George pushed open the door on the right and was immediately ambushed by two receptionists.
"Ooh, are you George Davidson?" One asked in a distinct Tennessee drawl, giggling like a girl. George frowned at the attention, unused to it being so positive.
"Yes, ma'am. May I speak to Mr. Starr, please?" George asked, trying to deter the girls.
"Mariah will get 'im for yeh!" The other girl said in pure Geordie, sticking her little pink tongue out at her friend. The first girl, Mariah, sent her a dirty look, huffed and stormed off in the direction of the elevator.
"I'll just go wait over there, then," George stated, hoping the Geordie girl would get the message and leave him alone. She didn't, flouncing out her skirts and going to sit beside him.
"I'm sorry abou' Mariah. That bloody woman's got no self control a' all," she hummed, placing her hands suggestively on the arm of George's chair. "She'll go af'er anythin' that moves, that girl. I shouldn't 'ave let 'er get that close ter yeh."
"Um, alright. Can you, erm, not?" George rose again, straightening his tie. The woman was quite obviously a whor- ahem, looking for a relationship in George and George would have absolutely none of that. He didn't want to have to explain to her that he swung the other way.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I di'nt mean to overstep my welcome. I just figured that there aren' that many Brits out there in Amer'ca, we should stick togerther, y'know?" She spoke softly, staying in her seat while George brushed off his suit jacket. When Mariah returned with Mr. Starr, he wouldn't have to worry about the Geordie girl anymore. He would fulfill his purpose here, meet Schlatt and go back to Virginia to complain about the agent leaving him high and dry. He smiled a little at that.
"Cheryl! Leave poor Agent Davidson alone!" An older male voice scolded. The Geordie woman looked at her feet. She knew what she was doing. George located the source of the voice and eventually found Mariah with Mr. Starr standing beside her. He wore a bright smile and he held his arms in the air invitingly. If George didn't know better, he would have thought Mr. Starr was offering him a hug.
"Mr. Starr," George smiled back, extending his hand for the asylum owner to shake. He did, a firm little jitter. Though George was significantly younger than Mr. Starr, it was clear that the man considered the trainee FBI agent his superior to a degree.
"How was your flight, Agent?"
"Uneventful, though the cabbie drove like a maniac," George replied, laughing. He found it a lot easier to speak to Mr. Starr than he did any of the other adults at the Academy. Maybe it was the mutual respect. "And you, Mr. Starr? Any news here?"
"Please, call me Vik. No, nothing of great notice." George made a mental note of the preferred name before following Vikkstar down the narrow hallway.
"So, you're here to speak with the unit in Pandora's Box, correct?" He inqured.
"Yes, sir, I am," George replied.
"He'll like that. He hasn't seen anybody of your calibre since he was convicted. You are quite his taste," Mr. Starr chuckled. George was going to ask what he meant when he shushed himself. Maybe he didn't want to know.
"How long do I have with him? I don't need much out of him, it's just a matter of how long it'll take to get it," George asked, pushing the comment to the back of his mind.
"When is your next flight?"
"Not 'till tomorrow morning."
"Then you have all night." George nodded gratefully. They turned a corner and walked into a lift. An elevator, he reminded himself. Fuck America. George didn't know how co-operative the Dream Killer would be and he had a feeling he would need the extra time. Vik stopped to open a door and ushered George in. That was the first of many. There was a second door right behind it that couldn't be opened without the first door closing. The second door had a key code, and the third door.
"Security precaution. Little shit has tried to escape more times than you can count, and almost succeeded on quite a few occasions," Vik explained. "The guards decided that instead of being fired, better doors would be installed." George laughed a humourless laugh. All traces of excitement were gone from his body, leaving only anxiety and fear. With each step he took toward the fourth door, his stomach dropped further. Once he got closer to it, he noticed a small silver plaque with something engraved on it.
:)
"The attendants think they're funny," Mr. Starr told George with a faint smile. The asylum owner entered the final code and the door sung open.
"Welcome to Pandora's Box," he announced warmly. A woman looked up from her work, putting her pen down and smiling at Mr Starr.
"Agent, this is Nikita. She's our head of forensic psychiatry. Nikita, this is Special Agent Davidson with the FBI," Mr. Kensington introduced. George stared at the woman in front of him. She had a small frame and her face was highly defined. The tips of her hair were dyed pink, and she wore gold-rimmed, round glasses. The light blue patterned dress she had on was mostly covered by a white lab coat, only a thin sliver of it shown. Her shoes were dressy yet practical with little kitten heels. She was gorgeous, but not at all George's type. Sorry, love.
"George," He amended, extending his arm to her.
"Niki," She returned, smiling as she took his hand. "So, you've come to see our Dream, have you?" She was beautifully soft-spoken, not at all like the receptionists George had met downstairs. Her words were accented, but in a lovely way. She must have been Dutch, or German.
"You could certainly say that," he laughed uncertainly. Somebody else burst into the room.
"Who- Is this the FBI agent?" That person questioned, his tone accusing. George flashed his I.D. card with a smile, intrigued by this new person.
"Jack, you don't have to attack everybody who walks through the door! Yes, this is Agent Davidson. George," she corrected herself. "This is Jack, my apprentice."
"Assistant!" Jack whined. "Apprentice makes me sound small and insignificant, and besides, I'm way cooler than that. I'm Jack Manifold, for Christ's sake!"
"Okay, then." Niki laughed. "He doesn't get out much," she added in a whisper.
"I heard that," Jack called, going back through the door from which he came. By the vauge accent he spoke with, George could tell that this boy was from Yorkshire, or thereabouts.
"Well, it looks like you have everything under control here. Niki, keep a closer eye on your interns and George, good luck in there, alright?" Vik smiled warmly as the two waved him off. He left the room, entering key codes and disappearing behind the door with the smiley-face.
"Why don't we go say hello to Dream, then?" Niki led George through the same door that Jack had gone through. The pair entered another, larger room. This one was bustling with people and the white walls were covered in photos and newspaper clippings. It reminded George a lot of the rooms dedicated to Academy students trying to crack cases faster than the official FBI agents. Just a bit of fun, but even so.
"If I may have your attention?" Niki clapped her hands twice and pretty much every head in the room turned. George began to feel increasingly uncomfortable as Niki introduced him to the rest of the team. They told him their names as well, but he wasn't truly listening. Fear was beginning to consume him. It was at this moment that he really began to miss Schlatt (for he knew that Schlatt would have slapped him across the face and called him a pussy, therefore making George want to prove his superior wrong). Niki put a hand on his shoulder.
"George. You okay?"
"Um... not really. I'm a little freaked out, if I'm honest. How did you know?"
"You're not exactly being discreet." Niki looked pointedly at his fingers, which were fiddling with the lanyard he wore around his neck.
"I guess not."
"Well, delaying the inevitable only makes it worse," Niki said, waving another scientist over.
"This is Sam. He works the gates and audits who goes in and out of the cell," she introduced. George began to feel overwhelmed with the amount of names and personas he had to remember.
"Well, Agent Davidson, you ready?" The gatekeeper asked. George took one last deep breath before responding.
"Yes."
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Word count: 1462
Luna xx