The Time Rewritten

Biting down on her lip, she looked between the Doctor and the guard. Trying to think of something, anything she could say that would draw attention away from the line of questioning. From what she had read in the Journal, she knew for a fact the Doctor would never say the answer to that and would end up complicating the situation even more. "My name is Sonya." She suddenly said, taking a step forward and tugging on her shirt nervously as she regained the guard's stare. "I have no last name, but my real name is Sonya. I'm from... Well that is a hard question to answer, but I am from this general area at least." She added lamely, looking over at the Doctor with a low sigh, knowing full well she wasn't helping from his expression. "If your allowed to ask questions then we should too. Why are you here?"

The guard glared at Sonya for a moment before stomping away from her and positioning itself by the table before turning his attention back to Sonya and answering, "To enhance", "To make this race better" it added in a low tone. The Doctor's gaze became more serious as a thought propelled it's way into his mind, "Sonya" he mumbled, "Back away for a bit" he warned. Within another split second, the guards that took Charles burst through the back door with smiles on their faces, "They have accepted him master" they both said in sync, "He has ascended!!". Stomping out from the back door, a newly crafted Cyberman roared out, it's metal shinning under the light that gleamed down through the windows behind it. The guards in front of the Cyberman bowed down and the guard standing by The Doctor and Sonya turned to them with arms raised high, "This is what you shall be. Convert...ascend. Upgrade!". The Doctor's eyes shot wide open as the Cyberman that was King Charles planted its hand firmly across it's chest then extended out it's arm, "You shall be fully converted!" it hissed. Almost immediately, the other guards fell down to their knees then shot back up, their eyes wide open and their bodies stiff, "Cybers" The Doctor hissed.

"I thought they couldn't convert Time Lords." Sonya hissed back at him with a scowl as she backed up to stand next to where he stood. "Sonya's Journal said so, they couldn't convert Time Lords, only humans. We are not human." She added with a scowl in his direction, her hands automatically reaching up to grab the shoulder straps on her knapsack as she did, knowing from the glint in his eyes that it wouldn't be long before he said they should run. Turning her attention back to the Cybermen, she studied them for a moment, wishing just for a split second that she had time to sketch one out. "So, Cybermen converted Charles the First, and we're stuck in a house possibly full of them at the moment. No place to hide, no place to run without slamming into one of the tin men... Any plans, or are you just winging it?"

"Not anymore" The Doctor mumbled back before turning his attention to the fully converted Cyberman, "Isn't that right? Spanned across the whole galaxy, converting everything into Cyber technology!", "Cybermen have upgraded. The inhabitants of this world will be upgraded and you will be upgraded" the Cyberman replied. Like mindless slaves, two nearby guards, who whose flesh was still be converted, marched to the side of The Doctor and Sonya and quickly grabbed their arms, "They must be upgraded!" the Cyberman proclaimed, "Sonya. Don't fight it, just do as they say" The Doctor warned Sonya as they were tugged into the back room. Once the doors of the back room opened, there loomed a conversion machine in all it's horrifying glory, calling out to The Doctor and Sonya to come and be upgraded. But just inches away from being tossed into the conversion machine, a Cyberman stomped from out of the shadows and ordered them to stop, "Halt. They must be upgraded with new technologies" it exclaimed before quickly marching up in front of Sonya and extending its open palm which held several small shiny robot mites which began to crawl down the Cybermans arm and over to Sonya, "No!!" The Doctor yelled.

Sonya stared at the mites for a second then looked over at the Doctor, terror in her eyes as they began crawling up her pant legs. Tugging at her arms sharply, she tried to get the cyber man's grip to lesson. Kicking out a foot, she shook her leg frantically, watching as the small metallic bugs crept up her leg despite how hard she shook it. "Doctor!" She cried sharply as they made it up to her shirt and began crawling up it even faster than before. Looking over at him, panic searing across her face at his expression. "I don't blame you." Sonya finally managed to say before they reached her head and she convulsed with each jolt of electricity in her mind and body.
Moments later, she slumped forward, her long hair trailing on the ground in front of her as she breathed heavily. Looking up at the cyber man holding her, she narrowed her dark blue eyes at him. "Let me go you fool." Her voice coming out cold and cunning while yanking her arm away from him. "Ah... A body." Turning around on the spot, Sonya ran her hands over her sides and down to her legs, a wide grin splitting her face in two. Looking up, she finally spotted the Doctor, a chuckle working through her as she wandered over and gripped his chin with a hand with surprising strength as she studied him for a moment. "Doctor, how long has it been? Hmmm?"

The Doctor glared at the newly inhabited Sonya body, his facial expression blank and uncaring, "Who are you?" he hissed, his arms being restrained even harder and tighter by the guards at his sides, "Cyber King? Cyber leader?" he questioned. Inside he was hoping the Sonya still lay behind the wall of nothing that was the Cyber control that took over her just moments ago. His mind worked for the outcome like a computer hard drive and within seconds after thinking about it, he himself obtained an answer. Sonya was alive, a subconscious connection; the Cyber link was strong but not strong enough to immediately kill a persons mind nor soul. It would takes weeks, if months, of constant exposure to the Cyber link for the person to completely die. There in that reasoned answer, The Doctor found hope and a new reason to push on past the obvious, Cybermen controlling the world, "Give Sonya back to me!" he hissed.

"Oh, Dear Doctor. I'm afraid I cannot do that just yet. I need her mind, see." Sonya smiled at him brightly, a hand reaching up to tap a finger against her temple lightly. "She may not be clever when it comes to electronics and hacking, or even using mechanical objects... But her ability to see is amazing. In fact, Doctor. I can see why she finds you so interesting now." She added, her head tilting to the side as she spoke, studying him with what looked like astonishment crossing her face. "You have a color about you." Turning her attention to the Cyberman beside her, she let out a low snort and began stalking around the room, her hand trailing along the wall as she did. "You see, Doctor. I needed a body, I was debating on yours, granted it would be interesting for a battle of wills with you... But I needed someone a little more compliant."
Pausing in her study of the room, she turned her eyes back on the Doctor, a hand reaching up and gently tracing the metal plating that had crept across her jaw. "From the moment you two stepped into this house, I knew this body would be it. She has a fight, don't think that, Doctor. In fact, she is screaming to be allowed use of her lips at the moment..." Sonya trailed off, distracted for a moment as her attention turned inward towards her thoughts before returning back to her captive. "But her mind alone... I'm sure you've noticed, it is missing quite a bit of her history, Doctor. Plenty of space for me to take up residence without straining her mental capacity. Like an empty flat, the only thing I have to do is fill it with my things..." Flashing him another bright smile, she walked back up to him and traced a finger down his jaw. "Why should I give her back to you? She is perfect for habitation... I don't believe I will ever want to leave now that I've found her, Doctor."

The Doctor paused and pondered the question for a moment as he thought deeply about the words he should chose to say. If Sonya cannot hear or see me then i will have to figure out another way to talk to her. I need to keep the Cyber controller at bay with something while at the same time talking to Sonya He thought, his mind racing for an answer before finally one appeared in his mind like a light bulb flashing. "Because to the one empty is but junk nor a forcefully forgotten past. There in the cortex of the cerebral the battle will last. Let the memories flood, try to remember. To fight the Cyber you will need more than a filler" The Doctor finally replied, a smirk edging itself onto the side of his smile before disappearing to conceal it's true purpose. Exhaling, he straightened his back, the grip of the guards tightening once more in fear that The Doctor might try to escape.

'Let me talk to him!' Sonya raged inside her mind, glaring at the copy of her own face as it smiled smugly at her. 'Why on earth should I do that? I like this, it's comfortable and roomy in here. More space to put my ideas...' Sonya clenched her hands tightly, her eyes roaming around the area they stood in, blinking slightly as several black spaces drifted across the field of stars in the background. 'Where are we anyway? I don't recognize this...' The duplicate looked around as well, the arrogant attitude still surrounding her form like a cloud as she studied the backdrop. 'I would say this is the Medusa Cascade from how it looked. My my my, Sonya. You have plenty of locked memories, don't you? Oh...' She added, staring at Sonya's confused expression with a wide smile of her own. 'You had no idea. Someone locked your memories purposely. They didn't want you to remember this.'

Sonya turned to look at the Doctor, the smug grin slipping on her face for a moment before her hand lashed out and struck him across the cheek. "She can't hear you. So stop trying, Doctor." She hissed in his face, her nose nearly brushing his as she advanced on him. "She is too busy trying to find out why her memories were locked away from her. I think I might have distracted her efficiently enough to finish what I had planned." Turning away from him, she walked over to the new Cyberman, a hand resting on it's shoulder for a moment. "Now then, boys. There is a small village four miles due east of here. I want you to go and bring back as many as you can for conversion. We are going to need the parts." Pausing a moment, she turned back to the Doctor and tilted her head to the side with a smile. "Or... If the Doctor can find the answer to a question... They will stay here. What do you say, Doctor? Willing to put up a wager?"

The Doctor lowered his head and grinned his teeth with frustration and anger as the thoughts of the villagers being carried off to be converted by the Cyberman rushed through his mind and struck his feelings like a splinter. Shaking his head and glancing up at the Cyber Controller that inhabited Sonya's body, The Doctor replied, "Alright then. A wager" he started, "From telling by the way you carry yourself, you must be something of high importance to the Cybermen and their plans which means you have more processing power and capabilities then the rest of the standard drones. I propose this. Two questions, i get mine right and you get your's wrong then the village is unharmed...but if i get my question wrong and you get your's right, you can have my TARDIS, the village..and me to convert". The stakes were high, the table was set, it was time The Doctor laid everything down onto the table and beat the Cybermen the old fashioned way..by out witting them.

Sonya's face split into a large grin as she studied the Doctor curiously. "You would put so much on the line for a simple village. A wager then, Doctor." Locking her hands behind her back, she began to pace around the room, her eyes roaming from one Cyberman to the next in thought before spinning around and facing the Doctor once more. "You seemed to be interested in my status earlier, so my question is this: Who am I? Specifically, Who am I to the Cybermen? If you want to be picky." Striding forward suddenly, she stopped directly in front of him, her eyes gleaming with mirth as she studied his face. "Your question, Doctor?"

'Doctor!' Sonya snapped in her head, glaring at him through her eyes, unable to control her body at the moment. 'I swear, if you mess this up and we still manage to get out of here alive. I will kill you myself!'
'And this is why you are interesting, Sonya.' Spinning around, Sonya eyed her double warily, trying to decide exactly what it wanted at the moment. 'You have so much anger in your mind and soul... It's really incredible you haven't turned dark so far in your life. And Nearly six hundred years of skipping regeneration as well, you really do deserve applause...' The double smirked at her, eyes flashing a brilliant gold for a moment before fading back to blue once again. 'Tell me, have you figured out what memories were locked away from you yet? Or are you having fun watching me play with your precious Doctor?'
A low growl erupted from Sonya, threatening to break free fully before she shut her own eyes and took a deep breath. There was no point in fighting with herself, this woman-thing knew her every thought at this moment. 'No, I haven't. And no again, I do not like watching you do this to him.'
'Shame, I believe you could enjoy it if You would just let go of your preconceived notions of the fact your just a reflection. You are darker than the other Sonya, and I am honestly surprised that you haven't figured it out yet.' Flashing her another smirk, the double vanished, leaving Sonya to her thoughts once more.

The Doctor pondered the question posed to him just moments before by the Cyber controller Sonya the nodded with a smile as a question came to mind, "Alright then. My question is this. If a human is scared, terrified of what is to come, what lies behind them. What word, what single word could they say, the one word echoed throughout time and space to bring hope in times of need?". Once stopping his question, he pondered the answer to hers that she posed but upon noticing what he had done with his question, he awaited her answer to see if he would be playing for control or on the defense once more for his life, Sonya's and hundreds of innocent lives.

Raising an eyebrow, Sonya studied the Doctor for a moment before resuming her walk around the room, her thoughts turned inward at his question as it rolled around in the shared mind.
"Interesting question, Doctor. Riddles happen to be this mind's specialty though you see... She has spent so many years studying words, learning them. She's nearly cracked the Gallifreyan language in fact... Startling fact considering she worked through all she knows just from one word..." Trailing off, she tried to re-orient her thoughts again, a scowl crossing her face momentarily. The voice from the other woman was beginning to become annoying, if she didn't find a way to shut her up soon... Turning back to look at the Doctor, she focused her eyes, studying his face for a moment before, to her own shock, one of her hands reached up and yanked on a hunk of her hair on it's own accord.

Letting out a yelp, Sonya fell through the wall blocking her from control of her body and rubbed her head. "Ow! I really should cut this hair, it bothers me but you know..." Returning back to the living world, she spotted the Doctor and felt a smile spread over her face. "Oh thank Rassilon you're still alive. I thought she would have had you converted by now. She is really a piece of work. Annoying as... Well as me when I get frustrated." Walking over to him quickly, she examined his face closely, looking for signs of damage before nodding. "Good, she told me she had already planted cyberbugs in your head like mine..."

The guards holding The Doctor glanced over at each other then let go of his arms and turned their attention to Sonya, "The Cyber controller has been compromised, system must reboot" the guards said in sync as they marched towards Sonya. Thrusting himself up off the ground, The Doctor bolted to the side of Sonya and grabbed her hand, turning towards the door once he had her, "Sonya, i need you to tap into the Cyber controllers processing unit. It should be located just above her central hard drive..her memories. Once there you should be able to control the lower Cybers like the guards. Get them to stand down and we can get out of here" he told her, placing his body in front of her to protect her from the guards that marched towards her.

Sonya nodded and closed her eyes, feeling a tad big smug at her accomplishment before focusing on what he had said. Again, she drifted into the odd star-strewn sky as she searched, only to be blocked by a furious copy of her face, save for the metal on her right jaw, that sent waves of pure hate from it's eyes. "You'll never escape... I'm here and I don't plan on leaving. Your locked memories leave room for me to hide, I will never be able to leave." Casting Sonya a smirk, her double vanished, leaving her with a sense of dread before finally locating what he had wanted.
Casting an eye at the Cyberman in front of the Doctor, she stepped around him and placed her hands on her hips, spacing her feet apart before narrowing her eyes in concentration. "STOP! I said stop, now!" Sonya's voice dripped with anger, her eyes flashing dangerously at the metal men before they came to a halt. If they had faces, she mused to herself in silent amusement as she studied them. They would look completely baffled at what just happened.
Turning back to the Doctor, she flashed him a smile. "Come on then, hurry up before they decide I'm not worth their time or something like that. Have a plan? Yes, no? Oh well, let's get the hell out of this place." Turning back around, she brushed past the Cybermen and waited by the door, casting him an anxious glance.[i]

The Doctor bolted up to her and grabbed her by the hand and quickly made his way back to the TARDIS, "I need to get you into the zero room" he muttered, mainly to himself and under neath his breath as he didn't want the Cyber controller to hear. Upon exiting through the draw bridge, that was coming up to close just as their shoes hit the edge of the softly bladed grass, "The TARDIS is just over there. I need you to keep the controller down until i can get you into the TARDIS. Then we can go from there" he called back to Sonya. The sound of the grass crunching underneath his converse shoes pulsated into his ear drums as if continuously mocking him; urging him to quicken his pace to the TARDIS which loomed in the distance.

Looking up at the Doctor, Sonya nodded once, her eyes tight with worry before she ducked her head back down and focused on her c wet while she ran beside him, try information to keep the nagging voice in the back from making its way up to the front of her mind. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a moment only to gasp and snap them open immediately, th e image that sat there frightening her just like th e controller had opted. "Doctor, what will happen I c she takes over... Where will I go?" She finally asked quietly, unsure if she could raise her voice any higher in case it cracked from fear. Her eyes drifted up as she voiced her question, locking on th e Tardis in th e distance, trying to judge the distance they had left before the doors were directly in front of th e.

The Doctor kept running and quickening his space until finally the doors of the TARDIS came up in front of them, much to The Doctor's relief. "I don't know" The Doctor initially replied before opening up the doors and slamming them shut behind him then finally turning to face her he answered, "The Cyber controller will fight for control. But sense there is that huge amount of memory missing, it will use that to store it's hard drive in there..planting it's roots if you will. The longer she is in there the harder she will be to get out like a weed, you allow it a minute to root down and it will be easy. Allow it years...and it will be nearly impossible.". Relating to something she might be able to understand, The Doctor nodded and bolted up to the TARDIS control console and dashed around it madly, activating several buttons and icons on the scanner before yanking down the lever and sending the TARDIS to orbit around Earth.

Finally turning back to to Sonya, The Doctor took off his trench coat and flung it over one of the coral support columns, "Alright then. I've set the TARDIS to orbit the Earth and opened up the zero room. I need you to hold her off for a little bit longer; once we get inside the zero room then it will be up to you. Nothing there to bother you or interrupt the process. I will be there to help if you need me..the zero room should help and that's the best i can do at the moment..until i find a solution".

Gazing at him for th e moment, Sonya frowned slightly then nodded. "Fighting for my life with the cyber controller. Wonderful... Just what I always envisioned while taking a holiday." Staring down at her shoes for a couple of minutes, she voiced th e question that had been bothering her since being taken over. "Doctor... Whywould iI have locked memories in the first place? I think i would vaguely remember a situation like that, or at least think of a period o db time where I can't remember anything ingesting. It's not like that. Who would have locked my memories like that, for what reason?" Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to look up at him and study his face. "I'm frightened, Doctor... More than i have ever been before."

The Doctor scrutinized her facial expression for a moment before sighing and walking up to her. Taking her hand, lightly, he passed by her and made his way down the spiral staircase that lead everywhere underneath the main control room. Floor after floor past them until finally, The Doctor let go of Sonya's hand and walked up to a large door which seemed to be the only thing in the level they have exited and stepped onto after several minutes of walking down the stair case. Quickly, he placed his hand on the side of the door, and the door slid open, allowing access to a pure white room. The Doctor turned and gestured to the room adjacent to him then turned his attention over to it, "This is the zero room. Blocks everything outside of it...it's where i spent several hours after my fourth regeneration..and some time after the Time War was over and i was left with what laid after" he explained, running his hand down the door frame, "It will help you concentrate on the Cyber controller just long enough for you to get it out. Once it's out, the TARDIS will see it as a threat and neutralize it. After you're done...i will answer all the questions you have regarding your memories...".

Sonya let out a small sigh and nodded, walking up next to him and standing just in the doorway before turning around and wrapping him into a hug and kissing his cheek lightly. "Thank you... You know, for being here for me. It doesn't seem like much to you... But to me, it's everything. I didn't have anyone for me back home..." She whispered softly before turning around and stepping into the middle of the room and turning back around to face him with a weak smile on her lips. "Alright, Doctor.. I'm ready. I hope anyway... I haven't the slightest idea how I'm going to do this, but I'm sure I'll think of something, I usually do in the end..." Trailing off, she sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes, searching for where the controller was hiding in her head at the moment.

The Doctor watched from the frame of the door for a moment before finally entering and activating the zero room with a press of the button on the control panel located to the left of the door. Almost immediately, Sonya's body began to levitate in mid air as though she were weightless; the process nearly happening to The Doctor as well but with a step out through the door, he found himself planted firmly back onto the ground. "I want continuous updates on her cerebral condition and her heart rate. Put it onto the scanner" The Doctor called upwards to the TARDIS which groaned a reply and within seconds, had done what The Doctor had ordered.

Within the control room, The Doctor monitored Sonya's condition via the scanner which read constant updates on her condition including control over her thought processes where the battle was taking place. Meanwhile, the Cyberman who wasn't completely affected by Sonya's previous command, marched to the backroom and glared up at the conversion machine then firmly hit his chest plate emblem, "The Cybermen must be upgraded. They must adapt. Convert every living organism into the Cyberiad and upgrade them!!" it roared.

[Just a warning, I had been planning this for sometime, I thought of the memory a long time ago and just never found a place to use it until now. So yes, it is very dark.]

Sonya found herself standing in a circular room with dozens of doors lining the walls all around her. "Well..." She mumbled, eyeing them curiously at the moment before striding towards the one across from her and grasped the handle, yanking it wide to peer in the room. Her eyes widened in shock as she stared at the scene in front of her, a young girl running across a meadow with a older man casing after her. High laughter pealed in the bright sunshine as her father grabbed the younger version of herself and hoisted her onto his shoulders.
Backing up slightly, she shut the door and turned around to lean against it with a low breath. "Alright... Doors are memories. And the controller is hiding somewhere behind one of them..." She eyed the plain, wooden doors once again, trying to decide what one could be it. Immediately ticking off the happier memories as she thought of them. Her darkest memory, it had to be that one.
Sonya stumbled across the room and stood in front of the door, the handle seeming to glow as her attention fixated on the metal. "Right then..." She whispered hoarsely, her throat suddenly seeming dry as she reached out with a shaking hand and gripped the cold metal and turned it slowly to reveal what she already knew was behind it.

The sounds of screams echoed across the living room as Sonya stepped in. She winced slightly as a lamp flew past her head and collided with the wall behind her. This was her darkest memory, the one she kept locked away and refused to think of while she ran... Always running away from this one moment in time, the one she knew would never go away. Her eyes clouded over with tears as she gazed across at the man as he roared in anger. Her father, the one who killed her mother, had his hands wrapped around the child's throat, trying to strangle her as he screamed in her face. 'You're worthless! What makes you think you are better than us? What made you think you could run and hide! Tell me!' He screamed at the top of his lungs, his fists shaking the poor girl as she trembled in his grip. Of course at that point, she couldn't breathe, then again, she had no idea of the fact that not everyone had a respiratory bypass like she did.
'Fa-' The child cried softly, trying to get her words out as his hands tightened again, threatening to break her neck as he leaned his face closer to her's. Sonya shut her eyes tightly, fighting a wave of nausea at the memory of his alcohol-stained breath as it washed over the younger girl's face. 'Tell me, how did you run? Your room was locked, how did you get out??'
'I don- I don't know!' The child cried before suddenly falling limp in his hands. The man gazed down at the child with what looked like shock before dropping the body on the floor. Suddenly a shriek sounded from the doorway behind Sonya and her mother bolted through her towards the little girl. 'What have you done? I leave for a week and you turn into... This!' She screamed at the man while holding the broken body close to her, rocking back and forth as the man suddenly pulled a gun from a nearby cabinet and shot the woman in the head.
'My my my...' A silken voice crooned from behind her, without turning around, Sonya knew it was the controller. 'It seems a woman like you has had such a destructive past...'
Feeling her hearts beginning to race, she turned away from the scene in front of her and faced the woman that had what looked like child-like glee shining in her eyes as they stared at the memory. 'Tell me, Why would you hide from such a memory. Surely that alone would be enough to remind you of the darkness inside, hmm?'

The Doctor watched her biological make up and cerebral activity from the scanner in front of him, every second that passed, his intrigue growing rapidly. Suddenly there was a transference, another signal coming from deep within her cerebral cortex, the Cyber controller had awoken and the battle had commenced. "Monitor every single thing the Cyber controller does" he ordered his TARDIS, his eyes glued to the scanner, "She may need us at any time".