Sorry for the cliffhanger (a literal one too. God, I having been waiting way too long to fit one of those in there…). The story continues! Thank you for all the lovely reviews! :D

He took a step forward without thinking, only to find the rock below his foot crumbling and his world starting to tilt. With a shout, he fell, reaching toward nothing as his hand grasped at air. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable impact of his head meeting solid ground…

…Suddenly the falling stopped, pain surging in his arm, not his head. Cracking one eye open, he saw he was still about forty feet from the ground, just hanging over the side of the crag. With wide, incredulous eyes he looked up into a pair of fierce, light blue orbs and a cold smirk. A deep, resonating baritone filled his ears as his mouth fell open in shock.

"Hello again, Captain."

With little to no effort at all, Khan pulled him up over the edge as if he were a rag doll. Kirk stumbled, eager to regain his footing and back the fuck away from the crazy superhuman currently smiling at him. And it wasn't the good kind of smile.

"What…how…y-you're supposed to be at the base!" he yelled, internally smacking himself for stuttering. The anger and rage snuck up on him at the sight of this man, and he tried to contain himself. It would do no good. But it would probably be better than acting like a simpering fool in front of the man he hates, the man who will soon be under his command.

Khan simply raised a smooth eyebrow at him, before smirking again. There was a snap behind them and Jim whipped around, ready to face some other being, perhaps an escaped member of Khan's crew. This was probably a test anyway. Starfleet had most likely crippled their ship on purpose, again, just to do this.

Damn it…he thought.

But there was nothing there. Nothing but clear space and the cliff edge faced him, so he turned around, his mouth already open with a more coherent, thought-out retort.

Except this time, he was faced with thin air.

Throwing his hands up in frustration, the Captain let out a loud yell. After several minutes of pacing and muttering angrily to himself, the sound of running feet reached him. He looked up to see Spock jogging toward him coolly, with an out-of-breath Scotty behind him.

"Captain, is everything all right? We heard a loud shout."

"Where is he?" Kirk seethed, storming around them, missing the now confused looks they gave him.

"Who, Cap'n? It's just us out 'ere."

"Khan! I saw him! I fell and he saved me!" The Scot and Vulcan shared a look.

"Captain, Khan is at the base we were meant to reach. And if he weren't, all evidence points to the fact that he still wants to kill us. He would most likely not save you, especially out in a canyon field, where it could be construed as an accident."

Breathing hard, Jim looked to his two friends. Had he really just imagined it? But he had fallen, and something had caught him. Otherwise he would be dead at the bottom of a ravine right now.

"Jim, there's a mighty big welt on your 'ead." Scotty exclaimed, worry in his tone. Spock's eyes narrowed at the sight he hadn't noticed before.

"Did you injure yourself? That would explain your claim to seeing a man that could not be here." Rolling his eyes at the ever logical Spock, shooing away a hovering Scott.

"No...I saw him, I did..."

"McCoy to Spock, the meds are here. Time to go. Jim isn't responding to his com, so find him and bring him back."

"Doctor, Mr. Scott and I have found the Captain. We are on our way." Jim opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when he realized just how ridiculous he would sound. With a sharp look of disappointment from a certain half-Vulcan, the three headed back to the crash site.

Most of the crew had already been corralled into the rescue shuttle (oh great, another shuttle) by the time they returned. With a nod to the pilot, they took off for the Star Fleet landing base, fresh anxiety in the air.

"Bones, I'm fine, just get that thing away from me!" Jim childishly waved his hands in an attempt to shove away the good doctor. However, the thunderous look on Leonard's face stopped him mid-swing. "What?"

"What? What do you mean 'what'? God dammit Jim, you almost got yourself killed within the first ten minutes of being on Earth! You're supposed to be the Captain, our Captain who's about to bring a psychotic madman onto our ship, and here you are falling off cliffs and hallucinating!"

With a sigh, Jim hung his head to the side in defeat, resigning himself to another one of McCoy's rants. They had become quite common these days, and really, Jim did feel bad. He knew he had…reckless tendencies…and that he didn't always think things through as much as he should. Pike had been right when he said that Kirk played on blind luck. But his gut had saved his life and his crew's nearly every time, so damn him if he started ignoring it.

"…You need to be more careful Jim. I'm serious this time. We're not going off on some easy mission, we're not gallivanting around town! This is Khan. The man who killed Pike, who killed you, dammit! This isn't like all your other escapades. This is real."

"I know Bones. And I'm sorry. I was being stupid, the rock fell away…I just don't know what happened. I swear Khan was there. He grabbed me, he spoke to me." The doctor's brow furrowed even more at this.

"Well, we had just reentered Earth's atmosphere, and the shuttle had just crashed. Those could have possibly caused your hallucination and some slight head trauma, with the new atmospheric pressure and the accident. As for him grabbing you, you could have caught yourself or caught a stray branch or rock that looked like an arm. And people usually hear someone saying something during a hallucination." Jim frowned at this explanation, but pushed it no further. He didn't need the one person always on his side to start thinking him unfit for duty. Or crazy.

"Well, I deem you ok for duty," Bones continued grumpily, putting away his scanner. "Time to go greet a fugitive." Jim grinned at him, always up for a challenge. Really he was scared shitless but, despite his darker musings and worries, this did have the potential to be a very interesting experience.

"Spock to Captain," his com beeped.

"Yes, Commander?"

"Our presence is requested in the meeting room, where Admiral Josen and Admiral Bullock are waiting." There was a pause. "Khan has arrived."

With a shared look and deep breath, the two men marched down the hallway. Neither acknowledged the sense of this being a huge mistake.

"Admiral Josen, Admiral Bullock," Jim greeted, saluting them before reaching forward for a firm handshake. They smiled tiny smiles before gesturing to the chairs at the long oval table.

"Have a seat, Captain, Commander. We have much to discuss before you are on your way."

The lights dimmed and a projector turned on once they sat down. Together, the Admirals explained in great detail (perhaps a bit too much detail) the device in Khan's head, how it worked, how it was made and how Jim would use the trigger to activate the chip if the superhuman 'misbehaved'.

Basically it was just a small piece of metal implanted in his brain that would monitor his actions and their nature. If a threat was detected, it would automatically activate, but since the device had only been made and tested once before, they would give Jim a manual activator just in case.

However, Kirk's mood died the moment the Admirals both looked at him and warned him that he would also be monitored, to make sure he didn't abuse his new found power. He frowned while Spock just barely smirked.

"I cannot stress this enough; Captain, this man is very dangerous and since this product is only a prototype, the first behavior modification device of this caliber, caution must be exercised at all times. You know what he is capable of, and how smart he is. We cannot have any risks or damage."

Jim restrained himself from mentioning they had already taken the biggest risk of all.

Khan's arrival didn't happen as expected. Of course, Jim didn't think he would just breeze in through the doors of the shuttle, but he also didn't think he would be escorted in by seven heavily armed guards. In handcuffs.

Memories flashed past. The feel of lifeless skin under his fingers as he searched for Admiral Pike's pulse. Watching in amazement and disbelief as one man took out three Klingon ships and a dozen Klingon warriors by himself. Crawling through a radiated tube so he could save his crew…

The life leaving his body.

Kirk blinked to find cool blue eyes glued to his. The eyes that haunted his nightmares now and again, the eyes he had hoped to never see again. The eyes he would have to see every day for the next five years.

The corner of a mouth turned up under that blue stare as Khan gave him the tiniest smirk. He sat down in the chair the guards pushed him toward without complaint, all the while holding the Captain's stare. He kept still, back ram rod straight with perfect posture, looking around the shuttle with minor interest.

"Just ignore him," someone whispered behind him. He turned to find Scotty soothing a near-hyperventilating Chekov. The Russian nodded mutely, his curls bobbing with the movement, as he tried to contain his fear like everybody else. It was in times like this that Jim felt bad for Pavel; being the youngest but also having the same responsibilities as your seniors had to be stressful.

Jim looked to Bones, who had worry in his eyes. Despite his sardonic attitude toward…well, everything, the man did care. Especially when it came to his best friend.

Kirk tore his gaze away when it eased back to Khan, who never dropped his stare. They continued like this the whole way there, a battle of dominance. Kirk knew he should keep looking, so he could prove he was the leader here. He gave the orders, he controlled what they did and he was alpha.

But that gaze was so unnerving…

"Captain, we have reached the loading dock," Spock informed him. Once the shuttle was landed, they all stood, Khan and his escort at the back of the group.

"Welcome back, Mr. Singh, to the USS Enterprise."

Finally, Khan has arrived. It may not have been the best entry (I couldn't write it the way I wanted it to be, sorry) but the good stuff is a comin'! And as you can probably tell, I'm crap at research, so Admiral Josen is a made up character. Next chapter will be out next week sometime, as I only have half of it written at the moment.