How to Tame an Insane Time Lord (6/?)
Title: How to Tame an Insane Time Lord (6/?)
Author: mistakenelegant
Word Count: 3,492
Rating: Soft R for implied slash/m-preg and character death.
Author's Notes: As I told fading_xhopex and my friend Tash: Six chicken nuggets and a few fries, one glass of Mountain Dew, almost half a pack of cigarettes, six hours, too many times of me watching/re-winding Last of the Time Lords, and 3,492 words later....it's done. (I told you I'd make this my author's notes!)
Chapters: Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5
A whole year had gone past since the Master had started his reign of terror over the world, and even Rose couldn't do anything to stop him. She'd seen - and heard - about how Martha's family were treated; how Jack was chained up like some sort of untamed animal, almost as if he were a freak. The blonde watched as the insane Time Lord forcibly aged the Doctor until he was small, with big eyes looking at her pitifully through the bars of the cage he was kept in. Rose had always treated Francine, Clive, and Tish with respect though, telling them of how she knew the Doctor and the travels she had with him. She put up with physical, emotional, and psychological abuse that the Master tortured her with for the first few months with the Doctor watching as the blonde took every hit and word that the insane Time Lord threw at her, until she started fighting back, using his own words and blows against him.
The Master used the immortal as his own personal punching bag, killing the man again and again before forcing Jack into submission, violating him with every thrust. There was one time that Rose was allowed to see her best friend, six months since the day that the Master took over, but that image was tainted by the mere image of him sexually abusing the man. She yelled at him to stop what he was doing to Jack, but the Time Lord kept going, thrusting deeper into the immortal. Rose couldn't bring herself to stay any longer - she left, running away from them until she reached the conference room, the room where the blonde last saw her Doctor and Jack whole; unbroken by the insane Time Lord. She entered, moving a chair near the cage where the Doctor was. Rose began to weep as she sat down, burying her face into her hands.
Finally, it came - the night that the Master came to Earth, walking upon its ground to find Martha; to take her back on board the Valiant for her execution. Toclafane descended; UNIT guards ready to fight back if someone would start shooting at them. Martha was hidden away in a safe-house, but she could hear him calling her name.
"Martha. Martha Jo-ones. I can see you. Out you come, little girl. Come and meet your Master," the Master started, calling out into the night, looking around for her in the deserted street. "Anybody? Nobody? No? Nothing? Positions," he ordered the guards. The UNIT men took their positions, holding their guns out, should they be ready to fire at a moment's notice.
"I'll give the order, unless you surrender. Ask yourself, 'What would the Doctor do?'," the insane Time Lord said mockingly.
Martha realized that she had no choice, huddled underneath a coat that someone had put on top of her. She took off her perception filter, and stood, making her way towards the front door of the house. Martha looked at all the people gathered in the building before looking at Tom and all of the other people, and opened the door, surrendering herself to the Master.
"Oh, yes! Oh, very well done. Good girl," the Master said, applauding as she stepped foot into the street. "He trained you well. Bag, give me the bag. No, stay there, just throw it."
The black haired woman was less than amused as she stopped walking, and looked at the Time Lord as he demanded her bag that she was wearing on her back. Martha slipped one arm out, then the other, and tossed it between them, the bag landing on the ground with a thud. She watched at the Master pulled out his screwdriver, and fired it at the bag, destroying the contents inside.
"And now, good companion, your work is done."
Martha cowered at the sight of the device being pointed at her. But it wasn't long before she heard a door fling open and someone run out.
"No!" screamed Tom at the top of his lungs as he burst out of the house, gun in hand. It wasn't long, though, before the Master turned on him and killed the man with his screwdriver.
The insane Time Lord chuckled at his newest kill, looking at Martha. "But you. When you die, the Doctor should be witness, hmm?" He took in a deep breath of air, looking around. "Almost dawn, Martha. And planet Earth marches to war."
It wasn't long before they had transported back up to the Valiant, and at dawn, an announcement was being made. Two guards flanked Martha, marching her into the conference room once again where Rose was leaning against the railing on the upper part, now dressed in a pair of black slacks and pink shirt, her dark purple leather jacket zipped halfway up, the bruises still marking her body here and there, some of them fading, the most recent one from two days before still clearly visible just under her right eye. Francine, Clive, and Tish were there too, the three of them standing together, watching their daughter and sister. Martha looked up and continued to walk as the guards left her side, making eye contact with her executioner. She broke it twice, once looking over at Jack, who gave her a slight nod; the other looking at the tiny form of the Doctor.
Martha made it to the foot of the stairs, where the other Time Lord demanded that she hand over her hand over the teleport device and kneel before him on the floor.
"Down below, a fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe," the Master stated before flipping a switch. "Are we ready?" he asked.
"The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice," a male voice answered.
"Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down." A clock started ticking away at the seconds, each one with an audible beep. "I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?"
Hundreds of thousands of Toclafane answered the Master, all repeating the same phrase. "We will fly and blaze and slice."
"At zero, to mark this day. The child, Martha Jones, will die. My first blood," the insane Time Lord said with a chuckle. "Any last words? No?"
"Such a disappointment, this one," he said, walking down the stairs. "Your days are old, Doctor. You had companions who could absorb the time vortex."
Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Rose had barely heard anything that was being said, but when the Master turned his attention to the Doctor, she caught every word, and spoke up after so long of being silent.
"That companion was me," the blonde said, moving to the top of the stairs. "I absorbed the time vortex. I was the one that made Jack who he is today. Are you going to kill me too?"
The Master chuckled, and turned to look at Rose, taking out his sonic screwdriver. "Not yet, I won't." He turned back to Martha. "Bow your head. And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish a new order of Time Lords, from this day forward."
All this time, Martha had a serious expression on her face. But when she lowered her head, a smile overcame it, and she started laughing. Everyone in the room looked at one another, puzzled as to why she was snickering at the thought of death.
"What's so funny?" the insane Time Lord asked darkly.
The young black woman lifted her head up, looking at him. "A gun."
"What about it?"
"A gun, in four parts."
"Yes. And I destroyed it." The Master was becoming more exasperated with her by the second.
"A gun, in four parts, scattered across the world. I mean, come on. Did you really believe that?"
"What do you mean?"
It was the Doctor's turn to speak up. "As if I would ask her to kill."
"Oh, well, it doesn't matter. I got her exactly where I want her," the Master pointed out.
Martha spoke up again. "But I knew what Professor Docherty would do. The Resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun so she would get me here at the right time."
"But you're still going to die."
Rose shook her head. "No, Martha, you can't die. You can't kill her, I won't let you!"
The Master turned, and slapped Rose hard across the face. "Shut up! Or I'll kill you first."
The young black haired woman looked at the blonde. "It's alright, Rose. I've got a plan."
The blonde came toe to toe with the insane Time Lord. "Then kill me already. That was your whole plan, wasn't it?" she asked, not expecting an answer from him as she stepped back, kneeling before the Master with her head lowered.
"I'm ready." And with those final words that Rose spoke, the Master pointed his screwdriver at her, and killed the blonde. Jack and the Joneses tried to race to get her body, to place it on the table, but guards were blocking their every move. One more try and they'd all be dead.
Pleased with his first blood, he still wanted Martha's. The Time Lord sat down on the stairs, listening in a bored manner to what she had to say.
"I told a story, that's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own, and everywhere I went I found the people and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor. And I told them to pass it on, so that everyone would know about him," she said.
A disgusted look appeared on the Master's features. "Faith and hope, is that all?"
"No, because I gave them an instruction," Martha answered, rising to her feet. "Just as the Doctor said. I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time -"
It was the Time Lord's turn to rise to his feet. "Nothing will happen. Is that your weapon? Prayer?"
"- right across the world, one word, just one thought, at one moment, but with fifteen satellites!" Martha continued.
The Master quirked an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"The Archangel Network," Jack stated.
"A telepathic field, binding the whole human race together with all of them, every single person on Earth thinking the same thing at the same time, and that word is Doctor," Martha finished.
A silver shimmer started to appear from the cage where the Doctor was held, his old body taking shape again. Rose could hear Jack and Francine saying that one word repeating it over and over again, and even her own voice saying the name of the one Time Lord that could save them all. "Doctor," she whispered, her eyes opening. "Doctor," the blonde said again, standing to her feet and moving down the stairs to stand with Martha before going over to Jack, then to the rest of Martha's family, repeating the word over and over again before making her way full circle back to Martha. "Doctor."
"One thing you can't do is stop them thinking," the Doctor said to the Master, the silver glow still around him. Rose, Martha, and Jack all broke out into bright grins when they saw the saner of the two Time Lords speak again; all of them missed hearing that voice so very, very much. "Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this."
Both of the young women that stood closest to the two Time Lords looked once again at the Doctor before looking at each other, then going their separate ways. Martha ran over to her family and they pulled her into an embrace; Rose ran towards Jack, and he pulled her close to him. They all watched as the Doctor flew towards the Master, the insane one cowering before the Doctor even put his arms around him.
"I forgive you," the Time Lord said. He looked to Jack, and gave the order go to the paradox machine. Jack nodded, and ordered a few of the guards to go with him, to destroy it. Shortly after they had left, the Master pulled out the teleportation device, and he and the Doctor landed on Earth, right where the fleet was waiting for the signal.
"Now it ends, Doctor. Now it ends!" the insane Time Lord shouted, his arms spread out.
"We have control of the Valiant, you can't launch," the Doctor said firmly.
"Oh, but I have this," the Master countered, pulling out a small device. "Black hole converter inside every ship. If I can't have this world, Doctor, then neither can you. We shall stand upon this Earth, together, as it burns."
******************************************************************************
Inside of the Valiant, Jack and the guards raced towards the room where the TARDIS was held, and started shooting the Toclafane that were protecting it.
"We're going to get slaughtered!" one of the guards shouted.
"Yeah, it happens to me a lot," Jack said, continuing to shoot at the spheres,
Up in the conference room, the Joneses and Rose watched as the Toclafane raced towards the ship.
"Martha, if we don't make it out of this alive," Rose started. "I just wanted to say, thank you."
Martha looked at Rose, a slight smile on her face. "We will."
******************************************************************************
"Weapon after weapon after weapon," the Doctor started. "All you do is talk and talk and talk. But after all these years, and all these disasters, I've always had the greatest secret of them all: I know you. Explode those ships, you kill yourself. That's the one thing you can never do," he continued, holding out his hand. "Give that to me."
With those words, the Master put the device in the Doctor's hand.
******************************************************************************
Jack had finally made his way into the TARDIS, and leaned against the doors for a moment before walking up the ramp, shooting at the wires that had made the ship a paradox machine.
******************************************************************************
The Earth shook the Time Lords to their knees, both of them rolling around on the ground for control of the device. The Doctor finally grabbed it, and teleported him and the Master back to the Valiant.
******************************************************************************
The ship shook too, as the Toclafane disappeared from the skies. Everyone in the conference room was tossed about, papers being blown around them. The Doctor grabbed onto both Martha's and Rose's hands, pulling them down with him. "Everyone get down! Time is reversing!" he shouted, giving both of them a big grin.
After time had reversed itself, the Doctor stood, and moved towards the controls. "Paradox is broken, we've reverted back. One year, one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning." He then went to the radio, and flipped it on.
"This is UNIT Central. What's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated," a male voice said over the speaker.
"See? Just after the President was killed but before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal; planet Earth restored. None of it ever happened. The rockets, the terror that never was."
Martha looked up at the Time Lord. "But what about the spheres?" she asked.
"Trapped at the end of the universe," the Doctor answered.
"But I can remember all of it," Francine said.
"You're not the only one, Mrs. Jones," Rose pointed out.
"We're at the eye of the storm; the only ones who will ever know," he stated before seeing Clive on the floor. "Oh, hello! You must be Mr. Jones, I don't believe we actually met," the Doctor said, giving him a hand up off the floor.
The Master got to his knees, then to his feet and started making a run for the door, which opened in time for Jack to catch him.
"Woah there, big fellow. You don't want to miss the party. Cuffs," Jack said, holding the Time Lord's hands behind his back. A guard handed over his set of handcuffs to the immortal man, who promptly put them on the Master, walking him back into the room. "So, what do we do with this one?"
Clive was the first to speak. "We kill him."
Tish spoke up next. "We execute him."
The Doctor shook his head. "No, that's not the solution."
"Oh," Francine said, picking up a gun and pointing it at the insane Time Lord. "I think so. Cause all those things, they still happened. Because of him, I saw them."
"Go on, do it," the Master dared her.
The Doctor walked down the stairs, and moved towards her side. "Francine, you're better than him," he said gently as he gave her arms a gentle push downward.
She dropped hold of the gun, letting it clank against the floor, and hugged the Doctor first, before the rest of her family went to embrace her.
"You still haven't answered the question. What happens to me?" the insane Time Lord asked.
The Doctor looked at Rose, the one that sacrificed herself for Martha, only to be brought back to life before turning his attention back to the Master. "You're my responsibility until we figure out what to do with you. The only other Time Lord left in existence," he stated.
The other Time Lord scoffed. "We?"
"Me, Jack, Rose, and Martha. We."
Jack walked forwards to the Doctor. "Yeah, but you can't trust him."
"No, the only safe place for him is the TARDIS."
Rose looked between the two Time Lords for a moment. "I'll take care of him," she said, speaking up. "Doctor, you saw me, didn't you? You watched how at first he abused me, but I fought back against him. I think I can take care of Egotistical over there," the blonde continued, still refusing to call the Master by his proper title.
The Doctor looked at Rose, and nodded. "That's so very you, Rose. So very, very you. But first we have to get the TARDIS fixed."
Together, the Doctor, the two immortals, and Martha worked on repairing their transport back down to Earth. Knowing that it would take them a few days, the Time Lord sent Clive, Francine, and Tish back with the UNIT guards to their home, promising that they'd bring Martha back safely.
They spent a day together in the vortex after the ship was repaired, both the Doctor and Rose taking turns caring for the Master while Martha looked after Jack and his pregnancy, a secret that the Master couldn't know about. Not yet, anyway. Jack had just gone into his seventh month, and it was then that they all had realized he was carrying twins. Half-immortal, half-Time Lord twins - one boy, one girl. The Doctor promised him that he'd help raise the children, for eleven years they could all live inside the TARDIS in the vortex.
Arriving back on Earth, they said their goodbyes to Martha first. The Doctor, Jack, Rose, and Martha stood at the entrance to the ship; the two men had already said what needed to be said.
"Call me, day or night, Martha," Rose said, giving her new found friend a hug goodbye.
Martha grinned at Rose. "End of the World Survivors Club, Rose. How could I forget that?" she asked, returning the embrace before moving away from the TARDIS and into her parents' home.
The trio got back inside, and went on to Cardiff next. An empty, out of the way flat near the Torchwood hub is where they landed, and they stepped outside, the Master included this time.
"Rose Tyler, welcome to your new home," the Doctor said. "Well, not just your new home. The Master's new home too."
The Master rolled his eyes, not at all thrilled with the idea of being stranded on Earth as he followed the Doctor out of the ship, the blonde being the last to exit as she had just said her goodbye to Jack.
"It's nice," she said, looking around at the living room. The walls were painted white, and there was already furniture inside of the apartment. "We have keys, yeah?"
The Time Lord nodded at her, and pulled out two keys from his pocket, handing them over to the blonde. "Nobody will ever know you're here, unless you tell them."
"It was good seeing you again, Doctor," Rose said, a smile appearing on her face.
"It was good seeing you too, Rose," the Doctor mentioned, pulling his forever former companion into an embrace for a moment. "Well, I have to go get Jack back down to his team. They're probably wondering where he ran off to. Master," he started, looking at the other Time Lord. "You take care of Rose, and Rose will take care of you."
With those final words, the Doctor slipped back into the TARDIS, and it disappeared with the Time Lord and immortal man inside, going straight for the vortex.
Author: mistakenelegant
Word Count: 3,492
Rating: Soft R for implied slash/m-preg and character death.
Author's Notes: As I told fading_xhopex and my friend Tash: Six chicken nuggets and a few fries, one glass of Mountain Dew, almost half a pack of cigarettes, six hours, too many times of me watching/re-winding Last of the Time Lords, and 3,492 words later....it's done. (I told you I'd make this my author's notes!)
Chapters: Chapter 1 || Chapter 2 || Chapter 3 || Chapter 4 || Chapter 5
A whole year had gone past since the Master had started his reign of terror over the world, and even Rose couldn't do anything to stop him. She'd seen - and heard - about how Martha's family were treated; how Jack was chained up like some sort of untamed animal, almost as if he were a freak. The blonde watched as the insane Time Lord forcibly aged the Doctor until he was small, with big eyes looking at her pitifully through the bars of the cage he was kept in. Rose had always treated Francine, Clive, and Tish with respect though, telling them of how she knew the Doctor and the travels she had with him. She put up with physical, emotional, and psychological abuse that the Master tortured her with for the first few months with the Doctor watching as the blonde took every hit and word that the insane Time Lord threw at her, until she started fighting back, using his own words and blows against him.
The Master used the immortal as his own personal punching bag, killing the man again and again before forcing Jack into submission, violating him with every thrust. There was one time that Rose was allowed to see her best friend, six months since the day that the Master took over, but that image was tainted by the mere image of him sexually abusing the man. She yelled at him to stop what he was doing to Jack, but the Time Lord kept going, thrusting deeper into the immortal. Rose couldn't bring herself to stay any longer - she left, running away from them until she reached the conference room, the room where the blonde last saw her Doctor and Jack whole; unbroken by the insane Time Lord. She entered, moving a chair near the cage where the Doctor was. Rose began to weep as she sat down, burying her face into her hands.
Finally, it came - the night that the Master came to Earth, walking upon its ground to find Martha; to take her back on board the Valiant for her execution. Toclafane descended; UNIT guards ready to fight back if someone would start shooting at them. Martha was hidden away in a safe-house, but she could hear him calling her name.
"Martha. Martha Jo-ones. I can see you. Out you come, little girl. Come and meet your Master," the Master started, calling out into the night, looking around for her in the deserted street. "Anybody? Nobody? No? Nothing? Positions," he ordered the guards. The UNIT men took their positions, holding their guns out, should they be ready to fire at a moment's notice.
"I'll give the order, unless you surrender. Ask yourself, 'What would the Doctor do?'," the insane Time Lord said mockingly.
Martha realized that she had no choice, huddled underneath a coat that someone had put on top of her. She took off her perception filter, and stood, making her way towards the front door of the house. Martha looked at all the people gathered in the building before looking at Tom and all of the other people, and opened the door, surrendering herself to the Master.
"Oh, yes! Oh, very well done. Good girl," the Master said, applauding as she stepped foot into the street. "He trained you well. Bag, give me the bag. No, stay there, just throw it."
The black haired woman was less than amused as she stopped walking, and looked at the Time Lord as he demanded her bag that she was wearing on her back. Martha slipped one arm out, then the other, and tossed it between them, the bag landing on the ground with a thud. She watched at the Master pulled out his screwdriver, and fired it at the bag, destroying the contents inside.
"And now, good companion, your work is done."
Martha cowered at the sight of the device being pointed at her. But it wasn't long before she heard a door fling open and someone run out.
"No!" screamed Tom at the top of his lungs as he burst out of the house, gun in hand. It wasn't long, though, before the Master turned on him and killed the man with his screwdriver.
The insane Time Lord chuckled at his newest kill, looking at Martha. "But you. When you die, the Doctor should be witness, hmm?" He took in a deep breath of air, looking around. "Almost dawn, Martha. And planet Earth marches to war."
It wasn't long before they had transported back up to the Valiant, and at dawn, an announcement was being made. Two guards flanked Martha, marching her into the conference room once again where Rose was leaning against the railing on the upper part, now dressed in a pair of black slacks and pink shirt, her dark purple leather jacket zipped halfway up, the bruises still marking her body here and there, some of them fading, the most recent one from two days before still clearly visible just under her right eye. Francine, Clive, and Tish were there too, the three of them standing together, watching their daughter and sister. Martha looked up and continued to walk as the guards left her side, making eye contact with her executioner. She broke it twice, once looking over at Jack, who gave her a slight nod; the other looking at the tiny form of the Doctor.
Martha made it to the foot of the stairs, where the other Time Lord demanded that she hand over her hand over the teleport device and kneel before him on the floor.
"Down below, a fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe," the Master stated before flipping a switch. "Are we ready?" he asked.
"The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice," a male voice answered.
"Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down." A clock started ticking away at the seconds, each one with an audible beep. "I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?"
Hundreds of thousands of Toclafane answered the Master, all repeating the same phrase. "We will fly and blaze and slice."
"At zero, to mark this day. The child, Martha Jones, will die. My first blood," the insane Time Lord said with a chuckle. "Any last words? No?"
"Such a disappointment, this one," he said, walking down the stairs. "Your days are old, Doctor. You had companions who could absorb the time vortex."
Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Rose had barely heard anything that was being said, but when the Master turned his attention to the Doctor, she caught every word, and spoke up after so long of being silent.
"That companion was me," the blonde said, moving to the top of the stairs. "I absorbed the time vortex. I was the one that made Jack who he is today. Are you going to kill me too?"
The Master chuckled, and turned to look at Rose, taking out his sonic screwdriver. "Not yet, I won't." He turned back to Martha. "Bow your head. And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish a new order of Time Lords, from this day forward."
All this time, Martha had a serious expression on her face. But when she lowered her head, a smile overcame it, and she started laughing. Everyone in the room looked at one another, puzzled as to why she was snickering at the thought of death.
"What's so funny?" the insane Time Lord asked darkly.
The young black woman lifted her head up, looking at him. "A gun."
"What about it?"
"A gun, in four parts."
"Yes. And I destroyed it." The Master was becoming more exasperated with her by the second.
"A gun, in four parts, scattered across the world. I mean, come on. Did you really believe that?"
"What do you mean?"
It was the Doctor's turn to speak up. "As if I would ask her to kill."
"Oh, well, it doesn't matter. I got her exactly where I want her," the Master pointed out.
Martha spoke up again. "But I knew what Professor Docherty would do. The Resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun so she would get me here at the right time."
"But you're still going to die."
Rose shook her head. "No, Martha, you can't die. You can't kill her, I won't let you!"
The Master turned, and slapped Rose hard across the face. "Shut up! Or I'll kill you first."
The young black haired woman looked at the blonde. "It's alright, Rose. I've got a plan."
The blonde came toe to toe with the insane Time Lord. "Then kill me already. That was your whole plan, wasn't it?" she asked, not expecting an answer from him as she stepped back, kneeling before the Master with her head lowered.
"I'm ready." And with those final words that Rose spoke, the Master pointed his screwdriver at her, and killed the blonde. Jack and the Joneses tried to race to get her body, to place it on the table, but guards were blocking their every move. One more try and they'd all be dead.
Pleased with his first blood, he still wanted Martha's. The Time Lord sat down on the stairs, listening in a bored manner to what she had to say.
"I told a story, that's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own, and everywhere I went I found the people and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor. And I told them to pass it on, so that everyone would know about him," she said.
A disgusted look appeared on the Master's features. "Faith and hope, is that all?"
"No, because I gave them an instruction," Martha answered, rising to her feet. "Just as the Doctor said. I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time -"
It was the Time Lord's turn to rise to his feet. "Nothing will happen. Is that your weapon? Prayer?"
"- right across the world, one word, just one thought, at one moment, but with fifteen satellites!" Martha continued.
The Master quirked an eyebrow at her. "What?"
"The Archangel Network," Jack stated.
"A telepathic field, binding the whole human race together with all of them, every single person on Earth thinking the same thing at the same time, and that word is Doctor," Martha finished.
A silver shimmer started to appear from the cage where the Doctor was held, his old body taking shape again. Rose could hear Jack and Francine saying that one word repeating it over and over again, and even her own voice saying the name of the one Time Lord that could save them all. "Doctor," she whispered, her eyes opening. "Doctor," the blonde said again, standing to her feet and moving down the stairs to stand with Martha before going over to Jack, then to the rest of Martha's family, repeating the word over and over again before making her way full circle back to Martha. "Doctor."
"One thing you can't do is stop them thinking," the Doctor said to the Master, the silver glow still around him. Rose, Martha, and Jack all broke out into bright grins when they saw the saner of the two Time Lords speak again; all of them missed hearing that voice so very, very much. "Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this."
Both of the young women that stood closest to the two Time Lords looked once again at the Doctor before looking at each other, then going their separate ways. Martha ran over to her family and they pulled her into an embrace; Rose ran towards Jack, and he pulled her close to him. They all watched as the Doctor flew towards the Master, the insane one cowering before the Doctor even put his arms around him.
"I forgive you," the Time Lord said. He looked to Jack, and gave the order go to the paradox machine. Jack nodded, and ordered a few of the guards to go with him, to destroy it. Shortly after they had left, the Master pulled out the teleportation device, and he and the Doctor landed on Earth, right where the fleet was waiting for the signal.
"Now it ends, Doctor. Now it ends!" the insane Time Lord shouted, his arms spread out.
"We have control of the Valiant, you can't launch," the Doctor said firmly.
"Oh, but I have this," the Master countered, pulling out a small device. "Black hole converter inside every ship. If I can't have this world, Doctor, then neither can you. We shall stand upon this Earth, together, as it burns."
******************************************************************************
Inside of the Valiant, Jack and the guards raced towards the room where the TARDIS was held, and started shooting the Toclafane that were protecting it.
"We're going to get slaughtered!" one of the guards shouted.
"Yeah, it happens to me a lot," Jack said, continuing to shoot at the spheres,
Up in the conference room, the Joneses and Rose watched as the Toclafane raced towards the ship.
"Martha, if we don't make it out of this alive," Rose started. "I just wanted to say, thank you."
Martha looked at Rose, a slight smile on her face. "We will."
******************************************************************************
"Weapon after weapon after weapon," the Doctor started. "All you do is talk and talk and talk. But after all these years, and all these disasters, I've always had the greatest secret of them all: I know you. Explode those ships, you kill yourself. That's the one thing you can never do," he continued, holding out his hand. "Give that to me."
With those words, the Master put the device in the Doctor's hand.
******************************************************************************
Jack had finally made his way into the TARDIS, and leaned against the doors for a moment before walking up the ramp, shooting at the wires that had made the ship a paradox machine.
******************************************************************************
The Earth shook the Time Lords to their knees, both of them rolling around on the ground for control of the device. The Doctor finally grabbed it, and teleported him and the Master back to the Valiant.
******************************************************************************
The ship shook too, as the Toclafane disappeared from the skies. Everyone in the conference room was tossed about, papers being blown around them. The Doctor grabbed onto both Martha's and Rose's hands, pulling them down with him. "Everyone get down! Time is reversing!" he shouted, giving both of them a big grin.
After time had reversed itself, the Doctor stood, and moved towards the controls. "Paradox is broken, we've reverted back. One year, one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning." He then went to the radio, and flipped it on.
"This is UNIT Central. What's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated," a male voice said over the speaker.
"See? Just after the President was killed but before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal; planet Earth restored. None of it ever happened. The rockets, the terror that never was."
Martha looked up at the Time Lord. "But what about the spheres?" she asked.
"Trapped at the end of the universe," the Doctor answered.
"But I can remember all of it," Francine said.
"You're not the only one, Mrs. Jones," Rose pointed out.
"We're at the eye of the storm; the only ones who will ever know," he stated before seeing Clive on the floor. "Oh, hello! You must be Mr. Jones, I don't believe we actually met," the Doctor said, giving him a hand up off the floor.
The Master got to his knees, then to his feet and started making a run for the door, which opened in time for Jack to catch him.
"Woah there, big fellow. You don't want to miss the party. Cuffs," Jack said, holding the Time Lord's hands behind his back. A guard handed over his set of handcuffs to the immortal man, who promptly put them on the Master, walking him back into the room. "So, what do we do with this one?"
Clive was the first to speak. "We kill him."
Tish spoke up next. "We execute him."
The Doctor shook his head. "No, that's not the solution."
"Oh," Francine said, picking up a gun and pointing it at the insane Time Lord. "I think so. Cause all those things, they still happened. Because of him, I saw them."
"Go on, do it," the Master dared her.
The Doctor walked down the stairs, and moved towards her side. "Francine, you're better than him," he said gently as he gave her arms a gentle push downward.
She dropped hold of the gun, letting it clank against the floor, and hugged the Doctor first, before the rest of her family went to embrace her.
"You still haven't answered the question. What happens to me?" the insane Time Lord asked.
The Doctor looked at Rose, the one that sacrificed herself for Martha, only to be brought back to life before turning his attention back to the Master. "You're my responsibility until we figure out what to do with you. The only other Time Lord left in existence," he stated.
The other Time Lord scoffed. "We?"
"Me, Jack, Rose, and Martha. We."
Jack walked forwards to the Doctor. "Yeah, but you can't trust him."
"No, the only safe place for him is the TARDIS."
Rose looked between the two Time Lords for a moment. "I'll take care of him," she said, speaking up. "Doctor, you saw me, didn't you? You watched how at first he abused me, but I fought back against him. I think I can take care of Egotistical over there," the blonde continued, still refusing to call the Master by his proper title.
The Doctor looked at Rose, and nodded. "That's so very you, Rose. So very, very you. But first we have to get the TARDIS fixed."
Together, the Doctor, the two immortals, and Martha worked on repairing their transport back down to Earth. Knowing that it would take them a few days, the Time Lord sent Clive, Francine, and Tish back with the UNIT guards to their home, promising that they'd bring Martha back safely.
They spent a day together in the vortex after the ship was repaired, both the Doctor and Rose taking turns caring for the Master while Martha looked after Jack and his pregnancy, a secret that the Master couldn't know about. Not yet, anyway. Jack had just gone into his seventh month, and it was then that they all had realized he was carrying twins. Half-immortal, half-Time Lord twins - one boy, one girl. The Doctor promised him that he'd help raise the children, for eleven years they could all live inside the TARDIS in the vortex.
Arriving back on Earth, they said their goodbyes to Martha first. The Doctor, Jack, Rose, and Martha stood at the entrance to the ship; the two men had already said what needed to be said.
"Call me, day or night, Martha," Rose said, giving her new found friend a hug goodbye.
Martha grinned at Rose. "End of the World Survivors Club, Rose. How could I forget that?" she asked, returning the embrace before moving away from the TARDIS and into her parents' home.
The trio got back inside, and went on to Cardiff next. An empty, out of the way flat near the Torchwood hub is where they landed, and they stepped outside, the Master included this time.
"Rose Tyler, welcome to your new home," the Doctor said. "Well, not just your new home. The Master's new home too."
The Master rolled his eyes, not at all thrilled with the idea of being stranded on Earth as he followed the Doctor out of the ship, the blonde being the last to exit as she had just said her goodbye to Jack.
"It's nice," she said, looking around at the living room. The walls were painted white, and there was already furniture inside of the apartment. "We have keys, yeah?"
The Time Lord nodded at her, and pulled out two keys from his pocket, handing them over to the blonde. "Nobody will ever know you're here, unless you tell them."
"It was good seeing you again, Doctor," Rose said, a smile appearing on her face.
"It was good seeing you too, Rose," the Doctor mentioned, pulling his forever former companion into an embrace for a moment. "Well, I have to go get Jack back down to his team. They're probably wondering where he ran off to. Master," he started, looking at the other Time Lord. "You take care of Rose, and Rose will take care of you."
With those final words, the Doctor slipped back into the TARDIS, and it disappeared with the Time Lord and immortal man inside, going straight for the vortex.