THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF FANS
Chapter 1 of 10 - Khan
Standard disclaimers apply.
Jim Moriarty did make it big. In less than a year after arriving at the Software Development division, he had made Supervisor, the title John had only earned after working for three years. He was famous for his brilliant mind, likeable personality and peculiarly flamboyant gait. Only eight months after Jim had joined the company, he had single-handedly fixed numerous flaws in the company's computer system, which had included but not limited to software documentation management, enterprise infrastructure system, coding standard protocols and most importantly the network security, which had become a serious issue among upper management after a particularly damaging hacker's attack on the company sales data and corporate website several months before. Thanks to his contributions on the problem, Jim was more often than not seen walking side by side with directors and shareholders, holding his trusty black, unmarked twelve-inch laptop, probably on their way to attend some confidential meetings that were way out of John's salary range.
Aside from his outstanding intellect and extremely well connections, Jim's personal life had also been gaining a lot of people's attention those days. While John himself had built up quite a reputation for his certain promiscuous ways, Jim had made up an entire new height for himself as the 'unattainable'. He had charmed his ways through departments and branch offices, males and females (which was understandable given he had always been rather ambiguous regarding his preference), yet nobody seemed to be able to gain his special interest. Jim had friends, colleagues, acquaintances, but he had never shared anything about his family. There seemed to be a slice of his persona that was constantly kept in the dark, which only served to make him more attractive, especially among the younger ladies.
"Well personally I don't find Jim very attractive," Sarah commented, taking in John's hand in a soft, warm grip that always reminded him of the first time they had met. Cliché as it had been, they had accidentally reached for the same cup during one of the day-long meetings coffee break. Sparks had flown, and there they were, on the over-hyped third date in a cosy Italian restaurant. "But I can understand why many of the girls are helplessly smitten with him. I think he has this... dark quality. I can't really explain, just... He is different and I think he knows it too. That's why he keeps people at arm's length. Maybe he fears rejection, or he doesn't want to be misunderstood."
John frowned. "For someone who claims to have no interest in him, you sure took your time to understand his psyche."
"Are you jealous?" Sarah grinned and leaned closer to him across the table. He took the invitation, titling his head to place a soft kiss on her lips. She opened her eyes slowly, her eyes warm with humour. It filled him with pride to know that he was the only one reflected in the large, beautiful blue eyes. "Anyway, if one of us were ever in danger of being snatched away by the perfect bachelor Jim Moriarty-"
"That's what they call him with these days?"
"That would be you, not me," Sarah finished with a quirk of lips.
John averted his eyes and started to laugh, incredulous. "God, I've had it with the rumour mills-t-they actually said that about me?"
Sarah nodded, propping her elbows on the table. "Aren't you, though, his best friend?"
"We're just work colleagues. He asked me to assist him with his work in the branch offices several times-"
"Jim has never asked for help from anyone, especially concerning his work," Sarah tilted her head, looking vaguely amused. "From what I've heard, he mostly keeps everything to himself when he is working. He doesn't even let someone help him putting cables up."
"Yes he does. In fact, that's exactly what I've been assisting him with," John said, as-a-matter-of-factly. "I'm just helping him with the hardware stuff because he said it wasn't his area and he wasn't comfortable doing it alone without someone more experienced to make sure that-"
"Oh John," Sarah chuckled. "Have you met the men? He is brilliant. I'm sure he has handled much more complicated problems with higher risks than frying a PC or two."
"-I was going to say, he wanted to make sure that that the setup was up to the company's standard protocols-"
"Which he probably just co-wrote himself!"
John pressed his lips together, somewhat annoyed at the implication that Jim could have handled his job easily. The work wasn't his dream job, yes. He struggled everyday just to get his arse off the bed and prepare to leave for work. But he had also worked very hard to be barely adequate at what he did. Jim was a genius, especially gifted. He had seen the man work; he was inhumanely fast and efficient, could have probably come up with new clustering algorithms in his sleep. But that brilliant man had never once implied that he could have done John's job better. He had always been both amazed and grateful for that. And if she hadn't had something nice to say, Sarah shouldn't have mentioned it at all.
Setting his napkin aside, John picked up the check and walked away.
XXX
"Rough day?"
John looked up from his screen, only mildly surprised to find Jim standing next to him. He was alone in the room, finishing up on an urgent task. The rest of the staffs had long gone out for lunch. At times like this, occasionally Jim would come up with a couple of sandwiches, John would get the tea ready and they would spend at least fifteen minutes eating and talking about the most random stuff.
"Well," Jim took a sip of his tea. "That wasn't a very nice thing to say."
John hadn't meant to share his disastrous (possibly last date ever) with Sarah, but he didn't really have anyone else to talk about these things with. Despite what he had said, Jim was probably the closest thing to a best friend he never had.
"I probably shouldn't have mentioned it to you," he let out a wry chuckle before taking a bite of his ham sandwich. "Might have made you," He licked his lips. "-us, a bit uncomfortable."
Jim scoffed. "I'm not oblivious to the work of the rumour mills, Johnny. I know about everything they have ever made up of me. Have you heard that apparently I was a part of the child genius association raised by the government to eventually join MI6?"
John laughed, almost spitting out bits of half-chewed bread. "Christ, that was hilarious. How come I've never heard of that one before?"
"Because I made that up to make you smile again," Jim looked up at him and grinned unapologetically. "People will always talk, John. That's what they do. It's okay to listen sometimes, but never let them use it against you. For instance,"
John held his breath as Jim put down his sandwich and leaned very close to him, their faces almost touching.
"People would never stop speculating about us, no matter how much you deny it," the genius programmer whispered. "Might as well look at the silver lining. Get something out of it, take it to your advantage."
Jim leaned back, friendly smile fixed back in place. "I'm sure you'll think of something."
XXX
Two weeks later, John found himself on another road trip with Jim, not any less baffled about the shroud of mysteries which seemed to engulf his guise. The signs had been there all along, right from the moment when Jim had abruptly showed up in the morning, asking him rather desperately for an assistance with the new in-house program installation at a branch marketing office in Central London.
"This is the project for Google Maps integration with the marketing department's brand locator," John had exclaimed earlier during the preparations. "I thought this was going to take three months to get this done?"
Jim had scrunched up his face in a grimace. "Three whole months? What was I building, a satellite launch pad?"
John hadn't exactly been counting, but it was the fifth time he had been out together with Jim on a job in which he was pretty sure his assistance wasn't really necessary. The first time Jim had reasoned not to have sufficient knowledge regarding the company's hardware setting protocols. The second and third time had been fine, understandable. John probably wouldn't have batted an eye had it been anyone else but someone who had just implied that he could have built a satellite launcher in three months. Surely Jim had had the procedures memorized by now; or even had come up with better, more efficient way. It was his current running pattern. Jim Moriarty, the man who fixed everything.
Reclining his seat back a few degrees, John closed his eyes and tried to relax, Very Best of Bee Gees album playing in the background. Wherever Jim went, there always seemed to be a pair of black earphones slung around his neck. There had been a lot of conjectures regarding his musical preference, but nobody even got to see what sort of portable music player he kept inside his pocket let alone saw the content of his playlist. Being the public-appointed best friend, John had had not a small number a people asking him what sort of music Jim listened to. Every single time John would have rolled his eyes, pressed his lips together and shrugged. He had never (and hadn't had any intention to) looked at Jim's music player, and every time they went together with Jim's car, this same album would be playing on repeat. He honestly couldn't tell if Jim genuinely liked it or if it had come with the company car and he couldn't have been bothered to switch it.
"The weather is nice today," John started conversationally. Jim had looked a bit tense that day, perhaps he could use someone to talk to.
"Yes, yes, very nice indeed," Jim replied rather grouchily. John looked away and took a deep breath. Jim had never acted like this before, something really bad must have happened to him.
John shifted in his seat nervously. Jim was steadily increasing his speed, and seemed to be venturing out of their intended route. John hadn't been paying attention before, but now he realized that Jim had long bypassed their destination and continued to head east.
"Jim, I think we should turn back," he said carefully, not wanting to provoke the other man any further.
Jim's only respond was a low grunt. The road was straight and mostly empty, but even an empty road would have been a hazard if Jim continued to pick up the speed.
"Where are we going exactly?" He tried again. Jim didn't respond this time, and much to John's horror, occasionally closed his eyes and nodded his head to the tune of 'Too Much Heaven'.
"Jim, did something-" John swallowed. His throat felt dry, his heart raced. "Is something wrong?"
Jim heeled the brake, abruptly stopping the car. Even with the seatbelt fastened, John's breath was knocked out of his lung from the impact.
"What the fuck, Jim?!" John snapped at him with a spiteful glare. "Were you trying to kill both of us?! What if there were another car right behind us?!"
Jim remained silent, frown deepened.
"Jim?"
As John raised his hand to touch the other man's shoulder, Jim suddenly straightened his back and kick-started the engine. A loud roaring noise was heard, then they were leaping forward. John wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't; not with the way his whole body was shook and turned along with the wild movements of the car.
"Jim, stop it!" He snarled. It fell on a deaf ear.
"For the love of G-" He clamped his eyes shut at a particularly rough jerking movement as the car narrowly avoided colliding head-on to a bark of tree. "JIM STOP THE CAR!"
The car spun as it changed direction before finally getting back on the road track. Then it bounded straight forward with rapidly increasing speed. John braced himself and grappled around for something to hoist himself up. Jim made a turn in to a lake park area. Taking advantage of the slowing car, John made a grab at the steering wheel, forcing it to stay straight.
"Jim, I'm not fucking around, you need to stop the car right now!"
When John finally managed to wrestle Jim away and hit the brake, they were about two seconds away from crashing into the iron fences.
"Why?" John could feel the rage furled back inside his chest when he heard Jim's voice coming from his side. Jim was still as composed as ever, even though John could barely feel his feet at the moment.
"Why indeed!" John unbuckled his seatbelt hurriedly and stepped out of the car.
"Johnny!" Jim followed him.
"Don't-!" John pulled away as he felt Jim grabbing his shoulder.
"Why did you ask me that?!" Jim howled.
"I don't need this right now," John turned around and started to walk away.
"Don't you get it, Johnny?" Jim quickly reclaimed his grasp around John's wrist. "You don't get to walk away from me. Not unless I allow you to."
John stared at him, eyes wide in astonishment. Jim's face contorted in anger he almost looked like an entirely different person, making John shiver. Sarah had been right. There was something about Jim, a dark attribute that separated him from the rest. Nobody knew for sure what he was thinking about, not one preference he revealed for anyone to see.
John tried to move his hand only to find it completely stuck. The man gripped like an iron shackle.
"Let me go, Jim."
"Why did you ask me if something was wrong?!" Jim continued to shout at him, his eyes wild. John looked up at him in bewilderment. He didn't understand how the simple question had set the other man off at the first place.
"I was just-"
"There is nothing wrong with me!"
"Yes, there is!" John twisted his arm and grabbed Jim's wrist, dragging it up in front of his face. "This! This is what's wrong with you! You've got everything! You are brilliant, people like you, your job probably pays much better than mine! So what if you were different?! Big fucking deal! In your case it only means that you are better, there should be no reason for you to ever feel insecure!"
Jim stared at him, unblinking. John could tell that he had caught him by surprise.
"I suppose you're right. There is nothing wrong with you," John spat out as he pulled his hand away. "You almost got us killed for nothing at all. I hope that made you feel all better."
He expected Jim to make another grab at him as he started to walk away, but Jim just stood there with his face down, motionless. Indignant, John ignored him and continued to backtrack his way to the main street, hoping to catch a bus. A few steps later, he could hear the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.
XXX
"You should become a doctor," Jim remarked without opening his eyes from the passenger seat.
"I was going to," John replied evenly, keeping his eyes his on the street as he drove. Massachusetts playing in the background. "Then my father had a heart attack. Money was tight to begin with, it was no longer possible to support my studies."
"Money problems," Jim snorted. "How pedestrian of you, Johnny."
"Money wasn't the only issue," John sighed. "I could have joined the army, but I didn't. I took crash computer courses instead while working part-time jobs. Thought it would have been easier on my mother. She just lost her husband. Sending her only son off to the war... I didn't want to make her carry the burden of my choice."
"Let me guess, you weren't very good at your studies either," Jim drawled. "You were afraid, weren't you, Johnny? Even though becoming a doctor was-no, has been your only passion."
"You are a natural caretaker, you would have become a doctor who genuinely cares for his patients, and to top it off," Jim took the wet cloth off his eyes, leaning forward and stretching his neck. "You've always enjoyed a good thrill. I saw it in your eyes during our little... brawl earlier. You practically got off on it."
"I suppose I would have thrived in Iraq," John let out a wry chuckle.
"You could have led a life of full-time excitement and instead here you are... being boring."
John merely quirked up an eyebrow and kept driving.
At some point of the trip, Jim suddenly turned off the music player.
"Johnny, would you like to listen to a story?"
"Fine," John threw him a brief glance. Jim had his eyes closed again, probably still feeling a bit ill.
"This is a story of Sir Khan; the ruler, the commander, the man with extraordinary abilities far beyond the ordinaries."
John's mouth curled up in a smile. "Sounds interesting."
"Good for you, Johnny. Sir Khan, though, didn't share your sentiment. He was by far the cleverest, strongest, most gifted person in the whole Kingdom. It started when he was very young. He realized that he could never blend in with the rest of the commoners. He could never find an opponent worthy of his brilliance. Even the ones who seemed particularly bright at first always turned out to be disappointingly predictable. That was why he decided to embark on a journey to find someone who wouldn't bore him to tears."
"During his journey to find a worthy opponent, Sir Khan moved a lot from one kingdom to another. Each time he moved in, each king would welcome him like his own son, knowing that he could win his battle for him. He found every one of them repulsive, greedy and frustratingly mundane. There hadn't been one warrior in their lands worthy of Sir Khan's attention. They were... all... worthless."
John could feel his hands tightened around the steering wheel. He wondered if Jim was still talking about himself.
"Even in a seemingly large kingdom with countless of treasures, the people were all the same. They led dull, ordinary lives, lacked aspirations and didn't even want to try to their full potential. The ones who talked big usually turned out to be the one with the least faculty. They were the worst. Every time Sir Khan met one of those, he would slay them without mercy."
"The kings who only coveted power, treasure and women; the ministers who would wag their tails at whoever held the biggest piece of steak; the incompetent knights who only relied on their weapons-Sir Khan would unreservedly stab his big sword through their chests and burn the hearts out of them."
"Um," John cleared his throat, swallowing nervously. "I thought this was supposed to be a story about a hero?"
"Heroes, John? Really?" Jim made a gagging sound. "What could be more predictable, weaker than someone from the side of the angels? Would there even be any significance to a hero without the presence of a mighty villain?"
John didn't answer, biting his lower lip.
"Villains make the story, Johnny. They are in control," Jim sighed in content. It seemed that telling the story had done a good deal of relief in his system.
"Most people like heroes, though."
"Like I said, most people are dull."
John shrugged absently. The car was currently heading towards a bridge, running at sixty-miles an hour.
"Huh?" John narrowed his eyes at the sight of a large van on the same lane, coming from the other side of the bridge. "Oh for God's sake..." He signalled the vehicle to move back to its respectful lane. It didn't respond, and was rapidly moving to his direction.
"What the-" John was forced to move the car to the opposite lane to avoid collision. Then suddenly at one point, the van started to wobble from side to side, seemingly uncontrollable. John's first instinct was to turn to Jim, making sure that his seatbelt was fastened.
"JIM!" He roared, "BRACE!"
The van was coming on to them like a wild animal. It hit the side of the car, sending it spinning towards the edge of the bridge, through the sidewalk, crushing the stone barrier. John kept his eyes closed the whole time, huddled against the airbag. When he thought that the worst part was over, the second collision came.
XXX
John woke up to the sensation of drifting. His heart was still racing, his limbs trembling, his head aching. He struggled with his memory for a few seconds, before looking down at his legs to find it immersed in water.
"Oh God," his eyes went wide. He quickly turned to his side to find Jim still fastened to his seat, bent over the airbag, motionless. "Oh God."
In a full realization that the car was sinking, John knew that he had to get both of them out of the car before it drowned. It took him four tries to get his hand steady enough to unbuckle the seatbelt. Opening the door would cause the car to sink faster, so he rolled both window from his and Jim's side down instead before crawling out.
The car was almost completely submerged when he swam around the car and reached Jim. The man was still unconscious. John prayed he would stay that way until after he managed to get both of them to safety. He didn't think he had the strength to swim while dragging a struggling, panicking man.
John took in a big gulp of air before squeezing his upper body through the small opening. The water had almost reached Jim's neck level. John reached his hands under the airbag, trying to locate the buckle. In retrospect, perhaps he should have done it while he had still been inside. The position and the water made it really hard for him to get the seatbelt off.
Jim made a low groaning sound, head lolling to the side. He was stirred awake but didn't seem to be fully aware of his surroundings yet.
"It's okay, Jim, I've got you," John told him regardless. "Just hang on a little longer."
But the car was sinking fast, with both windows open. Even if he managed to get the seatbelt off, with this level of water, John wasn't sure if he had enough strength to manoeuvre Jim out of the car.
God, he could feel his shoulders trembling at the realization as he grappled uselessly at the buckle. God, please let me live.
When John felt himself being bodily shoved in to the car by some unknown force, he thought that it would be the end of his short life after all. Bending over the inflated airbag horizontally, he could hear a commanding baritone voice telling him to stay still. He raised both hands to cover his head. A moment later, he could feel a movement from under the car. A rough upward jerking movement, then suddenly the water level lowered.
The car was being lifted, he was only too pleased to note. He didn't even care how the rescue team with heavy machinery had gotten there so fast. They were being saved, they were going to live.
John lowered his arms, closing his eyes, sagging in relief. He could feel the car move, smoother now, mostly out of the water. After a few minutes, the car hit something solid, like a wall; they had probably reached the side of the river. When he tried to stand up, suddenly the car jerked to the side, causing him to bump his head on the car's ceiling. He quickly lowered his head again, looking out of the open window. The car was being hauled out of the water, on to the land.
After the car made its last drop on the ground, John pulled on the door handle. The remaining water inside the car did the rest of the job, pushing the door open. Ignoring the dull aches throughout his body, John dragged himself out, taking a few moments just to lay on his back, breathing heavily, shielding his eyes from the mid-noon sun.
John stiffened again as he recognized a movement from the corner of his eyes. Probably the paramedics. He had to tell them that Jim was still inside the car and probably needed immediate medical attention.
"Please-" he croaked out. "My friend-he is still inside-"
The movement stopped.
John forced himself to sit up. He was still seeing spots from the sun. A tall man dressed in black was standing in front of him.
"Please-"
"Your friend is fine," the man said. It was the same baritone voice he had heard earlier. "I have notified the authorities. They should be here before long."
"Thank you," John clamped a hand over his eyes, trying to blink the spots out so he could see clearly. When he opened his eyes again, the man was gone. He turned back towards to the wreckage of a car. Jim was standing next to the open door, his eyes wide and his mouth half-opened.
"Jim," he gasped out, relieved. "Are you okay?"
Jim continued to stare to the empty spot where the mysterious man had stood earlier.
"Oh, Johnny," his lips slowly curled up in to a manic grin. "I've never been better."
XXX
TBC