Sorry I took a while to publish this chapter, but there wasn't much feedback so I figured no one was really that interested. Anyway. I hope you guys like this chapter.
xx
SSC
Khan had read about vertigo once in one of the many medical journals that he was provided, back in his time during the Chrysalis project. It was described as a dizzying sensation, like the world around you was moving rapidly fast while you stood still. It was a sensation brought on by a disturbance in the balance of one's inner ear, or sensory nerve paths in the brain.
Khan knew he had neither of those internal problems, yet he was sure he was experiencing vertigo.
He couldn't tear his eyes away from the blood that pooled under his friend. The same blood that was smeared across the hands of his lover.
It was Susan's screams that pulled him out of his reverie.
"You, you monster!" She shrieked and aimed her gun at Zahara. Khan quickly reacted and instinctively knocked across the hand. The bullet left it's barrel and impacted the tile just beside Zahara's feet. It was a shrill, teeth grinding sound and flecks of ceramic burst into the air.
"Susan." Khan yelled attempting to restrain her from behind but she fought against his hold while yelling profanities at the Wahashi.
"You killed him you disgusting creature!"
Khan looked to Zahara. She was no longer the snarling, vapid beast. He didnt know if it was the shot that was fired or Susan's cries but Zahara had been forced out of her compulsion. He gazed past her to Khalifa.
He was dead.
Some point during his stunned state one of the Augments had shot the man right between the eyes. Khalifa was sprawled lifelessly on the floor, with a large splatter of blood and chucks of brain on the wall behind him.
His attention averted back to her.
Zahara was blinking rapidly while shaking her head. The hate in her eyes was replaced by a dazed confusion. Khan knew she was about to receive the shock of her life.
He had to get to her.
"Restrain her!" Khan ordered a random Augment who immediately came to his aid. It was two females and they pulled Susan out of the way and held her by the arms.
Khan quickly stepped to Orlando's fallen body and knelt down beside it. He hesitated for a moment at the sight of all the blood.
Zahara gasped, seeing her victim and what she had done. She scattered back, tumbling over her own feet and falling gracelessly on her behind. Her golden gaze shot about the room, taking in the situation and trying to form the pieces. Khan saw how everything dawned onto her grim face and he wished he would reassure her.
He was caught between attending to Orlando or Zahara.
He chose Orlando.
He moved closer to the man's head. He swiftly unbutton the man's collar and pressed two fingers to his neck, feeling for a pulse, anything.
"Khan you can't let her get away with this, you can't!"
"Quiet Susan!" He hissed, his steel blue eyes focused on his fallen friend. After a few agonizing seconds he sighed in relief.
There was a pulse, it was faint but it was there. His gaze skimmed over the man's beaten body. There were claw marks across his chest and forearms. Blood was pooling endlessly.
"He is still alive but his pulse is very weak." Khan announced loudly and looked to Zahara. She was watching intensely, the tension that shadowed her expression lifted a little at the news. He looked over his shoulder to a few more Augments that stood gaping openly, Suzette was among them.
"Get him to medical and do not return to me with bad news." He commanded harshly. She nodded frantically. Khan rose to his feet and stepped back as the Augments rushed to Orlando's aid. A stretcher had already arrived and soon Orlando's unconscious form was taken away.
His hands felt warm and sticky, he looked to find them painted crimson. His attention moved to Zahara who still remained on the floor, staring up at him with quivering eyes full of vulnerability.
He felt the gazes of the remaining Augments, anticipating his judgment. His heart was racing and his stomach was in knots. He knew the choice he would have to make.
"Confine her to the basement." He ordered, his voice strained and low.
For a split second there was a flash of betrayal in her wide gaze and then she lowered her eyes in submission.
Khan watched with a heavy heart as they dragged her away.
Joaquin was the one guarding the door to the basement when Khan had a arrived. He was grateful that it was someone he trusted and not anyone else. Joaquin nodded grimly in acknowledgement and reached for the metal handle. It emitted a sharp creaking noise when he tugged and then pushed open the poorly oiled gate. The corridor light illuminated the short flight of stone steps beneath him.
Silently he took a deep breath and stepped into the dark room.
It had been twenty four hours since Khan had Zahara confined to the basement, pending her sentence. She had after all, attacked an Augment. Orlando was in a stable condition but it was hard to determine how stable, considering he was in a coma.
After all of the Sheikh's forces had been detained and the U.A.E was successfully under the rule of the Augment Alliance. They conducted a meeting to determine Zahara's fate and it had been sealed.
Khan was swallowed by the shadows, but his eyes adjusted quickly. He saw the shape of her form, curled up at the very corner of the room. He knew her head was lowered because the moment the shadow shifted, a pair of luminescent golden orbs snagged his gaze.
He walked to her and stopped once his silhouette was shielding hers.
She seemed so small, so fragile, cooped up in such a dark place and forced into chains.
"You've come for my head haven't you?" She asked meekly, breaking the silence. Before he could respond to her cryptic question, she had lowered her head as if already knowing the answer.
"Go on." She said softly "I won't resist."
"You wish to die?" He asked, his passive tone betrayed the emotions within him.
"I wish for this hell inside me to end." She hissed. The sharp scent was salty tears invaded his mind.
She was crying. She had been crying. Her guilt was like a palpable energy that permeated the air, he can feel it all around him.
The tension in his chest left his lips in a heavy breath.
"It is over." He announced, snatching her away from her turbulent thoughts. "Anyone who has had taken part in your experiments have been dealt with. Khalifa was the only other who knew the command."
He looked deep into her quivering golden eyes as he continued to speak.
"What happened to Orlando was unfortunate but it was not your fault. Susan was searching for a means for your demise and she found one, but it was not plausible. Not in their eyes and certainly... not in mine."
Her eyes widened, her brows raised in surprise.
"I am being spared?" She asked.
"Yes." He said. There was no sign of relief or happiness in her expression. It was stone cold and calculating.
"My kind?" She inquired.
"They can exist how they please."
"What of the royals?"
"I can't make a public execution of them, despite the votes. It will not be ethical and would cause an uprising. So I spared their lives in exchange for their total surrender, they didn't really get a choice in that matter." He answered diplomatically.
"So it is over?"
"For now." He murmured.
She lowered her gaze to the cold, stone blocks under her. Khan waited patiently for her next words.
She squeezed her eyes shut "Is he dead?"
Khan blinked in surprised. Cursing himself for not having answered the obvious, most important question. He thought he had made it clear
"No." He said quickly, desperate to rid of the immense sadness he had heard in her voice and the pain in her expression.
"His current state is unpredictable. His wounds are being tended to and he is stable but he is still unconscious."
Her eyes opened and tears spilled down her dirtied cheeks. Her fists were clenched and trembling along with her shoulders. She was trying to restrain her rage and sadness but it was hard to.
"I didn't mean to hurt him." She gasped out, her voice cracked. He immediately lowered himself to his knees and moved to her.
" I didn't want to hurt him." She continued to sob.
"I know." His was voice soft and empathetic, in the extraordinary way it only is around her. But this was unnoticed by her as she continued to shiver and sniffle.
"In war there will always be casualties. We accept it and then we move on."
Khan wished he found solace in those words a few hundred years later.
Year 2259 Location: London, England.
An guttural cry full of rage escaped Khan's lips. He kicked the coffee table closest to him. The object flew and crashed against the wall adjacent to it, denting the concrete. Even with its metal skeleton and chrome finish. The furniture bent down the middle, from the impact of Khan's foot.
The rage was still hot in his veins. He continued to trash various objects within the rented motel room in a blind, ambitious hate.
Finally, when there was nothing left to destroy. He fell to his knees.
I failed them.
Hot tears ran down his pale cheeks as he glared into space.
I failed them and now they are all dead because of me.
Khan thought he had planned everything to the last detail. The building of the torpedoes. The smuggling of his friends, his family. He had even timed The Admiral's visits and made sure. Five times he made sure that there would be no surprises.
But there were. Marcus had made an unscheduled inspection and it was in the midst of Khan's escape attempt. He knew it was't a coincidence, someone had seen him work. But how? He was so careful.
I had no choice. He tried to tell himself.
I had to leave them behind.
After what happened to his beloved, he knew there was no hope. His gut wrenched at the reality.
His family was dead and he was the only one left in this cold, mysterious future.
His eyes burned with hate, his lower lip trembled, trying to suppress his urge to scream and cry.
They will feel his pain to the very core of their simpleton souls. He will shatter their peace and burn their so called existence . They will plead and beg, but he will be merciless.
They will know his wrath.
