16Well, here it is. Better late than never I suppose.
Disclaimer: Joss owns everything Dollhouse.
Chapter Four
"Has the jury reached a verdict?" The judge asked.
"We have your honor."
"Then will the defendant please rise."
With an almost inaudible sigh, he rose from his seat, though he already had a suspicion on what the verdict would be.
The tall man representing the jury began reading off from a piece of paper. "On the charges of kidnapping we, the jury, find the defendant, Karl William Kraft, guilty. On the charges of assault, we find the defendant, guilty. And finally on the charges of attempted murder, we find the defendant, guilty."
There were murmurs from people in the seats behind him but Karl ignored them as he watched the judge turn to him, ready to deliver his sentence.
"Karl William Craft, I sentence you to sixty-five years in the Las Angeles Department of corrections. You will be eligible for parole in twenty-five years." The judge banged his gravel. "Dismissed."
His lawyer turned toward him, an apologetic look upon his face. Karl didn't care, though, He had known at the beginning of his case that he would be convicted, his only hope was parole. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Nitta standing with an older couple that had to be her parents. The cuts on her face had almost healed by now. He could still remember how it felt when he cut her. The rush of adrenaline, the way the knife felt when-
"Alpha?"
Alpha woke with a jerk. It took a moment for him to realize where he was, the motel he and the rest of the group had found last night. Part of him still felt like he was back in the courtroom and he could feel Karl trying to take control again. With a growl, he pushed him to the back of his mind. He could feel the man's frustration at not having control, and he could tell this wouldn't be the last of his mental struggles with him. The thought made him furious, but at the moment there wasn't much he could do about it.
"Alpha," the same voice said, though more persistent this time.
He looked up from his bed to see Dominic standing across the room.
"What is it," he growled.
"Everyone's ready to move out."
"Alright, I'll be there in a minute," he told him, his voice still heavy with sleep.
Dominic nodded his head, and left the room.
Alpha got up with a groan. It had been late at night when he finally fixed the damage done to the truck. He, along with Dominic and the other man, had decided to just wait until morning to go to the Dollhouse. Eventually they had found a motel that didn't look to shabby, or conspicuous. At first he had rejoiced at the prospect of sleeping in a proper bed, but now his back and neck were so stiff that he wished he had slept on the floor.
Quickly shoving his gun in the waistband of his pants, Alpha joined the others in the back of the motel where he had parked the truck. Dominic was leaning against the driver's door, his hand resting lightly on his holstered gun. The other three men stood directly in front of the van, guns held at the ready. Dominic had introduced them the previous night. The twins were Alex and James (though for the life of him he couldn't remember who was who). The other man was called George. They all regarded him warily as he walked past them, almost as if they expected him to turn into a butcher at any second.
"Dominic and I are going to ride up front, you three can ride in the back," he told them.
George merely nodded, but the twins exchanged irritated glances, obviously not pleased with being told what to do by a man they just met.
"Is there a problem with that," he asked, challengingly.
"No," began one twin.
"No problem," the other finished.
Alpha scrutinized them for a moment longer, as if that way he could detect the underlying hostility he was sure was there. The twins' faces, however, remained blank.
"Let's move out." Alpha swiftly climbed into the cab, and started the truck, the others quickly climbed in.
"So, what's the deal with the twins," Alpha asked Dominic once they were on the road.
Dominic simply shrugged his shoulders. "Not much to tell. They were both black ops before the wipes started. I found them when I was trying to live out in the dessert. They'd been living out there for a few years, only risking venturing out into the city when they needed certain supplies.
"Do any of them know about the Dollhouse?"
Dominic snorted. "Are you kidding? Even after the blanket signals started, the Dollhouse stayed a myth. Most people know that Rossum had a hand in creating the tech, they just don't realize how big a part they really played."
"If they don't know what the Dollhouse is, then where did you tell them we're going," he inquired, glancing over at his companion.
"Just that there was some tech hidden under a hotel we needed to get rid of. It's not that far from the truth really."
All in all, it took thirty minutes for them to find the Mirage and Casino hotel. Navigating the vehicle had become more difficult the farther in they went into the city. Alpha found himself constantly driving around debris, and the occasionally human body, though he was eventually able to find the Strip, and the hotel.
He parked the truck right in front of the main entrance.
"Have you ever been to this place before," Alpha asked Dominic as they got out.
"No," he replied, looking around. "Most likely though, the only way to get into it will be through an elevator shaft."
"It's probably just going to be one elevator shaft," Alpha added, looking up at the hotel. It was a shade of its former grandeur, from what he could see, many of the windows were broken, and the Beatles banner at the very top was so filthy you could barely see the vivid orange it was supposed to be. None the less, it was still an enormous hotel, with dozens of elevator shafts.
"Go and get some supplies out from the back," he said, still staring up at the hotel. "I'm going to on ahead and see if I can find anything in there that might point us in the right direction."
"You can't go in there by yourself," Dominic protested, but Alpha was already walking toward the entrance. His only response was, 'to be sure and bring rope'.
The inside of the hotel still held the tropical theme it had promoted. Many of the palm trees and other tropical looking plants were still in place. The lobby didn't looked like it had suffered much damage either, though several chairs and tables were knocked over, and papers were scattered over the floor.
Alpha walked over to the check-in desk and hopped over it, then proceeded to file through its drawers.
"Ah, here we go," he murmured to himself, finding a whole pile of maps for the hotel in a drawer, which were no doubt given to guests on arrival. He unfolded it, his eyes quickly sweeping over the pamphlet. It wasn't nearly as detailed as he would have like it to be. Blueprints for the building would have been much more useful, but there was no way for him to locate those. After studying the map for a few seconds, Alpha narrowed down the most likely places for the entrance to the Dollhouse; near the security office where the safes were mostly likely kept as well, the offices next to the casinos, or somewhere near the dance club.
Alpha tucked the map in his back pocket before hopping back over the desk and heading for the direction of the security center since it was the closest. As he walked past one of the restaurants he noticed a few overturned tables with bullet holes in them, indicating that there had been a shoot out at some point.
Alpha's footsteps echoed off the walls and high ceilings. There was the very same silence inside the hotel that there had been in the city. The silence was strange for Alpha who was accustomed to there being some sort of noise, whether it be inside or outside his head. Somehow the silence seemed more deafening than anything else he ever heard.
When Alpha opened the door that would lead him to the security center, he found himself in a concrete hallway. Nothing out of the ordinary about it, except for the fact that it was lit up by fluorescent lights, something that shouldn't be running when electricity in the rest of the building was shut off, and had been for a while.
Alpha looked up at the lights, a grin stretching across his features. Electricity meant that there had to be a generator close by. Halfway down the hall there was a door with a wire mesh window, obviously the security center, where they monitored the security cameras. At the end of the hall was a gray metal door. Striding past the security center, Alpha tested the door and found it unlocked. Smiling triumphantly, he stepped into a dimly lit room.
There wasn't much in it, except few boxes, and a safe that was most likely used to store valuable items that guests didn't trust to put in the safes in their room, Alpha's eyes wandered over the room until they rested on the heavy metal, key card door. He began walking towards it, when the knob started to turn; Alpha quickly hid himself behind a shelf filled with boxes, as the door opened. Peering in-between the boxes, Alpha could see a young, redheaded woman, walk into the room.
She looked around the room warily, a gun in hand. Alpha pressed his back up against the wall, relying on the shelf to keep him concealed. The woman held the gun out in front of her as she made her way to the door, passing Alpha and his hiding place without noticing him. With her back now turned to him, Alpha followed her, treading softly.
When she had reached the door he was only three feet behind her. Maybe she had heard him after all, or maybe she had just sensed his presence behind her, but when Alpha was about to make his move to grab her she spun around, bringing her gun up as she did so and pulling the trigger.
Alpha gritted his teethe in pain as the bullet ripped through his left shoulder, the sound of the gunshot still reverberating in his head. With a snarl he lunged forward, knocking the gun out of the woman's hand as he did so, and pinned her up against the door. She began screaming, but he quickly cut her off by covering her mouth with his hand. Her eyes were wide and confused as she looked up at him. It seemed like she was still trying to register the fact that he was in the room with her.
Alpha regarded her for a moment or two, wondering whether or not he should just kill her to get her out of the way. "I'm going to remove my hand now," he told her in a quiet voice, deciding that most likely she had information he needed. "When I do, you're not going to scream, and you're going to answer a few questions I have, understood?"
The woman nodded slowly. Alpha took his hand away from her mouth, eliciting a sharp pain from his shoulder, causing him to grit his teeth, before continuing.
"How long have you been down here," he asked.
She swallowed once before answering. "Nine or eight years. Ever since Las Vegas was covered in a blanket signal that turned most of the people into butchers."
"Where have you been staying all this time?"
Alpha pressed down on her windpipe with his good arm when she remained silent. "It would be in your best interest to answer the question," he whispered in a chilling voice.
"We've been staying in some Sort of underground facility," she managed to choke out.
Alpha quirked an eyebrow questioningly and lessened the pressure he was applying to he throat. "We?"
"A few other employees and I."
He nodded. "Right, does this, 'underground facility', happen to have a room full of technology with a strange looking chair?"
The woman's eyes widened in surprise and recognition. "Yes, how do you know that?"
Alpha smiled conspiratorially at her. "How 'bout we just call it a hunch." He removed his arm from her windpipe. "What's your name," he asked.
"Ashley," she said quietly, "but I prefer Ash."
"Well then, Ash," Alpha bent down and scooped up the gun from where it lay on the floor, "you're going to take me to where this facility is, but first we have to get the rest of my group."
"There are others," she asked in surprise as Alpha took hold of her arm and dragged her through the door.
"Yep, they're not much company though, one's a weakling and the others are just hard-asses."
Ash continued to stare at him in bewilderment. "But what about all the butchers?"
"Gone, they all turned back into pumpkins."
She gave him a look that was filled with both hope and doubt. Hope that what he was saying was really true, and doubt such a thing could have really happened over night.
As they continued down the hall Alpha noticed out of the corner of his eye that she kept shooting glances his way, almost as if to reaffirm he was actually there. At first Alpha thought this was out of fear, but then realized that he was probably the first person, other than those that she had holed up with, she had talked to in years. She had wide brown eyes that reminded him of Whiskey. He wondered what ever happened to her.
Luckily the elevator that led to the Dollhouse was still running, saving them the trouble of having to use the rope. Alpha was so used to the spa-like appearance of the LA. Dollhouse that when the elevator doors opened, revealing the Vegas Dollhouse the shock of it was like hitting a brick wall.
Whoever had designed the Dollhouse obviously had wanted to stay with the Mirage's 'South Seas' theme. What must have been the lounge area for the Dolls, looked like one big garden of tropical plants. There was even a small, natural-looking pond in one corner. A green carpet wound its way through the plants and led to the center of the room where several couches were set up.
Alpha stepped out of the elevator and surveyed his surroundings appraisingly. "Not bad, it has this sort of, 'Garden of Eden', vibe to it."
Dominic was right behind him looking at his surroundings distastefully, not as impressed with the Dollhouse's interior as his companion. "Figures the Vegas Dollhouse would go over the top," Alpha heard him mutter to himself.
"What did you say this place was again," George asked a perplexed expression on his face.
"I didn't," Alpha replied cryptically, not even turning to look at him. "Ash could tell you, though."
Alpha glanced over his now bandaged shoulder to see George and the twins turn questioningly to Ash, who seemed uncomfortable with the sudden attention.
He turned to Dominic. "You got the tools?"
Dominic held up a brown duffel bag. "Since you weren't specific about which tolls you needed, I had to dump half the tool box in here."
Alpha wordlessly took the bag from the man's hands, and headed for the end of the lounge where a there was a metal staircase that most likely led to the imprinting room. Behind him he could hear Dominic's footsteps.
"You keep following me like this, and you're going to make me think that you have a crush on me," Alpha remarked.
"I'm just following you to make sure you dismantle the tech."
Alpha stopped in front of the stairs and turned to face the other man.
"You don't trust me," he inquired, amusement in his voice.
Dominic fixed him with a hard look. "Are you kidding? No amount of good deeds will make me trust you. The only reason you helped us at the compound was to save yourself, and maybe for Echo."
"Is that a fact," he hissed, then lowered his voice when he noticed the others glancing their way, "because I wouldn't remember."
"For the first time in almost a decade I was able to travel through a city without being attacked by butchers. I'm not going to risk ever going back to that." There was fierce determination in his voice that was impossible to miss.
"I have nothing to hide, so if you want to watch me dismantle the tech, be my guest."
In reply Dominic gave him a curt nod. Alpha turned his back to him rolling his eyes. He could watch him like a hawk if he wanted, but it wouldn't make a difference.
I tried to make the court room scene as realistic as possible but I'm afraid most of my info comes from Law and Order, and there is only so much the internet can tell you.
Until next time