The Great and Powerful

by The Plot Thinens

Part I

Lord Rassilon, "the great and powerful", was one of the many names his human and humanoid subjects were required to call him. Ever since the end of the great time war with the Dalek Empire, the Earth has been an annexation of the Gallifreyan Empire. This empire was grand in size and reached out to many galaxies throughout space. Hardly any planet worth mentioning was not under Gallifreyan rule by the Time Lords. It is unquestioned expect for maybe a little. The only thing that stood in the way of the unquestioned greatness of Rassilon and his Time Lords was the single fact that they had no home planet after the war. That had been unexpectedly destroyed to rid the universe of the Dalek plague.

No planet, no matter what level, even a level five planet, was ignorant of the chaos going on in space. Battles in space were held over every galaxy and planet throughout the universe it seemed. Some under developed worlds would write epic poems about the hell they had managed to survive that would live on in religious text. Others would know too well what was going on and would quake in free. Then there were others that would act in fear.

After the war, despite the loss of Gallifrey, no other civilization or species left in the galaxy was more powerful than the Time Lords and their military. The Time Lords, in their arrogance, deemed that it was their right to take the spoils of war and pick a new planet to inhabit as home base in exchange for having saved the universe. Lord Rassilon could have had any number of planets to choose from that had more technology to start with as a base for his new civilization, but one planet stood out. The only one besides Skaro that he felt needed to be made an example of.

In their ape-ish ignorance, some of the humans on this planet had been fooled by the Daleks into believing that the Time Lords were, in fact, the real threat on the galaxy. That it was the Daleks trying to save the universe from destruction. That Rassilon's diplomatic, but still arrogant manner was a facade for the true menace the Time Lords presented. And if only the humans would join forces with the Daleks would humanity be saved. These foolish humans in their fear had thought that they would avoid the wrath of Rassilon by betraying him. Quite frankly he had been amazed that the simple minded Daleks had been able to last that long enough without exterminating their allies. The humans had worked without fail to assist the Daleks in their plan. This boiled down to an assassination attempt on Rassilon. It had been almost successful except for one factor. They had ended up killing the wrong person. Rassilon had sent his son, Theta, whom called himself, The Doctor, to the diplomatic mission with the human's primitive United Nations, in a request to station a repair 'shipyard' over the Earth's orbit. Rassilon had thought it ridiculous to have to ask the permission of a tiny species that didn't even have an adequate means to reject the request, but The Doctor had been insistent. He had admired the human culture and was an avid study of its history before the war. Not only that, but the Earth was in a remote enough galaxy that there was very little chance that any activity from any more advance civilization would not go unrecognized. There were also a few rare metals that could be borrowed from the Earth and the human's moon too. Rassilon had easily agreed to let his son go in his place. If his son wanted to humor the knuckle draggers than it was fine with him.

The day of the meeting went on well enough, there was the usual pomp and circumstance, but then things went wrong. The bomb went off and leveled most of the island of Manhattan and with it New York City. When Rassilon had found his son by TNA transmit he was barely alive. Most of his organs and bones were crushed. He had lived by what some might call a miracle alone. Like all of the UN leaders, gone were his long brown locks, his eccentric human looking Victorian apparel or what was left of it were melted into his skin. He would be dead soon, or would be dead, if not for the telltale signs of regeneration taking course in his charred body. In a fire of golden light his son regenerated and was reborn, but not as he was before. His long brown hair was now black and cropped extremely short. His eyes still blue were now haunted and angry. He looked older now, not older than his father but not more than 20 years younger than Rassilon in appearance. His nose and ears were also a sight. He was ugly.

When The Doctor had become fully aware of what had just happened, he was devastated by the loss of friends and the historic city of Earth by the Daleks. He was angry and his father found a way to put that anger of his to use. Rassilon had discovered his son's killers and they had been taken care of, and the leader of the Time Lords would forever hold a distrust of the primitive humans. This was more the reason to keep an eye on them. The Doctor had even found the Daleks still on Earth and had destroyed them. Rassilon would almost say he was proud of his son. Gone seemed to be the peacemaker and now here was the warrior and general he needed to aid him in his war for creation. Gone were the bright flamboyant clothing in exchange for utilitarian looking clothing and leather that was all black. The Doctor fought every battle just to kill a few more Daleks. There were never enough dead Daleks for him. The Doctor had performed every task asked of him with no feeling of remorse. That was until the unthinkable day, when he had to choose between Gallifrey and universe. Rassilon had not been there on Gallifrey at the time, he had been off in another galaxy inspecting what was left of the TARDIS fleet. The planet had been left very under protected. A tactical blunder of logistics, when it appeared every Dalek in the universe was attacking. Their numbers were many and much more than ever even conceived. Once they left this planet dead, for the defenses were falling fast, then they would go out into the universe and do the same to every planet they could. Even the Time Lord army wasn't that big. That was when The Doctor, the man who had chosen that name originally because he wanted to make people better, had to make a decision. Set off an ultimate weapon and take Gallifrey and all the Daleks with it. Or risk dying fighting it out and have the Daleks threaten the Galaxy with no sizeable army left to stop them. With a heavy heart, he had opted to take the Daleks with him and his planet. Only it had not turned out that way. Somehow, he had survived and he didn't know how. He had been found floating in space where Gallifrey once was in a barely functioning TARDIS. His father had been angry.

The Doctor was the only witness left, so the remaining Time Lords were left to form their own opinions about his survival. Some called him a coward, other's a hero, and other's a murderer. It was only who his father was that saved him from any penalties for what he had done from the other Time Lords. He suffered though, oh how the Doctor suffered at his own mind's hands for his crimes. Rassilon, he had been angry with his son but for the reasons that he was denied being the one to lead the battle to victory no matter what the cost was. For that he would always be bitter to his son.

But that for now was in the past. Rassilon had a planet to pick for himself and his remaining Time Lords and that new home for the Time Lords was now Earth. He guessed that in a sense the Daleks had been right about him, but it was the humans who had forced his hand, not the other way around. But it was not the injury of his son that had left Rassilon vengeful; it was the impudence of the humans for thinking that they could stop him with such a tiny weapon. That they would dare turn on the Time Lords. That they would damage the image of the immortal and indestructible Time Lords. That was what bothered him most. They needed to be made an example, if one of your species betrays us, than you all do.

It was swift and without much effort that the Time Lord's took over the Earth and its many governments and countries. The only thing that had saved the humans from possible eradication was the Doctor. He loved the Earth and its many peoples and when the suggestion of just eradicating the dominate species on the planet came to the table; the Doctor had made argument against it.

"I didn't destroy the Daleks just so that we could all become like them. Leave that horror to me and don't go down such a path. It is not by any means pleasant." Roared the Doctor in his Northern Earth sounding accent that offended some of the other Time Lord's more refine ears.

"He's gone native." Grumble one of the high councilors in responds. Eventually sanity won out and the subjugation of the human race was considered an alternative. The Doctor did not like this idea either and wanted the humans left alone and for them to find another planet. However, in this he was voted out even by his own father. He wanted to punish the species that would dare try to defy him and would ally themselves to the Daleks.

"You are lumping the good with the bad! That was only a small group of scared humans. Have mercy and leave them to develop in peace!" Begged the Doctor on the human's behalf since no representative was even invited to attend this summit on the subject of what was to become of Earth.

"Regardless of your feelings for these monkeys, Doctor, my decision is final. The humans will be made an example of. You should congratulate yourself that you have at least convinced me to spare the lives of your killer's species." Announced Rassilon, the last part said rather sarcastically. That had been 150 years ago. Humanity has been under the control of the Time Lords for so long that although it was 'resented' it was more or less accepted as the way things were. No living memory of life before the Time Lords existed on Earth was around anymore. The Time Lords control everything, media, education, transportation, natural resources, manmade resources and Time Lord made resources. As a result the technology that humans had access to was sadly outdated by comparison to the Time Lords. The Time Lords had a standing army and thanks to their technology law enforcement was handled by one department of Time Lords who control the robots that patrolled the streets and kept the piece. A few positions in law enforcement were available to humans but none that required them to have firearms.

Rassilon sat on his thrown of power, undisputed, so far. The Daleks were a fading memory and all but a myth. His only troubles were with the occasional commercial argument with other alien civilizations from time to time, and his son most of the time. After the war his son became a recluse. He would not come to banquets or participate in any events involving Time Lord Politics or government. Because of his reclusive and reluctance to engage in any Time Lord operation, most humans had never even seen him or at least knew they had seen him. In fact probably the last time he was seem for who he was, was on the day he regenerated. But since Rassilon was all but immortal, what did it matter if no one saw his son or not? It certainly didn't imply weakness. At least not in the humans' eyes.

The Doctor had never stopped feeling guilt for what he had done his own TARDIS reminded him of that every day. Not by her choice though. She had been horribly damaged by the Time War and in a form of silent protest; the remaining TARDIS repairmen had refused to service his barely alive ship. They knew it was dangerous to do so, but the Doctor, having killed off most of the TARDISes did not put up a fight with them. He only worried what they might do to his TARDIS if he had them forced to service her.

"It is an ancient model anyway. Should have been decommissioned a long time ago." The head repairman had told him bitterly, knowing that he was referring as much to his TARDIS as to the Doctor. The Doctor had not wanted another TARDIS though. This one was his oldest friend and had serviced the war with him. That having been settled, the Doctor began his 145 year task of repairing the half dead TARDIS. It had been his only comfort and distraction for so long. It was only now that he was making short trips in the TARDIS. Not in time or space like he once had, but from place to place in the same time like a shuttle. He had been able to sneak out of his father's palace undetected since the Time Lords didn't even test for the decommissioned model's energy signature anymore. This was good. Now that he was free to wander about among the humans as if he were one of them. The human's paid him no notice and no looks of hatred or pity. Just the simple joy of passing through a crowded street was wonderful after years in isolation hiding from his own kind and their judging looks. His father would have never approved of him trying to mix with the 'primitives', which was why he kept such visits quiet. Anytime a robot policeman came near he would quickly make himself disappear, either down an alley or back into his TARDIS which now had a fully functional perception filter. Though the old girls was still hopelessly stuck looking like a 1960s Earth police box, but he liked the color. Everything about this was going well that was until his TARDIS detected an abnormality in a department store called Henrik's.

Rose Tyler was a normal everyday human. Her day started like any other. Get up, listen to whatever the bloody Time Lords had to say to the human servants on the wall monitor in every living room, then go to work and do whatever her job told her to do. She was horribly in debt, thanks to a bad break up with a man who had left her in said debt, and now she was just trying to get her life back in order. This was why the last thing she needed that night was to be chased by some unidentified alien threat in the basement of Henrik's. Rose had just wanted to handle some lottery business with her fellow employee when she noticed something off about the plastic mannequins in the basement. She did not waste time in sticking around, Rose remembered what her mother had told her over and over again as a child,

"If it seems off, it's got to be alien, so get away." Rose was doing just that but in the confusion of the chase she had gotten turned around and was now cornered with a locked door mocking her escape. As the plastic monsters bore down on her, Rose closed her eyes only to feel a cool hand grip hers. She looked up and the locked door was now open and a man was holding her hand.

"Run." He said and Rose did just that, the two ran hand in hand down the hall to the elevator and narrowly missed being grabbed by a plastic hand as the door shut.

"Are they aliens?" Rose asked her mysterious lifesaver once the doors were closed.

"Yup." The man replied. Rose accepted the information and went on to the next obvious set of questions.

"Who are they and who are you." Questioned Rose. The Doctor did not want to give himself away, he liked be mistaken for a regular human. Human company he had always preferred to his stuffy species' company.

"They're called Autons, a living plastic race. And I'm Smith…John Smith. You?"

"Rose Tyler. You some kind of alien expert?" Asked Rose as he left the elevator and ran toward the nearest exit.

"Kinda. We need to tell the Time Lords about this, so they can take care of the problem. In case it's an invasion." Noted the Doctor. Rose reached for her cell phone to call 911, which at one time had been the USA's way to call for help but now was the emergency number to call if there were invading aliens. The Doctor flinched at the idea of having the Time Lords swoop in when he was still in the building and said,

"No need for that. Got be a faster response right here." Said the Doctor as he pulled out an odd cylinder device he then used to open up the locked door. He swathe amazed look on Rose's face and replied,

"Bit of borrowed tech. Sonic Screwdriver. Opens locked doors. Calls the police undetected." He noted as he walked the two of them down an alley away from the building and next to the TARDIS. The perception filter would shield them from any Time Lords looking for him. However, the Doctor had no desire to show the TARDIS off to Rose, he just wanted to hide them. In a manner of minutes the Time Lords were on the scene and the Auton invasion was on its way to being completely stopped. The Doctor did not approve of their methods, but he didn't have the resources available to offer the Auton's an alternative to invasion. This was one of the few occasions where he wished that he had the authority to give a new planet to a desperate race like the Autons, but his father would never allow it.

Rose, having finally caught her breath, looked at the tall, dark and leather clad man and gasped out,

"I just realized. You saved me back there. Thank you." The Doctor was stunned by this remark. It had been the first 'thank you' he had received in over a century from anyone but his TARDIS. He almost didn't know what to say.

"Yeah…Guess I did. Give the man a medal." He laughed out in his thick Northern accent that he knew annoyed his father. Rose laughed too and cheered,

"Looks like we've done our part. I'm hungry how about you?" The Doctor was just so taken by just having a normal conversation with another being that didn't have a motive, that he didn't even notice her words.

"Yeah." He just said and mindless began following the woman like a puppy. Rose was saying something but the Doctor wasn't sure what. Now that they weren't running for their lives anymore, he had the time just to admire the lovely human in front of him. Except for a few things, humans looked very Time Lord. When he finally stopped admiring her face and listened to her words he found that she was quite clever and witty. She was 19 years old, obviously a bit young for him, but when you get past the age of 900, age gaps didn't matter much anymore. You could have fun talking to anyone despite their age if you had an interest in a similar subject. She clearly worked at the Henrik's they just escaped from which she hoped would still be open the next day as she needed the money. She then stopped talking abruptly as she stopped in front of a small restaurant. A Chippy.

"Well here we are." Rose said. The Doctor then looked a bit sheepish and said,

"Got no money." Rose rolled her eyes at the man,

"Well, I guess since you saved my life that the chips should be on me. Bit of a cheap date you." Rose jeered a bit with her tongue poking out the side of her smiling mouth.

"Sorry, next time I'll remember my wallet." The Doctor then realized what he said and nervously added

"Erm, not that I'm saying I'm expecting a next time. If I'm smart enough to have a sonic screwdriver than I should be smart enough to carry a wallet." The Doctor rambled mindlessly at the lovely woman. She giggled again; it was funny how this 'in charge' feeling man could be so socially inept.

The two had their food in front of them and both began digging in. The chips were delicious. He had never actually had them before. But he didn't want to say that for risk of being found out. He really didn't want this woman to know he was actually a Time Lord. He liked the exchange that they were having as equals and if she were to know his true identity than that dynamic would change. She'd probably shrink away from him out of fear. No he was deciding that his Gallifreyan origins would remain secret and he was starting to realize with each passing moment that he liked Rose more and more. He definitely wanted to see her again, if he could only arrange it.

"So what's your story?" Asked Rose to the Doctor who looked up from his food questioningly.

"My story?" He asked.

"Yeah, what were you doing down in the basement and how did you get that bit of 'borrowed tech' as you put it?" Questioned Rose. The Doctor guessed that it was too much to hope that she wouldn't ask the noticeable questions that a gentleman like him rose. What was he going to say? He didn't want to out and out lie to her, but what other choice did he have. He supposed that lying by omission was too bad of a crime and said,

"I work as a tinker mostly, fixing things and the likes. I get my hands on borrowed tech and I use it to my advantage. I'm a bit of a genius, not to boast, but I can pretty much figure out how anything works. Some of my hobbies involve a bit of borrowed tech, nothing that's going to start a revolution, but I'd rather people not know I have it at my disposal. I've been working on one project for a long time and just happened to notice something funny while testing it out. That's how I ended up in the basement. Saw something off and went to investigate, so I guess that makes me a bit reckless too for not asking for help from the police, but then I wouldn't have found you and that would have been a tragedy in more ways than one."

"Would have definitely been a shame for both of us if you hadn't come poking around." Noted Rose, taking a sip from her drink, she didn't like that she had been seconds from death. But she got to meet this nice bloke so she guessed that it wasn't all bad.

"This was a lot of fun. We should do this again sometime." Said the Doctor, hoping it sounded smoother than he thought. Rose grinned and stated,

"What have me pay again? Sorry mate, but I'm too in debt to take dates out every night."

"You're the one calling it a date and I thought that maybe I'd be the one to pay. Wait in debt? Are you in trouble?" Asked the Doctor. Rose sighed; she didn't know why she was telling so much about herself to a stranger she just met. Well a stranger who just saved her life but a stranger none the less, but if it wasn't for him she'd be dead anyway, so what did it matter? She just got this feeling off him that he could be trusted.

"If you must know, John. My former boyfriend took the money and ran so to speak. Or rather took things and left me to pay for them.

"That's not right. You shouldn't have to pay for another man's debt." Protested the Doctor.

"Well somebody has to and that somebody, the bill collectors have determined is me." Joked Rose in a sarcastic voice. The Doctor still said it wasn't right and began to wonder if something couldn't be done about that in exchange for Rose's kindness to him.

It was now getting late and the Doctor worried for Rose's safety returning home.

"It's rather dark out. Do you need someone to walk you home?" Asked the Doctor. Rose yawned, and replied,

"No, thanks. It's not the far, I'll be fine." The Doctor saw his window for possible companionship closing so against all odds he said in a panic,

"Um, could I give you my number? I'm pretty handy with things besides doors. If you want I could help fix a dryer or something like that if you needed it. Someone as nice as you, I wouldn't mind saving from trouble again." Rose smiled at the funny man and replied,

"Don't see why not. Never hurts to have the number of a lifesaver, thanks." The Doctor than wrote down the number to the TARDIS's phone. Human's still had to use telephone numbers. It was Time Lords who had advance communication systems. Communication methods were one of the key ways the Time Lords tried to stay on top of the humans with. So it was fortunate that his beaten up Time Ship had had one. A TARDIS nowadays wouldn't be equipped with such an outdated feature even for a novelty. They had the police and their many systems to deal with monitoring antiquated technology in the surveillance department. The two parted ways, but not before Rose gave the Doctor a thank you hug for saving her life.

"I get to go back home to my Mum tonight because of you, thank you." She smiled with genuine gratitude. As she walked away with his phone number in his hand, it was all in Rose's court now. He waved her 'goodbye' and returned to his TARDIS. The Doctor would now have to try to be good at something he never was, being patient. Being patient and seeing if the human woman he was finding himself becoming enamored with thought he was worth a call.

Author's Notes:

Short little story. I'm thinking of making it a three parter, but we will see. So yes, I can write a shorter story. Tell me what you think and if you want to see more? Just a little plot bunny is all.