Time can be rewritten, except when the universe decides it's had enough of your crap.
She's never run so fast in her life.
Doors and windows blurred past as she sprinted, desperately trying to catch up to her friends. They wouldn't leave her behind, or at least she hoped, but she didn't want her slowness to be the cause of their demise. The constantly blaring siren and flashing red lights didn't exactly scream undercover mission despite that being part of the original plan. Of course, the constant earthquake rumblings and mass hysteria outside the building also added to the severity of the situation and was a reminder that the original plan was far gone.
This place was falling apart and they needed to get out.
Now.
She sharply turned a corner, tripping over the floor that started to crack underneath her feet. The walls were similarly fractured and the rumbling grew increasingly louder. Not letting up her pace, she quickly regained her footing and pushed on.
"Riley, come on! You have to run faster!" The warning screamed in her ear through the tiny hidden receiver. She swore he turned up the volume on purpose.
"You think I don't know that?!" she harshly snapped. Did they think she was taking a stroll through the park? Did she leave her picnic basket behind? "I'm running as fast as-"
A loud sound cut her off, the energy bullet narrowly missing her head and hitting the wall at the end of the hall. The laser blast impact caused a small explosion, sending shrapnel flying through the hallway. Riley covered her face, feeling some pieces hitting her jacket, but kept on running. More laser blasts flew past her, causing more and more cracks to form along the hallways. If she didn't get out soon, she would be buried under however many floors of rubble or pulverized by a high concentration of energy.
At the moment, she preferred neither.
She abruptly turned, opening a door before roughly closing it behind her and pressing a button on the keypad to the left. A satisfying click echoed through the chamber, safely locking the door. Riley briefly smiled, hearing the men bang against the door and attempt to blast it down but knew she was safe for the time being. She had at least 3 minutes and 27 seconds of safety.
She turned back around, ready to grab that elusive piece of technology, only to find approximately ten uniformed men, all with their weapons pointed at her. So, turns out her ingenious plan had a major flaw, not looking into the room to hide in. The soldiers stood in a semicircle, their plain masks hiding their expressions or what species they were. Of course, Riley's knowledge of alien species was rather limited . . . to Earth. So, in other words, it was a big fat zero.
Riley slowly put up her hands, desperately wanting to grab the gun currently at her side but knew that would be an instant death sentence. She gave a light smile to the soldiers. "Clearly there's been some sort of misunderstanding."
A ferocious explosion could be heard as the building violently shook, causing the lights to flicker. Riley had trouble keeping her footing but still remained standing as the rumbling stopped.
Well that blast came at the most inconvenient moment.
"Misunderstanding?" a voice repeated. A man walked in between the soldiers, holding the device in his hands. He looked worse for wear. His suit, which Riley remember being immaculate this morning, was dirty, torn, and ruffled. His hair was dishevel, a bruise was starting to form on his left cheek, and his face looked like all his patience was gone.
Riley slightly deflated. This was not how today was supposed to go. Though, she silently thought that about five times today.
He inspected the mechanism in his hands, looking at the delicate wires and circuits running throughout the machine. "This is a complicated device," the man said thoughtfully as he slowly walked towards Riley, "built by the Time Lords to make an event a fixed point in time, unable to be changed by man or the gods. It's said the actions leading up to using the device would be in a time lock, making it all impossible to change. Even the Time Lords knew that was too much power to hold so they forbid the use, though they decided to locked it away instead of destroying it."
The man chuckled at this, looking up from the device. "And you, and your friends, wanted to take it. Did you think it really wouldn't be protected?" He glanced back at the men, giving them a nod. For a brief second Riley thought that was it, that he just ordered her execution but instead more people walked forward. Her friends were escorted through the line of soldiers, guns placed to their heads.
Riley paled. They were not supposed to be here, let alone captured! Just how wrong did their entire plan go? They both looked deflated and hurt. A split lip, black eye starting to form, cuts, and bruises. Though despite their state, Riley still wanted to punch them for putting her through this mess.
The man chuckled again and Riley saw a flash of madness underneath. She had been warned of his reputation but it seemed this had finally pushed him over the edge.
Destroying one's headquarters and life work would have that effect on some people. Though, to be fair to Riley, that was not the original plan.
"Well here is your prize," the man announced in a sing-song voice, standing only a mere foot from Riley.
Then, he smashed the device. He threw it to the ground, stomping it with his foot before reaching for Riley's gun. She tensed and closed her eyes, still keeping her hands up, and then heard a blast. Not helping but jump a little at the noise, Riley was sure she was going to be shot, until she realized she felt no pain. Slowly opening her eyes, Riley saw the man continuously fire at the machine, rendering it useless ten times over.
Each squeeze of the trigger was like a punch to Riley's stomach. This was supposed to send her home, supposed to let her have a normal life, but now that was all impossible. She glanced up to both friends, who looked equally on in horror. One held a hand to her mouth, tears freely streaming down her face but the other was in a state of shock, not believing the event unfold. His eyes locked with Riley's and she could almost sense what he was thinking, reliving all of the events they had together and knowing they would all be undone, that they would have never happened. She could feel some of the memories fade away, faces she knew she recognized only moments before became strangers, events were mere stories. Everything was going to disappear.
No. This moment, the destruction of the device, was NOT supposed to happen.
Riley looked away from her friends and glared at the man, who was still determined to crush every single molecule of the machine. Without thinking, hardly realizing that he was currently holding her gun, Riley rushed the man, tackling him and knocking him to the ground.
Then, all hell broke loose. Blasters started going off and yells from the fighting broke out. Riley wrestled the man, paying attention to keep away from the blaster, as she fought him. They rolled on the ground, kicking and scratching each other as they fought from control over the gun. She didn't have an overall plan, per se, but wanted to severely hurt him, making him pay for his grievous mistake.
Then, the heinous sound came again, this time more severe than ever. A great 'crack!' could be heard and the ground rigorously shook, this time not letting up. Riley and the man glanced over, seeing the floor literally split in half, swallowing up a few of the soldiers. More rubble fell from the ceiling, crushing some of the men, and a thin layer of dust starting coating everything. Riley frantically searched for her friends, finding both of them safe and successfully fighting off the soldiers, causing her heart to calm down.
She then felt a fist connect with her face, the man recovering quicker after the ground greatly shook. He punched her again, making her see stars, but she quickly rolled away before another fist could connect. She jumped over a fallen beam, narrowly being missed by another laser blast, and caught her breath. Sitting next to her was a blaster, the previous owner unluckily crushed by the falling debris. Quickly picking it up, she stood from her cover, ready to shoot the man.
Then she felt a freight train slam into her chest.
The force roughly pushed her, making her land sharply on her back and drop her gun. Riley's ears were ringing, not quite making out any sounds except for her labored, harsh breathing. She was having trouble taking a full breath and focusing on anything in particular. The lights constantly flickered with the power cutting in and out, making it harder and harder to see, and the laser blasts and violent cracks in the building made the world seem like one jumbled mess. The ground angrily shook again but Riley could hardly register it, placing a hand to her chest to try and stop the consistent pain growing in her body but only finding a wet, sticky substance.
"Riley, you need to stay awake." The lady practically yelled in her ear, or at least it seemed like that. Riley felt her friend gently yet firmly move her hand away from her chest before waving a device over her body. She never let go of her wrist and Riley wasn't sure if the fierce grip was for her benefit or her friends.
Her other friend quickly appeared by her side next, dropping his gun onto the floor and lightly holding Riley's face between his hands. He silently searched her face, trying to find the same spark in her eyes that he saw so long ago but now they were dull, she was already beginning to slip. "Riley, you have to hold on, we can fix it."
"No we can't," the other women spoke, throwing the medical device away in frustration. She lightly grasped Riley's arm with her other hand, trying to bring some sort of comfort.
"So we're just going to give up, just like that?" the man barked in anger.
"This wasn't supposed to happen," Riley whispered, looking up to her friend in despair and pain. "It wasn't supposed to turn out this way."
"You have to go back and change it," the women said calmly, though tears started streaming down her face. Her and the man locked eyes as the realization sunk it. He knew the backup plan but never wanted to take that road. There were too many unknowns, too many things that could go horribly wrong.
But compared to what was happening now . . . well, even a 99% chance of failure is worth a shot.
Riley looked between her two friends, starting to understand what they were suggesting. But the increasing pain in her chest was making it harder and harder to think clearly. "How? How can we go back and fix this?"
"Time can be rewritten," he said, giving her a small smile, "never forget that."
"But that's the problem," she lightly shook her head but stopped after the room started to spin. "Plan B is from scratch, I'm not going to remember, none of us are!"
"It will work," he said confidently, lightly stroking her face with his thumbs. "You WILL remember us, remember this moment with time. It may take a few years but it will all come back to you." He needed her to believe and, more importantly, remember.
"But-" Riley gasped, the pain increasing tenfold. She squeezed her eyes and clenched the man's forearm. When she opened her eyes, white dots clouded her vision and her breathing became increasingly labored.
"It will be alright Riley," the women smiled through the tears. "You will see us soon."
Another terrible noise ripped through the room and this time, Riley felt the ground fall from underneath her. Both of her friends were instantly pulled away and her vision was flooded with a bright light, bathing everything in white. All sounds seized then, in an instant, a black veil dropped in front of her view. Then, nothing.