Vanessa smiled at her prize chained on the wall. He was so lovely in a predatory way; she liked predators. "So he awakens," she purred dangerously and stepped out of the shadows, a short riding whip in her hands. If she expected Khan to show fear, she was disappointed. If anything he showed only contempt in his eyes.

Standing in front of him, her eyes never leaving his, she ran the whip slowly down his breast, over his belly to his cock. "I may castrate you before I kill you," she menaced in hopes of drawing something…anything out of him.

"Then you need to make sure you kill me," he warned her. "If you don't, and I get away, I will rip your heart…and you know I can do it."

She smiled and stepped back. "There are so many things I can do to you. Peel the skin off your body with a filleting knife, cut little designs in your skin. Anything I want to do." To prove her point she slashed him across the right breast with the whip and drew blood. His face reflected the initial shock of the attack, but Vanessa was the kind of sadist who liked to draw out the pain and humiliation. She slashed the nipple and now watched as it oozed a fine drop of glistening blood. Knowing it would work against his resolve, she leaned closer and closed her mouth over the tender flesh. Her tongue brought pain and pleasure. Yes, the mighty Khan was still a man.

Raising her head, she met his angry gaze and said, "Let's see which I can bring you to first."

Joachim descended the stairs and found Grekh and Kirk drinking something that looked like coffee while awaiting their breakfast. He was surprised Khan was not there. "Has my brother contacted either of you?" he asked curiously and took a seat at the table with them.

"I've not tried to contact him. Why?" Kirk asked and held the cup up to his lips.

"I tried calling him but got no response," Joachim replied and smiled at the girl who brought him a cup of brew. "That's not like him."

Kirk did not give voice to what Joachim was clearly thinking. Something had happened to Khan. "Maybe he's just turned everything off and is sleeping in," he finally said when their plates of food arrived.

"I suppose that's possible," Joachim agreed and went to work on whatever that was on the plate before him. But after breakfast he needed to get back to the ship and check on his brother.

Kirk and Grekh offered to go with him if just to check on the ship and make sure it was still there. Entering the vessel, Kirk yelled out, "Khan! Why aren't you answering your calls?"

"He's not been here," Grekh announced and looked around with a troubled expression on her face. "Everything is just as we left it."

Joachim ran back to his brother's cabin and found it empty and cold. "They've got him!" he announced anxiously as he sprinted back through the ship to Kirk.

"Fuck!" Kirk cursed and dug out his communications device. "Spock?"

A moment later. "Captain?"

"We're pretty sure Khan's been taken by those augments up at the house," he said and led the others out of the ship.

Vanessa grabbed a fistful of his dark hair and raised Khan's head so she could see his face. His body was criss-crossed with bloody stripes, and rather than surrender to either of her suggestions, he had simply willed himself into unconsciousness. Dropping his head, she slammed her whip down on the back of his neck in frustration.

Patterson appeared at the top of the stairs. "They know he's missing," he warned her.

"And this concerns me how?" she snapped back at him.

"Joachim will want his brother back."

"Are they coming here now?" she asked angrily and nudged Khan with her foot. Still no response.

"Irish says they are on their way."

"Very well, let me change clothes. I have blood on them." Then just to make sure, she grabbed his testicles and squeezed. Still nothing. "I hate you," she growled into his ear.

The moment the door closed up stairs and he was certain he was alone, Khan raised his head. The testicle thing had hurt and had taken all of his discipline to not respond. Gazing up at his sweat covered hands, he pulled hard to slip them through the manacles. Small bones that would soon heal cracked under the effort as he wrenched and turned and pulled. He and pain were old friends, but today was testing that friendship.

The moment he got one hand free, the second one came easier. He looked around for a weapon but saw nothing useful.

Vanessa greeted the men with beautiful contempt on her face. "Khan missing?" she mocked them. Joachim was fit to be tied, his handsome face a mess of emotions, his jaw clenching and unclenching.

"We thought you might know where he is," Kirk replied, while trying to keep an eye on Vanessa and Patterson. Of the two he feared the woman the most. She was batshit crazy and wasn't afraid to show it.

"Now why would I know where Khan was?" she asked coyly and took a seat on the sofa. Eyeing the cat woman who was scenting the air, she said, "You intrigue me."

"I can not say the same," Grekh answered unapologetically. She could smell Khan, faint but distinct. He was here somewhere.

Leave an augment as powerful as Khan alone, and he will find a way to free himself. In the back of her head Vanessa knew this. When he appeared bloody and terrible, Patterson yelled and dropped his weapons. Vanessa turned and glared into eyes as full of hate as her own. And he grabbed her before she could reach a weapon, his blood staining her clean clothes.

"One or the other, Vanessa?" he asked savagely and held her head between his rapidly healing hands.

"Khan, no!" Kirk tried to stop him but Khan was beyond reasoning. In a mockery of tenderness he bent down to kiss her, his bloody mouth smearing her lips. She tried to bite him, but he snapped her neck before she could do anything. Eyes of ice slid towards Patterson.

"We can use him," Spock spoke up and got between the two augments.

Khan jerked himself erect, the fury in his eyes fading. "The moment we don't need him, I will kill him," he promised the Vulcan.

"Right now, you're hurt," Kirk said to Khan as Spock secured Patterson's hands behind him.

"They will heal," he assured the man. Still a clean bath would be nice. "Where are my clothes?" he asked Patterson.

"I don't know," he answered honestly.

"Then you need to find them," he said and gazed back at his brother. "When you find them, find me."

"Where are you going?" Kirk asked curiously.

"To wash off the blood."