Shocking, Isn't It?

((for Mal and I))

"Please, I'll do anything!" A rather tall woman with turquoise skin begged, hanging by her wrists and ankles in a spread eagle. Her golden yellow eyes sparked with fear as the metal frame around her hummed, booting up. A red skinned man, sporting a rather large tattoo on his arm, simply frowned at her and shook his head. "You agreed to the mission, and no one else was willing to fill in." Moving over to a control panel, he flipped up 3 levers. "I can't do it, please!" She shouted over the buzz of the electrical pulse as it trickled down the chains towards her. "You are to complete this mission, and that's an order!" He barked back at her, pushing a big red button. Her screams echoed through the dark cavern as her mind and soul were extracted from her body, waiting for a place to reside once more. The man hurried with the control panel, sweat dripping down his forehead. "Come on, come on..." With one final yank of a lever, what was left of the electrical pulse was sent up a metal tower to be broadcasted to Earth.

On Earth...


Noah yawned, leaning back on his couch with a coke in his hand. Finally after a long day of working overtime at the cafe, he could just sit back, relax, and watch the telly. A commercial came on, so he decided to flip through the channels while he waited. "Is there nothing good on?" He mumbled to himself, skipping past cooking show after reality show after game show. A spark shot out from the back of the television, making Noah jump, accidentally spilling his coke on the remote as well as his T-shirt. "Oh great..." He sighed, looking down at the stain. Hesitantly, he pressed the now-sticky buttons on the remote, frowning as it did nothing to change the fuzzy image on the screen. 

Placing the empty pop can on the coffee table, he stood up to go change the channel manually. He crouched down in front of the telly, grumbling something about stupid discounted machines as he pressed the channel up and down buttons on the side of the screen. "Hm, maybe a wire got messed up..." Leaning forward, he dug through the random cables behind the television, trying to distinguish the ones from the actual monitor from the DVD player. Unfortunately, he didn't notice the fuzz fade away from the screen to reveal an electric blue skinned woman, shouting something angrily. Noah didn't notice the change, since the sound of her voice was muffled by the remaining blur noise. The next thing he knew, he was shocked by a wire, then engulfed in darkness.

The next day...


Robin yawned, sitting on the curb outside some random coffee shop. She should have really gotten some sleep after that whole ordeal on Midnight, but she still had a bike to ride. Now that same bike sat in a trash heap in the dumpster around the corner, Robin's knees scratched up enough for her to say that she tried. Slipping her hand in her pocket, she felt a few bills left from her last successful snatch. Maybe it was enough to rent a hotel room for the day, just to go lay down and take a nap in a proper bed for once. She sighed, deciding rest to be too boring and coffee to be her experiment of the day. Standing up, she trudged inside the building, taking a quick look and seeing some man named Noah cleaning up a table. She rubbed her eyes as she made it up to the counter, staring up at the menu and trying to make a quick decision on what to try. Looking back down in front of her to order, her eyes widened. "Mal? Oh wow, I know I'm tired because I'm starting to see things..." She rubbed her eyes again, taking another look at the barista.

Mal was washing up the last of the mugs, placing them back in their proper spots when she got them near spotless. This wasn't the most exciting job but it paid the bills. Well, actually, sometimes she met a few interesting people at coffee shops. After all she did meet Xeltia, and one of the Doctor's incarnations and Clara at one. She turned back around and took the quick few steps back to the cash register when she heard a familiar voice call her name. Looking down her eyes widened in surprise to see Robin. "Robin, hi. No, you aren't seeing anything. I work here. What are you doing here? Man, I wouldn't have pegged you as a coffee drinker. You have enough energy as is." She gave her a small smile as she spoke and looked over at Noah as he was finishing up his current job.

"Well if you're here for a beverage or a snack, what'll it be? We do have drinks that don't contain caffeine, just so you know. And, not to brag, but this place makes the best pastries."

Robin giggled, "Yeah, totally not bragging. I'll try a chocolate chip cookie, then. I have a feeling if I drink caffeine I'll end up flying through the roof." She leaned against the counter, looking around the shop at the customers sitting at tables, reading books or getting some work done while they enjoy their coffee. "This must get boring. I couldn't stand there that long everyday, I don't know how you do it." She turned back around, shrugging. 

Noah was wiping down a table when he looked up at the two conversing. He narrowed his eyes, walking back behind the counter and into the kitchen without a word, eyes trained on Robin and Mal. Normally, you'd think he was mad about Mal having a chat and not exactly working, but that of course, was not the case.

Mal smirked and moved to grab the tongs and grab one of the chocolate chip cookies from the display to her left. "It's not bad, I like it like this. Normally it's quiet and doesn't require me to run for my life. I would not be able to do labour work or anything that requires me to really communicate with people. Like a babysitter or something like that. Me with kids? Not exactly a good situation." She handed Robin the cookie which was in a little paper bag with her café's logo on it. "That'll be £1.75. What have you been up to anyway?"

Mal's eyes trailed after Noah as he glared at her. That guy could be stuck up sometimes. She stuck out her tongue at him in a silent sign of 'suck it, I'm a better employee than you any day'. Turning her attention back to Robin she waited for an answer, not at all worried about Noah's silent fit of annoyed anger.

Robin shrugged, about to answer when she locked eyes with Nick. Well that didn't seem nice. Shaking her head and clearing the thought, she looked back to Mal. "Nothing much. Sonya took me on a trip to Midnight, I fell off a bike, and annoyed a cop. What've you been up to?" Her eyes landed on Nick as he stalked them from the kitchen, cleaning up, but not looking at what he was doing at all. Now he seemed to be looking at Robin more than Mal, and that bothered her, since she didn't know the man and he didn't have the right to be rude to her. Frowning, she looked back to Mal, "Mind telling your friend there to buzz off?"

"Midnight? What's that?" Mal's question wasn't answered since Robin was asking her to go tell Noah off. Glancing behind her she saw the man staring at Robin and she sighed in heavy annoyance. "Yeah, give me a sec." She moved away from the counter and stalked into the kitchen and over to Noah. Her hands were on her hips as she scrutinized him with her glare.

"What the hell's wrong with ya? You're gonna scare off a perfectly good customer with that attitude. Stop pmsing and get it together, will ya? What's wrong with you? If this is about talking on the job I would like to point out the fact she is the only one in line.."

Noah simply pushed past her, walking out of the kitchen and up to a scowling Robin. "Oi, you aren't going to get many regulars like that, mate." Her frown turned from anger to confusion as he simply stood there and stared at her, not saying a word. "... Mal..." She mumbled, backing up from Noah just to have him follow her. "Get everyone out of here. This isn't normal... It isn't human." She looked over to her apologetically, knowing she doesn't like that sort of thing. "Just get them out..." Looking back to Noah, she stopped moving, and so did he.

Mal shot Robin an odd look then looked at Noah. "What? No, what are you talking about? I've known Noah since I started here.. he's a bit rude and weird but he's not an... he can't be an alien!" Nonetheless Mal leaped from table to table, telling people that an emergency has arose and she needed to go. Now. To those who were asking question she would simply place her hand on their arm or hand, pretending to be comforting, and convincing them using her ability to get out of her hair immediately. Once everyone had filed out, Mal walked behind Robin and looked at Noah with large eyes.

"So what's wrong with him? Jeez, it's a bit creepy he's just staring. But really, how can he be an alien?

"I don't think he's an alien... look how emotionless he is right now. Just his eyes..." She pointed up at his face, making him step back to allow her arm room, then right back up to her as she put her arm down. "There are very few races like that and none of the one I've heard of are humanoid. Well... Cybermen, but this isn't one. Even if he is an alien, they needed to get out, because you know what? I think he's a host..." 

Noah immediately reached out with both hands and grabbed Robin's head by her temples and closed his eyes, barely giving Robin time to scream as he transferred himself - no, it transferred itself - into Robin's head. "No! Agh!" She rushed her hands up to her head as Noah let go, collapsing to the ground, unconscious, but not dead. "Mal!" She yelped, falling to her knees as she battled it out with the creature in her mind. Not that she was doing much good, it wasn't like she had any sort of psychic or telepathic ability.

Mal was about to say something about parasites when suddenly Noah grabbed Robin's head. Mal was the one to yelp in surprise and was paralysed, even when Noah collapsed to the ground pretty hard. She should have went over and analysed his injuries but Robin was struggling against whatever that thing was. Panic set in, she had no idea what to do so Mal dropped to her knees as well and clamped Robin's face in her own, closing her eyes and trying to slow her own heartbeat while she concentrated on what she was doing. Honestly, she was clueless, but she knew what she should feel and reached out with her mind. The touch sustained her ability, allowing her to actually do the thing she was currently doing.

"Stop right there, jerkhead. What do you want with Robin? I said stop what you're doing. Lay dormant and leave my friend in control. And you will answer me, because I am telling you too." Realizing she can't read minds, she commanded, "Speak through Robin but remain dormant..." Mal could feel the warm impulses leaving her hands and enter Robin's head, reassuring herself that she was doing things right.

Robin's face remaining scrunched in pain, she stopped struggling, stopped moving. Her mouth opened and a voice came out, but it was not her own. This one sounded distorted and much more mature. "I need a proper host. The man was too weak minded, not enough for me to control. The girl is much more compatible - so many secrets and lies to attach to and take control. You would have done better, but from what I could tell, you had enough ability to kick me out. It seems I was right." The voice paused, Robin's expression becoming blank. "Now that I know what you're capable of, I can find a loop hole. You never said how long I had to stay dormant, did you?" Robin's hands came up to pull Mal's away as she lifted her head up, her face void of emotion except for the empty smirk on her lips. "And now I know not to let you touch me." It said, using Robin to stand up and back away.

Mal's eyes widened, feeling the panic set in again. Oh, why did this always have to happen to her? "Why do you need a host? What do you want from her? Maybe I can help you..." Mal knew asking questions would be better than freaking out about the fact she was not in control of this situation or that the creature now using Robin was not going to let Mal get close... this wasn't good. Maybe if Mal would have used her ability more often she would have found a way around this. But she couldn't just sit here and regret what she didn't do, she needed to think of something or find someone to help or something! Anything, really.

As if on cue to Mal's thoughts, Noah moaned, sittin up slowly as he woke up. His head hurt terribly and he had no idea what was going on. "What...?" Last thing he knew was trying to fix his Telly, and now he was back at work. "What the hell is going on?!" He shouted at Mal, the one person in the room he thought he could trust.

Robin let the smirk fall off her face, declaring it too much effort to look clever. "Well if you're willing to cooperate, then we'll just see who the better host is." She paid no mind to Noah, finding him unnessicary. "You have got no mode of travel, this girl has a vortex manipulator." It held up Robin's arm in display. "Her memories say it's brand new, too. At least to her." It put her arm down, locking eyes with Noah for a moment as if to tell him to bug off. "You can change people's minds - apparently - and this girl has no psychic ability. Seems even so far." She stood still a moment, thinking on anything she could use against Mal to stay in this body - switching minds was quite painful, not just for the host.

Mal looked over at Noah as he stirred and then shouted at her. She put her index finger to her lips and turned back to Robin. Normally, Mal wouldn't have been able to do things indicating she was in charge, but something told her her normal role was about to be dropped in the hands of Noah McDonald. Ok, this was new and also extremely nerve racking. Mal didn't see herself as leader material. No, don't freak yourself out. Focus on the task at hand.

"A vortex manipulator is all she has and you think she's better than me?" Mal's heart had picked up into a nice thundering beat at the mention of the manipulator. Crap, if the host in Robin decided she had enough of this she could go to any place at any time and there was no way in hell Mal would ever find Robin again. So, she had to change her demeanour. Mal had to do the one thing she wasn't very good at.. make herself sound a lot better than someone else. "Pah-lease! I may not be able to travel but one of my greatest friends happens to be the Doctor, the thirteenth incarnation in fact. Think of all that knowledge I have access to. Plus, yeah, I sort of have my cool ability where I can enslave people to my will and all that fun stuff. Sure I have to touch them but what's so intimidating about a short girl who can't even lift the sacks of flour for work? I literally ask Noah to do it daily! That makes it easy, my weak appearance, to get close enough to touch people. Plus look at Robin, she's so small and young. And has no psychic barriers. I do. So if you ask me you made a horrible choice in a body."

Noah simply sat there, completely flabbergasted. So.. apparently Mal had psychic ability and knew some Doctor. He didn't know how the doctor guy was important, but apparently it was since Robin's lips turned up into a smile. "Mal, what's going on?!" He tried again, starting to think he was dreaming. 

It chuckled darkly, either accepting Mal's offer or finally finding the piece of information it needed. "If I did come and use your body as my host, it would be likely you'd never be able to think for yourself again. You wouldn't be under control - in short, you'd basically die, trapped in your own mind. Anyway, I'm not foolish enough to let you near me, or to use you just to have you kick me out. This girl has got enough for me to complete my mission, and little chance for error." 

Noah stood up slowly, leaning against the counter. "This is a dream, it has to be, I was knocked out or something, I-I.." He rambled off, trying to convince himself and maybe wake up. Robin ignored him, her smile turning to a frown. "What? The girl... she's trying to fight back." It chuckled, knowing she would be to weak. "She's just a headache, how to shut her up.... I know, what if I revealed one of her little secrets?" In the back of her head, it could hear the shouting grow louder and more desperate. So annoying.

Mal looked over at Noah as he woke up and stood. She backed up until she was close enough to grab his wrist thought it wasn't tight. The girl planned to recruit Noah to help her. Mal had no idea what she was doing, she wasn't use to leading at all. In fact, she was now forcing Noah into the same position she usually found herself in: the follower into a dangerous situation. Was it fair of her to take this poor, innocent café employee and drag him along with her just so she had company? Well whether it was fair or not, Mal was going to make him come with her.

As Mal glared at Robin- or the being using Robin- she sent a calm, comforting feeling through Noah as well as pushed the belief of what was going on to Noah's head. He would understand that he was used as a host by the same alien now using Robin. It wasn't a dream, it was very real.

"Whoa, hold on. What's your mission? You better not put my friend in danger-... Don't. Don't say a damn thing about her, got it?!" Mal was going to interrogate this imposter but as soon as it threatened to reveal Robin's secret her blood ran cold. She understood what it would be like to have someone in your brain, finding out your secrets and telling all who was around to hear. It would be terrible. And Mal didn't want that to happen to Robin even though a burning curiosity ran through her.

It smirked once more, taking Mal's instructions not to say it. "That's perfectly fine, since I don't need to." Shrugging off Robin's jacket, the creature heard the shouting in the back of Robin's mind grow louder, obviously very very worried. Noah looked from Mal to Robin, his mouth wide open. "So this, this is all real?" Robin ignored him once again, as always, and it revealed her secret.

Right in front of the other two, it used Robin's body and sprouted her black wings from her shoulder blades, her smirk becoming more of an evil grin. The sound in her mind was silenced. "There, that weakened her enough. I knew the shock would shut her up for a while. Hopefully she'll be smart before I reveal another one." It talked to itself, at this point basically ignoring everyone in the room but Mal - if she said something relevant. Noah's jaw dropped, his eyes locked on the oddity. "What.. how..."

Mal's face resembled Noah's completely: dropped jaw, wide eyes, and a paled face. How was that even possible? She thought Robin was normal... as in human normal. Normal, average human girl when it came to biology. How could she have wings? What the hell was this? She reached up and rubbed her eyes before staring at the wings again. No, they were still there. OK, no wonder Mal never led in things like this, the shock always made her freeze up and clueless as to what to do next.

"Wh-wha-wings? Wings? Wings? What the hell? I had no idea..." Mal coughed and tightened her loosening grip on Noah's arm, tugging him closer to her as if the close proximity would offer her some support to snap out of it and continue the stalling. "Right, w-well that wasn't nice, was it? I'm pretty sure I told you not to reveal anything..."

"No, you said not to say anything about her. You really need to work on your loopholes," It said, not bothering to put the wings away. There was no point. Noah looked over to Mal, his face in complete horror. "What's going on?!" Robin crossed her arms, frowning. "Well that's the end of all my fun, isn't it? Then I guess I'm leaving, I've got a job to do." Using Robin to shrug, the creature began walking out of the cafe, wondering what it would be like to fly? Robin sat in the back of her own mind, completely shocked. Well there goes that friend, and now I'm about to get banned from an entire city because of this stupid parasite! Shut it. The creature replied back, frowning as Robin began to speak up again.

"Noah, I'm really sorry, but I'm going to need you. Ok? Please don't freak out. We have to go after that girl with wings because she's being used in order to do... something. We have to figure out what that something is, ok? That's what the Doctor would do, I think. Please, you're stronger than me, if I grab her you can keep her down." Even though she was asking, she pushed the impulse into him so she didn't have to worry about if he'd listen or not.

Mal didn't wait for him to answer, she just ran as fast as she could after Robin and managed to get to her just as she was exiting the building. She jumped as far as she could and grabbed her legs. Lifting up her pant leg (i unless she's wearing shorts) she clamped her hand down and shouted, "Stop! Ok, man, grab her." She glanced back at Noah and snapped at him, worried this wouldn't work and Robin would fly away.

Noah was a bit confused on what just happened, but he did as he was told and decided to ask questions later. Running at Robin, he grabbed her shoulders and forced her to the ground, accidentally bending one of her wings behind her. It didn't even flinch, bu t it smiled at the yelp in the back of her mind. "If you think that's hurting me, think again. I'm leaving poor Robin in control of her nerves, so any pain you inflict on me will just go straight to her. Just in case you wanted to beat me up or something." It leaned up a bit anyway, trying to get its wing straight again, Noah letting up enough for it to do so. The thought of hurting a little girl was not pleasant.

Robin kicked her foot, trying to get Mal to let go. "I have a job to do, and if you don't let me do it, I can have this entire planet incinerated." It was bluffing, of course it couldn't, but it could have them killed at least. It really just wanted Mal to let go before it could force her to do anything. "Let me go. Let my leg go right now." It hissed, glaring down at Mal as soon as it remembered.

Mal grimaced at that information. So Robin would be the one to suffer any physical pain, that was good to know. She had to work to keep her breathing steady because Mal could feel her anxiety being triggered. Already this situation felt out of control and the one way she could think to fix this was to prompt the alien into her body. Mal didn't think her psychic ability would be that strong but the alien thought that she would be able to suppress it. Maybe then she would be able to get a clear answer as to what its mission was.

At the mention of the planet being destroyed, Mal tensed though didn't let go. With a few hyperventilating breaths she regained some composure and squeezed her fingers tighter around Robin's legs. It wouldn't destroy the planet while it was still here, would it? Oh god, maybe it would... No, she hated decisions and crap like this, why couldn't the Doctor show up and save her? Mal could feel frustrated tears prick her eyes but she refused to let them fall.

"Transfer into me. And if you're in control of me I forbid you from transferring into anyone else until you have answered every and all questions directed to you... also, you will never hurt anyone. Never. Got it, you piece of space junk?" Mal rallied off that command quickly before her fear made her clam up and run away so she could save herself.

The creature growled in frustration, finding no loop holes out of this one. Right away. "Well get this guy off me and I'll do it." It frowned, looking up  at Noah to see him slowly move his hands away, not sure if he should be doing so or not. Sitting up, the creature took Mal's head in her hands and closed its eyes, reaching out to her mind as fast as she could. This was no fun for her, so she wanted it over quick. Robin screamed, collapsing to the floor behind her as the creature left to reside in Mal. It used her body to lift her head up, a blank expression to her face. "I have much less control over you, this is annoying. Go ahead, ask your questions." It would have frowned if it had that privilege, but the woman's psychic abilities left her a small margin of movement control. Noah jumped back, eyes widening. "Okay, so now it's in you. And the girl is dead. Oh God." Noah rambled to Mal, not actually sure if the girl was dead or not. She sure looked it though, so still and quiet... it was unnerving.

Mal yelped in surprise and pain as the creature jumped into her. Well that didn't feel very good at all. Wait, oh god.. was that thing really in her head? That was just disgusting and took the last bit of control not to freak out about it. The creature was in her head all right but Mal could find herself still able to move to some degree. So, in a nervous habit, she drew in her bottom lip and started biting it a little.

I want you to tell me, in detail, what your mission is and why you didn't just come here in your own damn body.

It answered out loud, not wanting to give the effort of thinking it to her. 'This isn't exactly legal, so it wasn't like I could take a ship. My buddy and I - well I say buddy - are trying to convince our home planet that humans have created many wonderful things that we could try to  smuggle back and use. Right now I need to gather data and see exactly what I'm taking back on the next trip." Ending it there, she tried not to give away exactly what she was planning to steal, knowing the woman would pry it out of her anyway. Noah stared at her oddly, having no clue what she was talking about.