oswinforthewin | ( impossible darkness ) noir nights.

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( impossible darkness ) noir nights.

DUE TO DELAYS THE 7:00PM BUS IS CANCELLED. PLEASE REROUTE.

Annabell sighed in irritation, looking at the watch on her wrist. For all the advancements The Conclave spoke of? Things were constantly breaking down. Still, they were led to believe this was life as normal. Only those from The Belly (as it was oh so affectionately called) knew different. She had been born in The Belly, and when she saw the world up above for the first time? She couldn't believe it. Now it made her skin crawl, but she had to keep the role up.

Even if she did miss teaching.

Her legs uncrossed and Annabell pushed herself up from the bench in the bus station. She straightened her dress and grabbed her coat. From the pockets she pulled out a small case of cigarettes and started to light it. It would be a long walk back to her apartment, so she might as well enjoy herself. Maybe she'd see some of the sights on her way back. It was a dream of hers as she chased the imaginary amber leaves that they said fell from real trees in the fall. A dream that soured and dried up when she finally got to the surface.

She almost regretted the decision to move upwards. Regrets, bitterness, and cheap wine was the life that Annabell lived, when she wasn't singing for the people she couldn't stand. They said she was a rising star in the music scene. Not that she cared. Her dark red lipstick stained the end of the cigarette as she shrugged on her coat. All she hoped for at the moment was that some fan wouldn't find her. Unless, of course, they wanted to offer her a ride home.

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"No."

He simply answered, only because he knew he couldn't save everyone, but he could at least make the situation better. Plus, it didn't have to happen. Innocent people didn't have to die over selfish, corrupt reasons. The Doctor had the advantage of knowing what was to happen and had time on his side to change that.

She studied him for a moment. "Doctors usually take some sort of oath to do no harm. They're never cruel or cowardly, and they never give up or give in." Clara leaned towards him with a curious look in her eyes, but what she said was out of kindness. "That's you, isn't it?"

"Look, I don't got the time for stupid interviews!"

Clara rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the stairs as the presumed owner hurried down them. He waved off the bartender and made his way over to the pair, clearly intending to tell them to buzz off until he saw who they were. His eyes widened as he stopped beside Clara.

"Hey." Johnny said and glanced up at the Doctor. "I didn't expect to see you here again."

"I do what I can to avoid you, actually." Clara said with a slightly playful tone. She then gestured to the Doctor. "My business partner needs a word with you. Apparently the only way to see you these days is if I personally ask."

"Except for the fact where you asked my bartender." Johnny eyed her. "Business partner, huh? Well, you two are going to have to wait. I need to put on a show. So, stick around for forty minutes or more. Have a few drinks on me."

Clara glanced at the Doctor and knew that stunt wasn't going to work. Not with what she had seen back in her flat. She reached up and grabbed Johnny's arm and tugged him back. She didn't speak until their eyes had locked. "You owe me one, Johnny."

That made him pause. "You're seriously going to use that for this? Just talking to this guy?"

"Yes. I am." Clara let go of his arm. "His name is the Doctor. He got a letter from a friend of his with directions to the Belly. You'll want to talk to him."

Johnny glanced between the two before he straightened his suit. "And what about that performance I'm supposed to do?"

"I'll do it." She reached up and took off her hat. "I've got to do something while the two of you entertain yourselves sizing each other up anyways." Clara looked up at the Doctor with a playful smirk. "Try not to scare him."

Clara walked off towards the stage, leaving Johnny sighing annoyingly. He turned to the Doctor then and extended his hand. "John Powell. This is going to go easier if we're in my office."

At Annabel's statement, the Doctor balked at her, and was ready with a reply when the familiar man reappeared before them giving Annabel a hard time. So much for his own reply to her on that topic.

Taking her hat, the Doctor followed Johnny back to his office and took a seat, crossing his legs and balancing Annabel's hat on his shin. He looks disinterested for a bit, just sitting there watching the man light his own cigarette before taking a seat.

Briefly the Doctor was curious to know what show Annabel was referring to, but shrugged it off as he begun his conversation. They'd be in there for a good 45 minutes.

He'd probably find another time to make that reply. Annabell watched as the two made their way to the office and then stepped on stage. She shared a brief word with a few of the band members before taking the stage. The lights dimmed after the moment and the band began to play.

Johnny on the other hand sat in front of the Doctor and offered him a cigarette. "Assuming you're the same man, I think you are going to need some background. Professor Song said she was sending for a doctor. I thought she meant some sort of medical supplies. Good thing she was wrong. That isn't what we really need down here."

While he was talking, Johnny opened his desk and pulled out a folder. Through the office door, the band could be heard performing. Within a few moments, Annabell's voice came through the club as she began to sing.

"Did Professor Song tell you anything? She said she was going to leave you a letter." Johnny looked up at the Doctor.

The Doctor holds his hand up, passing on the cigarette and is vaguely listening to Johnny before turning his head, listening to Clara. He hadn't a clue she had a voice on her.

"She left me a letter, telling me to find this place." The Doctor replied, attention still on the performance outside, "But nothing more. The rest I found out on my own when I was here earlier."

Now he turned and focused on him, "What did she tell you?"

Johnny made a gesture as if to say Your loss before placing the cigarettes away. He flipped through the folder before handing it over for the Doctor to see. "She just told me that you were the best man in the universe to help us with our problem. I'm hoping she is right about that."

He pointed to the folder. "I made the call for Professor Song's help. She might be an archeologist, but she's got more skills in other areas than that. Her name came up from another informant I have when we suspected who might be helping the Conclave." Johnny took a moment to take a bit off the cigarette. "For the last few years we've had the people in our resistance ring come up murdered or questionable suicides. The latest one is what I requested Professor Song for. Take a look."

The Doctor's full attention was back on Johnny. He wanted to correct him, that no, it in fact was not their problem when it would be their organization that would do the damage.

Kicking his foot up, pushing against the desk so the chair the Doctor was sitting in leaned back on it's back legs, he ran his tongue along the tops of his teeth for a moment. How does your informant know River Song? He thought to himself, because the Doctor didn't know a damn thing about her other than somehow she fit into his future time line, and all this was very confusing working with a woman he didn't know but somehow trusted with his life.

He's curious now, waiting for whatever that will be presented to him.

Johnny watched him carefully before continuing. "We've figured that the Conclave has been up to something for a few years. Especially given the people that have turned out dead are the ones that would be hailed as revolutionaries. The Conclave says they are going to negotiate with the Surface and bring us together, but I think we all know that is a bunch of lies."

He leaned back and looked at the file in his hands. "Given Professor Song deferred us to your expertise... what do you suggest is the next move? We can't keep tracing dead bodies. Especially if the benefactors for the Conclave are who we suspect them to be."

Inside the folder were several crime scene photos of murdered victims, race and gender not mattering. Every single one of them however were listed with the resistance in some manner: informant, spy, medical. Johnny sighed and pushed himself up from the desk to look out the half shut blinds down at the club.

The Doctor eyes the folder upon the desk. He remains seated, mulling over the idea of looking through the files that were offered to him, but instead his eyes met Johnny's. "Does she trust you? Annabel?" It was a weighted question, but the Doctor knew he could trust her. River? He would at some point, but now wasn't it. Right now, he alone only trusted Clara.

He refuses to move, not yet, and not willing to part with what information he knew as he ran his tongue along his teeth now realizing the only sounds outside were an applause by the audience.

"That is a question." Johnny sighed and continued to look out the window. His hands had gone into his suit pockets as he watched the scene. He made eye contact with Clara, who nodded to him and turned back to the crowd. Once the next song picked up, he turned back to the Doctor.

"Clarette trusts me in doing my job and doing right by the city. I wouldn't say she trusts me with keeping her safe."

"Then how much do you value this city and want to save it?" Which probably should've been the Doctor's first question. "The Conclave wants to destroy you and this city, which shouldn't be a secret, but it's plotted to happen far sooner than you'd expect."

How about a week timeline? Was that unsettling enough for him?

"And what do you plan to do to stop it?" Because the Doctor didn't have any specific ideas at the moment, but they were brewing.

"Well, I was hoping to use the assets that Professor Song gave. Which would be you." Johnny made eye contact with the Doctor, secretly pleased that the man didn't ask why Clara had stopped trusting him. "The city can't thrive Underground. We need to get to the top. The Conclave figures the best way is to take who they want and kill the rest of us. That is injustice and I'd put a bullet in each of their heads to stop it."

Well, Clara didn't say that Johnny was a man of poetic words. Nor was he a man who shied away from violence.

The Doctor's gaze was locked with Johnny's, "I'm afraid you might have me mistaken for an actual working tool such as a screwdriver."

Out of irritation, the Doctor rises to his feet and about to leave, though he pauses. "If you want to save these people, you should find a way to get them to the Surface unharmed through other means."

Or the Doctor would. He didn't like the idea of being a pawn in this man's plans and much rather be his own boss.

Johnny chuckled at that but knew there was some truth in the statement. "Problem is I can't promise they'll be safe when they reach the surface. There's no proper channel for a mass amount of them. They could be gunned down or arrested on the spot and deported back."

"And there's no promise that I'll keep them safe, either." The Doctor left the office, and walked right up to the stage where Annabel was singing, giving her the Come with me look. Though he could go about this alone, as he didn't trust Johnny any much as Clara did, apparently.

He was a Time Lord on a mission, and most likely a targetted man now, thank for his rejection of teaming up with Johnny. Granted the man wanted to help the people, the Doctor would give him that, but something told him he wasn't being entirely sincere. If these people were to live, they'd have better luck trusting a random stranger.

Clara watched him leave and glanced back at the band. As soon as the last notes finished off, she took off from the stage and quickly caught up with him. She didn't bother to look back at where Johnny was watching her from.

"I take it that things went just as I expected them to?" She tugged her hat back on as they walked.

"Yes." He was walking quickly down the street as if he were on a mission, "He mentioned that you have stopped trusting him."

Stopping only to spin and face her, "Why? Why did you stop trusting him? What does he mean to you?" Because obviously there had to be a back story.

It felt like a bit of a slap to the face when he brought that up. At first she was angry that Johnny would of even mentioned it, but then it made sense. Then she was angry that it made sense at all. It was something that Clara didn't want to think about. A big glaring moment in her life when she had completely lost control of everything in her life. Bringing it up just shook her, causing that calm and cool femme fatale like facade she wore on her face to crumble.

Her face settled into what she assumed was a rather pathetic expression. "Johnny and I have been childhood friends, along with a man named Kenneth." Clara looked away as she bit her lip, her fingers starting to toy with each other as she thought about it all over again.

"Johnny and Ken were best mates. When Johnny got involved in the Resistance, he got Ken involved as well. Ken was a certified medical doctor. Of course you'd want someone like him in your ranks." That didn't mean she wanted him involved. "Ken was assassinated in my apartment by a sniper if you've got to know. I don't know why it matters to you."

Though she left the details like 'her apartment' was really their apartment, she was Kenneth's fiance. They were the little details that she believed the Doctor absolutely didn't need to know. It didn't tie into the story of saving The Belly.

Being out on the street on the sidewalks with a few people passing by in the night probably wasn't the best location for such a personal story. And for that, the Doctor regretted pushing her to tell him.

Relaxing his shoulders, he walks over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders, looking her in the eye. "I'm sorry. It must be difficult to be still so close around him." But he did have to admit he wasn't convinced of his pure intentions. Call it a hunch.

The Doctor's voice is now a more dulcet tone as he spoke to her, "We have a week to come up with a solution to break these people free. I think I can do it." With her freedom, perhaps that'll provide some closure for her past as well.

His action was unexpected, causing Clara to glance at both of his hands. Then she met his eyes with a bit of a frown. "You certainly know how to get a girl to open up to you. Don't you?" She wasn't sure if she meant that playfully or not.

Still she laughed a bit at his apology. "I can handle Johnny." Then her head tilted at his next statement. "Then we better get to work. Tell me you've got some ideas in that head of yours."

"Of course. I'd be a terrible savior if I didn't." He was being facetious, but left that up to Clara to decide.

He decides to walk her home. It was well into the night, and things weren't going to be miraculously changed in the next few hours. If he was going to use her help, he needed her rested. It was a human quirk he had learned and understood, though some of his friends required more time to sleep than others. (Sorry Donna).

Slowing his pace, he has his hands tucked away in his pockets, "Could you always sing like that?"

"Savior? Bit of a complex there." Clara tilted her head towards him with her eyebrows raised.

Though the question managed to take her off guard. He was very good at that. Better than she wanted to admit.

"It took some practice." She shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. "Mum was very insistent about it when I was a kid. All I ever wanted to do was teach."

Clara bit her lip. "It came in handy when I had to make up another life though."

"You can still teach; you'd be a lovely teacher!" He complimented, nudging her arm with his, "Maybe after all this rubbish..." Hey, it was a suggestion.

It didn't take much longer until they were back at her doorstep. The Doctor turns to her and offers her a smile, "I can meet you in the morning, if that's OK with you?" He didn't want to impose himself on her, plus all his senses were telling him to look around anyway. Maybe he'll find some answers while she slept.

That actually made her crack a smile. A proper one at that. "I was teaching before all of this started." She gave it up to do something that she thought would help.

Her hand clasps around the door handle as she looked up at him. "Don't go getting into trouble without me. Got it?"

"Oh, I'll try not to." He offered a smile, nodded, and headed off.

His first plan was to see the barriers to the city. It was an expansive city, no doubt, but he started back to where he entered through the city, looking around at the possible connection to the other world, before actually dashing around and seeing if he could find the edge of the city.

After sprinting on and off and trying to get answers from others, the night was growing thin for people to approach. He knew he must've looked a lunatic as well, but then when he thought he had reached the end of his rope, he manages to find another connection to the other world.

"This... might be exactly what I'm looking for." And with that, he meandered a bit before shops began to open and he found breakfast for himself and Clara. He waited outside her door for her to wake up.

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