Chapter 3: Witch Doctor
Flashing her badge at the receptionist, Sydney Bristow inquires about the location of Dr. Lauren Reed's office. The receptionist suspiciously eyes Sydney before disclosing the floor: Level 4, Room 461. "Do you want me to inform her you're here…," the receptionist calls out, but Sydney, who is already at the elevator, doesn't answer.
Is it possible to equally love someone and hate someone at the same time? If it's not, Sydney proves the theory wrong. She hates him. She hates that horrible, weak, selfish, little boy. He erased her. He surmised he would be better off not even remembering she existed, so poof, he erased her and now he's living in Santa Barbara and is a psychologist (what the hell?) and has this f-cking normal life. And she hates him for it. But he erased her because he couldn't live without her. He thought she had died and his world fell apart. He loved her so much that the only way he could live after her death was to pretend she had never existed; because her memories killed his soul. And she loves him for that.
The elevator doors opens. Sydney reads the sign in front of her and follows the arrows to Room 461. Beginning to rehearse what she will say to Lauren, Sydney ponders how this is going to go over. 'Hi! I'm Sydney Bristow, I'm suppose to be dead, but I'm not and I want you to give my boyfriend back his memories, pronto.'
That will have to do.
Nonetheless, she is her father's daughter. "Plan A" starts to draft itself in her mind: shock treatment, metal gurney, gun to Reed's head. It's violent and extreme, but it's never failed before.
Looking through the door window, Sydney observes an average looking blonde woman typing away at her computer. Immediately, Sydney starts to size her up: she's short… inferiority complex? Perhaps, she'll have to watch out for that. She's also eating a veggie wrap and Slim Fast, so either she's in good shape or is dieting (hopefully she is dieting -- good shape would be a negative). There are no pictures on her desk, no family or significant other? Interesting; and also unconstructive. She's probably not going to be sympathetic.
When Sydney opens the door, the woman turns around. Giving Sydney the 'once over,' she raises from her chair blown away.
"Dr. Reed?" Sydney questions, not taken aback by Lauren's reaction. "I'm…"
"Sydney Bristow," Dr. Reed finishes the sentence with a slight smirk and wisp of disbelief. Her voice hints at a significant amount of time spent in the United Kingdom. About to ask how Dr. Reed knows her name, Sydney realizes that if she did operate on Vaughn, she must be familiar with Vaughn's file, meaning she must know who she is. "Yes, Dr. Reed, I'm here because…"
Not interested in Sydney's inquiry, Lauren sparks her own. "Forgive my astonishment, but I've never seen a ghost before."
Hinting slight amusement in Lauren's tone, Sydney's instincts snap into defensive mode. "Yes, that's a long story: in a nutshell, I wasn't dead."
Lauren Reed laughs. It's a short loud shrill, sounding like a "HA-AH" before developing into a soft cackle to herself. "Really?" Lauren's smirk grows. "How ironic."
How Sydney manages to restrain herself from torturing Dr. Reed to death, the world might never know. Somehow, Sydney holds it together and gets straight to the point. "Dr. Reed, I know you performed the procedure on Michael Vaughn…"
"Yes, a very successful one." Lauren interrupts Sydney for the second time in the last few seconds. Subsequently Lauren questions, "How long have you been alive?"
"Two weeks…" Sydney replies, not anticipating the trap she just walked into.
Lauren maliciously disrupts Sydney, "And it took you that long to find me?" Lauren cocks her head. "Surprising; I would have assumed this would have been the first thing you did."
"Dr. Reed, I do not appreciate your attitude." Sydney hisses, and Lauren continues to smugly grin. The prospects for Plan A brighten. "I want to know how to reverse the procedure."
Lauren guffaws, "Why? So he can run back into your arms? Last time I checked up on him, he was engaged, Miss Bristow."
Engaged? The word stabs Sydney like a happy dagger to the heart. Her sadness mixed with Lauren's sarcasm creates a dangerous environment. Plan A has passed the preliminary stages and appears to be in good shape for enactment.
Lauren Reed gloats, and Sydney hates her. "Even if I wanted to reverse the procedure, I couldn't." Sydney perplexedly glares at the cow.
In a haughty tone (as if talking to an inferior) Lauren explains, "When I first developed this technology, I only targeted memories, not triggers. Meaning that some subjects were able to retrieve memories activated by triggers. After this discovery, I advanced the procedure -- erasing not only memories but triggers as well -- places, music, words -- anything of significance. For example, that old watch of Michael's (the one that belonged to his father) stopped working when you two met." Lauren pauses, savoring the moment. "He had it fixed; it keeps perfect time now."
Sydney slaps Lauren -- a singular violent slap which echoes throughout the entire office when Sydney's backhand strikes Lauren's face. Toppling to the floor, Lauren gasps and clinches her cheek. She glares up at Sydney, and Sydney inconspicuously gulps: any chance of getting Vaughn's memories back now appears slim. Lauren will refuse just out of spite. Sydney realizes that it's time to initiate Plan A… or maybe Plan B: find someone other than Lauren to perform the procedure. Despite Sydney's personal desires, she knows Plan B would be more effective. (With her luck, Lauren's weak body would die before she reveals the needed intel).
Lauren stands up and straightens her white lab coat. "Miss Bristow, let me make something very clear to you: I've made it impossible to reverse the effects, especially with Agent Vaughn. Not only did I remove, I added memories to ensure the deleted memories would stay that way."
"So you erased his memory and brainwashed him?" Sydney clenches her fist and spats.
"We prefer the term: conditioning."
Sydney allows, "You fucking bitch," to slip. "There has to be a way to retrieve the memories!"
"Didn't you listen? No. Michael Vaughn is my best test subject. He remembers nothing and has built a very happy and respectable life for himself. He's a complete success story. So much so in fact that I'm writing my dissertation on him. Why would you want to destroy that? I mean, if you really love him as much as he loved you, then wouldn't you want what's best for him?"
"This is not what's best for him."
Lauren chortles, "Of course, I suppose you are what's best for him."
"I'll find a way to reverse the effects." In a threatening tone, Sydney forewarns.
Lauren matches Sydney's tone, by threatening, "He is still under CIA supervision. Stay the hell away from my test subject. If you ruin my research in any way…"
Lauren never finishes her threat. Sydney says, "He's not research; he's a human being."
With that she walks out of the office. She's settled on Plan C: screw protocol (and federal law) in all ways, shapes, and forms to make Vaughn remember not only who she is, but who he is; and in this process, terminate Lauren Reed: professionally and personally.
She'll have to call in the Big Guns for this, which might take a while. Until then, it's Plan D: go up to Santa Barbara and make Vaughn trust her (if only enough to make him willfully get in a car with her).
While Sydney calculates her plans, she has no idea that Lauren flips on her cell phone and makes a phone call. Lauren gets the voice mail and she leaves a blunt message: "We have a pending problem."