@assetrisen Dollhouse plotted starter.
Late nights of drinking and research had produced nothing, and a part of her wondered if her father had given up the whole Dollhouse thing. Because if he had, that made her life that much easier, not needing to worry that Matthew would someday recapture her and put her back in that hell. But what could she do if there was no evidence supporting the existence? Nearly calling it a night, something popped up on her screen, a familiar name and face. ‘Shaw? No. No fucking way…’ Sitting up, she enlarged the photo, and sure enough, it was her. Taking a closer look, she even recognized the license plant. It belonged to the house. Gemma would know that license plate anywhere. “Well, looks like either mistaken identity or they have something planned.” Following the car, to wherever it was going, she managed to find the building, one she had passed several times. ‘How could I be so fucking stupid. Of course, they would hide in semi-plane sight. They got away with that once.’ She scolded herself and began to pull up blueprints of the building. If she was going to go in, Gemma needed to make sure this would go off without a hitch.
“I’m comin’ Shaw,” even if the two did not have a friendship, the time they passed one another during the service made up for that. And, if the house got ahold of that mind, who knows what they could do with it. This was what worried her the most, she figured Shaw could handle herself, but she was not going to leave her hanging. After arriving, Gemma used the cover of night to sneak near a guard. Subduing them, she put on the uniform, and after shuttering briefly, she began to make her way through. All of this seemed like muscle memory. However, the terror still dwelled beneath the surface. Reaching a door, she used the badge on the uniform and slipped into the stairwell. Making her way down, she hoped that this would not end with a fight. But, in typical fashion, she brought weapons in case. Reaching where she believed the house was, she opened the door and slipped in. Things seemed quiet, far too uneventful for her liking. Her eyes scanned the area for the woman she was here for. The others would have to wait.
As feet walked along the carpet, memories of her time here made their way to the front of her mind. Deep inside, her mind screamed that she should not be here, that this could all have been a trap, and she was stupid enough to fall for it. However, she quickly rationalized it, knowing that if she sat back while they continued, who knows what they would do. “Shaw…” Gemma mutters, “come on… Don’t tell me they dolled you up. I don’t have the equipment to fix that shit.” Gemma continued as she walked through the house, seemingly going unnoticed.
She hated the drugs and the way they made her brain feel like it was stuffed with cotton. Ever since she had managed to get a call out to the team, they seemed to have upped her doses, or at least how often she was given them, and the days and weeks slipped through her fingers like grains of sand. The next time she fully came to, she was strapped in a chair, surrounded by unfamiliar faces and one wrinkly familiar one. She certainly hissed out choice words, fighting against metal restraints until another needle slid under her skin, this time not bringing the daze or blurriness, but was some kind of paralytic, keeping her trapped in her body while she was unable to fight or yell.
Greer talked for a bit, and she only caught some of the words through the rage that filtered through everything. Dollhouse. Active. Wipe. Imprint. Shaw wanted to howl as Greer stepped closer and took her hand, a piece of paper in his hand as he read out phrases. Shaw had seen enough things in the Marines to know that this was supposed to be some kind of call and response brainwashing technique, and her body convulsed in the chair as it whirred to life. She fought until she couldn’t fight any longer, long enough to see smugness turn to slight concern until finally the black claimed her.
Shaw blinked and stared at Greer who looked down at her like a benevolent old grandfather. She spoke before she even knew what she was saying.
It was easier from that point, and within two weeks Shaw finally understood what they were doing here, but she also knew that it was only a matter of time before Greer realized that their plan didn’t work. Well, didn’t work fully. Shaw knew what was expected of her as a Doll, the schedules and the childlike behaviors that she saw the others exhibiting. It was both a fight and not, and she hated every second of it.
On her way to go swimming, Shaw nearly bumps into a guard who definitely isn’t supposed to be there and she stops at the familiar face. “Harding,” she blurts out in surprise. It takes her a second for her to recover and she quickly pulls her to a blind spot from the cameras. “What the hell are you doing here?” Shaw demands lowly. If she was working for Samaritan, then she’s completely just blown her cover, but if she was here for some other reason, then maybe Gemma would be her ticket out.