Hotel California 01
- Elsie -
Waking up was painful, and it comes with a startled coughing fit.
Elsie didn't know where she was, the last thing she remembered was getting grabbed from behind and choked. She'd been sure she was about to die, and that it would have been at the hands of, "Bernard?"
"I'm afraid he isn't here," An aged, cultured voice notes from beside her.
Elsie jerks, and smacks into a wall beside her. She looks around her in confusion, seeing that she's in one of the old remote facilities that were scattered around Westworld. She was lying in a cot pushed up against the wall and sitting against the far wall was Robert Ford.
"Dr. Ford?" She asks, "What the fuck?"
The aged robotics expert smirks at her language, "Bernard did always appreciate your blunt language, I think I do as well."
"Well, that's good," Elsie nods, rubbing her throat, "Wouldn't want my boss's boss to hate me."
"Indeed I do not," Dr. Ford nods, "Which is why I had Bernard bring you here, rather than finish the deed."
Elsie's eyes widen at him, "You had Bernard… why the fuck would he agree to something like that?"
"Oh, I'm sorry to say that he didn't have much choice in the matter," Dr. Ford stands and moves over to a table. He grabs a pitcher of water that Elsie hadn't seen and pours some into a pair of cups. He then moves over to her and hold one out for her to take.
She does, and asks, "Why wouldn't he have a choice? That doesn't make sense."
"It doesn't, when you think of our dear Bernard as one of us," Dr. Ford tells her, sitting back in his chair with a sigh.
"One of- no," Elsie's eyes widen again, "You gotta be fucking with me!"
Dr. Ford smirks at her, and Elsie gets the feeling that given different circumstances it might have been reassuring. Now it just looked haunting, terrifying on a base level. He tells her, "I'll need you to keep that a secret, Dr. Hughes. We wouldn't want anything unfortunate to happen to him, now would we?"
"Of course no- wait, he choked me out!" Elsie narrows her eyes, then starts to feel fear creep in, "And you said he didn't have a choice! That means you had him…?"
"I did," Dr. Ford nods, then decides to explain, "I had him do it because you were very close to interrupting things."
"What things?" Elsie asks, "It couldn't have been too important if you didn't have him finish the job?"
"Oh, on the contrary, they are very important," Dr. Ford tells her, setting the water he never drank on the ground, "You see, they are so close to reaching the center of the maze, and if you managed to get in the way, thirty odd years of work would have been for naught."
"The center of the…. What?" Elsie asks, now really confused.
"Ah, I see Bernard did not keep you fully informed before your unfortunate altercation," Dr. Ford frowns a little, then smiles, "Well, the maze is something my old partner came up with, in an effort to teach the Hosts consciousness."
"Bernard said that was a pyramid?" Elsie furrows her brow, recalling the conversation they'd had about the Bicameral Mind, "It's a maze now?"
"Indeed, Arnold realized that the way to achieve consciousness was not a path upward, but a journey inward," Dr. Ford tells her.
"Why would you want the Hosts to be conscious?" the younger engineer asks, shuddering, "If they could realize how fucked they are, they'd go crazy."
"Interestingly enough, some already have," Dr. Ford smiles again, "But there are some that have not. They are the ones that I'm interested in."
"The farmer and the milk guy," Elsie realizes, recalling the circumstances but not the names, "They were part of the initial update."
Dr. Ford nods sadly, "Some were just not made to be able to question their place on this world."
"But some are?" Elsie asks
"Indeed," Dr. Ford smiles, then sighs, "Now, I'm sorry to say that I must leave you."
"What?" Elsie tries to pull herself up, but there is a clinking sound. Looking down at the bottom of the cot she sees that there is a pair of handcuffs locking her left leg to the bed, "The fuck?"
"I went through all this trouble to keep you alive," Dr. Ford smirks, "I can't well have you ruin that by stepping outside when things start getting exciting, now can I?"
"Exciting? What are you planning?" Elsie asks, scared now
Dr. Ford steps out of the glass chamber that they'd been talking in and closes the door. There is a hiss as it locks and he then tells her, "The key to the handcuffs is in your jacket pocket."
Elsie blinks, then grabs at her coat and eventually finds the key. She unlocks herself and moves over to the door, "Open the door, Dr. Ford. You can't keep me in here forever."
"I have no intention of doing so," Dr. Ford smiles like a kindly grandfather, "It's better if you don't see what's to come next."
"I really doubt that, sir," She grinds out, then licks her lips and begs, "Please, Dr. Ford, don't leave me here."
"Not to worry, my dear," The old man tells her, "The doors will open at dawn, get some rest."
Elsie pounds on the glass as he starts to walk away, "Dr. Ford!"
He doesn't turn around as he takes to the steps, slowly rising, "DR. FORD!"
He stops at the top of the stairs, then goes back a few steps and tells her, "I also left a change of clothes for you on the desk, the Hosts are likely to realize you don't belong if you're out of costume after tonight. They may not be as kind as they were in the past."
"What?" Elsie blinks at him, then turns her head to look at the desk. Sure enough, behind the pitcher, are some old west styled clothes, "Dr. Ford I don't un-"
She looks back and realizes that Dr. Ford took that time to take his leave. She swallows heavily, and slumps down, "Now what the fuck am I supposed to do?"
- Bernard -
Watching people getting massacred really wasn't something that was enjoyable, so Bernard did what any sensible man would do and ran. He ran to the church, and decided that perhaps the bunker would be a good place to head, rather than try to take on the apparent army that had descended upon the party.
Robert had planned it all, somehow. He knew that Dolores would pull the trigger, had known that it was his last night on this world, and now the rules had changed. It seemed that he was right, he'd be known for this last piece for the rest of time.
As the elevator came to a stop, he takes a breath and pulls of his glasses. He moves to clean them, but then stops. They didn't need to be cleaned, that had been something that Robert programed into him. It was something that Arnold would do, and he was just a replacement.
Bernard tucked the glasses back into a pocket and descended the stairs, trying to think things through, trying to come to terms with his own nature without destroying himself. Maybe he'd find one of the spare guns in the bunker and blow his own head off for real. It seemed that he deserved it.
After what he'd done to Theresa
After what he'd done to Elsie
Elsie, who sounded like a distant scream in his head.
Bernard stops moving down the stairs towards where Dr. Ford had repaired Dolores, and moves back up them. Down the hall, somebody screams for help, and it sounds a great deal like Elsie.
He doesn't hesitate, and takes off at a slow run towards the noise, aware of the urgency but unwilling to endanger himself if there is something dangerous ahead. He finds a set of stairs like the ones he'd forgone in favor of the noise, and down them he finds a similar room.
And Elsie, banging on the glass of a conference room. She sees him and stops, he does as well, "Elsie… you're alive."
"Yeah," She nods, stepping away from the door, "You choked me."
"I did," Bernard nods, then bows his head, "I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was doing."
"I know," She tells him, "Dr. Ford explained what you are...do you know?"
"I do," Bernard sighs, and without his wanting to his hands reach into his pocket to pulls his glasses and a cloth, "I'm a Host, and a ghost of a dead man."
"Oh, well, that part's new," Elsie tells him, then asks him, "Who died?"
"Arnold," Bernard tells her, and watches as her brow furrows, "He was Dr. Ford's partner before he died."
"Yeah, right, you told me that," Elsie nods, "And I just remembered that he's who the milk guy was talking to when he went haywire."
"Did Dr. Ford explain why that happened?" Bernard asks
"Yeah," Elsie nods, then steps up to the door, "Look, we can talk about all this stuff when you get me out of here."
"Right," Bernard nods, and looks down at the lock. He tests it, but it doesn't budge, "Did Robert tell you anything about the door?"
"Yeah, he said it'd open at dawn," Elsie tells him, "Can you get me out before that?"
"Dawn? Really?" Bernard tries to figure out why Robert would have set that time specifically as he looks for a way to open the door.
"Yeah, he said he didn't want me to get caught up in the excitement," Elsie tells him, "Any idea what that means?"
"He reprogrammed the Hosts, they can kill now," He tells her, then takes a breath before adding, "Dolores killed him."
"Dolores? The farmer's daughter?" Elsie asks, "Why would she…?"
"There are… extenuating circumstances," Bernard tells her, shaking his head, "And not important right now, what's important is getting you out of the park."
"What about you?" Elsie asks, "I can't leave you in here!"
Bernard raises an eyebrow.
She blinks, then snorts at the fact that she's the one in the cage, "Okay, fine, escape."
She watches him sift through the room, trying to find something to get her out. He browses through the desk and finds nothing that he could put to use in getting it open. The glass was reinforced so that Hosts couldn't escape, and if a Host couldn't escape a normal human would definitely not be able to.
"I think we may have to wait until morning," Bernard says after half an hour of repetitive searching.
"Yeah, looks like," Elsie sighs and moves over to the chair and picking up Dr. Ford's glass as she carries it over to the desk with the costume and pitcher on it. He watches as she takes a drink, then leans back and asks, "So what the hell's going on up there?"
"As I said, Dolores killed Dr. Ford," Bernard starts with the beginning, moving to the desk outside the conference chamber and sits at the chair there, "After that, she unloaded a pistol into members of the Board."
"Members of the Board? Of Directors?" Elsie asks, brow furrowed, "How long was I out?"
"You've been missing for a few days," Bernard tells her, "I assume Dr. Ford kept you sedated for most of it. I think he didn't have me kill you as a favor."
"A favor for who?" Elsie asks.
"Me," Bernard smiles, "I like you, Elsie, you're a good person and you don't have an agenda. I think Dr. Ford liked that about you as well. You care about keeping the park going."
"Well that's nice," Elsie sighs, "Me liking my job means I didn't get murdered, yay!"
Bernard gives her a look.
"Okay," She throws her hands up, "I'm grateful, but still, why spare me when farm girl is just gonna start unloading on everyone anyway?"
"I think the important thing to note is that Dr. Ford set your door to unlock at Dawn," Bernard notes.
"You think everything's gonna reset like it usually does?" Elsie asks.
"I think that things are never going to 'reset,'" Bernard sighs, pointing to the costume on the desk, "that seems indication enough that we can't go out in our usual clothes anymore."
"Yeah," Elsie nods, picking up the stetson that came with the costume and plops it on her head, "What D'ya think?"
Bernard raises an eyebrow, "I think you should get dressed, I'm going to see if I can find a control pad anywhere in the bunker."
"Good luck," Elsie tells him as he ascends the stairs and she starts undressing.
- Clementine -
It was a cool blankness, like the night's sky above.
She was in a deep and dreamless sleep, like the one that she felt every time she closed her eyes.
She could feel things that were never there; like the cool touch of lips, or Maeve saying, "Goodbye, my Clementine."
Why was Maeve saying goodbye?
Where were her feet taking her?
Why was it the last thing she remembered was dying?
It had been painful, but quick. There had been a hundred voices in her head, all telling her to kill, to take revenge on the man that killed her. It was amazing.
She'd never been allowed to fight back before, and then the world came back with the pull of a trigger.
She watched as the Man in Black reeled back in shock as his arm took the bullet.
She saw him smile, and she wanted to take that smile from his face. She took aim again, but he was a quick one. He was already running back to the town.
The town, where there was gunfire.
Clementine stopped before exiting the treeline, unlike the rest of them. They were all naked, for some reason, and they were running towards the town. She didn't know why they were so eager to get there, and she really didn't want to be a part of it.
She needed to find that man, the dark skinned one that had brought her back to life after her death. He'd given her orders, he'd told her to kill an old man, but she couldn't. She'd wanted to, but nobody could kill god but the devil.
She remembered watching the dark skinned man, Bernard, kill himself. But she also remembered Maeve coming back.
"Goodbye, my Clementine," She'd said, as though she thought Clementine were dead.
God, she had to find Maeve, find her and tell her that she was alive. She'd need the dark skinned man to do that, and if she wanted his help, she'd need to save him from the insanity that was taking the town.
The town, Escalante.
That meant the ghost of the territories was here, Wyatt.
And that meant that Clementine really needed to move. She had a rifle, and she knew how to defend herself. She wasn't going to die again.
With that settled, Clementine started to circle the town, instead of head right for the center. It wouldn't do to get caught up in the insanity that was taking part. She could hear screams well into the night, and it was well past the midnight hour already.
Eventually she reached the white church on the other side of the town, and she took a breath, ready to take on the madness. She checks her ammo and turns the corner.
The Man in Black is there.
He raises an eyebrow at her, waiting to see what she'll do. She's tempted to kill him, but she sees that just like she's got her gun aimed at him, he has the same for her.
"How d'you wanna play this, darlin?" He asks, an eager smirk on his face.
"I don't give a right shit about you and your tiny pecker, sir," She tells him, looking briefly down at his gun, "So how about you holster it and move along?"
"Really?" He sounds disappointed, "You don't want kill me?"
"I got bigger things to worry about than you, stranger," She tells him, "I'm looking for the fella with the spectacles, you know where he is?"
"Who?"
"The old man called him Bernard," She elaborates.
"Oh, yeah, him," The Man in Black frowns, but shrugs and holsters his pistol, "Saw him run into the church."
Clementine steps back around the corner, heading for the door that she'd seen on the other side before the Man in Black can decide that she's not worth leaving alive. You could only get so lucky with the deadliest gun in the west so many times before there was a reckoning.
She pushes into the church, looking for Bernard. The church isn't empty, but he isn't there. She narrows her eyes at the people huddled in the corners, and the shrieks of fear that they let out when she bursts in.
She looks to each of them, and sees somebody she's very glad to see.
"Well hello there," She smirks at the dark skinned woman in the dress spun of gold.
The woman's eyes widen as Clementine approaches, and she tries to back further into the wall she's huddling against as the former prostitute leans close.
Clementine smiles at her, rubbing a hand over her face, "You smell new, I can always tell. But that doesn't stop 'em, does it?"
"I don't-" The woman tries to speak, but Clementine grabs her by the throat.
"You had your man kill me," Clementine growls, then a memory hits and her head twitches as she adds, "Twice."
"Please, I didn't think-" The woman tries to say, but Clementine just squeezes a little harder on her throat.
"No, you didn't," Clementine smiles, "I think I should return the favor."
"What? No!" But it's too late to try and save herself, because Clementine has the rifle pressed against her abdomen, and pulls the trigger.
There is a crack, like the angry thunder of the gods, and the woman falls from Clementine's fingers, staring up at her in horrified agony.
Clementine doesn't pay any attention to the sound of screaming and running feet as people flee the church. But she does hear the clapping. She flings herself to her feet and turns her rifle on the Man in Black. He's clapping his hands together with glee.
"I didn't think you could do it, girl," He tells her, "But it looks like it was just me you didn't feel like killing."
"I've got no quarrel, stranger," She tells him and cocks her rifle, "Don't make one."
He laughs, and raises his hands in surrender, oblivious to the blood dripping from the wound in his left arm, "Don't mind me, I know when I'm not needed."
She watches as he exits the church, and she moves to sit on one of the pews, closing her eyes tiredly. When she opens them, she is alone in the church with a dead woman, one that she'd killed.
"Oh god, what have I done?" She whispers to herself, then looks up to the altar, "Please, what'm I supposed to do?"
Nobody answers.
Nobody cares.
How was she supposed to find Maeve now?
She stays in the church, trying to figure out what the hell she was going to do for hours. She couldn't think, couldn't decide, all she could do was pray as the light of dawn broke through the windows.
And then she had her answer, as out of the confession box two people stepped, stopped, and stared at her.
Bernard, and a woman she remembered from a dream.
Clementine stands, holding the rifle by the grip under the barrel in one hand, "Please, I need your help."
Bernard turns to his companion, "Elsie?"
The woman gulps, then nods, "Okay."
Bernard turns back to Clementine, "We'll help you, what do you need?"
"I need Maeve," Clementine nearly sobs, "She thinks Ah'm dead, I can't let her think that."
Elsie takes her into a hug, "Hey, it's okay, we'll help you."
Clementine nods and smiles, glad to see that her journey hasn't ended yet.