augmentedtyrant-blog

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"Let me out," Khan told him. "And I will do you that favor."

“Zen keel me.” Chekov spat the last few words whilst tapping the glass as if Khan was an animal behind cage walls. “I dare you.” 

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Khan watched as Kirk sat, and he mimicked the action, seating himself on the other side of the cell. His hands balled into fists rested on his knees, and he watched Kirk silently, intently.

“You know what?” Jim mused, turning his full attention to Khan again. “I think I´ll just stay right here.” With that said, he sat himself down on one of the chairs by the console, putting his PADD beside him. He had no other choice but to wait, after all. Plus, he had the other in his sight the whole time. 

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My suggestion would be to simply go out, and find one. I do not believe that concept is terribly difficult. There are billions of humans and aliens to choose from.

Fine. I need a test subject. Where do you suggest I get one from? You know more about this time than I.

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"That being said, my name is of no consequence to you," Khan said. He lowered his eyes, and walked in a half-circle around her.

“Everyone has a name.” she replied emotionlessly. “And I am the one placing the inquiry.” A sly smile danced on the woman’s lips.

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Either ask, or leave. Don't waste our collective time.

To ask an opinion, but perhaps I should seek assistance elsewhere, no?

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"Possibly," Khan said. His pale eyes narrowed. "That depends wholly on who is inquiring."

“Well aren’t you quite the forceful one?” she inquired the tone clearly sarcastic in tone. “That was rhetorical by the way.” As if it hadn’t been obvious enough but Natasha was in a very peculiar mood and just wanted to annoy the stranger. “You have a name?”

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Reblog if you love your Muse to death

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What do you want, Doctor?

I see you are having a pleasant day…Captain.

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"Don't flatter yourself," Khan said to her, eyes darting down and then up again, as if he were reading her from his distance. "What do you want?"

“Such a cold greeting.” the assassin mused aloud. “Tell me, do you always great strangers with such indifference? Or am I special?” 

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What?

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Khan did not break the silence. He just watched the captain as his little brain tried to work through it. There was a twitch at the corner of Khan's mouth.

"Go on," he said. "Scurry off and try to find out who put me here."

Jim just raised an eyebrow at the others behavior, playing off that he was actually starting to feel a bit uncomfortable. The whole story just seemed to reek. His guts were telling him that something was off, and that he needed to find the person who is responsible for this. Because he was definitely not comfortable with Khan being on his ship. Damn, if he hadn´t walked past here by coincidence he still wouldn´t know that the superhuman was here.

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Khan watched Kirk carefully for a long moment before he cast his eyes to the cuffs he had thrown aside earlier. There was nothing for it but to do what he thought he had to to save his crew. Eyes sliding back to Kirk briefly, Khan made his way to the cuffs he had discarded, and he picked them up.

Carefully reprogramming them, Khan brought them to Kirk, and put them in the younger man's palm. He held out his wrists to allow him to apply them and then program them. His eyes stayed on Kirk's face, and Khan took a breath.

"They will suspect something," Khan said. "A half an hour ago, you were a rag doll, and now I am suddenly subdued. Even they will not be stupid enough to imagine that I have not finagled cooperation from you in some manner or another."

“I don’t need to be afraid of you or what you think you’ll do to me to keep my word,” Kirk said, wrapping his fingers around Khan’s hand to squeeze it in acceptance of his offer. Kirk couldn’t remember the last time he went back on an honest deal, even if he was the loser in some sort of high stakes bet, he always paid his dues. He released Khan’s hand and let his own fall to his side while he watched Khan closely, waiting for him to jump at Kirk while he seemed so unguarded. The two of them acted like cobras that had been thrown in a pit to fight to the death. Both of them watched each other and waited for the other to strike first, but neither of them were willing to do so, yet. 

“Put on your handcuffs,” Kirk said, nodding his head over to the electrified cuffs that Khan had him in the night before to keep him from escaping. The tables were turning and Khan was now the prisoner while Kirk was his captor. The only difference being that Kirk really couldn’t beat Khan senseless if for no other reason than Khan’s natural ability to heal very quickly from his wounds.

Kirk had acquired a sort of boost to his own physical limitations after the transfusion with Khan’s blood not long ago. He wasn’t super-human like Khan was, but he felt full of energy and alive as if he never had broken bones or weakened muscles in his life. It slowly faded away over time, but the muscle mass and slight increase in bone density, nothing someone wouldn’t get from taking in a lot of calcium, was something that still stuck with him. His muscles were more defined, more powerful, and his mind felt more sharp. He didn’t want to admit it, but having Khan’s blood inside of him for so long did do some amazing things to his body. 

“We’ll hail the admiral when you’re ready. I’ll get your crew out and to safety first. They’ll probably want to sentence you to death, but I’ll get back to you before they can carry it out. It always takes these things days before they’re all settled and ready to be carried out.”

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"Admirable," Khan said evenly. "But pointless. You know I would kill you and them without losing my breath."

“I vould give ze best effort zat I could end I vould have died knowing zat I had somesing to save. I vould be scared- yiss- I vould try and run- but I vould distract you from zem most of all. Zey are my family sir. You have yours, and I have mine.” Chekov glared in through the glass, feeling himself relax a bit as the words flowed sweetly from his lips. 

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Khan could smell Kirk. His skin, his sweat, and his breath. None unpleasant, but a near shock to Khan's system. His brow knitted down, and in that moment, the two of them faced one another, and Khan had a worthy opponent. Or, perhaps, a worthy ally. It was difficult to say which, yet.

However, even Khan could see the truth behind Kirk's eyes. The truth that this was his only decision. To live, with his crew, in silence and solitude, alone, but alive. No more slumber. No more waiting to be killed in their cryo-tubes. Perhaps on the edges of space, somewhere. Where they could live, and exist, and disappear.

With their breath puffing against one another, Khan tilted his head slightly back.

"You call your admiral," he said. "Pull him off of my people, and I will destroy the repeater. You will escort me to Starfleet headquarters as a war criminal. Your Enterprise will deliver them to safety, and then you will assist in my escape." He stopped, his eyes darting between Kirk's. "I will take my people, and I will never return. But know this, Captain: if you betray me, you will know no pain more agonizing than what I will inflict upon you, upon those you love, upon everything. Let your fear be your motivation to do as you have said you will do."

Khan raised his hand, and offered it in agreement.

“Yes. I’ll even help you disappear,” Kirk said, straightening himself so he could look Khan in the eyes without feeling as though Khan were towering over him, even though they were about the same height. “All I ask is that you destroy the repeater,” he said, wanting to make his demands clear. The repeater shouldn’t wind up in anybody’s hands, let alone the military’s or Khan’s. Khan knew how to build one but he lacked the resources or the financial stability to ever be able to manufacture another one in the future. 

“Either that or I won’t help you, you will kill me, and then the Admiral will kill all of your crew in retaliation. You can make choices, so make one,” Kirk said, stepping forward into very close proximity of Khan as if he were demanding the Augment make the only choice that made any sense. Kirk thought that maybe if Khan could see the true danger in having as many enemies as he was willing to have he would be putting his entire crew’s life in more danger than it already was in. 

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Khan watched Kirk rub at his neck, but he knew there would be no lasting damage. For all of his ferocity, Khan could be as delicate as he was vicious. He was incredibly adept at killing, and as adept at saving. Otherwise, much of his crew would have been dead already. He could protect as aggressively as he killed. It was a talent he so rarely used, but one that he demonstrated in his ability to squeeze Kirk in such a vital area, and never fully harm him.

Shifting back slightly, Khan eyed Kirk carefully. His pale eyes flicked down along the young man's body, and back up again, as if he were calculating him, doing the math in his head. Like a predator, the thoughts were in his eyes, on his face. But he revealed nothing. Even in the silence between them, Khan found himself in very near awe of the little human.

"You are suggesting I retrieve my crew and disappear?" he asked, and his voice was almost vague.

Jim could feel his throat being squeezed shut by Khan’s fingers but he didn’t bother struggling against the other man. He could feel Khan’s breath on his lips when he spoke to him in such close proximity and he could once again smell the dried blood that slicked back Khan’s hair.

He knew that he was too important to be killed off by Khan just yet because, without him, Khan might not be able to get his crew back without harm. Khan dropped his hand away and Kirk coughed as soon as his trachea was no longer obstructed by the grasp of Khan’s fingers. He watched as the Augment offered him his wrists in surrender and he shook his head at Khan, rubbing his throat with the tips of his fingers to evaluate the damage. 

“No. I don’t think the Federation will let you or your crew go alive. They’ll kill you all as a failsafe,” Kirk said, trying his best to keep his eyes from watering since the pain in his throat was so close to his sinuses, which had already been ravaged when Khan broke Kirk’s nose. 

“We’ll have to get them out, somehow. Then you and your crew will have to leave. For good. If you use the repeater on them then you can be sure they’ll hunt you down and kill you all,” Kirk said very matter-of-factly. Even if the Federation didn’t immediately assault Khan, there were other colonies and even other races who would certainly answer to the distress call of Earth, even if not for humanities safety but their own. 

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In the silence that stretched out between them when Kirk's voice faded off, Khan seemed to piece together Kirk's meaning, and his brow knitted. Was the little human right? This pointless boy he had been so eager to kill? Could it be possible that this time, Khan was wrong? It was difficult to say, and frustrated him beyond reason. He wanted to kill anyone who harmed his crew so badly that he could taste it. He wanted revenge, and then he wanted freedom. He wanted to take his crew away, anywhere, and be with them, and have the solitude, and kingdom that he had desired.

But none of that would be possible unless his crew was with him. Now, the only thing he seemed to care about was getting them back. But he would never have his crew, and his freedom, too. Never. He knew that, somehow, in the back of his mind. He was a fish thrashing in a net, gasping for breath. But he would suffocate. His only choice was to sleep with them, wasn't it?

In three long strides, Khan was in front of Kirk, and his fingers were dug deep into his slender neck. The flesh and muscles gave like butter, and it was as if he could feel the blood vessels popping under the skin. There would be fingerprint bruises there. But Khan's goal was not suffocation, even though, in that moment, it would be as easy as closing his hand around Kirk's neck more solidly.

"I do not want anymore of them harmed," he purred into Jim's face, and his fingers loosened, and slowly dropped away. He offered his wrists to the other man. "I will not give over the red-matter repeater. But if my surrender will save them, then you may have me."

Perhaps trying to reason with Khan was just as pointless as Khan trying to convey an idea to Kirk that he had nothing inside of him except the desire to kill. He clenched his jaw when Khan began telling him how he had never been given any chances because he was right, he hadn’t been given any chances. Even now Khan was being pushed into a corner because the Federation was holding his family hostage and, once they got a hold of Khan, they’d certainly kill him and would have no qualms about killing off the rest of his crew. He understood that, he really did. But…

“So what will you do once you’re not in the corner anymore? You’ll get revenge and you’ll do exactly what you’ve been programmed to do because, according to your logic, you haven’t been bred to have a mind of your own or you haven’t been given the ability to make choices that don’t involve the slaughter of millions, or billions, of people. Your excuses for not being able to control your urges to kill are the reason why the Federation is going to kill all of your crew because you are doing just what they wanted you do to. Just what they knew you’d do all along. Now they have their justification for murdering you and your crew and no one will think twice about it because, according to you, you can’t help but to follow your instincts and kill,” Kirk prepared himself mentally for the beating he was sure to get, but he only spoke the truth. Khan’s people deserved to be spared, but if Khan wasn’t willing to think so savagely, it might not be possible to save the rest of them or Khan himself. 

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Khan laughed. For the first time in a long time, he laughed. Low, and long, and deep in his throat. The sound bubbled out of him. But it was a laugh of bitter disdain, not of amusement. It wasn't the same kind of laugh a man might have if he were truly happy. Because Khan was not, and couldn't be. Not in the sense that so many humans could be. He was not like human beings. He was his own breed. His own species. And perhaps, presenting the idea of it to Jim, was pointless. Because Jim had been given the tools to be human.

Had Khan?

Turning to him, Khan's laughter faded, and the smile that accompanied it melted away, too. His face remained cool, and impassive. Unemotional. Unresponsive.

"And you think that because I am human, this reasoning is inherently flawed?" Khan said, recapping Jim's opinion in a much shorter amount of time. "But have you been bred, and taught, and conditioned to kill? I have been built to rule, Captain. And if I hadn't, I would have been killed myself. If I do not kill, if I do not fight, I will be returned to my eternal sleep. Is that not a form of euthanasia? To be given no choice?"

Khan paused.

"You dwell on humans as able things, capable of making choices on their own, but I have been given none," he said. "Do you put an animal in a corner and then strangle it when it lashes out? Your logic is perfectly erroneous. Because you cannot accept that my species is unlike yours. Incapable of these choices you say we can make. I kill because I must. Because I was bred to kill. And I will take with me those who have wronged me." He shook his head. "Why build a machine, and then destroy it when it does what its program tells it to?"

Kirk stood and listened to Khan’s description of the ancient fighting dogs, thinking about how much it sounded like it should be some kind of Klingon ritual. The idea was barbaric and, to no surprise, Khan was using it as a metaphor for what was happening to them right now. It seemed logical, except for the fact that humans aren’t dogs. Not that there was anything wrong with dogs, but there’s a big different between the species in that, even though humans could be bred to fight and kill, they still can have some sense of morality about them. They can make choices that dogs cannot make. 

“A dog that’s been bred to fight has no choice but to fight for the rest of his life or else he’s put down. That dog will do what it has to do to live because that’s how life works, with survival being the goal. Humans, Augmented or otherwise, are different, whether you believe that or not,” Kirk said, swallowing the lump in his throat from the uneasiness he felt with this new conversation. He knew Khan was leading into something with his question, but he didn’t feel like he should have to answer it in the way Khan wanted. 

“You can’t compare dogs to humans. But if you need an answer it’s the same reason I took you off of Kronos instead of bombing the entire area with those torpedoes. Innocent until proven guilty, just like your people.  So, no, I wouldn’t kill the puppies. As far as the dog goes, I’d have no choice but to put it down. Fortunately, humans, or even Augmented humans, have a choice on what they do to other people.”