The Night of Sirens

Vincent reluctantly rose, following cautiously behind Sonya. "Move to where? I don't know this place! I haven't seen a thing other than the painting room and my sleeping quarters!" He yelled out behind her, already losing pace as his legs didn't obey his mind. Running seemed like the only option, but he had no idea as to where. Following Sonya like a blind man in a different time seemed to be the only reasonable option. He began running, looking at Sonya to see if she was as well, but not focusing. He ran past his paintings, refusing to look at them as he jogged towards the door. It was left open by a fraction. He swung it open further and slipped around the statue firmly sitting half way in front of the hidden door. "Sonya! I see the box! Should we go to that?" He called over his shoulder, looking just as mad as people of his time presumed.  

The hand clamped on the Doctor's arm led him down a narrow street, in which led to a larger building. Any dirt or dust that would be kicked up by careless children and working men had been brushed away, revealing the fine texture of granite. Granite, that's not right. He looked over his shoulder at the guard that had been assigned to keep him on the proper path, and the Doctor gulped, but bit his tongue, refusing to talk. Which didn't seem right either. The guard shoved him further, up the path and into the compound. "Are you making eggs?" The Doctor blurted out upon being released from the grip. The guard scowled, "what?" He snapped, but the Doctor was cut off before replying as footsteps echoed towards them. "I suppose you're the owner of that magic box. Come to visit your friend? The mad painter?" The Doctor brushed his sleeve down, "ah. Yes. The painter, though I wouldn't consider him 'mad'. Unlucky, yes. Depressed, possibly. But never mad." The man scrunched his nose, then nodded his head behind him. "Take him to the assembly hall." The guard nodded, wrapping his beefy hand back around the Doctor's arm as he began walking. "I'd like to see what you'll say about that room." He said and the Doctor shifted away from the man's breath as much as possible. "Oh, me too. I'll shout. Yes. Something like 'I wasn't expecting this!' Unless I'm being used for target practice. Then I'd like my eggs now." The Doctor said softly as the guard pushed him forward again.

Sonya glanced over her shoulder at the TARDIS with a frown before stalking over and placing her hand on the door gently. "Lady you have to hide, just a second out of sync should be fine. I'll tell the Doctor when we get him back. He'll summon you when we're ready to go." She whispered softly to the box, it hummed in response then suddenly dematerialized, leaving it's spot empty once more. "There, she's safe. Now can we please go find the Doctor? The last thing we need is for him to be put in front of a firing squad." She griped, bouncing from foot to foot before she grabbed Vincent's arm lightly, tugging him forward so he would get moving again. "Come on, that man gets into trouble no matter what he's doing. For all we know he's been pulled before the leader, whoever that is right now. Not a good thing, he tends to have a reputation follow him, not all of the stories told amuse everyone." She explained quickly as she gently pulled him along beside her, weaving through the crowd easily as she searched for the familiar bow tie. "Just keep an eye out and let me know if you see him."

Vincent nodded lightly, but through the crowd, it was hard to see anything. He started walking faster, swerving in and out of the masses, until stopping in front of a building. His mouth dropped open, looking at Sonya with curiosity. "If they found a man dressed in unusual wear, they take them to this building, wouldn't they?" He said gently, jogging up the steps with next to none hesitation. There was no point in wasting more time. He shoved the door open, motioning for Sonya to join him. "Come on, come on."

The large set of doors creaked open, revealing a shockingly wide room. Large wooden bleachers lined the walls, with a few people scattered across them. The guard guided the Doctor to the center of the room, pushing him down into an empty chair. "What is this?" The Doctor asked as the man from before stepped in front of him. "What's your name?" The man asked gently and the Doctor sat up straighter. As usual, erasing everything about him was proving to be good. "I'm no one. A travel." The Doctor replied. No stories were haunting him, nothing in this room. They had no idea who he was.

Sonya smiled and raced up the stairs after him, stopping just as she reached the door and poked her head around it before helping Vincent push it open farther. Her eyes caught sight of the Doctor's back before the others in the room noticed her's and Vincent's arrival. Grabbing his arm, she pulled him behind a large case of what looked like expensive weaponry before peeking over the top a bit then turning around and sliding to the floor. "Well, we were right. He got caught the moment he left us." She whispered to him softly before peering over the top of the case again, studying the guards standing around the Doctor. "I don't think we can take on that many people and leave this place without being noticed, hurt or captured." She added, glancing down at Vincent with a slight wince at the thought. "Any brilliant ideas?"

Vincent thought for a moment, bending down beside Sonya with the shadows surrounding his body. No, there was nothing coming to mind. He rubbed his forehead briskly, rubbing the sweat off as he peered over the side at the Doctor. "I'm going to ask a question, Sonya. A question I know the answer to. We need the Doctor now, you two can come back for me... If I create a distraction, then you can go and get him. Then you'll come back for me." He breathed out, it was shaky and uncontrollable. This plan was something the Doctor himself wouldn't approve of, but it was the only thing he could think of. "I'll try to run. They won't kill me! They need me. They don't need the Doctor. They'll kill him." He smiled limply at Sonya, and it didn't exactly touch his eyes.

"Tell us your name, man!" The same towering, thin man with greasy black hair bent over the Doctor. The Doctor, who was lazily leaning back in the chair with his legs crossed, raised his hands. "Don't remember. But that girl with the," he waved his hands over his hair, "hair said she knew. Sort of. You know, I think she just made one up truthfully." He bent forward, nearly staring the man down. "You tell me yours, I'll tell you mine." The Doctor whispered and the man tensed. "Acacius." He replied hastily, spitting the word out. The Doctor leaned back in the chair, knotting his hands together as he smiled. "Hello, Acacius. I've met you before, haven't I? Well, not this me. A different me. An... Angrier me." He blinked rapidly for a moment, his brows furrowing as he turned his head an inch to the left. A man was there, needle in hand. Though the needle was buried into the Doctor's bare wrist. "Distractions. Love those. You told me your name, that's the good part. To get my attention away from something else, you-" Acacius sighed, clearing his throat loudly as if to stop the Doctor from talking, which he did. "That, stranger, was a truth serum. Something out of our time reach, though we've managed to acquire certain connections that has brought us these small miracles." Acacius sat down in a chair across from the Doctor. "When there is no further use, you'll will be disposed of. Unless we catch a red flag in your interview. Then you will be brought to Him."

Sonya listened to the conversation for a moment before casting a frown over at Vincent. "I can't let you do that. You're too important to history, Vincent." She said quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder for a moment before forcing a smile of her own. "Besides... They may need you, but there is no telling if they've already gotten what they wanted from you, Vincent. You have painted quite a few masterpieces during your stay here." She added in an undertone, her eyes flicking to the back of the case they crouched behind, almost believing she could see through it to the Doctor and the gathered men. "I'm a bit difficult to kill, like the Doctor, I am. But honestly, they wouldn't hesitate, no..." She sucked in a breath only to let it out in a soft sigh. "Your right. Damn it, I hate this and you know it, Vincent." Sonya hissed, her eyes narrowing in distaste before nodding her head sharply. "Go on, hurry up."

Vincent grinned, but not because he was necessarily wanting to be target, but because he was doing it for a cause. A proper one if the Doctor was about to spill every secret. Vincent hopped lightly to the balls of his feet, turning delicately out into the open space in front of the door. "Painter on the loose!" He yelled, his voice echoing off the walls as if it were an auditorium. Acacius raised his head, a strand of dirty hair falling into his dark eyes as he scowled at the new threat. A less threatening threat, but something that needed to be dealt with straight away. "Guards!" He cried out, the men at the Doctor's sides dispersing to chase after the chaotic Vincent, who was bursting through the doors into the grand hallway. Acacius glanced back down at the Doctor, now the only one remaining. He slowly lowered himself back into the chair, rubbing his hairy chin in curious thought. "You know that man." The Doctor nodded. "And you want to save him. To keep him from harm." Again, the Doctor nodded and Acacius stood from the chair, turning his back in the process as he proceeded to think.

Sonya's head poked up from behind the case, studying the Doctor and man left in the room before striding out and up to them with a calm smile on her face. "Ah! You found him, I've been looking all over for this man. He's needed in surgery. All sorts of a mess back there you know, tried to reattach an arm and somehow the nurse attached it to the man's chest!" She said cheerfully, grabbing the Doctor's arm and beginning to tug him back towards the doors. "We'll just be going now, thanks again!" Casting a wide grin at Acacius, she spun around and drug the Doctor out the doors and down the stairs into the crowds on the streets. "What the hell were you thinking, taking off like that!" She snapped, letting go of his arm and spinning around to face him once they got into a small alleyway, away from view of the building. "You could have been killed! They have a truth serum that works on a Time Lord, doesn't that make you think, 'Oh maybe they have a poison that could work on me properly'!" Throwing her arms up in the air, she let out an irritated groan. "And now Vincent is out there being chased down by guards if he hasn't already been caught, and if he has, then there is bound to be some tight security around him with you and me around. They know we're here to save him." Her eyes moved back to the Doctor's face, an irritated expression plastered across her face as she stared. "Well? Say something."

The Doctor hesitated with a reply, his green eyes focused above Sonya's head and studying the crowd. Once he heard her voice die out, he glanced down. "Oh, fine. I thought about it. I also thought about a lot of other things. The partners in crime being one." He slid past Sonya, then paused and back tracked an inch, stopping at her side. "See? I'm saying something. And here I am again. That serum had bio-lateral nano bites. Once it enters a system, it updates itself. Allows it to manipulate the new host, rewriting itself in the process to work under the radar. It could work on any species. Which is why the silent partners are the interesting part." He paused, poking Sonya's cheek thoughtfully. "And you've also got a funny nose." He stated, then spun and, ignoring any protests he was bound to hear, rushed back to the building Sonya had saved him from.

Sonya let out a loud groan before chasing after him, dodging the crowd the best she could as she struggled to catch up with the Doctor. "Will you just wait a moment and think things through!" She cried, reaching the steps just in time to see him disappear back into the building. "OH! I don't even know why I bother anymore." She grumbled, stumbling up the steps and slipping through the opened door, her eyes immediately darting around the darkened room in search of the familiar jacket. "Doctor, where the hell are you?" She hissed softly, trying to keep out of sight of anyone that might wander in while she was searching. "Now is not the time to play hide and seek, damn it."

"I'm not playing hide and seek!" The Doctor yelled over his shoulder, then stamped his hand over his mouth. The other hand slipped into his coat pocket, fumbling for the sonic. Once out, he spun in a circle, pointing it in any direction he could think of in search for a light. Eventually one lit up, faint and way beyond it's time. The Doctor pocketed the sonic, rushing towards it with the bubbling excitement of a six year old. "Oh! A real light bulb! Oh, you're a beauty." He whispered, straining his eyes to look at every inch of it. "The light bulb. The light bulb is important. Out of it's time, as well as the truth serum and Vincent." The Doctor pulled the sonic back out, pressing it against the bulb and powering the light down as the room went dark again. With the remaining specks of light touching his vision, the Doctor grabbed Sonya's hand, pulling her around a table and into the tight corner of the room. "Did I forget to mention we're being watched?" He whispered, faintly smiling as he looked deeper into the void of darkness filing the room. "It used to be a religious thing for Greeks honoring Hades. Discussions, group meetings, family outings, disco nights, all of them in dark rooms. Besides the disco nights. I can't see how that would be dark."

Sonya glanced up at the Doctor, her eyes flashing slightly in the dark as she studied his face for a moment. "Your mental, more than usual." She finally said, gently tugging her hand out of his grip as she walked a couple of steps away, her eyes straining to catch the smallest bit of light to bring the room into focus for her. "If you knew there would be people in here, why the hell did you barge in like you own the place? You most likely have a bounty on your head, as well as me." She added, looking over at him again with a slight frown. This version of the Doctor confused her more than the others, at least they had an explanation for their unusual ramblings. But no, he rambled, then went back to the topic at hand, then rambled some more. None of it really making sense to her or anyone else. "How are you still alive with how you go about things? You don't even come up with a plan or anything when you go do something. An idea pops into that head of yours and you do it without a second thought."

The Doctor leaned back against the wall as he silently listened. His mind was racing, but he was trying to focus on what Sonya had to say. Had to say... What was she saying? The Doctor crossed his arms, bowing his head as he stared at the ground. Thinking things through. She's angry I'm not thinking things through. "You're right. I don't give myself time to think about what ideas I can come up with because I'm trying to fix this with the ideas I know I have." He pushed away from the wall, his hands balling at his sides as he looked over Sonya's shoulder at the small cluster of people. Taking one small glance at Sonya, he moved around her and joined the group. They paused, looking up from their leather bound books to stare at him. He sat down in the first empty chair he saw, leaning back in it as his eyes scanned the darkened expressions. "Hades then, aye? In a town worshiping Athena. Bit on the dangerous side, with your strict rulers. Acacius. What about him? Who is he?" The Doctor asked, and the strangers' faces softened. "Acacius is a man not of his word. Seeking other outside powers for more of his own. Draining the most important minds of the centuries and others to come. His new prisoner, what's his name? Ah, right... Vincent or something of the kind." A man with a long, grey beard spoke up, his voice gentle. "Acacius is a follower of Hades, just as we are. Thinking those paintings will lead him to Satan himself." Another muttered, bowing his head as he chuckled deeply.

Sonya stood towards the back, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched the Doctor. She just told him about thinking things through, and yet here he goes, plopping himself down into what could have been, and could still be, a dangerous situation. Chewing on her lower lip, she wandered around the room, studying the walls curiously until she came to a case full of scrolls. Shooting a glance over her shoulder, she made sure no one was watching as she reached up and pulled one out of it's slot. Pulling a chair over, she sat down and carefully unrolled it curiously, eyeing the letters and designs drawn on the page in front of her.

A scruffy man with an untamed black beard watched Sonya with a balanced gaze. "She your lady then?" He asked after a moment and the Doctor grimaced. "Ah, what? Sorry, no. Not... My lady. That's Sonya." He said quickly, straightening his jacket as he stared at the man. In response, the man only shrugged and continued watching. The Doctor pushed his attention back to the two bickering boys sitting across from him. "Okay, so. Sounds like you lot need a plan. And I need a Vinny." He stood up, pushing away from the chair as he pointed at Sonya. "She'll keep reading your scrolls. I'll pop off to find my friend." As he was turning to make his way to the door, he spun in the opposite direction, walking over to Sonya's side. "Maybe I was lying about the scroll reading." He muttered, rubbing his hands together as he peered over her shoulder at the scrolls. "Oo, symbols. I love symbols. Though I can't draw them. Always get the people wrong. Supposedly Da Vinci doesn't appreciate stick figures." The Doctor straightened his bow tie subconsciously, frowning at the wall as he eyes moved up. "The TARDIS can translate them faster than we can or the poorly developed Sherlock group over there." He glanced back at the cluster of men with a soft smile, "no offense." The scruffy one nodded, shrugging his shoulders almost casually. Though the Doctor knew they had no idea what in hell he was talking about.

Sonya looked up at the Doctor, an unfocused gaze in her eyes before she realized he was talking to her. "Oh, no I'm good at learning written languages." She mumbled, getting back to her feet and putting the scroll away. "So, plan? And don't you dare say that I'm staying here and your going to look for Vincent. Because I will smack you." She added, her eyes narrowing and her hands resting on her hips. "If you didn't notice, that plan didn't work out last time. Now, you walk out those doors, I'm going with you if you like it or not. So, plan? You can't just expect to go searching the entire city looking for one man and expect to find him quickly." With a slight frown, she began pacing back and forth in front of him. "I don't really know much about this time period. I didn't pay exactly the best attention in History. In fact, I doubt any of this would be in any history books back in my old school." Pausing, she cast a glance over at him, realizing she was beginning to ramble before shaking her head and continuing to talk. "Where do you suppose they would take Vincent? Not back to his room, we know where it is."

The Doctor slapped his hands together. "Then I'll give you an idea." He exclaimed quickly, spinning on his heels as he wandered closer to Sonya. "Thy're smart. Very smart. So you're right, they won't take him back to his room. But they've got cells. Or cellars. No, dungeons. Picture a dungeon. Wait. Stop picturing a dungeon. It's nothing like a dungeon." He grabbed several of the scrolls, saluting the crowd of men as he ran passed them onto the door. And directly out of it right onto the street. Jumping the steps, he pushed through the thinning crowd. "Sonya!" He yelled over his shoulder, turning a sharp corner until coming to a stop. Using his free hand, he scratched the top of his head. "Ah, okay. Missing painter and a possibly not very dungeon-y dungeon thing." He slapped his own cheek lightly, hoping Sonya had been right behind him, though he didn't turn around. "But if they have the ability to take someone from their own time through a halo, they need a pilot. A good, strong mind. Mother Nature's best. No, that's wrong. Mother Nature's just rude. Hogs all the bread." He pouted gently, looking over his shoulder for Sonya.

Sonya skid to a stop behind the Doctor, taken by surprise by his sudden stop on the road. "So... A Dungeon Not-Dungeon, right. And what exactly would that look like again?" She asked, one of her eyebrows raised up as she listened to him ramble on. "Why did you even take those scrolls, what are they going to do? All they have is information on their religion from the one I glanced at anyway." She added, eyeing the rolled up parchment in his arms.

Turning her head suddenly, she caught sight of a guard just before he ducked back into a narrow alleyway. Grabbing the Doctor's elbow, she quickly steered him across the road and into the crowd, trying to make whoever else that was following them loose sight. "Where do you suggest we start then? Because frankly, I have a hard time keeping up with you. Constantly changing tack and backtracking over the same subject with different points of view. It's like looking through a kaleidoscope with you, never get the same image twice."

Tightening his arms around the scrolls, the Doctor looked down at Sonya. "Same image twice? That sounds a bit boring." His nose scrunched in distaste, turning his head to look around as they walked. He proceeded with following the crowds until they stopped going in the direction he wanted, making a sharp right rather than another left. "Back to the TARDIS is where we're going. Then the dungeon thingy. I bet they've got squeaky doors and everything." A boyish grin broke across his face, "I love squeaky doors. Though they make the people who own the places rather mad. Clara thinks it's the breaking in thing, but it's their own faults for not oiling the hinges." The grin faded as his emotion shifted by centimeters, transforming into a lopsided frown. "Just don't bother the Queen of Hats on Luminae about fixing them while her little minion things are trying to bite your toes." The Doctor slowed his walk, glancing at Sonya once he left his haze of his one sided conversation. "Why can't we walk on the path anyway? What am I missing?" As if he were a confused, bothered child, he stopped mid-step, swerving his torso to look around.

He saw what Sonya had moments before; guards ducking into the shadows to be hidden from their line of sight. Any trace of humour left slid away from the Doctor's face, his mouth settling into an uneasy scowl. "Stupid, stupid me. The minions. It's always the minions. The minions are the key." He whispered, stuffing the scrolls into the pockets of his coat as he watched for the guards to reappear.

"The big man is the problem, it's just the little man you have to watch out for..." Sonya murmured under her breath, pulling the quote from one of her faint memories of a book she had read. "Come on, to the TARDIS. Once we get inside they can stake it out all they want, still impossible to get in." She slid her eyes sideways, a sudden grin breaking across her face as she eyed his expression. "Care for a race? I have a feeling I could get there before you, but then again... They could have someone standing just outside the doors, Doctor. Whatever will we do with that?" She asked playfully, a sudden burst of energy rushing through her as she bounced on the balls of her feet, her hands clasped behind her back as she studied their surroundings closely.

"Ever hear of a sport called Par-Core?"

"Yes. Of course, yes. Yeah." The Doctor's constant nod slowly shifted into a shake of the head. "Ah, no. No idea what that is. Some form of golf?" He asked briskly, watching her closely for a brief second. She had just been prepared to slap him, and now she looked as if she would jump out of her shoes at any given moment. "Not racing. No one will be in front of the TARDIS. The key heated up earlier, you put her a second out of sync. So let's just run." As the last word slipped, he propelled himself forward, ignoring the glares and rude remarks he gained in the process as he ran in the faint direction he could remember as the route back to his box. The sonic was already in his hand, nearly slipping several times as he fumbled for the settings. In seconds, the familiar wheezes of the TARDIS filled the air, the blue box coming into view much closer than the Doctor estimated. He kicked the heels of his shoes into the dirt packed ground, attempting to slow himself down, though the contact was inevitable. His forehead connected with the door, and he turned his body sidewalks, groaning as he blindly unlocked the door. "And I thought Mother Nature was rude." He grumbled.

Sonya let out a short laugh as he ran face-first into the TARDIS doors, surprised they didn't open up for him as he ran towards them. "Don't rattle that brain too much, we still need it to figure out exactly what we're going to do with Vincent." She quipped while slipping into the control room and making her way towards the console. "Right then, plan, you said you were working on a plan. What is said plan?" She asked curiously, turning back around and folding her arms over her chest as she studied the Doctor with a slight smile on her face. Honestly, he was almost childish with some of his antics, but in other ways, he could be darker than the other Doctors she knew well. She didn't really blame him for his see-sawing attitudes with how often they changed.

Tilting her head to the side, she stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to impart whatever wisdom he had came up with while running or talking to the group of men from earlier. "Those guards were chasing us by the way..." She added in a soft tone, her eyes flicking to the door behind the Doctor then back to his face.

"Right." The Doctor stepped into his box, pulling the doors tightly shut behind him. The lock snapped into place and the Doctor was already busy pulling the scrolls from his pockets. "The thing about scrolls in Ancient Greece is, they tend to keep important information stored and up to date. You can tell by the ink markings still wet on the side of, ah... This one." He pointed to the single, thinnest scroll he had unrolled, getting black smudges across his first two fingers. "Oo, ah..." The Doctor grumbled, walking to the console quickly. Upon crossing paths with Sonya, he slid his fingers down her arm in attempt of getting rid of the ink. "Yes, plan. I mentioned a plan. The scrolls, Sonya. The scrolls are the key. As well as the minions. Weren't you listening? Minions fail, they go back to Gru. No, hang on. That's a film." He rubbed his forehead, then pulled the monitor in front of him, turning the knob three times. It winked to life, etching out the scene right behind the doors of the TARDIS. The two goons stood, hands on hips, glaring at the blue box with more than anger. They looked murderous at the most. The Doctor squirmed uncomfortably, glancing back at Sonya. "They followed us, we follow them. It's only fair. I want to know what Acacius wants. But the scrolls will tell us where Vincent is. Once the TARDIS finishes translating it."

"You have to be kidding, Doctor." Sonya gaped at him with a slight scowl, surprised at his last statement. "You have to let the TARDIS translate it for you? After all this time, you never learned any of the languages yourself?" Shaking her head slightly, she glanced at the screen with a small frown, watching as the guards there began pacing back and forth in front of the TARDIS doors, waiting for them to come out. "Besides your lack of linguistic skills, what else do you know? Vincent could have been taken to another time so we can't get our hands on him as easily, Doctor." She added as the thought suddenly struck her, her eyes flicking up to his face once the words came out of her mouth. "Unless you have reason to believe they would keep him here, knowing full well you have a habit of finding what you want to and managing to ruin plans once you do find said thing." Sonya said wryly, humor making her lips quirk up at the corners before she turned away from him and began pacing around the console room. Trying to ignore her instinct to begin fiddling with her controls and get them the hell out of there.

(sorry if it sucks and hardly makes any sense. I just woke up like five minutes ago and haven't had any caffeine to wake me up lol)

The Doctor looked at Sonya, sighing loudly. "I can read it. Perfectly fine. But your history lessons are horrid and the fact is, I don't want to read them." He said slowly, stepping over his words delicately as if they were burning coals. "No, because they are more than directions and facts and stories, Sonya. They're kill orders, writing it down as if it were important to remember exactly how you watched someone die." His hand tightened around a lever, his knuckles pale white under the pressure. "Or killed them yourself for that matter." The Doctor turned his back to Sonya, knowing more information was directly on his tongue. He could tell her the other things he read over her shoulder and just a few brief seconds ago, but secrets are what protect people. He had to believe that. Looking back at the monitor slowly, the Doctor narrowed his eyes, "okay, okay. What are you doing? Waiting for back up? No, you can't. Don't have any way of contacting them unless you move. You're waiting for us to come out. Fine. Wait a moment longer." He flicked the monitor off, stepping back twice until collapsing into his chair. "The TARDIS will translate them and tell us what we need to know." He muttered into his hand, staring at the console wearily as she already began processing the scrolls.