Khan was a much better driver than Aubrey had anticipated. She thought he'd be like any other madman she'd seen in the movies; swerving in and out of traffic without any care for other drivers, speeding 10 miles over the limit, fishtailing around corners, and running red lights. On the contrary he was a rather placid driver. He even used his blinker and put two hands on the steering wheel. It was the last thing she expected from a man as reckless as a teenager on steroids and she watched him –not so discreetly –as he drove them through the streets of San Francisco in one of the many air lanes of traffic with interest.
Neither of them had said a word after leaving the parking garage. Aubrey sat quietly in her seat watching Khan as the Augment kept his intense gaze on what he was doing. Other than the hum of the vehicle and the occasional instruction of the GPS they were enveloped completely in silence and had Aubrey not already been used to Khan's silent nature –which shocked even her considering her situation and the little amount of time they have spent together thus far –she would have felt uncomfortable.
Not to say she didn't feel uncomfortable sitting shotgun with a murderer in a friend's stolen car. Just not the same kind she expected to feel.
It was strange that only after knowing him for a few short hours and having extensive knowledge on his behavior and previous acts of tyranny that she was almost relaxed in his presence. She should have been huddling against the door as far away from him as possible, should have been watching him with fear, not interest, and her heart should have been pounding with anxiety –especially after watching him kill a friend and put another out of commission and knowing that she was eventually going to die by his hands. But she felt none of that. She felt calm, actually. It made her wonder if she was going psychotic as well.
"Do you have nothing better to do than to stare at me?" He suddenly asked, the question startling Aubrey for a moment. She blinked at him and opened her mouth to reply, but nothing immediately came out as she observed him. He was still staring out the windshield and had he not spoken as loudly as he had, she would have been sure he never did.
"Um…" she mumbled and blinked again as she finally looked away from him in embarrassment. "Sorry, I just… Didn't expect you to be such a good driver."
The hint of amusement in his voice when he spoke next wasn't hard to miss. "What did you expect, exactly?"
Aubrey shrugged. "Well, I definitely thought we'd be chased down by cops at this point and avoiding crashing into other cars as we made our miraculous escape," she replied sarcastically. "I didn't think we'd be going 15 behind an old lady in a school zone."
Khan chuckled. "Surprised to discover so much about me that isn't in the files, Aubrey?" he smirked. Her head snapped back around to glare at him sharply.
"How did you-"
"As the protector that you claim to be of me and my people you would have been made aware of every detail of us Starfleet had at their disposal. We are painted as tyrants with little to no care for others," he interrupted, his voice rising in volume to make sure whatever she was about to say was cut off effectively –though he really didn't have to since his baritone voice did that perfectly well enough. Aubrey also didn't miss the scowl on his lips as he glared out the window. If he wasn't driving she knew she'd be on the receiving end of such a nasty look. "While I assure you we do not hesitate to do what is necessary to protect ourselves and those close to us, we do not needlessly take lives unless provoked." Finally he tore his gaze from the traffic ahead to give her a meaningful look as she watched in him in awe. "Though our record says otherwise, we do care." Then he looked away as if embarrassed and Aubrey would have thought he was had he not still been glaring and clenching his teeth in anger. "Furthermore, I do not want to attract unwanted attention to us with driving recklessly. My habits will ensure we reach your home with no hindrances."
Aubrey was stunned into silence, definitely not expecting that type of answer. She was expecting him to damage her pride, to put down her species –anything of that sort. Maybe she had judged the Augments too much. Maybe she was just as ignorant as everyone else and have been blinded by their past too much to give them a chance. It sickened her; she was no better than Marcus as far as she was concerned.
But as much as Khan claimed they were not weak and didn't tolerate weakness, she was starting to see that his hard exterior was just a cover for how betrayed and used he felt by those who were supposed to have treated him as another person and not a machine. He had never felt love the way she felt with her family because he was a genetic experiment and had been raised to be used in battle for others' own selfish reasons. As a result the other Augments had become his family and he felt a strong need to protect them from the humans that had treated them so poorly.
Aubrey was beginning to see this all now with guilt taking over her entire being. Not just for the way they had been treated by Marcus, but by the scientists that had created them as well. They never felt the love of a parent, only the fierce prejudice they had been born into. Since birth they were nothing more than cattle. It made Aubrey's heart break just thinking about the cruelty of it all.
She wanted to tell him how sorry she felt for him and the other Augments, but she was thankfully cut off by the automated voice of the GPS. "Turn right. Then continue 1 mile to destination on left," the female voice said. She had to suppress breathing a sigh of relief; a man like Khan wouldn't respond well to pity.
When he turned left instead of right and began heading in the opposite direction of her house, she became confused. The GPS was as well, because the moment he turned the voice spoke again almost sounding agitated. "Recalculating. Recalculating. Recalcu-"
His right hand left the wheel only for a moment to turn off the GPS and effectively stop the annoyed device. Aubrey though, couldn't help but ask what was going on. "Where are you going? My house is that way," she said while pointing a thumb over her shoulder and giving him an odd look.
Khan gave a sigh and she was sure he rolled his eyes too. "Starfleet would be able to track the car to your home. Your intelligence seems to have dimmed since we first met, Commander."
Aubrey glared at him and huffed in annoyance as she crossed her arms over her chest, wanting nothing more than to curse him to high heaven. "Sorry, I'm new to this whole against the law thing," she snapped back at him. "Though I'm assuming we're going to leave the car somewhere hard to find and you're going to somehow make sure the GPS could not be traced to having my address being entered into it. My guess is you'll probably punch a hole into it. Then we're going to walk to my house with some sort of disguise we'll somehow find somewhere close." Her tone had grown bored, but there was still the bite of sarcasm to it as he pulled into an alley and lowered the car to the ground amongst the garbage at the dead end of the lane.
Once he was parked and the car turned off he turned to smirk at her. "Ah, there you are," he congratulated and Aubrey glared at him. "We'll make a criminal out of you yet."
He then opened the sunroof of the car and gracefully pulled himself out. Aubrey was confused at first but when she looked out the windows of the vehicle she found that the walls of the buildings on either side were so close that the doors wouldn't have been able to open far enough to let them out. Hiding the fact that she was impressed with his skills at not damaging the car on the way down, she crawled out after him. He was still crouching on the roof looking around to make sure they weren't being watched and when she was out of the way, he silently gestured for her to make her way off the car towards the back. Without question, she did so and when she was out of the way, he reached back in through the roof and did exactly as she had guessed only moments before; he smashed his fist into the center dashboard and destroyed the GPS as easily as if it had been made with paper.
As soon as that was done, he slid down the back of the car and joined her at her side with a small smirk. She raised an eyebrow at him smartly and crossed her arms over her chest. "And the disguises?"
He quirked an eyebrow back at her, but didn't reply as he made his way towards the entrance of the alleyway. Aubrey followed with quickened steps to catch up with him, her arms wrapping even tighter around herself to ward off the slight chill she now felt in the September air. Upon reaching the end of the alley, he held out a hand behind him as a signal for her to stop as he peered around the corner onto the busy streets where pedestrians walked completely unaware of them. Aubrey obeyed without a word, already knowing that his sneaking skills far surpassed hers, and waited.
"Are you ready?" he asked suddenly.
Aubrey blinked in confusion. "Ready for what?"
He shifted so that he could give her an exasperated look, but did not reply as he turned back away from her. The next thing she knew Khan was reaching out of the alley and snatching two unsuspecting people off the street and tossing them to the rough concrete at Aubrey's feet. She immediately jumped back, completely startled as the innocent people, a man in an expensive looking suite, fedora and holding a briefcase and a woman in a short blue dress with a giant yellow purse, cried out in equal surprise.
"She's yours," Khan stated simply before stalking towards the businessman.
"What?!" Aubrey snapped in disbelief, but Khan of course ignored her.
The woman on the ground before her began to cry and blubber as she shifted so she was sitting on her knees and thrusting her purse at the redhead. Her head was bowed as she sputtered and shook. "Take it! Just take it and let me go! Please!" she begged, still shaking her purse at Aubrey who stood stock still and stared down at the brunette in horror. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the businessman Khan was dealing with was splayed out on the concrete, Khan himself standing above him and staring over at Aubrey expectantly. "Please, take anything you want, just don't hurt me…" the woman continued, her voice thick with emotion.
As Aubrey slowly came out of her daze she frowned deeply and looked over at Khan with the fiercest glare she could muster. "No," she told him while shaking her head adamantly. She then began to walk towards him with an angry finger waving around and pointing at him. "I will not harm an innocent woman just to take her clothes! When I agreed to help you, I didn't think it would entail me physically injuring others!"
Khan's eyebrow rose challengingly as she thrust her finger in his face. She could still hear the woman sobbing behind her. "What exactly did you think was going to be expected of you, Aubrey?" he hissed dangerously. "You thought you could just be an innocent bystander? Watch as others suffered at my hands while you do nothing?"
"I can't do anything! You have the strength of a goddamn elephant!" she roared.
Suddenly he was in her face and she was so startled she had to take a step back, but he followed her easily. "I intend to break you," he growled darkly, his intense gaze never leaving her face and Aubrey found she was too transfixed to even attempt to look away. "I am going to beat out every single thing Starfleet has taught you. And when that is done…" He grinned maliciously. "I am going to have you beg for mercy before I kill you like the pathetic human that you are."
Aubrey swallowed, the trickle of fear returning to her spine. Without breaking eye contact, Khan pointed to the woman still huddled behind her. "Morals are a weakness. Now it is time to toss them aside."
The redhead's gaze flickered from Khan to the woman then back to him and she took a deep breath before replying with a stubborn, "No."
His already angry expression darkened even further into fury and without a word, he stalked passed Aubrey and approached the woman. She saw him coming and immediately began to cry harder at seeing the look of rage on his face. "No! Please no, I-!"
She didn't even have a chance to finish her sentence before Khan was in front of her and gripping either side of her head. With a sudden twist and sickening series of snaps her neck was broken and she was silent as Khan released her to slump to the ground dead. Aubrey flinched, but Khan merely turned back around, unfazed, and began walking towards the businessman. He stopped at her side as he passed, but she didn't dare look at him, her gaze was fixed on the now dead woman only a few feet away.
"She did not need to die," he told her calmly and Aubrey gritted her teeth in anger. "If you had only done as I asked she would simply be unconscious and would live to see her family again." She closed her eyes as a whole new wave of guilt crashed over her. The pity she felt for him only minutes ago seemed like years away in the wake of her current hatred for him. "I do intend to break your spirit. Until I do, every time you disobey an order like that I will kill them myself." He then leaned closer to her ear to whisper and it only made him sound more menacing. "I will not be so merciful with the next one. Your morals will not be so precious to you when they are what kill the people you are so desperate to save."
He paused to stare at her, but she refused to look back. Several beats of silence passed before he spoke again, satisfied that she wasn't about to make any rebuttal anytime soon. "Undress her and replace your clothes with hers."
With that last order he stalked back over to his prey who still lay motionless on the ground where he'd left him. Aubrey spent a little more time staring at the woman before finally relenting and slowly approaching her. It was with tons of guilt and multiple whispered 'I'm sorrys' that the redhead finally removed the brunette's clothes and flashy low blue heels from her lifeless body, being careful with her limp neck even though she was already dead. Before changing, she made sure to hide behind a dumpster in case Khan decided to turn around and peak, but the moment she had finished putting the woman's dress on she immediately frowned.
It was short. Extremely short.
Her Starfleet uniform was already at a length that she barely felt comfortable with wearing publically, but this dress was pushing her modest boundaries a little too far. The dress had been a decent length for the other woman, but Aubrey's torso was a tad longer it seemed and it caused the dress to just barely pass her rear. She was almost too embarrassed to step back out and face Khan, but she knew that if she didn't he'd just come and get her anyway. Holding the bundle of her old clothes in front of her she slowly stepped out from behind the dumpster with her head held high, trying her best to not seem as uncomfortable as she felt.
Khan was already dressed in the businessman's suit and fedora and was fixing the cufflinks when her eyes landed on him. She almost stopped short in surprise. She knew he was a handsome man –you would have to be blind not to think so –what with his strong physique which was now mostly masked by the crisp black suit. And of course there were his intimidating yet enchanting blue eyes. Though she hated the man thoroughly, she was still a woman and couldn't deny that he was attractive. Especially now when he decided to leave the suit jacket open, a few buttons at the top of the dress shirt undone, foregoing the striped tie and casually wearing the black fedora over his perfectly combed back dark hair. If he wasn't such an asshole, Aubrey would have been tempted to flirt with the man and that almost made her sick to her stomach.
He spotted her moments after she was finished ogling him –although he was probably well aware of her presence before looking up –and he eyed her appreciatively in return. She frowned and moved the bundle in her hands so that she was covering herself a little more modestly while giving him a glare. He simply smirked at her and then gestured her to come closer. She did so reluctantly.
When she came to his side he took her old clothes from her and tore off a strip of her uniform then tossed the rest to the ground. Aubrey flinched slightly when he did so; not out of fear, but out of sadness. She already knew she would never be able to return to Starfleet, but seeing her uniform get torn up made the reality of it all the more real. Yes, it was uncomfortable, but it was a symbol of when her life used to be normal and though it had only been a few hours since everything started it already felt like a lifetime.
Khan turned the now mostly naked man over onto his front while bringing his hands behind his back to tie them with the strip of her uniform. Even though he wasn't moving, Aubrey knew he was alive –thankfully. Khan wouldn't be wasting his time with tying the man up if he was dead. Once he was finished he grabbed the man roughly under the arms and began to drag him over to the dumpster Aubrey had changed behind and deposited him in front of it. Next he went over to the woman and picked her up as well only this time when he dragged her over to the dumpster, he tossed her inside without a care. The briefcase was next placed beside the man and the woman's purse was scoured for money before being tossed inside the dumpster along with its master. Aubrey had to suppress another flinch of guilt by trying to distract herself with taking the hairband on her wrist and beginning to tie her hair up into her usual bun.
She was so focussed on the menial task that she didn't notice Khan come up behind her until his hand was stopping the movement of hers. She froze immediately, but Khan didn't seem to notice –or care –as he nudged her hands away and removed the hairband from her partially done-up hair. The red locks fell back to her shoulders and she could feel his hand gently brush over the length of the strands at the back of her head. Neither of them said a word as he continued his ministrations with combing his fingers through her hair and brushing it over her shoulders.
"I prefer you with your hair down," he drawled lowly right next to her ear. She felt his fingers begin to brush along her neck when she finally recoiled away from him and turned to give him a glare to which he only chuckled in amusement. If he wasn't still holding her hair tie she would have put her hair up just to spite him and there was no way she was going to attempt to snatch it from him.
Crossing her arms over her chest she frowned. "Are we done here?" she asked impatiently, more than ready to leave.
Khan chuckled again, but didn't otherwise reply as he tucked the black band into the inside of his breast pocket, smirking at her all the while. Her glare didn't waver even when his taunting smirk grew before he started towards the entrance of the alleyway with Aubrey reluctantly in tow.