A/N: Hello, people! New story! New story! I hope you enjoy! Star Trek Into Darkness…. holy shit…. the Cumberbatchiness is just overwhelming :) And for whatever reason (probably cuz I'm a twisted bitch with nothing better to do) I began to imagine Kirk and Khan together. And thus, this beautiful AU was born!

Please, for the LOVE OF GOD, read the warnings. They are warnings for what might occur during the story. If you read the warnings and don't like what you see, I recommend that you leave now and never return.

If you must flame or complain or anything of that nature, I ask that you be gentle when doing so. Otherwise, I will take your comments graciously.

Summary: Khan took Kirk as a hostage for more than one reason. Yes, he captured the captain to retrieve his crew. However, he also took Jim to satisfy his curiosity. And for…other reasons.

Notes: PLEASE BARE IN MIND THAT THIS IS TAKING PLACE AT THE EDGE OF THE NEUTRAL ZONE. In this story, the Enterprise did not have the chance to warp to get away, and therefore did not get knocked out of warp [In other words, the Enterprise and the Vengeance are still both on the edge of the Neutral Zone]. Carol Marcus, Scotty, Jim, and Khan are ON the Vengeance – Admiral Marcus is already dead, and Scotty, Jim, and Carol are all unconscious (Jim, Scotty) or immobile (Carol)



On the bridge of the Vengeance, Captain Kirk, Chief Engineer Scott, and weapons specialist Carol Marcus lay sprawled in various positions on the floor, broken or bleeding or unconscious. Khan sat in the center of the room, in the captain's chair, smugly smirking at the image of the Enterprise bridge onscreen.

"I'll make this very simple for you. Your crew for my crew." Khan said casually, as if he were speaking about the weather.

"You betrayed us." Spock said in monotone. His logic was failing him.

"Oh, you are smart, Mr. Spock." Khan mocked the Vulcan. "Give me my crew."

Spock allowed a mask of false calm to settle over his features. "And what will you do when you get them?"

"Why should it matter to you? You're not in much of a position to be asking questions. I have your captain, after all." Khan picked up a phaser and gestured vaguely at Kirk with it, enjoying how Spock visibly tensed as the weapon was pointed at the blonde. "Shall I destroy him, Mr. Spock? Or will you give me what I want?"

"We have no transporter capabilities." Spock said, teeth clenched, obviously attempting to stall for time. The tension on the bridge of the Enterprise couldn't have been cut with a photon torpedo.

"Fortunately mine are perfectly functional. Lower your shields," demanded Khan.

"If I do so, I have no guarantee that you will not destroy the Enterprise." The ever-logical Spock questioned, moving to sit in the captain's chair of the bridge. "Likewise, I have no guarantee that you will return the captain to us."

Spock stared at the image of Khan on the screen. His older self had warned him quite grievously about Khan Noonien Singh. Then, when Spock had asked him if he'd managed to defeat Khan in his timeline, the elder had told him that while he had defeated Khan, he had done so at great cost. Spock refused for that cost to be the life of his captain. He fought to keep his face straight when Khan gripped Jim's hair and yanked his bloodied face into Spock's view.

"You cannot be certain of either of those things. However, you should be certain of this – I will kill everyone on this bridge, beginning with the daughter of that filth Marcus, and ending with your precious Captain." Khan smiled maliciously and stroked a finger across the bleeding and unconscious Jim's face. He then turned his smile off immediately and unceremoniously dropped the blonde to the floor with a loud thud. He turned back to the silent image of the Enterprise's bridge with a frown. "From your lack of response, I assume you do not believe me. Observe, as I demonstrate my resolve."

Khan stood abruptly from his chair and turned to his left.

"What are you doing?" Uhura called in alarm, standing from her seat as if trying to stop Khan.

The entire bridge, save for Spock, cried out in horror as Khan made his way over to Carol Marcus, who desperately tried to move away from him, sobbing in pain and fear as she did so. Khan caught her easily, clasped his hands around her skull, and twisted until a sickening snap echoed across the connection between the two ships.

The bridge of the Enterprise fell silent.

Carol Marcus's head lolled to the side at an impossible angle, and Khan allowed her body to fall to the floor.

Crushing silence held until Khan sat back down in the captain's chair of the Vengeance. He raised an eyebrow at the image of the shocked crew, as if daring them to make him kill another.

Spock twitched slightly. "If we lower our shields, you will return our captain to us and allow us to safely travel back to Earth once you have your crew?" Carol Marcus's death hadn't affected Spock very much; he was still bitter over the fact that she'd come aboard the Enterprise as an additional Science Officer and Kirk had welcomed her with arms that seemed a little bit too open….

"I will target your life support systems located behind the aft nacelle. And after every single person aboard your ship suffocates I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people." Khan said simply, leaning back, looking very much like the captain he claimed to be. "I do not need to make a deal with you, but I am…willing to spare you." Khan paused for a moment as he saw the hesitation of the acting captain. "How about this, then? You have five minutes to discuss your decision amongst yourselves, privately. I will make no moves during this time. If you attempt to run, I will catch you, and I will slaughter you all." Khan pressed a button on the armrest of his chair and the image onscreen dissipated.

Back on the Enterprise, Spock was being bombarded with questions.

"What do we do, Mr. Spock?"

"Acting Captain, what is our decision?"

"Spock, we can't lower our shields; he'll kill us without a second thought once he has his crew!"

"What do we do?"

"How do we save the Captain?"

"We can't let him kill the Captain!"

Spock held up a hand and the noise ceased. "Please, be silent. We will discuss this using logic and reason." But Spock didn't know if he could think logically; this ruthless Khan character had his captain, his Jim, and there was no guarantee that he would get him back in one piece, if at all.

Uhura turned to Spock, eyes wet and tear tracks on her cheeks, "Spock," she said, almost whispering, "we can't let him kill Kirk."

Spock's composure broke momentarily. "I know," he murmured, closing his eyes for a second. He opened them again and stared at the fearful and weary members of his crew. "We will retrieve Captain Kirk, and we will attempt to escape from this encounter with everyone aboard this ship alive." He tapped a button on the chair's armrest and opened the ship-wide comm. "This is Acting Captain Spock speaking. All decks, prepare for imminent attack." He switched over to a direct channel to the engineering department. "Mr. Chekov, what is the status of the warp core? Has it been fully repaired?" Spock demanded.

"Ze core is sewerely damaged, Keptain. Ze patch-up job on ze coolant leak is broken ewen though ve did not varp earlier. Ve could varp but I vould not recommend it." Pavel Chekov said.

"How long until we can safely warp, Mr. Chekov?" Spock ground out.

"I vould say at least ten minutes, Sir." Chekov squeaked when he heard the impatience in Spock's voice.

"Let me know when we are able to warp, Chekov." Spock said, and slapped the button to terminate the connection. He turned back to the anxious faces of the bridge crew. "We will lower our shields and allow him to reclaim his 'crew.' Dr. McCoy, I want you to gather every medical officer and every member of engineering not working on the warp core. Remove the cryo tubes from the missiles. When Khan reopens the connection, I will stall for as much time as I can. When all of the tubes are out, place the casings back-"

"Captain, we're nearing the end of the time allotted for discussion—"

Without missing a beat, Spock asked, "How much time to we have left?"

From somewhere on the bridge, Sulu replied, "Twenty seconds."

Twenty seconds. Twenty seconds until the channel was reopened. Twenty seconds until Spock's Captain would live or die because of a choice Spock was making-! Just twenty. "Change of plans. Everyone stay on the bridge. We will give him what he wants and…hope he returns Captain Kirk to us." Spock clenched his jaw. He didn't like relying on his gut feelings like the Captain often did. But if he did anything else, there was the danger of Jim being killed.

There was a soft ping from the view screen and Khan's face-

-smirking, like the insufferable bastard he was-


"Hello, again, Mr. Spock. Long time, no see." Khan drawled. "Now that I have that out of the way, shall we begin? Your decision, please."

Spock barely held in a sigh of defeat. He refused to directly answer Khan. "Sulu, lower shields."

Khan appeared as if he could barely contain his glee. "Thank you, Mr. Spock." He saw the torpedoes appear in the weapons bay of the Vengeance on the security monitors and grinned widely. "Off you trot." He said when he turned back to the Enterprise.

Spock immediately perked up. "You have not returned the captain or Mr. Scott to us."

Khan glanced disdainfully at the Chief Engineer to his right. He tapped a few buttons and scoffed, "That one, you can have."

Scotty appeared in the brig, in need of medical attention and still unconscious.

"Now give us the Captain back." Uhura spoke out, frowning determinedly at the screen.

The corners of Khan's lips quirked up into an evil smile. He reached down and pulled Jim into view once more. The captain looked marginally better than he had before, but he was still limp and lifeless.

"I don't know if I should," Khan said, raising his phaser to Jim's face and stroking the barrel across his bruised cheek, "I think Mr. Kirk would make a wonderful pet."

"Release the captain." Spock openly growled, moving forward towards the view screen. The rest of the bridge looked at him in shock for a minute before recovering themselves. "We did what you demanded. Return Captain Kirk to us, now."

"No…no, I don't believe I shall." Khan smirked and pulled Jim backwards until the captain was sitting on his lap, head lolling on Khan's shoulder. Khan stroked the tan column of Jim's exposed throat with the tip of the phaser. "You should leave while you have the chance. If you stay here much longer, I will destroy the Enterprise and all of her crew."

"If you do not release the captain right now, we will eject the warp core of our vessel and detonate it. The pressure wave of such an explosion has proven to be strong enough to match and counter the force of the gravity of a class six black hole. The Vengeance will be destroyed, along with you and all of your still-slumbering crew." Spock spat viciously.

"I know very well the kind of power a detonated warp core releases, Mr. Spock. I have read the reports of the Narada incident. I also know exactly how far the radius of such a blast will extend. Your ship will be caught in the explosion as well." Khan stated. "Not to mention the fact that you would be killing your precious Captain as well. Don't try to threaten me, Mr. Spock. You know who I am – it doesn't work." A groan came from the blonde Captain and Khan looked at him in amusement. "Ah, it appears he is finally waking up."

Jim opened bleary blue eyes groggily and managed to ignore the arm wrapped around his waist, holding him against someone's chest long enough to see the bridge of his ship on the view screen. His head pounded and ached. "Wha…whushhh g-going on?" He slurred.

"Your crew is going to die." Khan muttered smoothly in Jim's ear. "They refuse to leave you here to save themselves."

Going to die? His crew? No, no, no. That couldn't be allowed to happen.

"What?" Jim asked, suddenly alert and struggling against the steel band of an arm that was across his abdominal area. "Spock?!"

"Captain!" Spock said, relief evident in his voice. He locked his eyes on his Captain's broken and bruised form on the view screen. "Khan has his crew, and we retrieved Mr. Scott. Ms. Marcus, however…suffered the wrath of Khan."

Jim shook his head a bit to clear it. Carol was dead? How long had he been out? But Scotty was safe… "Spock, is everyone onboard except for me?"

"Yes, Captain. We've been trying to negotiate your release with Khan, but-"

"Spock, take off, now! He'll end you if you don't leave!" Jim said. He looked around the bridge for a moment, wincing as his eyes found the body of Carol Marcus and the body of her father, and then turned back to the monitor. "I'll find some way out of this." He punctuated his sentence with a harsh jerk in an attempt to escape from Khan's grip.

Spock retorted with surprising anger and insubordination, "Captain, we cannot leave you here. Khan Noonien Singh is too dangerous - you will be killed, tortured, or worse!"

"Definitely worse," Khan purred lowly. His breath was hot in Kirk's ear.

"Spock," Jim said confidently, "get away from here as fast as you possibly can. Rendezvous with Starfleet. That's an order." He felt, rather than heard, Khan begin to chuckle. He also felt a hand sliding dangerously down to his waist.

Spock's lips twisted into a snarl. "I cannot leave you, Captain. It is against regulation-"

"And you know me well enough to understand that I don't give a fuck about regulation! Return with reinforcements. I will be fine." Kirk commanded. "Go."

Khan cut the transmission with a tap of his finger. "If you believe I will allow them to reclaim you, you are sorely mistaken." He whispered calmly in Jim's ear.

Jim tensed. "If you believe I'll go down without a fight, you're sorely mistaken." He growled.

"I have no doubt about that, Captain," Khan breathed silkily. "And it will be a good fight, I'm sure."

Jim wondered just what the hell he'd gotten himself into.

Tears ran freely down the faces of several members of the alpha shift. Their captain…their captain was as good as dead…

On the bridge of the Enterprise, Spock closed his eyes in resignation when Chekov comm'd him, "Sir, varp is awailable at your command." His normally bubbly voice was extremely sober.

"Sulu, set course for Earth."

Sulu's voice was heavy with remorse. "Course laid in."

"Maximum warp."

"Yes, Sir."

When the stars began to blur together, it was because of the warp. When the sharp angles and lines of the bride began to blur together, it was because of the tears in Spock's eyes.

! #$%^&*()*&^%$# !

By the time the Enterprise had arrived back at the neutral zone with reinforcements, the Vengeance was gone. Completely and utterly gone. There wasn't even a trace of warp radiation in the area.

It was just as Khan had planned. He'd stabbed a hypo with a heavy sedative that Kirk was not allergic to into his neck as soon as the Enterprise had warped away. The blonde had sagged against him weakly, mumbling things that didn't make any sense, and acting extremely…affectionate. Khan reluctantly avoided Kirk's advances and managed to get him to go to sleep in the First Officer's quarters.

Khan had then found a nice spot of open, neutral space, and navigated the Vengeance to said spot at the break-neck speed of warp ten. The Vengeance idled there while Khan strode quickly and quietly through the hallways of the huge combat ship to the weapons bay to wake his sleeping crew.

After about twenty minutes, the first groans of his previously slumbering family reached his ears. He grinned so largely he thought his cheeks might split. Glee flooded through his veins and he found himself remembering the defeated, sorrowful looks of the bridge crew of the Enterprise, especially that poor excuse for a First Officer. It was wonderful to force that kind of emotion out of a Vulcan.

Khan's grin morphed into something more sinister. Starfleet would be coming to find them soon, and Khan's crew would be ready for them. With his hands loosely clasped behind his back, he wandered around the cryo tubes as the occupants began the tiring process of waking up. This would be fun.

A/N: So I'm cutting it here. What do you think? I thought it was okay considering some of the stories I've seen in the archive, but definitely not one of the best. Anyway! I hope you enjoyed it, and if the response is positive enough, I may continue this.

Have a fantastic day~!