Title: First Impressions
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Topher, Claire, Echo, Alpha (pre rampage ), Laurence, Adelle, Claire/Topher
Spoilers:
Summaries: Claire felt herself blush. This wasn't right.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dollhouse or any of it's characters.
Warnings: Some swearing .
Claire Saunders didn't know what to think when she was offered a job at a place called Dollhouse. What did they mean? Was it some kind of fucked up porn home? A brothel? Whatever, she needed the money. As long as she didn't have to be on of these 'dolls' she was fine.
But when Claire stepped through the doors of an unmarked, remote building, and had to go through six security points, she realized it was more than that. Much, much, more. She looked around as they (her, and some guy named Laurence Dominic that was escorting her in) entered what seemed to be the epicenter of the living space for the people there. She gasped. She saw about twenty people , docile, looking innocent as fawns, utterly unaware, doing different activities around the room. They looked completely blank. What …the…fuck…was…this?
"Hello." a pretty young brunette greeted her as she walked by, in a voice that was too eerily calm to be real, or comforting.
"Hello." Claire replied.
"Hello." another person, this time a tallish dirty blonde haired man greeted her , in the same, eerily calm voice.
"Hello." Claire replied once more. They continued walking across the eerily quiet room, save for the Hindi music that was playing quietly in the background. Then, they came to a door that led into a dim office , with a lovely but eery calm to it, much like the rest of the place. "Mr. Dominic?"
"Yes Dr. Saunders?" Laurence replied, quite seriously.
"What…what is this place?" Claire asked.
"Ms. DeWitt and Topher will be in here to explain shortly." Laurence said evasively.
"Ms. DeWitt and Topher? Topher who?"
"Brink, Dr. Saunders, Topher Brink. He's the programmer here at the Dollhouse." He replied , as if it was obvious.
"Programmer? What…?" but Dominic had left already, leaving Claire alone in her new office. 'Oh God, what is this place? What have I gotten myself into?' Claire sat down at the desk and swirled around in the chair.
"Dr. Saunders? I hope you found the place well. I realize the directions might have been a bit confusing." Claire spun around in her chair and startled herself. There, in the doorway was a tall, brown haired woman and a blond man about the same height, talking to someone over the Bluetooth in his ear, and looking over something on a digital clipboard.
"I…I found it just fine. Thank you…" Claire gulped, suddenly feeling uncomfortable under the lady's gaze.
"Oh good, I'm glad. My name is Adelle DeWitt, we spoke over the phone?" Claire nodded meekly. "Well, I suppose you are wondering what this place is aren't you?" Claire nodded again "Well Dr. Saunders, this is the Dollhouse. We specialize in a …different kind of rental service than most." she smiled as she walked in and sat on one of the two chairs opposite to Claire at the desk, the man stayed by the door, still talking.
"How so?" Claire asked, still looking at the man at the door.
"Well Dr. Saunders, we rent out…people. More specifically, people we call actives." Adelle began , still smiling " These people are volunteers for a greater cause. People who want to forget about their troubles. They sign up for this, we do not kidnap them or anything, just to make this clear." Adelle stressed "Their minds, memories, are erased by our programmer." Adelle nodded to the guy by the door. So that was Topher Brink. Interesting… "And clients come to my office, which is upstairs, and specify what type of person they need. It's not always a romantic engagement mind you. Once, a man came to our facilities requesting a person to come and guard their children over the week-end, they lived in a very shady area in West Hollywood."
"What? These people…the ones I saw walking around out there, the blond man and that pretty brunette…"
"Alpha and Echo probably." Topher talked for the first time, startling Claire. She looked over to see him smiling at her, the earphone probably off, and the clipboard was now dark.
"Alpha and Echo? Who names their children that?" Claire wondered aloud.
"Oh, we named them that. They had different names before." Adelle corrected.
"Wait…so you …just …you completely strip these people of their identities? That's horrific it's…"
"They sign up for this Dr. Saunders. They want to restart fresh. For whatever reason, they do not want to be who they were." Adelle sighed as she picked her cell phone out of the pocket on her skirt. "Shit." she murmured.
"Let me guess, another call from the FBI building?" Topher asked, laughing. Adelle nodded, rolling her eyes.
"Hold on Dr. Saunders, I got to do something really quick." Adelle picked up the call and walked out of the office. This left Claire and Topher alone. Awkward.
"So, pray tell , Dr. Saunders, what made you want this job if you are so opposed to what we do here?" Topher asked, smiling and setting down his digital notepad and taking off his Bluetooth.
"I wasn't really given any specifics on what went on here actually." Claire replied, sighing.
"So let me get this straight. You took a job, from a mysterious call from someone who probably isn't listed, about a job as a physician at a place that's called Dollhouse, which, for all you know, is a brothel?" Topher laughed, leaning back in his chair. "Pretty risky there Dr. Saunders."
"I suppose so." Claire mumbled, blushing. Oh she knew she shouldn't be thinking this, but he was cute…very…very…very cute. Oh God, oh God , she was blushing even more, he was looking right at her.
"Dr. Saunders, are you blushing?" Topher teased, smirking at her. She blushed again.
"Maybe." Claire replied weakly. Just then, Adelle walked back into the office, looking peeved. "What's wrong Ms. DeWitt?" Claire asked, worried .
"Nothing, nothing. Topher, after you've shown Dr. Saunders here what you do, I have a new imprint for you to put in one of the dolls." Adelle's eyes shifted, and she sighed. "A very, long term imprint. Can you do that?" she asked, smiling sweetly.
"Yeah, sure. It's really risky though." Topher replied, getting up and grabbing his stuff off Claire's desk.
"I don't care. We have a problem." Adelle seethed. She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from Claire's new desk and scribbled a note onto it, giving it to Topher. He read it and looked up at her.
"Shit, are you serious? Who is imaginative enough to even think that we exsist?" Topher asked, concerned.
"I don't know. Apparently one of our…friends got busted on a charge and he said something about it. God, I have never been so pissed off."
"Is anyone on the case?" Topher inquired.
"No, not yet. " Adelle replied. "But our friend at the FBI says they are considering an agent named Paul Ballard. Which is exactly why we need that imprint, right away. He's moving to L.A. soon, and we need someone in his apartment building before he gets there."
"Alright. Just for the record, I am not comfortable with this . A long term imprint." Topher sighed and began walking out of the office. "Hey! Female or male?"
"Female preferably." Adelle replied, walking out with him and Claire and heading towards the elevators.
"Gotcha." Topher climbed up the stairs and Claire followed, stunned. When they reached the top , Topher looked around the living area and sighed. He turned on his clipboard, and opened a file. Twenty pictures popped up onto the screen, along with one name names, and heights. After looking at the board for a couple of minutes, he chose one of the pictures and sent some file somewhere. He then turned back towards the living area. "Hey, Castus!" A young girl over in the yoga area looked up suddenly, almost obediently. "Would you please come up to the lab ? It is time for your treatment. " Castus nodded and walked over to the stairs, up to where they were.
"Time already? How funny. It feels like I just had one." She said sweetly, innocently, eerily.
"Funny how time works isn't it? " Topher asked in a calm, sweet, almost hypnotizing voice. Castus nodded and walked into the office and towards a white , frosted glass door. "You may go in and sit down Castus. I will be right in." Castus nodded and walked into the other room. Claire gasped. It was a lab. "Coming Dr. Saunders?" Topher asked sweetly, in the same calming voice. Claire nodded and followed him inside.
The End.