A/N: So guys, did you know it's almost the one year anniversary of this story? The anniversary isn't today, but I consider this the anniversary special. So I took my time with it! I certainly needed all the time I could get, considering what this chapter covers...the feels! Anyways, thanks to everyone who's followed my story! You guys mean the world to me, whether you've been with this story since the beginning or just found it recently!

The Doctor was found by River not long after the TARDIS attacked him. Upon finding him, she slapped him across his face.

"What was that for?" The Doctor asked as he came to, rubbing his head.

"Well, it woke you up, didn't it?" River smirked. But they were suddenly shaken as the TARDIS threw them around.

"Any chance you know what's happening?!" The Doctor said as he tried to find something to hold on two, but ended up crashing into River instead, toppling them both to the ground.

"What's she doing?" River asked.

"I think she's activating the backup security measures!" The Doctor shouted over the rumbling of the TARDIS. "Whatever the Master did has completely invaded her, and she's desperate to keep him out."

"Can she do it, Doctor?" River asked as calmly as she could.

"...I don't know. I don't think she can do anything about it." The Doctor said in a pained voice. He hated seeing her in such distress, and being unable to do anything about it.

"So it's too late." River said to herself, so quietly it was almost a whisper. But the Doctor could hear her. River was feeling bad, knowing how much this hurt him and knowing she can't do anything, not yet.

The next thing they knew, the TARDIS dematerialized and slammed violently into the Time Vortex, making for one bumpy ride. They were holding onto whatever they could for dear life as the gravity shifted constantly, and at one point it shifted so that the room was upside down, and they were left dangling in the air for a few seconds too many.

She rematerialized with a final earth shattering boom, and the Doctor and River lost their grip. The TARDIS took the opportunity to throw the two out, landing with a thud on hard ground.

"What is she—?" But River never got to finish her sentence. Before anyone could react, the TARDIS dematerialized again.

"Nonononononooooo!" But there was nothing the Doctor could do. She disappeared as the wheezing sound faded.

It was silent for a moment, as the pair stared silently at the spot where the TARDIS just was.

"...Doctor?" River started. "Doctor." She said more earnestly. The Doctor snapped out of his shock as he whirled around.

"Oh, it seems we've been abandoned in a city somewhere." He said as he ran his hands through his hair. "Shall we go see where we are, then?" The Doctor asked as he started to walk off. River rolled her eyes.

"At least we're on Earth. Should be able to contact the Justice League, assuming we haven't traveled through time." River said as she started to walk around with him.

"Don't worry about the year. I'd say we only went a few hours in the future, maybe a day at most..." The Doctor squinted as he looked around. Something was definitely off...

This place was dirty, which isn't much of a surprise in larger city, but it just seemed too much. Another thing, it was a cloudless and sunny day but it seemed too dark out, like a shadow covered this place in an eternal darkness. He didn't like it, to say the least.

"What's the matter, Doctor?" River asked, ignoring how they passed by a group of guys, whistling in her direction. The Doctor didn't even notice.

"It's not safe here. We should leave. We should go somewhere else before we contact the League." The Doctor stated.

"Please, we've all had are fair share of danger. This is nothing compared to some of the places we've been." River said, brushing off the subject. "I'm sure that this is just the bad part of the town." She reasoned.

"No, there's something else..." He said to himself, but River still heard him.

"Well, let's see what we can find out about this mystery city." River mused, picking up last month's newspaper from the ground. It was relatively clean, and she started to read it was they walked around aimlessly.

"Where are we? The Doctor asked, looking directly ahead. He wanted to memorize as much of the city as he could, should they have the misfortune of coming here again.

"Gotham. Heard of it?" She asked.

"No. Though that used to be a nickname for New York back when." The Doctor told River.

"Well, this isn't New York, I can tell you that." She scanned the paper quickly. "Let's see, '...despite having the worst crime rate in the country, thanks to the hard work of the GPD and the vigilante Batman...' Seems like Batman tends to hang around here." River said as she read the last of the paper.

"Oh? Good! If Batman comes here regularly, I'm sure he'll find us first!" The Doctor said smiling.

The pair was now in a 'better' part of town, if you could consider Gotham to have such an area. It was far from the areas where high society could be found, but the area was relatively middle class, and the buildings and shops didn't look like they could cave in on themselves at any second. Passing by an electronics store, they happened to catch part of what a reporter was saying:

"...And it was just mere hours ago when the man identified as 'the Doctor' was declared responsible for the bombing of downtown Metropolis earlier in the day which resulted unconfirmed number of casualties—"

The Doctor paled.

What?

"What?"

The Doctor spun around to see a blurry face flash across the TV. It was blurry, but it was clearly his face, looking maliciously off somewhere as he got into a blue blur that could only be the TARDIS.

"...Doctor, it's okay, you couldn't have known this was going to happen—" River said as soothingly as she could muster before the Doctor cut her off. His face drastically contorted from one filled with anguish to sheer rage.

"Why did you not tell me this was going to happen?!" He yelled, not caring that he was causing a scene.

"I did know something like this was going to happen!" River said louder than she meant to. She promptly dragged him over to an alleyway where they could sort this out minus the prying eyes and eavesdroppers.

"How could you not have known?! Why would I not warn you about this?! I could have done something—!" Rover cut him off.

"Because you don't remember! Your mind wasn't right the other times I was with you! There's no way you could've warned me!" River explained.

"How could I forget something like this?!" He challenged.

"I can't tell you that." She seethed, angry at herself more that the Doctor. "You just have to trust me."

"...Okay." He calmed, and looked more upset than before, guilty. "Well, I know that's the Master. I know I would never do something like...that." He said, trying to convince himself more than her.

"I know you wouldn't." River reassured, smiling gently. "But next time I see a future you, I'm going to slap him so hard you'll feel it for the next century." They chuckled a bit.

"Well, I'm not looking forward to that. Shall we move on, then?" He asked as they made their way back onto the street, River watching his face closely.

"...River?"

"Yes Doctor?"

"Have you noticed that we're being watched?"

"No, but we're being followed."

"Oh? Well, it seems people are avoiding us now. At first I thought they just recognized me, but now can I assume out pursuers have some sort of ill intent?" He asked casually.

"If you're asking if they're scum, then yes. I think they're either muggers or some group of idiots who want to get revenge on you for the bombing you clearly did not do." She insisted.

"Well, of course I didn't, though I doubt they'll listen to reason. Think we can outrun them?"

"It looks like there'd be plenty of places to hide in, but we don't know the area. I've got a few ideas, but I'd love to hear yours."

"Well, there are about six, seven? They look pretty tough, might be hard to outrun them." The Doctor observed.

"They look dumb at least." River added.

"Well, in a place like this, I doubt education is a huge priority." The Doctor shrugged. "Want to head over to that skyscraper up ahead?" He started to walk faster, as did the delinquents.

"After you." And they broke into a sprint.

Their pursuers broke out into a run and had an easy time keeping up. Luckily the skyscraper wasn't too far away.

"Hey! Someone stop them!" One of the punks shouted.

"He's the one who blew up Metropolis!"

"Get back here! I'll make you pay! My family was there, you heartless—"

"Let's hope the police don't get here for a while." The Doctor said as they ran inside.

"I'd worry more about all the attention you've raised." River said. They shoved people out of the way as they got into an elevator. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and used it to shut the door, before shooting it straight up to the roof.

"Well, it shouldn't take long for Batman to find us, what with all the commotion going on." The Doctor said as he tried to catch his breath.

"...Doctor?"

"Yes River?"

"I know you were a little distracted at the time, but... you do realize that the TARDIS was there, when they showed that picture..."

"...Oh."

"..."

"So, either that really was me, or the Master has somehow gotten the TARDIS..."

"Which one is worse?" She asked.

"..."

The Doctor didn't answer. A few seconds of silence later, there was a ding and the elevator opened. They were about to step out of the elevator, but Batman was blocking their way.

"Oh, you got here fast." The Doctor remarked.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't turn you in to the Metropolis police department." Batman said, eyes narrowed.

"I had nothing to do with that. It was the Master. He looks like me. He has my TARDIS. That's the end of it."

"And he just so happened to be wearing the exact same clothes as you."

"Enough, both of you! Fighting isn't going to get us anywhere." River said.

"If you're from the future, then why didn't you say something?" Batman questioned.

"He wasn't in his right mind at the time. He couldn't of if he wanted." She explained.

"Sure." Batman said, his disbelief obvious. "And what about that Green Lantern? You killed him."

"What makes you think I did that?" The Doctor's voice and face held a steely tone.

For a minute, or maybe less than that, the two stared at the other unblinking. River simply watched. Batman was the first to break the silence.

"You don't need to be a psychic to know what someone else is thinking."

The Doctor continued to glare at him. He knew Batman could see the doubt in his eyes, though the Doctor couldn't vocalize the possibility that it really was him on the TV, or will be, relatively speaking. Wibbly wobbly timey whimey.

Suddenly, a soft beeping pierced the tension, and Batman looked to his communicator.

"There's an emergency at the Watchtower. We're leaving. Now." It was clear Batman wasn't giving them the option of coming along. Batman contacted Superman as soon as they were heading out.

"What happened?"

"Intruder. In the Watchtower. At first I thought it was the Doctor, but—" Superman was cut off as the Doctor spoke up.

"No, actually I'm with Batman. That's the Master. Is my TARDIS there?" He asked quickly.

"I don't think so." There was a large explosion before the feed was cut, leaving them with static. Batman tried to get communications back up, even let the Doctor try his sonic, but it was clear that it would be impossible to do.

"Well, this hasn't been a very good day for any of us." The Doctor commented offhandedly.

"At least a day with you is never boring." River added.

Upon arriving, faint sounds of fighting occasionally accompanied by explosions would be heard off in the distance. The larger ones would cause the Watchtower to shake a bit.

Batman took off with the Doctor and River following behind. Just as they were about to reach the room, there was another explosion that knocked all three of them back. Luckily it was small enough that no one got hurt.

"Is everyone okay?" Batman asked. They nodded. "You need to go somewhere safe."

"Got it. Come on Doctor." River said, dragging him along before he could protest.

When Batman finally saw, there was Grodd, Lex and the Joker destroying everything they could get their hands on. And there wasn't a superhero to be found.

As River and the Doctor looked for somewhere safe, the unmistakable sound of the TARDIS echoed from another room. The Doctor didn't hesitate to run in that direction, despite River's warnings.

"Doctor wait! It could be a trap, you idiot!" But it was no use, he was terrified about what happened to her.

"Hello Doctor."

The Master.

"Fancy meeting you here." The Master smirked.

"Doctor, what is that?" River asked, motioning to the gun-like object he was holding.

"I'm... not sure." The Doctor said. But it did look... familiar.

"Are you sure it doesn't remember a certain weapon? Perhaps one from the Time War?" The Master teased. A look of realization flashed across his face.

"Doctor, what is it, exactly?" River asked, glancing between the two Time Lords.

"...How were you able to make it?" The Doctor asked.

"I'd love to tell you everything, but let's just say it had to be downgraded a tad bit." The Master smirked.

"And what of the Justice League? Where are they? They could've easily stopped you." The Doctor questioned.

"Oh, simple. Cut communications, add in a distraction and I have plenty of time." The Master raised the weapon to the Doctors chest.

"River, you need to make sure everyone gets away from here."

"I'm not just going to leave you here with him." River insisted.

"River, I know you don't know what this does, but there is a very real possibility that the Watchtower could come crashing down. Someone has to make sure it doesn't land in a populated area."

River wanted to say something, do something but she knew she had to go. She ran back to get Batman, surprised to see the TARDIS dematerialize as she entered the badly damaged area. Batman was staring as the area where she saw the TARDIS leave. He looked a little worse for wear, but overall seemed fine.

"Batman! We need to get out of here!"

"Where's the Doctor?" He demanded.

"He's confronting the Master, but we need to get out of here. He said the Watchtower could come down any moment."

"So he wants to stay behind?"

"Don't worry, he makes it through this somehow." But that didn't stop her from worrying.

"...Fine, let's get out of here."

Meanwhile, the TARDIS rematerialized back in the other room, waiting for the Master.

"How are you controlling her?" The Doctor asked as he saw her materialize.

"Oh, I'm not controlling her, not completely. A TARDIS isn't just another ship you can just hack and command as you please."

"And what about that?" The Doctor referred to the weapon. "Those should've been destroyed along with the Daleks."

"It just took a bit of tinkering."

"...This is the last time I going to offer to help you." The Doctor stated.

"Bringing that up again, are we? Do you expect me to change my answer, Doctor? Do you think I've had a change of hearts?" The Master taunted.

"No, actually, but have." The Doctor said. "As much as I want to help you, no matter how many times I offer, it never makes any difference. But I just can't do this anymore."

"Oh, really now?" The Master rolled his eyes.

"I used to be afraid of regenerating, because I thought that it meant the Doctor would live on, but I would die. That'd I'd lose who I am, in this regeneration. I wanted more time, and last time we met, when I absorbed that radiation, I didn't want to go. I wasn't ready, I wanted to do so much more. And you know what, I have. I'm ready to go."

"Touching final words, but like you said, I'm ready to go. I can't waste any more time here." And with that, the Master shot his gun, straight at the Doctor's hearts.

However, the Master was surprised to see just what the gun did. The amount of energy released was enormous, and the Master was forced to retreat into the TARDIS. It was tearing the place apart. By the time it was over, the Watchtower was falling out of the sky and ten was no more.

A/N: "When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."

~Tecumseh, Chief of the Shawnee