"Well played." The Master grinned, showing a frightening array of teeth. "I do accept." He paused. "On one condition."

It made the Doctor hesitate warily. "What condition?"

In one movement, the Master seized Nova, pulling her forward. "My game will be with her." He stared at the red head. "After all, we were far from being finished." He made contact with her temple as Nova started to scream.

Chapter 15

"Consent." He commanded. Being bonded with Nova's mind would give him the strength he needed to drop the telepathic inhibitor. He delivered controlled bursts of pain into her mind. The Doctor rushed forward as Mark stepped back against the glass windows, shooting the glass to shatter it.

"Twenty floors." The Master said. "Do you really want to risk it? What's a human body to me? I can obtain another but will Nova survive the fall?"

He was looking at the three, hardly expecting an attack from the side. Directly from where John broke free of the paralysis of the choice presented in front of him. In that final motion, Nova barely fell to the ground as the sound of a gunshot resonated around the room.

Mark's sickening scream as he plummeted was heard with a very familiar grinding sound.

"No!" Sara cried out, racing to Nova's side and then they attempted to look outside the window.

The Doctor pulled both back before they could see. "No." His voice was firm. "We need to get back to the TARDIS." He ordered. "If we have any chance at saving him, it will be there."

Sara was shaking and took a moment to look at John, her eyes widening in horror. He had been shot directly in the chest and was losing consciousness, fading rapidly on the floor in front of her.

"Go." She told Nova as Cillian raced up to join her. "Promise me you'll save him….just do your best…."

She was shivering as she stared at John. What if what the Master said was true? What if he could change bodies at will? Would any telepathic inhibitor contain him? And what he tried to do to Nova….she struggled to concentrate on the task ahead.

She only hoped Mark wouldn't pay the price for all of their foolish choices.

Sara knelt beside where John was bleeding out, his eyes already closed as his body began to shut down from the blood loss. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw all but Jack leave the room at a dead run, including the hostages. Instead of staring at them, she focused all her attention to John himself and the idea of healing him. She had healed Nova several times and self-healed instinctively. Surely she could heal someone other than Nova?

She put her hands on top of the entry wound, pushing down with all her might - ignoring the way the pressure made John groan in pain - trying desperately to force the healing energy she knew she possessed into the dying man. With only Jack as a witness, a golden light began to slowly effuse, starting in her skin and trickling down into the area under her palms. It seemed to take forever and yet very little time passed when John suddenly gave a very dramatic intake of breath and his eyes popped open.

Sara smiled at him, pulling her arms away in tired relief. "Not bad for a first try, huh?" she barely managed to teasingly deliver before Jack had to catch her as she tilted slightly sideways.

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The Doctor held Nova's hand tightly as he used the transmat to take them back to Cillian's apartment and then ran to his TARDIS. Cillian was running beside Nova, who still gripped his hand just as warmly. The man didn't say much, but he was always there, ready to give support when needed or wanted.

When they reached the control room, the Doctor let go of Nova to race to the correct controls. She paused at the entrance when she felt the tug at her hand. Cillian. She turned to look at him with confusion, but smiled at him questioningly. He just shook his head, "We're about to go out again."

"Not quite. I'm going to materialize around Mark and transport him directly to the infirmary, where I can hopefully save his life." The Doctor had apparently heard Murphy's comment and responded.

Nova faced the Doctor again, "Can I help?"

"Not sure. We'll see when I ascertain how bad the damage is. Already putting up a stasis lock. So if he isn't already dead, he'll stay that way!" The Doctor answered, flipping switches hastily, but precisely, then taking off again down the hallway, presumably to the infirmary. By the time he was finished speaking, he was already halfway down the corridor, forcing him to yell his response to ensure being heard.

When Nova, Cillian by her side once again - or still depending on your point of view - the Doctor was already in a flurry of motion as he tried to save the life of the human.

Mark's form was…broken was a polite way of putting it. One of his arms was at an odd angle, as well as both legs being obviously broken. The left leg and arm both having compound fractures. The ADT was blinking shades of mauve over several parts of Mark's body, including his lungs - one was punctured by several broken ribs - a ruptured spleen, liver, and massive skull trauma.

After all, twenty floors down equated to approximately 200 feet. If the Doctor stopped to think too long, he would wonder how the man was still alive, as he should have died almost instantly. However, the Doctor had made sure no one saw Mark's body before he had brought it into his TARDIS, which meant that he had been able to snag the man only a picosecond after impact. Mark was hanging by the metaphorical thread, in some ways almost literally.

The Doctor needed all his concentration to save the man, directing Nova and Cillian absentmindedly to give him specific tools, serums, and other equipment so that he could focus. He never noticed that most of the time his requests had been telepathic, but answered immediately anyway.

Nova actually preferred the telepathic directions. They came with images of what was needed instead of just trying to guess by the name of the instrument what he wanted. Cillian did his best, with his profound research theory of former roles, to retrieve the needed verbally requested items. Nova took care of the rest.

By the time the Doctor could relax backward a little, it had been long enough for Sara, Jack, and John to join them.

"Is he going to be alright?" John asked. He remembered the decision he was forced to make and it came down to the rule of logic. In those precise moments, the Master had demonstrated he was willing to dispense with his brother's life to obtain an objective. Two lives were at risk. The Doctor wasn't at the angle to deliver the attack that could cause him to slip off balance. There was a higher percentage of chance he could save Nova rather than simply stand and therefore save neither one. Sara could heal. Although, he didn't think the ratio was particularly high on a fall of twenty stories, it was a factor.

But he also had considered the risk he would be the one getting shot. And in those moments, made critical decisions as to his fall. He buffered himself in his loci, or mind palace as Sara described. Seconds passed like hours where he was paid torment by the Master wearing Mark's face inside his own room just to ridicule him. Then the light came. One he recognized. He headed out the door.

Jack was holding up Sara who was struggling to regain the use of her otherwise lethargic form. He glanced down to see his blood splattered shirt, pausing momentarily. "Thank you." He finally offered.

"You saved Nova's life." Sara told him. "You saved us. This was...it was due. But I'm sorry. I watched him fall. I couldn't…" She took a deep breath. "I had to choose," she said. She knew if she left John there, he would be dead within a minute or two. They had heard the grinding noise of the ship, which suggested a paradox. The Doctor crossed his own time stream. She hoped it was enough.

"The Doctor is working on him." Jack said to her. He had gotten off the phone.

"And Nova?" John asked, his voice still.

"She's assisting with his surgery. She's fine." Jack's tone had softened. What he had seen the two brothers do, what John did even though he so clearly loved his brother, had to be the most horrid choice the man ever had to make. Who could easily choose between people you love? And for that, Jack smiled. Those who accused the brothers of being without heart or having no love all this time were wrong. They did love and now their love had extended.

"He's still alive?" Sara asked hopefully.

"You know him." Jack said. "He doesn't give up on things easily. His life most of all."

"Then a few minutes." Her voice was tired. "We'll run there and I'll heal him too."

"No." John's voice was absolute. "Healing me has taken a toll on your physical condition. We've never observed you healing more than one person in a twelve hour period. I won't risk complications."

"But your brother-"

"Is still alive. The Doctor and Nova have the skill necessary to survive." John said. "I see no reason, however, why we shouldn't pay a visit."

So between the two, they had taken Sara back to the TARDIS. By the time they reached Cillian's flat, strength enough had returned so she could walk.

She insisted she should, not wanting to play the invalid longer than she already had.

"Nova?" She asked quietly, putting a hand on her sister's shoulder when she entered the medbay. She was just standing next to Cillian, clutching his hand in support, before turning to embrace Sara.

"The Doctor said he'll make it. The surgery went well and he gave him an injection of nanites and painkillers." Nova turned to look at Mark. At the moment, he was asleep, with a blanket drawn up to his shoulders.

Sara nodded, fixed on the spot as she watched him sleep. He looked so peaceful in that moment. Not like the Master or the powerful head of the world that served as a spokesmen to the Doctor. Sleep had made him look vulnerable.

"John said I shouldn't risk healing him but-"

"John is right." The Doctor said, looking at John approvingly. For once. "Too much energy depleted too fast could leave you susceptible to a coma."

"I do remember distinctly saying 'no'." John said. "I don't believe 'no' means, ask again for an alternate and better answer to your preference."

Even if his tone was flat, it was a surefire jest. To this, the Doctor internally smiled. Who but family, even if they weren't blood, could tease in such a way? He had his sonic out, measuring Sara's energy levels since her last heal before pausing. He frowned. He thought the energy patterns, initially that Nova echoed when Sara was in proximity, was a reflection of the bond's physical manifestation and how it reacted with Sara's TARDIS energy.

But now John was echoing that same energy signature. His cells were being constantly renewed now, like Nova and Sara's. He now realized what it meant. His lifespan was now attached to Sara. As long as Sara lived, so would he and so would Nova. He inhaled deeply. Whenever Sara fully healed someone, it created….he glanced at Jack. Weeell, not exactly. If John died, which would take some effort now, he would stay dead but still….Sara was inadvertently introducing regenerative properties into someone else's blood.

The Doctor cleared his throat, thinking of the implications.

"The Master?" Sara asked. "Is he….out of Mark?"

"Oh yes." The Doctor said. "Telepathic inhibitor was on however…." He paused before continuing. "The Master, he was out of his body too long and the telepathic connection that adheres the two...by the time I came back it was too late. His body had already died."

"But his mind?" Nova asked. "Can his mind survive?"

"The mind or mental signature degraded but not before a data ghost was created." He looked at the girls. "Not to worry. I managed to trap it on one of the servers with a clever piece of code and field in place." He smiled reassuringly while trying to hide a disturbed feeling he had.

"Which server?" John asked. The BBC had a few of the biggest servers in the world.

"Kelvin." The Doctor replied. "We'll have it moved."

"Yes." John was thinking rapidly. "I'll order a memorial to be built for the studio that was recently destroyed. It will be effective at avoiding public scrutiny while creating a refuge for the data ghost and a place where the loss of life is visibly mourned." He paused looking at the two girls. "Kelvin Memorial Archive." He looked at the two girls. "Does that sound appropriate?" He paid a glance to his brother.

Sara shrugged. "Well, it's a bit obvious. Naming it after the server, isn't it?"

Nova felt a faint sense of….something. She wasn't sure what. "But you always talk about transparency." She reminded Sara.

"Exactly." John nodded. "Hiding in plain sight." He walked up to his brother's side before looking at the Doctor. "You were scanning me. There was something you found." It wasn't a guess.

"The four of us should talk." The Doctor said finally.