Night Rider

Barbie

... Present day ...

She made Jason come with her to the club. The infiltration of the Warlock's supposed base had been entirely unsuccessful. Frankie's lead had been good, but it was faulty. They had spent the past 72 hours preparing and attempting to break into the base, only to find nothing inside. Even though he was used to late nights, this one seemed to actually catch up with him. Jason had ordered four drinks from the bar to fight his exhaustion. Unfortunately, the drinks had the opposite effect. He had fallen asleep underneath all the neon lights, amidst the smoke and the music that shook their drinks on the table. Yasmin thought she could probably fall asleep anywhere, too, but she had to make sure the info Frankie had given her in an urgent message yesterday wasn't true.

How did she always find herself inside the Dollhouse? She hated this place. She tried to believe she always had. It was absolutely nauseating. Everything served to screw you up further. She could feel every ounce of makeup on her face. She took her second tequila shot without touching her painted lips to the glass. She could see the strobe lights through her eyelids. They flashed green and red, and strobed a manic beat over the throb of bodies. Jason looked different when he wasn't in his leather jacket. The shine from the lights under the counter smeared red from one cheek over his nose. The other dark cheek flashed with the strobe from the dance floor. His chin glowed blue from the light of his phone that was now resting uselessly in his limp hand. Every time the lights moved, flying from one side of the room to the other, his face changed with them. The shadows moved, throwing his nose across his face and then down over his lips. It was impossible to tell what he really looked like. One moment his eyes were deep and sunken, his lips full. The next, his features were thrown back ten years. His hair swayed across his forehead as the light swung over the dancers. Yasmin was watching these radical transformations when Barbie finally entered the scene.

The relentless pulse of the music had numbed her, and the flashing lights had become so disorienting she was almost hypnotized. When Barbara stepped into the party, Yasmin had to blink hard. For a second she was the little girl wearing pink on her eyes, planning their dance routine for Mattel to record. Yasmin had to resist the urge to rub her face. It would smear the makeup that hid her from her childhood best friend. Barbara was headed her way. As she approached, though, she changed. Perhaps it was just a trick of the lights, but her eyes were painted sly and dark, her mouth was a sharp slash on her face. Her features looked mature, no longer the little girl she remembered. She was revoltingly beautiful. It was all fake - just an illusion of makeup and hair products - but the illusion was in front of her, fully formed - undeniable: Barbie. What had happened to her? How could she look so familiar and so different at the same time? Yasmin suddenly felt queasy. She pushed the third tequila shot away from her. Barbie stayed away from the dance floor, eating up all the attention and free drinks offered to her. Instead, she seemed to be waiting for someone. Yasmin prayed Frankie was wrong. Barbara wouldn't do what Frankie claimed, would she. She found that she was still thinking about the little girl with whom she shared her happiest years playing. This Barbie, standing in the corner with her arms crossed and hair curled and dark eyes, might.

Another wave of exhaustion flowed over her. She peeled her eyes from Barbie and examined the unconscious Jason again. As she watched him with her eyes half closed, she wondered if she loved him. Not in the way of a fairytale. More like the sudden surge of affection one can feel for another human watching them in an airport or riding a bus. He hadn't changed. He was still that same sweet kid who just wanted to help other people. Barbie seemed to find who she was looking for and started moving across the room. This was her cue. She shook Jason awake. He rubbed his eyes and after a few seconds of staring at her in a blank sort of way said, "right, right," and flipped open the small computer.

Yasmin stood up and shadowed Barbie until she found her target. Yasmin didn't recognize these people. She had studied all the Warlock's henchmen from the files Frankie had collected, all of these faces were new. Yasmin allowed herself the slightest bit of relief. Perhaps Barbie wasn't actually meeting with the Warlock's men. Hopefully this was just another shady drug deal to boost the Dollhouse. Yasmin wandered as close as she dared and stuck a microphone to the underside of the table. She slipped the earpiece in her ear. She pretended to watch the crowd and sip a drink while Jason fiddled with the sound. Eventually, the white noise of chatter and pounding music was filtered out until Barbara's voice and those of whomever she was meeting with was clear.