Glass rained down around her. The woman was just pulling herself up from the cloud of disintegrated drywall as Kadiatu stepped into the ruined floor of the Marriott Hotel. The pulverized remains of a settee and queen-sized bed shuddered into dust as Kadiatu's feet thudded onto the floor. "Who the hell are you?" the woman spat, along with gobs of wet gypsum.
Kadiatu remained silent, waiting for the attack, refusing to be baited.
"Don't tell me, another one of the Doctor's companions." The woman shook off arcs of white powder as she braced for the attack. "I never thought I'd miss Adric."
Kadiatu tilted her head slightly, as if listening to something.
The woman took a step forward. "I've tried asking nicely… well, eventually. I just need something from her. After I get it, I'll go away, I promise." Her voice dropped to a menacing growl. "I don't want to hurt anyone."
Kadiatu smiled.
The woman came at her, lightening fast.
Kadiatu swatted away the hands that lunged for her neck easily- but let the woman's kick connect to her chest.
The TARDIS plated boot hovered centimeter's from Kadiatu's exposed breast. The woman's eyebrow notched upward as she stared at the shimmering force field. "Very pretty," she commented as her boot expanded in six directions, growing barbed prongs that lanced at Kadiatu's face like rabid snakes, the spiked points sizzling as they bit into the force field.
With a casual shrug, Kadiatu threw the woman across the room and out in the bay, twenty-two stories away. Kadiatu sauntered over to the edge to watch the splash that even the black of night could not hide from her eyes.
There was nothing. Just calm waves that lolled into the harbor, shimmering gently in the starlight.
The woman was gone.
Ace stepped around her motorcycle in wide, crazy, dazed steps, her eyes scanning the stained and cracked pavement, desperate for her purse.
Then she saw the leg, covered in torn denim and sporting fine shoes, in scuffed black leather.
The homeless man lying on the stoop, his body swathed in a faded patchwork quilt and green army blanket, the face unseen, but a suspiciously purse-sized lump bulged from beneath his armpit. Ace stepped forward just as a hideously familiar accelerated screech slit through the air in front of her: the woman lunging towards her.
It was a blip. A blur. That sound again. And then she was gone.
Ace blinked at the clear air in front of her, gasping for breath as her heart started again. She took another step towards the vagrant, her hands shaking.
The screech sounded again, and the woman raged towards her, fury blazing out of her eyes, thin savage blades leapt from her fingers as she swiped at Ace's swollen face-
And then with a scream of fury, she was gone, accompanied by a calm blip and blur.
Screech. Scream. Blip. Blrr.
Screech. Scream. Blip. Blur. Screech. Scream. Blip. Blur. Screech. Scream. Blip. Blur. Screech. Scream. Blip. Blur. Screech. Scream. Blip. Blur…
The air around Ace swirled with hazy streaks as again and again the woman pressed her attack from every angle of time, from one millisecond to the next, each time being yanked away from Ace at the last possible moment.
Ace smirked, almost wishing she could see the woman's face as she reached for the slumbering man.
In the vortex, the woman screamed with rage as she kicked and bucked at the viscous harpy that clung to her back. "What the hell are you? Get off me!"
But there was no sound in the vortex, just the foaming, churning maw of time itself.
With a savage, vicious twist, she broke free and threw herself into the vortex wall, slipping sideways back out into reality.
"Am!Xitsa," Kadiatu said quietly, "Pursue; log each time occurrence. Postulate possible patterns and develop attack algorithm."
"Of course," Am!Xitsa replied calmly in her ear, his bulk and that of the timeship embedded in a protrusion of hyperspace, extruding only the force fields that nuzzled and tingled Kadiatu's skin. "I ran a check on God's records. That biopattern was one of the Doctor's former companions. Tegan Jovanka. Another Earthling. Slightly altered, but mostly the same. Did you know that for a while there, I thought you were the biggest bitch in the universe?"
"Just goes to show…" muttered Kadiatu.
"Just goes to show."
Costa Rica, January 21st, 1345
Tegan flitted into existence in the air above a soothing, white bay, the blue green water tranquil and sighing against the coastline.
She hovered in the air, letting out a slow, shuddering breath, willing herself to remain calm. She was so close, so close. She had the edge, she had a start, she'd gained some time, she could think of a new plan-
The four dimensional pile driver slammed into her back with the power of a thousand meteors, ramming her against the sea with a resounding slap that echoed for a hundred miles.
Bolivia, October 18th, 1542
"What the HELL is she?" Tegan gnawed on her fist, the black oily TARDIS suit slipped away from her teeth, revealing the flesh beneath. She sat in a clearing, pointedly ignoring the fabulous array of greenery and fauna that swayed, chattered and sang in her presence.
It was quiet. Too quiet.
The thing was coming. Hunting her.
She fumed. Tegan Jovanka was prey for no one.
She just needed a new strategy.
Without even thinking, she dematerialized, just as Kadiatu's boot swept through the air where her head had been.
Chicago, June 7th, 2432
Kadiatu twisted into reality, dropping onto the concraslab in an attack stance, her hands held high.
The alley was empty except for litter, bins and the roar of traffic as flitters soared through the air above.
"Careful," Am!Xitsa cautioned.
Kadiatu swept round at a speed faster than sound itself- but she was too late.
Tegan Jovanka smiled and dropkicked Kadiatu into next week.
Chicago, 2432, June 14th, 2432
Tegan was on top of her, her face leaning in close to the woman that lay pinned beneath her. Kadiatu's form slithered and sparked as she tried over and over to dematerialize, each time reappearing beneath her attacker. Transparent force field blades hissed and sliced through the air at Tegan as Kadiatu's face showed her confusion.
"I'm not going to harm you." Tegan said through clenched teeth. "I just need you to leave me the hell alone." Tegan's battlesuit extruded a third 'arm' that hovered just above Kadiatu's heart. "This won't hurt, I promise." The arm grew a hand that spread outward across the prone woman, enveloping her in a slick coat of black oil.
Kadiatu's outraged face disappeared beneath the shadowy film.
San Diego, 2005
Ace grinned as she held up her purse, the man still sleeping quietly next to her, oblivious. As she ran for her bike, she reached into the faux leopard skin and pulled out a small key that dangled from a pink rabbit foot key chain.
Straddling her bike, Ace activated the engine, the roar echoing in the quiet of the alley.
The quiet.
The popping sound was gone
Ahhh… Shi-Even as Ace felt herself fly through the air towards the bum, her bike careening driverless into the street, she felt the quiet tug as the key was yanked from her hand.
Sorry Doc…