Series Finale: The End of Time, Oh How it Howls
"This is Torchwood" Gwen Cooper said, she was stationed at one of the computer stations in the hub.
"Gwen," said Jack, "has there been activity in the Rift?" His eyes glowed in front of a background of Tardis.
"Jack, what is going on?"
"I don't have time to explain, a temporal rift has reversed time, and Earth was the epicenter."
"We are getting reports that the Sun is no longer out there and has been replaced by a larger red giant. We've lost all of our satellites and can't get a fix on this. Is it true?"
"Yes…" Jack fumbled for a moment as the Tardis met shearing, recovering himself he looked directly at Gwen, "has the rift reacted at all?"
"No Jack, the rift has been stable. Jack what are you thinking?"
"Just be ready to use the rift machine, I have an idea…"
**
The Doctor collapsed as the Tardis fleet was let loose. At the same time the Tardis appeared in the gate-room of Atlantis. Jack opened the door and stumbled out. His eyes were still a glow.
Weir rushed down the stairs as several armed men pointed their guns at him.
"Where is the Doctor?"
"This way," said Weir, "Jack Harkness I take it?"
"No time for introductions, but yes." Rushing up the stairs to the control room the hologram of Thor stood before the teleported body of the Doctor who laid unconscious on the floor.
"We need him awake," said Jack as he bent over the Doctor.
McKay rushed around the console, "You're emitting a high amount of temporal radiation. You can't just come in here."
Jack looked at him briefly, his eyes seemingly piercing McKay, before he turned back to the Doctor.
"Doctor, come out of it Doctor…" Jack placed his hands on the Time-lord's head and pushed with his mind, finally the spark returned to the Doctor who came to.
**
The Tardis fleet now surrounded Atlantis, and another Tardis, one that resembled the Doctor's Tardis but was red appeared in the gate-room. The Master emerged followed by an entourage of other Time-lords.
"I wish to speak to the commanding officer of this facility." He spoke aloud. Several SGC personnel raised their P90's towards the group of Time-lords. Weir and Jack followed by Sheppard and McKay and finally the wary Doctor walked down the steps from the control room to confront them
"Ah Doctor, my old friend, I see you have faired this battle well. Too bad I must arrest you on charges of interfering with Galactic law. Hmmahahahaha"
"I'm sure you would be happy to do that, but for now we have bigger problems" said the Doctor, who was still rubbing the back of his head.
"Your fleet was about to destroy Earth," said Weir, "of course we were going to interfere."
"Ah, you must be the leader of this little operation. Oh and Jack, very nice trick you pulled off. We'll be taking this heap off your hands." The Master pointed to the blue box sitting next to the red Tardis he had just emerged from. Jack only smirked, his eyes still glowing with the time vortex.
McKay was the one to speak next, his hands moving quickly over a notebook laptop. "We have a problem; sensors have detected an innumerable mass coming towards us. I believe they're ships."
One of the Time-lord soldiers whispered something in the Master's ear.
"It would seem that an armada of ships, at least as far as we can tell, has emerged and is encircling us. We will deal with you later, Doctor." The small group retreated into their Tardis which whirred into nothingness. Weir and Sheppard stared in silence as the Doctor leaned on Jack.
"Now what?" asked Weir.
"I have an idea, we can use the rift in Cardiff to pull time back to normal" said Jack.
"But that would mean tying the time vortex of the Tardis to the Rift" said the Doctor, "that would pull you apart Jack."
"I've survived worse Doctor. If I couldn't the time vortex would have killed me by now."
**
The Tardis fleet departed from Earth and set up a network defense around the small planet. The on coming ships finally reached visible range.
"What are those?" asked Sam
"They look like, sharks or something…" said Daniel.
"Analyzing composition, one moment" said Thor, who promptly sent a few puddle jumpers out towards them to get a better reading. This set off a feeding frenzy, Sam, Teal'c, Daniel, and Thor watched as the creatures devoured the ancient shuttle.
"Sensors detect a deuterium matrix as their core, and an unknown heavy element that makes up their shell. If I had to guess, they are machines of some sort. Sensors are detecting a fleet of temporally charged vehicles entering combat with the creatures" said Thor.
The battle raged in moment as the creatures attacked the TARDISs. They swarmed each of the vessels, clinging onto their hulls. Soon the first one was destroyed in a spectacular explosion sending temporal energy out in ripples.
"Look at that," said Sam, the time energy that erupted from the destroyed Tardis, it read as normal…"
"Analyzing…" said Thor.
**
On Earth: The ascended beings now stood before several people, those who had been chanting now lay unconscious. In this same moment Death arose out of the dust and stood before them.
"Your inaction has brought destruction to this time. You can no longer claim to be protectors of time."
"We are the guardians, and we will put right this blasphemy. Even if we must take the whole life of this planet to do so" said one of the Ascended.
"I am afraid your time has come to a close" said Death, as he dispersed into the wind. Several people, including those that lay at the Ascendeds' feet expired, many crumpled to the ground, others stood frozen in place, standing dead.
"Where is he?" said one of the other Ascended.
"Back to back" said another.
The group rounded to each other, backs inward, and covered all directions. One by one the dead that had fallen retched forward, jerked their arms, and pulled themselves up. In unison they all began to chant, and in one voice they said "Death comes to all. Even to those who live outside of time…"
"We cannot fight one of the original guardians."
"We must if we are to survive."
The mask of death came to all of the dead, smoky dark eyes looked out at the Ascended.
**
Whirrr….Whirrr…Gwen looked up from the computer, "What?" A warning flashed on the screen, the Rift generator started on its own and a time lock occurred. "We're not under attack…" Rushing toward the door she found her self face to face with her self, and Ianto. Only they were not moving, and a Dalek was affixed in the doorway its self.
"What is going on?"
Jack appeared next to her, his eyes a glow. "We've stepped outside of time and into an alternate reality." Gwen looked at him amazed.
"All of time is at my disposal, and in this reality we had completed a safety mechanism that would create a time lock if anything dangerous were to threaten the Hub. I'm hoping to hijack that tech and install it in our timeline. I need you though, Gwen."
"What do you need me to do?"
"You need to detach the time lock device from the Rift Generator here. This timeline will change but we can save our own."
"What do you mean it will change?"
"I can't tell you that, but we have no choice. We must sacrifice one universe to save the whole of the reality. If we do not stop the inversion in our universe it will spread to others."
"And what about them, I mean us…" Gwen pointed to herself and Ianto.
"They will be fine." Jack smiled the smile that he was not telling the truth. Yet Gwen nodded, "Ok Jack…" Gwen went to the center console and opened the casing of the rift generator. Inside was a different gear and sprocket key than she remembered seeing in the past. "They must be drawing the energy from the rift here, and driving the time lock with it."
"Hurry, my influence is fading here."
Gwen unlocked the gear, and pulled the mechanism out of the generator. The time lock dispersed and the events played out before Jack and her.
"Exterminate!" said the Dalek as it opened fire on the surprised Ianto and Gwen. Gwen was hit first and crumbled dead onto the ground, Ianto ducked behind a computer desk and opened fired on the Dalek with a mini-gun.
"I am uninhindered, exterminate!" The Dalek lifted off and flew forward firing at Ianto.
"Jack! Help them!"
"I can't, we are not apart of this time line and we have already done enough damage."
Before Gwen could protest they appeared in their hub. "Quickly attach the device, the programming is already apart of the device and will automatically install on the core computer. Once it is done activate it, it will anchor our time around this rift and allow us to pull back into the correct time."
Gwen nodded and did as he asked.
**
The Master's Tardis appeared in the gate-room once again. Its exterior damaged and scorched. He exited as one of the creatures flew out after him. "Shoot it, quickly!"
Weir nodded to the men at guard as she rushed out of the control room. They all opened fire. The bullets rang through the air and plunged into the creature and out the other side. Plumes of plasma vented out of the pockmark of holes. Soon the creature which swarmed about crashed to the floor. Liquid plasma poured from its body and the deuterium began to burst. When it was all said and done the gate-room was charred black. Several men died, and the control room's infrastructure was extremely damaged. Only the Stargate and the Doctor's Tardis appeared unscathed.
The Doctor looked to Weir and the others before rushing to the Master's side.
"They are dangerous old friend…" said the Master as he gasped. His entire body was burned.
"You can regenerate, regenerate…" said the Doctor.
"No…no not this time…I had only one life this time. They didn't trust me…" the Master gasped again before he finally expired in the Doctor's arms.
"Gah!..." Acalo heckled, "another blasted Time-lord gone."
The Doctor's face furrowed into a deep frown as he pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, "We're fixing time, right now, Jack?"
"Yes Doctor…" Jack appeared behind him, "I can't save him Doctor he shouldn't even be. This time-line shouldn't be."
"We both know this. Is it in place?"
Sheppard and McKay both looked at each other and in uncommon unison asked "What's in place?"
"A temporal lock on the Rift in Cardiff, we'll use it as an anchor to pull us and our time back into place. It is still connected to normal time before the Howling was able to seep in. We need to let the Tardis fleet know we are going to do this."
"They shouldn't even be here, they are out of time" said Jack. "When time reverts, everything should go back to the way it was before this all happened."
"At least that is what we hope Jack" said the Doctor.
**
The Ascended fell one by one by Death's hand before he left Earth and appeared on Atlantis.
He appeared right before Jack and bowed, "great guardian, I see you plan to put things right. I have taken the ascended out of the picture. They shall not interfere."
"Yes my friend" said Jack but now in a different voice, a darker retched voice. Only the Doctor could move.
"Jack what is going on? Why has everyone stopped?"
"Should I kill him master?"
"No, no He will witness the transition and know the pain of loss. Not even Davros thought such a thing possible."
"Davros?" The Doctor spun to look at Jack, "Who are you?"
"Have you finally realized who I am?"
"No, but where is Jack?"
"Jack is here…or what will be left of him. This body was perfect, indestructible. A perfect vessel for the god of all Daleks."
"Acalo, take the Doctor, let him witness as I close time and all the people he has loved are devoured by the Centurions."
"Hehahahahaha, yes master." Acalo approached the Doctor and pointed his laser arm at him.
"Wait…" the Doctor said, "before I wonder off with Acalo, you're just going to let those people die?"
"Yes, Death is hungry, and the energy I needed to close time off forever and bring us back into the age of Darkness is all right here. Several powerful ships, and the spiritual energy tied to the souls of all of those billions of people. Oh and of course, poor Gwen, sitting ready to activate the final piece that will close the Rift and finally close the last link to your time forever."
"But you had to get into Jack somehow…"
"Foolish little Time-lord, you cannot thwart a perfect being. My essence traveled the time vortex until that little human ship ripped the fabric of time. Then it was easy as attaching myself to the Tardis and waiting. I manipulated everything, even that retched Racnoss. Death took care of the other guardians, destroying their last refuge. Now at last, we will revel in the Darkness. Glorious Darkness…."
The Doctor nodded, "Then I guess I have to do something." Diving behind the Master's dead body which lay in mid-air where he had held him the doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the red Tardis. The doors swung open and several emergency attack drowns fled out, temporal shielding raised. The bots began to attack Acalo and Jack.
"Gah….you insolent little bug…Acalo…attack, Death, Kill the Doctor."
The Doctor raced to the door of the red Tardis and closed the door behind him.
"Emergency protocol, Time Lapse, Delta Delta Alpha!" The Tardis sprung to life, and several holographic beings appeared. "Initiate temporal shift to the Rift on Earth, Cardiff. Do it quickly!" The Holograms nodded and began the control process. The Tardis was gone before Death could reach the doors.
"Master…" Death bowed and disappeared again.
"Doctor…what do you plan to do…Oh I know…but it won't work…"
**
The Doctor arrived in the Hub to find Gwen finishing the hook up for time lock. The program was already installing on the computers.
"Doctor?"
"Gwen unplug that machine, quickly."
"What? Why, what the hell, Jack said to plug the bloody thing in…"
"It's not Jack…Gwen…quickly, come here."
It was too late, Death had touched her and Gwen fell motionless to the ground.
"No…no…no. The master would be most disappointed in you if you disobeyed Gwen Cooper."
"You killed her!" The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at Death.
"And what is that going to do, blow my ear drums out? Oh wait…" he pushed a bone finger into what would have been an ear canal.
"I'm warning you stay back…" The Doctor circled towards the computer core.
"I don't think so Doctor. All things must come to an end, even for you."
In a blink of an eye Death had appeared behind the Doctor and placed his hand on the Time-lord's shoulder. "You're out of time…" The Doctor fell to the ground dead.
The computer blinked at ninety nine percent as Death disappeared.
**
"It looks as I have won, even if he is not here to witness the demise of all he knew."
"Yes my Master, as soon as the program completes its self the time lock will initiate and the rift will close."
"It should happen any moment now…" Both Jack and Death stood on the outer haul of Atlantis, to witness the event.
"Oh how beautiful, the darkness, the power that reigns here. I will start a new perfect Dalek kind."
"It begins master…" Death said as he pointed to the surface of the Earth.
What they both saw was not what was expected, a burst of light flashed from the center of Cardiff.
"What is that?" said Death…
"It can't be…the time lock should have…the TARDIS…GRAAAH!"
Before Death could respond Jack was there in the Hub, the Red Tardis was glowing brightly and the Doctor's body was floating in mid air blocking time lock from completing.
"How?"
"Emergency protocols of the later models of the TARDISs." The Doctor smiled, "Now I will set right this entire mess, you'll find the time vortex is no longer at your disposal. As soon as you entered the hub the primary connection became myself to that Tardis there. You have a choice, leave Jack's body and stay in this time, or be wiped from existence." The Doctor pointed at Jack, "make it quick…"
"I'll destroy you!" Jack ran to the center console and ripped the cog from the core and flipped the Rift's switch, "Its all here in his head, if I turn this on without an appropriate controller it will drive all time from the Rift."
"Hahaha…" the Doctor laughed at the Dalek inhabiting Jack. "You've done the one thing that could never have helped you. You've reverse the flow of the Rift all right, only its expelling the very fabric of time out and driving back the Howling."
The computers blinked "Error" as the program failed to finish installing.
"And now it is time you were gone from Jack's body" The Doctor appeared next to the imposter and plunged his hand into the very fabric of Jack's body and pulled from it the stunted image of the god of all Daleks. "What Rose didn't do I will finish, you will no longer exist." The image shattered into dust and Jack's body fell to the ground.
"Time is reverting and I no longer have use of your body, Doctor it is time to wake up…" The light fled the Doctor's eyes and the red Tardis disappeared.
**
The Doctor awoke in a bed next to Jack. The SGC's labeling was scrawled across the wall.
"An infirmary?"
"Yes this time you're not the Doctor…"
"How'd I get here?"
"We were found on board the Dedalus by the maintenance crew. Some sort of temporal disturbance occurred and they had to scrub an experiment on a phasing technology. And before you ask, the Tardis is fine, it's in the cargo bay. I think its time I get out of these scrubs, I don't think that cute nurse is coming back, no need to pretend anymore."
The Doctor shook his head and smiled…"I could use some tea."