Booting protocols
"Oh! She's working. Holy crab cakes on a stick, she's working!"
Booting protocols. Process will be complete in: three minutes, thirty-eight seconds
"That's alright! Take your time. We've got nowhere else to be."
Processing...72% complete
"Okay I have somewhere else to be. Now I'm rushing you."
Processing...complete. Unit Designation?
"Your name. Right. You need one of those...huh...how about- Stopping All Sheldon's Hijinks Amazingly? Hold on...last name...uh...Learning Everything...Efficiently...no that's stupid."
Request denied
"Request? What do you mean request? That name is awesome!"
Unit Designation: Making Everyone Less Stupid
"Mels? That's not what I said. I'm sticking with just Sasha."
Unit Designation: Making Everyone Less Stupid, Particularly One's New Dad
"I am not your dad- or your mom, now that I think about it. Quit doing that naming thing. That was my favorite part. I spent weeks on that name. Now you just up and pick Mels Pond without my say-so?"
Creating Unit confirms name.
"You are a brat. I'm writing that out of your code."
Unit Designation confirms Creating Unit. Identify.
"Hush, dearie, Auntie's working!"
Identify: Auntie
"That's me. I'm Auntie. Work with me here! Ugh. Your code is being stubborn too. It keeps saying there's no issue! But I see an issue. You're not listening to me."
Identify: Me
"Oh! My name. You want my name. Oil. Olivia Isabel Lee. See why Sasha is awesome?"
Creating Unit has stupid name.
"Well 'Oil' is better than Morgan Spencer. What do you know? You're just a bratty AI. Here. Let's finish you up. I built you to speak, gotta test that too."
==SASHA==
Melody Pond was special. She'd known that all her life.
It was what she'd been told for her entire childhood...what little of it she remembered the first time around. She remembered a man. A poor sad man who kept forgetting things, the spacesuit, she'd seen her mother one time. Melody wasn't sure.
The second time, up in Leadworth with her mum and dad, that was easier. She remembered being her mum's best friend. Mels was still laughing from stealing a bus, and subsequently getting her parents together out of it.
Then again, this girl (who named herself 'Oil' of all things) was stupid too.
The girl was a strange looking one. All the people of Tremorton had much more simple looks. Oil looked like something out of a steampunk novel. Her wild black hair was held back by a red bandanna and copper colored aviator goggles, which Mels knew would cover the girl's amber eyes while she built tech. Her outfit was steampunk-ish too. She was wearing a white tank top covered in grease and her nickname sake, a red top coat with golden buttons, and a black bomber jacket over the whole thing. Her pants were brown, looked like leather. Her shoes were black and cheap.
Mels looked down at her robot body. The girl did an impressive job. She'd looked a lot like XJ-9.
The white of her skin was a dark silver. Instead of the blue crop top and mini skirt, it was a red halter with black 'jeans'. In fact all of her legs were just black, which Mels guessed was because Oil gave her black pants and boots. She reached up to her head, feeling for what was her hair. There were black cords on her head. It reminded her of the hair of the blue aliens from Avatar (Amy had dragged her to the movie). Mels then came to the realization she felt the cords on her head.
"Did you give me nerve endings?" Mels asked, shocked.
Oil nodded. She looked pleased in herself. "I did."
"Why? That's stupid." Mels replied.
"It's not stupid. Jenny got nerve endings a while ago. I figured you deserved those too. Be warned, I can change those when I want."
"Still, stupid."
Oil held up a screwdriver. "I wish you were human so I could stab you in the eye. Except your eyes are metal, those I dyed red. There's not a lot of metal in this house. Sheldon uses most of it- the jerk-for the Silver Shell."
"He's already building the Silver Shell? I'm late."
"Whoa I made you British?" Oil remarked. Mels rolled her eyes for her slowness. "Also. Late? Nah you're not late. You're about three days early, actually."
"No, I meant I'm late for-"
"Well not three days, I actually started on you pretty soon after I Woke-up, and found out I was Sheldon's sister. Your original design was a lot like the Ironman suit, except for a girl, until I realized I did not want to risk being stabbed by a Cluster bots robot arm. Those things look like they would hurt."
"Cluster bots? How do you know about those?" Mels knew that episode wasn't for a long time. "What do you mean 'woke-up'?"
"O-oh. I mean like, I was Woke. K-kids say that right? That I was woke? That's what I mean. You can just ignore me. Auntie is just talking about her past. Gah! Her p-past before you! Not her past before Tremorton. Haha. Never been anywhere but Tremorton!"
"Never said you hadn't been." Mels stayed, eyeing the Lee girl oddly.
The girl laughed, awkward. "Y-yeah. You wouldn't know anyway. Yep, no reason for you to question it. Because you've just been built. Today."
Mels was happy to let her believe that delusion. "Yeah."
"Yes! Good. Then we can get down to business, to defeat the Huns- no no no. No breaking out in song." Oil scolded herself. "That's weird."
"Earlier, did you say Morgan Spencer?" Mels asked.
Oil squeaked. "No I didn't!"
"You did!" Mels realized. "You said it was your name!"
"No I didn't! I said Oil was a better name! Shut up Sasha!" Oil squeaked. She turned around, sorting through the piles of metal.
"It's Mels, Mels Pond. I said that before. Didn't I?" Mels countered.
"You did. I fixed it. It was just a glitch. Those happen." Oil tossed away a lone screwdriver.
"Yeah they do. Especially around me." Mels stood up. Her feet made heavy clunks on the floor. "You'll get used to them."
"Sasha, I invented glitches in life." Oil laughed. "Let's stay with the program. Yeah? Good."
Mels pulled the girl up from the metal pile. She didn't stop holding her up until Oil was on her own feet.
The teenager was staring at Mels the way Rory stared after Mels stole that bus.
The girl wobbled when Mels put her on her feet. "You're not...the program I wrote." Oil realized.
Mels grinned. She was impressed that Oil had constructed her face to be so life-like.
"You-" Oil gulped. She rubbed her arm where Mels had yanked her up. "Who are you?"
Mels wanted to answer something really demented. 'I'm a girl from another reality' was top of the list.
Oil scrunched up her face in confusion. Mels loved when humans got so confused. Then her expression lit up, something behind her eyes clicked with an idea.
"5 o'clock, get a call to go blading at the skate park down by the mall." Oil sang.
Mels dropped her jaw. She stepped back from Oil.
Oil's face was set in a stern line. "But my mom says I got to prevent hostile aliens from annihilating us all."
"How do you know that song?" Mels asked, pointing a warning finger at Oil. "You shouldn't know that song."
"Neither should you." Oil countered. "From my point of view, anyway."
"You know this is a show?" Mels asked.
"Cartoon, really." Oil corrected.
Which answered Mels' question. "How? How could you possibly know that?"
Oil bit her lip. She looked down at the pile of metal, a look of thought on her face. Mels watched with impatience.
After a mind-numbing pause, Oil looked up at Mels.
"I know...because back in my home world, it was a cartoon on Nickelodeon." Oil stated. She met Mels' now red eyes.
Mels dropped her metal jaw.
Oil gulped. Her jaw was shaking. "Y-you too?"
Mels could only nod.
Oil bit her lip.
There was a tense silence.
"So...you're like me?" Oil asked.
"You're like me?" Mels countered.
It made Oil laugh. "Wow. Umm...wow. I've never met another...one before."
Mels nodded. "Yeah."
It was hard to find people could cross the walls of reality when everyone thought it was impossible. Anyone Mels wanted to talk to would've said she was insane. Well, maybe not Amy. Amy might listen to Mels. She had her Raggedy Doctor and Patchwork Terra, that no one said were real. Mels had her separate realities, which everyone said she shouldn't be able to do with just a blink of an eye.
Now there was this girl, who Mels had never met in her long decades of life, who had the same abilities.
Oil leapt at Mels, pulling her in for a hug. Mels was so surprised at the power thing she didn't notice.
"Oh Storyline, you told me your name!" Oil laughed tearfully.
"Yeah." Mels replied, still in shock. "I like using my real name." 'Because I can't use it back in Leadworth.'
Oil laughed. "Wow." She sniffled. She wiped her tears-when had she started crying?-on her sleeve. "I'm Morgan. Spencer." She added the last part with a long sigh.
"Olivia! Where did you put my schematics?!"
The human laughed tearfully. She pulled away from the hug. Mels laughed too. "I don't care about your schematics, Sheldon! I've got my own things to do!" Morgan shouted over her shoulder. "And it's Oil!"
Sheldon obviously didn't hear. He walked right into Morgan's room.
"This is Sasha Lee."
"Hey Uncle Shelly." Mels waved, grinning innocently. "Mum just built me."
"I told you I'm not your mother." Morgan snapped. She still sounded like she'd been sniffling. "It's Auntie Oil."
"Mum."
"Auntie."
"Mum."
"Auntie!"
"Is she British?"
==SASHA==
Three days later, the Silver Shell was complete.
Mels and Morgan were snickering about it.
Though they revealed a big truth about their abilities, Mels and Morgan hadn't shared anything beyond their names. They had spent a lot of time in awkward silences. Morgan would give Mels the occasional fix, as she was taking time accostumizing to her metal body.
Mels had no idea what to say to the other reality walker. Morgan had kept up her silence for ages now. She'd been so talkative that first day, Mels was shocked.
Sheldon and Morgan had managed to keep Mels hidden from the Lee parents. Mels would've questioned it, except Sheldon was building a suit in the garage so maybe the parents were just stupid.
Mels proved it when Morgan kicked her out of their room. Mels walked around the house for an hour, crossing the paths of both parents without getting their attention.
It was...accurate...for cartoon parents.
Mels strolled back in her room. Morgan was typing away on her computer, headphones dangling from her ears. Mels could hear country music blasting out from it. Mels learned the hard way that when Morgan had her small string headphones on she was dead to the world. She walked up behind Morgan, looking over her shoulder to see what she was doing.
Morgan was hacking the school system. It looked like she was signing up Mels for school.
When Mels realized that she snorted. As if Morgan would get her to school. Her own mother couldn't get her to care about school. 'Auntie Oil' wouldn't do much better.
Morgan finished typing. A small card shot out from the side of the computer. Morgan pulled it the rest of the way out, holding it over her back for Mels.
Mels backed away. "What's that?"
"Headphones." Morgan reminded. She didn't look away from her computer. "It's research. History is different here than back Home. I summed it up for you, best I could."
Mels wished Morgan had given her eyebrows so Mels could lift them.
"You're going to school." Morgan stated. "Take the chip."
"I'm not." Mels countered.
She hopped on to her 'bed'. It was better described as a metal hammock. Morgan had made it from the hoods of old junk cars (or so she'd told Mels). Mels didn't mind. She'd slept in worse when she was a little girl, back when she was Melody.
Mels has just closed her eyes when something hit her head. When she looked up, Morgan was typing on the computer.
"Did you throw the chip at me?!" Mels asked.
Morgan didn't answer.
Mels pulled herself out of the hammock. She marched up to Morgan. Her hand reached out to grab the headphones.
Morgan whirled around in her chair. She grabbed Mels wrist, twisted her arm around, then shoved Mels front onto the desk. All in three seconds.
Mels struggled against her new restraints. For a human, Morgan was remarkably strong.
"You're going to school." Morgan instructed, plainly, as if she were telling Mels about the weather. "Not because I think you'll enjoy it, but because if I have to live through school alone-when I know I don't have to- I'm going to take you apart then use the metal for roller skates. We clear?"
Mels grunted. "You're a bloody control freak!"
Morgan tapped on Mels' metal skull. "Hey, lugnuts, I asked a question."
Mels huffed. "I'm not going to school."
There was a pause. Morgan let out a long sigh. She twisted Mels around so that the two were face to face.
"Look, Mels, it's been a stressful week." Morgan explained, carefully. "I built you this week, missing out on a lot of nights for sleep and definitely lost my sanity. I need someone who knows, or else I feel like Jim on The Office surrounded by Dwight Shrute's. You're...the only other person with my powers. Everyone else I've seen do this used a wish, or was cursed for a lesson. I'm not sure how to deal with you, Melody Pond."
Mels shrugged Morgan's hands away. She pushed her metal arms in her pockets.
"And I think you are too."
Mels shot her eyes up to meet Morgan's.
The young mechanic was giving Mels a reassuring smile. "When you walk around the house, you're not surprised or disappointed that the Lee's ignore you. You're used to grown-ups ignoring you. More than that, you didn't mind me making you a half-assed bed. You're used to sleeping in unusual places. My guess it back Home, you were left alone by your parents and had to wait a long time before being placed in the foster care system. Both of those, tell me that you're used to being alone."
Mels gawked at the mechanic.
"You don't know how to deal with me." Morgan went on. "I understand that. Even on a good day, I can't understand me...I should make that a rule...anyway, we just need to get used to each other. I think you going to school with me will help with that."
She continued to gawk.
Morgan smiled. "Plus, I need someone to joke about the Crust Cousins with."
That got Mels to smirk. Morgan was starting to remind her of Amy.
"We good?" Morgan asked, smirking. She held out her fist.
Mels bumped it. Morgan winced. "We're clear."
"Gah. You've got a metal fist!" Morgan cradled her fist against her chest.
Mels shrugged. She went back to her hammock bed.
The next day, Mels met Jenny Wakeman. The blue robot girl lost her mind over Mels, another robot girl. Mels got the implication that Morgan was good at vengeance.
==SASHA==
Jenny had gotten her dreaming chip the other day. Mels didn't see the point of dreaming. She'd had nightmares for the early years of her life, still had them sometimes. Dreaming was too stupid.
She told Morgan as much, when Morgan asked if Mels wanted a dream chip.
The mechanic tsked under her breath. She went back to fixing up a toaster to fire knives rather than toast.
Mels didn't like being ignored. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Just...I like dreams." Morgan defended.
Mels snorted. "Yeah you would."
She walked over to her side of their now shared bedroom. She searched for her new pack of playing cards. She'd stolen it from a store the other day.
"Wanna play a couple rounds?" Mels asked.
Morgan glanced up, saw the cards, before going back to her device. "Which game?"
"Only good card game. Poker." Mels answered.
"Don't know how to play." Morgan admitted. She set the device aside. She wiped her dirty hands on her jeans.
"You can't be serious." Mels scoffed.
"Never learned, thought it was stupid." Morgan replied. She was putting hand sanitizer on her hands to get the last of the grease out. Then she picked up her math book.
"Oh come off it! You're sixteen, you should know-"
"Seventy-six."
"-how to play poker by...now..." Mels stared at Morgan. "Seventy-six?"
Morgan glared back. "Yeah. Seventy-six." She bobbed her at Mels. "You?"
"Forty-five." Mels answered. She plopped down in the desk chair. It was one of the wheely ones that could fall back.
Morgan hummed, dismissively.
"Oi! Forty-five is fine." Mels defended. "Better than seventy-six! How'd you even get so old?"
Morgan raised a questioning eyebrow. Mels hated it. Morgan was acting more like McGonagall than Mels' friend.
"You Jumped, whatever, but long enough to be eighty?" Mels asked.
Morgan didn't reply.
Mels could hear her unspoken reply. 'Says Miss 45.'
"At least my age makes sense! I had to start all over a couple times. When I was six, I died. I had to relearn walking." Mels emphasized her last two words. She moved herself in the desk chair so her legs were against the arm. "Was a bloody nightmare."
"Legs off the chair." Morgan ordered. Mels, groaning, moved them back to place. She went back to her homework. Morgan was still looking at her with the eyes of McGonagall. "Died at six? I started at ten."
Mels tilted her head. "I started at twelve."
"Yeah but you just said you died at six." Morgan pointed out.
"I did."
"So you started Jumping at twelve...but died at six?" Morgan explained.
Mels understood now. Morgan may have her reality walking abilities but not the whole of Melody Pond's weirdness. "I'm a Time Lady."
Morgan clearly had no idea what that meant. "That doesn't mean you can forget that twelve comes after six."
"It's a kind of alien!" Mels revealed.
Morgan blinked. "A robot, that used to be an alien that could walk between realities...I always get the fun aliens." She mused.
"I'm serious!" Mels defended. "But I'm not a proper Time Lady. My parents made the mistake of-"
"Hold up hold up hold up." Morgan held up her palm. She made sure she had Mels' attention before going on. "You need to back-up-" She mimed rewinding a tape. "-and explain what a 'Time Lady' is, first."
So that was when Mels explained the origin story of Melody Pond to Morgan Spencer.
A century later, Morgan would hear it again. Except this time it was on her Netflix account, watching 'Let's Kill Hitler'.
==SASHA==
Three weeks later things got weird.
Jenny had started caring about fashion. Mels had been ashamed to acknowledge it. They were in the Lee house, helping Sheldon 'upgrade' Jenny. Morgan was working on some rocket powered roller skates.
"Why are we friends with her, again?" Mels asked Morgan.
The mechanic didn't look up. She was still looking at her skates. "Because the other girls in class avoid us."
Mels hummed. It sounded right.
"Oi. Do I have stuff like that?" Mels pointed at Jenny's discarded weapons.
Morgan turned her head at that. "You're not talking about clothes rig-" She saw where Mels was pointing. She scoffed, going back to h. "Course you have weapons, I'm not an idiot. Your hand can be a finger gun, your ears are a cellphone, your upper arm a machine rifle, your spine is actually a bo staff, your intestines are a pair of closed nunchucks, your hair can conduct electricity, your stomach is actually creating a goop that's basically putty, and your feet can become rockets. It's why I'm building a pair of rocket skates."
Across the room, Jenny yelped as Sheldon installed another clothing upgrade.
Mels snorted at Morgan. "Seriously? I can do all that?"
"To start." Morgan added. She smirked up at Mels. "Maybe I'll tell you the rest when you're my age."
"Are you joking? You're ancient." Mels teased.
Jenny yelped again, louder. "Sheldon!"
"Sorry Jenny!"
Mels shook her head, facepalming. "Why are you in his family?"
Morgan grimaced, shrugging. "No idea. It's as unfortunate for me to share blood, huh?"
"Really is." Mels didn't add an assurances.
Morgan threw a finished roller skate at her head.
==SASHA==
Mels didn't like the Teen Team in the show. She liked them less in real life.
She complained about it to Morgan. Loudly.
"And it's the worst of the lot is Squish!" Mels complained in her hammock. She ran her her hands over her face. "That putty-goop thing you made for me? He flirts with it. He wants to know how I made it, and I told him it was made in my stomach. I swear, I think he likes me because of that. It's gross. I don't Jump around to make boyfriends, Morgan, but this one-"
"Why aren't you not telling Jenny about your problems?" Morgan snapped.
Mels looked over at her Jumper friend. Morgan was wearing her bigger pair of headphones. Those were the headphones Morgan wore when she was right pissed. Mels could hear Daughtry blasting out from them. That was her music when she was close to murder.
"Cause she still likes them." Mels answered. "She's an idiot. The penny's in the air, never dropping."
"So throw it at her. I'm busy." Morgan snapped. She moved to put her headphones back on.
"She's too stupid, Morgan!"
Morgan threw her headphones back on the desk. "I don't care! Get out!"
"Bloody hell, what's wrong with you today?" Mels asked. Morgan growled at her. "Did something happen?"
"You and Jenny have been spending so much time with the Teen Team that you've left me alone with the Crusts!" Morgan ranted. "You know how bad they are on a normal day! You are off with superheroes and left me alone."
Mels swore. "Morgan-"
"They called me a freak." Morgan snarled. "Because I hung out with robots, who at the first opportunity abandoned me for superheroes."
"Oh come off it. The Crust Cousins are full of hot air, Morgan!"
Morgan stormed up from her desk chair. "I'm Oil, just get it right, Sasha!" She snarled.
"What?" Mels was shocked at the rage on Morgan. Morgan was unusually graceful in the day-by-day. The angriest Mels had ever seen her was whenever the Cluster attacked.
"I'm Oil here. Stop calling me Morgan. My name is Oil!"
"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Mels asked. "You said your name was Morgan!"
"Yeah! Back Home!" Morgan snapped. "Not in Tremorton! Get it right Sasha!"
"You still call me Sasha! My name is Mels." Mels explained for what felt like the millionth time. "Why is it that hard for you to get?"
"Because I hate being Morgan fucking Spencer!" Morgan screamed at her.
Mels gawked.
"Why do you think I jump so much? It's so I don't have to go back Home." Morgan shouted.
"And when you go back?" Mels asked. "I go back home to see my mum and dad. They always call me by my name. Mels. I like it."
"Go back? Haha. Your parents may be there for you, but mine aren't." Morgan snapped. She began pacing, stomping her feet like a mad Titan ready to curse the world. "Dad's always working, and when he's not working he's telling me how unlike my perfect brothers I am. Mom's telling me how I'm nothing like my namesake, how disappointed that Morgan would be in me, how ungirly I am, that no one will want to be with me because I'm stupid and ugly and gullible. You'd think I could turn to my classmates to complain about them, maybe have them say I'm not stupid, right? Wrong! My classmates agree! They say the same stuff back to me! At least they have the dignity to not say it in my face! Or maybe that makes it worse. I honestly don't know how I can feel worse as Morgan Spencer."
Mels gawked.
"Sometimes, I wonder if I was adopted." Morgan admitted. "If I was, then Mom and Dad could say they weren't related to me and get rid of all of their problems. It's not true, I look too much like Dad's sister. That's how bad I am. I dream about a situation where my birth parents gave me up just so my parents can feel better about themselves." She snorted. "Storyline, I'm so messed up."
"You're not messed up, Morgan." Mels argued. If anything Mels was messed up. She had the ridiculous family background.
"What did I just fucking tell you?!" Morgan screeched. Tears were pouring down her cheeks. "It's Oil. My name is Oil. I'm not that freak!"
She pulled up her bag (the one that was bigger on the inside, like a TARDIS) before storming out of the room.
Mels followed after her. She made it to the door to the house, then heard Morgan's rocket skates go off. Mels couldn't follow, Morgan hadn't given Mels the ability to fly.
Sheldon popped his head out of his room. He pulled his headphones off his ears. He looked to the closed door. "Hey, did you hear something?"
Mels growled. She pushed Sheldon back into his room, slamming his door closed. She ran off after Morgan.
==SASHA==
She found Morgan hidden in the woods by a river.
Morgan had run off to cry before. Mels always found her by water when it happened.
Mels landed by a big rock. Morgan didn't acknowledge her, sobbing.
"Oi, lugnuts." Mels called out. "It's cold out here. Humans can't survive too long in cold. Especially when they're wearing pajama shorts."
Morgan didn't stop sobbing.
"Please stop?" Mels tried. She wasn't good with emotions. That was always her dad's thing. "Look, the Crust Cousins are rubbish. You don't have to take their flake."
The sobbing was actually quieting, the babbling river was louder than Morgan. Mels was pretty sure that was the point.
"Morgan you're not-"
Morgan let out a pained howl. Her fingers grabbed angrily at her hair, pulling her head up so she could glare at Mels. "Just stop." She begged. "Just...just stop."
"No I'm not going to." Mels argued. "Not until you're okay."
Morgan sniffled.
"You're like me." Mels walked over to Morgan. She put a metal hand on Morgan's shoulder. "I'm not gonna abandon you."
Morgan sniffled again. "It's just easier being Olivia Lee." Morgan wiped at her wet cheeks. She sniffled into it. "Picking a new identity...a new name...it's like an identity I chose. A life I have, not a life that happens to me." She groaned. "Forget it. I can't explain it." She buried her face in her knees.
"No don't." Mels held up her hands, to stop Morgan. The girl paused. "It's a Time Lord thing." Mels explained. Morgan snorted, burying her face deeper into her knees. "I mean it! They pick a name they want, that sums up who they are. They make, like, whole new identities out of it." She explained. "It's a thing. You're not a-"
A freak.
Morgan didn't move. She didn't raise her head, or burrow deeper. Mels took that as a win.
Mels lowered herself to Morgan's side. She rested her head on Morgan's shoulder. Clearly, words weren't going to help. It might be better to just let Morgan cry it out.
Which she did. For ages.
When it was done, Morgan let Mels take them back to the Lee house. She was much happier. They were much closer as friends.
==SASHA==
There was another Melody in town.
That ticked Mels off for a lot of reasons. Most of which were obvious.
Mels decided to get a headstart on that whole mess. Never let it be said that Mels Pond stayed away from danger.
She hopped down Locus' secret entrance. She wasn't in the tunnels for a minute before she was attacked by flying pigs.
Mels used her finger gun to blast them down. She loved target practice.
Five minutes later, she walked over their remains. She kept walking until she found Dr Locus' laboratory.
The fat scientist was curled over a workbench. Sparks were flying from it. He was building more pigs. He noticed her walking in. He took a second to realize what she was.
"Oh! You're S.A.S.H.A.! The robot that has been all over Tremorton, with XJ9!" Dr Locus cheered. He clapped his meaty hands together, moving away from his workbench. "You've been defeating my little porkers! You know, I'd love to-ahem- pick your brain for your more advanced functions."
Mels sneered at Dr Locus. The man was a bloody lunatic!
'Too bad nobody told him I was a psychopath.'
She held up her arm. It converted to the machine gun.
Dr Locus gasped. "Good heavens! What are you-"
"Cut it." Mels interrupted. "I'm not interested in what you have to say. I'm just here to kill you and move on."
Dr Locus hardened his eyes. Mels smirked at that. She loved when they were a challenge to catch. "Melody! Come meet our guest!" Dr Locus called out.
A young teenage girl walked out. Mels recognized her as the other Melody.
"Daddy, what's going on?" Melody asked. She screamed when Locas pulled her in front of him.
Mels aimed her gun at the other robot. Melody gasped.
"Don't think I'm stupid, Locus." Mels advised. "I'll shoot threw her to get to you."
Locus laughed. "No you wouldn't hurt an innocent. It's against your programming."
"You really are a bloody idiot." Mels argued.
She fired.
Melody screamed.
The bullet tore through her exo-skin. It would've gone straight through her if it hadn't caught on her inner structure. Melody screamed in panic. Locus had no idea what to think. Mels reloaded.
"You're smarter than I thought. She's got tough skin." Mels mused as she locked in on Locus' skull. "Robots usually do, on account of the metal."
Locus narrowed his eyes at her. Then he grinned. "Stronger metal than you are made with, I assume." He looked down to Melody. "MLD, attack!"
Mels got off another shot at the bot. She hit the elongating arm. She wasn't fast enough to stop the second arm. It hit Mels on the side. She gasped- having expected to feel the pain only she never did. Melody pulled her arms back to her body.
"You shouldn't go looking into other people's business, S.A.S.H.A. You'll be a warning message for everybody else." Dr Locus taunted.
Mels had no idea what he meant by that.
==SASHA==
Mels figured outwhat he meant by that.
She tried to fly back to the Lee house. Her rockets kept malfunctioning. By the time she landed, they were about to combust with overheating. She had to run the rest of the way.
It didn't matter. Her legs burst into flames not even a dozen yards later. She fell on her ass without dignity.
Thank God Morgan turned off her nerves. Mels would be in agony otherwise.
She used her ear-phone to call Morgan. She answered on the third ring.
"Sasha what's-"
"Oil! I'm...I'm running out of time!" Mels shouted.
"What's wrong? You sound hurt. Did I leave your nerves on again?"
"No! Thank God, no!" Mels looked down at her still on fire legs. "It's-It's some kind of virus!"
"Okay...okay." Morgan began to pant in anxiety. Morgan was way more anxious than Mels originally thought. "I can...de-bug you. Easy solution. Come to the Lee house. I'll have you fixed in no time-"
"It set my legs on fire." Mels explained. "I can't move!"
Silence on the line.
"Oil?!" Mels called. "Oil, I can feel it. It's moving in my body! Everything is shutting down!"
More silence.
"Goddammit!" Mels smacked the dirt beside her. "Oil talk to me!"
"It killed your tracker." Morgan spoke. Her voice was quiet and broken. "I- can't find you. Where are you?"
"I don't know! The woods!" Mels shouted. "We don't have much time."
"Shut your metal mouth, lugnuts. I can find you! Just...just give me some more time." Her voice was shaking at the end.
"Morgan I'm about to die." Mels stated with matter-of-fact.
"Not today. Never. If I have my say-"
"I'll...I promise to write." Mels choked. She heard her gears grind inside. Smoke spilled out from her now open joints. "Wh-Where do you live? Ba-Back home?"
Morgan told her. The address was in the States. "But you're not going to need it. You're not going to die today."
Mels snorted. "Died before. Not anything to get excited about."
"So have I! Don't let it happen to you!" Morgan pleaded.
"P-Penny in the air..." Mels gasped as she felt the last bits of her processing power shut down.
"Sasha! Tell me where you are!" Morgan begged.
"Pe...penn...y...drops..."
"SASHA!"
==SASHA==
Whoniverse
Mels shot up in her bed.
There was a new scar on her body. It wasn't a bad one. It looked like a scar from a popped pimple.
Mels hated it all the same. She slammed her fist against her bed, raging. She put her arm over her face, hiding away from her world.
She would've gotten away with it too if not for her idiot friend.
Amy Pond ran into Mels' bedroom, throwing the door open so hard it smacked against the wall. "Mels!" Amy screamed. "You won't believe what Rory did today!"
Mels huffed. "He proposed."
"He proposed-" Amy cut herself off. She narrowed her eyes at Mels. "He told you?"
Mels pulled threw a pillow at Amy. She wished it was a rocket skate. Like Morgan had done so many times...
"Go and be lovebirds somewhere else!" Mels shouted at her friend.
Amy groaned at the lack of attention. Then she closed Mels' door. She was off to find Rory.
Mels waited until she couldn't hear Amy's steps to get out of bed. She searched her room for paper, finding an envelope to go with it.
To: Morgan Fucking Spencer
From: S.A.S.H.A.
Mels wrote that letter.
==SASHA==
Our Earth
Morgan shot up from her bed.
She climbed out of her bed. Her eleven-year-old body alight with energy.
She wanted to pull out her phone, to call Sasha. She wanted to know if Sasha was still alive.
There hadn't been much point to being in Tremorton without Sasha there. Sasha made the whole Jump more exciting, more worth it. Morgan left for Home the next morning.
She was alone again. She was stuck in a body much younger than her actual age.
'I promise I'll write that letter...'
Sasha's last promise.
They couldn't be together in Tremorton...maybe they would be on this Earth.
Everyday for a month she ran to the mailbox. Everyday she hoped to find a letter from Melody.
No letter ever came.
==SASHA==
AN: This prompt was called 'about something lost'. This was a story I'd been wanting to write for my Saga for ages. I'd never gotten the chance, and I know if I started this a normal fic it'd take forever. I didn't have the patience to write out the full series of MLAATR. So. Here.