Superior (A Star Trek: Into Darkness Fanfic)

Survival

Seven Years Later

       Alexandra bent over; a bead of sweat ran down her cheek. Her breathing slowed as did the rest of the world. The cheering grew muffled and all she could see was the long lines on the track ahead. She gulped and took a deep breath. She had been ready for this moment for years.

       

                *        *        *

       Ever since the Federation soldiers had taken Khan, Alexandra had lived alone. Later that night Brian walked in the room to find her kneeling numbly on the floor. He had reached down to help her up, to provide some comfort.

       Alexandra had looked up, but instead of locking eyes she saw right through him.

       “Alex,” he said, “Maybe it’s for the best.”

       All she could do was shake her head and walk away.

       She stumbled into the old alley and kept trudging until she reached an abandoned building. The windows were shattered, the paint peeling, and clods of mouse feces littered the corners between walls. She hid there, curled up in a ball and wishing that she could just die. Every so often she would go into ferocious tantrums, kicking and screaming, destroying anything within reach. And then she would retreat back into her corner, clutching her head and muttering incoherent sentences to herself. Slowly but unmistakably going mad.

       Then one day, she woke up and just walked away, leaving nothing but the spot where she had scraped the dust away. She was dirty and hungry, but something had changed. A fire was lit in her distant eyes and, though it flickered, it was starting to grow. She had to prove herself. Prove that she could survive, could live up to what it meant to be better. No longer would she waste her time in disgusting hovels. No more would she try to go back to her regular life. She was better.

       She went from one job to another, always outperforming her coworkers and slowly finding jobs that could earn her more and more money.

       Despite the fact that she never got her high school diploma, she was easily able to get into college. The courses were all unimaginably simple. Her professors were astounded by her intelligence and she was invariably the top of every class. Scholarship money had begun to pour in as Alexandra took every single class the school offered. As soon as she had finished all of those classes she transferred to another school and took all of their classes.

       By the age of 21 Alexandra had been declared a genius by everyone who had known her, which were surprisingly few people. She knew that she had to lay low, or else the Federation might come back for her. That was something she could not afford.

       At least, that was what she had told herself, on her 25th birthday she was jogging around the park when all of a sudden the idea came to her head. Screw it, she thought, I’m going to compete in the Olympics.

For some reason, Alexandra hated planes. It made no sense being that she was just fine being on a starship, but somehow she just always felt anxious as the metal machine lifted off the runway.

       “Are you afraid of heights?” the person next to her asked. She was a young girl, maybe 19, with blonde hair and evenly tan skin, who was going to compete in a swimming event.

       “I’m fine.” Alexandra lied as she unclenched her knuckles.

       “Oh,” the girl said then she laughed, exposing blindingly white teeth, “Can you believe it? We’re finally going to compete! I’ve been training for this my whole life!”