Disclaimer: Still don't own it
Spencer and the others walked through the darkness.
Power had yet to be turned on for the building they were in and with it being nighttime outside, they were forced to rely on flashlights to get around.
Currently, the four of them were exploring an unused section of the facility; searching for Dr. Clark's real workplace. Mike and Mona had started the search in another section before being joined by the other two members of their quartet. It turned out that the psychiatric prison had been originally a military facility built during the Cold War; thus it was a lot bigger than what was currently thought. There were whole sections of prison that were not in use and long abandoned as well as closed off; which no one had been in for years. Mona had to download a complete blueprint of the place for them to fully search as well as the sections that were off the books; which she got using her clearance.
While Spencer had been a little hesitant to buy that this Tabitha Clark could be their killer, she didn't have any other ideas and decided to roll with Mona's lead unless something else came up. She had been a little caught off guard by the idea that her brother had been murdered; still awash of emotions since she was never close to him. Charles had been Jason's twin and imagined that he would be the angriest once the truth came out; though she didn't know how Alison would take it. Charles had caused everyone so much pain, despite that he had also been wronged, and it was hard to sympathize what had happened to him. Maybe in the end it was karma that he had been murdered by someone who had been smarter than him; even the natural succession of the mantle of being A.
"What used to be here?" asked Mike as he shined his light into an empty room, seeing nothing but a decaying room with the cracked floors and peeling plaster.
"Barracks of sorts for soldiers and other personnel; this place was supposed to house an entire regiment of troops for security," answered Mona as she checked another room along with Toby, finding nothing as well.
"I'm surprised they didn't just bulldoze all of this when the converted this place into a prison," Spencer said as she continued to look around. While the four of them were searching this building, there were other elements of the prison staff that were looking in the other abandoned structures.
"They were planning to expand the prison so that every structure can be used; thus increasing the number of inmates and other personnel. There was a lack of money though as well as a desire to spread the inmates out so that there wasn't a risk of a massive jailbreak," informed the NSA Agent, reciting what she had read when looking up the plans for the place. It made sense to her given the risk of putting all the eggs in one basket; though in this case, more people just like Charles who could pose a risk of escaping and causing havoc.
"And you really think this Tabitha Clark has a lair somewhere here?" Toby asked, speaking up for the first time since coming here. Given his history with places like this, from his stint in juvie to his mother, the police officer really didn't want to be here.
"I do; she was always working in the prison and her temporary residence on the grounds was also free of activity. That means that some trace of her lair has to be on site," Mona stated with full belief.
"Unless she took it with her when she left," countered Spencer, getting tired of searching the empty dark rooms for something that might not be here anymore.
"That might be the case but we should at least look for some remnants; there might be a residual clue," the shorter woman argued back, trying to keep her tone civil. She hated when someone disagreed with her; especially someone who was intellectually inferior to her.
"I think we are wasting our time; if Doctor Tabitha Clark is A, then we need to focus on finding her and not look for some mythical lair," the FBI Agent angrily stated as she flashed her light in Mona's face.
"And where should we look Spencer? Dr. Clark is in the wind and we know next to nothing about her because her foster records are still waiting to be unsealed for our investigation; we can't even ask a friend since she had none. This is best course of action," stated the shorter woman, snapping at Spencer and shining her flashlight back at the young woman.
"If you are right; we still don't know if Tabitha Clark is really A or even connected to all this. She might have killed Charles but there is no known reason for her to even be A; I think we are barking up the wrong tree," Spencer said as a matter of fact, simply crossing her arms in the darkness.
"At least I can be right; something that you have never been," countered the NSA Agent with a condescending smirk, making a subtle point.
"What the Hell is supposed to mean?" Spencer demanded to know, her rage starting to rise and wanting to wipe that smirk off the woman's face. While she had no doubt that she could take Mona, there was the chance that Mona knew some moves from her time in the NSA.
"What I mean Spencer is that you have never, ever been right on anything. I seem to recall that that you were always wrong on who A was back in high school; from Ian to Ezra, you have always gotten it wrong," Mona simply said with a trace of smugness in her voice. Mike was unable to say anything since he had no clue what to do while Toby knew he had to speak up before it's too late.
"I figured out you and Charles were A," stated the FBI Agent, fighting back against the accusation that she was always wrong.
"Oh please; you only figured out that I was A because you were in my lair and my things were scattered everywhere; Hanna could have figured that out. You only figured out Charles because you found his name in the Dollhouse including that old tape of him with his mother and brother. Things have to be in your damn face for you to figure it out and even then you have trouble; especially those who you accuse," Mona said with a snarl as old memories came popping up.
"Excuse me?" Spencer asked, her tone more of confusion than anger. She wasn't sure what Mona meant by that last line.
"Every person you have ever accused has had something bad happen to them; even though they were innocent. You accused Ian of being A and he ended up dead; with your sister having to suffer the consequences. You accused Garret of killing Alison and he was murdered; not to mention Wilden who you also accused of something. Ezra got shot because of your accusations, Jenna nearly drowned, your mother left your father because you thought he killed Alison's mother, and even Toby here has suffered because of you. Let's face it Spencer, if I hadn't come to help then some poor person would end up in a grave because you were too idiotic to put the pieces together," Mona said to the young woman with such a passion that Spencer couldn't come up with anything to say. While she stood there and simply was frozen in thought, Toby stepped in between the two women and stared at Mona.
"That's enough Mona; you and Mike go explore the rest of this building while we head out to another location," Toby firmly ordered firmly, ending this argument between the two women before things escalated even further.
"And here is the shiny knight in armor stepping in to protect his girlfriend; how cute," Mona sarcastically said, turning around and walking angrily down the hall. Mike took one last look at Toby before running to catch up with the shorter woman.
"Are you okay?" Toby asked his girlfriend, noticing her heavy breathing and that she was shaking in the darkness; assuming that it was out of rage.
"I want to slap her," Spencer stated, trying to bring her emotions under control. She was so angry right now that she wanted to just scream.
"Please don't; we do need her and I am afraid what she would do to you if you did strike her," Toby said to the young woman; almost pleading.
"And you think she is right," Spencer said in anger with Toby confused if it was directed at him or still at Mona.
"No I don't; you are a smart woman," stated the older man; though he had to lie. While he wouldn't say it out loud, some of Mona's words rang true.
"Well I think she is right and that's the problem. Everyone I have accused of wrongdoing has suffered because of me," admitted the FBI Agent in defeat. The thought had occurred to her some years ago though she never could fully believe it.
It was funny to hear it come from someone who knew her better than she knew herself.
"Maybe; but you are no longer that young, inexperienced, brash teenager. You are a mature FBI Agent who has worked her way to maturity and learned from the mistakes of her past," Toby countered gently in an attempt to cheer Spencer up. She appreciated what he was doing and smiled at him before giving him a loving peck on his lips.
"Thank you; but Mona is right and I have to consider her ideas might be able to find this A," Spencer said as she and Toby made their way out of the building to the one next door. Toby was about to say something about ending her feud with Mona when Mike suddenly came running up.
"We found it," was all that the young man said as he motioned for the couple to follow him down the hall and into the darkness. The two took off quickly after him and turned the corner, seeing a light at the end; coming from a large crack in the wall that was large enough for someone to step through.
"Wow," was all Spencer said as she and the other two men stepped inside the large space.
It was definitely a room; though more of a vault than anything else with the walls being made of metal while the floor was concrete. It was able to provide power though with there being multiple outlets; one of which providing light to a tall lamp in the center of the room with a rather bright light bulb. Besides the lamp, there was a small wooden table and chair in the center; which was bare of anything though the dust outlines showed that there could have been a laptop at one time as well as other items. In one of the corners was an old metal cot that had a blanket and pillow; showing signs of use though Spencer couldn't understand why anyone would sleep in a place like this.
It was what was on the walls that really caught Spencer's attention and it took her back to when she had first entered the Lair of A; when it had been Mona. There were newspaper clippings posted with some going back all the way to aftermath of when Charles was caught; when the national press was covering the A affair extensively. There were also pictures of the various A messages that had been sent to the girls during the whole time they were harassed as well as ones that Spencer never received; making them a possibility of them be original to this new A. A few pages of Ezra's book was on the wall as well; some going into detail on the level of sophistication Charles had operated back then.
Though this had definitely had been a lair at one time, it lacked the creepiness of the others.
"I'm sorry; you were right," Spencer said to Mona as she joined the shorter woman at her side.
"I'm sorry too; though what I said was correct," stated the NSA Agent and Spencer nodded, looking at the picture of her as a teen on the wall. Besides her, there were other photos of the girls back then including most of the guys; with the exception of Mike and Caleb.
"Do you think that she moved the lair before or after abducting the first victim?" inquired the taller woman as she looked around. Toby had stepped out to call CSU while Mike went to call off the search.
"After; the way that everything is on the walls, I don't think anything was taken. Every A Lair, from mine to Charles, had things posted relevant to what was going on currently," Mona answered, remembering how her setup was back then.
"I agree; especially since she could not have kept anyone here without at least someone knowing. While the prison isn't exactly secure on the inside, it would still be hard to move someone in and keep them alive without the officials knowing," stated the FBI Agent, walking over to the bed while pulling out a pair of latex gloves. She moved the blanket around but didn't see anything of relevance.
"Plus, any State Auditor would notice the increased power usage and trace it back to this place at some point. I think Dr. Clark was merely putting things together here until she was ready to move on to the next stage of the Game," the other woman added as she pulled out her phone to see if she had a signal.
"But why is she doing this? My training has been telling me that there is more to this than simple insanity. With A, it was always revenge and we have found no connection between Tabitha Clark and the other victims; and I am just not seeing that here," Spencer said, now more confused than ever. This Lair seems like it was designed for fact finding more than anything else in the young woman's opinion.
"Maybe that is our problem; we are only looking at this at a rational point of view and not as it should appear. Yes, when I was A as well as Charles, it was primarily about revenge though we also saw this as a game as well. It could be that Doctor Tabitha Clark views this whole thing as nothing but a game; one of which she is the puppet master," Mona speculated as she read one of the pages from Ezra's book; which detailed the time that Charles had placed the girls in the Dollhouse and made them do what he wanted.
"Which tells me that maybe Tabitha Clark hasn't had the best childhood though we have yet to find out much about her," said Spencer, sounding disappointed.
"Well we can go over what we know about her just by what we see her; you have a degree in psychology just like I do so what do you see?" Mona asked her, causing Spencer to look at the room differently.
"Well she likes to be isolated, not wanting to communicate with anyone she doesn't have to. The woman likes to plan ahead given all these clippings on the walls and she must have used Charles as a lab rat; or even a source for information. Given the overall state of this place, she is not one for comfort and could care less about it; this tells me that she has never really lived anywhere that was happy for her and that she just used anything she could to survive," Spencer observed, using her training from the academy for guidance.
"Unless she took it all with her when she left; though I think what we see is how she originally kept this place. I also think that everything relevant to her plans was on that laptop and she was using it to maybe scout out a new location for her lair," Mona said, adding a few observations of her own into the mix.
"You think she could get an internet signal out this far without the prison noticing?" inquired the taller woman questionably.
"Our main suspect is an expert hacker and I have no doubt that she could use the prison's resources without them knowing. There is also the possibility that she simply had an attachment to the laptop to directly tap into a satellite for her own private internet usage," speculated the NSA Agent.
"You could do that now; just tap into satellites for internet use?" Spencer asked, quite surprised given her lack of computer knowledge. She never bothered learning anything other than the basics back at the academy and left all the rest to Caleb if she needed something more.
"Oh yes; the tech isn't on the open market but if you know where to look, you could get one. That is why it's going to be complicated in trying to track Tabitha Clark through the net," informed the shorter woman with a sigh. It was annoying when the perpetrators were intelligent since it made it all the harder to find them.
"So we'll just have to find her the old fashioned way; maybe even how we found Charles," suggested Spencer with a bit of hope in her voice.
"He was arrogant to be sure and we might be able to use that against Doctor Clark since she might be suffering the same fallacy," Mona finished, getting what the other woman was getting at; smiling at the thought of it.
Toby and Mike watched them and smiled at one another with a sense of relief; feeling that they now had a chance of acting like a real team.
Please Read and Review; also a shout out to my friend Paraddicted for the pre-read!