[Fic] The Agency: Troubles Compounded
Chapter Twenty-Five: The Voice Of God
Rating: MFandom: Battlestar Galactica
Pairing: Adama/Roslin
Author's Note: For summary, categories, disclaimer and warnings, see Chapter One.
Chapter Twenty-Five: The Voice Of God
He was cold, disoriented. He couldn’t see, couldn’t think straight. He reached for something to hold onto, but found nothing. Wading in a pool of thick liquid (rebirthing fluid, he realized) for a second he thought he must have resurrected; but where were his brothers and sisters? When would the calm of being home again kick in?
His heart was pounding in his ears, his legs were burning from the effort to keep his head in the air and he still couldn’t think properly. He swished around in the tank again, trying desperately to find the edges, mounting panic in his voice when he called, “Brothers? Brothers, where are you?!”
His chin dipped and he ended up with a mouthful of the slime. Spluttering, he forced himself far above it again. “Where am I?” he asked quietly. “Brothers? Sisters? Where am I?!”
Exhaustion was filtering through his system and his legs were getting heavier and heavier. He was struggling to stay afloat. He could let go, he knew, die here and resurrect, but where was here? What if he was already dead? What if something had gone wrong and if he died here he never came back? Could he never go home? Could his soul still find its way to God, when he was so lost?
“Help me,” he murmured and swallowed another mouthful of rebirthing fluid. It tickled the back of his throat and he was dry reaching, coughing, choking. He desperately worked to breathe, to stay above the liquid.
“Leoben,” a gentle voice. “Leoben, can you hear me?”
He searched it out, but it was too dark. “Yes. Yes, I can hear you!” he screamed, adrenaline lifting him, hope winding its way around his heart. Was he resurrecting? He didn’t recognize the voice.
Hurriedly, he moved through the liquid. “Where are you? Where am I? You need to help me. I can’t ... I can’t see. My legs hurt. I’m going to drown.”
“I’m going to help you,” she said. “You need to stay calm, Leoben, I’m going to help you.”
So soft, so lyrical, like beautiful music. It warmed him and he clung to it like a lifeline. Such gentleness and hope in just a sound, and through his baffled mind, he knew. It must be the voice of God. He was dead, she was God and she was trying to find his soul. He just had to stay above the rebirthing fluid long enough for her to find him and take him home.
He was weeping before he even realized it.
A light came on above his head and he blinked up at it, his eyes burning. Now that he could see, he took in his surroundings, but beyond the light was nothingness, eternal black.
“Do you see the light, Leoben?”
“Yes. I see it.”
“Good,” she responded. “Stay in the light. Stay in the light and I can find you.”
“Please,” he begged. “You have to find me.”
“I’m going to. But I need you to tell me some things first. I need you to tell me about Sarah.”
“Sarah?”
Why would God need to know about Sarah? Didn’t God know already? Wasn’t God all-seeing? Surely there was nothing that he could tell her that she didn’t already know. He hesitated, doubt creeping in, but before he could focus on it, something brushed against his leg.
He whirled, panicking, as he felt something hit his foot. “There’s something in here with me!”
“Stay calm,” the voice told him. “Stay calm, Leoben. I’m going to get you out of there. Just tell me about Sarah. Tell me about what she’s going to do.”
“She’s ...” another brush on his leg. “Oh, God, please. You have to get me out.”
“I will. Just talk to me, Leoben. I’m not far away now, just keep talking to me. Tell me about Sarah. She’s dangerous.”
“Yes,” he whimpered, still frantically searching around himself.
“She has a bomb. You gave her a bomb.”
“I did,” he confessed. “You don’t approve? I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Where will she plant it, Leoben? Tell me where she’s going to use it and I can stop her.”
He looked up at the light again. “If you stop her, you’ll forgive me? Forgive me my sins, God, please. I didn’t know ... I thought you meant for us ... I didn’t know. Forgive me.”
“I will,” she hummed in response and he was soothed. “I’ll forgive you. Just tell me her target.”
Another brush of his thigh, and then another quickly following it. He spun in the fluid, never so terrified in all his life. Demons were circling and God had yet to forgive him, to find him.
“The ball,” he said. “She’s going to wipe out the whole government. I didn’t know, I’m sorry, so, so sorry.”
And then whatever had been brushing against his leg had grabbed him and he screamed in pain and struggled with all his might against it. It was too strong, far too strong and it pulled him under. His mouth filled with rebirthing fluid and he held his breath, still desperately fighting, reaching up, up, towards the light that was getting further and further away.
Finally, he couldn’t fight his body’s responses any longer and his lungs filled with thick liquid. It stripped him of his remaining energy and he stopped struggling, sinking instead. The demons had him. He was going to burn in hell and already he missed the warmth of God’s voice.
Sure he was going to die, it was surprising to find himself able to breathe again, the light bright once more. “Shhh,” her voice soothed. “Sleep now, Leoben, I’ve got you.”
And when he looked up, he could make out her face. Only it wasn’t God at all, but rather the woman from his visions, the woman the hybrid’s spoke of. As he faded into unconsciousness, Leoben’s last sight was the face of the dying leader.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Will he survive?” Bill asked from his corner of the room, looking at the immobile form of their prisoner, strapped down on a bed with heavy leather clips.
Cottle glanced at him. “Should do. It was close though.”
The man had just given them the information he’d sought when his life signs had started going ballistic. He could tell Laura had wanted to push for any more information the arms dealer may have had, but Cottle had put an end to the interrogation and injected him with something to counteract the drugs they’d pumped him full of.
The Director was still standing beside the bed, her head dropped back as she rubbed at her neck, the flashlight dangling from her other hand. “We got enough. He confirmed the theory, that’s the important thing.”
It hadn’t been a difficult decision, which of them would perform the interrogation. Bill had been involved in some heavy stuff in his earlier days with the Fleet, including the HYPER program, but he’d only ever witnessed the methods used when Four-Seven-Six was administered. Laura herself, in her earlier days with the Agency, had led several sessions.
Information like that made him curios about her again. He knew she held many dark secrets, had done things in her past that she wasn’t proud of, had suffered through pains she’d never speak of, but it didn’t stop him from wanting to know everything he could about her, wanting to understand the burdens she carried on her shoulders.
“Take care of him,” Laura ordered the doctor and then headed for the door, Bill only a few paces behind her.
They headed for her office and when they were in an empty section of corridor, he asked, “What do we do now?”
“Everything we possibly can,” she stated, stopping and turning towards him. “Send bulletins to the locals about Baltar and his Cylon. Hopefully they’ll be spotted and we can move in and diffuse the situation long before the Ball. I’ll be speaking to a few Admiral’s tomorrow, will let them know what’s going on and see if they have any ideas. And I’ll also be making an impromptu visit to our President, see if I can’t get him to cancel the Ball.”
“Adar?” Bill questioned. “You know him?”
She started walking again. “I went to University with him.”
“Does he know about ...?” he trailed off, gesturing to the facility around them.
Laura shook her head. “I told you in one of our first meetings, we purposely keep the head of the civilian government in the dark.”
“Then how do you know he’ll listen?”
A touch of laughter in her voice. “Oh, I know he won’t listen at all.”
“Why bother then?” Bill questioned.
“Because, there’s the slightest chance he’ll pull his head out of his ass and actually do what I ask of him. It’s unlikely, but as long as there’s a chance, I have to try.” She shook her head and then smiled at him. “Do you own a tux?”
Taken off guard at the question, Bill furrowed his brow and said, “No. Why?”
“Rent one. Because if worse comes to worst, you and I are going to a ball.”
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