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Three years and one month ago,
‘This is a disaster!’ Emma’s voice was taut as she barged into her office, her face a mask of fury. ‘A complete and utter disaster! To think that one of our own – our senior Programmer, no less – was doing something like this under our very noses! It’s unthinkable!’
‘To be fair,’ said Kevin, who had calmly followed Frost into her office after having listened to her infuriated ranting for the better part of an hour, ‘I don’t think anyone here ever actually liked Essex. I know I didn’t, and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t your favourite person around here either, Ma’am.’
Emma’s eyes narrowed and two spots of red appeared on her pale cheeks.
‘That’s not the point!’ she hissed. ‘Do you honestly think that the Board – that Shaw – will care about how I felt about the man? That my personal feelings will count for anything with them? Directors have been sacked for far less than this, god knows they have, but at least they knew what was happening in their own facility! I didn’t even have that! Essex was meddling with my Actives in my House and I should have known!’ Her hands were balled into fists and her face was filled with a blistering cold fury that was terrible to behold.
Kevin, ever the diplomat, discreetly looked away.
After a moment, Emma’s breathing returned to normal and when Kevin next looked, she was once again her normal cool and unflappable self, albeit with a slightly weary look about her. She straightened up and cast a rueful glance down at her loosening fists before letting out a sigh.
‘I never thought I would be saying this,’ she said tiredly, ‘but thank goodness for MacTaggart and her ridiculous little crush on her Active. God knows when we might have stumbled across this disaster otherwise, and it took us long enough to start with.’
Kevin, unfortunately, didn’t seem to grasp the main implication of this statement. He went completely still before whirling on Emma, his eyes wide and bright, and his entire expression filled with far more glee than the situation warranted.
‘MacTaggart has a crush on Charlie?’ he demanded, looking as if his birthday had come early.
Emma frowned, stern disapproval immediately radiating from every pore of her flawless skin.
‘Keep up, Mr Sydney!’ she said sharply, glaring at him. ‘MacTaggart is not the current problem. Or do I need to remind you of the multiple swords hanging over our heads at the moment?’ Emma cast an unimpressed eye over him and crossed her arms. ‘Never mind the fact that you should have been aware of MacTaggart’s misplaced affections a long time ago – or else what on earth did I promote you for?’
Kevin rolled his eyes, not seeming the least bit abashed.
‘It’s just a temporary promotion,’ he drawled, shrugging his shoulders. ‘You said so yourself. It’s not like either one of us actually wants me here. I’m just your last resort – like the fat kid that’s picked for five-a-side just to make up the numbers. I’m the guy that’s only brought in when everyone else is out.’
Emma scowled.
‘Nevertheless,’ she said shortly, ‘As the most senior member of my remaining staff, I expect you to take over as Head of Security where Mr. White left off.’ She paused, frowning at Kevin’s unenthusiastic expression. ‘And do not worry, Mr. Sydney – this is only temporary. We will have your replacement here soon enough. Our Canadian counterparts are very kindly sending us over one of their best men to help with the clean up after this … fiasco. You will expect him shortly – Creed, I believe his name is. Victor Creed.’
Kevin’s shoulders immediately slumped with relief.
‘The sooner he comes, the better,’ he muttered, clenching his long, thin fingers with unconscious anxiety. ‘Then I can go back to sitting around and watching a bunch of pretty, brain-dead little darlings puttering about the House while pretending that I’m working.’ He shook his head. ‘If only old Whitey hadn’t gone and got himself slaughtered like that,’ he sighed mournfully.
‘Not forgetting the twelve of my very best men that he took along with him,’ Emma added bitingly, a bitter expression crossing her face. Her cold white hands curled into fists as a surge of anger overtook her, causing her eyes to flash. ‘Damn Essex!’ she cursed. ‘Damn him! This is all his doing! What on earth was he thinking, tampering with our Actives like that? Did he honestly think that we wouldn’t notice?’
‘Well,’ Kevin said lightly, glancing down at his fingernails, ‘Considering that he’d been doing this for years before we actually caught him …’ His voice trailed off.
Emma’s mouth twisted.
‘Yes, I know, Mr. Sydney,’ she snapped, glaring at him. She sighed then and ran a hand across her face; the droop of her eyelids were the only visible indicator of her weariness. ‘Those poor people,’ she murmured, her voice strangely soft, ‘God knows what he’d been doing to them.’ She glanced up at Kevin. ‘He wouldn’t tell us, you know,’ she said almost conversationally, ‘Even after Mr. White asked him nicely. Refused to tell us anything, right to the end. It was silly of him to resist, of course,’ she added with a small shrug. ‘We will have the answers soon enough.’
‘What happened to him?’ Kevin asked curiously. He had his suspicions, of course, but he didn’t know anything for sure. He hadn’t been Head of House Security then, something that he was sincerely grateful for, particularly in retrospect.
Emma gave him a cool look.
‘What do you think happened?’ she asked idly. ‘We put him in the Attic.’
Kevin’s eyes widened at that and Emma scoffed.
‘What else did you think would happen?’ she demanded. ‘After everything he’s done? He couldn’t be allowed to go free, not after that. So we wiped him, sent him to the Attic, and downloaded a new, clean identity into his body. That way we’ll be covered if anyone comes looking for him.’
Kevin swallowed.
‘So … he’s dead?’ he asked, fidgeting slightly.
‘He’s in the Attic,’ Emma corrected, watching him narrowly. ‘But yes, I suppose that Nathaniel Essex is, to all intents and purposes, dead.’
‘Sheesh,’ Kevin muttered, looking down at his shoes. ‘Remind me not to get on your bad side.’
Emma gave him a thin smile.
‘Sometimes, Mr. Sydney,’ she murmured, ‘Your wisdom surprises even me.’
Kevin smiled dryly but said nothing.
Emma let out a sigh.
‘Truth is,’ she said, almost to herself, ‘I committed a grave error. I put too much trust in Essex and I let things slip out of my hands.’ She clenched her fists. ‘This must not happen again. Ever.’
‘I wouldn’t be too hard on myself,’ Kevin said, shrugging and trying his best to be sympathetic. ‘You weren’t to know, after all.’
‘But I was,’ Emma said, straightening up. ‘I did.’
Kevin stared at her.
‘Well, I didn’t know,’ Emma rolled her eyes at the appalled expression on Kevin’s face. ‘Obviously, I didn’t. But-’ she hesitated. ‘Mr. McCoy came to see me once,’ she said abruptly, causing Kevin to blink.
‘McCoy – the Doc’s assistant? Did he have anything to do with-’ he started but Emma waved him off.
‘No,’ she said, shaking her head, ‘It’s highly doubtful. Of course we have suspended all Programming activity for the interim and McCoy is being held while we debrief him – but no. I do not think he was part of Essex’s twisted little venture. As I was saying – he came to see me once.’ Emma grimaced. ‘He wanted to tell me about some inconsistencies in Essex’s activities.’
‘What did he say?’ Kevin asked curiously.
Emma sighed and rubbed her hand across her face.
‘That Essex requisitioned Actives for “training exercises” even when none were scheduled,’ she said tiredly. ‘That he more often than not sent McCoy away when this happened. Discrepancies in the reports, missing logs – that sort of thing.’
Kevin’s eyebrows had slowly risen whilst Emma had spoken, causing Emma to scowl.
‘Yes, I know that it all looks terribly suspicious now,’ she snapped. ‘But what was I supposed to think back then? I just told McCoy that I would take care of it and then found Essex and gave him an unofficial reprimand.’ Her mouth tightened. ‘He became a lot more careful after that, it seems,’ she said grimly. ‘If it weren’t for MacTaggart becoming suspicious about Charlie’s frequent disappearances, I don’t know what would have happened.’ She turned to glare at Kevin. ‘And before you open your mouth, please remember that she, of all the Handlers, was the only one to have noticed that anything was amiss with Essex. And that includes you, Mr. Sydney.’
Kevin’s mouth closed with a snap and he winced, looking rather sheepish.
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I get you. We should probably do something about that – institute some sort of Handler-Active bonding time, or something.’
Emma cocked her head thoughtfully.
‘That’s not a bad idea, Mr. Sydney,’ she said, sounding vaguely surprised. ‘I’ll keep it in mind.’
‘I’m not just a pretty face, you know,’ Kevin smirked, before letting out a high-pitched cackle that caused Emma to wrinkle her nose. He sobered after a moment, however, and turned to face her. ‘About MacTaggart …’
‘I already told you-’
‘No jokes, ma’am,’ Kevin said quickly. He waited for Emma to quieten down before continuing. ‘I know you’re grateful to her for bringing the matter to your attention and all, but if she does have feelings for her Active …’ he trailed off.
Emma grimaced and then nodded.
‘Yes,’ she said, lowering her head. ‘Yes, I know. You are correct, Mr. Sydney. Protocol demands that I separate her from her Active immediately.’ She suddenly frowned. ‘Then again, protocol has not served me particularly well, of late … No,’ she said, abruptly decisive, ‘we will leave Miss MacTaggart alone for now. You will keep an eye on her, however, Mr. Sydney. Make sure that this … crush of hers is only fleeting. If it looks to develop into something more problematic, however …’ she paused, ‘Then we will take action as is necessary. For now, though, we have bigger things to worry about.’
‘Such as Mystique,’ Kevin said with a grave dip of the head.
‘Such as Mystique,’ Emma agreed with an acknowledging nod.
‘I suppose love-sick Handlers don’t really make the list when you have a psycho, knife-wielding Active on the loose, huh?’ Kevin smiled humourlessly.
‘MacTaggart is not one of my top priorities, no,’ Emma said with a wry look. ‘But then we hardly have the resources necessary to bring in Mystique, either. Not at the moment, at any rate.’ She shook her head. ‘Essex must have been mad,’ she declared. ‘I can’t see any other explanation for it. Forcing Actives to retain memories of their Assignments? It’s madness! Cruel, sadistic madness! Who knows what sort of brain damage and trauma they might have suffered at his hands? And that’s just the start of it!’
Kevin’s eyes widened.
Emma gave him a look. ‘He wasn’t only interested in testing the limits of our Actives’ brains, you know,’ she said, her voice icy cold and full of revulsion. ‘No, Dr. Essex was interested in something much bigger than that.’ She paused then, and forced Kevin to meet her eyes. ‘What I am about to tell you, Mr. Sydney, is never to be repeated again outside this office, do you hear me?’
Kevin nodded.
Emma watched him do so before letting out a breath, her lips forming a grim line.
‘Immortality,’ she said quietly. ‘Dr. Essex was interested in immortality. In perpetuating his existence for as long as he was able to.’
Kevin frowned.
‘I don’t see-’
‘What do we do here, Mr. Sydney?’ Emma cut him off before he could finish. ‘What is it that the Dollhouse does?’
‘We build fantasies,’ Kevin said slowly, still frowning. ‘We create programs for our Actives into which we input all of our Client’s desired skills and qualities-’
‘And where do we get these skills and qualities from? Originally, I mean?’
‘Well,’ Kevin said, deep in thought, ‘We get them from of the copies of all the minds in our database and-’ He paused, a stricken look suddenly crossing his face. ‘… From all the minds in our database,’ he repeated thickly, his eyes wide.
Emma nodded, watching him.
‘Essex. Essex is in that database.’
Again, Emma nodded.
‘So technically he could-’ Kevin’s face went green. ‘Oh hell. Like one of that guy wasn’t enough.’
‘Quite,’ Emma smiled thinly.
‘Shit,’ Kevin swore. It was a mark of how grave the situation was that Emma did not so much as frown at the expletive. ‘That’s bad. That’s very bad. And you’re saying Mystique-’
‘No,’ Emma quickly shook her head. ‘He mainly focused his immortality project on others – Phoenix and Cyclops were his favourites for that one, I believe, and he was just starting on Charlie. Naturally I’ve had them all temporarily transferred to ensure that their minds are completely wiped clean of all traces of Essex. Mystique, however …’ and here Emma’s shoulders actually slumped. ‘Mystique was released from our custody prematurely, before we had any idea about Essex’s activities. By the time we knew, not only had she been released, but she had also disappeared.’ Her lips formed a thin line. ‘So now not only does she remember what happened to her, but she also retains the skills to bring us down – as evidenced by our loss of Mr. White and his team.’ Emma closed her eyes for a moment. ‘God only knows what she intends to do next.’
‘Maybe she’ll just … leave us alone?’ Kevin asked hopefully, but Emma shook her head.
‘No,’ she said firmly, her eyes like steel. ‘I think not. You see, it’s not only vengeance that she’s after.’ She turned to look Kevin straight in the eye. ‘I’m afraid that we have something infinitely more precious to her in our grasp.’
Kevin leaned forward curiously.
‘Her brother,’ Emma said, smiling wryly. ‘We have Mystique’s brother. Our own dear Charlie, if you would believe it.’
Kevin stared.
‘Wow,’ he said after a moment. He blinked and shook his head. ‘Wow,’ he said again. He looked up at Emma. ‘You know that means that we’re pretty much screwed, right?’
Emma’s eyes glinted fiercely.
‘Don’t be too sure about that, Mr. Sydney,’ she said smoothly. ‘We may have been taken by surprise but that shall not happen again. We are even now upgrading our security, and the personnel will soon follow. I wouldn’t worry too much about Mystique, if I were you. After all,’ and this time Emma’s expression was full of cold satisfaction, ‘there are a lot more where she came from.’
Kevin’s eyes quickly flicked up to Emma’s before dipping down just as fast.
‘Great,’ he said, sounding anything but enthusiastic. ‘So now we’ll have more knife-wielding psycho Dolls running about the place. Just what we needed.’
Emma gave him a cool smile.
‘What you forget, Mr. Sydney,’ she said with a lift of her eyebrow, ‘Is that these ones will be ours.’
For some reason this did not seem to reassure Kevin very much.
‘If you say so,’ he muttered with a loose shrug.
‘You’ll see,’ Emma said determinedly, a calculating glint entering her eyes once more. ‘This whole mess will be cleared up in no time. Essex has been dealt with and the Dolls are being checked and assessed even now. All that’s left is Mystique, and it won’t take long to apprehend her.’
Kevin didn’t say anything.
Emma gave a soft snort and tossed her head. ‘I very much doubt she’s rational now, anyway,’ she said with a careless shrug. ‘Essex’s tampering will catch up with her soon enough. If she won’t be knocking on our door for help then she will be locked in some sort of police cell, waiting for us to pick her up. She won’t last long.’ Emma’s mouth slowly pulled up into a smile, her eyes full of cool triumph. ‘In fact, I don’t think she’ll even last the month …’