The Order

Don't own anything.

Thanks go out to everyone who is reading this.

Damn paradoxes. River Song had been aware - and resentful - of them for nearly all of her life. They were what separated her from the Doctor, what sourced that ever-present veil which hung between them, because lately the Doctor had never quite been her Doctor, and she couldn't even tell him who her Doctor was, because of the rules he himself had set. Because of paradoxes.

But this type of thing must have been what the Doctor had been trying to prevent. And now if she ended the paradox, fixed the TARDIS the way she so desperately longed to, the Doctor's friends would die. This Welsh asshole had brains, she had to give him that. Alternate realities were a bitch.

River paused in her mental ranting. Alternate reality.

She resumed the flurry of movement over the TARDIS' innards, chipping away at the boundaries of the paradox. Unconsciously, her hand slid across the holster at her waist, for reassurance.

oOo

Ianto laughed, a slimy, nauseating sound. "Put that down little girl, before someone gets hurt."

Donna held firm. Her arms never wavered as they held the gun out in front of her, pointed straight at Ianto. "Not until you let my friends go. Martha was right. Haven't got a choice with you."

"Donna, how did you even get in here?" asked the Doctor.

"Nice to see you again, Doctor," said Donna, eyes still fixed on the Ianto. "Have to admit this wasn't exactly how I pictured finding you, but hey, it'll do. Saving the world and all that."

Ianto shook his head. "Lovely reunion. But I'm afraid I don't need your friends now." He reached under the desk. Donna tensed but didn't fire. Ianto placed an adjustable tripod and video camera on the desk.

"What're you doing?" Donna demanded.

Ianto grinned. "Watch." He pressed the round red button. "Time for my first appearance."

Donna squeezed the trigger.

oOo

It was like something out of a cheesy apocalypse film. Screams echoed up and down the streets of London, interspersed with the high-pitched pew! pew! of the Toclafane's lazers.

Martha sprinted down the road, ducking behind cars, hopping between doorways and fences. Only feet in front of her, she saw a Toclafane bearing down on a chubby blond man in his thirties who was running for his life. As Martha watched, a narrow beam of green light shot out from a short silver arm on the Toclafane's shell catching the man in the back, sending him sprawling face-first onto the asphalt, where he lay still. The Toclafane whirred around and flew back down the street and around the corner.

The moment it was gone, Martha crouched at the man's side. She pressed her fingers to his throat, but there was no pulse. She leaned back until she was sitting and stared at the sky swarming with Toclafane, letting the waves of hopeless horror wash over her. They'd been right. The Toclafane were going to kill everyone in London. Everyone on the planet.

Gunshots sounded the next street over, followed by something that might have been a cannon blast.

On shaking legs, Martha left the dead man and snuck carefully to the next intersection. A tank and half a dozen soldiers fired at a group of Toclafane floating above the street. The spheres weren't shooting back, but neither were they showing any sign of damage.

Across the street, all the TV's in an electronics shop suddenly flickered to life, each filled with the same face. A face Martha hadn't seen for a year, and one she knew she was never going to forget.

"Hello, people of the Earth!" said Ianto Jones cheerfully. "My name is the Master. I am taking control of this planet, and you, my dear degenerate apes, are all going to die." His grin widened to one of manic glee, disturbingly reminiscent of the Doctor in some of his wilder moods. "Have a nice day!" The screens went black.

oOo

Ianto looked down at the perfect hole singed in the left shoulder of his suit. He sighed at Donna. "Really, Miss Noble? I'm rather underwhelmed. I had heard such great things about you."

"What things?" asked Donna in a trembling voice. The gun was still raised, but it shook now.

"Oh Doctor. Donna," Ianto said with a delightedly knowing look. "You've not figured it out yet. Oh, that is fun. Well, Donna," he waved his hand, and instantly a Toclafane materialized and zapped the gun from her hand with a bolt of energy, and pushed her against the wall with the others, "I can promise there is quite a bit of excitement in your future. The universe has been waiting a long, long time for you."

"Doctor, what does he mean?" asked Donna.

"Ianto, stop," the Doctor pleaded, ignoring Donna and looking Ianto directly in the eyes. "Please just stop. You don't have to do this."

"No, I do," said Ianto. "I really, really do. This planet is mine, and there's not enough room for two Time Lords."

"Ianto, why are you doing this?" Jack spoke for the first time. His voice was hoarse and weak. He'd been screaming. His eyes shone and his forehead was creased with agonizing grief. "This isn't you."

"He isn't Ianto, Jack," said the Doctor without taking his eyes off of Ianto. "He never was. He's not the Master, either. There's no such person. The Master is a myth."

"No, but he's right." Ianto walked back around the desk toward them. "It isn't me. I'm not the one choosing to do this. I'm not in charge here."

"Then who?"

"Not who, Doctor," whispered Ianto. "What." He tapped his fingers along the table's surface. Tap tap tap tap. Tap tap tap tap. "The drumming. It never, ever stops, it just keeps on going and going and going, saying the same thing over and over and over again. And this," he held up his arms, "is what it wants me to do."

"Great," said Owen. "The world in the hands of a psychopathic schizophrenic."

oOo

Martha ran harder than she'd ever run in her life. In her ear, she heard River say, "Get out of there! Get to safety. Hide somewhere and stay. Don't try to fight, don't try to get to us. We will come for you. Martha, run." The words were half drowned out by loud hisses, pops and crackles she recognized as those made by the TARDIS.

When at last she reached the warehouse, she slammed the door behind her and leaned against it, panting, letting the tears stream freely down her face. The bodies on the streets flashed before her mind's eye, lying splayed in the gutter, draped over park benches eyes wide open and staring. They were all dead.

oOo

"Oh, listen to the screams, Doctor," Ianto breathed. His eyes were closed as he faced the tall window over-looking the city. A mad, blissful smile touched the corners of his mouth. He sucked in a deep breath, and let it out with a shuddering sigh. He turned to face the Doctor.

"Does it remind you of home?" With a steady, slow walk he drew near his prisoner. Jack tensed, a snarl escaping his lips, but Gwen placed a firm hand on his arm.

"Of flying in the sky," Ianto leaned in close to the Doctor. "While our home burned beneath you? While our people died, screaming, like they're screaming." He pointed out the window. "Ah," he sighed, "such nostalgia."

"But why?" the Doctor asked again. "Why? Give me an answer."

Ianto's head drooped to look at his shoes, but the gesture was not one of shame. The look he gave the Doctor was patronizing, the smug expression one gets when they know something the other doesn't.

"Oh, Doctor. Oh, my tortured, lonely brother. I think you know why I'm doing this." He narrowed his eyes, as though trying to drill with them through the Doctor's face, into his mind. "I think you know exactly why."

The Doctor stared. He didn't understand, not yet, but he felt the faintest hint of an inkling. A terrible inkling.

"Wasn't this always the plan?" Ianto raised his hands high as though in exultation, turning to the carnage visible through the window. "Wasn't this always the end game? When you stood in the sky and looked down upon the ruins of Gallifrey, did you not know this was always the final destination. Did you not know, did you not see, when you looked into the Untempered Schism? Even an eight-year-old, surely…"

The Doctor's eyes had gone round as dinner plates with unconcealed horror. "No."

"I am merely the loyal soldier," Ianto said. "Here on a mission for the greater good of our species. And I am so near its end. Soon, Doctor, soon, we will be alone no longer. You and I will be the heralds of the next great age of Time Lords."

"There are none left!" The words tore themselves from the Doctor's throat, harsh and feral. "The Council is dead! There is no one, no one left to give you orders."

"Oh, so you do know who I am," said Ianto. "Clever Doctor."

"Doctor?" said Donna. "Doctor, who is he?"

"He's the Soldier," said the Doctor, in a voice dripping with the closest thing any of them had ever heard to hatred. "The lap dog of the Time Lord High Council. Any dirty work needed doing, he was the one they sent. He did his job quick and clean, no questions asked. That man has killed billions."

"You haven't mentioned the Toclafane, Doctor," said Ianto. "I thought it an appropriate name. They are exacting their revenge upon the generation who destroyed the Earth. But I, too, was rather like a Toclafane, wasn't I? The avenging angel, delivering justice from on high."

"You slaughtered entire civilizations on the whims of ignorant old men."

"I did as I was ordered," said Ianto sharply, and with just a trace of defensiveness. Was he trying to justify himself, or persuade the Doctor? "As I am now. And once the Earth has been wiped clean of this human pestilence, the new Gallifrey will rise."

"If that was your mission," said the Doctor, "why did you torture Jack?"

"My mandate," Ianto said simply. "Every single human must die." He pointed at jack with an evil flint in his eye. "Except he can't, can he? So I was faced with a dilemma." He looked apologetically to Jack. "I did consider just exiling you to the moon, jack. But there was just so much red tape." His gaze moved back to the Doctor. "I had to break him. A broken man is almost as good as a dead one."

"When did you get creative?" asked the Doctor, and Donna thought she heard legitimate curiosity somewhere beneath the fury and disgust. "The Soldier I knew only drew the shortest line between two points. You would have just buried Jack in cement and left him alone. You were brutal, but you've never been cruel."

"I'm glad you asked." The voice was not Ianto's, nor was it the Soldier's. It was cool, smooth like melted chocolate, but when he spoke, the temperature in the room seemed to drop. "I learned to be creative from watching you, Doctor."

"Me…" the Doctor croaked. Donna shot a nervous look at him.

"Oh, yes," said Ianto sincerely. "You were my soul inspiration. The sheer…artistry with which you stole lives and liberties, it's beautiful. From you, I learned to really enjoy my work. All from you.

"Oh," he added, "and don't call me 'Soldier'. I am so much more than a soldier. I own this planet. Call me Master."

The Doctor's eyes glistened, but no tears escaped. "Ian-Master, Stop. Leave this planet. Come with me. We're the only ones left now, but you don't have to be alone."

Ianto shook his head. "Oh no, I'll be staying right here. And you won't be sticking around." From inside his jacket, he produced a small sleek silver tube. "Laser screwdriver," he said, rolling it delicately between his fingertips. "Goodbye, old friend." He pressed the tip to the Doctor's forehead.

BANG!