Chapter 24: From the Ground Up
"JIM! The response is here!"
"Bones! What is it?"
"It's… it's not...just see for yourself"
"Oh god."
"Yeah I know. And that's not the worst of it."
"What's the worst?...oh…"
"Yeah…so now what do we do?"
"I don't know about you Bones but think it's time we gave that bastard a little taste of his own medicine"
Layla lay on her beautifully made bed. Her clothes were all now put away and her room was as neat as a pin.
It had been almost three days since her father's capture, two since Kenina had found them and joined their plight and one since they'd filed the report to Starfleet Command. It had also been five hours since Hawke and Ronan had practically dragged her back to hers and Khan's apartment so that they could keep an eye on all her movements.
That had severely pissed her off. But not as much as when she'd discovered the front door, the windows and the balcony was completely locked courtesy of Damian Walters.
Layla had never hated her species' higher intelligence until that point in time.
Indeed Damian seemed to have already become quite acquainted with twenty third century technology sufficiently enough to hack all the apartment's security systems. Unlike the other four that had been awoken he was by far the only one with brains on the closest level to Khan.
Then it was Ronan who whilst he wasn't as tech savvy as the technician, was a brilliant strategist. Ari came at a close next for his prodigious fighting skills which were not something to be trifled with as Layla had so recently discovered to her great delight.
It had been an absolute terrifying pain in the ass when she'd tried to force her way out of his grip. It wasn't as if Ari was aggressive, in fact he was the most quiet and polite person you'd ever come to meet. But that didn't stop him from being able to incapacitate you with a mere lightening fast finger prod to the right bundle of nerves in your body.
Sierra came next. Her skill was (apparently) social interactions. According to Ronan she was quite a chameleon when it came to undercover operations, and at one time in the twentieth century managed to infiltrate her way into the highest levels of the American Government completely on her own without any back up.
Whilst Layla found that rather impressive it did not in any way improve her impression of the woman, whose hostile treatment of her had not changed in the slightest.
Layla was just grateful that the woman wouldn't be standing guard of her during her hold up in, because she could safely say that she and Sierra now currently loathed each other like a mongoose would a cobra.
And so, after many fruitless attempts to break the disturbingly sophisticated coding that kept every single point of entrance or exit shut, Layla had resigned herself to stalking moodily about the apartment, desperately trying to find something to do.
The television was boring, there was no PADD for her to flick through (Ronan had confiscated it) and there was no pen or paper anywhere! The only thing that seemed remotely interesting now was how happily Hubble was cuddling into her lap to sleep.
"If only I could be as happy go lucky as you" she groaned reaching down with her hand to scratch the tiny feline who purred loudly at the contact.
There came a knock to her door and at once she sat up, only to groan and flump back into the bed.
"Oh it's just you"
"Nice to see you too" Hawke rolled his eyes as he set a metal tray on her bedside table. "Here thought you might want this"
Layla craned her head up. He was wearing a dark green shirt over a pair of dark skinny jeans that managed to highlight his lean physique quite well, despite the fact it almost hid everything under cloth.
But that wasn't what caught Layla's attention. Oh no it was the tray in his hands on which were two plates, each with a steaming hot large rich brown mound sitting on the top in a dripping rich brown sauce.
"What is that?" Layla the air and something warm and sweet filled her nose.
"Uh…it's chocolate…chocolate soufflé"
"Soufel-what?"
"Soufflé. You know it's like a pudding but it's got a hot and gooey melted centre. And all made of chocolate too. Now you've had to have heard of chocolate."
There was a silence as Layla's head tilted if possible even more to the side.
"What? Are you serious? You don't know about chocolate!"
"I…I…" Layla felt her ears redden and turned her eyes to the ground as Hawke gaped open mouthed at her. She swallowed down the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat.
"I never ate anything outside of the regimented diet the doctors set for me?"
"Oh…were you allergic to stuff?"
"No…just…they didn't want to ruin me"
"So you've never had any sweet stuff."
"Not really no…unless you count fruit or vegetables. Apples are the best" but even so Layla timidly took one of the plates and cut it with the small desert spoon provided.
Hawke watched her intently as she took a moment to marvel at the hot molten chocolate on the inside of the desert before gently taking a small bite.
It was so smooth, rich and warm mostly sweet but a slight bitterness that added a small bite to the taste that was just heaven.
"Oh my god! Those bloody bastards! This is so amazing!"
Hawke let out a snort of laughter as he took his own plate of soufflé and began to eat at it.
"Figured you'd like it, y'know since, it's also one of Khan's favourites"
"Father likes sweet things" Layla was quick to take another bite, this time almost moaning with delight at the way it coated her throat with its cocoa sugariness.
"Yeah…well he did grow up in India and whilst I don't know what it's like there now, back when we lived there they used to make the absolute best of sweet foods. Though there were some amazing chocolate dishes from everywhere around the world" Hawke then proceeded to inelegantly and childishly lick his spoon.
Layla sucked on her spoon, trying to ignore Kali's loud voice at the back of her head as she strode out of her mental cage.
She was identical to Layla in every single way save for her clothes or rather her lack of them. Kali always tended to walk about naked, not caring if anyone saw her (not that anyone could considering she existed only in Layla's head). Right now the only thing she wore was a grin to rival the Cheshire Cat's!
WHOA BABY! Even that tongue of his is gorgeous! Oh what I wouldn't give to have him-
Do you have any shred of decency left in you?
Layla's expression didn't really change save for her brow which crinkled slightly. Typical Kali. It wasn't as if she was all bad, but she was impulsive, careless and altogether completely shameless.
Well at least I'm better than miss boring over here!
Kali hissed and Layla was treated to a mental image of another girl standing a little way away. She like Kali looked exactly the same as Layla, but her face was blank and devoid of all emotion. She was dressed in a grey tunic and pants and her hair was tied up in such a tight bun that even the usually unruly fringe was pinned back. She merely glanced at Kali before turning back to look at Layla blankly.
"Hey! You in there?"
Layla blinked.
Hawke's large hand was waving in front of her face.
"S-Sorry" she stuttered slightly before coughing "just lost in thought"
"'bout what?" Hawke pulled his hand away frowning. She'd seemed more like she was glazing out rather than deep in thought.
Layla racked her brain for points made earlier in their conversation. One in particular stood out to her and in turn nudged forwards a question she had been itching to ask for a long time.
"How…how do you know my father?"
Hawke's stormy grey eyes widened and he sighed running a hand through his white blonde locks, making them glisten in the bright noon sun that shone through the window above her bed.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to"
"No" he bit his lip as he moved around a moist piece of soufflé on his plate "it's just that…it's a pretty That's a long story"
"We've got a long time to wait" Layla shrugged.
"Yeah I guess…"
Layla sat up straighter and leaned forwards. Hubble mewled disgruntledly in her lap and made to slowly settle himself on her pillow.
Hawke snorted with amusment.
"Well if you're really that keen…" he looked up at his and her reflections in the full length mirror next to her wardrobe.
"I don't know how old I was. All I know was that it was the year 1984…and it was pissing down like crazy"
A tall pale man stood atop of a mound of concrete and stone rubble as not torrents or buckets but large waterfalls of rain suddenly began to fall down from the darkened skies above.
Within moments his dark locks of once neatly combed hair were plastered to the sides of his face, his clothes were soaked through to the bone and the hammering of the raindrops filled his ears.
But the man didn't seem to care. To him the Indian Monsoon was a glorious demonstration of nature's ultimate power. It both destroyed and nurtured life of all forms.
It was a pity it had to make his search so much harder.
He looked about him. At the clusters of his people running about in the rain trying to tear apart the rubble around them. Very soon his eyes could see distantly the sight of small bloodied half crushed corpses peeking out from amongst the gaps in the rubble.
They had made quick work it seemed. And thorough too, barely any of the bodies looked like they could be revived.
His icy eyes hardened with wrath as he caught sight of a small figure close to him. A little five year old boy with dark skin and jet black curls and blank staring deep brown eyes, his small mouth was opened in a half scream, now collecting the water forming in the mud beside his head. He was lying with his lower half crushed, their small hands still as they reached out in front of them almost as if to try and crawl despite the futility of the situation.
Whilst the man had taken many lives with his own hands, even he knew the difference between necessity and true malicious cruelty. Without a second thought he knelt down beside the boy's corpse and quickly put his fingers gently to his glassy dead eyes.
With a gentleness that was surprising for his strong fingers, he slid the soft smooth eyelids down.
"Now you can sleep. No one will hurt you ever again." his deep voice murmured. He didn't know why he'd said it, it wasn't as if the child would respond or hear him at all. But it felt right.
The man stood up as a bird's screech called faintly to him in the midst of the rain.
It wasn't a large bird but it was a remarkably efficient flyer. It's short rounded wings and narrow long tail were all spread out as it reached forwards with sharp talons towards the man's now outstretched arm.
However a heavy gust of wind blew it off course and it's wings suddenly crumpled in mid-air making it tumble clumsily to the side.
He quickly clambered over the debris in front of him, towards the large crater that lay beyond.
He could see the bird in the centre of the pile of dust and dirt and stone, but it was fine. Indeed it was bristling and shaking out it's feathers.
It screeched irritably at the sight of him. The man sighed. Had the situation not been so grim he might have laughed.
He made to clamber down to collect it, but there was a sound as something crawled out of the opposite wall of rubble.
His breath caught in his throat.
A boy, no older than seven years of age at most, was creeping carefully towards the bird. His skin was pale, and his hair was a golden white. He was wearing a tight fitted suit of white with light grey padding over his joints, which were thin and slightly gangly and knobbly.
The man watched quietly as the boy reached out his hand towards the bird who's gaze sharpened at once.
It snapped its sharp beak irritably as the boy's fingers came within biting distance. The boy jumped back in surprise but his wonderment did not seem to dim at all.
The man shifted his weight slightly to see better as the boy ducked a little out of his line of vision.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
The little stone rolled to the ground heavily, skimming just past the boy's hand.
He quickly looked up at the direction the object had come from and at once his stormy grey eyes widened as they caught sight of the man looking down on him. This time however it was in fear.
The boy scrambled to his feet haphazardly but the man was tremendously faster than he. Within moments he was down in the centre of the crater and had reached the boy who at once began to scream.
"NO! NO! NO!"
"Stop"
The boy stopped at once looking up through tears up at the pale faced man. His voice hadn't been a shout. It a calm, almost gentle command, one that he felt compelled to listen to.
He couldn't bring himself to look at the man's face so he looked at his clothes instead. They were soaked through, but they weren't of the same kind the strange men in the white coats often wore. There was a dark grey trench coat over jet black combat gear, though the man bore no weapon besides one knife on his hip and even then it was only a small switchblade.
Glacial blue met stormy grey and even though the former were icy, there was a small measure of quiet but soothing strength in the depths that made the boy's breathing even out a little.
"What is your name?" Khan asked gladly noting the boy's sudden positive change in demeanour.
He also noticed the quick nervousness as the boy looked around.
He was searching for an answer.
The boy's gaze eventually found the bird once more as it hopped under the shade of two slabs of concrete leaning diagonally against each other like a tiny tent. It bristled and shook out its feathers again, before shaking out its head and blinking at the pair of humans in the rain, with what seemed to be bemusement.
"H-Hawke..." The boy finally said, his tiny voice rasping a little after remaining so long a mute. "m-my name is Hawke…Who…who are you?" the little boy trembled looking at the man's large pale hands wrapped gently but firmly over each of his smaller arms.
The man knelt down so that they were both face to face.
"I am-"
"LAYLA! HAWK!"
Both respective teenagers winced when Damian's voice boomed as he ran up the stairs to her room.
They both stood up quickly as he ran into the threshold of the doorway. He looked rather upset.
"What happened?" Layla narrowed her eyes, though her heart had caught terribly in her chest.
Damian shook his head.
"They've ruled Lord Khan guilty" he breathed "He's going to face a life time sentence"
"No…" Hawke hissed. "They can't"
"They have" Damian shut his eyes. "Kirk and his men did everything they could to help. I was there in the room with them when the, provided all the evidence they had to prove his innocence. But it seems it wasn't enough"
"What do we do?" but Layla gulped at the sharp look the technician gave her.
"You are to stay put until we are sure Starfleet has lost interest in you. Given Lance's influence over them there is a high chance they'll be looking for any excuse to lock you up too. And not just you. But all of us"
Damian gesticulated towards himself, Layla and Hawke who's face had gone livid.
"So our hands are tied?"
"For now. That Kenina woman is doing what she can to dig up some dirt about Admiral Lance from the archives but so far he's kept his records squeaky clean"
"There has to be a way to get him to fess up" Hawke muttered.
"He's at the Io facility currently" Damian sighed "To reach him you'd have to hijack a shuttle"
"And to do that you'd need the right clearance codes" Layla huffed. "Which Lance would've just recently updated to make sure we couldn't hack into the mainframe"
"Yeah…well until we get something sorted out for your safety, neither of you can leave this building" Damian looked sternly at Hawke. "Make sure she stays out of trouble"
"Kind of difficult seeing as she is trouble" the younger man snorted but his elder's gaze turned if possible even grimmer.
"Hawke you made a promise to Khan-"
"And I don't plan on going back on it any time soon" Hawke snapped.
"Good. Now I'm off to our apartment to brief the others. Stay put here until either I or Ronan get back" Damian then turned his back on both of them and strode down the stairs.
There was a silence as they heard the front door close and lock itself.
After a minute or so of staying still, Layla narrowed her eyes and quickly shoved past Hawke and to her closet.
"Right. Now let's get started" she called, shoving him towards her room door. He stumbled a little and glowered at her as she began to tear off her blue T-shirt.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Layla rolled her eyes as she pulled out her tight black full bodied stealth suit ensemble out of the depths of a few neatly piled stacks of clothing.
"I'm getting dressed"
Hawke's eyes widened as she at once began to strip off her bra and he quickly turned around as she flung it unceremoniously onto the bed.
"For what?" he bit his lip as he tried to think of anything but the supple, creamy white porcelain flesh of her small-
"For getting out of here" Layla didn't sound at all ashamed or abashed by her rather public display of dressing herself.
Hawke sighed heavily "you're going to try and get to Io aren't you"
"No I'm going to get there plain and simple…besides" she paused in the middle of pulling off her underwear and exchanging it for a clean pair "I'm not going to let Lance take anyone away from me ever again."
She wasn't too bothered by Hawke's presence behind her. Years of stripping her clothes for medical examinations had left her rather desensitised to the whole concept of decent physical modesty. It was hard to see yourself as any way entitled to any privacy when men and women in lab coats almost constantly prodded and poked at your flesh on a daily basis.
She quickly reached into her closet for a long black leather jacket and a black duffle bag before she clipped on her knife and phaser holsters to her thighs and torso respectively.
She turned around to face Hawke.
"Listen you can protest all you like but I'm still-"
But he wasn't there.
"Uh…Birdbrain…Hawke…"
She peered out her doorway it too was deserted.
Great he was already going to blab to Damian.
That gives me just five minutes.
Layla quickly opened a drawer of her bedside table and pulled out Eris's black cube.
"Eris wake up" she whispered into it as she walked out of the room and down the stairs, duffle bag in hand. Within a moment image of the woman's white face had appeared on each of the cube's faces.
"Hello Agent Spectre what can I do for you today" Eris smiled blankly at her mistress who quickly opened her mouth to hiss.
"Hey Wait up" a voice called.
Layla looked up and saw Hawke dashing down from the upstairs bathroom, wearing a different set of clothes from earlier.
These were similar to hers. A body suit made of a flexible but strong polymer, with large combat boots. Unlike her suit however Hawke's was sleeveless revealing his muscled arms. His hands thankfully were covered in black gloves and on his waist was a belt on which several knives were stowed in small sheaths as was a long coil of a black horse whip.
"They allowed you to take that out with you?" Layla raised her eyebrows at the weapon.
"They never knew I had it" Hawke shrugged in mock nonchalance as he shrugged on a long dark grey trench coat over the top of his clothes. But his eyes glinted with wicked pleasure, like a child who'd managed to get away with a cookie from the cookie jar.
He fixed her with that gaze and she held it calmly, almost exactly like how Khan would.
God that's creepy!
Hawke almost shuddered but coughed quickly.
"So what's the plan?"
Layla's face split into a wide smile.
"Funny you should ask…"
Dun-dun-DUUN! (ok I really need some new personal SFX)
but yeah finally some action. hope you liked Hawke's backstory and I hope Khan was to your liking (wait that sounded wrong). *ahem* I mean to say I hope Khan wasn't too OOC once more.
the next chapter things begin to really spice up. lots of action and kickass badassery ahead I assure you ;)
Keep R&Ring for more.