Chapter 8

Night

Dollhouse

Imprint Room

Boyd walks into the imprint room followed by Tru and Jack. Topher is preparing for the wipe.

"Bravo!" Shouts out Topher, holding his arms wide open with a big smile.

Tru quickly tries to explain: "Don't be too excited, Doc. I'm only here to treat a situation, NOT to get any of your sick treatments."

Tru's response leaves Topher and Boyd confused, but not alerted. Jack on the other hand knows exactly what she meant by that.

"Topher Brink!" Jack greets with a hand-shake and a smile. "Long time no see!"

Tru immediately wonders: "You two know each other?"

Enthusiastically and ever so arrogant, Topher explains: "Bravo is one of our best actives, with special abilities." He says with a wink.

With great shock, Tru turns toward Jack and gives out a loud cry: "You're a doll?!"

"Was… I was a doll, or how we'd like to call it an active, but I was released two years ago." Jack confesses.

Unconcerned with all the hyped up emotions in the room, Topher continues: "Seeing you step foot in this room again makes me feel oh so proud! How's life, and 're-life', treating you, my friend?"

Jack looks at Tru, whose face is as yellow as a lemon and answers "Life? Well, you know how life can be… beautiful, hard-headed, challenging, and mostly unfair." Cunningly referring to Tru herself.

Tru speaks very slowly while staring into Jack's eyes: "What does all this mean?" She questions, "All this time… you… everything was a lie?"

"No, Tru. Everything is real. My life in the Dollhouse was before I met you. I am not a doll anymore. I'm me… Jack Harper is my original self. Only one thing is different. The Dollhouse granted me an additional gift…"

"The ability to relive days?" Tru guesses.

"Yes." Jack asserts. "Which makes me wonder how you got yours."

"From my mother… she passed it on to me." Tru recalls.

"But your mother has been dead for more than ten years. Think about it, Tru… why did you get your ability only two years ago? Just around the same time I got mine. Coincidence?"

"What are you trying to say, Jack?" Tru asks.

"My buddy Boyd here says you've been in the Dollhouse for two years. You do the math, Tru."

"I have never even heard of the Dollhouse until yesterday. Besides I live in New York, in case you've forgotten."

"There is a Dollhouse in New York! And there's also a thing called a sleeper active. You can be imprinted with one persona or ability and be anywhere in the world, for any number of years. Do you honestly think that reliving days is some kind of supernatural ability that you inherit from a dead person? Haven't you ever wondered how I got mine? I'm sorry that I have to be the one who drops this bomb on you, Tru, but it is just a magical ingredient made in a lab somewhere?"

"Uhhh… Not somewhere… HERE! Though I don't remember imprinting Echo with that ability. As a matter of fact, I'm sure I haven't." Topher asserts before he turns at Boyd and whispers: "Why is he calling her Tru?"

"Beats me, I don't know. He's been calling her Tru all night." Says Boyd.

"And she's responding to that name!" Topher remarks. "Maybe it's a glitch. I need to wipe her now before it gets worse."

"No!" She cries. "This is crazy. I'm not a doll. I have a life, and a job, and a family. All this cannot be just some freaking program planted in my head. I know it's not." She says with desperation and slight suspicion and fear that Jack might be telling the truth. She doesn't know what to believe any more.

Topher interrupts: "I have a job too, so can we please start with the treatment?"

"No!" Shouts Tru.

"Ok, as cute as this little charade is, I don't have all the time in the world," says Topher. "Boyd, Jack, can you please put her in the chair, and let's get this over with?"

Both men try to grab Tru against her will and put her in the imprint chair, but her aggression in resisting their grip gives Boyd a kick in the groin and Jack a punch in the face. At that time, the familiar voice and British accent of Adelle DeWitt interrupts them from across the room.

"Stop at once!" And everyone obeys in a phobic reaction. Adelle fixes her gaze at Tru and continues: "Let her go."

"Why?" Asks Topher.

"Because that's not Echo." Replies Adelle.

The imprint room elevator door opens and Echo, who is imprinted with Joy's persona, walks in with the tall woman who hired her.

"THAT is Echo." Says Adelle.

Shocked to a stratospheric level and almost hyperventilating, Tru's aggressive facial expressions change dramatically to a mix of fear and disbelief. The two sisters stand face to face for the first time ever. Neither one of them has ever been aware of the existence of the other. Neither has anyone in the room, except Adelle, who was informed only minutes ago by a phone call from Richard Davies, Tru's and Echo's father.

A quick flashback takes Tru's memory back to something Harrison said to her on the phone in day one: "Tru, how can you be here and there?"

"What is this?!" She says in utter confusion. "You make clones too?"

"Not a clone Miss Davies." Replies Adelle. "If you and Mr. Harper would be kind enough to come with me to my office, I'd like to have a word with you. Topher, please make sure Echo gets her treatment."

"A treatment sounds great." Says Joy/Echo as she seats herself comfortably on the imprint chair.

"But…" Starts Tru.

"I will explain everything, Miss Davies. Please." Adelle assures, guiding her out.

Author's Note:

In this chapter, everyone was confused, even Tru herself didn't know what to believe. Jack was actually starting to believe that she is a doll, just like he was. Of course, when the two sisters meet face to face, everyone realized that there is 'Echo', and there is 'Tru', and they are both different people who look exactly the same. More revelations in the next chapter.