Apocalypse Rising (Book Three)

The Sound of Drums

I am stunned by how few of you commented on "Utopia." Either you were speechless, or everyone was crowding around "The Big Bang" finale for "Rising From The Ashes." I'm hoping it was the first one. Thank you to Maddythewriter for commenting, at least!

In this chapter, Jack and Martha still have no clue which Time Lord Saxon is, the Apocalypse still isn't telling, so what's going to happen when Jack finds out he's about to meet his "brother?"

Enjoy "The Sound of Drums!" I promise, you'll love the end of it!

***

"Gimme that!" the Apocalypse barked, jumping on Jack's Vortex Manipulator. "Hold still!" she ordered, using her sonic screwdriver. "Don't move! Hold it still!"

"I'm telling you, it's broken!" Jack shouted. "It hasn't worked for years!"

"That's because you didn't have me!" she retorted. "Martha, grab hold, now!"

Martha slapped a hand on the Vortex Manipulator, and they disappeared. They were spat out in an alleyway, groaning. "Oh, my head," Martha whined.

"Time travel without a capsule," the Apocalypse shook her head. "That's a killer."

"Still, at least we made it," Jack smiled as they walked out onto a street. "Earth, 21st century by the looks of it. Talk about lucky."

"That wasn't luck," the Apocalypse grumbled. "That was me."

"The moral is, if you're going to get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his Vortex Manipulator."

"But this Time Lord, whoever he is, he's got the TARDIS," Martha said. "He could be anywhere in time and space."

"No, he's here," the Apocalypse shook her head. "Trust me."

"Who is he, anyway?" Martha asked. "And that voice at the end, that wasn't the Professor."

"If he's a Time Lord, then he must have regenerated," Jack guessed.

"What does that mean?"

"It means he's changed his face, voice, body, everything. New man."

"Then how are we going to find him?"

"I'll know him the moment I see him," the Apocalypse answered. "Time Lords always do."

"But, hold on," Martha frowned as they looked around. "If he could be anyone, we missed the election. But it can't be!"

"Mr. Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters."

They looked up at television screens attached to lampposts to see the Master walking down stairs with his wife. "I said I knew that voice!" Martha grinned. "When he spoke inside the TARDIS, I've heard that voice hundreds of times. I've seen him. We all have. That was the voice of Harold Saxon!"

"That's him," the Apocalypse blinked. "He's Prime Minister. He's Prime Minister of Great Britain." She blinked, seeing her brother kiss the blonde with him. "And his wife?" I've got a sister-in-law?

"This country has been devastated," the Master spoke to the cameras. "This country has been destroyed. This country was obliterated. In fact . . . I'd go so far as to say that what really happened to this country . . . was an Apocalypse." He smiled innocently.

The Apocalypse huffed. "Show off."

"Do you know who he is?" Jack asked, looking at her.

The Apocalypse bit her lip. "Not yet," she lied.