"Ex Memoria"
32. Trinity
Chicago, Illinois – in the year 2021
They'd anticipated more resistance than they got as they arrived at the building and made to enter. They had assumed they would need some form of excuse to get through without finding themselves escorted before Mr. Brown. Instead they came upon a security guard who looked so very delighted about absolutely nothing. He sat in his seat, and he paid them no mind as they walked past him. The Doctor could see something had happened, to him and to every other individual they came across, and he, like the others behind him, was left with two options as to what they'd find in those offices: Either this would be the work of Amy and Mike, somehow, or they would be as helpless as the rest.
It turned out to be a bit of both. A quick walk around the floor of laughs and wails, they found the pair of them, huddled in a corner, trembling, muttering.
"Mike…" Tina gasped.
"Amy?" Rory moved toward her.
"Don't get too close," the Doctor warned. "You know what to do," he nodded, looking to the last of their group, who had no spouse to run to. Gillian still looked like someone who was on the tail end of a headache, but she was conscious again, and lucid. The only mark remaining of her face off with the frame was the bandage that covered the welt, likely a scar she'd keep throughout her life.
It was the second time in a very short time that he had come on to a scene, expecting that he'd be needed to achieve something, only to realize it had already been dealt with. For sure, what they had done after leaving the precinct and before coming here was something big, but as far as he could tell, everything here was all but taken care of. He only needed to do one more thing.
"Mr. Brown, hello," he walked into the man's office, finding him sat on the ground, crying. "Hello…" the Doctor frowned, uncertain how to respond. But the man heard his voice and he looked up.
"You came back," Mr. Brown spoke, surprised.
"Yes…" the Doctor hesitated. "Yes, I did."
"I waited for you, I did. I packed, and I dressed, and I sat and waited… But you didn't come," he sniffled like he hated that he was crying, and something in his face made the Doctor realize what it was he was facing. This was Mr. Brown with a new memory… and he knew who it belonged to.
"That is not you, sir. This memory belongs to a little girl, to Amelia Pond. You are not a small Scottish girl, are you? I need to speak to Mr. Brown," he looked him in the eye. The man frowned, sniffled again.
"What did you do?"
"Oh, but so many things," the Doctor bowed his head. "For starters, the painting, or rather the frame, has been dealt with. But you'll know all about that by now. Also, I have figured out the way to reverse what you've done. Two words. Trinity Wells."
"That woman," Brown frowned; he knew of her, of course, and all too well.
"At this very moment, Ms. Wells has taken to the air, and she is telling her many viewers that all order has been restored at the museum. A simple message, yes, and absolutely true, but it's more than that. I've imbued Trinity Wells with the ability to pass on our cure. All who will hear it will pass it on as well, undoing all that was done. Before you know it, all those memories which were taken and moved about will be returned where they belong, and all this will be nothing but… well, a memory."
"Raggedy man?" Brown's head tilted. It angered the Doctor more than he'd thought it would, and he hurried into a crouch in front of the man.
"You don't get to call me that. You should count yourself lucky to have a memory like that inside your head, even for an instant, and even for how… unhappy of a memory as it is. You don't deserve her… it…" he corrected himself, just as Mr. Brown's hands reached up and clamped on either side of his face, locking him in place.
"Maybe not," he agreed, while the Doctor tried and failed to free himself. "Now I don't presume to know much of who you are, Doctor, but from what I've seen, and what's in my head now, I dare say getting a peek of your memories would be worth the trip indeed, while I still can."
"Oh, but you wouldn't!" the Doctor still struggled. "I'll admit, I have seen a lot for as long as I've lived, and believe you me, that is a mouthful right there, several mouths, and some of it has been fantastic, yes… Molto bene, I would have said once… I have seen darkness, too, so… so much… All of it, the good and the bad, I would never, in any number of years, let you get your hands on them. I am them as they are me, and you, sir…" he focused himself, "… you are not. So here's a little something for you to hold on to, until all is good… and… sorted."
Brown let go as suddenly as he'd grabbed on, and the Doctor fell away, hurrying to move out of reach. Inside the man's head, he knew, would now rage the confusion and the fear that Gillian Moran Fiorentino had lived with, hidden away as she was. The Doctor had taken it away from her, and it only seemed fair that, for a time, until it became harmless again, it should reside in the head of the one who had caused it to come about. He left Mr. Brown to cower and whimper in his office, while he went and found Amy, and Rory, and Mike and Tina.
TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)