Not a joke! Not a trick! Today, Barry Allen will die!

Above, Toclafane whipped through the skies. Below, the streets of Paris were practically deserted. One man, however, ran through them, moving so quickly that he was nothing but a barely-visible blur. On a good day, he could dance between raindrops (and sometimes did, occasionally wearing a top hat and chanelling Gene Kelly), but this was not a good day.

Three days before, the world had gone mad, the President of the United States had been assassinated on public television, and the Master had taken over the Earth. Now, Barry Allen was in search of one of the few people who could help him.

"Diana!" Barry exclaimed as he skidded to a halt in front of her house. She emerged, fully armed and armored, and looked him up and down. He noticed that her lasso was wrapped around one arm. Instead of its usual yellow, it was glowing a sickly orange.

"Barry Allen," she greeted him. "I've been looking for you."

"You have?"

"Yes."

She struck, and darkness crashed in.


"Ow," Barry groaned as he regained consciousness. Onboard the Valiant, he noticed.

"Well, well," the Master smirked, bending down to look at him. "If it isn't the last of Earth's Mightiest Heroes."

"Wrong super-team, you idiot."

The Master snorted. "Like I care. Oh, and don't bother trying to escape. While you were unconscious, I injected you with nanites, courtesy of Ray Palmer. They're delivering a high frequency pulse that's disabling your speed."

"Uh-huh."

Barry climbed to his feet and checked his watch. Two minutes 'til the broadcast. Perfect.

"So. What'd you do to the Lasso?"

"Oooh!" the Time Lord applauded. "He is kind of fast. I see why you like this one."

The Doctor, sitting cross-legged in a man-sized birdcage at one corner of the room, looked at Barry, then did a double-take.

"Which one are you?"

Barry winked.

"Pathetic," the Master smirked, ignoring them. "All you so-called heroes. The Martian, on a one-way trip back home. Your girlfriend, and her cousin. Both dead, with Kryptonite darts. Black Lightning, Vixen, Aquaman, those annoying rodents in Gotham…all dead. And now here you are. And as for the so-called Wonder Woman…"

She knelt, and Barry grimaced.

"UNIT had excellent files on that Lasso of Truth of hers. So I…coopted it. Tied it into the Archangel network. So now she obeys me."

"You are the Master," she agreed. "And I will obey you."

He checked his watch again. Thirty seconds.

"Doesn't matter, though," Barry glared. "You'll never win. Evil never does."

"Don't you realize you're fighting for a lost cause?" the Master raised his eyebrows. Barry looked up at him, a small smile lighting up his face.

"Don't you realize those are the only ones worth fighting for? No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it. As long as one man stands against you, you'll never be able to claim victory."

Barry turned to the Doctor and inclined his head respectfully, giving his best friend a Vulcan salute.

"I have been, and always shall be, your friend. Live long and prosper."

The Master snorted, adjusting his laser screwdriver. He cast a glance around at the television screens, broadcasting what was happening to every TV set on Earth. Barry followed his glance.

"Any last words?"

"Yeah, actually."

Barry rose to his full height and glared up at the Master. "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine. Because I am the thing you cannot kill. I am hope. And there is always hope."

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Bye."

And with that, the Master shot him dead.


Moments after Barry's body slumped to the floor, every one of the Valiant's speakers crackled to life. The Master's head whipped around.

"What's that noise?"

It was quiet at first, on the edge of hearing, a rhythm felt in one's bones, shaking the floor. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the volume began to rise, multiple covers playing at once. The floor itself vibrated beneath their feet. Faintly at first, a voice echoed throughout the room.

"Sir, there's someone in our system, overriding the controls!" one aide shouted.

"Shut it off!"

"We can't!"

And just then, the music swelled to a crescendo.

Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'

The Doctor's eyes widened, and a smirk appeared on his face.

And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive."
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive…

"TURN IT OFF!" the Master bellowed.

Well now, I get low and I get high
And if I can't get either, I really try
Got the wings of Heaven on my shoes
I'm a dancin' man and I just can't lose
You know it's alright, it's okay
I'll live to see another day…

And then, every TV set across the world hooked into the Archangel network flickered and changed channels. A familiar brown-haired face appeared in the camera, and he waved to the audience, doing jazz hands and shaking his shoulders in time to the beat as the Bee Gees' greatest hit played on a screen behind him.

"WHAT?"

"Hey everyone, this is Barry Allen, broadcasting live from a secure location. Yeah, we kinda hacked the Archangel network, sorry not sorry. Anyway, I'm not dead yet! Believe in the Doctor, believe in each other, and don't stop fighting! Remember that arrogance can topple giants, and that it's in the darkest night that the light we are shines brightest. Peace out."

The Master turned and hurled his laser screwdriver against the wall with a scream of rage. Behind him, the Doctor snickered.


Far below, the younger version of Barry, the one who had traveled with the Doctor, made a peace sign to the camera with both hands as the Resistance engineer he'd been working with cut the transmission.

"You'd better get out of here," the other man said. "It should be impossible for the Master to trace us, but just in case…"

"Yep. Great working with you, Winn."

"Thanks, man. It's been such an honor. And a pleasure."

They traded handgrips.

"Awesome job, again. I'll definitely look you up if I need anything else hacked."

"I…I would love that."

"Hey. Take care. Keep spreading the word, okay? Keep helping others. Good isn't a thing you are, it's a thing you do."

"Kamala Khan."

Deep beneath the earth, battered, bruised, and afraid, the two young men shared a smile of recognition, of a shared love of comic book heroes, and the courage they inspired.

"I actually met her."

"What. No way."

"Yes way. Tell you about it some time. Good luck!"

"Yeah. Uh, yeah. You too."

Barry sped off.

So, yeah, to be clear, that was the future Barry Allen, the one who eventually left the Doctor and settled down on Earth, who the Master killed. If you've seen Last of the Time Lords, which is probably most of you, you know what's going to happen next week-if not, no spoilers in the reviews section, please!

Shrbomb: Thanks for the review. If anyone's disturbed by Barry throwing Eobard in the Phantom Zone, bear in mind that's actually the humane option, since the only other option would've been to kill him there and then. It's the same reason why the Doctor threw Father of Mine in Max's body into the black hole; chains, no matter how unbreakable they are, don't mean much to someone who can phase.

Also, don't forget that since the Doctor never lost his hand in the swordfight, the Master couldn't artificially age him. Still made life very unpleasant, mind.