Handmaidens, specially ones that came from her lineage, were trained for years before being sent to their families. Ophelia, because it felt better to call herself that other than some number, had been a test subject for what became the most popular agency nowadays. Each individual coming out of Adiutrix went through a decade learning what their owner considered to be an useful skill, the Canassis wanted someone who was able to tell stories (for once she was thankful for that wretched place).
"I trust you're familiar with the Cloning Revolution of 2115?" Even if there were others with them, The Doctor seemed to be whom her speech was aimed at.
"Let's say I am not." Donna's voice lost some of its cutting edge once her Doctor gave a warning glance, he still didn't know this other man was so similar to him. "Can ya give us a rundown of what happened?"
As if startled back into this cold reality, their guide looked around. The one who'd spoken up was a ginger woman, Donna Noble according to extensive research, who seemed to have accepted this would be how her night was going to go. Besides The Doctor, a black woman sat with wide eyes, taking in every detail around them, Bill Potts? Of course, the time lord had a penchant for traveling around with twenty first century humans these days.
"My apologies." Her whole body had a new posture after taking a deep breath. Unlike her company, she'd sat with a straight back, shoulders squared and Bill watched in awe as a girl seemingly younger than her commanded attention. "The twentieth second century began in a burst of scientific breakthroughs: most cancer variations finally had available cures for everyone, a Brazilian group of scientists created a way for eyesight to be restored, modified airplanes made traveling so much cheaper, city wide escape rooms were a sensation around the globe... and all of this weren't even the first five years."
"It was decisive decade for humans." Spiky hair offered, making her mind skid to a halt. "Many of the innovations that make your future possible can in fact be traced back to a moment of the 2110's."
Her hazel eyes glanced between him and who sat closer to her, the time lord known as 'Doctor'. It seemed both invites reached him somehow, just in different points of his life. Although this situation had every possible set up for a disaster, including the knowing look the older man sent her, Ophelia prayed to have luck just once.
"If you research even deeper, you can trace them all back to one family." The Doctor's Scottish accent calmed some of the anxiety, allowing focus to go back to the one originally speaking with another glance. This one said 'go on'. He'd know it was a risky move to draw attention to himself but thankfully neither ghost of his past life caught on to who he was.
"The Canassis family. They spent decades making sure people trusted them, releasing useful household items or supporting charities, their patriarch even donated half of his fortune for some African country late into the twenty first century. Every member did exactly what you'd expected from good people." All of them were listening expectantly, even the two who already knew most of what was being said. "A hundred years of gaining people's favor and trust culminated into a world in grief when Carina, the family's current leader of sorts, died in 2099. Even if it had been of old age, it made the public feel bad for them, specially when each announcement made their lives better somehow. So in 2105, a scientist, inspired by some old tv show and vintage products, decided it'd be a great idea to create perfect helpers."
"Wait, are you talking about that company that makes those weird robot vacuuming things?" Bill piped up, glad to be following along. "My aunt has one of those at home, they've got a Latin name and all that."
Even if the remaining three members of their party looked at her funny for interrupting, Ophelia smiled in appraisal, knowing it'd lift the girl's spirits.
"Adiutrix, Latin word for 'helper', began as a small subdivision until I was created." This little speech had been silently rehearsed many times but it never made getting to it's high point any easier. "After five years working tirelessly, Doctor Walter Van Hoyt used a combination of genetic engineering and money to create a helper that looked human enough to be accepted and modified just to a point where no one would bat an eye when considering moralities on this issue."
"So, you're not human?" Donna's voice broke her out of the flashback.
"Not really." Her shoulders lifted in an unconvincing shrug. "My body was created to have a constant appearance, cells regenerating instead of dying and for ten years I was trained inside a laboratory, knowing my fate was to serve the Canassis family. What I didn't know was I had been used as a source material for an entire new workforce. Instead of hiring someone to watch their kids, for example, a family would get an Adiutrix as a wedding gif. Many of us have been with families for decades, my own being just over fifty years."
"So people started cloning and buying others?" The Doctor looked at his curly haired companion, already knowing most of this information but letting her figure things out since time seemed to be on their side.
"That's slavery." Donna's accent got more prominent when cross. "How's that legal?"
"It just is, unfortunately." Ophelia then got up, pulling a folder out of nowhere and giving to the man she'd seemed so desperately. "I started to notice some inconsistencies around thirty years ago..."
"How old are you?" Who she knew to be a past version of the Doctor asked, spiked hair now accompanied by glasses as he read through some of her files.
"I don't know." It was a weird change from squared shoulders and eye contact to a hunched figure, nearly disappearing into the shadows.
"How do you not know your age?" Bill only realized her own insensitiveness after the question had already been asked.
"Well, I was never... born." Ophelia picked off imaginary dust from her uniform. "There were ten years in the lab, then fifty one here but that's the tricky thing..."
"Blimey!" Donna looked at her Doctor, wanting to know what caused such surprise. "According to these papers, pulses of Artron energy have been coming from this house every so often, essentially trapping everyone inside and around it on a..."
"Temporal loop." The ginger wanted to hug her due to how dejected their guide looked. "So while I've been here for this long, there's no telling how many times this period has been repeated."
"A pulse like this could have a much bigger effect, though." The older Doctor mused aloud, thanking his sonic glasses for not making any noise. "It'd go further than even England."
"Is the whole continent trapped in this?" Ophelia tsked without meaning to, thankfully the other young woman didn't seem too offended by it.
"They've got the whole bloody world trapped in this." She finally snapped. "Not they exactly, more of a he. Corin has us living repeatedly and I can't take it anymore."
She walked around with confidence one only gained in extremely familiar rooms, when every crevice had been memorized until no light was needed to remember where things were. Without faltering, her hands found the light switch. Every pair of eyes widened at the tally marks covering each available surface, even some discreetly peeled out from her uniform cuffs.
"I don't know how many times I've lived the last fifty years because there were too many to count. Do you see why I needed your help, Doctor?"
Both men widened their eyes and at once her mistake registered. Shit.
‧͙⁺˚*･༓༓･*˚⁺‧͙
Look at me doing things two minutes before the deadline. One more chapter then we've got series ten! I tried a new thing with this one so feel free to let me know what you think.
I am so so excited for it.
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ADIUTRIX | DOCTOR WHO
Fanfiction"you can always trust the helper." The Doctor expected many things from a twentieth-second century party, not one of them had included a new companion. {I also don't own Doctor Who}
