He couldn't just run into this blind, he knew. If he wanted to do this, he would need to formulate a plan. And he certainly couldn't do it alone. There were seventy-two others. Others who surely had been tricked in the same way as he had. Others who shared his abilities, who would be able and willing to fight beside him. And anyone who dared block the path to success? Well, they wouldn't get the chance to do so again.

John wouldn't have wanted this. None of them would have. But dammit, he'd stopped caring about that. Because John was dead. They all were dead, they couldn't protest. They couldn't tell him how disappointed they were in him. They would never say anything again.

The security was easy enough to get rid of. They would approach him, and he would simply take their head, slam it against the wall without even so much as a change in expression. This happened at least ten times. Each was killed immediately, they wouldn't have felt much pain. It did leave a bit of a mess, though. Some blood staining the floor. He stole one of the keyrings off a body, the idea being that it would be quicker than picking the locks.

The first room he came to, the first door he opened. A woman sitting on the bed, looking at a handful of photographs. Average height, blonde hair pulled back. "Those of your family?" He spoke smoothly.

She looked up at him, obviously recognising his build and overall appearance as another subject. "Y- yeah. Yeah, my husband and my kids. Two sons and my daughter."

"What's your name?"

The woman held the photographs close. "Well, technically I'm not supposed to give you my real name. But my codename is Dita."

"Well, Dita, I'm sorry to inform you that your husband and children have more than likely been murdered. Now, if you would like to take revenge on those who killed them, I suggest you follow my instructions." He turned then, face and voice both flat. No emotion.

Flying to her feet, Dita hurried up behind him. "What? What are you saying?"

He didn't roll his eyes, didn't show annoyance. He just kept walking, kept looking straight ahead. "They're dead. Every person in this place, every person who has gone through the experiments, anyone they care about has been killed. I don't know why, but it's happening. My name is Khan, by the way." Not his real name. Never again. It brought back too many memories. Opened up too many wounds. He turned the corner. There were more rooms down that way.

They were greeted with at least twenty more guards. Dita didn't ask questions. She followed Khan's lead, expertly smashing their skulls, snapping their necks. It hardly took two minutes to finish them off. "Not bad." Khan looked over to her, nodding a bit in approval.

A smile, Dita wiping a splatter of blood from her brow. "Could say the same to you."

They gathered the rest of them, split up into groups to save time and possibly lives. Seventy-three men and women. Some of them as young as seventeen years of age. All of them alone in the world. There had been an unspoken election, naming Khan as their leader. He was the one to piece it together, he was the strongest. "Each group goes in one direction. The commander of each has a mobile. I'll go after Soong. Once he's dead, I will send each of you a text. When you receive it, we all gather here. Do not let anyone stand in your way. If they are not among our forces, they don't get out alive. Are we clear?" Not a single person protested.

Dita came with him. They were alone. And while it was clear that the others had questioned whether or not that would be a good idea, no one had said anything about it. "He'll either be in his office or one of the labs. Could very well be working on someone as we speak. With any luck, he won't know we're coming. I doubt any guards have managed to survive long enough to warn him."

She was quiet for a moment. "But why's he doing this? I mean, he's killing people, knowing that it's going to really upset people who could kill him with their eyes closed. Doesn't seem like a good plan, if you ask me." Dita checked her watch. Thirty minutes since he'd come for her.

Khan shook his head. "I have no idea. But you are right. It's a terrible plan. And he's going to realise it very soon." He stopped, turned to face her. "You go to his office. I'll check the lab. No matter which of us finds him, that will be the last face he sees."

Only a slight hesitation. "I suppose you don't me to tell you to be careful. So I'll go with 'Kick his arse'."

Walking the building alone again. Khan killed another three members of security on his way. And he enjoyed it. He enjoyed it because they deserved it. They had torn his life apart, along with the lives of nearly a hundred other people.

It was the laboratory which had began all of this. The one which he had been strapped down in. And on the table, a man of thirty-seven- And yes, he knew he was exactly that age- being held on that same table, screaming just as Khan himself had been. the doctor hadn't noticed him enter. Not until Khan began destroying the machines. Dr Soong looked over then, horror on his face. "What are you doing?! He'll die!" He hurried over, but Khan simply shoved him away with as much force as he could manage.

Glancing over at the one who was now only writhing in pain. "I think that's exactly what he wants. Given that he's tried twice already." He slowly walked over, putting his hands on either side of the man's face. "Hello, Oliver Springs." Khan had pieced it together after discovering that John and the others had been killed. A man whose wife had died, and afterwards had attempted to kill himself, only to fail despite there being no flaws in the methods. No flaw except himself. He turned Springs' head to the side, and the man gave him a small nod. Telling him that it was okay.

Khan broke his neck.

"Now, I think we have some things to discuss, doctor." Soong hadn't moved. Perhaps he was too afraid, or perhaps his head had impacted the wall enough to disorientate him.

He did look terrified. "Mr Holmes. K- Khan. Listen to me. You- you're just having a reaction to the procedure. Your mind is amplifying your anger and desperation. It- it's not an uncommon response. Like I told you, there are side effects, this is one-" He was cut off by Khan's hand on his throat.

"Is that what you think this is?" He raised Soong's feet off the ground, his grip tight on his neck. "A side effect, nothing more? You told me he was alive in order to lure me into this Hell. And even when you got what you wanted, you proceeded to take away everyone that ever mattered to me." He was almost growling, gaze hard. "That's what you did to the rest of them. You removed their reasons for leaving so that you would never lose your test subjects. Now tell me why you wanted this is the first place." Khan released just enough to allow him to speak.

Soong was doing everything he could to breathe. "I- I just wanted to see it I c- could!" Another strained gasp. "They- they paid me- it's my job! I w- I work for the g- government, th-they told me t- to take pr- precautions!"

So that was it, then. Experiments done to create super soldiers. It was like Baskerville all over again. Except this was real. And this had cost at least a hundred lives. And now he and the others were going to be seen as fugitives. Perhaps even war criminals. Khan had the answers he needed now. So he once again tightened his grip. And just before he watched the life leave Soong's eyes, he whispered six words. "Send my regards to Jim Moriarty."

The text was sent, the groups reassembled into one. Khan explained to them what had happened, what had been said. "While we have, today, shown just how capable we are, we most certainly are not immortal. They will come for us. And when they do, they will be armed heavily enough to kill each and every one of us." He was pacing, hands at his sides. "Miss Dita formerly worked at a Starfleet base. And she has agreed to secure us a ship. In this time, we are hunted. We are outcasts. But if we could live to see another, perhaps we could live in peace." He turned to Dita. "Anything else, Captain?" He offered her the slightest of smiles.

"First Officer." She corrected him, causing a touch of confusion to cross his face. "I'm not captain material. I'd get us all killed. You took charge here, and we all survived. That's the kind of person we need in control, wouldn't you say?" And thus it was decided.

It took a week of hiding. But in time, the entire crew was gathered in the ship. "We are," Khan stood before the crowd, more emotion in his voice than what usually came after the experiments. "Alone in the universe. We number just seventy-three. We have no families. No friends. No one who will miss us, nor whom we will miss. The world is against us for the time being. I have, as your Captain, vowed to protect each and every one of you. If we must live with this curse, then we will do so together. For we are the only family any of us has. We fought to get this far, and we can only hope that we will not be forced to fight again. Sleep has become but a memory for us. But we will, if only for one last time, be able to rest, unaware of the time which will pass. Just when we will awake, I cannot say. But when we do, it will hopefully be into a future in which we will not have to fear being hunted down. One which does not know the horrors we have seen. So I only ask that you all trust me when I assure you that this is for the best. And that it has been, and always will be, an honour knowing you."

And each of the seventy-two figures standing before him saluted nearly in unison.

Khan was doing one last patrol, making sure that everyone was safely in their designated cryo tube. "Having second thoughts, Commander?" He didn't turn around to face Dita. Didn't even look at her. He'd recognised her pattern of footsteps. "I'm afraid to say that it's rather late to do that." He continued walking.

She was right behind him, speaking softly. "What you said... about what the world will be like when we wake up. Do you really believe it?"

A hesitation. "No." There wasn't a use lying to her. "I do not. The human race is savage. I have seen men kill one another in cold blood. The most unthinkable and violent murders you can imagine. And I have seen the faces of those responsible. Deranged in their minds, but human, nonetheless." He shook his head as he rested his hand on the cryo tube which would, in a matter of minutes, become his own. "The world will never accept us. Not really. But there is a chance I could be incorrect. And even if I am, this still will allow us a new beginning. A way to leave behind the lives we now wish to flee from." Dita could only nod, placing a hand on his shoulder before she left.

Khan glanced around one last time, and in those precious few seconds before he lost connection with consciousness, he silently bid farewell to who he used to be.

Upon his return, John had shouted that Sherlock would never know the amount of pain he'd gone through. Now, Khan knew all too well.