One year later, Martha stepped out of the rowing boat she and the First Bad Wolf had taken back to England after traveling all around the world. She had waited for the First to get out first before she did, and both of them trudged up the beach to the man with an oil lamp waiting for her. "What's your name, then?" Martha asked.

"Tom Milligan," he replied. "No need to ask who you are. The famous Martha Jones. How long since you were last in Britain?"

"Three hundred and sixty five days," Martha replied, sighing. "It's been a long year."

"So, what's the plan?"

"This Professor Docherty. I need to see her. Can you get me there?"

"She works in a repair shed, Nuclear Plant Seven," Tom explained as they walked. "I can get you inside. What's all this for? What's so important about her?"

"Sorry," Martha apologized, shaking her head. "The more you know, the more you're at risk."

"There's a lot of people depending on you. You're a bit of a legend."

"What does the legend say?" Martha asked.

"That you sailed the Atlantic, walked across America. That you were the only person to get out of Japan alive. Martha Jones, they say, she's going to save the world. And the golden woman, the dead woman walking, the dead woman hiding away and guiding her. The golden woman driven to fight to her last. But I don't see anyone here."

The First snorted next to her, and Martha couldn't help but grin at that. It was true, what Tom had said. She had been the only one to get out of Japan alive. Having the friend when she held the Time Vortex was definitely a plus. It was literally like having a guardian angel. With two versions of the Bad Wolf fighting against the Master, she knew she could do anything.

"Bit late for that," Tom finished.

"How come you can drive?" Martha asked as they made it to a flat bed van. "Don't you get stopped?"

"Medical staff," Tom explained. "Used to be in pediatrics back in the old days. But that gives me a license to travel so I can help out other labor camps."

"We're traveling with a doctor," the First giggled.

Martha sighed. "Great. I'm traveling with a doctor."

"Story goes that you're the only person on Earth who can kill him," Tom told her. "That you, and you alone, can kill the Master stone dead."

"I'm not," Martha muttered so he couldn't hear. "There are a few others." The First reached over and squeezed her shoulder, her golden eyes understanding. Martha took a deep breath, shook herself, and sat up straight. "Let's just drive."

***

Jessie bowed her head from where she sat. "Martha's returned," she whispered. "Martha's returned home to Britain."

"Has she accomplished what she's had to do?" the Doctor asked.

"She's spread the word. She's a living legend."

"And you?"

"We've tuned into the Network, and Tony has been hacking to get into every nuclear warhead SHIELD has, or had. Bruce and Pepper know what they're doing."

"Good. You'll know what to do."

"I do."

"I love you."

Jessie smiled. "I love you, too."

The door quietly opened, and Jessie opened her eyes, straightening. Pepper smiled and walked in. "Tony's in," she told her. "We just need to get a lock on the satellites, and we can launch from wherever we are."

"Good job," Jessie told her, standing and brushing her hair out of her eyes. "We just need to wait for the Doctor's signal."

***

"It's ready to rise, Doctor," the Master told the Doctor onboard the Valiant, looking out of one of the windows. "The new Time Lord Empire. It's good, isn't it? Isn't it good? Anything?" The Doctor didn't respond to anything. "No? Anything? Oh, but they broke your hearts, didn't they, those Toclafane, ever since you worked out what they really are." The Master smiled. "They say Martha Jones has come back home. Now why would she do that?"

"Leave her alone," the Doctor rasped.

"But you said something to her, didn't you? On the day I took control. And to your fiancée, too. But she has not been seen for over a year. What did you tell them?"

"I have one thing to say to you," the Doctor told him. "You know what it is."

"Oh, no you don't!" the Master said quickly, wheeling him off.

"Valiant now entering Zone One airspace. Citizens rejoice."

"Come on, people!" the Master shouted. "What are we doing? Launch Day in twenty four hours!"

As Francine the maid passed by, the Doctor held three fingers against his leg. Francine didn't spare him a glance as she walked on.

But Francine, as she passed her husband in the corridor, who was mopping a corridor, she held out the signal as well. Clive repeated it as Coulson and May passed by, who didn't spare him a glance. But May held the fingers against her arm as she passed by FitzSimmons, who were pouring themselves over a clipboard of information. Tish the maid was next to walk by with meals on a tray, and Jemma used three fingers to point to something.

***

"Morning, Tish!" Jack said brightly as the woman entered. "Ah, smell that sea air! Makes me long for some good old British fish and chips."

"And what do we get?" Clint asked from where he was locked in a small caged area to his left. "Cold mashed swede."

"Some hotel," Natasha agreed from the right where she was in a similar position, but she was also handcuffed to the back wall.

"Last time we book over the Internet," Jack chuckled.

Tish started spooning food, and she held three fingers against the container she was using. Jack winked at her as Clint and Natasha locked eyes and nodded.

***

"Another one?" the First commented as they trudged up towards a quarry.

Martha rolled her eyes as she saw the statue of the Master above the rocks. "All over the Earth, these things," she snorted. "He's even carved himself into Mount Rushmore."

"Best to keep down," Tom warned her, and they flattened themselves further - except the First, who was only seen by Martha. "Here we go. The entire south coast of England, converted into shipyards. They bring in slave labor every morning. Break up cars, houses, anything, just for the metal. Building a fleet out of scrap."

The First shook her head, folding her arms, her eyes flaring gold. "This is wrong," she whispered. "So wrong."

"You should see Russia," Martha told Tom. "That's Shipyard Number One. All the way from the Black Sea to the Bering Strait, there's a hundred thousand rockets getting ready for war."

"War?" Tom asked. "With who?"

"The rest of the universe." Martha shifted. "I've been out there, Tom, in space, before all this happened, and there's a thousand different civilizations all around us with no idea of what's happening here. The Master can build weapons big enough to devastate them all."

Tom found one thing different in all that. "You've been in space?"

The First snorted, and Martha looked at him. "Problem with that?"

"No, just, er . . . wow. Anything else I should know?"

"I've met Shakespeare," Martha offered.

"I met Dickens," the First added, then frowned. "No, the woman I took met Shakespeare." She shook her head. "Man, this is confusing."

Spheres flew from behind the statue of the Master, stopping right behind them. "Identify, little man," one of them ordered.

Martha didn't move a muscle as Tom stood up, holding up a license. "I've got a license! Thomas Milligan, Peripatetic Medical Squad. I'm allowed to travel. I was just checking for - "

"Soon the rockets will fly, and everyone will need medicine," the sphere replied. "You'll be so busy." They flew off, laughing.

Martha sighed in relief, and the First nodded with an encouraging smile as Tom turned to her, confused. "But - they didn't see you!"

"How do you think I traveled the world?" Martha asked, holding up her TARDIS key as they headed back to the van. "Because the Master set up Archangel, that mobile network, fifteen satellites around the planet, but really it's transmitting this low level psychic field. That's how everyone got hypnotized into thinking he was Harold Saxon."

"Saxon," Tom muttered. "Feels like years ago."

"But the key's tuned in to the same frequency," Martha continued. "Makes me sort of . . . not invisible. Just unnoticeable."

"Well, I can see you."

Martha smirked. "That's because you wanted to."

"Yeah," Tom admitted. "I suppose I did."

"Is there a Mrs. Milligan?"

"No. What about you?"

Martha smiled, thinking of the Doctor. "No. I'm scheduled as maid of honor for my best friend, though, when we get out of this mess. Come on. I've got to find this Docherty woman."

"We'll have to wait until the next work shift," Tom told her. "What time is it now?"

Martha checked her watch. "It's nearly three o'clock."

***

When Natasha saw the clock hit 14:58, she began to pull her wrists free of the chains keeping her to the wall. Clint began doing the same thing as Jack began wrenching his chains free of the wall. When the clock hit 15:00, he was good and got the other doors open.

The three of them took off, pounding down the hallway, taking out as many guards as they could as the alarm overhead wailed. "Condition red. Repeat, condition red."

***

As the Master sat up from where he'd been getting a massage, Francine grabbed his jacket, tossing it to Tish, who gave it to the Doctor. The SHIELD agents closed in surrounding them all to block them off from the guards as the Doctor took the laser screwdriver and pointed it at the Master. "Oh, I see," the Master commented.

"I told you," the Doctor told him. "I have one thing to say."

***

Jack blinked as armed squads of men appeared in front of them. "Oh, here we go again," he groaned.

Natasha and Clint quickly ducked away as the men shot Jack over and over again, killing him easily.

***

The Doctor looked at the screwdriver when it wouldn't work, and the Master grinned. "Isomorphic controls," he explained, punching the Doctor away and taking the screwdriver back. "Which means they only work for me. Like this." He took aim and fired, and the laser barely missed Francine and May. "Say sorry!"

"Sorry!" Francine cried, crouching and holding up her hands as May stood protectively in front of her, eyes dark. "Sorry, sorry!"

"Mum!" Tish cried, running over.

"Didn't you learn anything from the blessed Saint Martha? Siding with the Doctor is a very dangerous thing to do. Take them away."

The SHIELD agents were taken away, too, and as the Doctor watched them go, he didn't see the same hate that had been there a year ago. It was just . . . tiredness. Maybe they were warming up.

"OK," the Master said as he helped the Doctor into a chair. "Gotcha. Oh, boy. There you go, Gramps. Oh, do you know? I remember the days when the Doctor, oh, that famous Doctor, was waging a Time War, battling Sea Devils and Axons. He sealed the Rift at the Medusa Cascade single handed. And look at him now. Stealing screwdrivers. How did he ever come to this?" He grinned. "Oh, yeah! Me!"

"I just need you to listen," the Doctor tried to say.

"No," the Master snapped. "It's my turn. Revenge, best served hot! And this time, it's a message for Miss Jones and Agent Nightshade."

***

Martha followed Tom through the fence to a building, an older woman inside. "Professor Docherty?" he asked.

"Busy," she replied briefly.

"They, er . . . they sent word ahead. I'm Tom Milligan. This is Martha Jones."

"She can be the Queen of Sheba for all I care. I'm still busy."

"Televisions don't work anymore," Martha told her.

"Oh, God, I miss Countdown," Docherty sighed. "Never been the same since Des took over. Both Deses. What's the plural for Des? Desi? Deseen? But we'e been told there's going to be a transmission from the man himself."

***

"Jessie!" Tony shouted. "You'll want to see this!"

Jessie ran from where she'd been typing at the computer, hacking into the Navy, and she found Tony, Bruce, and Pepper leaning over a TV, the Master on it. " - this, the eve of war," the Master was saying. "Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there. Stories of a child, walking the Earth, giving you hope. But I ask you . . . how much hope has this man got? Say hello, Gandalf!"

The Master hefted the aged Doctor to get next to him, and Bruce frowned. "Is that - ?"

"Yeah," Jessie replied, swallowing down her anger. "Yeah, that's the Doctor."

"Except he's not that old," the Master continued, "but he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. But what if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? All nine hundred years of your life, Doctor. What if we could see them?" Jessie squeezed her eyes shut when the Master zapped the Doctor, knowing what was going to happen. "Older and older and older. Down you go, Doctor. Down, down, down the years." There was a pause. "Doctor."

Jessie swallowed and looked back at the screen to see a tiny Doctor with big eyes poking its head out of the Doctor's clothes, looking rather like Gollum. She choked out a sob and clapped a hand over her mouth, and Pepper quickly hugged her, and Jessie buried her face into her shoulder.

***

The Master raised an eyebrow. "Received and understood, Miss Jones? Agent Nightshade?"

The First snarled. "I will kill him!"

"I'm sorry," Tom apologized.

Martha held up a hand, holding both Tom and the First back. "The Doctor's still alive."

"Obviously, the Archangel Network would seem to be the Master's greatest weakness," Docherty told them. "Fifteen satellites all around the Earth, still transmitting. That's why there's so little resistance. It's broadcasting a telepathic signal that keeps people scared."

"We could just take them out," Tom suggested.

Martha smiled. "Someone's already working on that."

Docherty eyed her oddly. "Fifteen ground to air missiles. You got any on you?"

"She's working on it," the First commented, sitting on a box nearby and watching closely, her tangled locks still dangling around her face.

"Besides, any military action, the Toclafane descend," Docherty added.

"They're not called Toclafane," Martha corrected. "That's a name the Master made up."

"Then what are they, then?"

"That's why I came to find you. Know your enemy. I've got this." She held up a computer disc. "No one's been able to look at a sphere close up. They can't even be damaged, except once. The lightning strike in South Africa brought one of them down, just by chance. I've got the readings on this."

Docherty put the disc into her computer, then whacked it when she couldn't read the data. "Oh, whoever thought we'd miss Bill Gates."

"So is that why you traveled the world? To find a disc?" Tom asked.

"No," Martha replied. "Just got lucky."

"I heard stories that you walked the Earth to find a weapon," Docherty said.

The First's eyebrows raised. "Oh, is that what you've heard?" she asked. "And to put it out there so obviously."

Martha quickly gave her a look, and the First gave her a wink as she folded her legs under herself. "There!" Docherty exclaimed as the data finally came up. "A current of fifty eight point five kiloampers transferred charge of five hundred and ten megajoules precisely."

"Can you recreate that?" Tom asked.

"I think so," she replied with a nod. "Easily. Yes."

"Right, then," Martha decided. "Doctor Milligan? We're going to get us a sphere."

***

Francine scowled at the guard pointing a gun at Jack. "One day, he'll let his guard down," she muttered. "One day, and I'll be there."

"No," Clive replied. "That's my job. I'll swear to you, I'd shoot that man stone dead."

"You won't be the only one," Jemma muttered.

"I'll get him," Tish decided. "Even if it kills me."

"Don't say that!" Francine whispered.

"She means it," May interrupted from where she leaned against the bar she was cuffed to, staring across the way to where Natasha and Clint were now kept. "That man made us stand on deck ad watch the islands of Japan burning. Millions of people. What the Doctor has done is nothing compared to the Master." She turned. "I swear, he's dead."

***

"Tomorrow, they launch," the Master told the Doctor. "We're opening up a Rift in the Braccatolian space. They won't see us coming. It's kind of scary."

"Then stop," the Doctor told him from where he was inside of a birdcage, of all things.

"Once the Empire is established, and there's a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then it stops," the Master retorted. "The drumming. The never ending drumbeat. Ever since I was a child. I looked into the Vortex. That's when it chose me. The drumming. The call to war. Can't you hear it?" The Master leaned close to him. "Listen. It's there now. Right now. Tell me you can hear it, Doctor. Tell me."

The Doctor looked at him sadly. "It's only you."

The Master nodded. "Good."

A sphere appeared. "Tomorrow, the war," it said in a feminine voice. "Tomorrow we rise, never to fall."

"You see?" the Master asked, nodding to it. "I'm doing it for them. You should be grateful. After all, you love them so very, very much."

***

Martha waited for the Second to pick up the phone she had with her, and she smiled. "Bad Wolf? We're getting it open."

"You found one?" she asked, and she heard other people crowd around her.

"We did."

"There's some sort of magnetic clamp," Docherty muttered, working on the sphere. "Hold on. I'll just trip the - " She jumped backwards when the sphere opened the top. "Oh, my God!" She shouted.

"What is it?" the Second asked.

"It's a head," Martha and the First replied at the same time.

The wizened head's eyes opened, and Docherty gasped. "It's alive!"

"Martha," the head told her. "Martha Jones."

"It knows you!" Tom exclaimed.

"Martha, how would it know you?" the Second asked.

"Sweet, kind Martha Jones," the head said. "You helped us to fly."

"What do you mean?" Martha asked.

"You led us to salvation."

"Who are you?"

"The skies are made of diamonds."

Martha froze. "No," she breathed. "You can't be him!"

"Martha," the Second asked. "It's that boy from hundred trillion, isn't it?"

"We share each other's memories," the head replied. "You sent him to Utopia."

"Oh, my God," Martha breathed, figuring it out.

"This is wrong," the Second gasped out. "So wrong!"

The First joined them at the table. "We need to fix this," she said firmly.

"What's it talking about?" Tom asked. "What's it mean?"

"What are they?" Docherty asked.

"Martha," Tom told Martha as she stared at the head. "Martha, tell us. What are they?"

Martha took a deep breath. "They're us. They're humans. The human race from the future."

***

"I took Lucy to Utopia," the Master told the Doctor. "A Time Lord and his human companion. I took her to see the stars. Isn't that right, sweetheart?"

""Trillions of years into the future, to the end of the universe," Lucy agreed, almost in a monotone and on cue.

"Tell him what you saw."

"Dying," she whispered. "Everything dying. The whole of creation was falling apart, and I thought, there's no point. No point to anything. Not ever."

"And it's all your fault," the Master snapped.

***

"That makes total sense," the Second said. "I'd wondered, but now I know."

"The Master had the TARDIS, this time machine, but the only other place he could go was the end of the universe," Martha continued. "He found Utopia."

***

"You should have seen it, Doctor," the Master sneered. "Furnaces burning. The last of humanity screaming at the dark."

***

"The Utopia Project was the last hope," Martha continued. "Trying to find a way to escape the end of everything."

"Thee was no solution," the head mourned. "No diamonds. Just the dark and the cold."

***

"All that human invention that had sustained them across the eons," the Master sighed. "It all turned inwards. They cannibalized themselves."

"We made ourselves so pretty," the sphere added.

"Regressing into children. But it didn't work. The universe was collapsing around them."

***

"But then the Master came with his wonderful time machine to bring us back home," the head added.

"But . . . that's a paradox!" Docherty gasped. "If you're the future of the human race, and you've come back to murder your ancestors, you should cancel yourselves out. You shouldn't exist!"

"And that's the paradox machine," the Second sighed. "That lets it happen."

***

"My masterpiece, Doctor," the Master told him. "A living TARDIS, strong enough to hold the paradox in place, allowing the past and the future to collide in infinite majesty."

"But you're changing history," the Doctor snapped. "Not just Earth. The entire universe!"

"I'm a Time Lord," the Master retorted. "I have that right."

"But even then, why come all this way just to destroy?"

"We come backwards in time all to build a brand new empire lasting one hundred trillion years," the sphere replied.

"With me as their Master," the Master finished. "Time Lord and humans combined. Haven't you always dreamt of that, Doctor? Human race, greatest monsters of them all. Night, night."

He left with Lucy, the sphere following, and the Doctor sighed, bowing his head.

***

"But what about us?" Tom asked the head. "We're the same species. Why do you kill so many of us?"

"Because it's fun!" the head laughed gleefully.

Tom's face twisted, and he shot it on the spot. Martha didn't even cringe.

***

"I think it's time we had the truth, Miss Jones," Docherty said later when they were all in her room. "The legend says you're traveling the world to find a way of killing the Master. Tell us. Is it true?"

Martha looked up to the First to see her nod, and she began. "Just before I escaped, the Doctor told me. The Doctor and the Master, they've been coming to Earth for years. And they've been watched. There's UNIT and Torchwood and now SHIELD, all studying Time Lords in secret. And they made this: the ultimate defense." She opened the case she carried and held up a gun with four cylinders in the top of it, three vials of colored liquid still in the case.

"All you need to do is get close," Tom suggested. "I can shoot the Master dead with this."

"Actually, you can put that down now, thank you very much," Docherty added.

Martha saw the First smile a little as she laid the gun in her lap. "Point is, it's not so easy to kill a Time Lord. They can regenerate, literally bring themselves back to life."

"Ah, the Master's immortal," Docherty snorted. "Wonderful."

"Except for this," she denied, pointing at the gun. "Four chemicals, slotted into the gun. Inject him, kills a Time Lord permanently."

"Four chemicals?" Tom asked. "You've only got three."

"Still need the last one, because the components of this gun were kept safe, scattered across the world, and I found them. San Diego. Beijing. Budapest. London."

"Then where is it?"

"There's an old UNIT base, north London. I've found the access codes. Tom, you've got to get me there."

***

"We can't get across London in the dark," Tom told Martha as they prepared to leave, the First watching with her arms folded, looking around like something was wrong. "It's full of wild dogs. We'll get eaten alive. We can wait till the morning, then go with the medical convoy."

"You can spend the night here, if you like," Docherty offered.

Tom shook his head. "No. We can get halfway, stay at the slave quarters in Bexley. Professor . . . thank you."

"And you," Docherty agreed, shaking her hand. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Martha replied when her phone beeped. She picked it up. "Yeah?"

"Martha, it's me," the Second told her. "The missiles are all ready to launch. All fifteen. Archangel can be down whenever it needs to be."

Martha nodded. "Good work. Thank Stark and Banner."

"Will do."

"Martha, could you do it?" Docherty asked. "Could you actually kill him?"

"I've got no choice," Martha replied.

"You might be many things, but you don't look like a killer to me," Docherty told her.

***

"Let me in," Tom said as he knocked on a door. "It's Milligan."

They went inside, and were immediately ambushed by tons of people. "Did you bring food?" a woman asked.

"Couldn't get any, and I'm starving," Tom replied.

"All we've got is water."

"I'm sorry," Martha said honestly, trying not to laugh as the First tried to avoid stepping into people.

"It's cheaper than building barracks," Tom told her. "Pack them in, a hundred in each house, ferry them off to the shipyards every morning."

"Are you Martha Jones?" a boy asked.

"Yeah, that's me," she replied.

"Can you do it? Can you kill him?" he asked eagerly. "They said you can kill the Master. Can you? Tell us you can do it! Please tell us you can do it!"

"Who is the Master?" the woman asked.

"Come on, just leave her alone!" Tom shouted as people started talking over each other. "She's exhausted!"

"No, it's all right," Martha soothed, laying a hand on his arm and smiling around at the people, the First looking on proudly. This was what she was meant to do. "They want me to talk, and I will."

***

"Access Priority One," Docherty spoke into the Archangel communication device. "This is Professor Alison Docherty."

"State your intent."

"First of all, I need to know about my son."

"State your intent."

"Is my son still alive?"

"State your intent."

Docherty took a deep breath. "I have some information for the Master concerning Martha Jones and the Bad Wolf."

***

"I traveled across the world, from the ruins of New York to the fusion mills of China, right across the radiation pits of Europe," Martha was telling the slaves, smiling. The First was sitting high up in the rafters, like a guardian angel watching down on everyone, regardless of how raggedy she looked. "And everywhere I went, I saw people just like you, living as slaves. But if Martha Jones became a legend, then that's wrong, because my name isn't important. There's someone else. The man who sent me out there. The man who told me to walk the Earth. And his name is the Doctor." She smiled. "He has saved your lives so many times, and you never even knew he was there. He never stops. He never stays. He never asks to be thanked. But I've seen him. I know him. And always at his side, there's this gold and silver woman, the dead woman walking, the Bad Wolf girl who risked her life to stay with him forever. I've seen them together, and they love each other. I love both of them. And I know what together, they can do."

The woman from before ran in, her eyes wide in terror. "It's him!" she screamed. "It's him! Oh, my God, it's him! It's the Master! He's here!"

Martha straightened up, and the First moved to a crouch. "But he never comes to Earth!" the boy cried. "He never walks upon the ground!"

"Hide her!" the woman shouted.

"Use this," Tom said, tossing them a sack. Martha ducked down as they covered her with it.

"He walks among us," the boy whispered. "Our lord and master."

"Martha!" the Master called in a teasing voice. "Martha Jo-hones! I can see you! Out you come, little girl! Come and meet your master. Anybody? Nobody? No? Nothing?" He paused. "Positions. I'll give the order unless you surrender. Ask yourself: what would the Doctor do?"

Martha gritted her teeth, then stood up and headed for the door, wrenching her TARDIS key off of her neck. The First dropped down and followed after her, silent as a ghost. She held up her hands, and the armed police with him aimed at her. "Oh, yes," the Master praised, clapping. "Oh, very well done! Good girl! He trained you well. Bag. Give me the bag." Martha stepped forward, but he shook his head. "No, stay there. Just throw it."

Martha did, and the Master shot it with his laser screwdriver. "And now, good companion, your work is done."

"No!" Tom shouted as he burst out of the house.

The Master simply killed Tom, and the First growled in outrage. The Master laughed. "But you, when you die, the Doctor should be witness, hmm? Almost dawn, Martha, and planet Earth marches to war." He smirked. "But I think there is someone else we still have yet to pick up."

***

Jessie was fixing the small detonator trigger to the back of her ear when there was a roar from overhead. She quickly ducked down, going for the gun on her belt, and Tony, Bruce, and Pepper looked around. "What the hell is that?" Bruce demanded.

"Oh, Agent Nightshade!" the Master's taunting voice called. "Where are you?" Jessie narrowed her eyes. "Oh, but if she resisted . . . then so will you." Jessie slowly stood up, looking around. "Come on out, my dear. Make your fiancé proud . . . and Martha Jones will be spared."

Jessie stiffened, and Pepper put a hand on her arm. "Go," she whispered.

Jessie swallowed, then nodded and headed out on the verandah. Almost instantly, she was surrounded by guards, and she sighed, holding her hands up. "You got it!" she shouted. "Fine!"

She was pleased when no guard checked her ear.

***

"Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe!"

Martha swallowed as she and the Second were brought in, Martha stripped of her equipment, the Second without her usual black trench coat. The First padded along silently, not being noticed by any. She saw her family off to one side along with the SHIELD agents, and Jack, Natasha, and Clint were on the other side. They both avoided the Doctor's gaze as they were brought before the Master.

"Your teleport device, in case you thought I'd forgotten," the Master added.

The Second shrugged easily. "Still at STARK Tower. I never left. Surprised you never thought to check."

The Master chuckled. "Good thing we recovered it, then," he told her, waving the device, and her eyes narrowed. And now . . . kneel." The Second glared at him before slowly dropping onto her knees, and Martha joined her. The First smiled as she crept behind the Master. "Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready?"

"The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice!" a man replied.

"Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down!" Martha smiled, bowing her head so the Master couldn't see it when the countdown began. "I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?"

"We will fly and blaze and slice," the spheres replied. "We will fly and blaze and slice!"

"At zero, mark this day, the child Martha Jones and the dead woman walking Jessie Nightshade will die for good!" the Master cheered, and Martha swore she saw the Second take a quick look behind the Master, flicking to the First, who winked. "My first blood. Any last words?" The Second merely quirked an eyebrow. "No? Such a disappointment, these two. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the Vortex."

"Um - " the Second began, raising a hand. "That was me."

"This one's useless," the Master finished, nodding at Martha, who didn't move a muscle. "Bow your head." Both of them did. "And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords, from this day forward - "

And the First burst out laughing, and the Second joined in, shaking her head.

The Master frowned, looking behind him and staring right at the First, who had obviously revealed herself, given the shocked gasps from the SHIELD agents and the horrified looks of the Doctor and Jack. "What?" he yelled in shock, backing away as the Second straightened, still laughing. "What's so funny? And how is she - ?"

"Oh, that's funny," the First laughed, shaking her head and walking right through him so she could stand right behind Martha and the Second. "That is actually really funny."

"I can't believe it," the Second agreed. "Martha, would you like to explain?"

"But, you could - ?" Martha sputtered, pointing at the First.

"Of course I could," the Second snorted. "I could always see myself." She looked at her. "Let me guess. Ninth Doctor?"

"Yep," the First replied, popping the "p."

"Time Vortex?"

"Uh huh."

"Game Station."

"Spot on."

"No time lines disturbed," the Second explained with a grin. "Just a good old guardian of time and space." She folded her arms, taking on the same position her First self was doing as she looked at the Master. "And I think you've just made an enemy of the past."

"But really, a gun," Martha told the Master, getting back on topic.

"What about it?" the Master asked, still flicking his gaze back and forth between the First and the Second.

"A gun in four parts?"

"Yes, and I destroyed it."

The First and the Second howled in laughter, everyone still looking at both girls in confusion as Martha joined in on the laughing. "A gun in four parts scattered across the world?" Martha giggled. "I mean, come on! Did you really believe that?"

"What do you mean?" the Master asked.

"Did you really think the Doctor would ask her to kill?" the First giggled. "Hell, his last one wouldn't have wanted it, either!"

"Well, it doesn't matter," the Master said, his face paling even though he feigned confidence. "I've got her exactly where I want her."

"But the First knew what Professor Docherty would do," Martha continued. "The Resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun so she'd get me here at the right time."

"Oh, but you're still going to die."

"You forget who's here protecting her," the Second said darkly as her skin rippled with the red and black energy of the Aether, the First's entire body glowing gold.

Martha smiled as the Master actually took a step back. "Don't you want to know what I was doing under the First's help? Traveling the world?"

"Tell me," the Master said sarcastically.

"I told a story," Martha replied simply. "That's all. No weapons. Just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went, I found the people, and I told them my story."

"She told them about the Doctor," the Second continued.

"And she told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor," the First finished before frowning and realizing that everyone was staring at her in shock. "Don't you know it's rude to stare?"

Jack chuckled. "Same old Jessie."

The First winked at him before turning back. "Faith and hope?" the Master asked. "Is that all?"

"No," Martha replied, standing up, the Bad Wolves coming in to flank her. "Because I gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said. I told them that if everyone thinks of one word at one specific time - "

"Nothing will happen," the Master interrupted. "Is that your weapon? Prayer?"

"Right across the world, in word, just one thought at one moment, but with fifteen satellites," the Second told him.

"What?" the Master asked.

The Second smiled. "You found me at STARK Tower, with so much technology. It wouldn't take much to hack into the greatest satellite network in the universe."

"The Archangel Network," Natasha said with a grin.

"A telepathic field binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time." Martha smiled. "And that word . . . is Doctor."

The countdown hit zero, and the Doctor and his cage began to glow. Jack grinned, his eyes closing. "Doctor," he whispered.

"Doctor," Natasha repeated.

"Doctor," Francine repeated.

"Don't - " the Master began, looking around.

"Doctor," Clint put in.

"Doctor," Coulson whispered.

"Doctor," Jack repeated.

"Doctor," even Lucy whispered.

Martha closed her eyes. "Doctor."

And the Bad Wolves said in chorus, "Doctor."

And that did it. "I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices," the Doctor said as he began to return to normal.

"I order you to stop!" the Master shouted.

"Doctor," Jemma whispered, tears in her eyes.

"Doctor," Fitz repeated.

"Doctor," May repeated as well.

"Doctor," Lucy finished.

"The one thing you can't do," the Doctor told the Master. "Stop them thinking." He returned to normal, the cage disappearing entirely. "Tell me the human race is degenerate now when they can do this."

Martha ran to her family to hug them, and the Master shook his head. "No!" he shouted, aiming at the Doctor.

The First held up her hand, and the energy forcefield around the Doctor strengthened, and the Master's shot did absolutely nothing. "I don't think so."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor told him. "I'm so sorry."

"Then I'll kill them!" the Master threatened, aiming to the large group off to the side.

The Doctor and the Bad Wolves lifted their hands as one, and the Master screamed as both the Aether and the Vortex slammed into him, shooting him back as the laser screwdriver flew into his hand. "You can't do this!" the Master screamed, scooting back as the three approached him. "You can't do it! It's not fair!"

"And you know what happens now," the Second warned him.

"No!" the Master shouted. "No! No! No!"

"You wouldn't listen," the First continued.

"No!"

"Because you know what we're going to say," the Doctor finished.

"No," the Master whispered.

The three crouched down next to him, the Doctor hugging the Master. "I forgive you," they whispered together.

"My children!" the Master wailed.

The Doctor nodded at the Second. "Fire."

The Second reached up behind her ear, and something beeped before there was a roaring sound outside, and alerts began wailing inside of the Valiant. "Of course, staying inside of STARK Tower gave me access to SHIELD technology as well," she said nonchalantly. "Which has access to every nuclear missile in the world. Docherty was wrong. I have them." She grinned a feral grin. "Fifteen nuclear missiles launching right at the Archangel Network."

"Captain! Romanoff, Barton!" the First ordered, standing and heading for the lift door. "The paradox machine!"

"You men, with us!" Jack ordered, jumping up with Natasha and Clint. "You, stay here."

They followed the First out of the room, and Martha's eyes widened when she saw what the Master was doing. "No!" he shouted, reaching out and grabbing ahold of the Vortex Manipulator. The Second quickly grabbed on as well, and all three of them vanished.

***

The Master held out his arms as they appeared in a quarry. "Now it ends, Doctor and Nightshade!" he shouted. "Now it ends!" Thunder cracked and sirens sounded in the shipyards.

"We've got control of the Valiant," the Doctor told him. "You can't launch."

"Oh, but I've got this!" The Master held up a small device. "Black hole converter inside every ship. If I can't have this world, Doctor, then neither can you. We shall stand upon this Earth together as it burns!"

***

The First stopped inside the Valiant, sighing. "Oh, here we go."

Jack poked his head in and shook his head when he saw the spheres guarding the TARDIS, starting to shoot at them. "We can't get in!" one of the guards shouted. "We'd get slaughtered."

"Yeah," Jack sighed. "Happens to me a lot." He grinned at the First. "Shall we, then?"

She smirked. "Just like old times."

He laughed, and the two of them went in, the spheres either disappearing in a golden glow or finally being shot down by Jack.

***

"Weapon after weapon after weapon," the Second said softly, stepping forward. "All you do is talk and talk and talk. But over all these years and all these disasters, the Doctor's always had the greatest secret of them all, and I know it now, too. We know you. Explode those ships, and you kill yourself. That's the one thing you could never do." She held out her hand. "Give that to me."

The Master handed it over, and the Second took the opportunity to grab his wrist and flip him over, and the Doctor joined her as she triggered the Vortex Manipulator.

***

Jack looked around the TARDIS when the console began to hum. The First spread out her hands, gold shooting from everywhere. The paradox machine disintegrated, and there was a sharp bang, and the Valiant lurched.

***

The Doctor grabbed onto Martha as the Valiant kept shaking. "Everyone, get down!" he ordered. "Time is reversing!"

The Second held onto the Master, keeping him down as the ship kept lurching. Finally, it all settled down, and the Doctor straightened. "The paradox is broken," he said. "We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning."

The Second checked a communication device. "This is UNIT Central. What's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated!"

"Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived," she told the Doctor with a grin.

He grinned back. "Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restores. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror, it never was."

"What about the spheres?" Coulson asked.

"Trapped at the end of the universe," the Doctor replied.

Francine blinked. "But I can remember it."

"We're at the eye of the storm," the Doctor explained. "The only ones who'll ever know." Then his demeanor entirely changed. "Oh, hello!" he told Clive brightly. "You must be Mr. Jones. We haven't actually met."

The Second rolled her eyes. "Only him," he told the SHIELD team with a wink, and they hesitantly smiled back.

The Master took off at a run for the door, but one Captain, two SHIELD agents, and a time-wielding Asgardian stopped him. "Whoa, big fella!" Jack told him, grabbing onto him as the First stepped right through them, casually sitting down and propping her feet up on the table. "You don't want to miss the party."

"Cuff," Natasha ordered, taking them from a guard and putting them on the Master.

"So what do we do with this one?" Clint asked.

"We kill him," Clive replied immediately.

"We execute him," Tish agreed.

"No," the Doctor replied. "That's not the solution."

"Oh, I think so," Francine replied, holding up a gun to the Master, and the First straightened, putting her feet off the table as she stood. "Because all those things they still happened because of him. I saw them."

"Go on," the Master taunted. "Do it."

"Francine," the First whispered, walking over to her. "You're better than him."

She held out her hand, and Francine lowered the gun, handing it to her, and Francine started to cry. The Doctor hugged her and handed her off to Martha as the First put the gun back on the floor. "You still haven't answered the question," the Master told the Doctor. "What happens to me?"

"You're our responsibility from now on," the Doctor replied. "The only Time Lords left in existence."

"Yeah, but you can't trust him," Jack said.

"No," the Second agreed. "That's why the only safe place for him is in the TARDIS."

"You mean you're just going to keep me?" the Master asked.

"If that's what we have to do," the Doctor confirmed. "It's time to change. Maybe I've been wandering for too long." He smiled at the Second. "Now I've got someone to care for."

"No!" the First screamed, running forward. The Doctor turned, opening his mouth to ask what was going on -

When there was a gunshot, and the First pushed the Master out of the way, just as the bullet hit her. Jemma screamed, about to run forward when Coulson grabbed her, staring in horror as well. Lucy's hand shook, but she took one last shot right at the Master before she let Jack take the gun from her.

The Second ran for her last self with Martha right in tow as the Doctor ran to the Master, and both of them collapsed right next to her. "God, I was always so stubborn," the Second managed to say with a sniff.

The First gave a weak smile. "Well . . . guardian of time and all that. It's a good thing to have."

"I never did say," Martha whispered. "Thank you."

The First raised a hand to her face. "Martha Jones," she whispered, voice getting hoarser. "The woman who walked the Earth." She winced, her head slumping. "Ah!"

"What?" the Second asked.

"My head . . . it's killing me!"

The Second swallowed. "It's the Vortex. You're being pulled back to the Game Station."

"Time is set right," the First whispered. "But . . . it's not the only . . . time . . . "

The Second's eyes widened. "What else happens?" she asked, leaning forward. "Where else have you been?"

The First shook her head. "Sorry. Spoilers," she whispered. "But . . . was it a good death?"

The Second put her hand over her mouth. "Yeah," she replied in a choked sob. "Gave your life so that the rest of the world would live. It's one of the best."

The First smiled weakly. "Take care of him." She tilted her head. "Doctor," she called out.

He looked up, tears in his own eyes as he looked up from his dying friend. "Yeah?" he asked, voice rough.

"Take care of her," she whispered.

He nodded firmly. "Always."

"And you . . . " She looked at the SHIELD team with a small chuckle. "You can handle your boss returning to life, and you can't believe this?" She waved between herself and the Second.

"Little hard to handle," Coulson said.

"Handle it," the First said simply before looking at Natasha and Clint. "Tell the other Avengers I'm sorry."

Natasha nodded. "We will."

"And Captain . . . " Jack swallowed as she shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"I'm living a good long life," Jack replied, tears in his eyes. "I'm happy."

The First smiled softly before looking at the Master. "Don't blame him," was the last thing she whispered before her eyes faded from their golden color to their dark whiskey and slid closed.

The Second put a hand over her mouth and started crying openly, Martha hugging her tightly as the First's body dissolved into gold as she was returned to the Game Station to save the Doctor. The Doctor laid the Master, dead, on the floor and was by her side in a couple of strides, hugging her tightly as well. Jack joined the group hug a few seconds later, the four of them just comforting each other, glad of the fact that they were still alive.

***

It was so hard to write this. I killed off Jessie once, and then I killed her Bad Wolf entity. But, like she said . . . this won't be the last you see of it.

Also, what Tom said at the beginning, the dead woman walking and guiding Martha . . . that sort of applies to both the First and the Second. The two of them together reminds me of the song to the side, "Akkadian Empire."

So what this is: this is while Jessie was the Bad Wolf from Series 1 in "Parting of the Ways." If the words Bad Wolf were spread throughout space and time, why not herself, like from "The Day of the Doctor" when Rose appeared as the Moment? I've got a few other points planned when the Bad Wolf entity makes an appearance. Some will be major plot changers, like this, but others will be small, and you might have to squint to see her. But she'll still be there.

But still. I almost cried writing this. SHIELD finally accepts it all, and it's all happily ever after. Almost.

Because . . . I've still got a Time Lord wedding to write, don't I? ;)