The Doctor ran back to the others and grabbed Jack's wrist, sonicing his vortex manipulator. "Hold still! Don't move!"

"It's broken!" Jack told him. "It hasn't worked for years!"

"That's because you didn't have me. Kez, Martha, Clint, grab hold now!" As soon as everyone had a hold on the vortex manipulator, the Doctor pushed a button, and they all vanished—

—only to reappear and fall into an alleyway in London, hitting the ground hard. McKenzie groaned as she bashed her injured wing.

"Oh my head," Martha moaned.

The Doctor stretched, cracking his knuckles. "Time travel without a capsule. That's a killer."

"Still, at least we made it," Jack pointed out as they turned out of the alley into a busy street. "Earth, twenty first century by the looks of it. Talk about lucky."

"Must be," Clint agreed, pointing across the street. "That Boots only opened October 2012." When the others looked at him weirdly, he shrugged. "What? I notice things, it's my job. Or, at least, it was, until Steve got his hands on it," he joked.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, before noticing McKenzie making a face. "You alright?"

"Mmhmm," she lied.

He raised an eyebrow. "So you're totally not in pain because your right wing took a bullet?"

McKenzie winced. "That's about it, yeah."

"Come here." She let him put his arm around her, being careful not to touch the injured area.

"The moral is," Jack was saying, "if you're going to get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his vortex manipulator."

Martha was rolling her eyes. "But this Master bloke, he's got the TARDIS. He could be anywhere in time and space."

"No, he's here. Trust me," the Doctor assured her, his arm still around McKenzie protectively.

"Who is he, anyway?" Clint asked. "And that voice right at the end, that wasn't Yana."

"If the Master's a Time Lord, then he must have regenerated," Jack reasoned.

Martha frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means he's changed his face, voice, body, everything," McKenzie explained. "Totally new man."

"Then how are we going to find him?" Martha wondered.

"I'll know him," the Doctor nodded. "The moment I see him. Time Lords always do."

Clint stopped in his tracks, blanching. "Oh, God."

"What's up?" McKenzie asked as the others stopped too.

"My assignment. The man I was trailing, the one Fury was suspicious of." Clint shook his head. "I knew I recognised the voice. The Master is Harold Saxon."

Martha and Jack both stared as realisation dawned upon them. "The Prime Minister." Martha nodded. "I've seen him, we all have."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at a TV in a shop front showing the Master walking down some steps with a blonde woman. "That's him. The Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain." He frowned. "The Master and his wife?"

McKenzie swatted at him. "Says you!"

"No, no, no, I just thought he was gay," the Doctor shrugged.

Onscreen, the Master was making a speech. "This country is 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..." He looked directly at the camera, as if he knew they were watching. "... is a Doctor."

***

"Home," Martha sighed as she let them into her flat.

"Mar, what have you got? Computer, laptop, anything?" McKenzie requested.

The Doctor frowned. "Jack, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here."

"Just some friends of mine, but there's no reply."

Martha handed her laptop to McKenzie, who gave it to Clint. "I can show you the Saxon websites. He's been around for ages."

"It's so weird though," Martha sighed, checking the date on her landline. "It's December. That's only a month after I met you two."

The Doctor grimaced. "We went flying all around the universe while he was here all the time."

"You going to tell us who he is?" Martha prompted.

"He's a Time Lord," McKenzie told her shortly.

"What about the rest of it? I mean, who'd call himself the Master?"

"That's all you need to know," the Doctor said, sitting down next to McKenzie and Clint. "Show me Harold Saxon."

***

Clint brought up various videos of celebrities giving Saxon their stamp of approval before looking into his bio. "Former Minister of Defence. First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve."

"Nice work, by the way," Jack put in, looking over at the alien pair.

"Oh, thanks," the Doctor smiled.

"But he goes back years," Martha pointed out. "He's famous. Everyone knows his story. Look. Cambridge University, rugby blue. Won the Athletics thing. Wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life."

Jack sighed, making mugs of tea for everyone. "But he's got the TARDIS. Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades."

McKenzie shook her head. "No."

"Why not?" Jack wondered, shrugging. "Worked for me."

"When he was stealing the TARDIS, the only thing I could do was fuse the co-ordinates. I locked them permanently. He can only travel between the year one hundred trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed, which is right here, right now," the Doctor explained.

"Okay, but a little leeway?" Clint asked.

"Well, eighteen months, tops," the Doctor estimated. "The most he could have been here is eighteen months. So how has he managed all this? The Master was always sort of hypnotic, but this is on a massive scale."

"I was going to vote for him," Martha said absently.

McKenzie raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Well, it was before I even met you. And I liked him," the human shrugged.

"Me too," Jack agreed.

"Why do you say that?" McKenzie asked. "What was his policy? What did he stand for?"

Martha shrugged. "I don't know. He always sounded good. Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about... I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice."

"What's that?" Clint questioned, pointing at her finger tapping on her knee.

"What?"

"That. The tapping, that rhythm. What are you doing?" Clint demanded, narrowing his eyes.

"I don't know," Martha shook her head, seeming a little startled. "It's nothing. It's just... I don't know."

McKenzie blinked, seeing a pop-up on the laptop saying 'Saxon Broadcast All Channels'. She grabbed the remote off the table and turned on the TV. "Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom," she said by way of explanation as the others looked around, startled.

Onscreen, the Master sighed, shaking his head. "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." A metallic sphere flew into view, hovering by his shoulder.

"People of the Earth," the sphere called in a female voice. "We come in peace. We bring great gifts. We bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship."

"Ooh, sweet," the Master grinned. "And this species has identified itself. They are called the Toclafane."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "What?!"

"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. Oh, I don't know..." The Master smirked. "Every medical student?"

Clint's eyes widened, and he turned the TV to see explosives strapped to the back. "Out!" Jack and Martha led the way out of the building, the Doctor following once he'd grabbed the laptop, but with all of them taking up the corridor, there wasn't time for McKenzie and Clint. Instead, the agent sighed. "Round three." He hugged her, and she smashed them both through the window, using her wings to slow their fall, avoiding the explosion by mere seconds.

"All right?" the Doctor asked McKenzie, hugging her and Clint as soon as they touched down.

"Fine," McKenzie assured him.

Clint nodded. "Yeah, fine."

The Doctor noticed something over their shoulders as he let them go. "Martha? What are you doing?"

She was dialling a number on her mobile. "He knows about me, what about my family?"

"Don't tell them anything," McKenzie warned.

"I'll do what I like," Martha shot back, before half turning away to talk. "Mum? Oh my God, you're there."

"Of course I'm here, sweetheart," Francine replied. "You all right?"

Martha sighed in relief. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Mum, has there been anyone asking about me?"

Francine hesitated. "Martha, I think perhaps you should come round."

"I can't. Not now."

"No, but it's your father. We've... we've been talking and we thought we might give it another go," Francine explained.

"Don't be so daft," Martha gasped. "Since when?"

"Just come around," Francine pleaded. "Come to the house. We can celebrate."

"You said you'd never get back with him in a million years," Martha frowned.

"Ask him yourself."

"Martha, it's me," Clive's voice came on the phone.

"Dad, what are you doing there?" Martha demanded.

"Like your mother said," Clive replied. "Come round. We can explain everything."

Martha bit her lip. "Dad? Just say yes or no. is there someone else there?"

Clive hesitated. "Yes! Just run!"

"Clive!" Francine complained.

"Listen to me! Just run! I don't know who they are!" Clive shouted.

"We're trying to help her! Martha, don't listen to him!"

Martha's eyes widened. "Dad? What's going on? Dad?"

"We've got to get Martha away from them!" Francine cried, just before Martha hung up.

"We've got to help them," she said, turning to the others, who were watching her with varying degrees of interest, concern, and unease.

The Doctor winced. "That's exactly what they want. It's a trap!"

The girl shook her head, getting into her car. The others followed, with Jack, Clint, and McKenzie in the back. "I don't care." As she drove down the road, she made a call hands free. "Come on, Tish. Pick up," she muttered.

"Martha, I can't talk right now," Tish said as she answered the phone. "We just made first contact. Did you see?" There was a pause, then she yelped. "What are you doing? Get off! Linda, tell them!"

"What's happening? Tish!" Martha sighed frustratedly hanging up and glaring at the Doctor. "It's your fault. It's all your fault!"

***

Francine was being bundled into a police van when Martha drove up. "Martha, get out of here! Get out!"

The Doctor's eyes widened as he saw people lining up with guns, aiming at the car. "Martha reverse. Get out, now!"

Martha turned the car round as bullets slammed into it, and McKenzie quickly put a shield round the back where the bullets were hitting. "Move it!"

"The only place we can go, planet Earth," Martha scoffed. "Great!"

Clint winced as she took a corner far too quickly. "Careful!"

Jack leaned forwards, putting his hand on the girl's shoulder. "Martha, listen to me. Do as I say. We've got to ditch this car. Pull over. Right now!" Martha did as asked, and everyone got out.

"Martha, come on," the Doctor said, starting off down the underpass, but McKenzie put a hand on his arm to stop him as the human made another call.

"Leo!" Martha cried, grinning. "Oh, thank God. Leo, you got to listen to me. Where are you?"

"I'm in Brighton," Leo replied. "Yeah, we came down with Boxer. Did you see that Saxon thing on telly?"

Martha sighed in relief. "Leo, just listen to me. Don't go home. I'm telling you. Don't phone Mum or Dad or Tish. You've got to hide."

"Shut up," Leo muttered uneasily.

"On my life, you've got to trust me. Go to Boxer's stay with him. Don't tell anyone. Just hide," Martha ordered.

Suddenly, Leo's voice cut out, and it was replaced with that of Harold Saxon. "Ooh, a 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, one hundred trillion years?"

"Let them go, Saxon. Do you hear me! Let them go!" Martha cried.

The Doctor took her phone, holding it to his ear. "I'm here," he said quietly, going over to sit on a wall.

"Doctor."

"Master."

"I like it when you use my name," the Master chuckled.

"Well, you chose it. Psychiatrist's field day," the Doctor half shrugged. McKenzie came and sat next to him, Jack, Martha, and Clint standing in front of them.

"As you chose yours. The man who makes people better." The Master scoffed. "How sanctimonious is that?"

The Doctor arched an eyebrow, rolling his eyes. "So, Prime Minister, then."

The Master giggled. "I know, it's good, isn't it?"

"Who are those creatures? Because there's no such thing as the Toclafane," the Doctor reasoned. "It's just a made up name, like the Bogeyman."

"Do you remember all those fairy tales about the Toclafane when we were kids back home?" The Master sighed. "Where is it, Doctor?"

"Gone."

"How can Gallifrey be gone?" the Master inquired.

"It burnt," the Doctor replied.

"And the Time Lords?"

"Dead," the Doctor confirmed. "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," the Master recounted.

"I know," the Doctor whispered.

"All of them?" the Master asked. "But not you, which must mean—"

"I was the only one who could end it," the Doctor cut him off. "And I tried. I did. I tried everything."

"What did it feel like, though?" the Master goaded. "Two almighty civilisations burning. Oh, tell me, how did that feel?"

"Stop it!" McKenzie took the Doctor's hand, brushing her fingers over it soothingly.

"You must have been like God."

"I won't tell him about you. I can keep you safe in that way," the Doctor whispered telepathically, before speaking aloud. "I've been alone ever since. But not anymore. Don't you see? All we've got is each other."

The Master snorted. "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." Clint's eyes widened as he realised the Doctor was proposing leaving Earth behind forever to keep the Master away. Would McKenzie really leave them?

"Too late," the Master decided.

The Doctor sighed. "Why do you say that?"

"The drumming. can't you hear it? I thought it would stop, but it never does. Never ever stops. Inside my head, the drumming, Doctor." The Master groaned. "The constant drumming."

"I could help you. Please, let me help," the Doctor pleaded.

"It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen." The Master paused. "Here come the drums. Here come the drums."

The Doctor noticed a man nearby tapping his knee in the same rhythm. "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."

"No, really," the Master assured him. "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 group moved over to a shop window where a TV was displaying their names and pictures.

"Shit," Clint muttered. "Nat's gonna kill me."

"You're public enemies numbers one, two, three, four, and five," the Master informed them. "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?"

"He can see us," the Doctor muttered, but Clint was the first to spot the camera. He grabbed a sizeable rock and threw it right at the CCTV camera, smashing it. "Ooh, nice shot."

Clint rolled his eyes. "That's my job."

"Oh, you public menace," the Master taunted. "Better start running. Go on, run."

"He's got control of everything," McKenzie realised, staring at the shattered camera with wide eyes.

"What do we do?" Martha asked, looking to the Doctor.

"We've got nowhere to go," Jack sighed.

"Doctor, what do we do?" Martha demanded.

"Run, Doctor. Run for your life!" the Master taunted.

"We run," the Doctor decided.

"I said, run!"

***

Later, they had holed up in an abandoned warehouse, and McKenzie and Martha had gone out for food. Jack was the first to notice their return when McKenzie zipped them back in. "How was it?"

"They didn't recognise us," Martha replied. "Anything new?"

"I've got my vortex manipulator tuned to government wavelengths so we can follow what Saxon's doing," Jack reported.

McKenzie rolled her eyes, going over to the laptop where Clint and the Doctor were reading up on something. "Yeah, she meant about her family."

Clint looked over to Martha as she approached. "It still says the Jones family taken in for questioning."

"Tell you what, though. No sign of Leo," the Doctor shrugged, smiling as his girlfriend handed chips around.

"He's not as daft as he looks," Martha grinned, before sighing. "I'm talking about my brother on the run. How did this happen?"

Jack avoided her eyes. "Nice chips."

"Actually, they're not bad," McKenzie allowed, blowing on one before popping it into her mouth.

Clint leaned back in his chair as he dug in. "So, Doc, who is he? How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?"

"And what is he to you?" Martha asked. "Like a colleague or...?"

"A friend, at first," the Doctor answered.

Martha sighed. "I thought you were going to say he was your secret brother or something."

Everyone looked at her weirdly. "You've been watching too much TV," McKenzie teased.

Jack brought them back to the subject. "But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect."

"Well, perfect to look at, maybe," the Doctor shrugged. "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 on Gallifrey, taken from their families age of eight to enter the Academy." He sighed. "And some say that's when 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. Brr. I don't know."

"What about you?" Martha asked.

The Doctor laughed. "Oh, the ones that ran away. I never stopped."

Clint looked up as Jack's vortex manipulator bleeped. "Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognise it. I'm patching it through to the laptop."

Jack made a face. "Since we're telling stories, there's something I haven't told you." He winced as the Torchwood logo came up on the laptop. Next to him, McKenzie gasped audibly, her eyes widening. "You work for Torchwood?!"

"I swear to you, it's different," Jack tried. "It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now."

McKenzie swallowed. "Everything Torchwood did, and you're a part of it?"

"The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf," Jack explained. "I rebuilt it, I changed it, and when I did that, I did it for you and Rosie, in your names."

Clint hit play, effectively distracting them all. A woman in a SHIELD uniform appeared and started talking. "If I haven't returned to my desk by twenty two hundred, 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 because Minister in charge of launching the Archangel Network."

"What's the Archangel Network?" the Doctor asked, confused.

"I've got Archangel," Martha told him. "Everyone's got it."

"It's a mobile phone network," Jack replied.

"It's how Saxon got on SHIELD's radar," Clint explained, pulling up the Archangel document. "Because look, it's gone worldwide. They've got fifteen satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel."

"It's in the phones!" the Doctor realised. "Oh, I said he was a hypnotist. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on." He took Martha's phone and gently tapped it against the table. It started beeping the four beat rhythm.

McKenzie nodded her understanding. "There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere, ticking away in the subconscious."

"What is it, mind control?" Martha wondered.

"No, no, no, no, no," the Doctor shook his head. "It's subtler than that. Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code, Vote Saxon. Believe in me. Whispering to the world. Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me, because I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal cancelled him out."

"Any way you can stop it?" Jack asked.

"Not from down here," McKenzie replied. "But now we know how he's doing it."

"And we can fight back," Clint finished.

The Doctor grinned. "Oh yes."

***

Half an hour later, the Doctor had made perception filters out of TARDIS keys and bits of phone an laptop, using his sonic to weld them together. "Five TARDIS keys. Five 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, look at me. You can see me, yes?"

"Yes," the girl replied, frowning. Of course she could.

"What about now?" He put the key on a string around his neck, and Martha's gaze kept slipping past him. "No, I'm here. Look at me." Even Clint was struggling to look straight at him, and he was easily the most perceptive out of them all.

He frowned. "It's like I know you're there, but I don't want to know."

"And back again." The Doctor took off the perception filter. "See? It just shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible, just unnoticed."

"I know what it's like," McKenzie raised her eyebrows. "It's like when you fancy someone, and they don't even know you exist. That's what it's like."

The Doctor winced. "You're never going to let go of that grudge against the French, are you?"

McKenzie nudged him with her shoulder, grinning. "Nope."

***

Later, the quintet had moved out to the streets. "Don't run, don't shout," the Doctor instructed. "Just keep your voice down. Draw attention to yourself and the spell is broken. Just keep to the shadows."

"Like ghosts," Jack suggested.

"Yeah," McKenzie agreed. "That's what we are. Ghosts." Wearing the perception filters, they had to step aside for each person, so they split up, weaving through the crowds.

***

"Shit," Clint muttered as they watched the Master and his wife meet with another man at an airport.

"What's up?" the Doctor asked, frowning.

Clint pointed. "You see that other guy? He's the President of the United States of America. This can't end well."

Martha gasped quietly as the Master ran up to a police van where her parents were being bundled out. "Oh my God."

"Don't move," McKenzie warned her, holding her arm.

"But the—!"

"I know, but don't."

She watched as her parents were taken away in a Range Rover. "I'm going to kill him."

"How about I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Clint suggested.

The Doctor arched an eyebrow at him. "You sound like Nat."

Clint shrugged. "Still a good plan."

The Time Lord shook his head. "He's a Time Lord, which makes him my responsibility. I'm not here to kill him. I'm here to save him."

"You said that about the Nestene Consciousness," McKenzie reminded him.

"Well, I really hope this doesn't end quite the way that did," the Doctor replied, wincing.

Jack had been searching something up on his vortex manipulator. "Aircraft carrier Valiant. It's a UNIT ship at 58.2 North, 10.02 East."

"How do we get on board?" Martha asked.

The Doctor looked to the Captain. "Does that thing work as a teleport?"

"Since you revamped it, yeah," Jack nodded. "Co-ordinates set."

The quintet all put their hands on Jack's vortex manipulator, bracing themselves for impact.

***

McKenzie groaned as she hit the ground. "Oh, that thing is rough."

"I've had much worse nights," Jack shrugged.

"I've had much better," the redhead countered, winking.

Clint rolled his eyes. "You're worse than Tony."

"Thank you very much."

"Welcome to the Valiant," Jack introduced, grinning.

Martha blinked as she looked out of a porthole window. "It's dawn? Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?"

"A ship for the twenty first century," Clint explained, "protecting the skies of planet Earth. Sort of like the Helicarrier."

The Doctor was distracted, leading them off down a corridor before stopping suddenly. "We've no time for sightseeing," Jack complained.

"No, wait," the Time Lord shook his head. "Shush, shush, shush, shush. Can't you hear it?"

The humans frowned. "Hear what?" Clint questioned.

"Doctor, my family's on board," Martha reminded him.

McKenzie's eyes widened, then her face split into a wide smile. "Brilliant. This way!" She held her arms out, and the other four grabbed on, just in time for her to run them to the TARDIS.

"Oh, at last," the Doctor grinned.

"Yes!" Martha cheered.

"Hello, again, old girl," Clint smiled, patting the TARDIS's door.

Jack narrowed his eyes. "What's she doing on the Valiant?" He pushed open the door to find the interior bathed in red. "What the hell's he done?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Don't touch it."

"I'm not going to," Jack promised.

"What's he done though?" Martha asked. "Sounds like she's sick."

McKenzie flinched a little as the cloister bell sounded, something Clint noticed. He put his arm around her shoulders, squeezing. "It can't be. No, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be."

"Doctor, what is it?" Clint demanded.

"He's cannibalised the TARDIS," the man replied, sounding heartbroken as he stared up at his ship in horror.

Jack's eyes widened. "Is this what I think it is?"

"It's a paradox machine," McKenzie whispered, her eyes wide and filled with tears as she felt the TARDIS' pain lashing through her mind.

The Doctor moved towards the console and tapped on a gauge the Master had added as part of his 'renovations'. "As soon as this hits red, it activates. At this speed, it'll trigger at two minutes past eight."

Clint sighed, rubbing McKenzie's arm. "First contact is at eight, then two minutes later..."

"What's it for?" Martha questioned. "What does a paradox machine do?"

"More important, can you stop it?" Jack questioned.

The Doctor shook his head. "Not till I know what it's doing. Touch the wrong bit, blow up the solar system."

"Then we've got to find the Master," Clint decided.

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "And how are we going to stop him?"

"Oh, I've got a way," the Doctor assured them. "Sorry, didn't I mention it?"

***

President Winters was leading the proceedings, speaking to a camera and those who'd come to the Valiant. "My fellow Americans, patriots, people of the world. I stand before you today as ambassador for humanity, a role I will undertake with the utmost solemnity. Perhaps our Toclafane cousins can offer us much, but what is important is not that we gain material benefits, but that we learn to see ourselves anew. For as long as man has looked at the stars, he has wondered what mysteries they hold. Now we know we are not alone." The quintet entered quietly, taking seats at the back of the audience.

"This plan, you going to tell us?" Jack questioned, raising an eyebrow.

The Doctor held up his perception filter, still wearing it. "If I can get this around the Master's neck, cancel out his perception, they'll see him for real. It's just hard to go unnoticed with everyone on red alert. If they stop me, you've got a key."

"Yes, sir," Clint nodded.

"I'll get him," Martha said determinedly. Jack nodded along, and McKenzie squeezed the Doctor's hand before letting go.

"And I ask you now, I ask of the human race, to join with me in welcoming our friends. I give you the Toclafane." Winters stepped backwards a little as four of the spheres appeared in mid-air. "My name is Arthur Coleman Winters, President Elect of the United States of America, and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon."

"You're not the Master," a male sphere stated.

"We like the Mr Master," a female one agreed.

Another male voice sneered at Winters, "We don't like you."

Winters looked unsure of how to proceed. "I...I can be master, if you so wish. I will accept mastery over you, if that is God's will."

"Man is stupid."

"Master is our friend."

"Where's my Master, pretty please?"

"Oh, all right then," the Master said from his seat, then jumped up next to Winters. "It's me. Ta da! Sorry, sorry, I have this effect. People just get obsessed. Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know. It's crazy."

Winters scowled. "Saxon, what are you talking about?"

The Master glared at him. "I'm taking control, Uncle Sam, starting with you. Kill him." One of the spheres shot the President into dust. People from the audience screaming, trying to escape, and the Master laughed, applauding. "Guards."

The armed guards raised their weapons at the crowds. "Nobody move! Nobody move!"

"Now then, peoples of the Earth. Please attend carefully." The Doctor took off his key and tried to run forwards, but a pair of guards grabbed him. McKenzie followed seconds after, but one guard managed to stop her with a blow to the head with his gun, and she collapsed.

"We meet at last, Doctor," the Master smiled. "Oh, ho. I love saying that."

"Stop it! Stop it now!" the Doctor pleaded, his eyes flickering to McKenzie, who was groaning on the floor, sitting up slowly.

"As if a perception filter's going to work on me. I must say, you have an interesting choice of companion," the Master noted, looking over McKenzie. She glared at him. "What are you, I wonder?" he asked, crouching to push her chin up with his fingers.

"Pissed," she snapped, yanking herself out of his grip.

The Master smirked. "What's a child of the vortex doing with a Time Lord?" He snorted as he turned back to the crowd. "And look, it's the girlie, the freak, and the disappointment. Although, I'm not sure which one's which." Jack ran forwards, but the Master zapped him with his screwdriver, killing him. "Laser screwdriver. Who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. I get to kill him again!"

Clint cried out in pain as the Master buzzed his screwdriver at him, and threw his sparking hearing aids to the ground, leaving him completely deaf. "You bastard," McKenzie growled.

"Master, just calm down," the Doctor begged. "Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself—"

The Master rolled his eyes at the camera, which was still rolling. "Oh, do excuse me. Little bit of personal business. Back in a minute." He pushed it away, then nodded to the guards holding the Doctor. "Let him go."

The Doctor didn't react as the guards dropped him, opting instead to train their guns on his back. "It's that sound. The sound in your head. What if I could help?"

"Oh, how to shut him up?" the Master asked rhetorically, ignoring Clint and Martha as they moved forwards to where Jack was lying dead, McKenzie already by his side. "I know. Memory Lane. Professor Lazarus. Remember him and his genetic manipulation device? What, did you think that little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver? But, ooh, if only I had the Doctor's biological code. Oh, wait a minute, I do." He opened a large metal briefcase, revealing the Doctor's old hand. "I've got his hand. And if Lazarus made himself younger, what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?" He aimed his screwdriver at the Doctor, who started convulsing on the ground.

McKenzie's breath caught in her throat as she watched him start to look older and older, the conversion clearly painful. Jack revived, and gave Martha his vortex manipulator. "Teleport," he ordered.

Martha looked at him, her eyes wide. "I can't."

"We can't stop him. Get out of here. Get out!"

She watched as McKenzie crawled over to her boyfriend, who now looked a hell of a lot older. "Kas? I've got you," she whispered, trying—and failing—to not let her tears spill over at the pain she had just witnessed.

"Ah, sweet," the Master smiled. "But tonight, Martha Jones, we've flown them in all the way from prison." He smirked as Clive, Tish, and Francine were marched in, their wrists bound with cable ties.

"Mum?" Martha's eyes widened.

"I'm sorry," Francine apologised tearfully.

"The Toclafane. What are they?" the Doctor asked. "Who are they?"

The Master sighed. "Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break."

"Is it time?" one of the Toclafane asked. "Is it ready?"

"Is the machine singing?"

"Two minutes past," the Master confirmed. "So Earthlings. Basically, er, end of the world. Here come the drums!"

A guard stepped forwards at the Master's gesture and smacked McKenzie in the back of the head with the butt of his gun, causing her to slump, passed out. Simultaneously, a tear appeared in the sky outside and thousands of spheres poured out, descending to the Earth below.

"How many do you think?" the Master asked, putting his arm around his wife, Lucy.

"I, I don't know," she shook her head, glancing back at the unconscious redhead.

"Six billion," he answered. "Down you go, kids. Shall we decimate them? That sounds good. A nice word, decimate. Remove one tenth of the population!"

Unseen by the Master, the Doctor whispered something in Martha's ear, and she moved away, clutching Jack's vortex manipulator, as reports came in from all over the world, pleading for help against the Toclafane. She teleported away, and the Doctor shared a look with Clint and Jack, the three of them nodding, even as the humans and McKenzie were dragged away.

***

Martha stood alone in a field, watching London burning in the distance. "I'm coming back," she promised, before turning and walking away.

***

The Master and Lucy held up the ancient Doctor so he could watch the slaughter. "And so it came to pass that the human race fell, and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all, and I thought it..." The Master smiled. "Good."

~~~

Ahhhhh, I am so hyped for this!!! Still gonna make myself wait till next week for the next chapter though, because apparently patience is a virtue, and I need as many of those as I can get, considering what's happening in the next few chapters >:)

Next up is an interlude for the Heathen Chronicles which will be updated tomorrow, so keep a look out!

Enjoy!