It's getting exciting! I'm having so much fun writing this – thanks for all the great comments!
Chapter 12
As much as she wanted to, Beth could not ignore Khan's voice. Deep and slow and persistent, it pulled her out of one dark place and pushed her into another. He told her stories of suffering – his own suffering, that of his people – and how they rose up to punish those that had hurt them. She listened to the words, clung to them, and climbed them like a ladder to find herself again.
He had given up trying to ask her what she had experienced in Dr. Neel's lab. She didn't have to remember how many doors she went through, how many guards she saw, what kinds of weapons they carried. She couldn't have told him even if she'd tried. Every time her mind slipped back, all she saw were hands and needles and eyes and mouths turning towards her…
"The only way to fix it is to hurt them," Khan told her, resting his chin on the top of her head. It felt good to be held by him. She knew it would only lead to worse things, but for now he gave her some of his strength. It was a debt she might have to repay later if she survived.
"This is a high security area," he said, rubbing her back in slow, hypnotic circles. "The sensors in this ward will be constantly monitoring for weapons discharge,"
Beth nodded. "Like on the bridge of the Enterprise."
"Yes, good, just like the bridge. When someone fires a phaser it raises an alarm. Doors lock, elevators stop working, everyone goes on red alert. Do you understand?"
She nodded again. She'd heard something like that before in a security briefing.
"The guards walk around in pairs all over this outpost. There are two outside that door right now. If I attack one, the other will fire his weapon, raising the alarm."
"What are you going to do?"
"What are we going to do?" Khan corrected her.
Beth thought for a moment. "You want me to attack the second guard?"
Khan's chest shook gently with laughter. "Do you think you could disarm him?" He turned her around so she was facing him and pushed the hair out of her face so she couldn't hide. "We need to split them up."
Beth knew what that meant. He wanted one of the guards to come into their room, on his own. She could only think of one way to make that happen. "You want me to… invite…" She couldn't finish the sentence.
Khan nodded. "I'll be here the whole time. Once the door is closed, get him to turn his back to me. I won't let him hurt you. I'd kill him first. Or I'll disable him and you can kill him."
Beth waited to feel horrified, but she was just numb. "I don't want to kill anyone."
"Then you call for the other guard to help you. He'll come in on his own. He won't want to involve anyone else because he'd be in just as much trouble as his partner."
"What if one of the guards won't come into the room?"
Khan looked at the glass door again. He could see Schultz's looming shadow rocking back and forth, aching for some kind of release. "He will."
Her hand was shaking as she knocked on the glass door. Khan watched her from across the room. His heart was racing, both in anticipation of the fighting and killing, but also from being so close to Beth for so long. She was magnetic to him and he was feeling dangerously out of control. He had told her things he hadn't told anyone before, more than he'd ever cared to remember. When he'd stroked her skin it was as much for his own liking as it was for her comfort. He found himself imagining the things that had happened to her, and was simultaneously ambivalent and aroused, and angry. No, jealous. He could imagine himself touching her and forcing her… it was something he had never wanted or needed to do in his life, but now it preoccupied his mind as he watched the door open and Beth invite a monster of a man inside the room.
"Lady, are you crazy?" the other guard asked. Roger again, always with the bleeding heart.
"Get lost," Schultz snarled, giving him a hard shove. And then he was inside the room. He didn't look twice at Khan, the vegetable in the corner, which was fortunate because Khan was staring right at him. He was done pretending to be asleep, done letting these people throw him around and steal his blood and slice him open.
Now Beth had his prey inside the room, all she had to do was steer him around so his back was to Khan. She tried to keep her distance but Schultz was a skilled close-quarter combatant. He anticipated every move and soon had her pinned against the wall. "You didn't ask me in here to dance," he said, running his hands over her shoulders and down her chest.
Khan rose silently out of bed, his eyes locked on Shultz's hand as it slid under Beth's medical gown. The floor was cold and smooth under Khan's feet, the recycled air was dry in his lungs. He felt every hair on his body vibrating as he crossed the room.
"Dr. Neel might be saving you for the freak, but I knew it was me you really wanted."
Khan paused, his arms outstretched. Dr. Neel was saving Beth for him? He saw Beth's face over Schultz's shoulder. She looked frightened, but suddenly not of Schultz, at least not completely. She stared up at Khan's face as the guard roughly kissed her throat. She knew something about Khan; something she didn't want him to know. Khan couldn't think straight. What was Beth hiding from him and why did it make him so angry?
She winced suddenly as Schultz bit her neck. How dare this animal touch her! Khan grabbed his shoulders with both hands and wrenched him backwards. Schultz didn't even have time to shout in surprise. Khan brought his knee up to the back of Schultz's head as he pulled the man down. It was like snapping a stick in half. His neck broke instantly and he was dead before he hit the floor.
Khan reached for Schultz's phaser as Beth began to scream. He ran to the door and stood off to the side just as it slid open and Roger stepped through.
"What the…" was all he had the chance to say before Khan struck him in the back of the head with the butt of the phaser. The man slumped and Khan caught him before he hit the floor. He didn't want Roger's face covered in bruises – not if he was going to walk them out of ward seventeen.
