Chapter 54

"Hello, Ze'eva." Spock says neutrally as I walk briskly into the communications room. Khan is nowhere in sight. Should I worry?

"Spock," I nod to him. "How's it going?" His eyebrows knit together for a minute as he ponders my question.

"Fine." He says eventually. "And you?"

I think before nodding, "Doing good."

"Are you sure?" He looks worried or, at least, as worried as a Vulcan can allow themselves to appear.

"Yes." I say firmly. "I am sure. So, how are repairs coming for the Enterprise?"

"Scotty is still working on making the necessary repairs but it may be a while."

"I'll lend you some of my own engineers then." I shrug. "Things have been pretty quiet here for them and I don't need them getting lazy—you'd be doing me a favor, actually. Scotty can work over them, but the extra hands should help speed up the process and give the guy more time to sleep. Are there injured on your side? We could spare some medics as well."

"McCoy is doing fine without extra help but I will inquire later if he would need more medics on hand."

"Sounds like a plan. Well, I got to go," And find Khan before he winds up killing someone! "Get back to me later on what kind of people you need to aid in repairs."

"And where can I find you?"

"Here just…I don't know. Meet me after work at my place something." I shrug and jog towards the doorway. Please don't let him have killed anyone. Please! "Bye, Spock!" I shout as I rush away.

I move from room to room but I still can't find it. Truk shows up with the kids and soon we have a little search party of sorts looking for him. So far, we're not having any luck. Where could he have gone? The labs were empty and, surprisingly, Flame wasn't there. He's always there. Heck, he lives there! Was he kidnapped? Khan's collar prohibits him from hurting people but is it possible he dragged the boy away to use as a hostage or something.

"Any luck?" I call Truk over a short range walkie talkie.

"No. what about you?"

"No." I say calmly.

Why would I call you if I had found him, dimwit?! I sigh. Forget it, I think. Right now, we need to find him not kill each other…Okay, now, if I were a power hungry lunatic who desperately wishes to acquire my missing family and would have no qualms about leaving a trail of bodies in my wake, where would I go?

I have no idea.

"Keep looking." I order. "He's got to be somewhere." Maybe he's harassing Alieth. I wouldn't call them friends per say, but he seemed to tolerate the young Vulcan medic better than most. "I'll take the med bay, you check out the living quarters." Is it possible he's escaping? Is he finding a way to take that infernal collar off so that he can steal his family back and kill anyone who's ever dared to threaten them or get on his nerves? I've gotten on his nerves a lot.

Hm…maybe I should be nicer to people…?

Nah, I'm sure it will work out…

"Why would he be there?" Truk wonders out loud and I have the sudden urge to strangle him through the walkie talkie. If it were possible, I would have and without a second's hesitation.

'What makes you think I know?' I want to scream and tear out his vocal cords.

"Just check it out for the sake of being thorough, jeez." I roll my eyes. Before remembering that he can't see me and then I curse quietly under my breath.

Why must everything be so complicated today?

Rage roars in his chest as cold steel is held against his throat. He glares at his attacker and counts how many different ways he could kill him: 12, but he holds his anger in and forces himself to glare coldly down at the worm that has dared to threaten him. If Khan attacks and harms him, he'd be electrocuted to an inch of his life.

Curse this stupid Vulcan technology!

After he gets out of this, he just might bomb New Vulcan.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ze'eva rounds the corner and glares at the man. "Get that blade away from his throat before I put you in a hospital."

His assailant smiles and Ze'eva's hand slips down to the hilt of her knife. His smile doesn't last for long when he sees the pure rage that burns brightly in her raging blue-green eyes. Khan may have been as cold and dangerous as a deafening blizzard, but right now, Ze'eva was a wildfire: rage, and fury, and power. If this worm wasn't careful, he was going to burn to a crisp. But his fear doesn't last for long—moron. He follows her orders and very slowly he moves away from Khan and sheaths his knife.

He then smirks arrogantly at Ze'eva and starts to walk towards her boldly. She draws her knife. He freezes mid-step, his eyes wide and worried. Khan can see the doubt drifting around his mind as he considers whether or not Ze'eva would actually stab him. Both Khan and the man can tell that she would—with little to no hesitation.

What made her so angry? Khan wonders. Typically, Ze'eva was the happy-go-lucky poster child. He doesn't linger on that thought as Ze'eva's glare hardens and Khan finds himself glad that her rage is not centered on him and feels a small whisper of pity for his attacker before pushing it away. Why should Khan pity him? Two more minutes alone with that jerk and he's probably be dead right now.

He doesn't deserve Khan's pity.

Or mercy.

"What are you doing here?" She asks as she sets forward. "How many are with you?"

"I am looking for the leader of this establishment and I come alone," He gives a slow and easy smile and his fingers twitch towards his weapon.

Khan moves quickly and drags the knife away from him. He swallows but makes no move to grab it back. Khan smirks and flips the blade easily in the air, catching it by the tip of the blade and flipping it again. And again. Now, true fear is beginning to fester inside that sniveling worm.

Good. It was about time someone put him back in his place, Khan thinks coldly.

"Are you now?" She relaxes a little but none of the anger fades from her eyes. "And do know who this 'leader' is, sir?" She spits the word out like a small child would broccoli.

"No." He admits nervously and Khan can hear his heart beginning to pick up as the realization of just how much danger he really is in starts to sink in.

"Right this way, then." She says calmly and turns her back to the two as she walks fluidly away from them. What is she doing, Khan wonders. "I saw them in there earlier." She says over her shoulder.

She points into a cluttered room. The man gives a mock bow to Ze'eva and enters without a second's hesitation. That's when she strikes. Her fist pounds into a button on the wall, securing him in and Khan then watches as the floor drops out beneath the man and he vanishes into the darkness. The clutter, it turned out, was merely a hologram and did nothing to save him as he plummeted downwards.

Khan smirks. Good, he deserved it and whatever punishment awaits him at the bottom.

The moment the intruder is out of sight the rage vanishes from Ze'eva and she analyzes Khan carefully before pulling the knife away from his long fingers. He narrows his eyes at her but allows her to take the weapon away from him—it's not like he'd be able to use it anyway with this collar around his neck.

"Your actions were unethical," Khan says finally and he analyzed her carefully. She had never seen her act so cold, so savage. He was so proud of her. "I believe your human friend, Cassie, would call it 'morally wrong'."

"How so? He broke into the SAR and started attacking people."

Him, she had meant. He started to attack Khan. Strange, why would she care for his safety?

She continues, "I'm certainly not going to tell him the person he's looking for is me—that would be both dangerous and stupid especially if his previous actions were anything to go by." Khan nods to her: it certainly sounded logical.

She raises and eyebrow at him and he fights the urge to smile at her. She was smart like him. Her anger had been a ruse—a bluff—to fool her enemy and make him easier to control. She was manipulative and fiercely intelligent…yes, she was definitely his daughter.

"Besides, he's not dead or anything." She finishes and Khan fights the urge to roll his eyes. Yes, unfortunately, he's not dead, which means that he will be back. Good job thinking that through, Einstein, he snaps sarcastically. She should have killed the man when she had the chance. He may just have to rectify that.

"I thought Vulcans didn't lie." Khan raises an eyebrow at her as he changes topics. "You told him that you were in there—that was a lie and you consider yourself to be a Vulcan, correct? Since you do not think of yourself as an Augment."

Even though you are an Augment, he wants to add.

"How fortunate it is, then, that I am only part Vulcan. And here I thought the elderly were feeble." Her blue-green eyes glint mischievously, "I guess you proved me right, huh, old man?" She taunts and takes a few steps away from him.

He considers pinning her to the wall with her own knife to her throat but pushes the idea away.

Reluctantly.

"So, how far have you gotten with communications?" She asks as they begin to walk back towards the med bay. "Any progress, yet, gramps?"

"Not much," He admits. "Flame and I have been throwing around ideas and strategies so far nothing has worked. And you?"

"I've spent all morning trying to track you down." She growls irritably.

He glances at her before looking straight ahead of him as they march steadily towards the med bay and Alieth barely spares either of them a glance as she rushes from patient to patient.

"Why?" He asks, genuinely surprised. "What do you care of my whereabouts?" She hasn't cared so far. So long as no bodies show up, he can pretty much come and go as he pleases.

"Well, if you're missing that long of a period of time then you're either committing mass genocide or getting attacked by girl scouts. Looks like this time it was the little girls, huh, Khan? You know, for a big, bad dictator, that was sort of pathetic, dude. Must be your old age."

He glares at her for insulting him but she doesn't seem worried in the slightest.

Stupid Vulcan collar! A curse upon you and your creators! They will rue the day they are thought to think you up!

"And what," He says finally after he swallows his anger, "Will happen to this 'girl scout' of mine?" He growls and she stomps on his foot to show that she's not afraid of him. He narrows her eyes at her but she doesn't cower away from him. Khan blames the collar.

"Do you really want to know?" She asks with a curious tilt of her head.

Khan can imagine a thousand horrible demises that would be awaiting that foolish worm at the bottom of the abyss. He could already hear his bones snapping and his agonized screams as his flesh was torn away from his body by sharp, needle like teeth. Acid would rain down from the ceiling and he would drown in a pool of his own blood.

A warm rush of satisfaction flushes through him as his blue eyes slice into Ze'eva's.

But none of them would happen. Disappointment blossoms within his icy being.

She had already said that he was alive. Khan sighs bitterly: next time, he promises himself inwardly. Next time.

"Yes." He says firmly.

"The hole empties out into a latrine." Her lips twitch and he can tell she's fighting back a smile: she's proud of this outcome. That is the worst she can possibly do? That is her idea of pure evil? A…'latrine'? She's joking right? Surely he's getting some sort of worse treatment than simply floundering in human…sewage, right?

His mind balks. She's not joking. That's it—he's disowning her.

"You are being serious." He states and she nods gravely in confirmation.

"That is a punishment I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy." She says seriously.

"And how is that?" He growls dangerously.

"Yesterday was Spicy Food Friday." She says and he smiles wickedly. It wasn't what he would have picked but she was right, in a way. The smell itself would be torture. Khan wanted to see the moment the revelation hit him and he wanted to see the look on his face when he realized he was swimming in human and humanoid waste. The image would be priceless.

But it would never replace the satisfying cracking sounds that would occur when Khan's long, dangerous fingers found their way to his skull and ended the man's life once and for all. No one threatens Khan Noonien Singh and gets away with it.