Work Text:
Dragging Laura back to the TARDIS and into the medbay bed had been a challenge in itself, but freeing the girl from her own mind would be a whole ordeal on its own. The only way to combat the psychic assault was for another person with psychic abilities to free her. Thankfully, she possessed those abilities.
The necessity of entering Laura’s mind did nothing to ward off the guilt that was already beginning to settle in her chest. In a moment of vulnerability, Laura had expressed a distaste for telepaths ever since one had invaded her mind and made her envision horrible things. The Doctor had promised that she would never do that to her.
Settling in a chair next to the bed, she grounded herself and took a deep breath before gently placing her fingertips against Laura’s temple.
________________________________________
When the Doctor opened her eyes she was standing in a desolate white hallway illuminated by blinding fluorescent lights. If it weren’t for its abandoned state she might have confused it for a hospital. The Doctor took a steadying breath and continued down the hallway, each footstep echoing down the corridor.
The hallway was barren lest for a singular door at the far end… A room designated with the label ‘X-23’. Translucent walls offered no privacy to the singular occupant- a small girl sitting cross legged on the cot. The girl only looked barely ten but her facial features and mannerisms were unmistakably Laura. The psychic attack had left Laura trapped in the body and mind of her younger self, the Doctor realized.
The Doctor reached to open the door but found her hand went straight through the door… With a shrug she walked into the room. It took a moment for the girl to register the presence of somebody else in her cell. “Who are you?” The girl asked, looking the Doctor over with suspicion.
The Doctor smiled gently. “I’m the Doctor. Who are you?”
Young Laura shook her head in disbelief. “You do not look like a doctor and if you were a doctor you would know who I am.”
“I’m a visitor, is that alright?”
“I am not permitted to have visitors. Is this a test?”
“Not allowed to have visitors? That doesn’t sound fair at all,” She grumbled. Such a regulation presented it as a red flag.
Laura tilted her head to the side in confusion. “It is in the rules,” She stated like it was the simplest thing in the world.
“What other rules are there?”
“No physical contact outside of combat or training. No speaking unless spoken to or when it is required for an operation. Perform within mission parameters,” She recited.
“I am not a child. I am a weapon,” she parroted dutifully.
“No, you’re not,” The Doctor snapped. The girl stared at her with wide eyes. “You’re a kid. You’re supposed to have a family who love you and value you. You’re supposed to go to school, make and lose friends, try and fail and try again, and maybe settle down someday with somebody you love. You’re not supposed to live like this. This is wrong.”
The girl remained silent through the ramble, confusion and surprise growing more evident as the Doctor went on. These things that are supposed to be normal were foreign to the kid. They only existed in the abstract, some distant possibility that she never dared to allow herself to wish for. “I… I would like that,” She finally said softly.
“Then let me get you out of here,” The Doctor pleaded, walking closer to her. The girl reflexively tensed. Noticing this, the Doctor put her hands up and slowed her approach. “Let me help you.”
“There is a monster outside,” Laura hugged her knees against her chest and shuddered.
“I’ll protect you. I promise,” The Doctor vowed.
“I’m scared."
“A little bit of fear isn’t a bad thing. It keeps you on your feet, keeps you alert. It’ll all be worth it when we get you away from here and safe.”
Laura looked at her earnestly… She desperately wanted to believe in the woman, but after years of every flicker of hope being extinguished, it was difficult to allow herself to put her faith in someone, least of all a stranger.
Even if she wanted to get past the monster, she knew it was impossible. It was a truth that resonated into her very bones. Beyond that, the punishment for an attempted escape was a powerful deterrent. On the other hand… she was already experiencing a form of extended toruturre, and as the woman said, ‘that’s no way to live.’ Even when she performed within mission parameters- hell, even when she exceeded them- her handler would find something trivial to punish her for. If someone wants to hurt you, she realized, they would always find an excuse to do so.
“Yes,” she said with newfound conviction, fighting back against the fear that that festered in her blood.
“Then let’s go,” The Doctor said, extending her hand to Laura who hesitated briefly before taking it. Together, they walked through the door into the hallway.
The Doctor gasped in horror. The once well-lit pristine hallway was now shrouded in shadows; mangled corpses were scattered across the floor in pools of their own blood. At the end of the hallway a pair of glowing red eyes advanced towards them.
Laura squeezed the Doctor’s hand and moved closer to her as a figure emerged from the shadows. It was Laura that the Doctor was familiar with, but something was terribly wrong. Instead of her standard impeccable posture she was hunched over. All six claws were unsheathed, all six dripping scarlet blood. Her blood drenched clothes clung to her skin. None of the intelligence of her counterpart was present in her eyes… There was only bloodlust. She looked, in a word, rabid.
Laura inhaled sharply and released the Doctor’s hand. There was recognition in the girl’s eyes when she met the Doctor’s gaze. She recognized her older self. All uncertainty and indecision was gone, now. She was calm and collected as those who are resigned to their fates often are.
The girl stepped in front of the Doctor and steeled herself for the oncoming attack. Her claws extended with the increasingly familiar snkit. A soft snarl escaped her lips.
The predator slashed aimlessly at her young self who dodged effortlessly. Laura gracefully slid between her legs, slashing clean through the achilles tendons as she did so. The older one stumbled to the ground with a grunt, which her younger self took advantage of to mercilessly slash her throat. Red eyes collected herself quickly and pushed the child backwards.
Rabid-Laura was bristeling now, her blows growing more aimless. There was no strategy there- only rage and bloodlust. Young Laura, on the other hand, was careful and calculating. Her blows and kicks were delivered skillfully up until the final strike, a strike that completely severed her opponent’s head.
The body crumpled to the floor with a thud followed by the head. The Doctor was, for once, speechless. She had known that Laura was skilled in combat, but to see it first hand- unrestrained- was an entirely different thing. Her form was flawless to the point that it could be mistaken for choreography. The amount of practice it would take to reach that level of skill...
Laura only took a moment to collect herself before she made her way towards the exit, sidestepping the corpses as she went. The Doctor followed suit. Upon reaching the exit she faltered and fixed her eyes on the corpse of a woman.
If the grief that came over Laura was anything to go by, the girl recognized the woman. Why, though, the Doctor couldn’t surmise. Judging by her attire, she was just another scientist that had abused and exploited the girl. Within a few moments all traces of grief had vanished as if it had never been present in the first place. Laura squared her shoulders, stepped over the woman’s body, and walked out the door.
___________
When Laura woke aboard the TARDIS she immediately blinked away the unshed tear glimmering in her eyes. The Doctor was leaning forward in her chair, forehead creased in concern. “Laura? Are you okay?”
“Yes,” Laura said, propping herself up on her elbows and looking to the Doctor. She scanned the Doctor’s face, expecting to find horror or fear… But she found neither.
“Do you remember anything?”
“Yes.”
“I know how you feel about people looking into your mind. If there was another way to save you, I would’ve taken it.”
“I know,” Laura said softly and looked away. “I only wish you did not have to see me like that.”
“It wasn’t a true representation of yourself,” the Doctor shrugged. “It was a manifestation of your fear used to keep you trapped within your own mind. ”
“What if I told you… that that was real? That I had killed those people?”
The Doctor froze. She wished she could say that she couldn’t believe that Laura was capable of such things, but that would be a lie. There had been signs throughout the adventures but the Doctor had waved them away, not wanting to confront the implications. “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
Laura took a deep breath. “That was where I grew up… I was trained and conditioned to be a weapon for my entire life. My… services… were sold to the highest bidder. I escaped when I was thirteen.”
The Doctor scrambled for an appropriate response but all that came to mind were platitudes. “It’s not your fault,” The Doctor finally responded. “You were just a kid.”
“Age is irrelevant. I have killed countless people… There is nothing I can do to absolve myself of the blood on my hands..”
The Doctor inhaled sharply. “You killed people, yes. But who is truly responsible for the bloodshed? You were a child acting under duress. From what I’ve seen, the people truly responsible are the people who held you captive.”
Laura turned away from the Doctor. “I killed my own mother.”
“Why?”
Laura’s shoulders slumped even more than they had before. “I did not want to kill her. She was not what a mother should be, but she showed me… kindness. She helped me escape. She gave me a name.” She paused for a moment to collect herself before continuing, “I was conditioned with a failsafe… A trigger scent. When I smell it, everything goes black and when I wake up everybody is dead. The trigger scent… she was doused in it.”
“After you escaped… Did you continue to kill?”
The teenaged girl looked back to the Doctor with hopeful eyes. “For awhile, yes… At first, I was…” She cocked her head to the side, “...lost. I lived on the streets before others found me and took me in. When an authority figure asked me to be on a black ops unit, I did not know how to say no… I joined. I killed for him. Later, I went off on my own… After that, I only killed in self-defense or in the defense of others… Then, I decided I do not want to kill anymore… I pledged to myself that I would not be what they made me to be. I would be… better.”
It wouldn’t be fair to judge her for not immediately stopping killing… Afterall, that’s all she’d even known. What really mattered, she supposed, was that Laura came around and chose to change for the better… To show mercy and refrain from giving into her instincts. On a different note, it was disturbing that an adult that was meant to help Laura recover had used her to kill. A black ops unit was no place for a child. The Doctor would go as far as to say it wasn’t a place for anyone. “Well then,” The Doctor smiled softly, “It’s been a difficult day. Rest up, and tomorrow we can go to a beach, yeah?”
Laura nodded in agreement before retreating wordlessly to her room. Once the Doctor was sure she was alone, she let out a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. The new information left her with conflicting feelings about returning Laura to her home universe. If that ‘authority figure’ that pressured Laura into joining a black ops unit was the one looking after her, the Doctor couldn’t in good conscience return her to them.
Now that she knew the basics of Laura’s background, the Doctor also wasn’t sure if she was capable of giving her the support she needed. The trauma she’d gone through… The Doctor wasn’t equipped to know how to respond… She headed to the library, hoping the TARDIS had a book or two on the subject.