Atonement

* Begin Scene *



* As he ascended the mountain in Washington and his destination grew closer, Yochanan took a deep breath. Remembering the last time he was here.

He had believed so strongly in what he was doing. And now he couldn’t see how that would have been possible.

He stroked his long beard, and replayed the events between then, and what his life had come to be now. It was hard to piece together after he had lost his mind, but he knew what it would take to make him whole.

He would have to face his worst sin. He would have to look at the grave of the life he had taken and face the fact that he had killed. He did not know why, but he knew that he had to do just that before he could ever regain his sanity and his life.

After being released from the psychiatric hospital, he had immediately wanted to come here. His family had, of course, resisted, and had been worried about him, not just about being on his own, but having to sneak back into the United States, where, for all he knew, he was still a wanted man for attempting to kill what he now knew as G.g.B before the demon inside G..g.B had driven him mad.

He understood his loved ones’ reluctance, but he also knew that to be the man that he would want around his family, he would have to complete his journey to make himself whole. He had accomplished everything he could in the hospital B.a.D had sent him to. The rest was up to him.
He completed his climb and closed his eyes. He knew what was just ahead, and after he took a deep breath, he opened them. Then he looked at what he saw, and did not understand.

The grave was empty.
Only a hole remained. And a gravestone, broken in half, that read “Here Lies: P.c.P”. In the hole, the casket was open. Nothing was inside.

Yochanan squinted. It did not make any sense! He wanted nothing more than to believe that P.c.P was alive, that he hadn’t really taken a life, but he knew that was nonsense. He remembered taking aim, making the shot, and in the most horrible moment, watching him die on the hotel floor room in Katastrophe’s arms. He had even watched Katastrophe, along with Mizzle and B.a.D, bury the body. On this very site!

Had he been moved? No, that was not likely, for the grave site was a mess. They would surely have cleaned up after doing something as thorough as interning a body.

Yochanan took out his cell phone and hesitated a moment. Then he hesitated to remember a cell number of someone he had worked with when he had taken the B.a.Dcave.

He waited and waited, and became even more frustrated when he was greeted with a voicemail message. *

“You’ve reached Katastrophe. Leave a message.”

Yochanan: It’s… it’s Yochanan. Listen, I need… I need to talk with you for a second. Just one second, OK? … call me back…

* Yochanan took one more look at a gravesite. He looked it at it again, and took a deep breath. He could never truly be whole again until he knew exactly what was going on… what had happened to the body of the man he had killed.

His thought completed as a shadow came over the hill. He looked up, and was in disbelief.

A stealth plane! Of a design he had never seen before. What could it be doing out here up in the mountains? As Yochanan turned to head up towards where the massive ship looked to be landing, he was struck on the back of the head, and his world went dark.

Fade out. *



* Fade into a dark room. A bunch of men dragged Yochanan in by his elbows, and tossed him on the ground. They had been beating him for hours now, as far as he could tell. He did not even have the presence yet to know where he was or who these people we’re.

The men stood around him in a circle now. And a door opened at the far end of whatever large, dark room they had brought him too.

Yochanan’s heart started to race. He immediately became filled with intense fear, the fear that he had only felt when…

… when he had stared into the eyes of the demon that was G.g.B. The demon that possessed United States President George Bush…

As Yochanan realized this, he immediately began to panic. He knew his heart and his mind would never survive another such encounter. But before he could even scream... the figure spoke before it came into view. *

Do not worry, Yochanan. I am not who you think I am.

* Yochanan’s eyes widened. He knew it was a demon… after what he had experienced, he knew this with absolute certainty. But there was something different about this one… *

In fact, the “man” who did this to you, I seek to end him. Along with everything else.

* Yochanan gasped as the figure came into view.

It was Saddam Hussein.

Yochanan did not understand. *

My name is O.s.H, Yochanan. And by the time I am done with you, you will WISH I was G.g.B. UNLESS…

* Yochanan paused. He could only think of one thing. Anything… ANYTHING would be better than experiencing the horror that was beginning even right now in his mind… *

The grave you came here to see… the one who was in it… where is he now?

Yochanan: I… I don’t know. I came here to… I want to find out too…

* But as he looked up at O.s.H, he saw no trace of belief or sympathy in his voice.

Just eyes that glowed bright orange, in the same way that G.g.B’s eyes had glowed green and driven him mad. *

It looks like we are going to be spending a LOT of time together, Yochanan.

* Yochanan’s eyes widened and his mind began to close… it was starting… he could feel his sanity slipping through his fingers again. *

* To a guard. *
Take us out of here. And take him to his cell.

* As the men drug him away, O.s.H’s eyes stared into his soul, and Yochanan felt himself start to go mad again.

Everything he had felt about the confusion of P.c.P’s empty grave washed out of him like a wave had hit him. The only thing he could think of was O.s.H staring into him, almost as if the same demon in Bush that had driven him mad… or one very much like it… was in Saddam Hussein now, and he knew that his mind would not last as long as he was around this being.

Yochanan tried to hang on to familiar thoughts, like his family, but it was to no avail. All he knew now was horror. Terror. And he knew that as long as he was held captive, it would continue to get worse, until he had no recognizable mind left at all.

He wished above all else that his new captors would just kill him, but he knew… he would not be that lucky. As his mind left him little by little, he could not tell whether he was screaming or crying – or both –they threw him in a small, dark cell and closed the door.

Fade out. *

* Fade into Katastrophe's room. Herself and B-Rush we're having a conversation. *

So... I'm going to Afghanistan meet with Lookalike, then?

Yep, you and Ozi-Style. Lookalike says he has something vital to tell us. Mizzle just greenlighted the op, he said you volunteered.

I did. I want to get some action before Katherine gets into her third trimester.

All right. You leave soon, Lookalike says the info he has is urgent. Hit me up later for some details.

You got it.

* B-Rush left the room.

Katastrophe looked down at her cell and saw she had a voicemail. When she looked at the caller ID, her eyes widened in surprise. And not the good kind.

Yochanan had called her.

How had he even had her number? He must have still had it from when she was undercover working "with" him at the old B.@.Dcave last year. She scoffed.

She still remembered how he had killed P.c.P right in front of him. B.@.D had taken mercy on him when they had captured him thereafter.

But she was not B.@.D, and she did not care what he had to say.

So without listening to the voicemail, she deleted it.

Fade out. *

* End Scene *