A/N: What I plan to do is have a new chapter posted every Friday or Saturday. If I think that I may be delayed by more than a day, I'll leave note at the bottom of the chapter last posted.

Also, sometimes chapters will skip ahead days, weeks, or even a month. If I were to write the day by day interactions and whatnot, I think I'd drive you all crazy, not to mention drive myself crazy given that this takes place roughly a little less than a year before the events of the movie.

Essentially living underground was not at all something Alice enjoyed and she went out of her way to go to the surface as often as possible. She'd even bought a painting of the San Francisco bay just to make herself feel more at home.

Only six days had passed since arriving at Section 31 and already she felt like she was going nuts. She wasn't claustrophobic, but she loved the outdoors, thus she often found herself twisting and turning in bed and staring at the painting, longing for windows at the very least. It made her wonder if her goal to become ship Consular was wise if simply being underground for a few days had her longing to go outside.

Tapping her fingers against her coffee mug, she lifted it to her lips and sipped the coffee as she examined her recent notes on Khan whilst wandering around her quarters, dressed and bare foot.

Each day she met him for an hour at least two to three times, and their conversations continued going in circles, though she was learning quite a bit about the man. A lot, actually, and so very little at the same time.

He would be silent and turn her own questions on her, but would then reveal bits and pieces about the Chrysalis Program and the war with more detail than she would have expected. It was hard to conceal her curiosity when he did offer up some of the valuable information, but he'd managed to tick her off by asking if her curiosity had reached its peak after a mere few days together or if her time was still wasted. He certainly knew how to get on her nerves, that was for sure, but his knack for that wasn't what bothered her.

What bothered her was that he told her anything at all.

She frustrated and irritated him, that much was clear by the occasional twitch of his jaw and his forcefully calm tone, but he didn't have to tell her a damn thing, yet he continued to do so. Some might say she was getting to him with her attitude, but she wasn't so sure. It could be that he was lying, or he was trying to throw her off guard with the truth, or some combination of both. Certain things that were truthful were noted in specific reports, but there were other things that were utter hearsay with him being the one saying them. Khan had to be getting something out of his revelations, she just didn't know what.

Sifting her fingers through her hair, Alice looked to her clock and set her PADD down to retrieve her shoes so she could head out to the weapons' lab on another level.

Today was the second day Khan had actually been working on the creation of weapons and she was eager to see how different he'd act when he had work to do. Besides, she was supposed to shadow him everywhere he went, she just chose to let him get acclimated to the lab the day before since he did have a job to do. She didn't want him to get too comfortable, though, before she came at him with more questions and observations.

Checking her reflection one last time in the mirror as she put up her hair, making sure she looked more presentable than she did when she first met Khan, she straightened her dark blue V-neck shirt and smoothed her hands down her black suit pants. She kept her scuffed black flats on more because they were comfortable than professional. Her appearance was a more appropriate mix of casual and professional with a bit of eyeliner and shadow around her green eyes and her hair up in a lose bun, and the only reason she took more care this time with her appearance as oppose to the past few days was simply because she would be seen by others instead of Khan alone. By now it should have been made clear to him that she wasn't going to get dressed up just for him because he was Khan or that her work with him was of great importance.

If anything, she wondered if her improving her appearance a bit for the sake of others as opposed to just for him would cause something in his attitude to shift.

Satisfied with how she looked, Alice retrieved her PADD and fresh brewed coffee and headed out of her quarters.

At the elevator, she stepped inside and selected the level for the weapons research/development, punched in the code Marcus had given her, and sipped her coffee as she went down a few levels.

See as she was going to be shadowing Khan almost everywhere he went, anywhere Khan had access to, she had access to. Under any other circumstances she would not have the clearance to go down to the research labs and whatnot, but because of the unique situation she'd found herself in she was privy to sights that most in her profession would never see.

It made her worry her lip in both anticipation and uncertainty. She was undoubtedly curious about what was being built, but was nervous that she'd see something she wasn't supposed to see.

The elevator pinged softly as its doors opened to a grey room with a glass door at the opposite end. Approaching the single desk beside the door, the security officer looked up.

"Name and rank?" he asked, eyes turning back to the screen in front of him.

"Commander Walsh, Alice M."

The man put her name into the computer, waited a moment, then nodded and stood. "Place your right hand on the scanner to the left of the door," he instructed as he did the same, punching in a code as she did as she was told. "You're working with Harrison, right?"

She nodded. "That's correct."

He wasn't in the loop, she noted, and thus she opted not to say anything about her "work" with Khan.

"Heard the guy's suffering PTSD or something," the officer continued, a man she noticed wore no Starfleet logo on his uniform. "Is that why you're following him around? You are a shrink, aren't you?"

"I'm sure you can understand," she started as her hand was finally scanned. "But I can't discuss matters involving my patient without his consent."

The man sighed, disappointed at not getting anything out of her, and finished up with getting her print processed. When at last both scanners flashed green and the door hissed open, he returned to his desk and said, "Next time you come down, put your hand on the scanner and go on in when it flashes green. Rooms in which you have access to will require your hand-print as well, and should the rooms not recognize your print, return to me and we'll sort out the problem. Should you enter a room you do not have authorization to be in you will be subject to immediate detainment. Understand?"

"Yes, thank you," she said and hurried inside before any more questions about "Harrison" could be thrown her way.

As she walked down the hallway, she noticed various other security officers hanging around without the Starfleet logo on their uniforms and frowned. Were they with Starfleet, or were the private security? They certainly didn't look like they were with Starfleet.

Some people were in uniform and did have the insignia, and others were casually dressed like she was. Obviously there were people within Starfleet stationed in Section 31, but security wise it looked like they were personally hired by Marcus. The thought was more than a little concerning.

What would be the harm in having Starfleet security present?

Walking for a minute or two, getting a feel for the place, she found the door to the specific room for research/development where Khan would be working during his stay in Section 31, and pressed her hand to the scanner. It took longer than she would have liked for it to flash green, but eventually it did and she stepped inside.

The white lab was buzzing with activity and was much larger than she'd expected, looking about the size of a small warehouse to which the door opened to a catwalk that oversaw everything that was going on. To the right were technicians, scientists, and engineers working on research, going over various ideas and creating holographic projections of various forms of weaponry, while to the left others were working on the preliminary development of said weapons. There were other parts of the floor that she could not see and other rooms within the large lab, and individuals came to and from the rooms almost constantly, some with parts and others with PADDs, all going about their assigned jobs.

As she walked at a slow pace, she knew that were her father still alive he would be quite jealous of what all she was seeing, having been a weapons specialist in Starfleet before his and her mother's untimely death. He would have loved to be a part of all this.

Amongst the sea of people in white lab coats, one man in a black long-sleeved shirt caught her eye and she came to a stop midway on the catwalk. Rather than call out or continue down to the floor, she leaned on her forearms against the railing and took a moment to watch Khan converse with a few people around a transparent touch-screen board.

Every so often, one of the individuals would point to the screen and say something, and Khan would reply and indicate to a few things on the board as he answered the question or explained further. Though she couldn't hear what was being said, he appeared to be working well with the people he was working with.

While he was known through the various data she had to be a loner, he could work with others without too much conflict as far as she could tell, which was something she made a quick note of in her PADD. He was proud and believed himself to be better, but not to the extent where he refused to work with others to get something done.

She finished typing up the note then turned her eyes back to Khan and the others below. Content to just observe for a time or until she was noticed, she drank her coffee as she leaned on her forearms.

One of the people below, a woman with deep auburn hair, gave Khan a questioning look and crossed her arms and cocked her hip before saying something that made the man visibly tense just fractionally.

A normal reaction for most who became irritated, but a significant response in Alice's eyes.

Whenever Alice irritated him, the only visible response would be his jaw muscles tightening ever so slightly or him inhaling a long breath to gather himself. This was different. This woman said something that pushed him farther than Alice had attempted to go as of yet. It was more than a little irritating, even angering, that someone else had gotten that kind of reaction out of him.

Khan, after easing his posture seconds later, half turned to the woman and said something whilst looking her in the eye. The woman visibly gulped at whatever he said and licked her lips before nodding grudgingly in agreement with him, moving to go about doing some unknown task.

The sight was enough to make Alice smile, her irritation fading into amused pride.

Khan was an exceptionally intimidating man, but she hadn't let him turn her into the equivalent of a skittish puppy fearful of angering the person looming above her, not like the auburn woman below. Alice, at least, had her back bone intact when dealing with Khan.

One by one, each scientist and engineer began going the separate ways, the plan now made clear, and eventually only Khan remained by the board.

As he dragged things here and canceled out things there with the stylus he held in his hand, he asked, voice raised just enough to be heard up on the high catwalk, "Have you learned anything from your observations, doctor?"

Smirking, she called back, "And here I was hoping to sneak up on you."

"You not nearly as apt in stealth as you think," he replied, and she detected the hint of a smile in his voice. "So, have you made any new observations?"

"A few, actually," she replied as she walked to the staircase, making no effort to share her findings with him.

He waited a second longer for her reply, back still to her, before getting back to work, shaking his head slightly at her.

Always used to receiving answers then and there lest the question be rhetorical, the man was.

Setting her coffee down on a desk with another cup of coffee, she stepped over to a console to see what it was he and the others were working on. There was a rough composite sketch of what appeared to be a missile or torpedo of some kind. While she wasn't an expert on weapons on any kind, she had a curiosity for what had interested her father so much and it didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before.

Seeing another sketch behind the one on the screen, she pressed her fingers to it and dragged the one of the torpedo out of the way, revealing the sketch of a ship under the title SS Vengeance.

Before she could get too good of a look at the design, Khan appeared beside her and brought up a series of documents in its place.

"Something you don't want me to see?" she asked, leaning on her hip against the console.

"Something Marcus would not want you to see," Khan corrected coolly, jotting down some notes and a series of equations that looked like nothing more than Greek to her.

Wisely, she did not question him further on either the torpedo or the ship, the designs to new that they hadn't even been made into holographic projections yet for better reference. If Marcus wouldn't want her looking at either thing too closely, she'd keep her eyes off them and her nose out of it, despite her curiosity.

Khan transferred the notes he'd jotted down to the PADD he held before turning to head back to the board, but not before he finally looked to her, pausing briefly as if just noticing that her appearance wasn't as drab as it usually was.

He said nothing, only studied her in a manner similar to how she studied him, and then went back to business.

Crossing her arms in mock offense, she asked in a sweet voice, "What? Not a kind word for a pretty girl?"

"When I find one," he started, inclining his head to look her in the eyes. "I will happily compliment her on her appearance."

Alice gaped at him, now truly offended.

She wasn't a vain woman and her previous comment had been little more than a joke, but his retort stung. What was worse was she couldn't tell if he was lying to get a reaction out of her or quite truthful with his reply, having not yet discovered his tell, and she had to fight the overwhelming urge inspect her hair or check her makeup.

Smirking at her, he turned back to his work.

"Nothing in your history mentions a woman of any kind," she commented tightly, setting her PADD down and crossing her arms. "I believe I understand why that is."

"By all means, enlighten me," he insisted, sounding already bored with the topic.

"Not a single woman could stand your behavior, let alone tolerate you when there are better men out there."

The accusation that anyone could be better than him made him hesitate in his work and look back at her. "Better?" he repeated tightly.

"Yes," she confirmed with a nod, forcing herself not to break eye contact with him. But the look he was giving her made her nervous, and she knew that by claiming others were better she was treading on dangerous water. "A better man wouldn't rudely put down a woman's appearance and wouldn't openly intimidate a woman, such as you did with that redhead a moment ago. A real man would show a woman respect."

He snorted. "Respect is something only my kind deserves – lesser beings must earn it."

"Some might consider you to be a lesser being who must earn respect," she ventured cautiously. "I certainly do."

That struck a nerve quite sharply and he rounded on her, advancing until he was not but a foot in front of her, and she couldn't keep from backing up against the console behind her, desperate for more space between him and her.

It was the first time she'd made such an insulting accusation, the first time she pushed so far, and she purposefully did it at a point and time where she was not alone with Khan. If his control snapped, she damn well did not want to be alone with him. Just in case, she wanted some back up in the vicinity.

"And how do I qualify as a lesser being, doctor?" he demanded, tone calm when she knew he was anything but.

Forcing herself not to swallow nervously and to hold eye contact, she explained, hating how her voice quivered, "You're genetically superior, but that doesn't make you better, not in my book. You're rude, prideful, power-hungry, and quite full of yourself. Granted I probably just described more than a few other normal men I know, but they don't go around murdering people simply because they're in the way, or declare themselves ruler of a kingdom in which the citizens are little more than slaves." His jaw muscles twitched, his posture tense with anger, and she continued jabbing at the nerve she'd found. "People who get in your way become ghosts, and when things get too tough you gather your people and crawl into a hole to hide. You, Khan, are heartless tyrant who can't stand to not be in control all the time, and you turn coward when faced with the consequences of your actions. That makes you a lesser being in my eyes, and until the day comes where you prove otherwise, you will continue to be such a man to me."

He looked damn ready to strike her for her words, ready to put her in her place violently, but instead he took one more step towards her, closing the gap, and braced one hand beside her on the console and with his other he reached behind her for his stylus, effectively boxing her in.

Leaning in, he whispered harshly in her ear, "A tyrant and a murderer, I may be, but I've not caused a man to commit suicide by daring him to do so."

Her throat constricted painfully and she ground her teeth, wanting to wipe the smug look off his face when he leaned back just enough to look down on her as she kept her eyes locked on the collar of his black shirt. He had to be only a few inches from her, close enough for her to feel his breath as well as the heat emitting from him, and it made her acutely uncomfortable because she had nowhere to run if he suddenly decided to snap her neck.

Then again, why kill her when he found such a sensitive topic that could so easily wound her?

"Lieutenant Paul O'Connor – he was the man you were treating for severe depression and survivor's guilt," he stated, seemingly oblivious to the fact that a few security officers had taken post around them. It was more likely that he knew and just didn't care. "Here you were, a promising psychologist with a controversial method of treatment that led to many patients turning their lives around, and yet you missed all the signs indicating to suicide and dared him to go ahead and do so when he became angry with you and threatened to shoot himself."

"How did you learn that?" she demanded tightly, voice strained with both anger and guilt.

That was not public knowledge.

"Did you believe he was bluffing? Trying to make you cease your aggressive, cruel treatment of him?" he continued. Shaking his head in what might be seen as disappointment or even disgust, he added bitterly, "You think me to be cruel and harsh in the treatment of those I ruled over? I suggest you remove yourself from your pedestal, Alice. When a man needed your help, you failed him and thus he took you on your word and killed himself in front of you. Call me a lesser being all you want, but it means little coming from you."

Her heart thudded painfully in her chest and tears stung her eyes, but she refused to cry, refused to give him the pleasure of seeing her break.

"If it means little coming from me, Khan," she started, voice little more than a challenging whisper as she stood a little straighter, tilting her head back to meet his cold blue eyes with her challenging green ones. "Why bother attempt to put me in my place?"

That was not the reply Khan had been hoping for and his smirk faded as his lips set into a thin line.

Inhaling deeply, hold tight on the stylus, he at last backed away from her, giving her his back as he got back to work in undoubtedly a foul mood.

She quickly picked up her coffee from the desk and downed it before stepping over to one of the security officers who saw fit not to step in at all, and asked shakily, "Any place I can get a refill?"

"Third door on your right," he replied, indicating behind him.

She didn't bother to thank him as she hurried off to refill her cup, looking for any excuse to get away from Khan for a moment, just as he'd distanced himself from her. The moment she entered the break room and saw that she was alone, she leaned back heavily against the door and brought her hand to her mouth. Squeezing her eyes shut, she forced the tears back as images of O'Connor killing himself flashed through her mind, his words and her taunts echoing in her ears.

Bringing that up was uncalled for and something she hadn't been prepared for. What was so much worse was that she found some truth in his words. She judged him and called him heartless in regards to how he treated people, and yet she treated her patients coldly with the desire to anger and break them until they finally opened themselves to her.

They were nothing alike, but both were flawed, she could admit that much. It didn't mean that her pride wasn't bruised.

Still, she too had gotten to him, evoking such a reaction from him, and that was progress. But she hadn't exactly been lying when she taunted him. Did she thinking he was heartless? – no, not really, not after he told her that he considered his crew to be family. But she didn't think of him as better than others, let alone to be a good man.

For her to see him as anything but a murderous tyrant, he had to prove himself to her.

Khan's blood boiled beneath the surface and he snapped the stylus between his fingers as easily as if it were a twig, wishing he could take his anger out on something more substantial.

What right did that woman have to call him a lesser being? To claim that others were better than him?

It was an outrageously false claim as he had been created to be better, and yet she'd been quite truthful for the most part in her claim that she did not see him as such. He'd looked to throw her off by bringing up her painful past and had been pleased when he noted tears in the corners of her eyes.

Following their first session, he'd found all the information he could on Alice Walsh and managed to get his hands on private records – not too difficult a feat for someone who knew what they were doing – and discovered that she'd gotten a man killed by pushing him to suicide. In her report, she admitted to telling him to go ahead and kill himself if he thought it would make things better when he threatened to do so, seemingly fed up with her attitude, to which he'd done just that.

Shortly after, her career was put on hold, and it wasn't long before she ended up in Section 31.

Though he couldn't be sure, Khan suspected that Marcus was using that incident as leverage over Alice.

It seemed so pathetic that the woman was so concerned with losing her career. She was smart and surely could excel in some other field. If that was what Marcus was holding over her, what made her career so important?

His jibe at her failure should have made her snap or break such as he'd intended, but instead she turned around and demanded why he bother attempt to put her down if what she had to say meant so little to him.

That pissed him off more than he cared to admit, knowing that she wasn't backing down easily, wasn't intimidated as easily as others. But beneath the anger, her behavior was intriguing. While he despised her, she was a fascinating individual. She was certainly unlike other women he'd encountered.

While he sought women for pleasure during his reign, never had he desired for companionship. No woman caught his interest, and no woman was unique or good enough for him. Unlike his tyrant brothers, he didn't want some woman following him around, waiting on him hand and foot out of fear or intimidation.

A woman like that could become boring rather fast.

But then again, love was a childish fantasy in which humans searched for in a companion. Love was for fools who desired to have a vulnerability to be exploited. Love was not something he desired whatsoever, and many women he'd come across during the Eugenics War had been searching for a man with who to love and be loved by.

The women he knew were fragile, unable to stand up to him and look him in the eye.

Alice was the exact opposite of those women.

He didn't like her very much, couldn't even say that he enjoyed her company, be through his anger and irritation, he did in fact respect her strength. She could be wounded, her resolve cracked, but as of yet she didn't break.

He was curious of how far she could be pushed.

"Now that we've gotten our childish banter out of the way," Alice began as she returned with her filled coffee cup in hand, her voice still unsteady but stronger than when she had left. "I have a few things I would like to discuss with you."

"Of course you do," he noted dryly, glancing over at her, taking note that her eyes were a little bloodshot and her face flushed.

It was unclear if she'd been crying or not, but she'd been hurt by his words, which had been his intention. She held herself too high and couldn't claim that he was a lesser being when she herself was not the best humanity had to offer.

Still, he had not intended to get in such a discussion with her all at once, and had certainly not expect his retort about her looks to spark such a harsh confrontation. His insinuation that she wasn't attractive had been entirely false and nothing more than a lie meant to irritate her. It was his way of reacting to the noticable change in her appearance. During their previous meetings, she looked as if she had roled from her bed mere minutes before coming to him, yet now, in the presence of others, she chose to look presentable?

It was because he was surprised and insulted that he'd made the offhanded comment, and for her to round on him with a quick retort of her own had caught him further off guard.

Khan would not apologize for what he'd said, just as he didn't expect her to apologize.

They were both proud, both testing each other, and neither was prepared to admit defeat by apologizing.

For now, Khan would play this game with Alice, and he was eager to see who would win in the end.

Review please! Reviews let me know that you wish for more!

Basically, I'm having Alice be angered and flustered that Khan can so easily get under her skin, while Khan is frustrated and intrigued that she can get under his. Neither are accustomed to being challenged, and that's how I'm having them see each other right now - as a challange.