Title: Armageddon

Rating: T

Warnings: Major spoilers for "Utopia", "The Sound of Drums" and "Last of the Time Lords"; violence; mild language; allusions to rape (but I promise nothing explicit or graphic)

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! (And to those new followers as well!) Didn't get this up as quickly as I wanted, but still I think it's fairly decent timing.

Anyway, I'll keep this short. Hope you guys enjoy! Please don't forget to review!

Armageddon:

Part III: The Year of Hell

Chapter Twenty-Two

Martha ran a hand over her face as she disconnected from the computer and turned the monitor off. Her thoughts were jumbled together; trying to place each piece in its proper place was like trying to put a puzzle together without the picture of what it was supposed to look like.

She knew that the Doctor had promised her everything – everything – would be put back the way it was supposed to be. She remembered him telling her that she had to trust him, that he could undo what had been done so that it had never happened. At the time, she'd trusted him because he was the Doctor, but she hadn't had a clue how exactly he was supposed to fix everything.

Her breath shook as she thought about that tiny, childlike voice from the Toclafane, about Creet and his dimpled smile and shining, excited eyes. About the fact that those two things were exactly the same.

God, what had the Master done to them? She shivered and pushed herself away from the makeshift desk. It made more sense now, though. The Doctor was going to repair his link with the TARDIS once he was strong enough to. And that would happen once Martha had done her part – if she did her part correctly. She sighed and reminded herself of all the people she had just talked to, of the support out there from the entire world.

She was not as alone as she felt. She could do this. She would.

She fingered the Vortex Manipulator thoughtfully. Of course, she'd do better if she could move faster. She needed to make sure that she got things done in time because if she didn't then everything was going to fall apart.

"Martha, there you are!" Kate was suddenly at her side, taking her by the arm and walking briskly.

"Kate!" Martha blinked her, "Where were you? I thought you wanted to see the video conference with me."

"I did, I did," Kate nodded as she dragged Martha along, "I'm sorry, something came up. We're in a bit of trouble…"

Martha tensed, "Trouble?"

"Men just arrived in the city," Kate said, "I'm not sure why they're here, but it's a safe bet that it isn't for any friendly purposes. We're going to have to get you out of here before they find you."

"But what about everyone else?"

"I'll do what I can," Kate said, "We've got several UNIT officers here. We'll get the civilians to safety as best as possible, but it's you we really need to protect. They can't see you here, Martha, that would send the Master on the rampage. We'd be flooded with soldiers and Toclafane before we could think straight."

Martha sighed, "I don't like leaving you to fight this alone,"

"You aren't, Martha," Kate assured her, "We need you out there spreading the word about the Doctor. We can handle everything else, alright?"

She smiled faintly at the other woman, "If you're sure… I wanted to talk to you about the feed. We know what the Toclafane are now."

"Contact me as soon as you get somewhere safe, then," Kate said, "I'm afraid we won't have time to discuss anything right now. I don't want you to get caught in the middle of anything. You'll have to use the Vortex Manipulator."

Martha sighed, nodding, "Alright, alright," She pulled Kate into a quick hug, "I'll grab my bag and go. You be careful. Take care of yourself."

Kate's eyes sparkled, "Always, Miss Jones," she said, "You go save the world."

~/.\~

Charlie sat back after the connection was cut and shut her laptop with a resounding click. There was a long moment of silence where everyone just stared at the spot where the screen had been. The air practically buzzed around them as they tried to absorb everything they'd just heard.

"That was…" Charlie shook her head, "This is like something out of a bad sci-fi movie, you know that?"

"I only met the Doctor the one time," Dr. Holloway said, "but this actually seems pretty par for course. The Master almost destroyed the world that time too." She blinked, "Actually… he used the TARDIS then…" She shivered a bit, remembering the Master. It had all seemed so surreal that she scarcely let herself believe it had been anything other than a bizarre dream. If she hadn't been absolutely certain of her sanity, she might've thought she was crazy.

"What I don't understand is how people became the Toclafane," Lisbon said, "I mean… how does that even happen?"

"Well," Jane frowned, "Martha said they were at the end of the universe, that's probably a long way into the future. People might not even look like us anymore."

"But if they looked like the Toclafane, she would have recognized them before today," Juliet pointed out.

"The Master must've done something," Lassiter said, "That… that ship of the Doctor's is a time machine. He could've gone back to wherever they were, turned them into those things."

There was a collective shiver over the group.

"It's… so unnatural," Van Pelt whispered, "I mean, they're humans. That means… we turn into that. Those are our descendants and they're flying around killing us."

"To avoid going back," Jane said, "That makes sense now."

"What?"

"Do you remember how they would say things about escaping the darkness? Martha said they sent the humans to whatever Utopia is, correct? So whatever Utopia is they must've wanted away from it. Maybe… the Master found their ship and tortured them, turn them into those things and convinced them that the only way they could be safe was to come here."

"God…" Rigsby shook his head, "This is getting… I thought the guy was evil before, but this?"

"One thing's for sure," Henry said, "We've definitely got to do something."

"I say we at least wait to hear the Doctor's plan," Dr. Holloway said, "He defeated the Master before."

"Had he been a prisoner for months before?" Lassiter asked, "I don't think we can risk waiting. We need to get on board the ship. Dean's plan might be our best shot so far."

"I don't like it," Juliet frowned, "We're asking someone to be bait. What if something goes wrong?"

"Juliet's right," Gus said, "What if the Master really can't be killed? It would be a suicide mission for whoever went. A lot of people could die."

"True," Shawn agreed, "but what if he isn't? I say we give the assassination plan a shot. We don't have much to lose here. I'm with Lassie on this one."

Lassiter didn't look particularly thrilled that Shawn was on his team, but he still nodded in acknowledgement.

"I don't know," Charlie frowned, "You see this kind of thing in video games all the time. The Master is like the Boss level. We've got to make if through all the other levels first and get the special sword to kill him. We don't have special sword and we still have little balls of evil floating around trying to murder us. We should focus on them now and work our way to the Master."

"This isn't a video game," Henry frowned at her, "This is real life. I say we take our chances. If we take out the Master, we might be able to get back our weapons to fight off the Toclafane that way."

"He's got a point there," Lisbon nodded, "I say we take the shot. The longer the Master is in charge, the more people are going to die. We can't afford much time to sit around waiting. We need to take whatever opportunity we can right now. We should let them know we're on board for this."

"I want to go on record saying I think this is a bad idea," Charlie said, "A very bad idea."

~/.\~

"Still think aliens are hoaxes?" Sam ran a hand through his hair, sinking down into a chair and quirking a brow at his brother. Dean made a face and smacked him in the shoulder.

"Shut up,"

"This is doable, though, right guys?" Ash frowned, scooting his chair back to wander over to the liquor supplies. He studied the few bottles there with a frown before yanking a bottle off the shelf and upturning it directly into his mouth.

"Of course it's doable," Henricksen said, "That's not the issue. The issue is how dangerous it is. Think of the collateral damage. Even if we do manage to kill the Master, people are going to die on this mission."

"People are dying already," Gordon said, "We can't sit here doing nothing."

"I think it's our best shot," Sam agreed, "I don't like it. I really don't like going in there not knowing for sure we can kill this son of a bitch and I think we should wait and try and get our heads on straight first, but it's the only game in town. We take out the Master, we'll have our planet back. If the Toclafane are still a problem then we'll have weapons to fight them with. Hell, if the Doctor really can fix this, then taking the Master out might make that easier for him. We've got to try."

Henricksen sighed, "Alright, fine, looks like we're doing this then…"

"Good, now that you've all figured out what we already knew," Rufus leaned forward, "How 'bout we talk about what we just heard."

"Yeah," Garth frowned, "I'd like to discuss the whole 'Toclafane are humans' thing,"

"Martha seemed pretty sure," Sam said, "It's kind of disturbing though, isn't it? To think we're going to turn into those things?"

"Not if they kill us all first," Rufus said, "Which seems to be their goal here."

Dean frowned, "If that machine is what's keeping 'em here, I don't see why we can't destroy it."

"Dean come on, you heard what Martha said. It's alive. It's not like smashing some computer, we'd be killing a living thing."

"We kill lots of living things,"

"This is different," Sam said, "Think about how powerful that thing would have to be to hold a paradox like this in place! The Toclafane are wiping out their ancestors and still able to be here because of that ship."

Dean pursed his lips, "What the hell do you know about paradoxes, Sammy?"

"W- I mean…" Sam hesitated.

Dean rolled his eyes, "Watching those old sci-fi movies?"

He narrowed his eyes at him, "Apparently it was relevant," he said, "since we're stuck in one of those movies right now!"

Dean snorted and folded his arms across his chest, looking extremely self-satisfied.

"Don't you two start," Rufus snapped, "I will shoot the both of you in the knee. We need to focus here."

Dean shifted uncomfortably under the old man's gaze and Sam shot his brother a smug look before continuing, "We can't destroy the ship. What we can do is set the trap, get on board the ship with as many weapons as possible and take the Master down. We're gonna need to iron out more details though. Where are we going to meet? How do we plan to sneak everyone on board? And, once we get on board, how are we going to find the Master?"

"We'll need the layout of the ship," Ash said, "I can try and get that. Someone out there must have it. It might be online…"

"Risky to get it that way," Martin pointed out, "The Master would know something's up then and the element of surprise is about the only real advantage we have here."

Adam knocked on the door, sticking his head in with a sour expression, "Am I allowed back in yet?"

"NO!" Dean snapped, "Grown-ups are talking, Kid."

Sam rolled his eyes, "You can come in, Adam. He should be a part of this too, Dean."

"He's not going with us, Sam,"

"Dean –"

"Not happening, Sam,"

"You're not even going to consider it?"

"Not happening,"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Rufus slammed his shot gun on the table and stood up, his eyes burning with annoyance. "I have lived too long, survived too damn much to sit here listening to you two argue like fucking kids. Now both of you, grow up. We've got bigger problems to think about right now."

Dean started to argue when Rufus lifted the gun and eyed him threateningly, "Boy, don't think I won't shoot you,"

He sealed his lips and nodded, "Yes, sir," he said, his voice sufficiently reserved. "Proceed."

~/.\~

"Isn't it obvious?" Sherlock was saying, arching a brow at his fellow fugitives as Tosh went about disconnecting the computer.

"No," John said, staring at the other man with wide eyes, "Exactly how is it obvious?"

"The Doctor's plan is to integrate himself into the Archangel network by the end of the year. If Miss Jones has done her part, and I believe she will, at the very least the vast majority of what is left of humanity will be thinking of him, concentrating their thoughts into the psychic network as well." He seemed just a bit uncertain when he said the words 'psychic network', but he'd seen too much to be utterly dismissive of the concept or its scientific roots.

"That would give the Doctor the collective power to fully repair his link with his ship, something I'm sure he is also working on, though in his weakened state and the ship's damage state that will prove difficult. Once he's repaired the ship, the paradox won't be able to sustain itself. The Toclafane cannot exist in a world in which their ancestors are dead. The timeline should reassert itself properly, thereby making all of this, essentially, null-and-void."

"You mean… Like Martha said. It will all be undone?" Ianto asked.

"Precisely!"

"You don't exactly sound like you just put this all together," John said, "it's hardly been a minute since we found out what the Toclafane are!"

"Well, I did have my suspicions," Sherlock said, "but of course I wasn't sure. I knew there must be some paradox at play violating the laws of Time, but I wasn't sure what it could be. Now, as I said earlier, it all makes sense!"

"'Course it does," Tosh said, looking just a bit overwhelmed.

Jake frowned, "Let me make sure I understand this," he said, "When Martha said it will be undone she meant literally? Like… this whole thing won't even have happened? How far back will this get… undid?"

"Undid?" Sherlock pursed his lips at the word, seeming to struggle internally with something before pressing forward, "Yes, yes, exactly. This won't even be a memory. In theory, at least. I can't really say for sure, but I'm fairly certain that it's the Doctor's plan and he would be considered the expert in this matter so I'm willing to trust him. I assume that it would all be reverted back to just before the Decimation. Before that the Toclafane's presence wasn't creating a paradox that would need to be sustained. It was only once they began wiping out large chunks of the population that the paradox was created."

"So Saxon will still be elected," Ianto frowned, "Which means that we'll still have to deal with him."

"Child's play once the Toclafane are taken care of," Sherlock assured him.

"What about…" Tosh frowned, "We were in the Himalayas," she said, "with the Cyberman. We'd be right back there." Her throat tightened, "If the Doctor's plan does work… We could all be dead."

"You don't think Castiel will save us again?" Ianto frowned.

"Well he only saved us last time because of the Decimation," Tosh pointed out, "If time resets itself the Decimation won't happen… The Cyberman will kill us."

The mood suddenly turned dark and Ianto looked down at his shoes. They'd already lost Gwen and Owen and Jack was being tortured and having God knows what done to him. He didn't exactly want to die, but thinking about it… Death by Cyberman was terrifying, but quick enough. Four lives were probably worth less than the entire planet combined and besides, who said they had to die? They might find their own way out of the situation.

When he looked up, Tosh was watching him with the same wide-eyed, determined look and he knew she felt the same. Neither said anything out loud, of course, but they both understood that it was their jobs to protect the human race, even if that meant dying to do it.

Tosh cleared her throat, "What we really need to worry about is what those Americans are planning," she said, "I don't think we'll be able to convince them that a strike against the Master is worth it…"

~/.\~

"Time machines, paradoxes, aliens that are people," Abby shook her head, "We really are in a science fiction movie."

"There's even an evil alien overlord," McGee said, "And apparently he turned future humans into… Whatever the hell the Toclafane are."

"How do you even take a human being and turn them into that?" Morgan frowned, "They barely look like people anymore."

"They had faces," Garcia pointed out, "Creepy, melted, rubber faces, but faces."

"Obviously they're more intelligent than we thought," Reid said, "They don't talk often. I always assumed they were robots controlled by the Master…"

"But they're actually us… however far into the future the end of the world is," Fornell frowned, looking vaguely uncomfortable with the thought of the future and time travel and mutilated human descendants.

"The more we learn about the Master, the worse he seems to get," Hotch said.

"Yeah," McGee agreed, "but it's not surprising that a guy capable of doing that would be able to enslave an entire planet for his own personal gain."

"Not for long," Gibbs said, "As soon as you think it's safe, reconnect us. I want to talk to those hunters again. We need to make sure we're ready. We might need to start doing more food and weapons runs than we've been doing."

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Boss?" Tony frowned, "I mean… I know we've got to take this guy down, but using Emily as bait seems a bit extreme. We're all on the list, why doesn't someone else volunteer? I'd do it!"

"She's higher up than any of us," Gibbs said, "The plan is definitely more likely to work with someone near the top of the list. This is our best chance to nail this bastard, DiNozzo. We're taking it."

Tony looked unhappy, "Sure, I get that, but why does it have to be Emily?"

"I want to do this, Tony," Prentiss said, "Gibbs is right, this could be a one-time only shot. We've got to take it. Give ourselves something to do instead of sitting around, talking about doing something."

"She's right, Tony," Morgan said, "I hate it, but she's right. We've been sitting here trying to think of a way to take this guy down for months. Now we have a plan and we have other people willing to back us up on it. We might stand a chance here."

Tony sighed, staring at them all for a long moment, "What about you, Ducky? I mean, you knew this Doctor guy. You must have some powerful proclamation about how we need to wait this out. Didn't everyone else?"

Ducky sighed, "Much as I trust the Doctor to do this, Anthony, I doubt very much we're going to convince Jethro otherwise," he looked at Gibbs then back to Tony, "Besides, the Doctor had quite an aversion to violence as I recall and, unfortunate as it is, sometimes violence is necessary. I hope his plan does work; I hope he can fix all of this. He always seems to be able to, but, if I may be blunt… are you really against this because you believe in the Doctor, or is it because you're worried about Emily?"

Tony pressed his lips together tightly and didn't say anything for a long time. Prentiss watched him carefully, sensing that all was not right with him even without the tensed jaw and the clenched fists.

"Tony…" she reached out to touch his shoulder, "We need to try this. You know we can't just sit here wondering what's going on."

He jerked away from the touch, not meeting her eyes, "Yeah, I know," he barely whispered the words. "But I still don't like it."

~/.\~

"You look almost happy," Lestrade noted as he met up with Sally on their nightly rounds around the Valiant. They'd been recruited by the Master a month ago – Sally's sister and Lestrade's wife used as threats to get them to comply. Lestrade's wife was still in a work camp in London, but Sally's sister Michelle had been killed two weeks earlier. Apparently she'd been out past curfew when the Toclafane swept the area. Sally stayed on in spite of the news, more determined than ever to take down the Master and happy to use her position to get at him from the inside.

"Talked to the Doctor," she said, "He's planning another escape."

Lestrade's eyes widened and he gripped her arm, coming to a half and searching the hall, lowering his voice, "What? After that last one?"

She nodded, "You've seen the Joneses," she whispered, "if they keep going like they are they'll be dead within the month. We have to at least get them off the ship. And that kid, Spencer, he's not looking much better."

"Doubt he is," Lestrade agreed, a sick look on his face, "What the Master does to him and that girl…"

"Not just them," Sally said, "You've seen the other servants." She sneered the word and scowled, her fists tightening. The things that happened on this ship… She hadn't thought anything could be worse than the work camps, but this was like walking into a horror movie where the villain had won.

"Well I'll sleep better at night knowing they're somewhere safe," he said, "What about the Doctor though? He's not going?"

Sally scanned the hall and dropped her voice even lower, "I don't think he wants to leave," she said, "There must be something here he's got to do."

"That plan of his," Lestrade nodded, "Like Holmes told us. Well then, we'd better talk to the others. How soon is he wanting to try this?"

"Within the month," Sally said, "As soon as possible."

~/.\~

Reid was still leaning against the bars, this time with his back to them. The hard metal bit into his spine, but he didn't care. The bed wasn't much more comfortable and he couldn't sleep in any case. Too much was going through his mind. Screaming people, dead bodies, and bad memories. He tugged his knees closer to his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around them, listening to the sound of the others.

The Joneses had gone to sleep hours ago; Jack was still awake, but Reid wasn't even sure if he slept at all anyway. He couldn't be sure if the Doctor was asleep or not. He could hear his breathing, but he couldn't see him and he hadn't said anything in a while.

"Hey, Reid," Jack's voice broke the stiff silence. "You still awake?"

"Yes," Reid's answer was tense and cracked.

There was a pause before Jack continued, "I just… We haven't gotten the chance to really talk in a while… How are you holding up?"

Reid bit his lip and shrugged even though Jack couldn't see him, "I'm okay,"

"Really," Jack pressed, "How are you?"

Reid shut his eyes and took a deep breath, "I'm okay, Jack," he said, "I… I've been better, but I'm okay. I'll be okay."

"Listen…" Jack hesitated, "I get why you don't want to leave the Doctor. I don't either, but you've got to see what this is doing to you, Spencer. It's not just the Joneses suffering here. I really think, if Sally can help get them out, you should go too."

"Jack, I can't just –"

"You're in bad shape," Jack said, "And I can hear you at night, having nightmares. You need to get out of here. When the time comes, you have to let him go. The Doctor can take care of himself pretty well."

"What about you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You aren't planning to leave him,"

"Well… I'm different," Jack said, floundering for the right explanation.

"Why are you so different?"

"Because… Spencer, I can't die. No matter what this bastard throws at me, I'll be alright. I've dealt with some bad stuff in my very long life. I can handle this."

Reid's lips twisted into a mockery of a smile, "You forgot I've been with the Doctor before. This isn't the first time I've lived through the end of the world with him."

"The world ended before?" Jack sounded slightly curious.

"It was supposed to…" Reid whispered, "And trust me Jack, this is… this is like Hell, but I've been through worse." He swallowed and closed his eyes, shivering again. "I can't leave him."

"You've got to try, Spencer," Jack said, "Trust me to look out for him here. You said you knew me and we've been trapped here for months together. Don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do,"

"Then trust me on this. Get yourself out of here if you get the chance. You have to take it."

Reid didn't say anything for a long time, lost in his thoughts. Jack left him to them.

~/.\~

A/N: And I'm worried Ducky might not have been in-character. *sighs*

Plus, this chapter was supposed to be more… I don't know, more was supposed to happen. Then it got really long so I cut it off. Nothing went as planned this chapter. *sighs*

Still… I hope you enjoyed! If it was terrible you're all free to scream at me! Please let me know what you thought! Don't forget to review!