Chapter 16 Change Up
Sometime later, Kara was wrenched, disoriented, from a fitful sleep by two Centurions. In her exhaustion, she hadn't even heard the cell door open this time. When one of the chrome-jobs secured her arms behind her back, she knew that this session was going to be different then the prior ones and tried to keep her face impassive as she locked eyes with her platinum-haired captor. As the skin-job approached, Kara noticed that she was carrying something—and Kara stumbled back against the Centurion behind her as a blind fear swamped her. When the Six raised her hand, it was to reveal a black hood which she pulled over Kara's head.
Breathing heavily against the rough material, her initial terror eased slightly and she realized that whatever had triggered her panicked reaction, it wasn't the hood, though she still found it stifling as the fabric was drawn tight to her face, pitching her grey world into blackness. Metal fingers encircled her arms, gripping with negligent force as she was hauled, stumbling, from her cell.
Now what? A field trip?
Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she focused on counting steps and extending her other senses as best she could, not really believing that she'd gain any useful knowledge, just as a way to combat the unsnaking fear that threatened to uncoil into panic again. Four turns and seventy-two steps later, she heard a door creak open as the bruising pressure was released from both arms only to be replaced by a hand that propelled her forward. Kara's heartbeat pounded in her ears as the foreboding that had descended on her at the same time as the hood kicked adrenaline surging through the channels of her body.
Then she could see again, the cloth yanked off as forcibly as it had been put on. Kara abruptly wished for the blindfold back. Within a starkly white room, Simon stood beside a table fitted with restraining straps and surrounded by instruments and equipment. The Cylon doctor's smile was as falsely benevolent as she remembered as he waved for the Centurions to uncuff and secure her into place.
"Frak no!" she shouted, struggling uselessly to break loose from the guards' grasp as they dragged her forward and lifted her thrashing body onto the unyielding surface. "Get the hell off me!" she yelled at the Six that stood at her head, forcing her shoulders down flat against the plastic slab as mechanical fingers made short work of the chest, thigh, wrist and ankle straps. Then twin slats were slid into place beside each cheek, preventing her from turning her head.
Kara attempted to rein in her stampeding terror and clamped her teeth down hard on her lower lip, letting the familiar coppery taste and flare of pain focus her. Her nostrils flared as she breathed heavily through her nose, feeling the chest band compressing her damaged ribcage with each restricted inhale.
"Hello, Starbuck," said Simon as he edged into her line of sight, voice mellow but far from reassuring. "I'd say it was good to see you again, but I doubt you'd agree."
Kara's eyes followed him as he reached for something just beyond her angle of vision. His hand reappeared holding two small, round patches with attached wires and he brushed her bangs aside to apply the first one to her right temple. The second was stuck to her left as the doctor met her eyes once more. There might have been a flicker of compassion darkening his gaze before he glanced up at his Cylon sister at her position at the head of the exam table.
Flicking back to meet her eyes again, Simon blandly said, "We won't be doing any reproductive procedures today." Kara's gaze wavered in relief and she blinked away the dread that had ringed her vision on her first sight of Simon. She saw in his tight smile the briefest of acknowledgements that he'd known she'd find some reassurance in his off-handed remark. His expression hardened though with his next words. "I've been tasked to assist Six with your rehabilitation." A grimace flashed across his face and was gone so quickly that Starbuck wondered if she'd imaged it. She quickly forgot it as the tall blonde moved around to her side, an anticipatory smile pulling the sultry features into the familiar cruel mask.
"What Simon means is that he's been ordered to help me teach you obedience," Six's tone was mocking and Kara had the feeling that it was as much aimed at the dark doctor as herself. Then she continued, "It's time you learn how to be properly respectful of your betters, Starbuck." One slender hand reached out and caressed Kara's forehead. "Bring you to heel as it were." Then, as Starbuck tried to tilt her head back away from the skin-job's touch, the fingers snagged her hair and thumped her head against the table hard enough to rattle teeth.
"My brother Leoben thinks you have some fated task to accomplish. The rest of us are more…skeptical, shall we say." Six tightened her hold as she added, "Not to worry though, D'Anna's suggested a more appropriate use for you. But, of course, you have to be properly trained first. Your reluctance has been noted by the other models," something grim flash across the Six's face before she added, "and Simon here is the result. You have only yourself to blame." Six leaned closer. "Beg nicely and I'll return you to your cell right now. I'll even return your clothes."
Shifting her gaze to stare at the ceiling tile directly above her head, Starbuck chose to ignore the Cylon—and silently prayed that Simon hadn't lied. She swallowed and shoved the thoughts of the Farm and human incubators aside. The ceiling tile looked to be about a two by two square with a pitted surface. It made a change from the smooth concrete of her cell. Focusing on the tiles above her, Kara let her stony stare answer for her.
"Fine. Have it your way," Six said as she stepped back.
As the Cylon woman released the grip on her head, Kara's eyes shifted to the physician as he approached again holding more wired patches. She involuntarily flinched as felt him deftly affixed one at the juncture of thumb and forefinger on the back of each hand before moving down her body and attaching another set to the top of each bare foot. Then, pulling her sports bra to the side, he pressed a larger one over her heart. A familiar beeping, steady, if rapid, began and she felt a passing flickering of relief that at least she knew what one of the wires was for; the others… She tried to avert her thought but fear burned on the back of her tongue as her mind supplied likely suggestions for their function. Swallowing the taste of bile, Starbuck steeled herself, pulling her defenses tight within a cloak woven from a childhood of experiences dealing with pain.
When Simon drew near again, he showed Starbuck a mouthpiece with straps. "To keep you from biting your tongue," he informed her, his tone neutral as he held the rubber biteguard before her face, obviously expecting her to willingly open her mouth for its insertion.
Frak that!
She clamped her jaw shut, pressing her lips together and glared emerald shards at him. He regarded her for a brief moment; his brown eyes sadly acknowledging her determination to fight them every step of the way.
"Six, if you would?" His gaze shifted to his counterpart, and Kara saw movement as the female skin-job's arm arced downward in response.
The blow to her solar plexus drove Starbuck's breath out in an explosive cough and, as she reflexively gulped in air, Simon thrust the tubing between her teeth, quickly securing the straps to the slats at either side of her head. Sucking in air now through the cylinder's opening, she fought back frustrated tears at how easily her feeble attempt at defiance had been countered. She flexed her hands against the restraints, longing to break free and smash the smug smile from the Six's face, and wrap her hands around the doctor's throat until that knowing looked faded from his eyes.
Unfortunately, neither was likely to happen as the bindings held and she forced herself to glare at the ceiling tiles again, peripherally aware when doctor shifted over to one of the machines. The repetitive sound of the heart monitor was interlaced with the click of buttons and switches, and then she heard Simon say, "Ninety kenawatts…to start."
The monitor betrayed her building apprehension, and Starbuck braced herself.
She only had a moment to wait.
"Do it," Six gave the command, and Kara's world coalesced into jagged edges and her body arched against the restraining straps as electricity coursed between the electrodes.
When the current stopped, she collapsed back onto the table, ragged breaths gusting through the hole of the mouthguard as she attempted to curse away the fiery pain.
"That was a low setting," pleasure made the Six's words a purr.
Starbuck tapped a lifetime of anger and felt fury douse the worst of the pain. Forcing her lips into a smile around the mouthguard, she met the her tormentor's malicious gaze and wished she could spit at the face hovering over her own.
"Right," Six said, "Our little Viper pilot doesn't seem very impressed. Raise it to one-ten."
The knives drove deeper this time. She convulsed as agony arced through nerve endings now sensitized. When the voltage cutoff again, shudders shook her, and Starbuck could feel sweat slick her skin. With her heartbeat pounding in her ears, she didn't hear Six give the command before another jolt flayed her raw nerves.
As she lay gulping between bursts, limbs compulsively twitching, Starbuck fought to dredge up the rage she needed to combat the torment. It was getting more difficult with each successive shock. When a sixth, then seventh, tore through her, tears mixed with perspiration on her face and Kara couldn't prevent her pained gasps from deepening into sobs, compounding her suffering as her abused ribs strained against the tight chest strap and held her weight pressed onto her tender back.
Six moved into her blurry vision, satisfaction drawing the woman's features into a picture of malevolence. "Do we finally have your attention? We can do this all day, how about you?"
The Toaster's gloating was all Starbuck needed to find again the path to her wellspring of hate…and, ignoring her protesting side, she managed a rough chuckle. Then, letting her suffering spill forth over the Six's shocked stare, she laughed at her tormentor, deep guffaws that shook her shoulders and racked her chest. Her chortles expanded as Six's face suffused with rage.
A part of Kara knew that she sliding over the brink into hysteria, but couldn't care; the Cylon bitch's furious expression just spurred her laughter on. Through watering eyes, Starbuck saw her turn to Simon, vehemently saying something she couldn't hear above her own maddened mirth. The doctor shook his head at whatever Six was demanding. Then the dark head finally gave a reluctant nod and turned away. When he moved back to Kara's side, he held a syringe and quickly injected it into her arm. She saw a troubled look flicker across his face just before the syringe's concoction exploded her senses outward. As the drug heightened her sensory awareness, a scream was finally torn from her throat and she writhed in the restraints.
Too much! It was too much!
A cacophony of sound thundered against her eardrums as light drove like a lance into her head, and each abused portion of her body flared its message along her nervous system at the same time. Another scream broke around the mouthguard when pressure on her chest forced her flat to the table and all the nerves along her back cried out.
With a deep gasp, she dragged air into her lungs as the weight lifted and a sliver of coherence returned to her fracturing mind. Someone was bent over her, his features wavering before her as she fought to focus through the sensory overload.
"...uck! Starbuck! Look at me. Look…damnitall, I should've never—" The looming figure turned away. Then Kara heard him shout, "No! Don't! It'll—"
Agony cascaded through her as everything was stripped away and she was thrown into a violent convulsion, then…nothing.