Published this chapter a little earlier than planned.
You may all thank alltheteainchina: You my dear are a blessing! Thank you so much for your zealous review, you are truly remarkable. Your praise got me blushing i'll admit (after recovering from the shock of course) I was having several doubts about the plot and whether the shift in timelines was causing an issue, but you sure cleared that up :). Thank you again. Well I haven't read the comics but I have read the novels. The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonie Singh 1-3 ( when I mean read I mean skimmed through them so I had an idea about the Eugenics Wars) But I shall look for the comics under your recommendation :D. This chapter is dedicated to you.
Reviews are always welcome :D
xx
SSC
April 30th 1993
Khan had deployed Zahara, Orlando and Susan on the mission to confront one of the scientists in Umm Al Quwain. Zahara's sparked had returned when Khan mentioned the mission and she compliantly followed his orders.
He was relieved in away, ever since the discovery of her sister's death, she had not been herself.
Since their departure Khan hadn't had time to dwell on her absence—despite noticing it every time he stepped into the bedroom or sensed her lingering scent within his study—.He had been in contact with Stavos. He received condolences from his friend and to conquer U.A.E as soon as possible in order to fully utilize their resources to battle Vasily. Stavos predicts the man would not surrender easily. Khan had to reluctantly agree.
Khan was busy with Joaquin that entire morning. He was glad that business regarding oil and other resource distribution kept him away from his chambers. He was swamped with work that required him to flee to several ends of the residence to meet other members of his team.
Joaquin demonstrated a new weapon he had designed, to Khan that evening. Khan hadn't even realized the time passed when Orlando abruptly barged in through the doors. The blonde's dramatic entrance had grabbed the Augment's attention. Along with the clear cut distress the deepened his sharp features.
"What is it?" Khan had immediately asked when the man approached.
"We found some valuable information regarding the—"He sent a surreptitious glance at Ashera and Sabaa that lingered by the walls.
"Our friends." He whispered.
"And?" Khan questioned, Joaquin was just as alert and neglected his demonstration entirely.
"Mike, Alpha, Yankee the fourth."
May 4th. Khan couldn't suppress the devious grin that made the corners of his lips curl up.
"You are sure?" He questioned eagerly, Orlando nodded with confidence.
"Susan was very demanding and Zahara was very cruel."
"Suzette!"
The woman immediately answered her summons was swiftly at Khan's side. Back straightened and shoulders squared, ready for action.
"Yes sir?"
Khan reeled around to face the female. His iridescent eyes were a light with excitement. He had been waiting for this day, the thrill of being so close to conquering made his blood hot.
"Have you delivered the message I asked you to?" He asked, his voice a lot more serious.
"Not yet sir." She responded frankly.
"Good, I have one more thing to add." He said, the laugh lines around his eyes and mouth deepening "Tell them to send in the cavalry."
Suzette blinked in surprise. Her dark, shapely brows lifted in wonder.
"Yes sir." She concurred and left in a haste. Khan then turned to the Iranian Augment.
"Joaquin, you know what to do." Joaquin swiftly dismissed himself, following Suzette.
Khan was eager to return to his chambers. He predicted Zahara would be waiting for him, anticipating his answer to the information they gathered. Khan wanted to tell her knowing she would share his delight.
"There is something else that happened that you should know about." Orlando swiftly interrupted Khan's train of thought. The captain turned to his second in command only to be greeted by that same grim expression.
The fog of enthusiasm disappeared when he sensed Orlando's reluctance to explain.
"What is it?" Khan demanded sternly. The blue-eyed man frowned and lowered his gaze to the floor almost shamefully.
"You tossed her out of a moving helicopter?" Khan hissed down at Susan. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. The confidence and lack of fear in her stance was enough to further infuriate him. After Orlando had informed Khan of what Susan had done to Zahara. The Augment leader did not hesitate to storm into the woman's room. Forcing the servants who roamed the corridors to scurry away.
His first thought was on Zahara. Orlando had told him it was a ten foot drop. Even with her rapid healing it could not have been pleasant. She had refused medical assistance, he had said. That she was silent the entire ride back and isolated herself within the room, their room.
"She was leaning over the side, it was hard to resist the temptation." Susan argued calmly.
Orlando shot her a sharp look of disdain as Khan tensed from the pure disregard in her words.
"What?" She countered innocently "It wasn't like that would have killed her, cats always land on their feet."
She cracked a condescending little smile, utterly amused by her play on words.
"Myth?" Khan grounded out through gritted teeth, his fingers curled into fists as his side "That's your argument?"
"You could have had her replaced easily, I'll even give you mine."
Khan shut his eyes for a moment to suppress his urge to back hand the woman. He had never felt such a strong rage before and he knew if he was transparent about it Susan would dare to call him biased.
"What if Orlando was leaning over, would you have pushed him off the edge?" He probed starkly.
She sent a lazy glance at the blonde male.
"That is different, Orlando is one of us."
"That's not a difference." Khan snapped.
The woman gaped in disbelief, her jaded eyes flared with derision.
"You have got to be kidding me." Susan yelled "You see her as one of us? She is a half breed, a genetic abomination and I am not the only one who thinks this."
"Oh?" Khan breathed in bitter astonishment "Who else thinks this?"
"Orlando."
"What?" The man in question exclaimed in outrage.
"It's what you agreed with last night." She practically purred in a flirtatious victory, daring the male to disagree.
Orlando stood stunned for a moment. Khan could see the man's quivering eyes, he was reeling from the blow of Susan's words. His dumbstruck made it obvious enough that his words were misunderstood.
Correction, manipulated.
"I agreed that she was different." Orlando bit back.
"But you didn't disagree to the rest." Susan argued snidely. Orlando barked out a laugh, it was mocking and preluding to his full rage.
"Well it is a little hard to understand your barely audible mumbling when your mouth is supposed to be focused on my coc—"
"Enough." Khan cut in before the man went full inappropriate. The blonde's male's lips sealed shut in an instant, Susan was fuming in mortification. There was a palpable animosity between the two. One Khan intended on dismissing instantly, he had no time to deal with such childishness.
"Orlando, is this true?" He questioned grabbing the man's attention. The fair-haired man turned to his Captain. The fierce annoyance that sharpened his features, softened immediately under his leader's questioning.
"Khan I agreed that she is different, but she has done worthy work and I am willing to see how else she can benefit us. I wouldn't knock her out of a helicopter. Susan is being unreasonable." He shot a glare at the female.
"Unreasonable? You are the ones who are seduced by this…beast!" She exclaimed, the frustration she expressed made strands of her platinum hair spring out of its tight restrain. "None of you are focused on the real task, you are all tip toeing around the Sheikh and gathering Intel when we can just take what is ours!"
"It would be imbecilic of us to simply take over without fully comprehending the motives of our enemies." Khan countered verbally "We already did that once and I will not lose more of my people on a technicality."
"That's not what this is about, you are just biding time just so you can play master and pet with your little experiment because you know once this is all over so will your liaison with the demon." She sneered malevolently.
Khan couldn't suppress his fury much longer. His lips curled up into a disgusted snarl. Not at her words but at revealing her own weakness. Khan understood the reasoning behind her vendetta against the Wahashi. It wasn't just jealousy, she couldn't stand Zahara. It all rooted from deep Augment ego. The ones that plagued his kind and made them into tyrants. Khan knew of the ways other Augments had exploited humans, used them as slaves. Humans who had created them.
Khan agreed that they were superior to humans but he never went as far as enslaving them. But then again, he never disagreed. Now, seeing how such a blow to her ego affected her, so much so that she was willing to betray the trust of her own people. Khan couldn't stand it, not any longer.
Susan grew fearsome. It was obvious when the confidence in her posture melted away when she somewhat curled into herself, finding his enraged expression intense to stare at.
His pushed back his resentment and veiled it with a cool mask of indifference, yet the burning dislike in his eyes remained.
"Actually now that I think about it, I'll just offer her a new position among my crew, considering you will be deported."
"What?" She stammered out, stunned by his words.
"You heard me. For your blatant disregard of orders and the opinions of your colleagues. After all of this is done you will be transferred back to the Army of Eternal Vigilance."
"You are serious?"
"Are you really that shocked? I cannot have a crew I cannot trust and you certainly do not qualify." He bit back coldly "Not anymore."
Then he turned and left without a word.
Khan did not know the full extent of the damage done on to Zahara from the fall. Orlando had informed him that when he got to her she was unconscious for a while. The side of her face was caked with blood and sand. When she had retained consciousness, she had trouble standing.
The mental images that formed in his mind under Orlando descriptions were brutal. Khan couldn't help but feel like he had exaggerated the intensity of his injure due to his…his.
Khan couldn't really lie to himself, he cared about her. She mattered to him. She was a worthy ally and a promising move across his chess board. An alliance he did not intend on parting with.
He was expecting to find a bruised mess of a woman. Which was why he was stunned to find her in his study. Seated at her usual place and doing the most normal thing possible. She was eating.
Actually she was waiting for him, yet she hadn't been able to resist the plate of fries among the dishes. She froze mid chew, and looked to him over her shoulder, like a jewel thief caught in the act.
Her hair was wet and reached her shoulders in thin spirals. The added weight to her usual light hair made her tresses seem longer. She was dressed in her usual casual pants and top, she seemed at home.
But he saw the scars. They were healing well but the evidence still remained. The scabs were littered across her cheek bone down towards her jaw like a rash. There was a light pinkish tint around the tender flesh. Khan saw a sliver of a scar down her full lower lip. Her bare arms carried the same speckle like texture of wounds.
One moment he was standing by the door frame, in the next he was behind his chair. He lifted the furniture with ease and carried it over to her side of the table. She was watching him, the hairless skin between her eyebrows were crinkled in confusion. Her golden eyes quivered on an egg white canvas, attempting to read his motives.
Khan ignored her presence for the moment and focused on planting the chair so that it was facing her. Then he peered down at her. Her eyes widened in reaction, surprised by his sudden acknowledgement of her. He bent forward, their eye contact was unwavering. He wrapped his fingers around the arm rests of her chair. She waited, anticipating.
He roughly forced the chair around, the legs screeched in protest against the tiles. He leaned back, satisfied that now both chairs were facing each other. He sat down, very aware of the bewildering Zahara that stared at him.
He lounged back into the leather padding, steepled his fingers and waited. The stern silence in his cold gaze was the only encouragement he provided for her to recite her side of the story.
"Susan hates me." She said.
He frowned, he was expecting a tale of woe not a one sentence summary.
"Yes." He responded, his head nodding in agreement.
"So your kind does feel." She murmured, a sly smirk curling up the corner of her alluring mouth.
"You were under the impression we didn't?" He questioned.
Her smile abruptly fell to thin, grim line. "I was under the impression you didn't let emotions falter your logic. I was wrong."
"Susan is..." Khan struggled to think of the platinum haired women without picturing himself snapping her neck "Her actions have proven to me that she needs to be transferred to a place that isn't making her so temperamental."
Zahara squirmed in her chair. The seriousness in her expression was not the reaction he was expecting. It seemed to be her only reaction to good news.
"You are sending her away?" She asked in wonder.
"I thought you would be more ecstatic to hear this." He said, perplexed by her confusion. She immediately understood that he wondered if she will be dismayed by the departure of her attacker.
"Her presence here or else where does not matter to me." She stated truthfully. Khan was still unsatisfied by her lack of care on the topic.
"She wants you dead." He reminded, leaning towards her.
"She can try." She grinned, arrogance lit up her brilliant orbs like sun shafts through murky clouds "I have better things to do than feed her hatred."
He couldn't suppress the impressed smiled that broadened his lips. The act is entirely unintentional. He thought watching her with the beginnings of desire in his eyes.
He pulled himself closer to her till their knees brushed. He reached out and dragged his fingers tips, lightly up her bare arm. She welcomed his touch and continued to observe him from under thick sandy lashes.
"You didn't land on your feet." He murmured in a soft teasing tone. She frowned up at him.
"I wasn't expecting the attack, I didn't think I would have to be wary of your kind. My mistake for letting my guard down." She grumbled and turned away to pour herself a glass of milk. He continued to grin while watching her, delighted by the reactions he caused.
"You were comfortable with us, it's only natural." He said "It's a shame her actions broke your trust."
She abruptly abandoned her unconsumed glass of milk and turned to him.
"Trust is not the word I was thinking of." She corrected cruelly, as if insulted by his words.
"What is the word you were thinking of?" He asked, his voice calm in comparison.
"Trust is too intense." She grumbled warily.
"But it is what you felt." He countered confidently.
Her eyes flared in annoyance.
"Do not presume to tell me what I felt." Both his eyebrows arched in wonder of her venomous retort.
Her fury simmered down and her fierce expression softened apologetically. But Khan knew never to hear an apology from her lips, she was too stubborn for that. He didn't mind, he found her even more appealing when she was angry.
He didn't know if it was because during their first week together she was like a walking statue, or because she was so brave and eager to speak her mind to him that it aroused him. Zahara wore her passion best. Sometimes he wished he could keep her in a constant state of rage because he loved the way the fire danced in her eyes and made her so alive.
"Orlando was furious, I had never seen him so angry."
His inner excitement was dissipated like an avalanched collapsed on to a burning building. He didn't think he would be this irritated when another man's name left her lips. It should be his name, it should be a desperate whimper as she writhed in pleasure beneath him.
But the way she watched her with all her seriousness, forced him to keep his feelings behind a mask of indifference.
"He doesn't easily lose his temper but when he does, it is for someone he thinks is worthy." He answered blandly yet honestly.
"I am worthy to him?" She inquired in awe. Khan was very annoyed by this.
"Not just him." He countered, his fingers resumed caressing her. Their gazes met once more and he knew that she understood he was speaking of his regard of her. Her features softened once more and his annoyance melted away knowing she was now only focused on him.
"I hope I haven't lost your trust." He wondered almost hopeful. She blinked, surprised by his words before smiling mockingly.
"I don't remember giving it to you." She responded with that same raspy voice that aroused him so.
"Besides…" She leaned forward, he did too. He was utterly captivated under the glittering mischievousness in her eyes. "How can I trust a man who doesn't trust me?"
Her question provoked the most curious of emotions within him. Scandalized by her frankness to a swirling mess of doubt. It took him a while to remember that he never trusted anyone (out of his kind). Especially ones who were not part of his team. But she was, wasn't she? He didn't want to reject the idea completely. He felt if he did, he would be no better than Susan.
"I'd like to." He uttered, his voice heavy and deep "Give me time."
The understanding in her delicate smile and kind eyes sent a wave of relief through him. A tide of feeling that brought with it a staggering discovery. The woman before him, this creature that was half Augment and part animal. She wasn't the just a demon that she was made to be, neither was the fierce weapon he expected her to be. She was warm, she was understanding and in her own strange way, she was compassionate.
Khan suddenly felt like he didn't know enough about the woman and wanted to drown in her.
His gaze travelled over her scars that seemed too harsh to look at. The sight of them made his blood heat with an unquenchable rage. How dare she hurt her? — It was the only question that plagued his mind.
"That looks painful." Was his own way of asking, if she was alright?
"I've discovered falling head first into sand, from a high place is not pleasant." She turned away from him for a moment to reach out for her glass of milk again. She was taking her injurie's too lightheartedly for his liking. But at the same time he commended her for it.
"I can help with that." He murmured suggestively.
"I'll heal." She muttered, her attention focused on retrieving her glass.
He stopped her before she could grasp the cup by lightly pressing his fingertips to her jawline.
"You don't comprehend my meaning" He whispered, his tone thick with desire as he forced her to face him. Her attention was solely focused on him, just as he wanted. His smile was lustful as he cupped the side of her face and moved in towards her.
He kissed her.
The feel of her supple mouth against him, coaxed such a fierce need in him that he did not know he possessed. His mind immediately reeled back to their first night, their first kiss. How hot he was for her and how stubbornly she pushed back her own emotions. She didn't resist him anymore. She was open and when their lips met, she moaned in utter delight.
She had missed it just as much as he had. Khan suddenly wondered how he had managed to be apart from her. He theorized that kissing and touching her was in his muscle memory. The moment their mouths met, he knew how to hold her, how to make her yearn and how desperately he needed her.
He pulled back an inch, she was panting. He was just as winded, his hot breath blew against her lips when he whispered to her.
"I can make you forget the pain."
She never reached for that cup of milk again.