Hey guys. I know it's been forever since I've updated, but I hit a huge writer's block and couldn't get past it for a while. In other news, I'm going to write a companion piece/prequel to this story. It'll follow Leo's life up through the Botany Bay. I'm not planning on posting it until this one is finished, but who knows?
"You have more socks than any one person should own," Khan shook his head as he watched Leo pack.
"Shut up," was her only reply.
"You have at least five pairs of socks for every pair of pants you own. And you own quite a lot of those, too."
"Have you ever considered that perhaps you don't own enough clothes?"
Khan rolled his eyes and smiled, "I own enough clothes. It's good for traveling light."
"And yet, my suitcase is smaller than yours," she countered.
Khan walked the short distance to the other side of the hotel room and began taking his clothes out of the closet.
"Our suitcases are the same size," he said.
Leo zipped up her suitcase and sat on the king-sized bed, "Remind me again why we're leaving the country."
"The Chinese are closing in on our location. We have to move if we want to stay ahead of them," Khan explained as he neatly folded his clothes and placed them in the suitcase.
Leo watched him for a while before saying, "We should stay here."
Khan immediately stopped what he was doing and looked up. His expression was a mixture of shock and confusion. His first instinct was to ignore her. To tell her that he was the leader and his decisions were final. But he had been working with Leo long enough to know better. She saw things differently than most people and her mind worked three times faster than anyone he knew. There simply wasn't anyone who was as brilliant a strategist as Leo was.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"We should move, yes, but only across the city. The Chinese are putting pressure on us in the hopes that we'll leave. And most people would. But right now, they're not sure exactly where we are. I'd bet that they don't even know what city we're in. Once we move over a thousand Augments, they'll notice. And then they'll be able to track us."
Khan straightened and crossed his arms over his chest, "What do you propose we do?"
"Like I've said, they don't have an exact location, otherwise they'd have stormed the place by now. So make preparations like you're going to move the whole army. Make them think that we're leaving in a hurry."
"But we're only moving across town."
"In small, isolated groups at random intervals. They won't search the city because they'll think we've left. And they would certainly never suspect that we would stay so close to our previous location."
"They'll find out as soon as we don't cross the boarder."
"Oh they won't be waiting for us at the boarder. They're not interested in capturing us, not right now. They want to know where we're going. They want to know where our main base of operations is."
Khan had started pacing the room. Leo took this as a good sign. It meant that he was taking her suggestion seriously.
"Won't they be looking for a large group of people crossing the boarder at once?"
"Pack all the trucks and get some of our best drivers –Jarred, Hunter, Chrissy, Braden– they'll drive the trucks out of the city convoy-style. They'll cross the boarder at night, however you would have us leave, then lose surveillance, turn around, and meet us at the new location."
"Lose surveillance? Just like that?"
"This is China we're talking about, not the Russians."
Khan was silent for a few moments before a wicked smirk spread across his face.
"You, my dear, have a brilliant mind."
Leo's smirk matched his, "That's what they say, anyway."
"Tell me about this deal. . . ." Leo said. She watched Kirk intently, discerningly, almost like a tiger sizing up its prey.
"The main question is this," Kirk began. "Can you assure us that Khan will pose no threat?"
"Yes," she replied, not even a breath after the captain finished his sentence.
"That was awfully quick," Kirk observed.
"I'm awfully confident," was Leo's reply, just as quickly as the first.
"You can be absolutely sure that Khan will be peaceable? Even though you're here, he's in cryo sleep, and you haven't spoken in over three hundred years?"
"Yes."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because, behind every great man is an even greater woman," Leo shot a brief glance at Wendy. But if Kirk picked up on the hint, he didn't show it. Leo was pretty sure he didn't.
The conversation between the captain and the Augment bounced back and forth so quickly that Wendy thought she was going to get whiplash from looking between the two. But for the moment, the conversation had stopped and the two were sizing each other up across three inches of hi-tech bulletproof glass. It was Kirk who finally broke the silence.
"Do I have your word that Khan will not pose a threat to this ship or any of her crew?" he asked.
"You have my word," Leo replied.
And with that, the deal was made.
"Thank you, Captain!" Wendy said as she jogged behind Kirk. She wasn't that much shorter than him, but he had longer legs and a naturally quicker pace.
"Of course Lieutenant," he replied, speeding up his pace and causing Wendy to jog faster.
"This means a lot to Leo. . . . And to me."
Kirk only nodded, and they continued down the hallway in silence. Eventually, they reached the doors to the bridge and had to part ways.
"Thanks again, Captain," Wendy said.
"Jim," he corrected with a smile. She smiled back.
"Ok. Thanks again . . . Jim."
Kirk watched her walk away for a moment before turning to the doors. But then he thought of something.
"Hey Wendy," he called after her. She turned to look at him. "When we get back to earth, you owe me that date."
Khan could feel himself being pulled back into consciousness. Everything felt fuzzy as his body slowly defrosted. Memories flashed across his mind. Both from the distant past and the not so distant one.
"We're all soldiers, Khan. Whether we want to be or not."
"You should have let me sleep."
"At least they sent someone attractive to kill me."
"There are men and women in all those torpedoes, Captain. I put them there."
"Fall back! Everyone fall back!"
"Is there anything you would not do for your family?"
"Leo? Leo, stay with me!"
"I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people."
"I love you."
The memories faded to the back of his mind as present-day sounds swept through his consciousness; the beeping and humming of medical equipment, the chattering of voices. As he became more aware, he could feel movement. He was in a vehicle of some sort. And then he recognized a voice. It was a male voice, baritone in pitch– and familiar. It was . . . what was his name? Dr. McCoy? Yes, that was his name.
That meant he was on the Enterprise. But why? What reason would Starfleet have to wake him up? Khan finally regained control of his muscles and slowly opened his eyes. Men and women in blue shirts or white scrubs bustled back and forth. Dr. McCoy stood nearby, studying readings on a monitor. A woman with dark hair stood on the other side of the bed.
"I think he's finally waking up," she said to Dr. McCoy.
She reached down to check Khan's pulse, but he grabbed her hand, making her jump.
"Ow! Let go!" she cried as he sat up, his grip on her wrist tightening. There was a high-pitched click as a dozen phasers suddenly pointed in his direction.
"What am I doing here?" Khan growled through clenched teeth.
"Take a look for yourself," Dr. McCoy said. He held up a tablet and turned it around to show the Augment what was on the screen.
Khan stopped. Everything around him stopped. He watched the small blonde woman pace the very familiar cell. She looked the same as she did the last time he saw her three hundred years ago. But those three hundred years asleep were nothing compared to the year and a half he spent awake without her.
"It's not possible," he said.
"Leo figured you would be skeptical," said the woman. "So she said to tell you that she says 'chill out Rambo.' Whatever that means."
Khan immediately dropped her wrist, struggling to keep his expression neutral. Leo had given him that nickname at one of their first meetings. Only one or two other people knew about it, and they were still in cryo sleep. That meant that Starfleet wanted to use Leo as leverage to force him into doing something. But did they choose her at random and just so happen to revive his lover, or did they somehow know what she meant to him?
"What do you want?" he asked, afraid of what the answer might be.
"We don't want anything," McCoy replied. "This is all for Leo. Dr. Cole there can tell you more about it."
Bones walked away to tell Kirk that Khan was conscious, leaving Wendy to explain the situation to a dangerous superhuman. By herself. Khan's eyes bore into her, making her feel very uncomfortable. She took a deep breath and started.
"Leo's cryo pod was damaged and the failsafe kicked in," Wendy explained. "She's been locked in the brig for the past six weeks while technicians back on earth repair it. She's been quite lonely and asked if she could spend the remaining time with you. I found a little loophole in a law and was able to . . . pull some strings. So here you are."
"Take me to her," he demanded.
Wendy rolled her eyes, "You're welcome."
I'm so evil. XP But don't worry, I plan on having the next chapter up a lot sooner than this one was. As always, this story is co-written with TheWooze19 and Wendy is her creation. Please check out my Thor fic The Magician and the Healer. Don't forget to review!