Hello everyone, I'm so so sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out, but I just want to thank all of you for your patience, and especially peerme, xanaplayer, americanlatinajapanesegirl, CLTex, dancinwmypinkipod, Poodle warriors, All-I-need, Benedict'sZombieGirl, and Vintagegirl1912 for leaving reviews! I love hearing from you guys! Ok onwards to the story!

Chapter 28 - Escalation

Raw, boiling fury. It stabbed Khan repeatedly, every time he looked at the monitor currently broadcasting security footage from the Io facility's brig. Madelyn had sunk to the floor, her back to the camera, her hands resting palms up in her lap, her legs stretched out in front of her. She still wore the same clothing she'd worn when Owen Gallagher had kidnapped her, just a day prior. One day, and suddenly Khan wasn't sure she'd ever really trusted him completely, even when he'd promised her everything.

Raw, boiling fury, and the utterly inextinguishable burn of betrayal.

Running his hands over his face, he flipped off the monitor, unable to stand the sight of her as long as he couldn't control the space she occupied. He raised himself up from the low couch he had settled into out of sheer weariness of mind, and paced across the length of the room, pausing to gaze out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. They offered a wide view of the vast, empty hangar where he had once personally monitored and presided over the construction of the USS Vengeance. Now, only four significantly smaller vessels huddled within the massive space: his "borrowed" K'normian ship; the 21st century shuttle taken from the bunker in California; and two much more modern shuttles, leftovers from Section 31.

Khan turned from the window and gazed listlessly across the room. Given to him by Joaquin mere minutes after he'd confronted Madelyn about her lie, these were the largest quarters in the facility, once belonging to Admiral Marcus. The only times Khan had been privy to them before were under false pretenses, solely for the purpose of keeping up the façade of "Commander John Harrison" in front of other Starfleet officials while Marcus paraded his work in front of them. Work that Khan had been certain for weeks—despite every desperate measure he had taken at the last moment—had led to nothing but absolute failure, until now.

Joaquin had revealed to him a deception he had never imagined Madelyn would cling to. For all of her intelligence and tenacity, this move baffled him. And even more than that, it enraged him. She could have easily admitted this to him earlier, even so soon after he had regained her trust. That she hadn't done so made him question everything he had done for her, and made him suspicious of how much of an influence Starfleet still had over her. That she had—to his face!—boldly kept this knowledge from him, knowledge he knew she understood the significance of… well it ignited all of his emotions towards her into a blazing storm. But he would have to keep that storm in check.

He hadn't been able to bring himself to physically harm her, and that pricked him like nothing else. When he had gripped her face in momentary rage, he had left her shaken and on the edge of tears.

He could not do that again.

If she knew the location of his crew, he needed her to feel secure, relatively safe, and ready to talk, not merely surviving in a constant state of terror. It was too soon for her to be dealing with any of this, not after what Owen had done. But Khan knew he didn't have a choice, not when six of his people were watching his every move. He blamed Joaquin for egging him on, but didn't discount that Joaquin had known their people were still alive. If he had a mole within Starfleet who'd uncovered this intel, then he was certainly worthy of being listened to again.

No, Khan wouldn't learn his people's location through brutal interrogation techniques. He almost regretted threatening her with them. Almost. It would put her on edge. It would be enough. He would pry this information from her slowly, carefully, if it meant confining her to the cold darkness of the brig for weeks. She would learn to love the darkness and the silence, and then she would grow to hate it. Then she would beg for someone to talk to, and he would provide her with company. This was far better than having to see her look at him like he was a monster.

He was not a monster.

He would not confirm her fears about him, about what he was capable of. She would pay for her deception, but she would not lose anything more than his unwavering trust.

And perhaps, eventually, he would take her back.

Realizing he'd completely lost himself deep within his mind, Khan crossed the wide expanse of the sitting area and slid into the dark cover of the bedroom. As the door hissed shut behind him, he sank down onto the wide bed until his head landed on a pillow, then he heaved a deep, weary sigh, feeling his mental and emotional exhaustion leaking into his limbs.

He needed to reboot. He needed to shut down his brain and give himself time to process every possibility he'd considered, so when he woke he'd be able to confront Madelyn with clarity and control, and avoid causing more unnecessary friction that would only make it harder to get to the truth. He'd already pushed her dangerously far, and if he was honest with himself, it hurt to think that he would have to work that much harder to pull her back. It hurt to think that she would fight him.

Again.

Under normal circumstances, something like this would never have affected him so deeply.

Under normal circumstances, he would not have held feelings for the accused, and the accused would already be strapped down and prepared for interrogation.

These were not normal circumstances.

He registered his heartbeat slowing to a crawl and allowed himself to slip into a deep, dreamless sleep while the dark, artificial warmth of the room enveloped him like an anesthetic.

Kati's wide brown eyes were the first thing Khan saw when he jerked awake. She slid her hand from his shoulder as he sat up and pushed his stray hair from his face, blinking himself back to the present. He felt like he'd slept for hours.

"I'm sorry, but I had to wake you. I don't know what you've been through lately but we need to talk." She spoke quickly and he regarded her silently, noticing the alarm in her tense features.

"What is it?"

"Joaquin just pulled Otto out of the brig and now the two of them are on a shuttle headed for Earth along with Aidan. Please tell me you authorized this!"

Khan stared at her, his eyes narrowing as he scoured his waking mind for an explanation as to why Otto had suddenly come into this. He'd not heard from or seen the interrogator since he'd arrived. "I've heard nothing in the last few hours. I've been asleep. I assumed Joaquin would come to me when he was ready to discuss things." Then the veil of sleep fell away completely and straightened, adrenaline seeping into his bloodstream. "Kati, why was Otto in the brig?"

"I don't know, but if Joaquin didn't ask for your permission—"

"He's asked me for nothing!" Khan rose from the bed and crossed to the door, but Kati stepped smoothly into his path, her lips pressed into a firm line.

"Like I said, we need to talk."

He zeroed his gaze in on her. "Then tell me quickly and leave nothing out. Prove to me that I still have your trust."

Her lips parted and she crossed her arms. "Of course you still have my trust! Why should you doubt—" Her voice faltered as the realization hit her and she glanced away.

"If what you're saying is true, then there are very few people on this station I can trust at all."

"You should trust her."

Khan knew he was grinding his teeth together at her response.

"I don't believe she's withheld anything maliciously," she continued. "You've seen what she's been through! She's already broken! Why would she even try to lie to you if she knows you so well?"

"Do not assume to know what's happened between us, Kati!" he roared.

She barely flinched. "You certainly haven't lost your edge. Look, all I know is that Otto staged a breakout. I imagine to gain her trust. I have no idea what sort of conversation they had, but she's still in the brig for now. There may still be time to get her out before Joaquin returns—"

Khan shook his head. "No. No, I want to see what he's planning. I need to know if I can still trust him to come up with a reasonably good excuse for his actions. Our family is at stake, Kati, and I cannot allow anyone to think they can withhold anything from me. Including Madelyn."

Kati's eyes narrowed as she studied him. She was good at seeing through him. She always had been. "I don't believe you for one second. No, if you really had your way, she'd already be dead. What's going on?"

The anger seeping out of him was filling the room with electricity and Kati was one of the few people in the world who could withstand it. But he couldn't verbalize it, even when they both knew.

The fact that Madelyn—of all people—had known, and hadn't told him—

He breathed in his anger and willed it to dissolve into the air around him. He had to find a way to reconcile this, but he would never say that out loud. For all he knew, Joaquin had bugged the room.

"You know I can't let this go," he murmured.

Kati's gaze clung to him. "And rightly so. But there are some things you need to know. Things Joaquin has done that I'm convinced would not have happened if you had been here."

Khan willingly shut his eyes as her fingers slid over the side of his face, her palm resting on his cheek. The weight of everything he carried seemed to vaporize for a moment until he opened them again and remembered where he was.

"Tell me everything."

When they finally came to get her, Madelyn only recognized Cecelia. She had to walk quickly to keep from being dragged, but that didn't stop her from glancing at the other woman, whose red fingernails were digging into her arm. She was short and willowy, with slick blue-black hair, dark eyes, and thin scarlet lips pressed into a perpetually rigid line. The grip of her hands betrayed her unnatural strength in comparison to her size, but it shouldn't have been a surprise if everyone on this station was an Augment.

"Suzette, are you sure this is what needs to be done?" Cecelia asked suddenly as they stepped in the relatively brighter passageway outside the brig. "There are other ways of… extracting information, tactics less blatantly coersive."

Suzette craned her neck to see around Madelyn, who was taller. "You of all people should know not to question my husband's goals—"

"I'm not questioning his motives or his goals. I'm questioning his means."

Suzette pulled at Madelyn to move faster. "I hate to use this expression, but the ends will justify the means. There's no reason for Joaquin to have suddenly changed his mind, and we can't afford to wait on Khan. He's gone soft. So far he's proven he'll do nothing except yell at his poorly chosen girlfriend."

Madelyn pressed her lips together to keep from saying something she'd regret. She hated being relegated to "useless girlfriend" status, but trapped in the iron grip of these Augment women she knew she didn't have a choice.

Being in the brig had been preferable to this. Her stomach was complaining and her lips were dry, but at least she'd been alone and able to think more clearly without being dragged down the corridor between these people who clearly viewed her as little more than collateral. Her curiosity had peaked a little at Suzette's comment about not waiting on Khan anymore. She wondered what was taking him so long to come to a decision about her, but hoped it would be soon, before Joaquin and his people tossed her out with the garbage as it sounded like they would have no problem doing.

All she could do was continue to tell the truth. Whether anyone believed her or not was what tightened the knot in the pit of her stomach. If she was worth little to them alive, they would probably move onto other bigger things. And she would persist in hanging her curtain of numb neutrality in front of everything else right now. It was better not to feel anything, otherwise she would be tearing herself apart for being so goddamn stupid.

It was starting to make sense that Khan's entire fight to get her back after the miscarriage had been one long con. He'd been born from a test-tube. His entire being was a war machine made into flesh, and given an unhealthy dose of mad ambition to run with, he could—and would—do anything. She'd already seen him go on one suicidal rampage, so what was one more handful of lies piled on top of her to smother her again?

As they arrived at the Io facility's control room, the scene that greeted her took several moments to digest. Otto leaned against the far wall, looking far too smug and relaxed with his arms crossed over his chest and his boot cocked sideways. Beside him was Joaquin, his broad shoulders squared and bulging as he leaned silently over the central control console. Looking further towards the back of the room, Aidan stood silently with his hands on the shoulders of a small, whimpering figure seated in front of him. Madelyn inhaled sharply when she realized who it was.

"Kelly?!" Her voice cracked, but her eyes were fixed on her friend's tear-streaked face, locks of sweaty blonde hair fallen into her eyes. "What the hell?" She looked around the room, eyes desperately sweeping faces, hoping for an answer to this.

Suzette relinquished her grip somewhat and settled her eyes on Madelyn's, her expression disturbingly calm. "You know why she's here. You know why you're here. Please restore my husband's faith in our people and tell me what's going to happen next if you don't give us what we want."

Though they were nearly the same height and size, Suzette's presence was decidedly superior. She held the high ground and she knew it too. Madelyn wanted to scream, to curse and struggle and lash out at her. She could swing her leg out hard enough to knock Suzette off her feet, but with Cecelia holding her from behind her efforts would go to waste. She ground her teeth together in fury as a quiet voice inside her reminded her of something she'd failed to realize when she'd first entered the room.

Why wasn't Khan there?

And were they really going to do this without his permission?

"Suzette, I wouldn't try to ruffle her feathers just yet," Joaquin said, straightening from the control console. He sounded disinterested, almost bored. "Khan will be here soon, I imagine, since you didn't tighten your leash on Kati like I suggested."

So that's what this was about. Control.

Suzette twirled around on her heel so she faced her husband. "You know how much I value your ambition, Joaquin. If I had kept Kati from doing her job, we would have lost far more ground than necessary."

Joaquin regarded her silently, a faint smile gracing his lips. "You prove me wrong yet again."

"Don't forget," Suzette added. "I'm the one who got you into Khan's court. He wouldn't trust you the way he does if it weren't for me."

Madelyn couldn't believe she was related to these people. She tore her gaze back to Kelly, desperate to find some way to get them both out of there. Aidan's hand on Kelly's shoulder made her blood boil. Even if she could get away from Cecelia and break Kelly free, she knew Aidan would retaliate and neither of them would be able to fight back successfully. She was still sore, her breathing edging closer to hoarse, open-mouthed gasps from her aching chest, and Kelly was the most fragile person in the room solely because of her humanity. She knew the violent possibilities whirling through her mind were impossible, but the worst part was none of this was Cecelia's fault, or Aidan's.

She pulled her gaze away from Kelly and settled on Otto. He caught it, his smugness not receding a single inch as he pushed himself casually off the wall. "You son of a bitch," she whispered, letting each word linger on her tongue for as long as she dared. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

Otto raised his hands defensively, grinning a grin that suddenly seemed very mischievous and not at all warm or understanding or trustworthy. "You're the one who talked," he said, his southern drawl noticeably lessened. "Can't say I blame you. I was just doin' my job."

Madelyn flinched. "Your job?" She had to keep herself together. For herself. For Kelly.

"I have three very good reasons for what I did," Otto continued. "But they'll always be lost to me unless you fess up and tell us what we need to know."

She turned her face away in an unconscious attempt to distance herself from the piece of filth in front of her. She couldn't believe this. She was having a nightmare but she couldn't wake up. "The history books are right," she breathed. "You're all a bunch of homicidal maniacs."

Otto chuckled. "I wouldn't go that far—"

"Do you think that even if I did know… you think I'd tell you?" Her voice shook, betraying her fear, her anger. She didn't even care. Her gaze flitted back to Kelly. "Not like this."

Please God, not like this.

Cecelia yanked Madelyn to the side suddenly as the door slid open behind them and Kati stepped through it, followed closely by Khan. A hush fell over the room as he strode inside, his lips pressed shut, hair slicked back, cold eyes sweeping over everything until they paused on her.

Arrogant, lying bastard.

She swallowed the words perched on the tip of her tongue. They would do her no favors now. He'd clearly waited for all of them to be here before choosing to make an appearance. She held his gaze for a few solid seconds before he looked away. Joaquin straightened from his position over the control console. She wondered if this had been planned from the start, or if Joaquin was really trying to make a power play. Kati's faintly concerned expression raised her hopes a little, but they were squashed the moment Khan opened his mouth.

"I find myself continually impressed with the measures you're willing to take, Joaquin. Should I expect more of this in the future?"

Joaquin tilted his head with a smirk. "Whatever it takes to get our people back. If I know you—and I'm pretty sure I do—then I know you'll be able to look past our differences and see things for what they really are."

Khan crossed the room with his hands behind his back, fingers drumming against his knuckles, not sparing a glance for anyone. His attention was fixed on Joaquin. "I believe I see things for exactly what they are." He turned his head enough for Madelyn to see his profile, but he was looking at Kelly. "What do you expect to gain from this?"

"The truth," said Otto.

Madelyn held her breath against the silence in the room. Khan regarded Otto with a remote expression before turning and shooting his gaze at Suzette, who turned up her nose a little. Madelyn tensed when he turned towards her again. He walked with calculated intensity, his gaze detached, forehead wrinkled with a hint of… sympathy? Madelyn felt her anger rise again, willing him to come close enough for her to spit in his face. It was all he deserved for doing this. To her frustration, he stopped before he was within arm's reach.

"Have they hurt you?"

The question yanked her from her angry ruminations. "Seriously?" she breathed. "No, I'm fine. Absolutely fine, you know… except for the fact that your people are threatening to kill my friend! I've already lost one friend because of them!" Her raised, shaking voice reverberated off the walls. She blinked at the image of Owen's dead face that flashed across her memory. No, not right now. Not like this. "And why the fuck did you even bother with me? You keep lying as if it still matters, when you know the only thing you've accomplished is to prove how fucking stupid I am for believing you!"

"Stop," he ordered. She ignored him.

"After everything you've done, everything you've promised, and you think I'd tell you where the rest of your people are, even if I knew?" Her voice cracked. "Because I keep telling you—all of you—over and over and over that I don't know where they are and you won't fucking believe me! Why won't you just believe me?" She swallowed and caught her breath, her chest aching form her verbal exertion. Khan's unchanged expression hit something inside her and she looked away, slumping against Cecelia's grip. "What's the point?" she murmured. "I've told you the truth. I don't have anything else to say. Kill me, but don't touch her. She doesn't have anything to do with this."

Her last words dwindled to a whisper. She didn't even glance up when Khan turned away. Whether he believed her or not, more than anything she just wanted this to be over.

She wanted it all to be over.

"Khan—"

He cut off Kati's interruption. "Joaquin, do what you must. Don't let me stop you."

"Khan, I'm picking up multiple vessels closing on the facility." Kati was eying a small control panel on the wall. "They've just dropped out of warp."

Suzette crossed the room to confirm Kati's announcement. "They're Starfleet. We need to evacuate the station. You all know protocol."

"Not yet," said Joaquin.

"They will destroy us all, Joaquin," Khan's voice boomed across the room. "Kati, get to the hangar and prepare a shuttle. Cecelia—"

"Nobody's going anywhere until I get what I want," Joaquin growled, crossing the room in the space of time it took Cecelia to draw her phaser. She fired three solid blasts into Aidan's face until he crumpled to the floor, but Joaquin had already put his hands around Kelly's head. Madelyn barely realized what was happening before she was thrown backwards against the wall, managing to catch a glimpse of Otto tackling Cecelia to the floor and knocking her phaser away. Suzette whirled on Khan and shoved a phaser in his face. Then there was a scream and a sickening crack.

Madelyn fought to breathe through the sudden shooting pain in her lung as she leaned back against the wall. Kati had disappeared. Joaquin crossed the room and pulled his wife away from Khan, muttering a few words to him before they left the room. Cecelia and Otto still scuffled on the floor nearby. Nausea crept into her gut, threatening to push its way up her throat. Aidan groaned on the floor beside Kelly's lifeless body, slumped unceremoniously against the wall. She barely registered when Khan advanced on her and slid his hand around her arm. He pulled her across the room, but she couldn't get her eyes off Kelly's body until the doors slid shut against the sight.

He yanked her down the corridor and she stumbled to keep up with him. Everything ached. Her head spun. Her throat was slick with an acidic layer of bile. The pain in her lung was escalating again. Khan didn't say a word. He didn't look at her. It was probably better that way. If he was going to kill her, he was going to do it personally and he was going to do it silently. There was nothing left to discuss, so why should he waste his breath? She knew exactly how little she meant to these people.

Confusion overshadowed her attempt not to feel as they came out onto the massive hangar deck. All of the shuttles were gone save for one that was marked with '31' on the side, and Khan pushed her towards it. "Get onboard," he ordered. She glanced up at him, trying to decipher what he was doing, but he'd turned his back, surveying their surroundings while he pulled a phaser from an open storage crate nearby. They appeared to be alone. "Madelyn, get onboard," he pressed.

Why doesn't he just do it and get it over with?

She turned and glanced into the darkness of the shuttle. She could run, she realized. But where? Starfleet didn't know she was here. They'd sooner shoot her down with the entire facility. These thoughts were dashed as Khan turned from adjusting his phaser and closed on her. She ducked her gaze and climbed up the loading ramp, running her fingers along the wall in desperate hope of finding something—

"Took you two long enough. Starfleet's going to blow this place to hell."

She froze. Joaquin lounged in the pilot's chair, drumming his fingers on the control panel. Her instinct to flee was smothered by the click and hum of the hatch closing. She felt Khan behind her.

"You killed her," she whispered.

Joaquin turned in his seat, tilting his chin to the side as he regarded her with keen eyes before looking up at Khan. "She's quite an astute observer."

"Where's Suzette?" said Khan from behind her. She could feel his breath on the top of her head.

"She's safe."

Khan didn't respond. Madelyn bit the inside of her cheek until she'd smothered her anger. There was no point in trying to fight back anymore.

Joaquin turned on the engines and Khan stepped around her to sit in the co-pilot's seat. As they came out of the hangar, three large Federation starships could be seen approaching their position, but the shuttle was small and quick and a moment later they were at warp.

As always, thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you guys! xoxo