Chapter 30
Playing Games to the Sound of Drums
Ailia cracked her neck, climbing up after meeting Lazarus, her now ripped and ruined dress pooling around her ankles, the woman ignoring the blood oozing onto the material.
Poor Amy had given her the dress as a graduating present eight monthes before Ailia actually had, the fifteen year old girl knowing that her sister wouldn't make it home from America even if there was a Christmas break. Ailia was outlawed.
She was free now, absolutely free, now all she had to do what find the Doctor.
---
A phone rang to her left, a red phone box lighting the way to her next destination, the super market.
"Darling," the Master's voice purred over the line, "Just what are you doing going out like that?"
"I've decided to take a walk and you should too, Darling," Ailia mocked, staring at a nearby security camera, "A nice long walk would do you fine, I'd think, especially if it were off a short peir."
"Not this again," the Master groaned, ever the dramatisit, "I thought we were over this."
"I wouldn't say so," Ailia watched another camera rove around, twisting to face her.
"Stop playing games, Darling, before you get hurt," the Master's voice echoed over the line.
"I couldn't stop," Ailia smiled sickly sweet into the camera, giving it a mocking salute, "I know how much you love playing them."
"I'll find you, Ailia," the Master said, suddenly serious.
"Molto bene," Ailia said into the phone, dropping it and walking out of the red booth, black vans racing to were she just stood.
She supposed that the super market would just have to wait, the girl thought to herself as she passed a vehicle.
The woman pressed a sticker onto the side of one of the van's black paneling, walking away, the shining black grin of a smiley face following after her.
Martha Jones and the Doctor were here and Ailia wasn't just going to let them visit London without visiting her first, no, that would be a sin.
---
Ailia visited one of her stashes of supplies, set up by the homeless she'd employed through the Master's system. Of course, the Master had stolen the idea from her, quite literally at that, pulling it into the open from the corners of her mind. If she couldn't beat him, then she'd have to do what she did best and be stubbornly resistant, and she was very good at that.
And it wasn't hard for the woman to stich herself up, she'd done it many times before without the Doctor and Martha, without the Master.
But she could hear the drums in her head, thrumming to the beat of four, da da da da, da da da da, that was because of the Master. His presense was overwhelming, stinking of things that Ailia couldn't name. Or rather shouldn't.
Timelord minds, it appeared, messed up her radar.
Luckily, though, after a fresh change of clothes and some much needed nourishment, the woman could use that to find the Doctor.
So, that's what she did, all while hiding away from the keen eye of the Master, guessing at his tricks, because she'd already used them. That's what you get when you keep going into somebody's mind, you get to think like them.
Ailia swung her feet as she sat in the window in Martha Jone's apartment, hearing the door open behind her.
"What have you got? Computer, laptop, anything?" Ailia could hear the Doctor ask Martha, then continuing to Jack, "Jack, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone, we're here!"
"Just some friends of mine, but there's no reply..." Jack brushed off, his gaze rising to the window. "Teanna."
"Yes, Jack, thank you," the Doctor brushed off.
"No, I mean, Ailia," Jack pulled Ailia off the window sill wrapping her into a hug.
Martha handed the Doctor her laptop, "Here you go. Any good?"
"What are you talking about, Jack?" the Doctor turned, slightly annoyed, then stopped, gaping at a squished Ailia still being swung around by Jack.
"Can't," Ailia gasped, "Breathe."
Jack put the girl down gently, grinning down at the girl who got swept up in a hug by Martha.
"'Lia," Martha said excitedly, "How did you escape?"
"I didn't," Ailia answered, tilting her head, "I fell off a building."
"Fell off a building," Jack's eyes widened, "You can't...Rose didn't."
"No, Jack," Ailia shook her head, "I landed in a garbage bin."
"What about before then?" the Doctor stepped up.
"No hello?" Ailia smiled micheviously.
"Hello," the Doctor waved, "What happened before then?"
"Doctor," Martha hit the man's shoulder.
"Prison," Ailia answered, "You're welcome, by the way."
"Pardon?" Jack stepped in.
"I going to assume you got my gift," Ailia tilted her head.
"Not that, Tea," Jack said, "Prison."
"No worries, it wasn't that hard to escape," Ailia brushed off, taking the laptop from the Doctor's hands.
"It's prison, Tea," Jack stated.
"I survived, Harkness," Ailia's knuckles whitened as they clutched the computer.
Jack took the object from her hands, saying to the other two, "I can show you the Saxon websites. He's been around for ages," then grudgingly sitting down at Martha's desk.
"That's so weird though. It's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you," Martha commented, and Ailia glanced down taking a deep breath.
"We went flying all around the universe while he was here the whole time," the Doctor mused.
"You gonna tell us who he is?" Martha questioned.
"He's a Time Lord," the Doctor stated the obvious.
"What about the rest of it? I mean, who'd call himself the Master?" Martha continued to interrogate the Doctor, her question causing Ailia to snort.
'A conceeded drama queen,' is what she wanted to say, but she didn't sitting down on the couch.
"That's all you need to know," the Doctor stated, glancing at Ailia, then turning to Jack, "Come on, show me Harold Saxon."
Martha wandered over to her answering maching, the machanical voice informing her of a message, Tishes voice playing over the wire, "Martha, where are you? I've got this new job. You won't believe it. It's weird, they just phoned me up out of the blue. I'm working for..."
Martha turned off the machine, muttering to herself, "Oh, like it matters."
Ailia's eyes widened as she made the connection, the woman feeling the need to grab the laptop and check her sources, she should have figured that Saxon would go after Martha, he didn't need Ailia's memories to know that Martha was an important key in this scenario. Even with Ailia in it. The woman opted to plopping down on Martha's couch instead.
Jack brought up Saxon's website, random campaign adds spooling along behind, familiar faces popping up.
Familiar because she was the one who got the film.
"I'm voting Saxon. He can tick my box any day," Sharon Osbourne smiled.
"Vote Saxon! Go Harry!" a man named Mcfly cheered.
"I think Mr Saxon is exactly what this country needs. He's a very fine man. And he's handsome too," Ann Widdecombe added.
Jack paused the commercials, reading through the list of positive attributes given to the man.
"Former Minister of Defence. First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve," Jack turned to the Doctor and Ailia, "Nice work, by the way."
"Oh, thanks," the Doctor turned his head away from Ailia, sitting on the arm of the couch were the woman leaned back, listening.
"He goes back years. 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," Martha commented.
"It's all fake, that's the Master," Ailia said, the statement shining true in her eyes.
The group stared at her, noticing the different air around her, "Sorry," she dropped her head.
Jack stood up, responding to the silence, "Anyone want a cup of tea?"
Nobody answered.
"Okay," Jack stood, talking only when he reached the kitchen, "But he's got a TARDIS. Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades."
The Doctor moved to be sitting at the desk where Jack was minutes ago.
"No," the Doctor denied, staring at Ailia shaking her head.
"Why not? Worked for me," Jack called from the kitchen.
"When he was stealing the TARDIS, the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates. I locked them permanently. From Utopia," the Doctor remembered holding out his sonic screwdriver, the TARDIS console sparking in response.
"He can only travel between the year 100 trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed. Which is right here, right now," the Doctor said.
"Yeah, but a little leeway?" Jack questioned.
"Well... 18 months, tops. The most he could have been here is 18 months. So how has he managed all this? The Master was always sort of... hypnotic but this is on a massive scale," the Doctor said.
"I was gonna vote for him," Martha commented, sitting on the edge of the couch that the Doctor had left.
"Really?" the Doctor questioned.
"Well, it was before I even met you. And I liked him," Martha admitted, Ailia dropping her head into her hands.
"Me too," Jack said.
"Why do you say that? What was his policy? What did he stand for?" the Doctor glanced around the room, Martha answering.
"I dunno. He always sounded... good," Martha said dreamily, her fingers tappiing on the couch, "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?" the Doctor questioned, meaning Martha's knocking.
"What?" Martha jumped out of her stupor, seeing the Doctor once again.
"That! That tapping, that rhythm! What are you doing?" the Doctor interrogated.
"I dunno. It's nothing. It's j... I dunno!" Martha glanced between her hands and the man.
Ailia appeared to get slightly more anxious, a tune playing from the website, saying, 'SAXON BROCAST ALL CHANNELS,' hovering over the screen.
"Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom," the Doctor mocked, turning on the TV.
"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," the a clip from so long ago with Rose played across the screen, showing a spaceship plowing into Big Ben,
"You've seen it happen... Big Ben destroyed, a spaceship over London," another clip showed the ghostly cybermen, "All those ghosts and metal men, "
Another image from when Ailia met Donna, a giant white star showing in the sky, "The Christmas star that came to kill. Time and time again 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," Saxon said, nodding to somone off camera.
A video of one of the spheres speaking, Ailia was never told what they were, the Master not giving her any free information on them, everything she did watched by the man, exept when she could help it.
"People of the Earth, we come in peace. We bring great gifts. We bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship," a female voice cheered.
"Ooh, sweet. And this species has identified itself. They're called the Toclafane," Saxon commented, the Doctor interrupting from their end.
"What?!" the man questioned, why Ailia didn't know.
"Is there a clock in here?" Ailia glanced around, the sound of ticking getting on her nerves, nobody seemed unsettled by the comment.
"And tomorrow morning they will appear. Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child. Every teacher and chemist and lorry driver and farmer. And every... oh, I don't know... medical student?" Saxon gave the camera a sideways.
"Damn," Ailia jumped up, running to the TV, the Doctor whipping around to look at Martha.
Ailia spun the machine around, turning to the others and ushering them out, the woman taking up the rear, the Doctor stopping in front of her to grab his jacket and Martha's laptop, the four running out the front doors just as the window above them exploded.
"All right?" the Doctor glanced around at the trio.
"Fine, yeah, fine," Jack panted.
Ailia simply nodded, the Doctor gave her a second, an expression of curiousity on his face.
"Martha?" the Doctor twisted to look at Martha Jones, seeing her on her phone, "What are you doing?"
"He knows about me. What about my family?" Martha continued to dial.
"Don't tell them anything!" the Doctor warned.
"Martha, it's a trap, if he's targeting you then of course he's targeting your family. You're the only one he can get to," Ailia protested.
"I'll do what I like! Mum? Oh my God, you're there," Martha breathed a sigh of relief, a brief pause as someone talked on the other end.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. Mum, has there been anyone asking about me?" Martha questioned, her eyes quickly jabbing towards Ailia.
Another pause, "I can't! Not now!"
"Don't be so daft! Since when?" Martha denied.
"You said you'd never get back with him in a million years," Martha stared at the girl in front of her.
"Put the phone on speaker phone," Ailia ordered, staring at the object in the girl's hand.
Martha shook her head, "Dad? What are you doing there?"
"Martha, just do it," Ailia prompted, her blue eyes a little darker than usual.
Martha nodded, pushing the button, her father's voice coming over the phone, "Like your mother said, come 'round. We can explain everything."
A buzzing came from the background, behind that a faint tapping in a four part base. Ailia's keen ears could hear the wrinkling of fabric, heavy military issue boots softly thudding against the ground. The woman's eyes widened.
"Dad? Just say yes or no. Is there someone else there?" Martha questioned, noticing the Ailia's response.
There was a pause before the man answered, "Yes! Just run!"
The sound of a man running, Martha's mother screaming, "Clive!"
"Listen to me! Just run!" Clive said, a rucus on the other end, "I don't know who they are!"
"We're trying to help her! Martha, don't listen to him!" Francine protested.
"Dad! What's going on? Dad?" Martha yelled at the phone.
Yelling continues, fading further and further away.
"I gotta help them!" Martha ran to her car, climbing in.
"That's exactly what they want! It's a trap!" the Doctor said.
"I don't care!" Martha answered, the others clambering into the vehicle, the Doctor in the passenger seat and Jack in the back with Ailia.
Martha drove recklessly down the road to her mother's house.
"Corner!" the Doctor pointed, Martha taking the corner tightly, tires squealing in protest.
"Next time I'm driving," Ailia said from the back as the skidded onto a street swarming with police.
"Martha, reverse," the Doctor ordered, the police getting into position, taking aim at the car.
"Get out, now!" the Doctor urged.
Martha reversed into a 3-point turn, the woman giving the order to fire.
"Move it!" Jack shouted glancing back.
"Everybody down," Ailia ordered, lunging for the front seat and pushing Martha's foot on the accelerator, the police firing at Martha's car, shattering the back window.
"The only place we can go... planet Earth. Great," Martha said sarcastically, upset, the car turning a corner, now out of view and of range.
"Careful!" the Doctor jumped.
"Now, Martha, listen to me. Do as I say. We've gotta ditch this car. Pull over. Right now!" Jack ordered.
When Martha didn't Ailia continued, "London has the most sercurity cameras of any city I've known, they'll find us and the car if we don't get out now."
Martha grudgingly pulled over, now on foot.
"Martha, come on!" the Doctor called to Martha, the woman once again on her phone.
"Leo! Oh, thank God! Leo, you gotta listen to me. Where are you?" Martha said across the line, ignoring Ailia who was talking to her.
"Martha, they can track us with that, they're listening," Ailia glanced around the area.
"Leo, just listen to me. Don't go home, I'm telling you. Don't phone Mum or Dad or Tish. You've gotta hide," Martha continued.
"On my life. You've gotta trust me. Go to Boxer's. Stay with him," Martha demanded, "Don't tell anyone! Just hide!"
"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?" the Master voice could be heard by Ailia, the woman's steps faltering.
"Let them go, Saxon," Martha shouted into the phone, the Doctor wheeling around at the mention of the man's name, "Do you hear me?! Let them go!"
The Doctor took the phone from an enraged Martha, "I'm here."
"Master," the Doctor greeted.
"You chose it. Psychiatrist's field day," the Doctor said.
"So... Prime Minister," the Doctor brought.
"Who are those creatures? 'Cause there's no such thing as the Toclafane. It's just a made-up name like the Bogeyman," the Doctor said, now onto business.
"Gone," the Doctor said, and from the guilt on his face, Ailia could see that he was talking about Gallifrey.
"It burnt," the Doctor bluntly, probably because it was all he could manage on the subject.
"Dead. And the Daleks... more or less. What happened to you?" the Doctor changed the subject.
"I know," the Doctor said.
"I was the only one who could end it. And I tried. I did. I tried everything," the Doctor sounded pleading, begging the man on the other line to believe him.
"Stop it!" the Doctor sounded frusturated now.
"I've been alone ever since. But not anymore. Don't you see, all we've got is each other," the range of emotion that the Doctor was displaying was surprising.
"You could stop this right now. We could leave this planet. We could fight across the constellations if that's what you want. But not on Earth," the Doctor sounded like he was wishing on a star, begging.
"Why do you say that?" the Doctor questioned, irritated.
"I could help you. Please, let me help," the Doctor pleaded.
Ailia saw a man leaning against a building nearby, tapping his hands against his legs in a rhthym.
"What have you done? Tell me how you've done this. What are those creatures? Tell me!" the Doctor shouted.
"Stop it! Answer me!" the Doctor ordered.
The Doctor stopped, turning to face a television, showing the four of them all in a row, "They are known to be armed and extremely dangerous," a newscaster said.
The Doctor spun around, spotting a camera, "He can see us," the man used his sonic screwdriver on the camera, the object sparking.
"He's got control of everything," the Doctor said to the others.
"What do we do?" Martha questioned.
"We've got nowhere to go," Jack stated.
"I know a spot," AIlia informed, glancing at her watch, a sonar of sorts blipping when she pushed a button, "They're coming."
"Doctor, what do we do?" Martha questioned once again.
The Doctor glanced at Ailia, the phone still on his ear, "No," he flipped the object shut, turning to answer Martha's question, "We run."
"Allons-y," Ailia muttered under her breath, glancing back at the man clapping out the rhythm.
The news followed them behind, British, "Tomorrow morning, Britain will be welcoming an extraterrestrial species..." American, "The President is said to be furious that Great Britain has taken unilateral action," Even the Chinese news spoke about Saxon's news before the channel changed to the Teletubbies.
All they were left to do is run.
Ailia took the lead after a while, taking the long way to another one of her stashes, the four hidden away in an abandoned warehouse.
"How long have you been here, Ailia?" the Doctor immediately began to interrogate her when they got back.
"Is anyone else hungry?" Martha asked, taking a step back.
"Starved," Jack said, joining her.
"We'll just go, then," Martha gestured towards the exit, the other two, staring eachother down, didn't notice Martha and Jack leave.
"What do you mean?" Ailia questioned, pulling up a makeshift chair to a wobbling table.
"How long have you been in this year? Have you run into yourself? What happened?" the Doctor rattled off.
"I got here when Saxon did, 18 monthes ago," Ailia answered, crossing her legs on the chair, "No, I would have taken Amy and went underground, and I don't think that is need to know right now."
"When would it have to be?" the Doctor questioned.
"When it's not part of the what questions you should be asking package," Ailia stated.
"Since when do you tell me what questions I should be asking," the Doctor appeared insulted.
"Since I was left here for 18 monthes, was put in prison, and forced to create a life story, that's when," Ailia raised an eyebrow, cold emitting from her skin.
"Why'd you have to do that?" the Doctor stood on the other side of the table.
"Because I was stuck..." Ailia cut herself off, taking a deep breath, "Fine. Okay, okay, if you won't ask the right questions, then I will."
"Saxon didn't give me his master plans, but I've got an idea of what it is," Ailia said, oddly still, speaking in half-truthes, not adding Saxon's attempts into her mind, "He found something that helped him to build a network, he called it something angel, ended up being able to influence people, it's a web above our heads, he's using satallites, I'd think. They get into our heads, pushing one way or another."
"What's with the watch?" the Doctor glanced at the black leather strapped to her wrist.
"Detects things on a higher or lower frequency than Saxon's mindscape, including him, and it tracks," Ailia stiffly pulled a crumpled up package of smiley face stickers, "These."
"What're those?" the Doctor questioned.
"Smiley face stickers," Ailia stated the obvious, "With trackers, place one of these on somebody's back, in someone's pocket and you can find them, as long as you have this," Ailia waved her watch around, "Anti-corruption software, newly modified, the code always changing, I'd say it's Saxon proof, but I don't want to jinx it."
"Brilliant," the Doctor stared at the watch, Ailia handing object to him, "How long have you been hiding from Saxon?"
"What time is it?" Ailia questioned.
"9: 30," the Doctor answered.
"5 hours," Ailia replied.
"What'd you do before?" the Doctor was on guard again.
"I told you, prison," Ailia shrugged.
"You said..." the Doctor was cut off.
"That I was in prison until I landed in some garbage bins," Ailia finished, "I've been planning this for monthes."
"No, you said that you fell off a building," the Doctor corrected, "And that you survived, what did you do before then?"
"I was at a party," Ailia said.
"Some prison," the Doctor snorted.
"With you and Martha," Ailia continued, "As Stormy Reese."
"She died," the Doctor said.
"Stormy Reese might have, but that was a name," Ailia tilted her head, watching his response, "But I'm right here."
"She's not, you're not," the Doctor shook his head, "She got hit, she fell off a building."
"So did I," Ailia said.
"Prove it," the Doctor challanged.
"How?" Ailia asked, her tone calm, but the icy texture to her skin radiated something else.
"She got hit," the Doctor said, "If she's you, then you'd have a mark."
Ailia rolled her eyes.
"Prove it, show me," the Doctor demanded.
Ailia met the Doctor's eyes, realizing his seriousness before pulling up a corner of her shirt, the green material darkened around the area, underneath showing a swollen red skin.
"You," the Doctor glanced between Ailia and the wound, "You're her."
"Why wouldn't I be?" Ailia asked.
"But you..." the Doctor stopped himself.
"Looked different, acted different," Ailia suggested, "You can't just expect me to not change after 18 monthes, Doctor, it doesn't work that way."
The Doctor moved around the table to hug the woman, Ailia flinching away, nearly jumping out of her skin at the unexpected touch.
"I got the food," Martha piped up, waving the bag around, Jack giving the two a grin.
"How was it?" Ailia asked, stepping away from the Doctor, practically falling over herself to meet the two.
"I don't think anyone saw me. Anything new?" Martha glanced between the duo.
"I've got this tuned into the government wavelength so we can follow what Saxon's doing," Ailia volunteered.
"Yeah, I meant about my family," Martha corrected.
"It still says the Jones family taken in for questioning. Tell you what, though, no mention of Leo," Ailia fingered a button, turning up the volume slightly.
"He's not as daft as he looks. I'm talking about my brother on the run. How did this happen?" Martha edgily replied, moving forwards, setting the food on the table.
"Nice chips," Jack sat down where Ailia had been, popping the spoken food into his mouth from a bag of his own, offering the Doctor one.
The Doctor reluctantly took one finally saying, "Actually, they're not bad."
The Doctor picked up another one, Martha sitting down in front of the two. For a second Jack and Martha exchanged looks, Martha nodding her head in the Doctor's direction.
"So, Doctor, who is he? How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?" Jack framed the question as a joke.
"And what is he to you? Like a colleague..." Martha came in to fix what Jack had said.
"A friend, at first," the Doctor allowed.
"I thought you were gonna say he was your secret brother or something," Martha admitted, causing Jack and the Doctor to stare at her.
"You've been watching too much TV," the Doctor informed her.
Martha chuckled half-heartedly at the comment.
"But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect," Jack said.
"Well, perfect to look at, maybe. And it was, it was beautiful," the Doctor leaned back in a chair he'd found, remembering Gallifrey for the second time since Ailia had met this regeneration, "They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords... "
"The oldest and most mighty race in the universe... looking down on the galaxies below... sworn never to interfere... only to watch..."
"Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families at the age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's when it all began. When he was a child... that's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation, 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," the Doctor trailed off in his memories.
"What about you?" Martha questioned.
"Oh, the ones that ran away. I never stopped," the Doctor said, his mouth full of food.
Ailia's watch beeped, "Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognize it," Ailia said, the watch loose in her hand.
"Patch it through to the laptop," the Doctor said, Ailia doing so.
"Um, since we're telling stories, um, there's something I haven't told you," Jack said, obviously recognizing the channel, wanting to speak before...
The Torchwood logo appeared on the screen, and the Doctor finished.
"You work for Torchwood," the Doctor said.
"I swear to you, it's different. It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now," Jack pleaded, continuing, "The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it. And when I did that, I did it for you, in your honour."
"How do you have that frequency?" the Doctor asked Ailia.
"I told you I'm tuned into every frequency higher or lower than Saxon's mindscape," Ailia answered easily, avoiding the Doctor's glare as she opened the file.
"If I haven't returned to my desk by 2200 hours, this file will be emailed to Torchwood. Which means, if you're watching this, then I'm... Anyway, the Saxon files are attached. But take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it all started. When Harry Saxon became Minister in charge of launching the Archangel Network," Vivian stated.
"Vivian you idiot," Ailia muttered to herself.
"You know her!" the Doctor questioned, pausing the video.
"How could I not, she's been yelling at me for monthes?" Ailia shook her head, pressing play, "I told her not to go to Lucy, but she didn't listen."
"You said you weren't sure what it was called," the Doctor pointed out, pausing the video before even a second passed.
"It's been a busy week, and I do now, Archangel," Ailia answered, pressing play again, turning towards the screen once again, but the Doctor paused the video on a the earth spinning around, satellites in veiw.
The screen changes to show a graphic of a spinning Earth with satellites.
"What's the Archangel Network?" The Doctor asked.
But Ailia didn't answer, instead, Martha did, pulling out her phone, "I've got Archangel. Everyone's got it."
"It's the mobile phone network. 'Cause, look, it's gone worldwide. They've got 15 satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel," Jack informed.
The Doctor looked at Ailia who threw her hands up, "I've been in prison, don't blame me."
The man didn't say anything, taking Martha's phone, using his sonic screwdriver on it, "It's in the phones! Oh, I said he was a hypnotist! Wait, wait, wait. Hold on," the Doctor tapped the phone against the table, hearing the rhythm, "There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere. Ticking away in the subconscious."
Ailia wanted to say something, but she wasn't there, for the second time since being sent on a mission, the Master pushed the button that made her disappear, thinking her unable to help them.
She wanted to scream in frustration, noticing a new blip on her watch, now being called Jack's vortex manipulator, that was her.
"Dammit, Saxon," Ailia swore, hitting the table, knowing it wouldn't make a difference, "You don't even know where I am."
"What is it, mind control?" Martha asked.
"No, no, no, no. 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. 'Cause I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal cancelled him out," the Doctor had an apiphany.
"You couldn't realize that when I was there?" Ailia growled, frusterated.
"Any way you can stop it?" Jack questioned.
"Not from down here. But now we know how he's doing it," the Doctor said.
"And we can fight back," Martha added, happy at this realization.
"Oh, yes!" the Doctor cheered, taking apart Martha's phone and laptop, taking their TARDIS keys, something Ailia had yet to get, though the Master probably would have taken it if she did have one.
The Doctor dug around in his pocket, taking out a few more, not saying why, instead using his sonic screwdriver to weld the computers circuitry to the keys, tying all of them to string so they could be worn around their necks'.
"Four TARDIS keys, four pieces of the TARDIS 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," the Doctor took a step back, "look at me. You can see me, yes?"
"Yep! Why four?" Martha asked.
"We might lose one. What about now?" the Doctor slipped the key over his neck, Martha's vision veering off, the woman blinking. The same thing must have happened to Jack because the man chuckled, but Ailia didn't understand, stilling staring at the man.
"No, I'm here. Look at me," the Doctor ehoed.
"It's like... I know you're there but I don't want to know," Martha commented.
"And back again," the Doctor said, taking off the key and setting it on the table, "See? It just shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible, just unnoticed. Oh, I know what it's like. It's like... it's like when you fancy someone and they don't even know you exist. That's what it's like. Come on!"
Martha glanced at Jack, Ailia not being able to decide if it were because she told Jack or because she wanted Jack's support.
If she wanted support, she didn't get it, Jack just saying, "You too, hunh?"
Ailia watched the trio leave, the woman staring at the table, hurriedly picking up the key and put it around her neck after a moment of desicion, catching up with the trio, the Doctor just explaining.
"Don't run. Don't shout. Just keep your voice down. Draw attention to yourself and the spell is broken. Just keep to the shadows, " the Doctor ordered.
"Like ghosts," Jack suggested.
"Yeah," the Doctor stared directly at Ailia, "that's what we are. Ghosts."
The three in front of Ailia put the keys around their necks, walking into the city, a few more shadows added into the night.
---
"Mr Saxon, I'm not sure what your game is but there are provisions at the United Nations to have you removed from office unless you are very, very careful. Is that understood?" the group stood off to the side of an air field watching Saxon zipping his lips in response to the President of the United States.
"Are you taking this seriously?" the President asked, Saxon nodded in response, "To business. We've accessed your files on these...Toclafane. First contact cannot take place on any sovereign soil. For that purpose, the aircraft carrier Valiant is en route. The rendezvous will take place there at 8:00 am."
Saxon mimed trying to talk through zipped lips, the President, sighing imaptiently, "You're trying my patience, sir."
Saxon unzipped his lips, "My Chief of Staff isn't here right now...So America is completely in charge?"
"Since Britain elected an ass, yes. I'll see you onboard the Valiant," the President turned to leave.
"It still will be televised, though, won't it? Because I promised, and the whole world is watching," Saxon asked, slightly more serious than usual.
"Since it's too late to pull out, the world will be watching. Me," the President made sure to reinforce the point of him being in the spotlight, then continuing his walk to a waiting car.
"The last President of America. We have a private plane ready and waiting. We should reach the Valiant within the hour," Saxon gestured for Lucy to get in the car first, "My darling," then the man turned, watching President Winters drive away.
Saxon turned back, looking at the area where the fours stood, glancing away only when sirens could be heard in the distance, a police van pulling up. The Jones family revealed to be inside, one by one being taken out, Saxon ran over to greet them like old friends, a puppy in the face of what might have been a grin situation.
"Hi, guys! All will be revealed!" Saxon laughed.
"Oh my God," Martha gaped, Ailia tensing from where she stood a few yards away from the trio.
"Don't move," the Doctor ordered in a hushed whisper.
"But..." Martha watched her family.
"Don't," the Doctor felt a chill go down his spine, Ailia's anger rising as the family was transferred to a Land Rover.
"I'm gonna kill him," Martha growled
"Say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Jack suggested, the fury catching.
"Now that sounds like Torchwood," the Doctor scoffed.
"Still a good plan," Jack didn't back down.
"He's a Time Lord, which makes him my responsibility. I'm not here to kill him. I'm here to save him," the Doctor glanced away from Martha and Jack, his gaze hovering over Ailia for a second.
"Aircraft carrier Valiant. It's a UNIT ship at 28.2N and 10.02E," Jack informed, using his vortex manipulator.
"How do we get onboard?" Martha questioned.
"Does that thing work as a teleport?" the Doctor asked jacked, the image of Ailia's watch peeking through the glamor.
"Since you revamped it, yeah. Coordinates set," Jack was the one who answered, the object still his vortex manipulator.
The Doctor made sure that they all were touching the manipulator, Ailia touching it with her pinky, a ghost walking though Jack, then activated it, arriving in an engine room, hopefully one of th Valiant's.
Martha and Jack groan, Ailia just swaying on the spot, the Doctor already up.
"Oh, that thing is rough," Martha moaned.
"I've has worse nights," Jack cracked his neck, "Welcome to the Valiant."
"It's dawn," Martha said, walking to a porthole, "Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?"
"A ship for the 21st century. Protecting the skies of planet Earth," Jack said, Ailia giving a slight laugh in disbelief, they didn't have this two years ago, and if Martha didn't see it, they aren't very visable now.
Looking out the porthole it was easy to see just how huge the Valiant was, three landing strips and a massive curving hull, all a stormy steel grey, not reflecting much sun.
It was gorgous.
The four ran down the maintenance corridors, Ailia still technically non existant, not leading the way, but she paused at the corner.
"I know where the TARDIS is," Ailia said, her voice echoing in a reality half without the Doctor, half with her not. The half without the Doctor held lonely, empty halls, an abandoned thing, the woman walking alone in it's ruins.
The Doctor stopped.
"We've no time for sightseeing!" Jack prompted them forward.
"No, no. Wait. Shh, shh, shh. Can't you hear it?" the Doctor hushed.
"I'm serious, Doctor," Ailia moved away from the group.
"Hear what?" Jack questioned, listening.
"Doctor, my family's on board," Martha stated, striding past the Doctor.
"I know where the TARDIS is," Ailia repeated, watching the Doctor's eyes on her, "Follow me."
"Brilliant! This way!" the Doctor said to the others, changing direction, running through more corridors until they reached a set of doors, Ailia standing in front of them.
"She's here, but," Ailia didn't get to finish, the Doctor flinging open the doors to show the TARDIS.
"Oh, at last!" the Doctor said to the box.
"Oh, yes!" Martha cheered.
Ailia laughed at their excitement, turning into a sob as she remembered what her mind helped do.
"What's it doing on the Valiant?" Jack asked, staring at the box.
The Doctor's expression changed, glancing behind him, seemingly at the other two before opening the TARDIS doors, finding the interior bathed in red, a cage around the console.
"What the hell's he done?" Jack sounded angry.
"I'm sorry, Doctor, I didn't tell you, but he's been using me," Ailia walked forward, moving to caress the console.
"Don't touch it," the Doctor yelled.
"I'm not going to," Jack thought the order was directed at him.
"I wasn't techinically in prison, I was locked like this, or in my head," Ailia talked to the Doctor, "He canabalized her," a deepening frown appeared on her face, "And I helped."
"What's he done though? Sounds like it's... sick," Martha finished the sentence.
The console was stripped in certain spots, looking like Peck had when Ailia first saw him, hair bare in places, locked inside of a cage.
"It can't be. No, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be," the Doctor protested.
"Doctor, what is it?" Martha asked.
"A paradox machine," Ailia whispered.
"He's cannibalised the TARDIS," the Doctor answered, staring at Ailia, an unrecognizable look on his face.
"Is that what I think it is?" Jack questioned.
"It's a paradox machine," the Doctor dropped Ailia's gaze.
"As soon as this hits red, it activates. At this speed, it'll trigger," the Doctor took Jack's watch, "at two minutes past 8:00."
"At two minutes past 8:00," Ailia said at the same time.
"First contact is at 8:00 and then two minutes later..." Jack dragged off.
"I don't know what he wants it for, but I do know that if you touch something wrong it will blow up the solar system...Or worse," Ailia informed, knowing the Doctor was watching now.
"What's it for? What's a paradox machine do?" Martha asked.
"More importantly, can you stop it?" Jack added.
"Not until I know what it's doing. Touch the wrong bit and blow up the solar system," the Doctor relayed the message.
"Then we've got to get to the Master," Martha stated.
"Yeah. How do we stop him?" Jack questioned.
"Oh, I've got a way. Sorry, didn't I tell you?" the Doctor questioned.
They stood in the back of the room Saxon talking at the front, standing as still as they could.
"This plan, you gonna tell us?" Jack asked.
"If I can get this," the Doctor gestured to his key, "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," Jack saluted.
"I'll get him," Martha said.
The Doctor eyed Ailia, "I won't let you down."
"Now then, peoples of the Earth, please attend carefully," Saxon said into the camera, the Doctor rushing forward.
"Stop him!" a guard yelled, two more following his order, grabbing the Doctor, forcing the man to his knees.
"We meet at last, Doctor. Oh, ho! I love saying that!" the Master laughed.
"Stop this! Stop it now!" The Doctor ordered.
"As if a perception filter's gonna work on me. Oh, and look, it's the girlie and the freak. Although, I'm not sure which one's which," Jack rushed the man, the Master shooting a beam at the man, causing Jack to fall, "Laser screwdriver, who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. I get to kill him again!"
Martha knelt by Jack's side, checking on the man.
Ailia walked calmly towards the front of the room.
"Master, just calm down. Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself..." the Doctor eased pulling himself up.
The Master sighed towards the camera saying, "Oh, do excuse me, little bit of personal business. Back in a minute," then Saxon turned towards the gaurds, "Let him go."
The guards shoved the Doctor at the Master's feet.
"It's that sound, the sound in your head. What if I could help?" the Doctor offered.
"Oh, how to shut him up? I know. Memory Lane!" Saxon said, sitting on the steps in front of the Doctor, "Professor Lazarus. Remember him? And his genetic manipulation device? 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 I only had the Doctor's biological code. Oh, wait a minute, I do!"
The Master ran to a silver case, revealing the hand of the Doctor, "I've got his hand! And if Lazarus made himself younger, what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?"
Saxon aimed his screwdriver at the Doctor, the Doctor screaming as he convulsed on the ground, his genetic makeup altering.
Behind them Jack revived, pressing his vortex manipulator into Martha's hand, "Teleport."
Ailia dropped the necklace over the Master's head, the man not noticing.
"I can't," Martha said.
"We can't stop him. Get out of here. Get out," Jack ordered.
Saxon stopped, the Doctor's body wrinkled and worn, Martha crawled to the Doctor's side.
"Doctor, I've got you," Martha said to the man.
"Aw, she's a would-be doctor. But tonight, Martha Jones, we've flown 'em in all the way from prison," Saxon announced.
The doors sliding open, showing gaurds escorting her mother and father, Tish not that far behind.
"Mum," Martha breathed.
"I'm sorry," Francine sobbed, tears dripping down her face.
The Doctor's breathing was heavy, "The Toclafane, who are they? Who are they?"
"Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break," Saxon faked a frown, the Toclafane whirling around his head.
"Is it time?"
"Is it ready?"
"Is the machine singing?" they asked.
Saxon checked his watch, "Two minutes past," the man climbed the steps, standing beside Lucy, "So! Earthings. Basically, um, end of the world," Saxon held up his sonic, "Here... come... the drums!"
"Why isn't it working?" Ailia wondered aloud.
Saxon and Lucy watched from above, the Toclafane flying in.
"How many do you think?" Saxon asked Lucy.
"I don't know," Lucy said.
"Doctor, they're coming, it's not working," Ailia panicked.
"Six billion," Saxon switched on an outside speaker, "Down you go, kids!"
"Shall we decimate them? That sounds good. Nice word, decimate," Saxon said to Lucy, then turned on the outside speaker again, "Remove one-tenth of the population!"
"Stop," Ailia kicked a wall.
Martha could help the tears that started to trail down her face as she heard the pleas for help from below.
"Valiant, this is Geneva! We're getting slaughtered down here!"
Martha stood, leaving the Doctor's side.
"Help us, for God's sake! Help us! They're everywhere!"
"This is London, Valiant ! This is London calling! What do we do?!"
Martha looked at her family, another message coming through.
"They're killing us! The Toclafane are killing us!"
Martha pushed the button for the teleport, disappearing.
Saxon turned to the Doctor for one last comment, not noticing Martha's loss, "To your precious Tea was responsable for this."
The Doctor just stared at the Master.
"Oh, oops," the Master smiled, covering his mouth, "It's 'Lia, and you don't remember anyway. Let me fix that," Saxon pushed a button, Ailia appearing behind him.
"Behold the one responsible," the Master cheered, glancing around, "She's here somewhere, maybe she left you. Aw, a tragic end, the girl with no name, lost on the ground."
Ailia brought down her elbow into the man's neck, "I'm right here, asshole."
The Master stumbled forward, "Grab her," he ordered to the gaurds.
"Wait," Ailia held up a hand to the guards, "Don't you think that face is just a little to strange?"
The guards paused confused, advancing once again.
"Oh, well," Ailia shrugged, "I tried," her hand slipped into Saxon's pocket, taking the button, clutching it tightly in her palm, "I guess I'll just go see Martha."
Saxon whirled around, seeing Ailia gave him a grin worthy of the Cheshire Cat, "I told you, I'm very good at playing games."
And the girl vanished.