River curled up on the floor of her cell with her diary, which she had smuggled into the stormcage after her latest adventure with the doctor, a pile of books by her side. Despite the gloomy surrounding of the stormcage, life was great again. She had her diary and enough books to last her at least until she next saw the doctor, she had new, young guards to tease and, having sent her old torturer completely mad, she had a week without people trying to break her while they found a new one. As she started a new paragraph, she heard footsteps, voices. Hastily, she hid the book under the loose brick in the corner of the room and peered through the bars.

Six strong guards marched through the eerie corridor to the music of tortured screams. Judging by their white uniforms, they weren't stormcage guards though. Probably made some deal with the stormcage officials, she thought. After all, stormcage had one of the best torture facilities in the universe and was supposedly inescapable. Not anymore, she smiled, craning her neck to see who the new prisoner was. It was a boy, of about 16, with blonde hair, tanned skin and a distant look in his deep blue eyes. He was shivering uncontrollably, and as he walked, she heard the clunk of a prosthetic leg.

River sighed, they get younger and younger, she thought.

Her head turned at the sound of a new voice. "…And remember, no scars, we need to keep him relatively presentable for the cameras, so break him mentally and hand him back to us as soon as possible." The speaker had snow white hair, puffy, overblown lips and had had way too much botox.

His eyes searched the room, glinting with malice. Suddenly, he looked right at her. She held his gaze, his eyes so snake-like; she almost expected to see fangs dripping with poison. Somewhere in her, some distant recognition made her blood run cold.

She knew this man

she knew this boy

she knew what would happen

As she looked away, River knew she would have to escape again. However, this time she wouldn't be alone