Sidekick or Slave? // Siren, The Eleventh Doctor

In the cold, midnight weather, the moon was fogged by the thin clouds that surrounded it, making it much like an orb in the night that was controlling the soul of the tides. Amadeus was leaning against the brick wall, silent and waiting calmly for someone whom he had not seen in quite some time. Quite honestly, he was surprised that she was coming to visit him, after all the trouble he's given her. Of course, she did have a new face and a new mindset. She wanted to negotiate... and after all - he did still own her soul, in technicalities.

Holding a pocket watch in hand, he wound it up, hoping that it would send her the message of not keeping him waiting. It was rather distasteful and inadequate to do so, and he was all for properness and sophistication. Keeping a steady gaze of the opening into the streets, he continued to wait. This was where she had wanted to meet up after all, just outside the Bricktown Courts. It was a rather strange area for someone like him to show his face, but he did not mind.

Most people who were in this area were much more rugged and grunge in this area. Leather jackets, unshaven faces, loud and unfiltered mouths alike. He found that brute strength and a distempered tongue were not quite as intimidating as a well-manored man who planned ahead for every situation. Someone who is hauntingly observant in silence and tactical with every move.

Wearing a black, long cloak and a fitted, black scarf with a tight, black jacket and pants beneath it with laced boots, Siren's long brown hair was gliding in the wind underneath a black fedora. With every breath, she saw it glide away in the cold air, and she shivered slightly as she made it past the intersection. When she finally arrived to Bricktown Court, she noticed that there was a man seemingly different from the usual crowd, and she knew who it was right away.

Her heart was racing, the ticking ambient in the back of her mind, something she had not heard in ages. She remembered how crazy it had drove her and hearing it again was nothing but agitating to her now. When she showed herself before the man, she gave him a serious face and shook her head once. "Stop. I came here on my own terms, there is no need to torture me with that insufferable ticking."

She waited for a moment before speaking again. "Things have changed in the last decade or so, since I've regenerated and I believe you and I both have something in common that we could use in our benefit together," she started, "Of course, this is all at the cost of freeing my soul. If I choose to help you, you must honor our agreement from before - my soul is free when we rid you of your burden."

He was a very loyal man to contracts, and she knew this. Surely he'd keep his word to set her free from his ownership if she help him find the one thing he truly wanted in the world, right? She had to hope so.

"You wish to be free by helping me rid of a burden?" Amadeus raised an eyebrow. "What could you possibly be talking of? I have no worries in this world, and you know that I handle wrongs calmly without stress. What could I possibly have that is bothering me as of right now, other than your presence and plead for freedom?" he scoffed.

He found it quite amusing that young Demory was now coming to him willingly. For as far as he knew, he owned her without restrictions. One simple clench of the orb and she was completely controlled. One simple break of the pocket watch, and her untimely death washes over her like a ghost. "Demory, you are far too naive. You think that I will simply let you free if you help me with some errands?"

She had changed in many ways. She was quite beautiful, and once again, envy washed over him by seeing her untamed youth that peeked through her immortal eyes. An ageless beauty that survived after death... how could she be blessed with such perfection while he was left to rot unless he found the souls of others? He always considered consuming her soul, but he knew she was far too beautiful for him to take her life without a struggle. He wanted her to wriggle and try to survive. It amused him. Her death would put him back in a boring stupor. Her struggles and beauty made him quite drawn to her, and he wanted her as a pet he could toss about at the snap of his fingers.

Of course, there was one thing that she had that he wanted, and that was the Doctor. He was a man who was also ageless and immortal, but far less fascinating since he appeared as a simple man. The women of this kind--these time lords were much more mesmerizing and he couldn't bring himself to take away such beauty. The Doctor, on the other hand... well, why wouldn't he just take his soul? He lived forever, and would not be missed, in his opinion, if his death would come eventually, from prophecies he's heard.

"I can get you the Doctor," Siren said boldly. "My face wasn't the only thing that's changed. I've become much more intolerable of that man and I want him to suffer for the troubles he's caused me." She could see that Amadeus was analyzing her like a book, and a spark of interest was glimmering in his eye for whatever reason. She tried to ignore it, hoping that he wasn't planning on making her suffer once more. Now that he would know that she and the Doctor had separated, it would make things much more easy for him to simply tear her apart right then and there.

"If I can get you the Doctor, can I be set free?" she said with desperation. Although it had been years since she has dealt with him, the thought of him being able to have access to her thoughts in a simple moment's notice terrified her. She wanted that orb to be destroyed and his ability to control her to be gone. Even if he had set her orb down for some time, the idea of him using it still made her uneasy.

"And do not call me Demory anymore," she said hotly. "I don't go by that name anymore. I don't need people knowing who I am. I am known as Siren now." She waited for his responses, praying he would accept her offer. If she were bound to this man any longer, she'd rather die completely.

To this, Amadeus let out a shriek of laughter. He found her woes to be quite hilarious and he could not contain it for much longer. After he had stopped, he gave her a sneer of mockery and watched her confused expression, shaking his head. "The Doctor, you say? Well you have peeked my interest, but I assure you, no deed you do will set you free, in fact, now that you've made yourself known to me, I intend to bind you to me on a much closer scale now!"

"You see, Siren," he began, hissing her name as he began to pace around her, "I am not a man of mercy. I do not believe in freedom if you let yourself get caught to begin with. You came to me willingly, giving me your soul so that your precious doctor could live on for a few more hundred years. Now, here you are, almost a century later--which I might add is not a long time, asking me to return your soul, if you give up that said Doctor's protection. How can you not find this humorous?"

He pulled the orb out of his pocket, leering at it for a moment with a crooked smile as he then turned, pursing his lips at the young lady who was still speechless. "You are mine, Demory. I own you. You are my pet. Seeing what you are capable of and your determination to be set free has made it clear to me - you now live to serve me. You will obey me. I am your master."

He then pulled out the pocket watch in the other hand, "Of course, if you deny this, I could always kill you where you stand... or I could simply take you over and make you loyal through control... a very painful process, as you remember. It is your choice. Be thankful I am giving you that."

Siren's eyes were wide as she took a step way from the man. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, and the ticking was getting much more intense like it had done before. Sweat began to form on her forehead and she felt her heart race as she panicked internally. This is not what she wanted.

"Remus, please," she said quickly. "Please don't do this to me." It wasn't like her to submit to someone so easily, in a fearful manner, but this man was truly the only person in the entire universe that she was still entirely afraid of, other than the Doctor. Her fear of Amadeus was much different than her fear of the Doctor though.

She felt her muscles clench when she had noticed that he had been constricting the orb in his hand and she gasped for a moment as pain took over. She had to give her answer quick or he would make it for her. "I submit! I submit, you win! You are my master!" her voice broke out as she fell to her knees, breathing heavily.

What was she going to do?

"You must understand by now, Demory, that it is survival of the fittest. You thought you were finding your way up the food chain, but you will never find your way past me. It is a simple logical fact. I own you and you can never succeed me because your life is always, and forever in my hands." he put the watch and orb back into his pockets.

He gave a stifled chuckle at the image of Siren on her knees, submitting to him completely. "You are very pathetic, girl. You are spineless. You simply do as you think is easiest unless it is for your utmost survival... you are lazy." he kicked his foot forward to push her down and away from him.

"Your sight is disgusting me. When I call for you next, you better not keep me waiting, or your punishment will be much worse. Now get up and come with me, before I change my mind and make you," he quickly turned around with a livid gaze, strutting off into the alley, expecting Siren to follow behind.

The force of getting kicked back had knocked Siren onto her back as she gasped lightly, not expecting such sudden violence. He started to walk away, and terror came over her again when she had gotten herself back up, the image of this man forever burned into her mind as a threat to her very existence, and now that she has truly lost everything, no one would come to her aid.

"A time lord's biggest shame is that over time their mind will darken without the pleasantness of others," started to repeat in her head, a quote she remembered spoken by her mother. It made so much sense now. Even before she regenerated, when Amadeus had inserted the parasite within her, it became part of her conscience as negativity, causing her to became agitated and avoid company.

Being alone for so many years has caused her to fall from grace and now she truly has no one, because she has pushed them all away. She dug this grave for herself, and all she could do was accept it, it seemed, even if she felt she had come so far to make things right. Slowly following behind Amadeus, tears welled in her eyes. She finally lost. Amadeus had broken her.

The Doctor stepped out of a nearby hat shop, a bright red fez sitting atop his head. He took it off of his large forest of hair, and cradled the hat jokingly in his hands for a bit. "Don't worry, my little fezzy wezzy, I won't let the nasty blonde curly-haired woman anywhere near you..." He remarked jokingly, knowing whenever he met up with River, she would always destroy his fez.

He placed the head-wear back on his large jungle of a hairstyle, and began strutting back to the TARDIS. He stopped in his tracks when he heard a voice....a woman's voice to be exact. He couldn't make out what she was saying, but she sounded like she was in peril. "What have we here...?" He asked himself as he adjusted his bow tie. He whipped out his Sonic Screwdriver, which he had holstered in his suit pocket, and ran in the direction of the woman in peril.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw who it was...it was Demory Dickenson....or as she liked to be called now, The Siren... only something was different....she was on her knees before a man...not just any man....a villain he had met only once before in Rome back during his tenth generation....Amadeus Casterbridge....or as he liked to be called, Remus... what was it with his enemies and using aliases? He shook the thought from his head, and watched as the Siren half-heartedly followed him down the alley. "The TARDIS can wait..." He said to himself. He began to tail them silently, leaning up against the wall, and looking around the corner, watching them go down the alley.

Remus was in a hurry to get out of this area and back to his car. Taking note that Siren was behind him now, he picked up the pace and could hear her obvious fear. "If you don't shut up, I'll gladly make you. Does that sound fair?" he spoke annoyingly.

Turning the corner in the alleyway, he held her pocket watch in his hand tightly, thinking of everything that had just happened. How silly she was, thinking that he'd so willingly give her her freedom just for a person. "You know, I doubt you still even have connections to your precious doctor. After all the hatred you've spewed about him to others..."

Siren felt beads of sweat drip down the side of her face from how nervous she was. Her hearts were racing and something about this entire situation was making her wish he had just killed her. Stopping where she was, she looked at Amadeus for a long moment, paused with fear because for a moment, she truly was afraid to die.

What was better though? Dying or being a slave for eternity? When Amadeus wasn't looking, she took a step backward as her face had scrunched up, losing her breath as she choked out, "No." Her composure had been gone and he had completely broken her, making her a shell of the emotionless person she had conditioned herself to become.

"Kill me!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as it echoed off the walls of the alleyway. "Just kill me, you know how to do it! Shoot me, choke me, cut off my head--do something and just get it over with! I'll reject any chance of regeneration before I serve the likes of you!" she breathed out heavily. "If you won't, then I will!" she quickly pulled the gun out of her bag, putting it to her head. Why had she not taken it out sooner? Then again, he would have lived through it, with all the souls he had devoured.

The Doctor was just going to tail them until he found out where they were going, but not now. Now was the time to act when she drew her gun. "Oi! No! There won't be any of that!" He shouted, stepping out from his hiding place. He placed the Sonic back in his pocket and held up his hands. "Hello, Demory...good to see you again, we'll have to catch up later." He then looked toward Amadeus. "Ammy!" He said with a cheeky smile. "Good to see you again, oi, do you like te fez?" He gestured to the bright red hat on his head.

"I had just bought it, when all of a sudden I hear all this talk about slavery, and suicide, and I don't like either of those things." He shuffled a bit on his feet as he spoke, as he couldn't stand still for very long, even in situations like this. "So I just thought I'd throw in my own two pence about that!"

When Amadeus heard Siren's sudden outbreak of wanting to die, he widened his eyes, turning around and angrily pulled the orb from his hand, squeezing it tightly, causing Siren to struggle and slowly retract the gun from her head. "You will do no such thing! If you want to die, that wouldn't stop anything. I control you, I control you words and can sooner control your thoughts and make sure you damn well regenerate--"

He stopped speaking for a moment when a man in a red, peculiar hat popped out, waving his hands about and seeming to know Demory. Who was he and why was he interfering in such a humorous manner? Was he ignorant or was he that cocky? He narrowed his eyes when the man then addressed him... and he suddenly knew.

"Doctor, how nice of you to visit..." he spoke coldly. "This is nothing of your concern. You two parted ways and she belongs to me. I suggest you leave before I make you," he adjusted his scarf and watched the man like a dog, glaring menacingly.

In anguishing pain, Siren felt her gun rip away from her head when he had controlled her arm to move. She let out a groan and began to breathe heavily once more as she was being scolded, when suddenly... the Doctor came out? But where did he come from?

When he had spoken to her, she looked into his eyes, giving him in the most obvious way possible, a gaze of pure fear and need of help... something he probably had not seen in her, at least in this incarnation. She prayed he understood her expression and backed up against the wall, holding her arm that was now aching from being controlled.

This was not a look Demory had given him before as the Siren...he saw fear....he saw helplessness....innocence....he saw desperate need....this was the same look she had given him when he had saved her from the destruction of Gallifrey. He winked slightly to show her he understood her subtle cry for help, and he prepared to spring into action.

"Well, you've been causing an old friend slash ex-lover of mine a fat lot of trouble...." He began. "And you're a soul-eating menace to society, so I think it is my concern...now, before things get nasty, I'm willing to barter." His voice had a calm intensity to it as he spoke. "What do you want, besides my immortality in exchange for Demory's life? I have a number for a barber, you look like you desperately need one." He smirked.

Amadeus furrowed his brows at the way that the Doctor was acting. Oh how uncivilized he was! Giving a slight crooked smile, Amadeus laughed very quietly, shaking his head in disbelief. "I hardly understand what you mean by me being a menace. Only few know who I am. Do you know why?" he crossed his arms.

"It is because I am very good at what I do. I know how to keep a secret, as well as those who sell their souls to me," he looked to Siren, whom he laughed at in pity. "You see, she could never tell you why she belongs to me. It is part of the deal. She is unable to speak of it, because I control her tongue to make sure it is not spoken. That is how I'm gifted at keeping secrets."

He then thought it would be quite amusing to tell miss Demory's tale of woe. "Do you know how much this girl feels for you? She felt so much passion for you, she gave up her soul to save you from the cybermen on that fateful night she passed away. I distracted them, leading them away from you to give you time to act. You're welcome." he crossed his arms. "She was willing to give up the rest of her days so that you could walk for one more. How ironic that she ended up regenerating that night... Is this how you repay her? Taking her memories and then returning them when you feel necessary? And then when she regenerated again, it seemed she finally learned her lesson at how selfish you are."

He shook his head again, sighing in amusement. "Both of you are mad and selfish beings, and there is nothing you could barter with me to return her freedom. She is mine for the taking."

"Stop, don't say a word," Siren turned to Amadeus when he began to explain why she gave up herself. It was the one thing she didn't want the Doctor to know, ever. It was her best kept secret from him. The more that Amadeus spoke, the more her insides tore apart as she slowly slid to the ground, against the wall, looking through the cracks of the bricks to avoid both of their gazes.

(sorry it's short. There's not much to say here, Mike pretty much did it all )

The Doctor remained silent about Amadeus revealing the truth. He would talk to Demory about this once he was done here. "Really now, is that any way to talk to a lady?" He said, referring to how he was calling her 'selfish'. "I mean, I understand, you're a partially immortal villain bent on living forever, but in those two-hundred years, you could have at least retained your manners? No? Thought not." He felt there was no reason for him to keep his hands up, and simply adjusted the fez atop his head before he let them down.

"And as for her coming to you to want to get rid of me, I have to say, I don't blame her." He looked to her for a moment, and then back at Amadeus. "What I did was, for lack of harsher words to say, inexcusable. I was young, I was doing what I thought was best for her at the time....clearly it was a mistake....but, one good thing that came out of it, was I get to stop you."

"You give yourself too much credit, Doctor," Amadeus spoke rather casually. "As for my manners, they are much more well-behaved than yours. I don't just waltz in on a private manner with a dumbfounded grin and expect to be treated like a respected individual." he pressed his hands together.

He then turned to Siren. "What I don't understand is why you still care for this woman when she so scornfully turned you away and was willing to betray you on a moment's notice. Despite what you've done, she was willing to give up your life to me for her freedom," he laughed, shaking his head. "You two are so strange. Although, I guess the phrase 'love knows no bounds' is true for some..."

Siren gave an indigent glare to Amadeus as she clenched her fists, "You wouldn't know anything of the sort about love!" She stood back up, panting, feeling the ticking run through her veins, trying to constrict her, but she started to get angry, fighting against it, ripping his grip on her mind with each step she took.

She turned to the doctor, a sharp pain reaching her spine as she fell forward, "Get out of here! There's nothing more you can do, just get out of here!"

"Why I still care for her, is because I still view her as dear to me." He took a step foreward. "Not as much as she was before, mind you, but still dear to me. And despite what they view of you, you don't give up on those close to you." He adjusted his bow tie. "Now, we can settle this like gentlemen, or I can get nasty. And trust me, you don't want that."

"I see that it is going to be no negotiation here, because I've been acting as gentlemanly with you for as long as I could." Amadeus sighed. "I have kindly asked you to leave us be after so rudely interrupting our business, and like a child, you will not do what's better for you and leave and insist on getting what you want."

Amadeus paced toward Siren, putting a hand to her chin to bring it close to his, but facing the Doctor. "Look at this man; is this who you want to run off with again? The man who wanted to take everything from you; the man you lost everything to; the man who gave up on you and then ran off with a new lover? He may say you're dear to him, but he has moved on and no longer needs you. He was bored of you."

Siren felt the grip on her chin and groaned a bit in pain, but was forced to look at the Doctor for a moment, unsure of how to react. Amadeus began feeding lies into her head, to which Siren tried to block them out, for the first time. Before, she would have easily agreed that he was not a noble man and that he dropped her completely after taking everything, but now, he was the only glimmer of hope she had of getting away from Amadeus.

"It's not true," Siren muttered. "Everything he does, he does for a reason," she glared, finally accepting it. Maybe if she would have gotten her memory erased, this wouldn't have happened. Maybe she'd be living a normal life, instead of hiding at the edge of the universe, solitary and cold from grief.

The Doctor nodded when Siren had said that 'everything he does, he does for a reason.' Granted,it might not always be the right reason, but still.... "Amadeus, if you know anything about me, then you'd know that I always muddle about in affairs where I'm not wanted." He placed a hand on Amadeus's arm. "I do hate violence, so are you going to let her go? Or am I going to have to make you?"

"I feel as though you would have gotten her already if you were that eager to rescue her," Amadeus sighed. "Even if you were to retrieve her, it would be nothing, but pointless effort. She is under my control no matter where she is, or whom she is with. Her soul is mine after all, and I will make sure that I do not lose her so easily."

He then swatted the Doctor's hand from his shoulder and pushed Siren away from him and took a step back. "Fine! Take your stupid girl. She'll be back... you can't keep the ticking away from her forever. Remember that, Doctor." Amadeus held up his pocketwatch with a sneer.