Eyes of Time: The Prophecy

Chapter 3: Breaking Programming

[TARDIS Console Room]

The very second the Doctor touches Ally's arm, she pulls up the Vortex in self-defense.

She grabs his wrist, spinning while she does, and twists it behind him before sweeping out his legs from underneath him, making him land on the ground face first. She kneels on top of him with her other hand pressing against the back of his neck. He groans.

Jack and Rose stopped dancing when Jack shouted to watch the quick moves. Rose's jaw drops in shock, and Jack sighs.

Realizing what she's done, Ally leaps off him and stumbles, backing away to the doors before falling to the floor and holding her knees close to her chest. She's panicking now and starts repeating "Sorry" with her eyes tightly shut. She presses the top of her head into her knee and begins rocking back and forth, still repeating "Sorry" before her words switch up and she includes "Monster" and "Weapon."

Rose stares on in shock, looking from the Doctor to Ally before she snaps out of it and runs around the console to turn off the music.

Jack sighs sadly and goes to help the Doctor as he stands up, "I tried to warn you, Doc. You can't approach her from behind. You can't even touch her, period. She has to initiate contact first."

The Doctor doesn't even look at Jack as he listens to everything he tells him before he takes one step away from the man and focuses on what she's saying. He can't stop the tears that begin to fall.

"Oh, Ally," he mutters, full of sorrow. "What did he do to you?"

"She, uh, she can't hear you right now," Jack tells him as the Doctor sits on the ground across from her.

He nods to let him know he heard him, so Jack continues, "She started doing this about two weeks back after the filter that stopped her speech broke down enough to let her speak in full sentences."

Rose slowly walks around the console to reach Jack's side and asks, "Filter?"

Jack nods and crosses his arms, frowning, "When we met, she could only speak one word at a time, pretty much. Whatever they did to her made it so that she could only respond to orders. It was hard for her to figure out what words broke through the filter, but she's broken it as much as she can by herself."

The Doctor doesn't have the energy to be angry right now, "How long does this usually last?"

"I think it depends on how and how long you touch her. I've always been real careful about staying in her field of vision since I met her. But the first time this happened, I accidentally touched her finger, and she threw me over her shoulder. She was like this for nearly an hour after. She always repeats the same words. I've only done it twice, but the more contact she seems to receive, the longer it lasts."

"How long did it last the second time?" Rose asks.

She can tell the Doctor doesn't want to talk; he's focused on Ally.

"I reached over her shoulder, and my arm accidentally hit it. She tossed me again, a different move though. When she got like this? It lasted about three hours."

"What, what happened to her?" Rose asks, not expecting an answer.

"I think whoever did this to her tortured her; they must have called her a 'monster' and a 'weapon' since that's what she always repeats," Jack tells them softly, "She doesn't need to sleep much apparently, every three weeks she said. The one time she did sleep, I think she was hoping I'd be out the whole time, but I got back early."

He glances down at the Doctor before deciding he should know, "She was sweating and just kept scratching at the back of her neck until it bled. She was writhing on the bunk and screaming. I just sat back against the ship and waited until she woke up. I knew she'd be on the offense if I tried to get her out of it. She burned the bedding after. I had to get a new set."