Olivia Day (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ephemeral_day) wrote2010-07-25 10:49 pm
ephemeral_day) wrote2010-07-25 10:49 pm
Entry tags:
Escapar
Title: Escapar
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2750
When he found Olivia, she was lying unconscious in the middle of an empty corridor. He immediately rushed over to her, checking for injuries. To his relief, there were no signs of violence or of a struggle, but that didn’t change the fact that she was on the ground, unconscious for no apparent reason. “Ollie?” he asked softly, crouching down beside her and touching her shoulder.
She groaned, turning her head and at first blinking up at him, but her expression quickly grew alarmed, and she recoiled. “Who are you?”
At that reaction, the Doctor could only stare, shocked. He recovered his composure as quickly as he could, though he found her expression as unsettling as her words. “It’s me, Ollie. The Doctor,” he explained gently, staying where he was so as not to startle her further as his mind raced through the possibilities of what this could mean.
She began to pull herself to a sitting position, eyeing him suspiciously. “I don’t need a doctor. Why do you keep calling me that?”
The unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach grew. “That’s your name. You’re Olivia,” he said slowly, watching her very carefully. “Don’t you remember?”
“I-” she started, her tone indignant, but then she stopped, frowning in confusion. “I don’t know...”
The Doctor frowned as well, leaning toward her intently. He kept his voice calm, but his eyes showed just how troubled he was. “Listen to me closely, Olivia. Can you tell me what you do remember? What happened to you?”
She shook her head again, pulling back and starting to get to her feet. “I don’t know! I don’t remember! I...I woke up! That’s all!”
The Doctor put up his hands, trying to placate her. “Calm down.” He straightened as well and continued in as soft and level a voice as he could manage, holding his panic and his fear in check. “It’s all right. I’m not going to hurt you, Ollie. I’m a friend.”
“But who are you?” she demanded. “Where am I?”
“You’re on the ship Tainen. I’m the Doctor, and we’ve been traveling together,” he explained. “We came to investigate what’s going on here. And I have a feeling you must have found something out.” His expression grew dark with those words. He showed no outward anger, nor made any move to do anything, but he couldn’t hide the fury under his gaze and in his tone.
Olivia shivered, putting her arms around herself protectively. She shook her head. “That can’t be true! I’ve never seen you before!”
His dark expression disappeared as his concern for her took over again. When he spoke, he kept his words gentle. “What’s the last thing you remember before you woke up here?” he asked.
“I remember...” She paused for a long moment, and he could see the fear and confusion in her eyes. “I...I don’t know. I don’t remember anything! Only...waking up here.”
“Shhh,” he took a cautious step toward her, putting a comforting hand on her arm, though inside he was more concerned than ever. “Don’t worry. I’ll find out what’s happened to you, and I’ll fix it.”
“Can you?” she asked softly, disbelieving.
He locked his gaze onto hers. “Yes. And I will.”
She looked at him for a long moment, then nodded.
He gave her a gentle smile and retrieved his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. “Let’s start by finding out how they’ve done this. I just have to scan-”
But she gasped at the sight of the item, wrenching her arm from his grasp. “Keep it away from me!”
The Doctor frowned, frustrated by her flightiness. “It won’t hurt. Calm down, Ollie. This’ll only take-”
As he took a step forward, she yelped and moved back, her eyes wild and terrified. “No! NO!” Without another word, she turned and began to run away.
“Ollie!” Alarmed, the Doctor hurried after her. “Ollie, wait! I’m only trying to help you!”
But she had already disappeared. His voice echoed around him uselessly as he hurried through the corridor, and very soon, all he could hear from her was the pounding of footsteps and just a hint of someone breathing hard, somewhere indeterminate. She seemed to be to the right of him now. Had he missed a turn? He took a sharp right, starting down another corridor, but he hadn’t gotten far before he realized that the sound of footsteps was growing fainter. “Ollie!”
It was to no avail. He turned again, hoping that the footsteps would grow louder, and they did--right to the point that he turned a corner and found two guards coming his way. “Wrong one!” He spun, hurrying back the way he’d come and completely ignoring the cries of one of the guards.
After a bit more running, the Doctor found himself in a dimly lit corridor where a thin layer of dust was beginning to become visible on the walls. He could hear no footsteps at all now, so he stopped, slipping the sonic screwdriver back into his pocket. His eyes betrayed how worried he was, but he wasn’t one to let that stop him. “An old sector! The best place to find a computer terminal with no one about. If I can just find out more about this ship, I can work out what’s happened...”
Picking a direction, he started off again, as determined as ever.
***
Once Olivia had started to run, she didn’t stop. She wound through corridors, ignoring her surroundings. She wouldn’t recognize any of it anyway. She didn’t recognize anything about this place, nor even the name that man had said was hers. Only one thing had sparked even the tiniest bit of familiarity. That stick-like device that the man had pulled out had terrified her, and as nice as he had seemed, that tiny hint of memory was the only real proof she had of anything. She knew she had to get far away from him--and from that device--as fast as she could.
So she ran, trying not to think. She didn’t want to think about how confusing and frightening this all was, nor did she want to worry about the huge question of what she, lost and alone, should do next. Running was all she focused on.
“Olivia! Olivia, what’s wrong?”
When she felt the hand grab her arm, she immediately jerked to pull away, but this man held fast. “What’s happened? What is it?” His voice was quiet and calm but concerned. She stopped, turning to look at him with wild eyes.
“Olivia?” The man dropped his voice, leaning in closer. “Did he hurt you?”
“He?” she squeaked, taking a step back. “Let go of me!”
The man looked startled. “Sorry.” He released her arm.
Olivia pulled it away, bringing it close and rubbing where he had clutched it. “Who are you? What do you want?”
If anything, the man looked even more startled now--and worried. “What do you mean? It’s me. Valint.” He took a step forward, but stopped when she took another step back. They just looked at each other uncertainly for a moment before he spoke again, his words almost desperate. “Olivia, we work together. We’ve been working together for years. And we...” But his voice caught, and he swallowed whatever he had been about to say, anguished.
Olivia shook her head, still afraid. “I don’t remember. I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“You...you really don’t?” More softly, he asked, seemingly of himself, “You mean it’s true?”
Olivia relaxed her grip on her arm slightly. “What’s true?”
He blinked, still not seeming to comprehend that she really had no idea what he was talking about. “The Doctor, of course. Olivia...do you remember anything at all?”
She shook her head, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “Nothing.”
Valint looked even more upset. “It really is true! He’s wiped your memory!”
“But why would he do that?” she asked, though the pieces were already falling into place in her mind. She straightened, her fear subsiding with her confusion. Finally, something was making sense! The Doctor had been the first person she’d seen when she’d woken up on the floor, and he’d had that frightening device. But if he’d been the one who had attacked her to begin with, why be so kind? Had he been trying to get close so he could finish the job? But if he had wanted to kill her, why wipe her memory at all?
Valint’s angry voice pulled her from her thoughts. “To trick you, of course,” he said. “Oh, Olivia. I’m so lucky I found you!”
He reached for her again, probably to embrace her, but she took several quick steps back, and he stopped, staring at her in dismay for a moment before he slowly lowered his arms.
“Don’t you remem--no, I’m sorry. I know, you don’t, and it’s not your fault. But you don’t understand!” He scowled, frustrated, but at her expression, he made an attempt to calm himself and explain. “The Doctor goes around the universe infiltrating organizations just like this one--tricking them and exploiting them for his own gain if he can. Destroying them if he can’t. But we--we were going to make sure that didn’t happen here! You volunteered to be the one to do it. Haven’t you noticed you’re not wearing a uniform?”
Olivia blinked, looking down at her tank top and jacket over jeans and trainers. “Oh. But if I work for-”
“You usually do,” Valint quickly interrupted, “But that was the whole idea! You were going to get in with the Doctor before he could infiltrate us.”
Olivia stared. “What do you mean? Why would I do that?”
Valint looked almost hurt at her lack of understanding. “So you could spy on him, of course! He usually starts with unsuspecting employees, visitors--anybody he can easily trick into believing his lies without raising any flags with the higher-ups who know. He would never listen to a security guard, so you were pretending you weren’t. You were going to make him think he could use you. But he must have known! Or maybe he would have done it anyway. I don’t know, but...oh, Olivia. I’m so sorry. I never should have let you do it!”
Her gaze softened at his anguish, and she tentatively stepped back over toward him. “Calm down. I’m not hurt. But you’re saying he wiped my memory? How? Can...” She paused, licking suddenly dry lips. “Can you bring it back?”
“No,” Valint admitted reluctantly, “But! It only lasts for a standard solar day.”
Olivia frowned. “You mean 24 hours?”
Valint raised an eyebrow, opening his mouth and seeming about to say something, but then he apparently thought better of it and nodded. “Yes, exactly.”
She sighed with relief, finally beginning to relax. At least this nightmare was a temporary one. “But I still don’t understand. If he knew I was a security guard, why wipe my memory?”
Valint gave her another of those startled looks that said he couldn’t believe she didn’t remember. “Because that’s what he does, Olivia. If someone catches onto him, he wipes their memory and then gets them on his side. He tells all sorts of lies--usually claims that they’re actually here with him, helping to overthrow some evil and infinitely dangerous corporation. Didn’t he say anything like that to you? How’d you manage to get away from him?”
“I ran,” Olivia admitted, frowning as more pieces fell into place in her mind. “And you’re right--that is what he said when I woke up. He told me I’d been traveling with him and we were investing things here--on the Tainen.”
For the first time, Valint’s kind expression turned truly, darkly angry. “He would say that! But of course you weren’t fooled.” He gave her a fond smile. “That’s why I let you do this, you know. I knew you could stand up to him! But now...” He frowned, looking at her worriedly again.
“I’m not hurt,” she repeated, wanting to reassure him.
“No, not physically, but...” He sighed, looking at her very closely. “I wish I knew what you’d want...”
She frowned, insulted by that. What must he think of her if he found it that easy to talk like she wasn’t able to think for herself? “You could ask me,” she replied defensively, pulling back slightly to escape his gaze.
He winced. “Oh, Olivia, that’s not what I meant!” He reached for her arm, but she stepped back again, and he stopped again with a painfully forlorn look on his face. “I mean that we had plans, and...well, I don’t know what you’d want to do now if you remembered them.”
Surprised, she blinked at him. Somehow it felt...unexpected...for her to be the one in charge of something like secret plans. “Oh.” She stopped her retreat, watching him curiously again. “Then...how about you tell me what they were, and I’ll tell you what I want to do?” she offered as conciliatorily as she could.
Valint still looked reluctant, but he conceded with a sigh. “All right.” But he didn’t start right away, watching her as though in the hope that she would reconsider.
Olivia raised an eyebrow at him, insistent. He frowned.
“Well. Okay. Basically, you were going to pose as an employee so you could start ‘working with him.’” Valint paused, still hesitant. He watched her reaction before he continued, his worry obvious in his expression. “So...once he trusted you, you were going to lure him into the central station so we could apprehend him. If you were with him, we didn’t think he would be able to take in any other employees, and he also wouldn’t have a chance to do anything destructive. It was...it was supposed to be easy.” He paused again, this time looking at her with sadness in his eyes that made her heart ache. He started to reach a hand forward but stopped himself this time. “We...we thought if he assumed you were an employee, he wouldn’t have a reason to wipe your memory. We never imagined that you...”
He trailed off, his voice choked and eyes glistening. Turning away from her for a moment, he composed himself. Olivia just watched, her thoughts in turmoil. When he turned back, he looked calmer. “No, I’m sorry. I’m being completely unfair. You’ve been hurt, and you should go to medical. You can wait there until your memories come back. It would be safest. But...”
Olivia leaned toward him, desperate to know more. “But?”
Valint shook his head. “No. It doesn’t matter. You need to stay safe, Olivia. I’m sure he’s searching for you right now.”
“It does matter,” Olivia insisted. “I should be able to choose what I want to do. And I don’t see why I can’t help you stop the Doctor. Do you?”
Valint looked positively scandalized at that. “But without your memory-”
“Without my memory, he has no reason not to trust me,” she pointed out, her uncertainty fading as determination took its place. She was surprised to realize how comforting it felt to have something to work for. “I can meet up with him, make him think I believe him, and bring him into the central station just like we planned. It’ll still be easy.” She smiled reassuringly, hoping that he would agree. The last thing she wanted to do was be stuck in a medical bay. For some reason, that prospect was frightening to her. But being part of a secret plan--that was a far more familiar feeling than being in charge of one. It gave the world meaning again, and she was determined not to lose that.
Valint considered her for a moment, worrying his lip. “But-”
“It’ll work,” she pressed. “You know it will do.”
“You could be hurt again,” he protested softly.
“I’ll be fine,” she promised. “And so will the Tainen. I won’t let the Doctor do anything to it.” She smiled, eager.
But Valint reached forward abruptly, pulling her into a hug before she could back away. She stiffened at the contact, but this time, he didn’t let go.
“I knew I could count on you, Olivia,” he whispered.
She relaxed in his arms, unable to help a smile. It felt good to be about to help the people here. All she had to do was stop the Doctor, and everything would be just fine again.
“I won’t let you down,” she promised.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2750
When he found Olivia, she was lying unconscious in the middle of an empty corridor. He immediately rushed over to her, checking for injuries. To his relief, there were no signs of violence or of a struggle, but that didn’t change the fact that she was on the ground, unconscious for no apparent reason. “Ollie?” he asked softly, crouching down beside her and touching her shoulder.
She groaned, turning her head and at first blinking up at him, but her expression quickly grew alarmed, and she recoiled. “Who are you?”
At that reaction, the Doctor could only stare, shocked. He recovered his composure as quickly as he could, though he found her expression as unsettling as her words. “It’s me, Ollie. The Doctor,” he explained gently, staying where he was so as not to startle her further as his mind raced through the possibilities of what this could mean.
She began to pull herself to a sitting position, eyeing him suspiciously. “I don’t need a doctor. Why do you keep calling me that?”
The unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach grew. “That’s your name. You’re Olivia,” he said slowly, watching her very carefully. “Don’t you remember?”
“I-” she started, her tone indignant, but then she stopped, frowning in confusion. “I don’t know...”
The Doctor frowned as well, leaning toward her intently. He kept his voice calm, but his eyes showed just how troubled he was. “Listen to me closely, Olivia. Can you tell me what you do remember? What happened to you?”
She shook her head again, pulling back and starting to get to her feet. “I don’t know! I don’t remember! I...I woke up! That’s all!”
The Doctor put up his hands, trying to placate her. “Calm down.” He straightened as well and continued in as soft and level a voice as he could manage, holding his panic and his fear in check. “It’s all right. I’m not going to hurt you, Ollie. I’m a friend.”
“But who are you?” she demanded. “Where am I?”
“You’re on the ship Tainen. I’m the Doctor, and we’ve been traveling together,” he explained. “We came to investigate what’s going on here. And I have a feeling you must have found something out.” His expression grew dark with those words. He showed no outward anger, nor made any move to do anything, but he couldn’t hide the fury under his gaze and in his tone.
Olivia shivered, putting her arms around herself protectively. She shook her head. “That can’t be true! I’ve never seen you before!”
His dark expression disappeared as his concern for her took over again. When he spoke, he kept his words gentle. “What’s the last thing you remember before you woke up here?” he asked.
“I remember...” She paused for a long moment, and he could see the fear and confusion in her eyes. “I...I don’t know. I don’t remember anything! Only...waking up here.”
“Shhh,” he took a cautious step toward her, putting a comforting hand on her arm, though inside he was more concerned than ever. “Don’t worry. I’ll find out what’s happened to you, and I’ll fix it.”
“Can you?” she asked softly, disbelieving.
He locked his gaze onto hers. “Yes. And I will.”
She looked at him for a long moment, then nodded.
He gave her a gentle smile and retrieved his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. “Let’s start by finding out how they’ve done this. I just have to scan-”
But she gasped at the sight of the item, wrenching her arm from his grasp. “Keep it away from me!”
The Doctor frowned, frustrated by her flightiness. “It won’t hurt. Calm down, Ollie. This’ll only take-”
As he took a step forward, she yelped and moved back, her eyes wild and terrified. “No! NO!” Without another word, she turned and began to run away.
“Ollie!” Alarmed, the Doctor hurried after her. “Ollie, wait! I’m only trying to help you!”
But she had already disappeared. His voice echoed around him uselessly as he hurried through the corridor, and very soon, all he could hear from her was the pounding of footsteps and just a hint of someone breathing hard, somewhere indeterminate. She seemed to be to the right of him now. Had he missed a turn? He took a sharp right, starting down another corridor, but he hadn’t gotten far before he realized that the sound of footsteps was growing fainter. “Ollie!”
It was to no avail. He turned again, hoping that the footsteps would grow louder, and they did--right to the point that he turned a corner and found two guards coming his way. “Wrong one!” He spun, hurrying back the way he’d come and completely ignoring the cries of one of the guards.
After a bit more running, the Doctor found himself in a dimly lit corridor where a thin layer of dust was beginning to become visible on the walls. He could hear no footsteps at all now, so he stopped, slipping the sonic screwdriver back into his pocket. His eyes betrayed how worried he was, but he wasn’t one to let that stop him. “An old sector! The best place to find a computer terminal with no one about. If I can just find out more about this ship, I can work out what’s happened...”
Picking a direction, he started off again, as determined as ever.
***
Once Olivia had started to run, she didn’t stop. She wound through corridors, ignoring her surroundings. She wouldn’t recognize any of it anyway. She didn’t recognize anything about this place, nor even the name that man had said was hers. Only one thing had sparked even the tiniest bit of familiarity. That stick-like device that the man had pulled out had terrified her, and as nice as he had seemed, that tiny hint of memory was the only real proof she had of anything. She knew she had to get far away from him--and from that device--as fast as she could.
So she ran, trying not to think. She didn’t want to think about how confusing and frightening this all was, nor did she want to worry about the huge question of what she, lost and alone, should do next. Running was all she focused on.
“Olivia! Olivia, what’s wrong?”
When she felt the hand grab her arm, she immediately jerked to pull away, but this man held fast. “What’s happened? What is it?” His voice was quiet and calm but concerned. She stopped, turning to look at him with wild eyes.
“Olivia?” The man dropped his voice, leaning in closer. “Did he hurt you?”
“He?” she squeaked, taking a step back. “Let go of me!”
The man looked startled. “Sorry.” He released her arm.
Olivia pulled it away, bringing it close and rubbing where he had clutched it. “Who are you? What do you want?”
If anything, the man looked even more startled now--and worried. “What do you mean? It’s me. Valint.” He took a step forward, but stopped when she took another step back. They just looked at each other uncertainly for a moment before he spoke again, his words almost desperate. “Olivia, we work together. We’ve been working together for years. And we...” But his voice caught, and he swallowed whatever he had been about to say, anguished.
Olivia shook her head, still afraid. “I don’t remember. I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“You...you really don’t?” More softly, he asked, seemingly of himself, “You mean it’s true?”
Olivia relaxed her grip on her arm slightly. “What’s true?”
He blinked, still not seeming to comprehend that she really had no idea what he was talking about. “The Doctor, of course. Olivia...do you remember anything at all?”
She shook her head, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “Nothing.”
Valint looked even more upset. “It really is true! He’s wiped your memory!”
“But why would he do that?” she asked, though the pieces were already falling into place in her mind. She straightened, her fear subsiding with her confusion. Finally, something was making sense! The Doctor had been the first person she’d seen when she’d woken up on the floor, and he’d had that frightening device. But if he’d been the one who had attacked her to begin with, why be so kind? Had he been trying to get close so he could finish the job? But if he had wanted to kill her, why wipe her memory at all?
Valint’s angry voice pulled her from her thoughts. “To trick you, of course,” he said. “Oh, Olivia. I’m so lucky I found you!”
He reached for her again, probably to embrace her, but she took several quick steps back, and he stopped, staring at her in dismay for a moment before he slowly lowered his arms.
“Don’t you remem--no, I’m sorry. I know, you don’t, and it’s not your fault. But you don’t understand!” He scowled, frustrated, but at her expression, he made an attempt to calm himself and explain. “The Doctor goes around the universe infiltrating organizations just like this one--tricking them and exploiting them for his own gain if he can. Destroying them if he can’t. But we--we were going to make sure that didn’t happen here! You volunteered to be the one to do it. Haven’t you noticed you’re not wearing a uniform?”
Olivia blinked, looking down at her tank top and jacket over jeans and trainers. “Oh. But if I work for-”
“You usually do,” Valint quickly interrupted, “But that was the whole idea! You were going to get in with the Doctor before he could infiltrate us.”
Olivia stared. “What do you mean? Why would I do that?”
Valint looked almost hurt at her lack of understanding. “So you could spy on him, of course! He usually starts with unsuspecting employees, visitors--anybody he can easily trick into believing his lies without raising any flags with the higher-ups who know. He would never listen to a security guard, so you were pretending you weren’t. You were going to make him think he could use you. But he must have known! Or maybe he would have done it anyway. I don’t know, but...oh, Olivia. I’m so sorry. I never should have let you do it!”
Her gaze softened at his anguish, and she tentatively stepped back over toward him. “Calm down. I’m not hurt. But you’re saying he wiped my memory? How? Can...” She paused, licking suddenly dry lips. “Can you bring it back?”
“No,” Valint admitted reluctantly, “But! It only lasts for a standard solar day.”
Olivia frowned. “You mean 24 hours?”
Valint raised an eyebrow, opening his mouth and seeming about to say something, but then he apparently thought better of it and nodded. “Yes, exactly.”
She sighed with relief, finally beginning to relax. At least this nightmare was a temporary one. “But I still don’t understand. If he knew I was a security guard, why wipe my memory?”
Valint gave her another of those startled looks that said he couldn’t believe she didn’t remember. “Because that’s what he does, Olivia. If someone catches onto him, he wipes their memory and then gets them on his side. He tells all sorts of lies--usually claims that they’re actually here with him, helping to overthrow some evil and infinitely dangerous corporation. Didn’t he say anything like that to you? How’d you manage to get away from him?”
“I ran,” Olivia admitted, frowning as more pieces fell into place in her mind. “And you’re right--that is what he said when I woke up. He told me I’d been traveling with him and we were investing things here--on the Tainen.”
For the first time, Valint’s kind expression turned truly, darkly angry. “He would say that! But of course you weren’t fooled.” He gave her a fond smile. “That’s why I let you do this, you know. I knew you could stand up to him! But now...” He frowned, looking at her worriedly again.
“I’m not hurt,” she repeated, wanting to reassure him.
“No, not physically, but...” He sighed, looking at her very closely. “I wish I knew what you’d want...”
She frowned, insulted by that. What must he think of her if he found it that easy to talk like she wasn’t able to think for herself? “You could ask me,” she replied defensively, pulling back slightly to escape his gaze.
He winced. “Oh, Olivia, that’s not what I meant!” He reached for her arm, but she stepped back again, and he stopped again with a painfully forlorn look on his face. “I mean that we had plans, and...well, I don’t know what you’d want to do now if you remembered them.”
Surprised, she blinked at him. Somehow it felt...unexpected...for her to be the one in charge of something like secret plans. “Oh.” She stopped her retreat, watching him curiously again. “Then...how about you tell me what they were, and I’ll tell you what I want to do?” she offered as conciliatorily as she could.
Valint still looked reluctant, but he conceded with a sigh. “All right.” But he didn’t start right away, watching her as though in the hope that she would reconsider.
Olivia raised an eyebrow at him, insistent. He frowned.
“Well. Okay. Basically, you were going to pose as an employee so you could start ‘working with him.’” Valint paused, still hesitant. He watched her reaction before he continued, his worry obvious in his expression. “So...once he trusted you, you were going to lure him into the central station so we could apprehend him. If you were with him, we didn’t think he would be able to take in any other employees, and he also wouldn’t have a chance to do anything destructive. It was...it was supposed to be easy.” He paused again, this time looking at her with sadness in his eyes that made her heart ache. He started to reach a hand forward but stopped himself this time. “We...we thought if he assumed you were an employee, he wouldn’t have a reason to wipe your memory. We never imagined that you...”
He trailed off, his voice choked and eyes glistening. Turning away from her for a moment, he composed himself. Olivia just watched, her thoughts in turmoil. When he turned back, he looked calmer. “No, I’m sorry. I’m being completely unfair. You’ve been hurt, and you should go to medical. You can wait there until your memories come back. It would be safest. But...”
Olivia leaned toward him, desperate to know more. “But?”
Valint shook his head. “No. It doesn’t matter. You need to stay safe, Olivia. I’m sure he’s searching for you right now.”
“It does matter,” Olivia insisted. “I should be able to choose what I want to do. And I don’t see why I can’t help you stop the Doctor. Do you?”
Valint looked positively scandalized at that. “But without your memory-”
“Without my memory, he has no reason not to trust me,” she pointed out, her uncertainty fading as determination took its place. She was surprised to realize how comforting it felt to have something to work for. “I can meet up with him, make him think I believe him, and bring him into the central station just like we planned. It’ll still be easy.” She smiled reassuringly, hoping that he would agree. The last thing she wanted to do was be stuck in a medical bay. For some reason, that prospect was frightening to her. But being part of a secret plan--that was a far more familiar feeling than being in charge of one. It gave the world meaning again, and she was determined not to lose that.
Valint considered her for a moment, worrying his lip. “But-”
“It’ll work,” she pressed. “You know it will do.”
“You could be hurt again,” he protested softly.
“I’ll be fine,” she promised. “And so will the Tainen. I won’t let the Doctor do anything to it.” She smiled, eager.
But Valint reached forward abruptly, pulling her into a hug before she could back away. She stiffened at the contact, but this time, he didn’t let go.
“I knew I could count on you, Olivia,” he whispered.
She relaxed in his arms, unable to help a smile. It felt good to be about to help the people here. All she had to do was stop the Doctor, and everything would be just fine again.
“I won’t let you down,” she promised.