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: Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! I can't apologize enough for the lateness of this chapter. Finals are seriously wearing me out, not to mention I've been perpetually sick for over two weeks and it hit me really hard Saturday (I seriously slept my way through the first airing of the Doctor Who 50 Anniversary! Thank god they re-aired it later!) – I haven't spent much time out of bed for the last several days. I've sat down and tried to write and just been so exhausted I couldn't think. Good news is, though, I'm feeling better and finals are less than a week away so after next week I am done with classes for a while and hopefully I'll be able to focus more on this story.

Thanks, as always, to everyone who read and reviewed last chapter! You're amazing and I love you guys!

Armageddon:

Part III: The Year of Hell

Chapter Thirty-Two

A week went by with the Master gleefully torturing his prisoners in front of the entire world, and then happily turning to the Doctor when the cameras weren't rolling. He was more than willing to tell the Doctor all about the weapons the humans were building, about his plans for universal war and domination. He was especially thrilled to show him what he had done to New York City in retaliation for the assassination attempt.

"I'm not sure if it got my message across…" he mused, sighing. He was pacing in the conference room and the Doctor was leaning against the wall. Next to him was a cloth tent with blankets piled inside. It may have been some kind gesture except that it made the Doctor feel like some sort of pet. He was probably lucky he didn't have a chain around his neck.

"What point would that be?" the Doctor looked exhausted, but the words were snarled with such force that the Master grinned in surprise. "That you have no concept of empathy?"

"Me? No empathy? Oh, Doctor, it's like you don't even know me!" He spun dramatically and gestured toward the monitor that was replaying the carnage in New York, bodies still being carried away by the Master's men to be incinerated.

"It does make a lovely picture, doesn't it?"

"You're sick,"

"No," the Master shook his head, "I'm simply appreciating the beauty of the destruction of your precious humans. It's ironic, isn't it? That you can sit there and lecture me about destroying a species when you didn't give your own the same consideration?"

The Doctor's eyes darkened and he said nothing, leaving the Master grinning brightly. He was practically giddy with his excitement.

Abruptly, he turned toward the doors and frowned at the guards there, "Bring the two traitors up. I think it's time for some more fun…"

~/.\~

Lassiter leaned against the metal walls of the cell and let his eyes close. Jenny and Rossi were both on the verge of passing out themselves, both from pain and exhaustion. The Master made sure that none of their injuries were fatal, but beyond that he didn't seem to care about making sure they were in good health.

"What are our chances," Rossi asked, "of actually getting out of here alive?"

"Not good," a new voice spoke down the hall and Lassiter opened his eyes to see one of the guards – a small, dark haired woman he remembered was named Michelle. She was eyeing them sadly as she came closer to the cell.

"Probably the same as my chances of keeping under his radar for long."

She turned toward Lestrade and Sally, her eyes softening as she stared at her former comrades. "He's acting edgy. He wants to bring in all new guards but there aren't actually that many people left…"

Trailing off, she pulled a key from her belt, "And after what he did to New York last week…"

Lestrade nodded, "We know. No one wants to risk stepping up right now. Just keep yourself safe, Michelle. We'll be okay."

"Okay until he decides to kill us," Sally said darkly. She didn't seem upset, though. She seemed resigned as she and Lestrade followed Michelle from the cell quietly. Two more guards appeared at the end of the hall with cuffs to restrain them as they were led away.

Lassiter shook his head, "We're not getting out of here," he said, "We've just got to hope the others can finish the job."

"They will," Jenny said, "I know Jethro he's already gearing up for Round Two. They're not going to sit idle for long."

Rossi smiled tiredly, "And they'll be smarter about it the second time. All we have to do is hold out until the Master gets bored enough to kill us and he won't be able to use us to his advantage."

~/.\~

The night was cold in the forest. It had been a long week of walking. They'd kept away from highways and any paved roads except to look for some kind of road sign to let them know where they were. The last time they'd seen any sort of sign was miles back when they passed a "Welcome to Oklahoma" sign. They'd covered as much ground as possible since then, hoping to get back to the church within the next couple of days.

At the moment, they were on the edge of the woods, far enough away from the highway they were following that they couldn't be seen. And hopefully far enough away that the Toclafane that might patrol the area wouldn't spot them either.

Without a tent or any form or cover the night air pressed down on them and the thin blankets did little to keep them warm, but it was better than nothing.

Lisbon, Morgan and Garth were out cold – exhausted from the day's traveling. Dean hadn't slept much at all for the last week and Sam and Grace were on guard duty, keeping watch over the campsite.

While Dean lay a few feet away from everyone else, pretending to sleep, Sam and Grace sat with their backs against a couple of trees, wrapped together in a thin blanket, staring out toward the road.

"I've been thinking," Grace said quietly, "about… what happened on the Valiant…"

"Yeah?"

"We're no better than the Master," she stated flatly, staring forward.

Sam frowned, "What do you mean?"

Her lips twitched slightly downward, "I mean – all those guards? We killed them. A lot of them. They were probably only there because the Master was threatening them or their families. They were just as much victims as everyone else and we killed them."

She turned her head toward Sam, squinting in the darkness, "Doesn't that make us just as monstrous as the Master? If we're willing to killing innocent people just to stop him… How does more killing lead to peace anyway?"

Sam snorted quietly, "What? Suddenly you're a pacifist?"

"You know what I mean," Grace snapped.

He sighed, "Yeah, I know…" He was quiet for a minute, "I don't know. Maybe. I know it's gonna sounds awful, but… The way I was raised? If something's trying to kill you, you kill it. I mean… I didn't always agree with my dad – I still don't – but those people were trying to stop us from killing the Master and it was either kill them, or they kill or capture us."

"Still," Grace shook her head, "It feels wrong. All those people dying."

"And people are still dying," Sam said. "There's not an argument that will ever make that sound okay. This – this is war, though. War is different. You can't get hung up over right and wrong and murder and killing when you're trying to fight for what's right. It just slows you down and makes you vulnerable…" he hesitated, "At least that's what my dad always taught me."

Grace made a face, "Your dad sounds like a really wonderful guy," she said sourly.

Sam laughed, "He had his moments," he said sadly.

Silence fell for a long moment before Grace spoke again.

"Before this… I mean, before the Decimation and the assassination attempt… did you ever kill anyone? A human?"

Sam cleared his throat, "No," he said. "…There were people I couldn't save, sure, but… I've never actually pulled the trigger on anyone. Not even when I probably should've."

Grace nodded. "Me either," she said. "I was a cop, you know. Before. I'd barely been with Sac PD six months when the Decimation happened. I'd never fired my gun except at paper targets to pass the firearms exam. Never saw anyone get shot on the job. Never been in firefight or anything. All this… It really makes you rethink how you saw yourself.

"I didn't think… When I decided to be a cop, I never saw myself killing people. Even to save my own life. I never thought I was capable of murder."

"Yeah," Sam nodded, his eyes distant. "There is a difference, you know."

"A difference?"

"Between killing and murder," Sam explained. "Not that either one is good, but there's still a difference."

Smiling faintly, Grace nodded. "I guess that's true."

Across the campsite, Dean shifted restless and squeezed his eyes shut.

~/.\~

Rufus's old bunker-slash-bomb shelter was filled past capacity by the time the last group of their little Rebel Alliance finally arrived. It had taken everyone a while to get settled in – Jessica, Gus and Juliet taking the children to a secluded room to keep them away from the action; and Grace tending to Henry and Tobias and checking the others' injuries.

The area Ash had set up in the common area was bursting. They'd taken whatever computers and laptops they could and several different monitors littered the worn out table – it was chaos in the form of cables and wires.

As McGee, Ash, Charlie, Garcia and Abby worked to get the computers set up and ready for the pending video conference Jack Harkness told his story to everyone – with some help from Ducky, who had already recounted his first meeting with the Captain to everyone.

"You might have to suspend your disbelief," Jack warned them before beginning. He could see how eager they all were to hear the whole story – or as much of it as Jack could tell them. They'd noticed the way he kept glancing toward Reid and he was actually surprised that they hadn't immediately demanded he explain that to them.

"I think we've all gotten pretty good at that," Prentiss said. "We've already seen time traveling aliens and gods. Things can't get much more insane."

"True," Jack smiled a bit ruefully, "It's not a pretty story, but you probably guessed that. And I don't know the whole thing. The Doctor's been careful about keeping as much as he can to himself."

He took a breath and started, "Before you ask, I don't know much about the Master. Just that he and the Doctor were friends, before… Other than the fact that they're the only two Time Lords left, there's not much I can tell you.

"You said Martha explain most of what happened on Malcassario? With the rocket to Utopia and everything?"

"She was vague about details, actually," Ducky amended.

Jack's eyes flitted to Reid, "Well, she can't be too careful. I mean, bad enough we've got two Spencer Reids, but explaining his future to him would be… not good."

"Bad because me knowing my own future would create some kind of paradox?" Reid asked curiously, watching Jack with the same weird intensity that Jack had been watching him.

"That's what the Doctor says," Jack nodded, "Your timeline is really tangled up, Doc. I mean, really screwed up. The you I met on Malcassario is from the year 2011, but an earlier version of him met me, but he's still a version of you from the future… And if everything goes according to the Doctor's plan then I think that this version of you won't exist anymore. I don't know what to tell you, really. The Doctor could explain it better."

"Wait," Tony frowned, "He won't exist?"

Jack shook his head, "Not this exact version of him. None of you will. The thing is… Martha explained about the Master turning the TARDIS into a Paradox Machine? So that it could sustain the paradox of the Toclafane killing their ancestors?"

"Right," Gibbs nodded, "Because they're humans…"

"Exactly, yeah," Jack nodded, "The thing is… if the paradox machine wasn't there to hold it together, the time lines would snap back to the way they're supposed to be."

"But we can't just destroy the TARDIS," McGee said, "Martha said that wasn't an option."

Jack's eyes got wide at the mention of destroying the TARDIS, but he shook his head quickly, "No, that's not. But… the TARDIS doesn't want to hold the paradox. The Master's basically torturing her, forcing her to break the laws of time to do it. The Doctor's trying to use his psychic link with the TARDIS to… to fix her."

"You mean…" Jane frowned, "When Martha said the Doctor was linked to the TARDIS... that means he can fix it?"

"He's trying," Jack nodded, "He's not strong enough yet and he can't be too obvious about it. The Master would notice. Time Lords have telepathic abilities. The Master's good, but the Doctor's better. I think."

"But he's weak," Juliet said, "because of the torture."

"Right,"

"How does he get strong enough to help the TARDIS break the paradox?" Grace asked. "He's going to have to get more strength somehow."

"That's where I can't really explain…" Jack said, "The Doctor hasn't explained the entire plan to Spencer or me. He didn't want to risk the Master finding it in our heads. He's integrating with the Archangel network, slowly. Beyond that I'm not really sure. If he can fully integrate with the network that might be enough to help him reset the TARDIS…"

Garcia's eyes were wide with hope, "So that means – there's a serious chance that this might never happen?"

"It'd be like hitting the reset button on the last several months!" Charlie looked excited too, "The Decimation and everything that's happened would just go away."

"That's the plan," Jack said.

Hotch frowned, "It sounds too good to be true," he said quietly. He didn't necessarily want to be skeptical – he could feel the longing burning inside of him to have Haley back, for Jack to have his mother again – but to think that it really could just go back to normal with no bad memories seemed like a dream rather than reality.

"It makes sense though," Reid said, "From a strictly scientific standpoint… The second the Toclafane started slaughtering people they're very existence stopped making sense. It's impossible for them to wipe out humanity and still be here. With the Paradox Machine not functioning… reality would have to reassert itself. Right?"

He turned to Jack and found the Captain smiling at him, nodding, "Exactly," he said.

"And the Doctor can do it," Ducky said, "He's done the impossible more than once. You've even seen it, haven't you, Dr. Holloway?"

Grace nodded, "It does seem impossible, but the Doctor's saved the world from the Master before. If there's anyone I could believe can do this, it's the Doctor."

"I think we should give him a chance," Shawn declared. "He's the Time Lord, right? He knows about this stuff and he's already fought the guy. We tried the other way…" he trailed off, his face pinching a bit. "Let's try it his way."

Gibbs didn't look happy with the idea of sitting down and waiting for the Doctor to come through for them.

"What about in the mean time? What about if the Master decided to retaliate more for what happened on the Valiant. We can't just sit this fight out, no matter how good the Doctor is, there's always the chance he could fail and people are dying right now, all the time. We have to do something."

"I'm not saying don't fight," Jack said, "Trust me. I don't want to take this lying down, either. But I am saying that we let the Doctor handle the Master. Let him take care of that."

"And we can focus on the Toclafane," Abby said, "Sarah Jane already dissected one and we're getting close to actually having a weapon that lasts against them!"

They were quiet for a moment before Rufus spoke up from where he'd been listening quietly near the back of the room – next to his near-empty supply of booze.

"Alright then. Plan B – kill the Toclafane. Good thing we've got all these tech-y people here with us. We can get on that right now."

~/.\~

Gabriel waited impatiently for Castiel to show up, pacing back and forth while resisting the urge to zap himself up to Heaven and find out what was taking him so long.

Behind him he heard the faint fluttering sound of wings and grinned, spinning around to see Castiel and another angel at his side, a skeptical frown on his face. Gabriel's grin faltered as he stared at the angel.

"Uriel?" he scoffed. "That's who you're bringing into help us?"

Uriel was staring at Gabriel with wide eyes and he spluttered angrily, "You are alive!"

"Of course I'm alive," Gabriel frowned, "What are you doing here? You pretty much made your disgust at humans clear with that business in Sodom and Gomorrah, remember?"

Uriel's eyes flashed dangerously, "I was acting on orders. Something you clearly know nothing about."

Gabriel grinned, "Not acting on orders now though, are you?"

Uriel bristled, "Perhaps I got tired of being manipulated and lied to."

"Join the club," Gabriel said dismissively, turning to Castiel, "Is this all the help you could get?"

"There are not many of us who would risk disobedience, Gabriel," Castiel explained. "Even Balthazar was reluctant to join me."

Gabriel huffed. He had known it wouldn't be easy to find angels willing to go against Michael's orders, but he had hoped for more than just one reinforcement. Preferably those who didn't have nearly as much contempt for humanity as Lucifer.

"But Uriel," he repeated, "That's the best you could find?"

Uriel set Gabriel with a steady glare that made Gabriel want to smite him just to remind him which one of them was more powerful.

"Do you or do you not want help setting the time line back in their proper places, Gabriel?"

Gabriel sighed, "Alright, fine. But you cannot reveal my existence to Michael,"

Uriel smirked, "As if I'd tell that self-righteous, so-called leader anything."

Smiling a bit at that, Gabriel nodded. "As long as you understand that… We've got to talk to Martha. They're getting ready to have another video chat and I think we'll be able to convince them to let us help fight the Toclafane."

He hesitated, staring at the two of them, "Just follow my lead and do not mention the word 'angel', alright? Let's go!"

~/.\~

A/N: This was not filler. I staunchly refuse to admit that I just wrote two filler chapters in a row. I mean… there were a couple of relevant scenes that moved the plot forward. *sigh*

I was going to have the video conference be this chapter, then I remembered that I still needed to have Gabriel's scene with Cas and Uriel and I needed Jack to explain more to everyone about the Doctor's plan. So the video conference is next chapter.

I'm seriously sorry this was so late and so short and still mostly filler crap. I had so much trouble writing this. But next chapter will be fun. Two Reids. Jack Harkness. Gabriel and Castiel and Uriel. (And maybe Balthazar will eventually join too!). Lots of fun.

(More importantly: Did everyone see the 50th anniversary special? My god, Moffat is a genius. And also, I love 10 and 11 interacting – ESPECIALLY with John Hurt's "Doctor". I love everything about it. It was beautiful.)

(Also, anyone who sent messages or reviews: I swear I read them and I will reply! After Thanksgiving and finals Tuesday I should have plenty of time to actually get caught up on my backed-up inbox! Sorry guys!)

So, Happy early Thanksgiving to everyone in the USA!

Please don't forget to review!