Mina stood in the base's cafeteria. If you could call it that. It was more like an understocked kitchen with a few chairs and tables haphazardly placed around the freezing unit. She had made it out of her room early this day, but it was unheard of for her to show up to Doctor Hauser's med bay before he was properly prepared. Mina looked up when she saw Rick and Arno enter and start towards her.
Rick had been a great partner that she had known for four years. His hair always looked as if someone had tussled it constantly to the point of permanence. The brown strands fell around his face, accentuating an almost continual grin. Arno was much shorter, and much stockier than Rick. Short blond hair poked out of the grey fedora that usually rested upon his scalp. He had been a new addition to the team almost two years ago. Still this was not enough time for Mina to be confident about what kind of person he was. How long had she been here? She wasn't even totally sure anymore.
Rick pulled a chair forward and sat, resting his elbows on his knees and looking at Mina as she pulled out a knife and began peeling an apple.
"This guy is going to be trouble." Rick said just loudly enough for Mina to stop what she was doing and look at him quizingly. Rick shrugged as he sat back in the chair.
"I am just saying, you are going to have your hands full with him. We tried to install the chip this morning while he was still asleep. Arno was lucky he didn't have his head pulled off from his shoulders."
Arno scoffed, looking at his shoes, not admitting any weakness or defeat. But the side of his face was bruised black, and there was no hiding the fact that he had lost whatever fight he had been in.
"He caught me off-guard, dick. I totally would have been able to take him." Arno muttered and leaned against a wall, his eyes digging into the back of Rick.
"Sure, whatever Arno. Whatever helps you sleep at night. Anyways Mina, you are a bit more upgraded than we are, so you might have some better luck. Will you have a look? Or at least get the Collar on him. We can deal with a chip later on, if need be." Rick seemed casual by the statement, but it made Mina shudder internally.
Like a dog….Just like they had thrown her in a cell, beaten her until she couldn't move, and then slipped the collar around her neck. She remembered how that collar felt, cold and unforgiving against her clammy skin.
"Of course I will take a look. Just remember, there is always going to be someone bigger and badder than yourself." It was highly convenient that she said this, as her "bigger and badder" had just walked through the door. Arno straightened himself against the wall, and Rick stood from his seat, his eye brows coming together as if magnets had suddenly been activated.
The door of the kitchen unit closed, and Mina swallowed hard. The chip in her neck began to itch again, this still directly stimulated by the memory of the man currently standing in the door way.
"Arion. What brings you to this side of the galaxy?" Mina said in a manner that made her feelings for the man quite clear.
Arion had been with Doctor Hauser for many years before Mina had ever become a part of the picture. He was a tall man, with platinum white hair falling passed his shoulders and falling perfectly to his shoulder blades. He had a thin face, with cheekbones jutting out, making him look slightly avian. Arion smirked, taking a few heavy steps towards her. She looked up at him, easily a head and a half taller than herself, and that was saying something, considering she wasn't a petite creature. Arion's smirk turned slightly into a sneer and he spoke.
"Ah, Mina my dear. How are you? It has been far too long." His voice reminded Mina of oil sliding down the side of something solid. A grotesquely horrible smoothness that made all the hairs on her body stand up straight. But perhaps that was just the memories.
"Doctor Hauser has asked that you take care of the prisoner's collar right away. This is the case because the two behind you are largely incompetent, I presume. He is transferring responsibility of the prisoner to you, though I am not sure that was much of an improvement from the new blood." He said this last piece with his eyes fixed on Arno and Rick.
Rick was a proud creature, but all of them knew they were nothing in this man's shadow. He gripped the bottom of his chair tightly until the knuckles began to pale and whiten.
The greatest accomplishment to Doctor Hauser at this point in time had been Arion, the best, the strongest, and the most ruthless. It had been Arion that had broken Mina to begin with, who had held her down with just one arm as he slid a long needle into her neck containing the very microchip that now remained there.
"I will do as the doctor asks. No need to get nasty, Arion. The prisoner is an Augment. Perhaps even you might have some difficulty with him." Her voice was boisterous. A challenge. And it had slipped from her lips before she could have contained the venom in her words.
He sneered again at her, and took a few steps forward until they were almost touching. He leaned down, his pupils turning a blood stained shade of red.
"Let me know if it becomes too difficult for a weakling like yourself. I hope you are right, Mina my dear. I would love for him to be a challenge. It would be much harder than it was to break your pathetic excuse for a spirit."
Rage on top of rage. It filled Mina's chest with hurt pride, but she said nothing. Choosing instead to focus on how it would feel to take this creature down.
"I knew all it would take was a few words about that sister of yours. Imagine if I had the pleasure to break her too…" Arion sidestepped the punch that Mina threw towards his face. Though she was fast, he was so much faster, and he had expected her heated response. His movements were unreal, and each time they had confronted one another, it was this that had become her undoing.
Arion grabbed her black curls in one hand as she lurched by him. As his fingers tightened over the curls, he lifted his other hand and brought a fist to the damaged side of her face. Mina knew it was over as soon as it began, and even as her body literally flew into the ground, she still felt the hatred coursing through her. Her head bounced on the concrete flooring and she felt the reverberation of his punch throughout her entire body. She opened her eyes, looking up at him as she slowly pushed herself onto her hands and knees. Arion's eyes flashed at her, and he pushed her back into the ground with his foot.
"Stay in your place down on the ground, weakling." He looked up at Rick and Arno, who were standing, but making no motion to come to Mina's aid. It was to be expected though when fighting an opponent like Arion.
"It is good that you know your place Mina. Under my boot." His smile made her feel sick, but she could not move.
"Well then, I am off. I have many tasks to do, all of which are more important than showing you all a lesson in strength and skill." Arion smirked again as Mina groaned, his foot still in the center of her back pressing down with immense pressure. He slowly lifted his leg before leaning downwards and giving a small whisper only Mina could hear.
"I shall tell Rebecca hello for you the next time I see her."
Mina groaned again as she slowly made her way back to her feet. She looked into his red eyes with her own blue, flashing promises of violent intentions.
Arion gave her a wink, which only served to make her even angrier. He stood to his full height and turned on his heal, leaving the small kitchen area with triumph. Mina got to her feet and wiped the blood from her lips, giving Rick and Arno a look of disgust.
"Come on Mina, don't look at us that way. Had we made any move…"
"He would have flat out killed us." Arno finished Rick's statement, and Mina knew it was true. Rick and Arno had been experiments starting no more than 4 years ago. Though Mina was younger than both of the men, she had undergone so many more experimental treatments. Some short in their duration, others taking longer to set in and take. Doctor Hauser's prized dog might have been Arion, but she was next on that line, and even though she hated it, there were some perks.
Like not getting her head repeatedly slammed into the ground until she had no face. As she had seen in the past.
"Look, it doesn't matter." She said simply, having neither words, nor trust for either of her comrades.
"Mina?" Rick paused cautiously, waiting for Mina to say something, anything. But instead, she started out of the kitchen, leaving the dull knife on the ground with her slightly peeled apple. As she exited the room, the door closed behind her, and she turned, slamming her fist into the wall, molding the steel plates into concave saucers beneath her. The human side of her wanted to weep in defeat, in knowing she would never be quite as good as Arion. The man was no longer human. He was vicious, and he cared for nothing but himself and the continual improvement he received to his own person. Pleasure and pain. Her thoughts slowly left the deranged human as she slowly began her journey down the hall.
Rebecca Ellan Erie. Her sister… How long had it been? 5 years? No, must be longer than that…10? Could it have been more than that?
Mina didn't really know how long she had been on this base. There was never much reason to fill out her schedule or take a look at the calendar. She had kept track of days in the beginning, when the pain had been at its greatest, but no longer. The days in space were all the same, no different than the last. Instead of living in a cage, she had been given a small room and the freedom to walk about the station, watched at all moments. Mina shook her head, wiping her mouth on her sleeve without much thought towards the blood that began to stain the khaki colored material. She headed towards the lift, placing her hand on the identification pad and calling up an elevator. She entered it, directing the machine towards the cells, where the Augment was housed.
Mina took a deep breath, trying to zero in on just how long it had been since she had truly been free, yet nothing came to the forefront of her mind. The memories of her childhood had been lost to the numbing of the drugs the doctor fed her during his little experiments. Always he attempted to destroy everything it was that made them human. Love, joy, peace, all were lost until nothing other than the anger was boiling within her. Slowly, the elevator came to a stop and Mina exited the big metal box. She walked along the hallway leading into the collection of cells she knew so well from the days long past, when she had been here herself. She willed herself to ignore the memories that always came up when she entered this place. Screams…screams from someone who couldn't have been her. The sound of weeping, begging for the mercy of anyone. Mina opened the main hanger door leading into the main cell block and she closed the door behind her.
Silence. Nothing stirred. Mina began to walk towards the back, her boot heels clicking against the floors rhythmically. At the end of the room was a cell, the only one occupied at the moment. In each cell, empty or not, there was a four poster bed made of cheap metal. There was a mat haphazardly thrown onto each bed covered by a tattered, used sheet, and a piece of cloth that could constitute as a blanket. There were necessities of course, a toilet in the back right corner of each cell and a sink that would provide the prisoner with some semblance of running water for washing.
In this particular cell, Mina saw the prisoner, the Augment, sitting upon what you might call a bed, his elbows on his knees and staring at the floor. When she slowed to a stop in front of the cage, the Augment slowly lifted his head to look at her.
Again, Mina was caught by surprise by those storms trapped in his eyes. A brilliant display of his inner rage and ire…it was beautiful. Slowly the Augment stood to his full height. He was probably the same height as Arion, if not just a touch taller. His hair was a mess, very unlike how she had first seen him, almost serene as he had slept in his cryotube.
He approached the side of the cage in which he was kept. Mina wanted to take a step back. She had no doubt from this moment that had Arno been in the cage any longer, the bruises he had would have paled in comparison to a missing limb. The augment wrapped long, pale fingers around the bars separating them.
"Are you here to stick more needles in me? I must be honest, I did not enjoy being prodded while trying to sleep, you know." His voice was a low rumble, or that is the way it reverberated in her. She didn't respond at first, which allowed for him to continue.
"You must be…Mina. The stupid ones came in, I bashed the tiny one against the cell, and then they mumbled something about getting a…Mina. You." There was no part of what he said that was a question. He was merely stating fact, and Mina was curious to see what else he knew from the point he was awakened until now.
"I am Mina. From what I understand, I am going to be with you for the next few weeks." She said simply, hoping that he would continue. He did not, and it seemed that he was waiting for her to say something besides her name. She shifted her weight uncomfortably, unsure how to proceed. It was seldom to never that she interacted with any new prisoners or prospects that the doctor brought to the base. He had always told her it was because she was far too unpredictable.
There were collars hanging on the wall, all primed and ready to go. It would have probably been easier for Rick and Arno to try and put one of those on him, rather than going straight for injection.
"I guess I should fill you in on what this place is…"
"No need. This is a medical base. It's derelict, so I would assume that we are not in the presence of Starfleet, which at first was much to my relief after the last time our paths crossed. I have no need of any further information on this subject." He paused for a moment, his eyes still moving over her as if scanning for the injury he had inflicted. Mina saw his eyes linger on her face, and the expression he had could have been likened to confusion.
" I have been visited by the doctor, though I have no idea what name you call him by. He didn't need to explain much. You are obviously a genetic experiment as are the others that came by earlier. But in you… I can see it from the hue of your eye color, as well as a few tell-tale signs. There are puncture scars on your arms and hands, and you move much too easily to be a normal human." The last word was said with disgust, and Mina felt as if the man had prodded too far. How much he knew from such little interaction with all of them. The level of intelligence in his eyes troubled her, but mostly from the angle that he would now be her responsibility, and in proxy, her problem.
"Your doctor wants my blood to make a serum which would complete his work….you."
Mina had to forcibly keep her mouth closed as she stared at him. She tried not to make it obvious that every single thing he had uttered had been completely, and entirely correct.
"Is there anything you wish to add, Mina? Now that I have told you exactly what I know?" His voice was like the purr of a cat, throaty and deep. Mina opened her mouth, and then closed it.
"Well, you seem to have the main jest of what goes on here. This is a…derelict…medical base. It is currently run by Doctor Arnold Hauser, a specialist in genetic manipulation and enhancement. He…wishes to see how to improve the human condition. To make us…more than we are." Mina felt as if the speech was practiced. Over and over she had heard these words, until they had just been shielded from all the real feelings that she had about the place.
"Doctor Hauser has always been a fan of the manipulations that made the Augments. He has been trying to perfect his procedures for years now. With your blood, he will be able to finally do that." She couldn't help the look of disgust that must have been creeping over her face. Mina turned to look at the augment, wondering how this next part was going to go.
"I am here to put one of these devices on you." She carefully avoided calling them as they were, collars to cage and enslave them. She motioned towards the wall before taking a few steps forward and taking one off the wall. She pressed a part of the collar and a metal bar slid out electronically, displaying the locking mechanism. Mina watched the man's eyes flash in anger.
"You would have me caged and collared like a dog? My dear Mina…you are going to have to force that on my neck for me to wear it."
Mina guessed that this would be his reaction. It had been her own as well, which is why Arion had been needed to come inside her cell and chip her.
"I know it's not ideal…"
"No, I don't think you understand. It is not ideal, it is not happening." His words vibrated in their finality, and Mina had half a heart to just run back out the way she had come.
"If you don't, you will rot in this cage. If I don't get this done, Arion will be asked to do it for me, which would be unpleasant in two major fashions." Mina shifted the collar in her hands before straightening slightly and staring back at the augment, finally feeling her spine running back from its fearful disappearance.
"First, it would be highly embarrassing, and quite possibly detrimental to my own health should I fail, assuming I was to fail to convince you. Secondly, I am much more reasonable…sane…than Arion, and his interference in this process would include a great deal of pain and other unpleasantness." Her voice remained strong, even as a smirk passed over the lips of the augment.
"You fought me when I had just awoken from cryo. You underestimate my strength with your lack of information, I fear." His gloating was apparent, and Mina ignored it easily. She didn't doubt what he said, he looked more than capable to handle himself. But there were some things that could only be learned from living in this place.
"I think you underestimate where it is you are, and who is keeping you here."
The augment regarded her after she said this, his eyes back to scanning her. The expression on his face told Mina that he didn't believe her, but still he remained silent.
Instead of arguing further, Mina regarded the augment for a moment. There weren't a lot of options at this point in time. The idea of opening the cage door and forcing the collar onto the augment's neck did not have much appeal to it. The last time she had fought him, she had gotten the upper hand just long enough for the doctor to use the shock device. Had they been fighting longer, Mina was sure that she would have lost to his strength and speed. Not only would entering the cage end with her dead or incapacitated, it would also precipitate the man's escape. Options flooded her mind, and she was finding it increasingly difficult to remain concentrated on what she needed to do.
Mina closed the space between them, approaching the side of the cage. The augment did the same, so they were looking at each other through the bars. His eyes were storms again, and Mina wondered if that was always the case. The emotions radiating off of him made her anxious, as if one plotting her revenge was standing beside her.
"What is your name?" She said quietly. After all their conversation, Mina felt as if she knew nothing more than she had started with. Augment. Strong. Dangerous. It was almost comedic.
"I am Khan." His voice was barely above a whisper, but all of the anger and resentment that Mina had observed in his simple movement and way of speaking culminated in this confession.
The confession of a name. Of a story untold.
She whispered his name, feeling the sound of it on her own tongue. Khan's eyes were burning into her, and she felt the heat of them looking past her, through her. All of her plots seemed transparent. Her hands slipped from the metal bars that she had grabbed. Her hands moved to hang by her sides, and her gaze suddenly met his own.
"Would you like to hear what I have learned about you, Khan?" Mina's voice drew his attention. It was obvious that he was curious as to her response.
"All I have seen so far is a clever person who knows they are clever." His eyebrows furrowed questioningly, but she continued.
"Egotistical, vain…Should I continue?"
Khan's hands shot out of the cage towards her, but she was a step ahead of him, twisting out of the way as her hands came back up from her sides. She slid the cuffs onto him before he had calmed from his quick anger. Khan gave an angry yell when he had realized what she had done, and he wretched his arms against the metal as hard as he could.
It was fairly obvious that his strength was ineffective against the cuffs she had stolen during her last gun run. He was fuming, even as she approached him again with the collar. His eyes reminded her like a wild animal's, as they were brought towards a cage for transports. He wanted to run, to gnash his teeth and fight to keep the collar from his neck.
That same feral, almost rabid disobedience.
Mina slipped her hands through the cage and clipped it around his neck. When it clicked closed, she felt Khan attempt to wretch his body from her. There was an electronic beep from the collar, which looked as if it was nothing more than a thin tubular piece of metal. A small green light glowed on the front.
"You are afraid of me, girl. You stink of it, your small glances and retreating nature is testament to your weakness. You should fear me, you have every reason to do so." Khan spat the words, confidence still dripping from each word he spoke, making them seem like truth.
Mina exhaled a breath slowly, still glad just to have gotten the job done without additional bruises. She placed her hand on one of the cuffs and the fingerprint reader allowed for the metal to drop off immediately, falling to the ground with a dull clank.
"Listen to me." Her sudden forcefulness gave him pause again. Just in the surprise of hearing what seemed like a meek girl, giving orders.
"I don't want to be here. You don't want to be here. I get it. But calling your best chance off this base a weakling and a coward is probably not the best start to a working relationship." Khan's face was stoic.
"Who says I need your help to get off this ship?" Though his face said nothing more on the matter, it was obvious that Khan was interested. Mina guessed that he was an opportunist, and for now, it might be enough for them to get along until a time came for escape.
"For reasons I actually just displayed to you." Slowly, Mina raised her hand and gave a little wave before continuing. "My hand print will unlock most things on this ship. Doors, security systems….cuffs and collars…I have the necessary knowledge and fingerprint to get you off this ship."
Khan seemed to silently contemplate this and he slowly moved to the back of his cell. There was silence for a few minutes, but Mina waited patiently. She had no more choice.
"Why would you wait for a partner when you could just escape yourself with all of that information? What is keeping you from leaving? Why do you need my help?" His questions were direct, but that did not surprise her at all.
Mina did not want to answer him. She had gained the upper hand for a moment, but as soon as she had, here he was, taking it back away from her.
"Mina." A stern, loud voice caused Mina to whip her head around. Back by the main hanger door, Doctor Hauser stood, his medical kit with him to extract blood. He slowly walked down the isle until he was a few meters away from them.
"Good, I am glad you have met my assistant, Mina. Spunky little thing, isn't she?" His voice grated on Mina's mind, and she fought a look of disgust that was threatening to cross her face. The doctor took another few steps forward and opened the pack.
"Augment, this will go much easier if you do as you're told. It will be less painful, and much faster."
Mina locked eyes with the augment and swallowed in a dry throat. Her anxiety lessened as he slid a long arm from inside the cage to allow the doctor access to his vein. Slowly, the doctor approached and quickly slipped a needle into Khan's arm.
"Oh, I am glad to see you are so receptive to this. I will be sure to remember when I consider when you can leave the cellblock." The doctor said this almost absentmindedly, simply talking to fill the silence.
"Mina, I think I can take it from here. You are dismissed." The doctor finished, taking out the needle and staring at the blood in the light. Mina nodded and slowly retreated, taking one last glance at the augment in his cage. His eyes burned into her with some silent promise she had yet to completely understand. And slowly, she made her exit, hoping that this would be the start to a most profitable partnership.
Salutations! There is chapter 2 in all of it's glory! I may choose to update it again and do another edit. But so far, it's looking good. I have a few tricks up my sleeve regarding the next few chapters. I know the relationship has yet to really develop between Khan and Mina, but only time will tell.
Please feel free to leave me a review! I really want to know what you all think!
