, get out of there!" Wilfred shouted. "Just get out of there. I'm telling you, run!"
He ordered. "Run, sweetheart, that's all. Run for your life!"

"There's more of them." Donna cried.

"Donna?" Wilfred asked. "What's happening? Are you still there?"

"They're everywhere."

"Look, I'm telling you to run, Donna." He begged her. "Just run, sweetheart. Just run."

"It's not just them. I can see those things again. Those creatures." Donna cried. "Why can I see a giant wasp?"

"Donna, don't think about that." Wilf pleaded close to tears. "Donna, my love don't!"

"And it hurts. My head. It keeps getting hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter!"  She cried out before a loud scream could be heard. "What did I..."

"Donna?" Wilf looked in panic. "What was that? Donna? Donna, are you there? Donna!" He shouted. "Donna! Donna!"

The Stone started to chuckle as the Master stared over at them. The Doctor smiling looked right at the Master and winked. The mad Time Lord stormed over and removed the gag.

"That's better. Hello." He grinned. "First please don't talk about my wife like that, really?" He raised a brow. "But really, did you think we'd leave our best friend without a defence mechanism?" He raised the other.

"Doctor? Stone? What happened?" Wilf questioned.

"She's all right." The Stone spoke up nodding. "She's fine, I promise you. She'll just sleep."

"Tell me, where's your TARDIS?" The Master whispered looking at them.

"You could be so wonderful." The Doctor looked at him.

"Where is it?"

"You're a genius. You're stone cold brilliant, you are. I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful."

"With a mind like that, we could travel the stars." The Stone cut in.

"It would be my honour. Because you don't need to own the universe, just see it." The Doctor cut in. "To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough."

"Would it stop, then?" The Master asked. "The noise in my head?"

"We can help."

"I don't know what I'd be without that noise." The Master murmured.

"I wonder what we'd be, without you." The Doctor looked at the Stone who nodded before he looked at the Master.

"Yeah."

"What does he mean?" Wilf asked. "What noise?"

"It began on Gallifrey, as children." The Master stepped back. "Not that you'd call it childhood. More a life of duty. Eight years old. I was taken for initiation, to stare into the Untempered Schism."

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"It's a gap in the fabric of reality." The Stone answered.

"You can see into the Time Vortex itself. And it hurts." The Doctor added.

"They took me there in the dark. I looked into time, old man, and I heard it calling to me. Drums. The never-ending drums. Listen to it." The Master whispered to the Doctor and the Stone. "Listen."

"Then let's find it." The Doctor said. "You and us."

"Except." The Master stepped back making them both blink. "Oh. Oh, wait a minute. Oh, yes. Oh, that's good."

"What?" The Doctor frowned not understanding where he was going with this. "What is?"

"The noise exists within my head, and now within six billion heads." He laughed. "Everyone on Earth can hear it. Imagine. Oh. Oh, yes." He grinned briefly becoming a skeleton.

"The Gate wasn't enough." The Stone looked at him sadly. "You're still dying."

"This body was born out of death." The Master looked at her. "All it can do is die. But Doctor what did you say to me, back in the wasteland?" He turned his head to him. "You said the end of time."

"I said something is returning. We were shown a prophecy. That's why we need your help."

"What if I'm part of it? Don't you see?" He laughed again. "The drumbeat is calling from so far away. From the end of time itself. And now it's been amplified six billion times. Triangulate all those signals. I could find its source. Oh, Doctor, Stone. That's what your prophecy was. Me!" He then slapped him making the Stone shake her chains trying to get free while she gritted her teeth. "Where's the TARDIS?" He whispered to him.

"No." the Doctor shook his head. "Just stop. Just think."

The Master nodded over at a guard then at Wilf. "Kill him. I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is, or the old man is dead."

"Don't tell him." Wilf cut in.

"I'll kill him right now!"

The Stone looked at the Master and the guard then started to chuckle shaking her head. "Oh, dear cousin." She laughed making the Master frown at her. "Sorry but I think the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone dead stupid."

"Take aim." He ordered.

"No, she's right." The Doctor grinned nodding along. "You've got six billion pairs of eyes, but you still can't see the obvious, can you?"

"Like what?"

"That guard is one inch too tall." They both said in unison as the guard knocked out the Master with his rifle and removed his helmet to reveal the green spiky male.

"Oh my God, I hit him." He gasped. "I've never hit anyone in my life."

The other one then ran in. "Well, come on. We need to get out of here fast." She undid Wilf's rope.

"God bless the cactuses!" Wilf laughed.

"That's cacti." The Doctor corrected.

"That's racist!"

"Just please undo these." The Stone groaned. "My ankles are getting squished right now."

"I can't undo them." The female cactus groaned.

"Left blazer pocket." The Stone nodded. "Should undo them.

"What this?" She frowned holding the Time Ladys sonic.

"Yes." She nodded. The Stones ankles and hands were freed. She quickly grabbed her sonic going to help the Doctor before they heard Naismith-Master through a screen.

"This prophecy of yours, Doctor, where did it come from?" He questioned. "Doctor?"

"Come on! We've got to get out."

"There are too many buckles and straps. " the male muttered.

"Just wheel him."

"No, no, no." The Doctor shook his head thrashing around. "Get me out. No, no, no, don't. Don't! No, no, no." He groaned as they wheeled him out past a camera.

"Which way?"

"This way."

"No, no, no, no, no." The Stone shook her head. "We have the TARDIS."

"I know what I'm doing." The male Vinvocci protested wheeling the Doctor in the other direction as the female pulled the Stone.

"No, no, no, just... just listen to her!" The Doctor shouted as the Stone groaned. "Not the stairs." The Doctor shouted his eyes widening. "Not the stairs!"

"Worst... rescue... ever!" He shouted when going down each step while the Stone winced knowing that it had to hurt.

"Just, just stop and listen to us!" The Doctor shouted again as the Stone followed. She wasn't going to leave the Doctor just to get the TARDIS. Not when every human was the Master. They ran into the basement to see the Master standing there with a group of guards.

"Gotcha."

"You think so?" The female Vinvocci asked as she pressed her wristwatch. The Doctor, the Stone, Wilf and the two Vinvocci were then teleported as the Time Lords shouted in protest.

"Now get me out of this thing!" The Doctor shouted.

"Don't say thanks, will you." The female Vinvocci glared at him as the Stone flashed her sonic at the binds freeing him.

"He's not going to let us go." The Doctor glared at the Vinvocci.

"Oh, my goodness me." Wilf gasped looking out a window seeing the Earth. "We're in space!"

"Where's your flight deck?" The Doctor looked at them.

"But we're safe." The female Vinvocci looked at him. "We're a hundred thousand miles above the Earth."

"And he's got every single missile on the planet ready to fire." The Stone narrowed her eyes at her. "Where is the flight deck?"

"Good point." She nodded then ran out with the other Vinvocci and the two Time Lords. The Doctor quickly ran back and gently lead Wilfred away.

"But we're in space!" He gawked.

"Yep." The Doctor nodded ushering him out. They followed the Vinvocci through the spaceship arriving at the flight deck. "We've got to close it down!" The Doctor shouted.

"No chance, mate. We're going home." The male Vinocci shook his head moving to the controls.

"We're just a salvage team." The female started to move around pressing buttons. "Local politics has got nothing to do with us. Not unless there's a carnival. Sooner we get back to Vinvocci space the better."

"Not going to happen." The Stone looked at them before flashing her sonic at the flight controls while the Doctor did the same to another group of controls the two creating sparks and making the whole spaceship go dark. They both let out a breath of relief knowing that the Master could no longer find them. The female Vinvocci started to move around trying to check the controls while the Doctor held up a hand to silence her. "Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush."

They waited for a few more moments trying to hear if anything was near. The female Vinvocci glared at them both as they stood against a railing their faces both blank and empty, no TARDIS no nothing just them. "No sign of any missiles." The female Vinvocci angrily flipped a lever. "No sign of anything. You've wrecked the place!" She snapped at them both.

"The engines are burnt out. All we've got is auxiliary lights. Everything else is kaput. We can't move. We're stuck in orbit."

"Thanks to you two, you idiots!" She shouted at them then stormed off with the other Vinvocci.

"I know you two, though." Wilf looked at them. "I bet you've got a plan, haven't you? Eh? Come on. You two have always got a trick up your sleeves." He looked at them trying to lighten the mood. "Nice little bit of the old Doctor and Stone flim-flam, sort of thing? Eh?" He raised a brow and muttered under his breath seeing that they had nothing. "Oh, blimey."

---------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor and the Stone sat side by side on the edge of a step fiddling with a large number of wires. Out of the corner of her eye, the Stone noticed an odd streak of orange and looked up, placing down the wires she stood up and moved over to the window. Wondering what had gained her attention so much the Doctor did the same standing behind the Time Lady looking over her shoulder. "What is it?" The Doctor muttered squinting his eyes.

"Whatever it is it definitely worries me with who is every single human on Earth." The Stone let out a sigh. "This is worse than last time, instead of there being one of him he's everyone with eyes everywhere, every president, prime minister the whole lot."

"But he doesn't have either of us this time." The Doctor breathed out deeply resting his chin on her shoulder wrapping his arms around her.

"Still my worst nightmare."

He raised a brow at her. "I thought your worst nightmare was there being multiple of me in one room... again."

"Okay, my second worst nightmare." She chuckled shaking her head and sitting back down. "At least he didn't take us as badly as I thought he would." She snorted.

"What could he even do about it?" He questioned sitting beside her continuing with the wires. "We're United he can't exactly break it. Nothing can."

"And that is what puts some of my worries at ease." She admitted looking down. "He has to stand there and know that nothing he can do will break the bond between us."

"Exactly." He grinned at her while they sat back down.

"Aye, aye." Wilf then walked in sitting on the other side if the wires. "Got this old tub mended?"

"Just trying to fix the heating." The Doctor replied plugging a couple of wires together.

"Oh. I've always dreamt of a view like that. Hee, hee. I'm an astronaut." Wilf beamed at the view of the Earth while the Time Lords smiled. They had seen it plenty of times but seeing a simple human seeing it real for the first time was definitely one of the best. "It's dawn over England, look." He pointed at the country. "Brand new day. My wife's buried down there. I might never visit her again now. Do you think he changed them, in their graves?"

"I'm sorry." The Stone looked up at him.

"No, not your fault."

"He's my cousin." She sighed. "My younger cousin meaning I'm responsible for all of this."

"Is it?" The Doctor looked at her, the two of them stayed like that for a couple of moments staring into the others eyes as if they were exchanging words by only looking at the other.

"Oh, 1948." Wilf broke the silence. "I was over there." He pointed making the Time Lords looked over at him. "End of the Mandate in Palestine. Private Mott. Skinny little idiot, I was. Stood on this rooftop, in the middle of a skirmish. It was like a blizzard, all them bullets in the air. The world gone mad. Yeah, you two don't want to listen to an old man's tales, do you?"

"We're older than you." The Doctor looked at him dead serious.

"Get away."

"We're nine hundred and six." The Stone added.

"What, really, though?" Wilf looked between them.

"Yeah."

"Nine hundred years." He muttered in thought. "We must look like insects to you."

"I think you look like giants." The Doctor said while the Stone nodded.

"Listen, Doctor, I, I want you to have this." Wilf stuttered while pulling out a gun from his coat. "I've kept it all this time, and I thought-"

"No." The Doctor shook his head.

"No, but if you take it, you could-"

"No." He shook his head once more.

The Stone looked at the gun, studying it for a moment then looking at Wilf. "You had that gun in the mansion."

"You could have shot the Master there and then."

"Too scared, I suppose." He shrugged almost smiling.

"I'd be proud."

"Of what?" Wilf furrowed his eyebrows not understanding what the Doctor meant.

Thickly swallowing he looked at Wilf once more his eyes damper than normal. "If you were my dad."

"I would be more than proud to call you my father in law." The Stone softly smiled resting her head on the Doctors shoulder.

"Oh, come on, don't you two start." Wilf swallowed looking between them. "But Doctor, you said, you were told he will knock four times and then you die. Well, that's him, isn't it? The Master. That noise in his head?" He lightly tapped his own head. "The Master is going to kill you."

"Yeah." He slowly nodded.

"My own cousin." The Stone said in thought. "Never could handle taking my life for some reason, tried to murder my sister and my mother at one point but never me. Now I know why." She sighed. "Killing me wouldn't be properly killing me. Killing those I love would."

"Then kill him first." Wilf looked at the Doctor.

"And that's how the Master started." The Stone sighed running a hand down her face.

"It's not like I'm an innocent." The Doctor muttered. "I've taken lives. I got worse. I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own." He choked out. The Stone held him tightly. They both had. They were both holding equity the same guilt in the end. They went though it together. Not the war but the aftermath was the same. Even as a human the Stone knew something was wrong. "Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long. I can't. I just can't."

"If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?"

"I don't know." The Doctor lied.

"Doctor, Stone, what happens?"

The Stone closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "The template snaps."

"What, they go back to being human?" He asked. "They're alive, and human. Then don't you dare, sir, ma'am. Don't you dare put him before them. Now you take this. That's an order, Doctor. Take the gun." He placed it in his hand. "You take the gun and save your life. And please don't die. You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die."

"Never." The Doctor shook his head placing down the gun.

"A star fell from the sky." They heard the Masters voice though a speaker. "Don't you two want to know where from? Because now it makes sense, Doctor, Stone. The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond. And the diamond is a Whitepoint star." The Stones eyes shot up her body violently shaking with horror of what it was. The Doctor tightly held her shaking himself as he stared at the Earth in absolute horror and terror. "And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now?" He asked. "Do you see? Keep watching, Doctor, Stone This should be spectacular. Over and out."

"What's he on about?" Wilf looked at them with worry. "What's he doing? Doctor, Stone, what does that mean?"

"A Whitepoint star is only found on one planet."

"Gallifrey. Which means it's the Time Lords. The Time Lords are returning." The Stone took a shaky breath. "Maybe we've been trying to help him for too long..." She looked at the Doctor. "Maybe it's the only way..."

"Well, I mean, that's good, isn't it?" Wilf looked between them. "I mean, that's your people."

The Doctor looked at the Stone and took her hand grabbed the revolver with the other. They shared a glance with each other nodded than ran.

They sprinted to the flight deck and ran in where the Vinvocci were stood looking confused as they stared to run around. "But you said your people were dead. Past tense."

"Inside the Time War. And the whole War was Timelocked." The Doctor said quickly fixing wires.

"Like, sealed inside a bubble. Except it's not a bubble but just think of a bubble. Nothing can get in or get out of the Timelock."

"Don't you see? Nothing can get in or get out, except something that was already there."

"The signal. Since he was a kid." Wilf looked between them.

"If they can follow the signal, they can escape before they die."

"Well, then, big reunion." Wilf smiled. "We'll have a party."

"There will be no party." The Doctor shook his head.

"But I've heard you two talk about your people like they're wonderful."

"That's how we choose to remember them, the Time Lords of old. But then they went to war. An endless war, and it changed them right to the core. You've seen our enemies, Wilf. The Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them."

"Time Lords, what lords?" The female Vinvocci asked. "Anyone want to explain?"

"Right, yes, you." The Doctor nodded. "This is a salvage ship, yes? You go trawling the asteroid fields for junk?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"So, you've got asteroid lasers!" The Stone shouted.

"Yeah, but they're all frazzled."

"Doctor?" The Stone smirked raising a brow. He then threw a lever. "Consider them unfrazzled."

"You there, what's your name?" The Doctor pointed at the female Vinvocci. I'm going to need you on navigation." He then pointed at the male. "And you, get in the laser-pod. Wilfred."

"Yeah?"

"Laser number two. The old soldier's got one more battle." He patted his arm.

"This ship can't move. It's dead!"

"Did he say fix the heating?" The Stone raised a brow. "Sweetheart why are you always lying." She shook her head pushing two levers forward.

"But now they can see us." The female Vinvocci looked at the blonde.

"Oh, yes!" The Doctor shouted.

"This is my ship, and you're not moving it." She ordered them. "Step away from the wheel."

"There's an old Earth saying, Captain. A phrase of great power and wisdom, and consolation to the soul in times of need."

"What's that, then?"

The Doctor looked at the Stone who laughed before they both grabbed onto the wheel shouting at the top of their lungs. "Allons-y!"

The ship started to dive right for Earth going straight through the atmosphere. "Come on! Come on!" They both gritted their teeth.

"You two are blinking, flipping mad!" The female Vinvocci looked between the Time Lords.

"You two. What did I say?" The Doctor looked at Wilf and the other Vinvocci. "Lasers."

"What for?"

"Because of the missiles." The Stone looked at him. "We've got to fight off an entire planet."

They both quickly rushed off. "Feels like the Titanic all over again except it isn't the Titanic." The Stone laughed.

"I think you might be going a bit too mad dear."

"Never stopped you." She grinned.

"We've got incoming!" The Vinvocci on navigation shouted.

"Look at this one!" The other shouted from the Lasers. "Oh, my God!"

"You two, open fire!" The Doctor shouted.

"Water!" The Stone screamed as the Doctor skimmed the ocean dodging the missiles.

"Open fire!" He shouted again. "Come on, Wilf!"

"Whoo!" He happily shouted over firing. "Oh, I wish Donna could see me now."

"And there's more. Sixteen of them. Oh, and another sixteen."

"Then get on the rear gun lasers!" He shouted. "The Stone can take navigation! You two, open fire! Now!"

"Yes!"

"No, you don't!" The Doctor continued to dodge the missiles as the Stone gripped onto what she could to stop her flying everywhere.

"Come on! Fire!" The Doctor shouted before he and the Stone ducked as the front window shattered throwing glass everywhere.

"Stone?"

"Locking the navigation." She informed. "The Naismith mansion."

"Destination?"

"Fifty kliks and closing." The female Vinvocci who had now arrived back replied. "We've locked onto the house. We are going to stop, though. Doctor?" She asked while the Stone ran back to join him at the controls. "Stone, we are going to stop?"

They continued while Wilf ran back in. "Doctor? Doctor, you said you were going to die."

"He said what?!" The female Vinvocci stared at him.

"But is that all of us? I won't stop you, sir. But is this it?"

"Oh, Wilf we wouldn't dare take your life away from you." The Stone said over her shoulder just as she and the Doctor pulled the nose of the ship up.

"Ready?" The Doctor looked at her taking her hand then moving over and opening a hatch on the floor.

"No." She admitted entwining their fingers as he grabbed the gun. She swallowed thickly staring at him then they both looked over at Wilf. This was going to hurt like hell, certainly wouldn't kill them but definitely would give them some nasty cuts.