Chapter 3 Housewarming
A Centurion came the next morning, removing both Leoben's remains and that of the sleeping pad she'd shredded.
Over the next two days, Leoben continued to bring her meals. But after her first pointed refusal to touch the food after he'd taken an apple slice from the tray, he took the hint and relented, only bringing enough for Kara and no longer trying to insist that they share. He'd continued to go on about his visions and promising her a surprise very soon. And he was cautiously watchful, though she wasn't sure if he was searching for signs of violence from her or evidence that she was coming around to his perspective.
Whatever the reason, it creeped her out.
His fervent gaze followed her every move, whether she was pacing the tiny cell, spitting epitaphs at him or just sitting as far away as she could get. It made her itch. Gods, what she wouldn't give for a shower to wash away the feeling. During his interrogation he hadn't affected her this way. Of course, their situations had been reversed, but still…
Now, she couldn't believe that she had actually prayed for the Toaster's soul.
When Leoben came later on the third day, Kara thought it seemed too early for dinner, but it was hard to gauge the time locked away in the gray confines of her cell. As he entered without a tray and a Centurion on his heels, she knew something was up.
"It's ready," he said, eagerness in his voice and eyes as he waved her to accompany him. What the frak was 'ready'? And did she even want to know?
A quick glance over his shoulder at the silent Centurion reminded her that it wasn't like she had a choice in the matter. She gave him a dark look, but followed along as they took the same route she had during her escape attempt. Trying to visualize what she could of the layout of the building, Kara thought that they were heading in the direction of the section the Cylons had been expanding upon.
Her heart rate, already up, began to race as a foreboding flash-flooded her mind. Whatever her captors had been building, she was apparently going to benefit from their industry. Morbid thoughts floated her along a current of what type of facilities they might have added. As an obvious addition came to mind, Kara abruptly halted, her knees automatically locking in place as she realized that the Cylons had probably setup another one of their 'Farms'.
"Frak no! I'm not going. You hear me!" She was backing now, retreating until she bumped into the following guard. Kara tried to spin around the machine, but its reactions were too quick, clasping her by the wrist even as Leoben advanced on her. She continued to fight, oblivious to the uselessness of her efforts as she kicked and clawed at Leoben when he tried to grab her other arm. Her shouts of enraged fear echoed down the long corridor until the Cylon male managed to snag her flailing fist. She was crouched now, still straining back against their combined hold and gasping harshly, her panic evident to Leoben.
"Kara. Kara. Stop. I'm not going to hurt you," he repeated, trying to calm her. Her wide eyes finally locked on his, and she read the concern in his gaze.
Shaking her head vigorous, "No! I'm not going. Not to one of your Farms. Gonna have to kill me first." Her words still stampeded forth, but at least she wasn't yanking at their holds anymore.
"I swear. Listen to me." He snapped his fingers to draw her spooked eyes back to him. "I swear there's no Farm on New Caprica. They were a failure, a travesty against god's plan, and we voted not to continue that line of research. There are no more Farms anyplace, Kara. You hear me?"
She shut her eyes, trying to still the shudders that still shook her. Shame heated her face at how completely she'd fallen apart, but the prospect of finding herself back in a Farm... The nightmares that had haunted her since her escape from Caprica hadn't lost any of their soul-piercing terror.
Feeling the slight tug on her wrist held by a hand made of flesh, Kara opened her eyes and stood, seeking to slip back into her role as the insolent Starbuck.
"Let the frak go of me," she growled at Leoben. And if her voice still cracked, she chose to pretend otherwise.
"Are you ok?" he asked, hesitantly dropping his hand and signaling the Centurion to release its hold, too.
"What the frak do you care," she snapped, pale lips pulled back in a sneer.
"I do. In time you'll come to accept that I care a great deal."
"Whatever," was the best comeback she could manage as she rubbed where her wrists were already starting to bruise from her attempts to break free.
"Come along, it's not much farther now," Leoben said, eagerness returning to his voice as he waved their little procession forward again.
Kara forced unsteady legs to carry her after his lengthening strides, feeling the pressure of the Centurion as it trod along just behind her. As the flame of adrenaline banked, her heartbeat settled to a slower pace and her mind cleared enough to consider what a mistake she had just made, revealing one of her greatest fears to an enemy. Grinding her teeth, she stirred her anger to replace the cold the fear had left behind. She was going to have to guard herself better in the future.
Better yet. Find a way out of this frakkin' place.
Up ahead, Leoben turned another corner and lead them through an open gate. He dismissed the Centurion as he unlocked a door on the right and pushed it open. Taking hold of her elbow, he pulled Kara inside and onto the foyer at the top of a metal staircase. As he turned to close the door, Kara saw her chance and took advantage of his momentary distraction to latch her hand onto his where it held her elbow. With a quick tug, she jerk him off balance, and a deft twist sent him tumbling, with sickening thuds, down the stairs.
Grabbing the door before it could swing closed, she grimaced down to where Leoben lay unmoving, his head bent at an unnatural angle. Good, she had a little time. After peering out into the hall to confirm it was clear, she stepped forward and turned to the left.
Frak, no!
The Centurion had locked the gate. Her only way out was barred.
"Let me out! Let me outta here!" she yelled, frantically rattling the gate. "I don't belong here! Let me out." Her screams echoed along the hall and heightened her sense of the surreal.
Eventually turning from blocked passage, Kara forced herself to re-enter the apartment and descend the stairs, negligently stepping over the contorted body and pausing beside a glass table, already casing the area for alternate escape routes and weapons. Dread again spun along her spine as she spied the bedroom cubicle with the one queen-sized bed. Wrenching her eyes away, she made a slow circuit of the entire place.
It looked chillingly like her apartment on Caprica.
Her breathing faltered. There was no frakkin' way it was a coincidence that the apartment resembled hers. And the fresh paint smell confirmed that the Cylons—Leoben—had just finished the construction. Why? What game was he playing at here anyways?
She tried to suppress a shiver as her imagination provided various reasons why Leoben might bring her to this type of setup. There might not be Farms anymore, but that didn't preclude the Cylons from trying other methods of reproduction. Derailing the train of those thoughts, Kara crossed the carpet to the curtain-framed windows, only to find that, though they spanned ceiling to floor and the entire side of the unit, they only viewed out onto the other sections of the detention center and the grey skies above.
Feeling chilled by a foreboding sense of isolation, Kara hugged her arms about herself and fought down the insipid panic. Freaking out wasn't going to help, she berated herself, knowing that she had to keep her shit together if she was going to find a way out. Shaking the smothering cloak of malaise off, she strode into the kitchen, carefully inspecting each cupboard for tools to use on the locks and windows, and keeping in mind those that might also be turned to another use, that of Cylon-slaying.
The click of the apartment latch jerked her upright from inspecting the electrical wall outlet.
"Kara?" the familiar voice called out to her. She could hear the slap of his footsteps as he trotted down the metal staircase.
Shrugging on a smile with all the bravado she could muster, Kara ambled from the kitchen to face her captor.
On spying her, Leoben moved forward, stepping into Kara's personal space.
"Not a very friendly way to start your new life," he said. His calm voice, tinged with just a hint of reprimand as if he were addressing a child, caught her by surprise since she'd been anticipating anger. His expression she easily identified as disappointment. She was too intimately familiar with having that look directed her way not to instantly recognize it.
Withdrawing a pace, Leoben's stance relaxed and he gave an expansive waved about them.
"So, what do you think of the place?"
"What the frak's the meaning of this?" She gave jerk of the head to indicate their surroundings' resemblance to her old apartment.
"This is our home now, Kara. Yours and mine," he replied, the corners of his lips lifting just the slightest.
"Like hell! I'm not playing house with you or any other skin-job suitor," she said, taking a step towards him now, and putting all the menace she'd learned over the years in her voice and stance. "Turn me loose or stick me back in the cell, whatever. But I'm not staying here."
"You'll see—in time—you'll see." Leoben moved to within a close foot and his gaze caressed Kara as he spoke with absolute conviction, "One day you'll say you love me. Then you'll kiss me to prove it. I've seen it. The cycle repeated."
She met his intense regard, determined to win this initial battle, yet, as his words sank in and she saw the total conviction in his eyes, Kara gave ground first, turning slightly away and wrapping her arms about herself. As her line of sight was drawn to the window and freedom beyond, anger bubbled past the deep unease his fanaticism had invoked.
No! He can just frakkin' forget it!
Swiveling and swinging in one fluid motion, she surprised him yet again, fist connecting solidly with his jaw and spinning him aside. He reached out and grabbed the corner of a chair, steadying himself as he wiped a thumb across his mouth. She glared at him as he rubbed the blood between forefinger and thumb then raised his eyes to lock with hers again. Still there was no anger, only a knowing patience—and it infuriated her.
Her second strike was easily parried and Leoben snagged her wrist as she tried to slip a punch in under his guard. In seconds he had both fists immobilized as he held Kara's arms crossed over her chest and shoved her back into the wall, holding tight as she struggled to break from his grip.
"Let the frak go. Let go. Get your frakkin' hands off me!" she raged at him, still trying to twist free.
"Kara, stop. Stop before you hurt yourself," his mild voice just drove her to more violent efforts, and she abruptly slammed her forehead into his nose. Blood flowed and she saw that his eyes were watering, and so were hers from the impact.
Ignoring the dripping crimson, Leoben blinked a few times then continued as if the blow had never happened. "It's useless to keep fighting like this. But I understand... It's what you do. It's not in you to calmly accept your path." He dared to lean in close again as he softly said, "You can't fight your destiny, Kara."
"Frak you," she said, voice still full of fury, but forcing herself to taut stillness within his grip.
Through narrowed eyes, he studied her a moment longer then slowly released his hold. Then, arrogantly turning his back on her, he moved to the kitchen sink and washed the blood from his face. Holding a dishcloth to his nose, Leoben turned to lean against the edge, silent as he met her glare with an enigmatic look.
Kara let her hands drop to her sides as she pulled her gaze away and looked anywhere but at the disturbingly stoic Cylon male. She still had too much adrenaline to burn off, and began pacing the length between the windows and living room, always keeping the skin-job in her peripheral vision.
She saw Leoben rinse the bloody cloth then fold it neatly before turning to regard her again. His relaxed pose only served to tighten her own. How did the skin-job see this going down? Sure, she could hurt him, even kill him—she'd proven that twice already—yet it didn't make a difference, he returned each time and Kara knew that in a straight contest of physical strength, his countered her own with ease.
If he chose to use force…
As if reading her thoughts, "I won't hurt you, Kara. You'll come to love me, come to me willingly," he said, and then added, "I'll be patient until you're ready to accept your role in God's plan."
She decided to ignore his religious ramblings and resumed her restless wandering, scouting the other rooms again. Finding a selection of clothes in her size and style in a closet drew another shudder from her. Leoben obviously had put a lot of forethought into the situation, and she wondered how long he'd been devising this fantasy of his. The skin-job obviously had an agenda and revulsion stirred within Kara.
Sure, he'd spouted off that he was willing to bide his time, but, she wondered, what would happen when he finally realized that she wasn't ever going to accept this fake dollhouse as a home, wasn't going to willingly give him what he wanted.
What would he do then?
And how much time did she have before that moment?