Chapter Twenty-Three: Vengeance

Once Kirk came back into the room Khan changed. He flickered back to his old mind set readying himself for the next trail. Kirk pointed to McCoy who followed after him instructing the doctor to put her where Khan had been before. Caged. She was going to be caged.

"Am I alright to be –"

"You'll be fine." McCoy insisted after Kirk and Khan left with four of the six guards. Two accompanied McCoy as he waved for Marla to get up. She pushed her hands and feet toward him.

"I don't think these are necessary."

"You bet they are. Or were." The doctor furrowed his brow as he motioned for the guards to take the restraints off. "You almost killed Doctor Marcus."

"I thought I missed the artery." She was free, though her head tilted slightly at McCoy.

"Barely. You have real aim for a historian." The man pressed his lips together. Marla rubbed her wrists feeling the odd sensation of her flesh on her own once more.

"I'm a historian who studies weaponry and war. Tactics and techniques." She concluded. The guards motioned her up and forward.

"Either way you put it you're dangerous. Nearly killed the admiral's daughter." He shook his head as they walked. The two guards tagged behind her weapons at the ready. She turned her head slightly to peer at them before she spoke to the man leading the party.

"If I wanted her dead she'd be dead, Dr. McCoy. She had already said my name. I wasn't quick enough."

"If you hadn't shaken your hand so hard it'd be clean across." He checked behind him to make sure she was following, in his speech and step. "The cut was ragged. It hurt."

"Maybe that's what I wanted." Marla shrugged leaving it up for the ship's doctor to decide her motives.

In truth she had simply panicked. Carol was blowing her cover. If she had been dead it would have been fine with Marla, but then again the daughter wouldn't have to suffer watching her father die. She wouldn't see just how wrong about her father she was.

"Stay here." They had placed her in an isolated sector where individuals may have been beamed aboard the ship.

Marla watched as Dr. McCoy left her to her isolation. She looked around her seeing the sector had a bench. She could sit if she needed. Though her blood was boiling in anticipation. She never liked waiting. Marla never liked sitting around when there was work to be done. She didn't know how far this would have gone. A year ago she had been sick. She had been certain she would die. Certain she would die clinging to her historical facts of war and unfinished book. Now she was a criminal. She was a criminal who had engaged in war rather than reading over the facts. She had taken what she had read over from Khan's time and infused it into her fighting skills.

She had impressed an augment. She had stood beside him in his work and his war. Marla even found herself pressed against him in order to fulfill her own need for comfort. Cadets would no longer due. She needed Khan by her side. She needed him whether she was healthy or sick. He was the relic she always wanted. He was a breathing figure of the past and she had created a two person war against Starfleet with him. Since meeting Khan her life had taken a sudden turn. She had merely been existing before him. Breathing just for the sake of breathing. Marla didn't have desire before him. She wanted knowledge. She wanted to learn and craved it from her books and the occasional digs she went on, but she could live beyond the past.

The past had been re-imagined for her. She was living now. She was living to get somewhere, to get something. There was no more just existing because she had to. Marla was surviving in order to continue her journey, to find out more, to be more, to have more. She had never known what power felt like until she had it pulsating around her. Khan burned with passion and power. He had reawakened parts of her she never knew had laid dominate. Her passion was no longer dulled by disease. He had given her more purpose beyond existing, a reason to fight.

She smoothed her hand along the surface of the bench as she sat. Her hand went to her stomach again. Marla remembered his words. His promise. She smiled halfheartedly at it. Her faith in his word was strong. He hadn't broken a promise yet. He was going after Marcus after all. Readying their ship for his crew and her. She felt herself quiver at the thought of boarding Vengeance. She wondered what would happen once his crew was awoken. Would they accept her as their equal? Would they think less of Khan for choosing a human mate? She shook that idea from her mind.

"One problem at a time, Marla." She told herself.

The woman peeked up to see a boy or young man run into the control room speaking fast to one of the guards. His arms flailed and he barely spoke English. His eyes then turned to Marla. He motioned for her to step forward.

"You are wanted on the bridge, Doctor." His accent was very thick. Marla only gave a pleasant grin.

Two guards led her to the bridge. She couldn't help the smug look on her face. Marla let her half smile show as her shoulders moved like a lioness toward the display of Khan aboard Vengeance. His eyes were glazed over in a certain kind of madness that she had not seen before. A chill ran through her as she was presented to him. The Vulcan seemed to hold control while his captain was absent. She looked to the crew watching her wearily before her eyes fell to the augment off centered and brow creased.

"It is done." The words rang true in her ears.

She took an encouraging step forward ready to open her mouth. She wanted to see it. Marla wanted to see the results of the augment's destruction of the admiral. She stayed herself trying to regain her composure. In that moment she realized she was no longer a prisoner. She was not a bargaining chip either despite the look in the Vulcan's eyes. She looked under her lashes at the others on the bridge before turning to look at Khan.

"Are you alright?" He did not sound concerned for her safety. It was merely a formality to Khan. Something he perhaps needed to say to verify the Enterprise's motives.

"Yes, Captain." Her back was straight and her voice beamed with pride. She saw him give a too revealing smile and a half chuckle escaped his throat.

"Drop your shields Mr. Spock." He perfected each syllable of each word with ease.

"If I do so I have no guarantee that you will not destroy the Enterprise." The Vulcan said. Khan appeared irritated by those words lowering his head then looking up through his brow.

"Well let's play this out logically then Mr. Spock." His eyes slowly rose with his head. "Firstly I will kill your captain to demonstrate my resolve then if yours holds I will have no choice, but to kill you and your entire crew." He found joy in those words, that idea. Marla couldn't help, but let her lips pull into a wider smile along with him.

"If you destroy our ship." The Vulcan looked at the screen hard. "You will also destroy your own people and Doctor McGivers."

It was true, but considering that Khan's face did not falter one bit she knew he had considered all options. He always did. Even in his days fighting over lands for his men and women he held multiple plans of operation. Backups to the back up plans. It was why he had survived for so long. He took no time to answer.

"Your crew requires oxygen to survive. Mine does not. I will target your life support systems located behind the aft nacelle. And after every single person aboard your ship suffocates, I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people." She watched his face. Khan did not look to her for a single moment after he asked her if she was safe. He focused on the Vulcan. Marla knew he had something. He wouldn't abandon her now that he had what he wanted. He couldn't. Augments kept their promises. She knew this history had - "Now, shall we begin?"

"Doctor McGivers requires oxygen to breathe." The Vulcan stated.

"I am highly aware of that." Khan dipped his head once more. His eyes then turned to her bringing that same glazed over fighting spirit back to his corneas. "She has resolve. Doctor McGivers has faced death before and she will survive it again." She watched his eyes dip downward with a simple nod. She realized her eyes were glassy and unsure in that moment. She had doubted his choices. Marla should have known that the brink of death could not stop her. He was suggesting he could resurrect her if need be. Bring her back with his blood like he had before.

"If that's what's needed." Was her very simple answer. She saw Mr. Spock turn his head question toward her. Her eyes fell to Khan. They were locked. He trained her focus on him giving her assurance. His eyes told her he was not willing to abandon her, not a rarity like her. There was no chance she would not be boarding Vengeance.

"Lower shields." The Vulcan may have seen angry in that moment, if she knew it was an emotion he was capable of. The shields were then lowered.

"A wise choice Mr. Spock." She saw his face winkle a bit. His body shifted. She heard a cracking. Her heart soared at the violence. He spun going around to his console. He pressed buttons against the console arching forward as he did. "I see all 72 torpedoes are still in their tubes. If they're not mine, Commander, I will know it." He tilted his head off to the side.

"Vulcans do not lie. The torpedoes are yours." The way he said it felt wrong to Marla. She wanted to hit him to take over the Enterprise herself. Her teeth clenched. Her fingers rolled into fists.

"Patience, Marla." She spun her head to look to Khan. He was leaning toward her with a sudden eagerness in his posture, face, and eyes. His eyes flickered to the Vulcan in that moment. "Doctor McGivers as well. I need her aboard my vessel. No holding her. No one by her." He tried very hard not to sound desperate with the word need. The d sounded too hard. The Vulcan turned to her with a nod. The guards around Marla took a step back.

She felt the beams circle around her. The last thing she heard was Khan's voice.

"Thank you, Mr. Spock."

Her feet hit ground. He was hovering over the console pressing buttons. His fingers worked quickly and carefully. His eyes didn't face Marla's appearance on Vengeance for a second. He hit his last button before he looked to her. She started for him the same moment he started for her. They were alone again, they collided. She held tight to his body before holding his face for support. She welcomed his tongue when he kissed her sloppily and desperately. Her breath was hot and unnecessary in that moment.

"I never doubted you." She lied between each kiss. "I never doubted you I swear."

He merely held her tighter to him proving that she was worth more to him then she could ever imagine. She heard the sounds of weapons hitting the Enterprise. She laughed against his lips.

"My war machine." She cooed with sudden separation from him.

She studied his face for a moment as he took in hers. His face fell slightly as he pushed his fingers under the wig she wore. She cringed as he ripped the attached hair from her and tossed it aside. He grappled at her short sprayed out red locks. Khan pressed his forehead forward against hers. They closed their eyes breathing in each other for a second until he quickly abandoned her to focus on the war at hand.

Her eyes found Marcus very soon. He was down on the ground. She knelt to study him for a moment. Her fingers traced along the unbroken bits of his skull. Chunks of brain floated in pools of blood and abandoned bone. She put her hand to her mouth. Marla felt emotions well up inside her. Everything came out all at once. Disgust. Relief. Laughter. She found herself chuckling a bit at his body uncertain why. It was done. The thing she had wanted for so long was finally filled. And they were on Vengeance after Khan had kept his promise.

She felt herself flinging to the side. He head hit the floor as she slid backwards. She winced feeling heat against her back and side of her head. Something had hit them. It was only confirmation when she heard the cry erupt from Khan's lips.

A cry she had never wanted to hear from an augment.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry this took so long! It was a bit of a transition chapter in the beginning so that kind of hindered me a little. Anyway let me know what you guys think of this chapter. I always love hearing from you. Did you doubt Khan at all on his feelings for Marla?

Next chapter we will see how these two handle things on a burning Vengeance.