She collapsed against a vaguely familiar blue box. She had no clue where or when she was. No idea what age she was. She only knew she had just under three decades to prepare her body and mind to make another trip into another universe where the Unsenali couldn't get to her. If she left too early, she'd end up running into them again. If she left too late… Well, she wouldn't be able to leave at all, being dead.
She had long forgotten her name, used to what the Unsenali called her millenia after millenia. The only one to escape them time after time, it made sense that they'd have a special thing to call her, just as she had a special name to call them.
Her title? Runner. That's what she was called. Of course, they used many different languages, but it all meant the same. The one who ran. The escapist. The runner. Cowardly but alive, she called it.
Runner was exhausted, as she always was after a jump from one universe to another. Dimensions were one thing, but an entire universe? Absolutely tiring. She stayed as she was, leant against the blue box as she sorted through her previous memories. Had to love the perfect memory she obtained, or she'd have had no clue how this all started. How this all would end.
She was glad she could remember, and knew the only reason she could remember literal millenia of memories was because of all the genetic-electric modifications she went through to give herself the ability to travel through universes.
She closed her eyes to meditate, rushing through her memories and making sure there were no gaps or blanks in her memory. Human minds were the easiest to turn into supercomputers, and that was easily doable through a complex process.
Not that she kept the body when she escaped, no. She seemed to have a nice duplicate in most dimensions and universes, which was nice. What she did was more sending electromagnetic pulses to find a mind like her own, and bring the electrical pulses already in the mind to replace it with her mind's own electrical pulses.
Basically, she did a mind-swap.
They lived in her old body, quick to be killed by the Unsenali, and she survived in theirs for a few decades before the Unsenali caught up with her. It was all possible by electrical impulses and universal magnetism. Since it was only electricity being sent, well, she had her work set out for her. It was a geniuses work, having to be done by someone who wasn't a genius. Luckily for Runner, she had a genius show her how to repeat the process time and time again.
She only had to keep the memory.
Runner's eyes opened when she found that her memory was fine. It'd take a week or two for the mind she now occupied to fully adjust and transform into the mighty machine it usually is, but that'd be fine. She had a few decades left before she had to worry over being caught up to, and by then she'd have made the simple but complex machine required to escape once more.
Runner paused her thought processes, wondering what the hell she was just thinking. Was she starting an inner-monologue now? Is that a thing she did? Or was she just thinking in a confusing manner because of her exhaustion?
She shook it off, taking in her surroundings. Observing the shadows. Eyeing up the people walking by. No one paid her any mind, and she took the time to watch the creatures she could no longer call her own species. They could be taken over by the Unsenali. They could be her enemies, and they never were her allies. At one point in time she tried saving them, and she got locked up and tortured because of it. Or brushed off as a madman. Best case scenario was that the humans she tried saving believed her and nuked themselves when the Unsenali arrived, before being taken over and either "zombified" or possessed.
Runner knew the difference between humans and other creatures. Knew the difference between creatures of Earth and creatures of otherworldly statuses. Intimately. And not in a good way, she was sad to say.
Runner sighed heavily as reality finally caught up to her. She checked her physical status. Athletic build, good, it'd save her some time. Good reaction speed, though that was mainly just her muscle memory in play as it had a slight almost unnoticeable delay that she'd have to work to erase. No serious injuries, nothing that would slow her down. Flexibility was poor, she'd have to work on that. Eyesight… She was wearing contacts, but they were for color and not vision purposes, which was good. Runner ran her tongue over her teeth and grimaced. Ooh, new teeth. That's weird.
She took a deep breath in, putting as much air in her lungs as possible. Runner waited, wondering how good the lungs were. A few minutes passed and Runner nodded in approval. A swimmer, good hygiene, and wonderful new taste buds.
Runner could work with this. It was better than the fat gamer she had inhabited last body. She wasted half a decade just getting the body in shape. Runner was not pleased, but she knew that she couldn't judge the original body owner's decisions. The only reason she was in shape the first time she met the Unsenali was because she put herself through the military. Then she was on her way to becoming a rich CEO, but the Unsenali came along. She didn't mind, honestly.
While she wanted to survive, to live, Runner hated the life she lived before. She could reasonably state that the Unsenali was the best thing that happened to her. The best and the worst, rolled into one fat, angst-y shadow monster.
Suddenly Runner fell backwards as the doors to the blue box opened. The girl - was she a girl? - looked up into a spacious area, two people looking down at her collapsed form.
She was still out of it from the transfer. That shouldn't have happened.
"Hello!" A northern-british accent piped up, coming from the male wearing the leather jacket. Runner stood up abruptly, face only a few inches away from the man's.
"You're familiar. You're in a spaceship. Bigger on the inside, which means you're the Doctor. This is the Doctor's universe. I'm in the same universe as the man who defeats aliens that try destroying the universe, and he does it for a living. Well, more accidentally, but he still does it. Brilliant!" Runner stated, gripping the shoulders of the confused man before her. She grinned loopily at him.
"I have terrible news! Universe-destroying aliens that have no weaknesses will be here in three decades' time!" She said, giddy. Of course, she then collapsed. The Doctor had no choice but to catch the mysterious woman before him, before she rammed face-first into his chest.
Runner had not planned that. Runner also didn't plan on transferring into a body that had just come down from a drunken-drug-trip. Figured that the swimmer would be an alcoholic doing crack. It seemed too convenient that she got such an athletic body, there had to be something wrong with it. Now she had a chance of dying from overdose, shock, or alcohol poisoning.
She groaned, sitting up as fast as she could before they found her hiding spot. Everything hurt, which meant that one of the "zombies" must have attacked her and managed to knock her out. Zombies.
Not the stereotypical virus-carrying dead people that was on shows, but the soulless mindless instinct-driven and overly aggressive humans that the Unsenali ripped the souls out of to create more of themselves.
Runner ignored the voice telling her to sit back down and took stock of her body and surrounding area. She was in a white area, maybe one of the possessed or maybe one of the survivors were there, and there were a lot of medical devices. She was in a med bay. A hospital. A place of healing. A place of death. Her body was sore and aching, craving something and feeling hungover. She ignored the voice trying to speak to her and patted herself down.
Why was she wearing a dress? She never wore dresses, they were inconvenient at best. She then turned her attention to the person, the man before her.
She took in the way he spoke, moved, the way he acted. Runner knew he wasn't human, and stayed on guard. She didn't know when the Unsenali would break their cover, or if they would that day. He was speaking, but she didn't understand the words. Not because they were in a different language, but more so because of the ringing in her ears.
The zombie must've gotten her good.
Runner walked towards the exit, wondering where the hell she was. She needed to leave, before anything bad could happen. Before she could be found by the monsters that slowly started to focus more and more on her the more she escaped their grasp.
A jolt went through her system and she realized she was being led back to the bed she was on before. Confused, she allowed herself to be sat down, and looked at the man before her. He was speaking. He looked familiar.
Familiar was bad. Was he one of the usual Unsenali that tried converting her? She didn't know. She couldn't remember. Not at that moment.
Runner observed the man before her, and waited until she was content that he wouldn't attack her before closing her eyes and trying to find the memories buried beneath the foggy pain and cravings. Her memory slowly returned, and she realized that she was safe.
They weren't there yet. She wasn't in danger. The man before her was an alien, but not an aggressive one.
"Hello? Can you hear me?" He asked. Runner's eyes focused, and she looked at him. She frowned. He looked rather insignificant, despite her knowing the fact that he had the potential to save both his and many more universes. Just because he was clever and had a sonic screwdriver.
All universes were doomed.
"Now I can. Sorry for collapsing on you, Doctor. And sorry for… The attitude I had. This body is new to me, and I have reason to suspect it was on drugs or drunk, most likely both, when we met." Runner stated, trying to find her logical reasoning and thought processes. They seemed to have been misplaced, for she couldn't think properly and her eyes wouldn't focus on the man she was speaking to.
"What do you mean by that?" A girl's voice pitched in, and Runner looked over to see a blond teen looking at her.
"By what? This body being new to me? I had just transferred their electric impulses and brain waves to my previous body in the other universe, and transferred mine into this body's brain. Basic mind-swap, done out of necessity for my own survival and the survival of many others." Runner explained, shrugging. The girl looked unsettled.
"What, so you just… Swapped bodies with a random person? Did they agree to that?" She asked, almost demanding an answer. Runner tilted her head, confused.
"They didn't have to. This is this universe's version of me. While yes, they were their own person, I gave them a fighting chance in the other universe. They'll still end up dead, but whether they're there or here, they'd still die in much the same way." Runner replied.
The girl's expression changed, from confused and wary to frustrated and outraged.
"You just took this woman's life away from her and you didn't even ask? And now you're just letting her die? Can't you help her in the other universe or something?" The girl demanded, not liking how Runner did things.
"No, I can't." Runner replied.
"Switch back! You can't just take someone's life away from them like that!" The girl demanded.
"... What's your name?" Runner asked, deciding to end this girl's rage before it started.
"Rose. Why?" Rose asked, still mad.
"Rose. Good name, Rose. Rose, oh, I knew so many Rose's. Do you know what happened to all those other Rose's, Rose?" Runner asked, standing up and staying strong despite the pain radiating through her head.
"No."
"They died. Brutally," Runner said, walking towards Rose, "They were ripped to shreds, or changed into monsters, their bodies becoming aggressive husks. They were taken over, they were transformed, they were killed. Rose, want to know something?" Runner asked, not giving Rose a chance to answer.
"This isn't the first body I've taken over, and it won't be the last. I know you now, and in a few decade's time the Unsenali that I'm running so desperately from will arrive here, and no matter where you go, they'll find you, and they'll destroy you." Runner snapped, Rose slowly backing away. Runner suddenly relaxed, backing away from where she was aggressing on Rose.
"Of course, luckily for you, there's another option. I come here, at the cost of one single life, and warn this universe. The hero's and the fighters and the armies can take over then, hopefully find a weakness in the monsters, and quadrillions are saved. Imagine watching billions of worlds burn, children crying and being helpless to do anything. You would run too, wouldn't you? You'd sacrifice one life to save your own. So shut it." Runner shrugged, ambling out of that room and looking around the hallways.
Where the hell was the exit? Runner sighed, sitting just outside of the door. Guilt weighed heavy on her soul, knowing that the lively people she's seen so far in this universe would all be dead soon. There was no way that anyone would be able to stop the Unsenali. Runner felt the guilt at taking the many lives she's had to take to survive, and let it consume her as she stewed in her thoughts.
"That's not true! We've been to the future, and there were no- no Unsaline there. Right Doctor? Doctor?" Rose said, looking at the Doctor. The Doctor was deep in thought, and he looked at Rose, eyes burning into hers.
"No, you remember the Gelth, Rose?" The Doctor said, face serious. If what that woman said was true… The entire universe was in danger, and no one would be spared.
"But that's different! Right? Tell me it's different! There's not going to be monsters running about in three decades, there can't be!" Rose insisted, getting scared. First the woman, whose eyes held an age older than the Doctor's, and now the Doctor was agreeing with her.
"... She wasn't speaking in regular, linear time, Rose. She was speaking in subjective time. We could leave her on Earth and go on adventures all around the universe for three decades, going to the ends of time, and then they'd arrive. But for her, it'd only be until 2035 that the monsters arrived. Subjectively, everyone in the universe has thirty years starting from the moment she arrived before the monsters arrive, if she's telling the truth. All throughout time, they'd arrive." The Doctor explained. Or tried to.
"Well… what do we do? Do we just wait until they arrive and let them kill us off like- like cows? How can we stop them?" Rose asked, afraid. It's silent for a very long moment before the Doctor decides on a plan of action.
"We get more information on them from our resident expert!" He said cheerfully. They both walk out, only to stop at the sight of their target curled up against the wall lost in thoughts. Runner jumped up after a moment, feeling the eyes on her. Guarded, she looked at the two people before her. It took a moment for her to recall that they weren't enemies.
"Hey." She muttered, and they all decided to sit down and have a long conversation.
Unsenali. It stands for Unnamed Sentient Aliens. Don't try and name them. The moment you give them a proper name, they can find you, and teleport to your universe. U.S.A. Unsenali. Whatever you want to call them, make sure it isn't a name. It has to be an abbreviation, or slang, or rude terms. They're kind of like Vashta Nerada, or Daleks, or Cybermen. Kind of a combination of all, but worse.
Their objectives are to eradicate all life, use the life forms available to create more of themselves, and have fun in the process. They're shadowy-humanoids with claw-like appendages, and if you get close enough, the texture of their shadowy-being is blobby and similar to transparent sludge.
You can't interact with them, not physically. They're like ghosts, except they can interact with you. If they claw you, you turn into one of them, zombifying the body and having the sludge leak out of the body. They can attach to your shadow, which then makes them able to possess you. This is excellent because this means that they can't possess you at night time, or in the total dark.
So far there's been no weaknesses found. No physical, electrical, pyro, or plasma interactions, and psychic attacks only grant them access to your mind. They are sentient, and you can make deals with them, but most of the time the deals fall through, or the traitorous bastards get shot by other survivors when the bastard's lead them to the group. You can't ask for peace. You can't ask for permanent survival. No, they make deals to keep you alive until all others are dead, and you don't want to try bargaining with them.
They're intelligent, but slow. You can outrun them, but they don't seem to have any stamina. If you outrun them, you can't stop until they can't see you, until they can't find you. They can get through anything, even if it's solid and opaque.
They can feel emotions, but emotional attacks don't kill them, sadly. Plus, what good can you do with it? Insult their figure? Not like you can cause them undue stress by attacking family members either.
To escape, you just have to let them toy with you. They love doing it, and it gives you time to plan an excellent and desperate escape.
Trust me when I say you don't want to try seducing them. You need to learn their mannerisms by heart, so you don't end up seducing them while they're possessing another, or so that you don't end up in a situation where they have you trailing after them like a lovesick puppy. I've seen it happen, and it only makes things worse.
They thrive on fear, but they thrive more on fake confidence. If you pretend not to be afraid, they won't stop torturing you until you show fear. It plays in with their love of toying with people.
"And that's all I can think of at the moment. Basically, run. Run as fast as you can, as long as you can, as far as you can. I've gone through many universes just to escape, and getting through dimensions is easier but it only buys you a decade at most. Depending on if they truly want to get into that dimension, it could take as little as two hours. I'd suggest not leaving the universe until they arrive, or you have a chance at running into them."