""As soon as the prince kissed her," ""the spell was broken and Briar Rose opened her eyes." ""And as she looked at the face of the handsome young prince," ""the whole kingdom began to magically awaken all around them." ""The cooks in the kitchen and the boys in the yard" ""all rubbed their eyes and looked around them."" "This is crap." " I'm sorry?" " Crap." "Don't you know what that means?" "You don't like the story but the others are listening, so maybe we could talk about this afterwards." "The spell was for 100 years." "So he shows up on the last day and takes credit for saving her?" "Okay." "What's your name?" "That's Susan." "Really?" "My name's Susan, too." " That's a really good point, Susan." "She knew the curse." ""You will touch a poison spindle on your 15th birthday."" " Right." " So, if it's me," "I'm not exploring the castle on my 15th birthday groping any spindles I find lying around, especially when I think she might've actually had a vague idea what the hell a spindle is!" "I don't think her parents told her about the curse." "If she knew, maybe they could've hid her." "Or she could have just run away!" "Or what about this?" "She could've just woken herself the hell up!" "It was a curse." "She couldn't..." " Just should've woken herself up!" " Susan, stop it!" " That's enough." " Let me go!" " Come with me." " Leave me alone!" "Let me go!" "Okay." "That's it for today." "Everyone back to your rooms, and I will check." "Well, guess I hit a trigger." "Yeah, something reminded her of what she's been through." "I'm not surprised." "That story always bugged me, too." "Why I picked it." "Sorry if I blew your routine." "You thought that could happen?" "Someone told me I could help her." "I was gonna ask you to point her out." "Guess I didn't have to." "But when are you going?" "Where?" " I don't know." " Is this about Caroline?" "Did you find her?" "No." "Were you going to tell me?" "If I'd come by tomorrow instead of today..." " Paul, talk to me." " What is there to say?" "Just tell me why." "We're not good for each other." "Around you..." " We're not good for each other." " No." " No, Paul." " You're in my way." "You're under a lot of stress." "I've been smothering you." "I'll back off." "We can take a break." "Probably a good idea." "But just a break is all we need." "Can you talk to me anyway?" "You think you can't trust me, and you're right to pay attention to that feeling, but you need to make sure that you're laying the blame where it deserves to be." "Look at me!" "Look at the real me and really think about whether I've ever told you anything" "I didn't believe with all my heart." "You know, you just said exactly what I needed to hear." "And that's why I'm leaving." "What?" "No." "Stop." "Please, this is..." "Stop being so cruel." "Can't you see this is killing me?" "You'll get over it." "What's on it?" "We don't know." "It was hand-delivered for Mr. Dominic today." "We haven't been able to unlock the data that's inside." " You think it's from the NSA?" " We know he was their inside man." "With him suddenly off their radar, this may be them reaching out, trying to find him." "What do we need to open it?" "A tech expert?" "I mean, surely we can imprint an Active with the skills we'd need." "I think we can assume they've taken precautions so that Mr. Dominic is the only one who can retrieve the data without corrupting it." " Well, you'd better ask Mr. Dominic then." " Right." "Right?" "Mr. Dominic is in the Attic." "You don't really think we should let that stop us, do you?" "We keep placing her in foster homes, and she keeps bouncing back." "She cuts school and gets in fights." "We've taken five knives off of that girl." "Different times." "I don't even know how she gets those." "Steals them off other kids, shoplifts them, some delis just have cups with steak knives in them on the tables." "You can get in and out." "The mother died of a drug overdose when she was very young." "And the girl was left with the woman's boyfriend, a small-time drug dealer, part-time pimp." "Probably thinking that she could start earning money for him when she got older, but turned out that last part wasn't necessary." "Half the age, twice the price." "You know anything about Susan that wasn't in the report when they handed her to you?" "I'd be shocked if you did." "She's not gonna tell you." "She lies to her therapist, she's useless in group." "That's pretty specific for someone who's known Susan for all of five minutes." "I've known her much longer than that." "They're not the same." "They kind of are." "Look closer." "This one is the imprint I gave Echo this morning." "This one is the 11-year-old." "Yeah, I see similar response patterns, signs of depression and instability." " So, what's the deal?" " The kid's a mess." "Past trauma has her emotions, reactions, intellectual development all frakked up beyond recognition." "But if she gets help, really works, deals with the soup of her life, she gets to be a nice lady with the tragic past but the healthy head." "Echo's imprint is the kid grown up?" "Names and dates, tiny details changed, but in general, yeah, this is her." "If she grows up okay." "Echo's like the living example of the kid's best possible future." "So, she thinks she's a volunteer helping a kid like her..." "But she knows exactly what to expect, and the kid sees that maybe there's a decent future for her." "Whole approach, my idea." "Whole engagement, actually." "How'd you sell DeWitt on it?" "Everybody wants to be righteous when they can afford it." "Even Topher Brink." "This feeling, it is not unlike pride." "Topher." "Uh-huh." "Okay." "End of the pride parade." "Tell them to bring up Victor." "I don't know." " I don't know what I did wrong." " It's okay." "I tried so hard." "I did everything I could think of." "Right here." "It was right here." "Can I?" " You keeping that book?" " I'm fixing it." "I see that." "You know, they call that editing." "You could make a living out of it." "You really hate that she didn't save herself, don't you?" "Of course, she was 15." "That's pretty big." "If she was littler, say six or seven or eight..." "You can always run away." "Really?" "I couldn't." "When did you wanna run away?" "In the middle of the night, it always seemed like I could run away when it would get light." "Sometimes, I'd get dressed and lie there, waiting for the sun." "But when it came up, he'd be there, pretending things were normal." "And it seemed so much better to just pretend, you know?" "It seemed like I'd imagined all the other stuff, and I really wanted all of that to be something I'd imagined." "And I ended up feeling like I was just as guilty as he was, like it was a crime we were committing together." "And every time someone calls me a victim," "I feel like I'm the biggest liar in the world." "You can't keep coming down here." "Director's already giving me suspicious-eye." "I'm aware of that, Loomis, but this is huge." "Look." "You carry all this with you?" "All this stuff that led me nowhere." "Hilarious." "Lubov, my connection to the Russians." "He knew nothing." " All dead ends." " Hey, hey." "The farther I reached, the worse I did." "But then, they came to me." "Your neighbor?" "The one you fingerprinted?" " You're certain now that she's..." " A doll." "Well, I was gonna say a victim." "I followed her to 23 Flower, the Dollhouse." "What, you just flashed your badge, swooped in on them like Prince Valiant?" "I got no badge unless I swipe yours." "Besides, I didn't need it." "I pulled a hat over my eyes and went right in, and I rode all around on their elevators, checked out the stairs and the conference rooms." " Oh, yeah?" " Wrong building." "But I figured it out." "I was in the building you can see." "I've gotta get in the other one, the one that's invisible." "Well, sure." "No, no, no, listen to me." "This isn't crazy, okay?" "Look, under the one building there's another." "Underground." "Look, Caroline said she was underground, right?" "So, I looked at all the records for the building at 23 Flower." "They had all the normal contractors and such, but they also had an environmental systems consultant." "This guy." "Why would they use him?" "He does one thing." "He's an expert in buildings that recycle their own air and water and power." "Closed systems." "Uh-huh." "They're underground, drawing hardly any power, so it's like..." "It's like they're invisible." "It's a good thing I'm relatively sure you're not crazy." "We have a job for you, Mr. Dominic, if you don't mind." "Oh, I'm in the chair." "Of course." "Mr. Dominic, please." "A communication has arrived for you from your handlers at the NSA, and we're rather curious about it." "Whose hands are these?" "Whose body am I in?" "Victor?" "Okay, okay." "No." "No!" "So, me, my body, I'm..." "I'm in the Attic." "I knew it." "I knew it!" "And now you want me to help?" "After doing that?" "Doctor, sedate him, please." "No." "Topher." "Adelle, please, come on, don't..." "Don't give me the shot, please!" "Don't give..." "Whiskey." " He wants a drink instead." " I'm not surprised." "No!" "No." "Oh, God." " That was..." " Necessary." "Doctor, he's calm now." "Is there perhaps something else we can give him to make him more receptive to our questions?" "No." "No, I'd rather not." "Right." "Let's get started." "I know." "I know." "They always think that." "Tell an adult." "Tell a teacher." "Tell a priest." "But if he says he knows them all, that they won't believe you..." "He said he knew the cops." "All of the cops." "Did you have a chance you didn't take?" "Four times." "Four times I saw a way to go, and I didn't go." "You couldn't have gotten away." "He was bigger and stronger and older." "It's okay." "It's okay to get rescued by someone else if you're young or small or you just can't do it yourself." " Hey, you know this story?" " Yeah." "Read it again, okay?" "But this time, think of yourself as the prince." "I didn't save anyone." "Hey, remember what you said." "The prince shows up at the last minute, takes all the credit." "That means Briar Rose was trapped all that time sleeping and dreaming of getting out." "The prince was her dream." "She made him." "She made him fight to get her out." "Prince." "The prince was a boy." "Yeah, but that's not his fault." "Susan?" "There's a van here for you." "And it's the kids' dinnertime." " I gotta go." " Okay." " I'll come back." " Okay." "Susan." "You let me sit here very close to you." "You felt safe, which tells me you got a blade on you somewhere, so just give it to me now, and I won't tell anyone." "Thank you." " Good talk?" " A start." "Well, did you tell her you're gonna come back?" "Yeah." "It'll be a little while, though." "Just be ready." "She's close to moving forward, but it's gonna hurt." "Are you Stephen Kepler?" "Okay." "Hi." " What was that name again?" " Stephen Kepler, is that you?" "Well, there's a lot of aspects to that question." "You're not from the Thai place, are you?" " Yeah." "I wanted tofu satay." " Don't worry." "You're not in any trouble, but you are an expert in a field I am interested in." "Can I come in and talk for a minute?" "Let's talk out here." "It's nice." "The hallway goes down there all the way, and there's lots of spacious air." "Am I still breathing?" "No." "Carrots." "Medicinal carrots." "Personal use medicinal carrots that were here when I moved in, and I'm holding it for a friend." "You design environmental systems." "Oh." "Yeah, that's my thing." "The self-contained, renewable everything." "I mean, the ultimate goal is complete self-sufficiency, but without a lot of money, you know, the best you can hope to do is to offset your carbon footprint." "You know, I care about my carbon footprint, but most people out there are making carbon snow angels." "You know Earth Day was last week?" " No, I haven't been..." " Hilarious!" "Earth gets one day." "All right, the other 364, we're cranking the AC in our Hummer, and then, one day a year, separate the plastic." "You know what I think?" "I think that once we die out, a couple hundred years," "Earth is gonna have a People Day, you know, to remember us." "One day a year, she is gonna laugh and laugh and shake our bones." "Recycled urine?" "I'm kidding." "It's not fully recycled." "I'm tinkering with that." "I also have POM." "Let's say I do have a lot of money." "You could design a truly self-contained system?" "Air, water, heat." "You wouldn't even have to use the grid..." "Maybe a little, depending on how big it is." "So, you can make a building disappear?" "Mmm." "Only if you paint it exactly like what's behind it, and then you stand..." "But you could bury it underground." "Underground, it's best." "You know, insulation, structural integrity." " You don't have a lot of money." " I'm looking for something." "Yeah, no." "You need to make an appointment with Stacy." "You could e-mail me..." "Don't e-mail me." "You know, I'm not comfortable having people in my home that aren't delivering me Thai food, and I'm not talking about past clients." " Tell me about the Dollhouse." " Oh, man." "I told you, you're not in trouble." "Oh." "You are naive." "They will kill me and you and then kill me again." "Please." "I shouldn't have said anything." "And now there's a gun." "You built the Dollhouse." "I built the shell." " Can you open the shell?" " What if I don't tell you?" "Probably." "But I don't know where it is." "It was years ago." "You know, I designed it from here." "I never leave here, man." "Then this'll be a real adventure for you." "You're coming with me." "Why would I choose to do that?" "I don't remember using the word "choose."" "There is a girl named Caroline being held there against her will." "Now, I'm the only person who knows how to find the Dollhouse, and you're the only person who knows how to get in." "And as much as it pains me to say it, that makes you my new partner." "Oh." "Then can I hold the gun?" " Never saw it before." "Come on." "It's from your best friends and handlers at the NSA." "No, it isn't." "We didn't communicate that way." "We have phones." "It came in an envelope." "It was hand-delivered." "Who else would be trying to contact you covertly?" " Alpha." " Alpha." "I guess he didn't hear about the regime change." "Let's open it." "What's it gonna be?" "I don't know." "He never sent me anything before." "Whether it's from the NSA or from Alpha makes no difference." "It's intended that you should be able to open it, therefore you should be able to open it." "We just need a password that you would guess." "It shouldn't be hard." " Alpha." " Too easy." " Try it." " Lf we're wrong, it could all disappear." "Wait." "Alpha?" "Just like that?" "Alpha?" "He used to sign his stuff in art class like that." "They thought it was a fish, but it was his name over and over again." "The first sign something was different." "He means the Greek letter." "Try a Greek alpha." " How..." " Change font." "Paul Bunyan?" " Did not anticipate that." "There's a lot of those statues in Northern Plains cities," "Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota." " Tucson." " What?" "I've seen that dreadful statue from the window at the Center in Tucson." " What's the Center?" " Never you mind." "Is that the Dollhouse HQ?" "Because I've always wondered..." "I've got to make some calls, get them to increase their security." "If Alpha is in Tucson..." "God!" "There was a body found in an alley in Tucson this morning." " Slashed with a knife." " Send Sierra." "So, back on the shelf?" "Look, if we could take some time, then we could prepare." "We could get some supplies." "We could get some rope." " Rope is always good." " We have to go now." "Uh-huh." " Because why?" " They had a spy watching me, someone close to me who turned out to be a doll." " Is this the fabled Caroline?" " Someone else." "So I figure I've got a day or two before they figure out I know and kill me." "This other doll, are you gonna save her, too?" "No." "She told me herself she can't be trusted." "She warned me." "After I get Caroline out, I can come back." " Come on." " We're here?" "So soon." "Let's go around the block." " Come out." " Come on, man!" "This is like one of those buddy cop movies where you're the hard-nosed FBI agent and I'm the guy who hates buddy cop movies." "Get out of the car or I show the DEA your carrot plantation." "Okay." "Okay." "I am sorry to do this, but we've gotta get in there and save her." "Then what?" "We go in there, then we're in there." "There's..." "There's more people in there." " I'm not good with people." " They're not people." "I'm not good with that sentence, either." "The helicopter better be waiting because whatever is up with this body of yours, it's changing every minute." "Tissue's breaking down from bacteria, the body's own chemicals." "You've got putrefaction, fermentation, not to mention, the effects of insects and other animals." "Then you've got the elements, rain, condensation..." "One FBI-trained forensic specialist." " It's a tall order for a rush job." " Sorry about that." "It's all right." "It's a quiet night, anyway." "Echo's just coming in, and then we're sleepy-bye." "How far?" "Ten stories." "It's the best way in." "I'm sorry, man." "It's just how it is." " Let's go." " No." "No way." "You'd go down there?" "You showed me this thinking I'd give up?" "I was nurturing a tender, throbbing hope that you'd give up, yes!" "Well, I'm not." "Show me the real way in." "No, that's the real way in." "I just thought that you'd give up." "Wish we had rope." "Hello, Echo." "How are you feeling?" "Did I fall asleep?" "Falling!" " Falling now!" " You're not falling." " I have your ankles." " Let go!" "Okay, no, no, no, no." "Don't let go." "Ankles, ankles, ankles, ankles!" "Why?" "Oh, no, no." "No." "Riding up, it's riding up." "I'm getting a wedgie." "Say, this is clean and enclosed." "I'm staying here." "Come on." "What?" "Just because we can move forward, we must?" "You know, this is the same expansionist thinking that led to the Trail of Tears, man." "Carrots." ""One day, 100 years later, a young prince heard about Briar Rose" ""and of the deep sleep and the sharp thorns." ""The prince said, 'I will not let this stop me." ""'I'm as strong as any spell." ""'I'm as strong as any thorns." ""'I won't let anything stop me from reaching her and saving her." ""'I will go and rescue this sleeping beauty."'" "It's real." "You know, this is pretty unusual, federal agents in the middle of the night shift." "It's a high-priority case." "This thing hit the system and bells went off all over the FBI, from Quantico to the tiny telephone in Hoover's casket." "So, it's a signature you're looking at?" "Yeah." "Someone's getting slash happy." " All homeless guys?" " Clearly not." "Homeless people smell primarily like human excretions, sweat, urine." "This guy..." "This guys smells like garbage over a layer of clean skin." "Not even old garbage, either." "He smells like yesterday's breakfast, not last week's." "I think I'll take over from here." "They told me this was gonna be the new Eden." " Eden wasn't a prison." " What, are you kidding?" "The apples were monitored." "Plus, they didn't have a steam room that could re-circulate human sweat and put it right back..." "We're gonna be on camera the moment we set foot in there." "But remember my plan where we don't?" "Can you do anything about their surveillance?" "From a computer, probably." "Their fail-safe should be on the same system as the life-support cycles I designed, but we'd have to access one, and until then, we suffer from unsightly visibility." "Wait here." "If you'll come this way, please." "Not good with people." "Not good with the blood and viscera of people, okay?" "Take off your clothes." "What, you're gonna dress like a doll?" "Those probably won't even fit a guy..." "Oh, no, come on." "This is..." "I am not comfortable." "My arms are chilly." "Shut up." "Change is good." "Go change." "Yes, we can!" "You know, this cotton, it's organic, I'm pretty sure." "That's a plus." " Hey!" " I'm gonna die." "I'm gonna die in pajamas." "Person I don't know." "Actually, I'm from upstairs." "Security review." "I have a work order here." "Maybe you can..." "What the hell was that?" "Is that some kind of, like, joy-buzzer stun gun?" "I mean, officially, I deplore violence, but that was totally worth the loss of karma points." "Help." "Hey." "Computer." "You can take down security from there, right?" "Uh..." "I mean, I could, if this guy wasn't a paranoid freak." "There's like a thrillion layers of passwords on here." "This isn't company stuff." "This is his own personal minefield." " I need a different computer." " Let's go." "Wait." "Wait." "Hold on." "Let me watch for a minute, see if I can notice any pattern, security patrols, anything." "All right, would you look at this place!" "I mean, first of all, feng shui up the ying-yang." "Also, I designed parts of it, but I did not design the stone-cold foxes in the small clothes and the ample massage facilities." "I mean, don't get me wrong, I heart my porn, but this is cool." "This is a bad place." "Bad people, maybe." "Good place." "This is the future." "The machine feeds them what they need, the machine takes away what it needs." "A closed system, the Earth is not harmed." "Yeah, we're all just cells in a body." "Cells in a body?" "That's the future?" " We're all functional, interchangeable?" " We already are, man." "What, you didn't know that?" "I mean, I was trying to tell you." "You know, we're all just atoms in the big continuous universe and the best..." "The best that we can do is to try not to kill it from the inside." "No." "There's more we can do." "Yeah, okay." "If you really think you have a choice." "Let's go." "There's a lull in traffic." "Come on." "There should be offices down this way if I remember correctly." " What?" " The stairs lack risers." "What?" "The vertical part that makes the back of each stair is called a riser." " I know what they are." " Okay, wait, hold, hold." "Please, see, sometimes when I go on stairs that don't have risers," "I get this feeling, this awful sensation, that something's gonna reach out and grab my ankle like a claw or a tentacle." "This is life or death." "Could be a hand, could be an ordinary hand." "Come on!" "Hurry up." "There's a terminal in there." "If I can get to that, I can shut down all the security." "I can open this place up like an oyster." "We can go out in the elevator, as pretty as you please." "Okay, fine." "Oh, God." "I know that guy." "Lubov." "My whole life." "My whole life isn't real." "It's a small world, right?" "I went to grade school with Jenna Elfman." "Just point me to where they sleep." "Is it that way?" "Cool off." "Man, think." "You know, compose yourself mentally, man." "Prepare." "What are you doing?" "The best that I can, Mr. L-stun-all-my-problems." "I don't know how to slam all the doors shut on the security areas, but I do know how to adjust the oxygen-nitrogen-CO2 mix in their rooms so they won't wake up if the alarms go off." "Okay." "Do that." "Now, the dolls, I designed the sleeping compartments that collects the carbon dioxide and methane..." "Everybody farts." "And cycles it all into the environmental controls." " What?" " You need to know this." " The pods are locked." " She's locked into a pod?" "There are lights inside." "If the light is on, the pod is locked." "Do not try to open a locked pod." "All hell will break loose, my tall man." "As I unlock each pod remotely, the light will go off." "Wait." " Go." " Okay." "Okay." "I said go." "The course is clear." "Go now!" "All right." "Down..." "Since we're..." "That hallway." "Wait." "No, that's right." "They flip a switch, you'll kill me without even knowing it." "I'm sorry." "Caroline." "Sorry, Agent Ballard." "You don't get the girl." " Give me your gun." " I don't have a..." "You didn't come in here without one." "Put it on the floor now." " Who are you?" " I'm Paul." "You called me." "You asked me to come get you." "Echo, why don't you go for a swim?" "Your name is Caroline." "You've been brainwashed." "Echo, go!" " You hurt Paul." " Echo..." "What are you, then, her pimp?" "You get her ready, send her out, clean her up after?" "I keep her safe." "You think you're helping her." "You're wrong." " You can't get her out." " I got in." "I could've brought the whole house down on you, but I'm giving you one chance." "Go back the way you came." "Now." "Echo, run!" "I'm supposed to go swimming." "Caroline, you don't have to do what they tell you." "I know you're scared, but it's okay." "Let me go!" "You heard the lady." "Alarms." "Off." "Backup alarm." "Calling out." "No." "Calling in." "No." "Motion sensors disabled." "Manual alarm disabled." "Pod locks switched." "Victor, what happened?" "People were fighting on me." "Backup doors reinforced." "Security team, sawing wood." "Think they'll just let her go?" "Let her live outside?" "She's not living now." "Even if you got her out alive, they'd hunt you down and kill you both." "Lower oxygen, up the CO2." "Stay asleep." "Stay asleep." "I'm gonna get you out..." " We have to stop." " No." "Echo." "Run." "Run!" "Run!" "Stay here." "Wait for me." " I'll come back to get you." " I trust you." "All right, we'll have you fixed up in..." "Alpha." "Well, you kept my gifts." "Yes." "Of course." "Now you." "Yes." "Of course." "They're unique, you know." "Turns out different every time." "Victor's, for example, they're much deeper." "Have you always wanted to be a doctor?" "It's a simple question." "Answer now." "Yes." "That's a lie." "Let's try another." "Did you really think you could just walk into the Dollhouse when everyone knows it doesn't exist?" "Tell me about the first time you met me." "You were new." "You had signed the agreement, and they'd just..." "You'd just been wiped for the first time." "Your Handler brought you to me for an exam." "And did you examine me?" "My whole body?" "Yes." "And was I fine?" "Healthy?" "Intact?" "Yes." "This is so interesting." "I wish we had more time." "We don't have time?" "You are digging yourselves in so deep, you have no idea." "I'm a federal agent." " You've been suspended." " The penalties for interfering" " with a federal agent..." " You are no longer protected" " by those laws." "...are substantial." "You really justify this?" "What you do to these people?" "You can live with this?" "You're the one who came in here and assaulted one of our residents." "Yes, there's indignation enough for everyone to have seconds." "If you really didn't want me here, then maybe you shouldn't have filled my life with so many interesting lies!" "You have been quite a challenge." "Is that why you tried to kill me?" "Twice?" "It might be good for us both that I failed." "I don't even care that these people signed themselves over to you." "There is no provision for..." "For consensual slavery." "It is wrong." "You know it's wrong." "You feel it in your bones." "What you did to Caroline is wrong." "You know so many things." "Facts and names." " What do you think, Mr. Langton?" " What do you mean?" "Shall we put him in the chair?" "Echo?" "Come here, please." "Echo." "Oh." "I know you." "I remember something about you." "I remember everything about you." "It's okay." "It'll be all right." "You know I don't need your consent." "You asked my opinion." "In my opinion, this man hasn't agreed to this, and his crime isn't..." " DeWitt." " Yeah, this is Special Agent Gerhardt" " calling for the Director." " Go ahead." "Didn't want you to have to wait for my report, Madam Director." "The M.O. Is right for your suspect." "That's a positive." "The name we got on the vic is Stephen J. Kepler." " Stephen J. Kepler." " Got it." "He was some kind of specialist in environmental design." "The interesting part is that he wasn't killed in Tucson." "He was killed in Los Angeles and planted here." "Kepler's in our system." "He's got a subcontractor number from 10 years back." "He helped build the Dollhouse." "Alpha isn't in Tucson." " Oh, I know you." " Of course you do." "I told you I'd come rescue you." "My prince."