"Ex Memoria"

22. Last Resorts

Chicago, Illinois – in the year 2021

Mike and Tina had left Gillian and Chris to carry on with crowd control when they'd been called to return to the TARDIS. For having been dedicated to their previous task as they had been, they hadn't realized that the others might have been left to wait as long as they'd done. They reached the blue box, and Mike knocked on the door, as he argued that it wouldn't have been right to simply let themselves in. When the Doctor opened the door, he wordlessly pulled the pair into the ship before shutting the door and striding back to his pair of companions.

Rory was wearing a pair of transparent glasses, sitting across from Amy while she stared at him with so much concentration that she might have been trying to move him with her mind.

"Anything?" the Doctor asked them, giving no more mind to Mike or Tina at this time. Amy sighed and sat back.

"Nothing," she shook her head, while Rory briefly touched his glasses, barely hiding a small smile on his face. "I saw that," Amy made to reach for the glasses, but he slipped away.

"What are those, did you make them?" Tina asked, and the others turned, noticing them as if for the first time.

"Stole them," Amy corrected. "Well, he did," she pointed to the Doctor.

"We went to see the owner of the painting," Rory explained. "Some corporate office, and everyone there wore these. It blocks the memories from going."

"Mr. Brown wasn't all too helpful, or… present, at all. But that's alright," the Doctor insisted, pulling a handful of other frames from a box propped up on the console and distributing them. "Now that I've isolated the memory block, I've added it to these. You'll wear them at all times until this is sorted, especially with what we're about to do next."

"Which is what?" Tina asked, putting on one pair of glasses and turning to Mike on reflex to see if they looked alright. Even as she'd just put them on, she could feel something was different. She wouldn't have noticed anything, and she hadn't, from the time when she had been infected, but now that it was blocked, she couldn't see how she hadn't noticed it before.

"We're going to steal the painting," the Doctor revealed, as though it should have been the most logical response. The looks he received in return from both the Ponds and the Changs in their turn revealed that maybe it wasn't.

"I'm sorry, but what?" Amy asked.

"You want to rob a museum?" Rory followed.

"Not the whole museum, just the one painting," the Doctor sounded defensive. "This Mr. Banks from the museum won't shut the place down or remove the painting. What else would you suggest we do?"

No one replied. As much as they would have tried to, when it came down to it, there was no other alternative at their disposal. "Continue," Amy spoke.

"Thank you. Good, yes," the Doctor clapped his hands together, and it was anyone's guess whether or not he was even trying not to sound excited at the prospect of doing this. After all, it was strictly in the intent of doing good, so there was no reason to feel guilty at all. "Now…"

"Are we just going to fly the TARDIS into the museum?" Mike asked.

"We could," the Doctor nodded. "If we wanted to risk the infection crossing with my ship, yes, that is exactly what we would do, but since we don't, we will choose another way." Mike didn't reply. Instead, Tina raised her hand. "Yes?" the Doctor asked.

"I have an idea," she answered.

"I gathered as much, go on."

"Well, we could do like those robbers did in Home Alone 2, you know?" Tina looked to Mike, who smirked.

"I'm sorry, I don't follow…" the Doctor blinked.

"You mean hide inside during opening hours and wait for it to close?" Amy replied, and Tina nodded.

"Gillian was hidden down in that room she was in for a long time, and no one came or noticed she was there. So we go in, and we wait until after the museum's closed, and then we get the painting." She looked to the Doctor, waiting for his response, knowing his word would be final but also hoping he would actually agree with her. He remained standing there in silence for so long that she had started to think he was ignoring her idea altogether, but then he sprang back up, startling them all.

"Right, let's get everything we need," he declared, and it was settled.

Thanks to a trip to the TARDIS' wardrobe, the five of them were able not only to dress themselves in a less conspicuous way, but also to utilize the Doctor's bigger-on-the-inside pockets, the better to carry along any needed supplies into the museum without drawing any attention to themselves. Rory had insisted to pack some medical supplies, just in case, while Mike packed some food, in case they got hungry while they were stuck waiting.

They returned to the museum, finding Chris and Gillian sitting outside, decidedly away from the perimeter. Tina saw them there and she knew.

"He fired you, didn't he?" she asked the pair, and they nodded.

"What do we have to do?" Gillian asked, without letting the subject draw on any further than it had to.

The Doctor and the others pulled them away, the better to explain the plan. Chris looked more concerned, but Gillian Moran Fiorentino had very nearly lost her mind because of this painting, would have lost it for certain if not for the Doctor, so losing her job didn't matter as much as putting an end to this. She helped them by telling them how to get her hiding room without being seen, and as the other five entered the museum, she and Chris went off to wait at the nearby all-night diner, the better to be within reach if the others needed them. It would be hours yet, but for all intents and purposes, the heist was on.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)