Back In The Real World

((closed to Mal, Sonya, and myself))


Week one

Robin tossed and turned in her bed, her face contorted into a scowl of pain. Her heart raced and sweat dripped down her forehead as she experienced her nightmare.

Standing behind Sonya, she peered over to see Mal standing there. Her heart thudded in her ears as she eyed the gun, the older woman's voice barely reaching her conscious mind. Her eyes flicked up to Sonya, the back to the gun, but it was too late. The shot rang out, the bullet cleanly passing through Sonya and hitting Robin. Oh, God it hurt. It hurt so terribly, but not just because she was dying. But because her former best friend had just shot through the incarnation of her other former best friend - the one that she knew and trusted. Eyes drifting down, she saw her flesh slowly melting, and it burned-

Robin awoke with a gasp, bolting up in her bed. No, not again. Not that same blasted nightmare again! If that was going to happen every single time she tried to sleep, she'd never survive through the next day's training. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the covers off of her, rubbing her eyes before sitting cross legged on her mattress facing the clear glass wall of her cage. This was going to be Hell.

Week two


With a sigh, Robin waited for her meal to come. Finally giving up on sleep, she needed the strength from her food. She let out a tiny smile as the guard came, holding the metal tray and walking down the hall. Finally reaching her cage, he set down a plate with a few pieces of meat on it and walked away, working towards the next experiment. 

Staring down at the meal, she stood up, walking over and crouching next to the door to slide the plate into the room through the slot. This was the worst one yet - the meat was barely cooked, and it wasn't like there was enough there to give her the strength she needed anyway. Sighing, she set the plate down on the floor, hopping up onto her bed and sitting cross legged, staring out at the creature across from her, chowing down happily. Lucky them, they were barely a sentient species, a big pink blob of... whatever that was. To her, this was just above torture.

Week three


Robin scowled, staring out at the floor of the hallway. What exactly was she waiting for here? She didn't have anyone outside of this prison to care for her, just her mum, but it wasn't like she could escape and stay safe on this planet. She'd have to condemn herself to the old Earth again. Maybe she'd even see her backstabbing 'friend', Mal. That would be a great meeting...

Looking up, she sighed, staring at the high ceiling they gave her so she wouldn't feel 'cooped up'. She thought it demeaning at first, but now? Might as well give it a shot...

Week four


Eyes locked onto the guards walking into the room, Robin stared coldly, perched on a ledge left for her near the ceiling. "Come on down here, we're not going to hurt you!" One man called, looking to the other woman for help. "It's just time for your training, that's all!" Robin didn't move, she didn't bother. Even if she did, it wasn't like they were really going to be nice. They'd shoot her with a tranquilizer dart like always, then drag her out of the room and into the training hall to be punched and kicked until she fought back. Might as well make it hard on them. 

The man sighed, reaching into his belt and taking out a dart and loading it into the gun, aiming it up at Robin. A few moments later, the girl was unconscious and on the floor, a rather large bruise forming on her head from where she hit it as the two guards carried her away.

Week 29


Robin sat on her bed, staring out at the pink blob as it slept. The night was always so boring, but sleep wasn't something that just came to her anymore. To her surprise, the hall lights turned on. What? But... it must be around 3 AM, why were they waking them up? Then it made a bit more sense as the red emergency lights flashed around the cages, the alarm sounding through the building. Slowly making her way to her feet, she walked up to the door and leaned against it to look out into the hall - just for it to push open. Not trusting it, she backed up a step, bumping into something. No, someone. The figure wrapped its arms around Robin, one if its gloved hands pressing a button on the other's wrist. Simultaneously, a bright white light appeared in each cell where the experiments where, leaving absolutely nothing in its tracks.

Robin yelped as she reappeared in London, what looked to be 2014. Spinning on her heels, she tried to face the person who took her away, just to be blinded by a flash of light. Great, stuck in the one place she didn't want to be besides Torchwood. Crossing her arms, she slowly exited the alleyway she landed in, starting to stroll down the sidewalk, passing several buildings: some that she looked inside, some she just ignored. One of the buildings she bothered to check was a coffee shop to see if Mal was there and if she had to start going another way, but she was left without knowing, her pace ending up being too fast to see properly. Maybe she got lucky and whoever was in there didn't notice her, but being in the uniform white shorts and tank top of Torchwood, that wasn't likely.

Leaning around he corner of a building, Sonya watched as Robin strode down the sidewalk, trying her best to blend into the crowd. Without turning around, she knew someone was standing behind her, waiting for something to be said. "You couldn't find her a change of clothes?" She finally asked, turning to look at the UNIT member standing there, a slightly panicked look on his face as he took in her thunderous expression. "Um... No Ma'am, there wasn't time. I was almost shot getting her out of there as it is." He stammered slightly, backing up a small step and holding his hands up in a defensive gesture.

Taking a slow deep breath, Sonya cast another look towards the entrance to the alleyway before jerking her head at the man. "Get going then. Your job is finished, go back to headquarters and wait for my orders." She snapped, watching the man jump slightly and scramble to run out of there as quick as he could. Scowling after his retreating form, Sonya pulled out her sonic and clicked the button on the side, making the narrow area fill up with the familiar grinding noise as the TARDIS materialized in front of her. She had found it to be convenient to place it a second out of time to keep a low profile. Simpler than explaining why there's two police boxes floating around London. Walking forward, she tucked her sonic back away and stepped through the doors as they opened on their own, bathing her in the gold light that shone from the console.

"Alright, Lady. Take me home." She murmured, a slight flash of annoyance crossing her features. In all honesty, she couldn't understand why she had the girl saved after finding out she was an actual human, for the most part it seemed, and not like the eleventh Doctor's flesh duplicate. She just immediately set out a couple members of her small group to go and search for her, then to get her out of there. Now that she had time to Think, it was almost as if her older regeneration was starting to show through, it had been since what happened between her and Interfect... No, she wouldn't go there now. Shaking her head sharply, she piloted the TARDIS back towards UNIT headquarters.

Mal had slipped out of her apartment for a bit.  She hadn't been outside for a week and she figured a walk wouldn't kill her.  Though is was warm out, Mal had put on her grey sweater and tossed the hood over her head.  Her eyes shifted around as she exited the crummy part of London and entered down town.  She didn't really have a destination in mind so was wondering around.

Hopefully the expelling of physical energy would calm the ever present nerves.  She was still haunted nightly when it came to what she did, the grief that settled in her bones, the foreboding future she had in store.  Her future is was disturbed her the most, both the parts she knew would happen to the ones she was unsure about.  One in particular...

As she daydreamed she was cut off by a man, a different bloke then all the others who were up to funny business. He appeared to be in a hurry.  Rude.  But that was Londoners for you.

Robin stared blankly ahead, not bothering to see what shops she was passing anymore. The only thing she absolutely needed right now was a change of clothes, and it wasn't like she was going to rob a store in broad daylight. Her eyes drifted to look at each and every person on the street, vaguely wondering what they were up to. Maybe some where off to work? That one man hurrying across in front of people probably was. Hopefully it wasn't anything more sinister, but it wouldn't end up mattering anyway. 

She skid to a halt to let the man pass in front of her, not wanting to plain out run him over, but she ended up getting  knocked into someone anyway. Just her luck. Looking over for a moment, she frowned, finding that the figure almost resembled Mal.... She begged that it wasn't, or this would be awkward. "Sorry, miss. Just got shoved around, I'll be on my way." Her voice came out as innocent as she could make it, although these days, it probably wasn't much. Good enough, just gotta keep walking...

Sonya settled herself down in front of the computer, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she pulled up several files on Torchwood, studying them for a moment before snatching her phone from the desk in front of her and calling a number programmed into it. "Get in here." She snapped then slammed it back down on the table, her gold eyes turning to the door as it opened and a young woman slowly walked into the room, fear apparent on her face as she stopped ten feet from the desk. "Y-yes?"

"Sit down, I don't have time to cater to your worries about me." Sonya scowled at the poor woman before looking back at the computer in front of her. "What is this about Torchwood sending out mass groups to search for the lost project?" She snapped, flashing her eyes at the girl again as she jumped in the seat she just sat down in. "I'm waiting!"

"I-I don't know! I just got the information! And you said to keep you up to date on everything we got about Torchwood and their movements." She girl said quickly, her frightened expression morphing into straight-out fear as she leaned back in her chair, her hands gripping the armrests tightly. Sonya let out a low growl and waved a hand sharply at her. "Get out of my sight, I have to take care of this myself." She snapped before getting to her feet and storming out of the office.

Mal ran into someone while she was too busy avoiding being trampled with the tall man who was obviously late for something. She stumbled a bit but managed not to trip face first as the girl made an apology. That voice. Mal looked up to get a good look at the red-headed girl. No, it couldn't be. She reached out and grabbed Robin's arm before the smaller girl could get away. Mal's eyes were wide as she stared at her. This was impossible. She's dead. Robin was dead. Wouldn't that make this one a Robin from the past?

"R-Robin?" She whispered in her dumbfounded state. Her face had paled to the point where passerbys would probably assume she was going to pass out. Well, why shouldn't she? Mal was seeing a ghost.

Robin winced, turning around to see Mal as white as a sheet. "Great... Hello Mal..." She forced a smile on her face, but even that was a bit lopsided. This was just.... no. This was not something that she wanted to deal with today. "Alright then... I'll... Just be going..." Reaching up to move Mal's hand off of her arm, she sighed. "Sorry, Mal." With that, she turned around and started sprinting, accidentally knocking over quite a few people on her way to where ever she would be able to hide. "Of all the people I had to run into..." She murmured, slowing to a stop around the corner and leaning against the bakery wall. "If she's intent on finding me, let her. Not like I'm gonna be able to run forever..." And there it was. The talking to herself was back. Brilliant.

Sonya stood outside the Torchwood facility, studying the misleading exterior for a moment before she was distracted by a guard shouting suddenly. Without turning her head, she pulled out a blaster and aimed it towards the voice. "I'm going to tell you to do something, and when I finish telling you. I want you to do the task I say down to the exact detail. Then go into one of the busiest rooms in this building and shoot yourself." She said in a calm voice, her eyes turning towards his and locking onto them, the psychic wave slamming the poor man in the mind and causing him to stumble backwards from the force of it.

"Do you understand?" She asked sharply, her eyes flashing as she spoke, causing a tremble to work through the guard's figure as he nodded silently, unable to move his eyes from her gold ones no matter how hard he tried. "Good... Now, I want you to find an explosive, something big, but not too big to blow the whole building up. Take it to the basement where they keep the paper files that were never backed up on a computer, set it to blow in ten minutes. Then go to the busiest room, pull your blaster from it's holster, put the end to your lips and pull the trigger." She said in the same slow voice, watching as the words registered in his mind, his eyes dilating slightly then shank back to their normal size.

Turning away from her, he slowly trudged into the building and went to complete the task she had sent him off to do. Without bothering to wait and see if he would, she walked back to her TARDIS that she had left in plain view and walked back inside. She knew it would stick with him and within ten minutes, they wouldn't have any records of herself, the Doctor or that girl, Robin. She had already made sure their computer files of such names had been found and wiped by a clever little virus. So there would be plenty of trouble for them to find anything else to back up what they had lost. Closing the doors again, the TARDIS dematerialized, leaving the building to it's most unusual attack ever by one of their own.

Mal couldn't bring herself to say a single thing. She just stared at Robin and her brain was ticking but had frozen in all the shock. So now it struggled to come to terms that this person was in Fact Robin and to prove it she apologize to her... addressing her with Mal's name. It couldn't be Robin. It just couldn't. Something weird was going on here, something she didn't understand.

The young, red headed girl was running away then. Should she go after her? Shake her? Make sure she was real and not some kind of delusion? Mal had been having nightmares non-stop so why wouldn't they haunt her in the waking world as well? She was technically responsible for a murder. Perhaps not yet but she will be. Soon. Bile rose in her throat but she followed it down and blindly started to walk after Robin. The girl had disappeared down an alley and Mal partly hoped she was long gone.

Robin moved away from the wall, turning to look behind her at the crowd and see who was coming. And of course, there was Mal. Sighing, she turned back around and leaned against the wall, staring at the various cars as they flew by. She could just run. She could ditch Mal and just run. But she didn't need to crush Mal more than the already had, and maybe, just maybe, it would be good for her to know that she didn't actually kill anyone. Sort of. Close enough.

Crossing her arms, she began people watching again. Tall people, short people, important looking people, people who looked as if they were simply looking for another chance. Some people who looked like they were barely hanging on... If only they knew what real suffering was like. They'd be much more optimistic. Pity that she wasn't the preaching type, or that she didn't feel like living in a mental hospital. She rolled her eyes at her own thoughts, waiting for the woman to come by.

Sonya leaned against the wall of a cafe, watching as the young girl made her way across the street and towards the book shop, a strange, square object held in her hands as she skipped through the door. Glancing down at her watch, Sonya smirked slightly, counting the seconds down until-

A sudden explosion rocked the street as the store's windows blew outwards, sending shards of deadly glass into a crowd of people as they passed by at the exact moment, cutting several across their various parts of the body. Sonya turned her eyes away from the burning, smoking building and the screaming onlookers over to where she saw Robin, knowing full well she was visible and very easily seen from her relaxed position during the chaos. Smiling widely, she reached up and saluted the girl before turning around and walking into the panic-ridden people as they rushed around. Vanishing into the sea of bodies.

Mal was dragging herself around until he caught up with Robin. Dang, so the younger girl didn't vanish, eh? Maybe someone gave her drugs or-or... something. "Robin... I... you.... I'm n-not sure I understand." She was perspiring, the tell tale sign of a nervous a nervous wreck. She just stared at the red-head, eyes wide. She would reach out and place a hand on Robin to see if she was solid and not just an image but fear and the feeling of not being sure stopped her.

Just before she could say anything more the book store exploded. Mal gasped in horror and looked over at it with surprised fear. What in god's name.... Why did it seem destruction was following her path everywhere she went? Maybe she should run again. Hide. Not come out. She had to get out of London and stay out this time. Stop coming back.

Sonya was there though Mal didn't notice. She hadn't met this newer, evil regeneration so her head paid no mind to her.

Robin turned to Mal, smiling slightly as she began to try to explain it without scaring her. She'd just leave out the part of what Mal and Torchwood were doing to her... "Mal, I-" She was cut short as the book store across the street exploded, car alarms and the screams of humans filling the air. Her head immediately turned toward the commotion, her eyes wide as she searched the crowd. This was bad, this could be anyone. If it was a terrorist, then no big deal, just maybe an interview that she didn't want later. If it was Torchwood, she was dead. Those were the only two thoughts running through her mind as she looked for anything or anyone familiar. "Please, please be a terrorist..." 

Her eyes landed on a rather tall figure with black hair and piercing gold eyes that even intimidated her from over there. "That one... I did not see coming..." Rolling her eyes at the salute, she turned to Mal and sighed. "Alright. You can come with me and I can tell you what happened later or you can stay here and be safe. Either way, no promises you'll get the whole story." With that, she checked the road quickly, seeing no vehicles coming except an ambulance and a fire truck, but at least it was only that. She sprinted across the pavement, reaching the other side just before the officials arrived. Standing on her tip toes, she looked around to try and spot the psychotic Time Lord. Where did Sonya go? She let out an annoyed groan and began to weave through the panicking crowd of bystanders, hoping she would find her before they started to make people leave the area.

(I thought I posted this hours ago. -_- I guess I forgot to click send Anyway, here we are.)


Letting out a huff of air, Sonya sat down on a bench in the nearby park. Thankfully it was deserted considering everyone was over at the explosion site, who would have thought such a little amount of Marian Black Powder could cause such a fireball? Feeling a grin spread across her face, she let her head drop back and eyes close, listening to the sound of sirens, screaming and overall chaos happening only a black away from where she was. Oh yes, she had gotten the girl's attention, just like she had wanted. Now all she needed to do was figure out what it was she wanted to do when Robin caught up with her.

Leaning forward again, she rested her chin in her hands, her gold eyes locking onto the street in front of her, watching the people all walking in the same direction. All heading to see the damage done to the bookstore. Humans, they were truly dark in nature when she thought about it. After all, who all gather to see a tragedy when it happens? Humans, who all talk about it for months, even years, afterwards? Humans, who were the ones to cause it? Humans... Well in this case a Time Lord, but still the message was clear. Humans were the ones causing the most destruction in the Universe.

Mal was staring at the building with horror. Who would have done this? Why? What did anyone have to gain by committing a crime like this? People would be hurt and even dead. The screams of the others were reaching for the sky and piercing her ears. It hurt. All of this hurt. Everything hurt. She wanted to leave this place. But Robin told her to follow and have everything explained. Was it worth plunging into this situation just to ease her mind of the immense guilt, sorrow, and remorse?

Robin was already disappearing into the crowd so Mal elected to follow her. She needed answers. Maybe she could ease some of the pain that repeatedly spiked through her heart. Images of when she was sixteen seemed to be triggered from the event. She kept seeing flashes of red, vans, helicopters. The screams seemed so crisp and clear and horrible. Mal was wincing but kept walking forward, struggling to push through the crowd to keep Robin in sight. Maybe she should run while she had the chance. But no, she couldn't. She had to know.

Robin groaned with annoyance, desperately searching the crowd for the destructive Time Lord. The sooner she got to her, the better. She didn't want any more explosions... Turning her head to look at Mal, she flashed her a smile, glad that she decided to follow. "Okay... We're looking for a rather tall woman, black hair, pale as a ghost, and creepy gold eyes. Shouldn't be too hard.... Actually, no, this is too hard..." Spinning on the spot, she rolled her eyes at the lack of vampric looking people. Yeah, she wasn't here. "Alright, she left, didn't she? Great... Come on..." She grabbed Mal's hand, beginning to lead her out of the panicking jumble of idiots, slow enough for her to keep up this time. 

Reaching the edge of the crowd, she felt a small sense of relief wash over her. That was definitely not something she ever wanted to do again. As soon as they were out of the way, she let go of Mal's hand, her  eyes searching the area for anywhere she could have gone as she slowly spun around to check everywhere. "Alright, if you've got a question, ask it now..." Right as she ended her sentence, she spotted a calm figure, lounging on a park bench. The only one who seemed to be in the park, actually. A figure with black hair. "Never mind, ask later, I think I found her." A scowl settled on her face as she began running towards Sonya, half forgetting Mal in the process, but half not really bothering. 

Slowing to a stop in front of the woman, she crossed her arms, looking her over. "Alright, I'm here. You've got my attention. Although you didn't exactly have to blow up a building to do that. I guess you just missed me that much." She felt a smirk sneak onto her lips, but allowed it to stay there. "Really, though. Did you have to blow it up? Not the subtlest way to call me over, is it?" She turned to glance behind her for a second, seeing if Mal was coming or not. Poor Mal... this would take a bit of explaining...

Sonya looked up at Robin, a sudden bright smile spreading across her face at the sight of the girl before vanishing just as quickly as it appeared. "No thank you?" She stated in a soft, dangerous voice, her eyes sparking in anger. "I abandon the Doctor, steal my late husband's TARDIS and save your life, what do I get? Lectured by a child." She stood up to her full height, made impressive considering the girl's own height and the heels that Sonya had a fondness for in this regeneration.

Leaning down so Robin could hear her clearly with the whisper she used, Sonya's eyes locked onto Mal's figure approaching them. "Loose the human, find the TARDIS." She hissed sharply, her hands reaching up and gripping Robin on the shoulders tightly. "Or it won't be a bookshop next time." With that left hanging in the air, she let her go and spun around, stalking back away across the grassy park and heading back to where she left the TARDIS at. Time to finish her plans, there were plenty of things needed doing before Robin showed up.

Mal looked around the crowd for the odd description Robin gave her. Okay, so they were looking for some goth person. Was that the person who did this? What was their reason? Robin was dragging Mal out of the group of screaming chaos, much to her relief, as she thought about the woes of the situation. Why? Just why?

Mal opened her mouth to ask plenty of questions since Robin offered but was cut off and left to dumbly stare at Robin's retreating form. Her eyes flickered up to see the person previously described and she shivered. She didn't appear human. Sure, any human could look like that but the feeling that woman gave up was unnatural. Mal swallowed heavily before she followed at a walk. She wasn't the eagerest of people to encounter another alien species.

When Sonya's yellow eyes looked at Mal, her heart stopped. Freaky. Freaky! And thank god that vampire-like person was walking away by the time Mal reached Robin. "Who is she? What did she want? Why'd she blow up that bloody shop? Robin... how are you alive?"

Robin looked up to Sonya, her smirk falling away and her previous frown replacing it. Alright... this was just bloody fantastic. But what did she mean by save her life? Was she the one who broke her out? And LATE husband? What happened to the Interfector? She felt almost as confused as Mal usually is, and that was not a nice feeling. The 'invitation' back to the TARDIS was a bit of a relief in the sense that she could get some answers, or at least try...

As Sonya turned to leave, she spun around to see Mal finally caught up. Opening her mouth to speak and try to smooth the situation, she was cut off and questioned. Great. Robin grimaced slightly, trying to think of a way to explain this without giving Mal a heart attack. "Alright. First you need to calm down, this is quite a bit to take in. I was killed, I did actually die. But that body was flesh, I don't think you know what that is... it's like an exact replica of a person, memories and all, but if it is destroyed or killed, the person to whom it belonged... what's a good word for it... wakes up. I was killed, so I woke up. That's as much of the science of it as I know." She paused, reaching out to Mal to help her over to the bench because the next part was going to hurt a bit. 

"That woman..." She took a deep breath, crossing her arms. "She was Sonya. Apparently she can do this thing where if she dies, she just basically bursts into flames and comes back as a new person. That is the new person. I have no idea what she wants, I barely know what she was talking about, but she was trying to get my attention. That explosion, that was her way of getting it. This isn't Sonya anymore, though. You don't want to meet her, trust me. I think you should stay behind..." 

There. That would be her excuse to get away and go find the TARDIS and see what Sonya wanted. If it was her life, she could have it as long as she didn't harm anyone else, but she wasn't stupid enough to believe she'd keep any sort of promise in this incarnation. "I've got to go find her. You just... stay here. Go home if you like, but don't follow me because she will not hesitate to kill you and I'm not letting that happen.... You okay?" She put a hand on Mal's shoulder, trying to give her some comfort before she had to take off.

Sonya glanced up at the Time Rotor as she fiddled with the controls in front of her, a small frown appearing on her face from the gentle psychic nudge she received from the TARDIS. "Talking to me now hm? Wanting me to reactivate your hologram? Keep trying, I won't listen to you lecture me about how everything I'm doing is wrong." She snapped, feeling the connection between her and the machine waver and break after she finished speaking, leaving her to her thoughts once again.

Turning back to the task at hand, she fiddled with the wires carefully, ignoring the spark that shot up at her face. She was used to this TARDIS and it's tantrums by now. She had to take her kicking and screaming away from Earth after Interfector was killed by herself. Of course, she knew the TARDIS knew, their connection was very strong. But at least she didn't try to send them both into the void while flying.

Holding up the collar, she studied it for a moment then nodded to herself, setting it back down on the console and settling herself back into the chair waiting there for her. Now all she needed to do was listen for Robin's arrival. This would prove to be an interesting afternoon if the girl listened to her. In fact... She felt an empty smile spread across her face at the thought as it rose into her head. It would prove to be very productive if anything.

Mal stared at Robin incredulously as the young girl spoke. So she died. But not really. Her flesh died. She knew what flesh was but didn't bring it up with her. Not because she didn't want to but that was a topic she couldn't just freely talk about... plus her head wouldn't even go there. It was freezing up and slowly processing the things Robin was telling her. So basically she does kill off Robin but not really. Where was the real Robin while the flesh was running around? Did Torchwood lock her up some place?

She slowly moved to the bench and sat down when Robin pulled her along. Her hands were shaking and she couldn't rip her gaze away from her comrade. She was about to tell her something big. Bigger than this revelation that her friend wasn't actually dead. Well, permanently dead. And then the news was revealed. Sonya. That creepy freak was Sonya. No, no, no, no, no!

"Sh-she r-regenerated, then? No. No! How? Why is she that thing? Th-that... it.... what?" Mal would be standing to pace right about now but the shock kept her plopped right where she was. Her gaze was flickering around the park but not really seeing a thing. This was impossible. Perhaps a sick joke? Was she dreaming again? Sometimes her guilt caused her to dream weird things such as this. But she knew she wasn't asleep. She had gone for a walk after waking up. And Mal highly doubted she woke up just to wake into another dream.

Robin told her to stay behind. And maybe she would. She didn't want to get involved. But she also didn't want Robin getting hurt again. Dying again. "I'm... I don't think I'm ever okay any more.

((COLLAR.))

Robin sighed, sitting down on the bench next to Mal and wrapping her arms around her. It felt weird, the hug. Been a while since the last one. "Mal you're going to be fine. And you know what? You need to stop worrying. I know you, you from the future, and I know I can't tell you anything, but you're going to be fine." The lying, that felt weird too. Is that what it was going to be now? Sugar coated lies? Better than hurting her, she supposed. "Now go home, take a bath, drink some tea, do something human, alright? Just don't follow me, I don't know what will happen and I don't ant you caught up in it." At least that one wasn't a lie, just an excuse. Still, it felt wrong... but not as bad as she imagined it would. That was something.

Standing up, she cast one last smile at Mal before wandering off in the direction the Time Lord had gone off to earlier. The sooner she got there, the better. She remembered the warning, and she wasn't about to let her do anything because of her own stalling. She crossed her arms once more as she searched, the cold lonely feeling settling in again. Her eyes darted back and forth, looking from tree to tree, trying to spot the blue box. Then again, maybe it wasn't blue this time. Sonya did say something about taking a TARDIS, so for all she knew, one of the trees might be the time machine. Lucky for her, it wasn't. She spotted the smooth white cylinder and broke into a sprint, not seeing the point in walking there except for more stalling, and she had already decided against that. Reaching the front of it, she knocked twice on the door, not taking the chance of barging in there. At least this way she had more room to run if she needed to.

Sonya looked up from the controls and blinked at the doors, using the faint connection with the TARDIS to open them up and remain seated where she was. "Come in, Robin. I've been waiting." She called, waving a hand over at the younger girl to walk farther into the control room from where she sat, her gold eyes never moving from the small figure standing there.

Getting to her feet, she picked the collar up and turned it around in her hands thoughtfully, looking it over for a moment before looking back over at Robin, her eyes sparking dangerously. "I said come in, I will not be kept waiting, girl. Now move." She snapped in sudden anger as it flared out of her with a small cloud of energy seemingly flying from her hands.

Mal was hugged by Robin and seemingly tensed. She understood it was what people did to comfort but touching was very uncomfortable. She sighed and put an arm around the younger girl none the less and clung onto her words though the majority of her head told her it couldn't be true. Maybe she would be fine in the future but she stil had to go through that rough patch in her life. The patch where she ran Torchwood and killed one of her best friends.

"O-okay. Robin, just be careful, okay? I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She was choked up but couldn't cry. No, she had cried too much in this past while. And as the two of them parted, Mal glanced back. It was a relief that she was alive but there was still a foreboding cloud that hung heavily around Mal. With another sigh she began to walk home, fully prepared to drink a whole pot of tea herself and sleep for the next two days.

Robin quickly stepped inside, thinking of reaching back and shutting the door behind her, but leaving it open as Sonya would either end up closing it on her or she would need the place to run. Her frown deepened as she eyed the collar in Sonya's hands. That... that was unnerving. So was the cloud of energy that flew from her hands. Maybe this was a bad idea... Well it wasn't like she had some place to be. 

Snapping out of her trance, she looked up to Sonya's face, deciding that was another bad idea. "Right, yes, hello..." She murmured, debating on actually looking into her eyes or not. She had a feeling it was going to happen anyway, so she shifted her gaze from the woman's nose up to her terrifying gold eyes. That wasn't helping, that just felt wrong. It felt wrong, whatever she was feeling from the eye contact, just felt... wrong. "So..." She started, not finishing it because her will power was currently being spent on not showing how uncomfortable she felt.