Ghost of You (one-shot)
"How are you feeling?"
"Did I fall asleep?"
"For a little while."
"Shall I go now?"
"If you like."
With a soft hum, the chair that was more familiar than she would ever realise, began its ascension into its upright position. Adele DeWitt was pacing anxiously outside the doorway and stopped suddenly when the doll exited the room.
"Hello," the doll said in a placid voice.
"Hello, Whisky," Adele said, forcing a warm smile. "How are you feeling?"
"I fell asleep," the doll replied.
"That's okay," Adele said. "It's important for you to get your rest."
"So that I can be my best?" she asked.
"Yes, exactly," Adele answered. "Why don't you go and join the others." The doll nodded and walked through the corridor as though she was seeing the dollhuse for the first time. Adele breathed a silent sigh of relief and hurried into the room where Topher was checking something on a computer.
"What is it?" Adele asked nervously, expecting some kind of unforseen problem.
"Nothing," Topher answered. "I'm just checking that everything is working as it should be. And it is."
"How long should her scars take to heal?" Adele asked.
"This is the first time we've ever tried this so she's our guinea pig," Topher replied, as tactful as ever. "Could be minutes, could be hours, could be days."
"We don't have days," Adele seethed angrily, her jaw clenched. Without waiting for Topher to say anything else she stormed out of the room, her high healed shoes clacking loudly against the wooden floorboards.
When Topher had checked that the doll was functioning normally, he left the room to find Adele standing at the railing overlooking the lower level of the dollhouse.
"You talked about them 'flocking'", she said, seeming to sense that Topher was there. "Do you think she'll be excluded after so long?"
"There's no rational reason why they should be flocking in the first place," Topher said. "They're wiped clean." As she watched Whisky stop and exchange pleasantries with Sierra in the dining area, Adele turned her head slightly towards Topher.
"You've been proven wrong before."
24 hours earlier
"You're amazing," the handsome man said smoothly to his date for the night, undressing her hungrily with his eyes. His date, Aurora Denker, formally known as Echo, giggled playfully as she led him to a dark corner of the club. They had only just met but she didn't know that. In her mind, she and this handsome man, James Farnsworth, heir to a billion dollar Empire, had known each other very intimately for months. She had been programmed to find him irresistible. They began kissing passionately before they were even seated at the table and they only broke apart when James pulled a small zip locked bag from his pocket, containing a fine white powder. Being programmed to worship this man ensured that Aurora/Echo did not even flinch at this unexpected development. James poured the power onto the table and pulled a platinum credit card out of his pocket. He used the credit card to divide the powder into lines before rolling up a one hundred dollar bill and using it to inhale a line of the powder. Moments later a satisfied smile crossed his face as he relaxed into the chair.
"Your turn," he said, handing his date the note.
Aurora took the bill and copied what James had just done. Soon she felt it hit her.
"I feel brand new," she said, a little vaguely.
"No one can touch you now, baby. You're invincible," James replied as he took the bill back from her and inhaled another line. "Go again," he instructed her. Aurora did as she was told.
"Let's get out of here," James said when they were done. Obediently, Aurora took his hand and allowed him to lead her out of the club, not noticing the envious glares of the scantly clad women that they passed. James pulled her into a waiting limousine and began kissing her passionately once more.
As they stood in the elevator, on their way to his penthouse, Aurora grabbed onto the railing, feeling unsteady on her feet. She closed her eyes to steady herself and something that was more than an image consumed her mind. It was a feeling, her lungs were constricting despite her desperate efforts to breathe. Then suddenly she saw herself having a conversation with a man:
"The older man. You know him. He's the one who took you. They never found him," the man said.
"He said he was a ghost. You can't fight a ghost, but he was heavy, the weight of him... Ghosts aren't heavy. Ghosts are sheets with holes cut out."
Aurora went to adjust her glasses but then realised that she wasn't wearing glasses at all. In confusion, she looked at the man standing next to her and realised that she had never seen him before in her life.
"Who are you?" She asked, frightened but trying to maintain her calm and professional demeanour. The man laughed.
"You know who I am, you little tease," he replied.
"Excuse me, but I don't appreciate you speaking to me in such an unprofessional manner," she said. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go." She reached down to pick up her briefcase but no briefcase was there. Confused, she noticed her bare legs and the mini skirt that she would never normally be caught wearing.
"I don't… understand…" she stammered.
"Stop playing games, Aurora," James said, pulling her closer to him. Violently she pushed away, the very smell of him disgusting her.
"Aurora?" She asked angrily. "I think there's been a mistake. My name is Eleanor Penn and I am a negotiator. There's a little girl missing and I need to-" James covered her mouth and forced her out of the elevator, realising what the drugs had done to the doll. Eleanor began to scream as loudly as she could but no sound would come out. James pushed her through the door of his penthouse and locked the door behind him.
24 hours later
"Have you heard anything?" Agent Ballard, Echo's handler asked anxiously as Adele Dewitt descended the staircase onto the ground level of the dollhouse.
"Not since I last updated you," Adele replied, coolly. Agent Ballard sighed, frustrated.
"Just let me go in there!"
"Absolutely not," Adele answered immediately. "James Farnsworth is set to inherit one of the largest illegal arms empires in the world. Do you honestly think that you can just storm in there and save Echo?"
"It's a better idea than just sitting and waiting," Agent Ballard snapped. "We need a forced extraction!"
"I agree," Adele said as they walked into the dining area of the dollhouse. "I'm sending in a doll, Agent Ballard. But these things take time."
"Who?" Agent Ballard demanded. "Victor?" Adele shook her head.
"According to Topher, there was a chemical alteration in Echo's mind which caused it to wipe back to a previous imprinted persona. She is now Eleanor Penn, hostage negotiator. Eleanor Penn was kidnapped, held prisoner and raped for three months when she was just nine years old. She will not trust any man that comes near her."
"So Sierra then?" Agent Ballard asked, exasperated.
"Getting warmer," Adele replied. "But no, the only way that we will make it in and out of there alive for a successful extraction is if we lure James Farnsworth with bait. A certain type of bait." Adele approached a doll sitting with others at a table and did a double take when he saw that it was Doctor Saunders, better known by her doll name of Whisky. Whisky faced Adele who gently placed her hand underneath her chin and tilted it upwards towards the light. The scars inflicted by Alpha were already beginning to heal. Topher had been right. It really was possible to program the mind to alter the body.
"Lovely," Adele said with a small smile. "Soon you'll be at your best." Whisky smiled gratefully and went back to eating her dinner.
4 hours later
"Are you sure that this is going to work?" Agent Ballard asked Adele from the black van parked across the road from the nightclub.
"It's our best chance," Adele replied. They watched on in silence until finally they saw it. Whisky, now known as Annabella Murdoch was being lead by the hand out of the same nightclub by James Farnsworth. He kissed her before climbing into a waiting limousine. Agent Ballard started the van and they positioned themselves three cars back from James and Annabella.
"So," Agent Ballard said to Adele. "Tell me about this persona."
"We constructed her using a similar template to the construction of Aurora. Aurora was constructed based on what James Farnsworth desired so we knew that he would be unable to resist her. What little Farnsworth wants, little Farnsworth gets. Little does he knew that Annabella is also equipped with martial arts skills at an expert level and that she has a gun strapped to her back and another gun strapped to her inner thigh. She is an expert fighter and this instinct only kicks into gear if she hears Echo's voice. Until then she is a slave to his every desire. According to Topher, Echo, or Eleanor as she now knows herself is very much alive and very much distressed inside James Farnsworth's heavily guarded apartment. What we have to do now is wait."
"If Echo's reverted back to a previous persona why doesn't he just hand her back?" Agent Ballard asked.
"Because he's done something to break her. Probably something illegal and he knows the consequences of harming our dolls. He probably doesn't realise that this can be fixed by a simple memory wipe. He's avoiding contact with us."
There's no such thing as a simple memory wipe, Agent Ballard thought to himself.
The black van pulled up across the road from the apartment building and Adele pulled out a cellphone and dialled a number.
"Hello," Sierra's voice said as she answered.
"Hello Susannah," Adele said. "Are you in position?"
"Ready to go," she replied.
"Good girl," Adele said, hanging up. Agent Ballard looked at her questioningly. "Sierra is Susannah Cameron," Adele explained. "Ex army sniper. She's positioned at the apartment across from James Farnsworth's penthouse." Agent Ballard looked stunned. "I told you to trust me," Adele said to him.
"Wow, nice place," Annabella said with a giggle as she looked around James Farnsworth's sprawling penthouse in wonder.
"You aint seen nothing yet," James teased, kissing her forcefully. He pulled another small zip locked bag out of his pocket. This one contained two pills. "I've heard this is as good as it gets," he said opening the bag. There was a faint whimper coming from the bathroom. James was so focussed on the pills in front of him that he didn't hear it and Annabella only heard it faintly. However, it was enough to do the trick. Her face hardened and before he even knew what was happening, she had knocked him to the ground before whipping the gun out from the strap on her inner thigh and shooting him in the head, the silencer muffling the gunshot. Annabella raced towards the bathroom to find that the door was locked. Taking a step back, she expertly kicked the door in and rushed over to the bathtub where Aurora/Echo/Eleanor was lying, semi conscious and bleeding from the head which had been slammed against the faucet repeatedly.
"You're safe now," Annabella said just as alarms, triggered by her violently kicking in the door, began to sound. In moments a dozen armed men had found their way into the apartment, and just as quickly they began falling to the floor in a blaze of gunshots coming from Annabella's two guns and from the sniper across the road. When every man was motionless, Agent Ballard and Adele stormed into the penthouse to find Annabella leaning over Aurora/Echo/Eleanor and treating her injuries with equipment from a first aid kit underneath the sink.
"You imprinted some of her medical abilities on this persona as well?" Agent Ballard asked, impressed.
"No," Adele said, shocked at how closely Annabella/ Whisky resembled Doctor Sanders at that moment. "Not at all. I… I don't understand." Adele paused for a moment, regaining her composure. "Annabella, Eleanor," she said to the dolls. "Would you like a treatment?" Both dolls nodded in response. Adele knew then that Whisky had to remain Doctor Saunders for the rest of her life.
1 hour later
"How are you feeling?"
"Did I fall asleep?"
"For a little while."
"Shall I go now?"
"If you like."
Echo slowly stood up, her muscles aching and her head pounding but unable to fully understand why she was hurting.
"Hello, Echo," Adele greeted the doll as she exited the room. "It's time for your appointment with Doctor Saunders."
"She helps me to be my best," Echo said vacantly.
"Yes she does," Adele replied. "Don't be late." Echo continued down the hall towards Doctor Saunders' office. She was met outside by Agent Ballard.
"How are you feeling?" he asked her softly. A hint of recognition was apparent in Echo's eyes as she looked at him.
"I don't want to do this anymore," she whispered, her eyes starting to fill with tears.
"You remember?" he asked her quietly. Echo nodded and took him by the arm.
"Please help me. Please," she pleaded with him.
"I promise," he whispered as Echo went inside to Doctor Saunders office. Doctor Saunders, now scar free, greeted Echo with her usual cordial smile; however Agent Ballard couldn't help but notice the fleeting glance shared between the two dolls as Doctor Saunders caught a glimpse of recognition from what seemed like another life. As quickly as it came, it passed again as they started their session as per usual.
"So Echo, which muscles would you like me to work on today?"