Across the Stars for You

Shall We Begin?

Abigail almost dropped the phaser, her arms locking around Khan's neck in relief.  "I see you fit," she murmured into his shoulder, slowly pulling back to look into his handsome face.

"Four meters?  I've fit through smaller," he joked, sounding odd in his even tone and emotionless features.

A grin began to tug at the corners of her lips before an unbelieveable tremor of pain rolled through her body, making her grip at Khan's shoulders for support.  Worry and fear passed through the Augment's eyes as he kept Abigail on her feet until whatever was happening to her passed.  Her body began to go limp in his grasp and her clear golden eyes became foggy.

"What did he do to you?" he ground out, the sounds of fighting gone from a few rows down.

Abigail blinked, trying to clear the bright dots from her vision to no avail.  "He gave me some sort of...drug."  She shook her head, angry at the dots that floated before her eyes.  "He said I would be in a lot of pain and lose my vision, the use of my arms and legs..."

The intense fury that passed through Khan's eyes almost frightened her, and she would've stepped back if his grip had not been so tight.  "And what were the other effects of this drug?" he asked, his undying hatred tightening his throat.

"Death," she said simply, meeting his eyes and not showing any of the fear that tugged at the back of her mind.

Khan stood still a moment, his thoughts racing, all centered around two things.  Revenge for the ones he loved and saving the only person he that he loved unconditionally with every ounce of his aching heart.

"We have to go," he murmured, grabbing her wrist and towing her behind him as he navigated the pipe rows back to Kirk and the engineer.  "This way," he ordered, making his way over the unconscious bodies in his mission to get to the bridge.

Ignoring the burning look of curiosity on the captain's face, Abigail followed tightly behind Khan up the narrow hallway towards the bridge.  Something felt off about the tension surrounding Kirk and the engineer as they got closer to their destination, as if the two had some unspoken resolution.  Grinding her teeth together as the pain became a constant fire in every muscle, she squinted against the bright lights that suddenly came on in the hallway.

"They're back at full power," Kirk whispered in dismay, keeping up with the easy jog Khan had initiated.  

He cast his eyes ahead, noticing the way Abigail seemed to be functioning under an immense stress.  Her skin seemed to be lacking any usual color and a fine sheen of sweat seemed to cover the back of her neck and along her cheekbones, and her eyes, from what he had seen a moment before, seemed cloudy and distant.  Dismissing it as some weird Augment thing, he continued on until they got to the bridge.

---

The four of them fanned out across the bridge, training their phasers and shooting down all the crewmen in sight, leaving Admiral Marcus in the captain's chair.  The dark spots floated in her line of vision, making it difficult to keep her focus on the admiral as she lifted her phaser towards him.  Grinding her teeth together as the spots began to expand, she felt Khan at her side, his hand cupping the back of her neck.

Her whole body tensed as she watched the engineer turn away from the admiral, pointing his phaser at Khan.  His body crumpled beside her and a final wave of pain brought Abigail to her knees, then falling to the side.  Blinking furiously at the spots, she locked her eyes on Marcus, hatred flowing through her agony riddled body.  A smirk twisted the man's thin lips as he watched her failing to push herself back up.

"See?  I told you it'd be painful," he intoned, watching the anger registering on her face as everything went black.

"Admiral Marcus, you're under arrest."