Abigail considered herself one of the more reasonable Augments. She never talked without purpose, never lingered where she wasn't wanted, and never argued with her "superiors". In truth she only ever began to falter when she was paired with him. Khan Noonien Singh. He was the bane of her existence and she avoided being around him as much as possible. That was much easier before the director decided to assign him as her permanent sparring partner, roommate, and partner in guard shifts. What had possessed that woman to believe that this arrangement would be a clever idea alluded and frustrated her to no end.

The thought of why Khan was so truly terrible may have crossed an outward party's mind. He was a handsome man, afterall. Capable of making any species of woman swoon. To say he was intelligent would be an understatement. And he rarely engaged with anyone unless necessary. No, the things that made him such a pest to Abigail were not generally perceived by the Augment population, which only fueled her hate fire. What set her on edge was the fact that everything he did that annoyed her was purposeful. He quite obviously took time out of his day to throw an extra smirk her way or brush up against her. He enjoyed that extra fire that burned in her eyes at the slightest quirk of his lips because his distaste for her was quite equal to hers for him.

It could be said that Khan had not particularly minded being paired with Abigail at the beginning. She was a beautiful, fierce, and talented woman who was always capable of getting what she needed, no matter the circumstances. It wasn't until after sharing a room with her for a week that he realized what a pain in the arse she was. Technically, she was better than Khan. But as far as he was concerned, that was solely in the technical detail. She was the last genetically engineered superhuman to be created at their facility, so everything that the scientists had been trying to perfect was nearly perfected. However, Khan was not interested in her perfections. He would have been...if he didn't resent her so much. He knew that she meant to make him angry by taking too long in the shower or making him say "uncle" just to get out from beneath her pin in training. Every little thing she did annoyed him, so he tormented her equally.

The two continued this vehement game for months, the fights that took place in their room growing ever more heated. Their spats usually ended with physical violence, not ending until one had the other pinned to the ground. The win ratio was about 50/50, depending on who was angrier over the situation at hand. The competitive nature that burned between the two of them only increased this deadly game they played. Almost all of the paired off Augments had their altercations about little things, sharing a room was hard for anyone, but none of them hated each other like Abigail and Khan.

It had been about six months since the two of them had been paired together with training sessions almost every day. Their guard shifts were usually the days they had off from training and towards one o'clock in the morning when most were asleep. The confrontations they had were at least once a day and growing more and more frequent, but the nature of their altercations began to change to a much different kind of frustration.

Abigail smoothed a dark strand back into her braid before walking up to stand beside Khan at the front gate. He handed her back the tatang knife meant to be sheathed in one's boot.

"You left it on your nightstand," he murmured dismissively when she raised her eyebrow at him.

"Thanks," she muttered, slipping the knife into its sheath and holstering her gun at her hip.

Out of the corner of her eye she could've sworn she had seen the corner of his lips twitch up with a smirk, setting her teeth on edge. The mid October chill nipped at her exposed throat and cheeks making her zip up her warm uniform collar under her chin. Khan glanced at her sideways, eyeing the cloud that formed each time she breathed out through her nose.

"Let's get moving," he suggested, keeping his face forward as she glanced up at him. "We can check the perimeter and keep a little warmer.

Abigail's tongue darted out to wet her lips as she nodded in the affirmative. He gestured for her to take the lead as he turned to face her. With her brow furrowed, she started forward, glancing back at him as she did so. He raised an eyebrow at her, silently ushering her ahead. The pair moved quietly, their footfalls swallowed by the grass beneath them as they neared the halfway point. Something kept itching at the back of her mind, and she frequently checked behind her to find nothing there. Khan took notice, frowning at her as he did so.

"Nervous?" he asked sarcastically, keeping his eyes ahead as she cast another look behind her shoulder.

She rolled her eyes at the ridiculous suggestion, coming to a stop as the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach grew stronger. "Don't be dense," she spat, turning around to face the empty darkness behind her.

"Then what's wrong with you?" Khan sounded annoyed, and she felt him step directly behind her.

"I just…" Abigail shook her head, not turning around. "I just feel like we're being watched." A thought crossed her mind and she spun around and winked up at him, placing a hand on his chest. "Do you believe in ghosts, darling?"

He rolled his eyes, curling his hand around her thin wrist and removing her hand from his chest. She stepped away, sighing exaggeratedly and staring back into the darkness that stretched behind them. Suddenly a black silhouette darted out from the curve of the tall fence moving towards them. A sharp whizzing sound sped passed Abigail, pain flaring to life at her shoulder. The same sound came again and she ducked, feeling Khan shove her against the cement fence to keep her from getting hit a second time. He swiftly produced the tatang knife from his boot, throwing it precisely. It could plainly be seen that it hit the attacker in the forehead as he went down. He was dead before he hit the grass.

Khan's eyes were instantly on her, capturing her golden gaze with his. "Are you alright?" His voice was urgent, his face seeking confirmation before he went to check for a second attacker.

Abigail hesitated for the first time in her life. Was she alright? Physically it was only a flesh wound, and she would heal quickly. But mentally, for some reason she was rocked. Her lips couldn't form the retort she would've usually supplied and her mind was racing from the sudden closeness of him. It had never bothered her before; their fights bringing them just as close, but coupled with the way their breath mingled and the intense worry that burned in his icy eyes she couldn't seem to make her brain work. What had brought this on so suddenly? Whenever it had been necessary for him to be close to her she had resented it, but now all she could think of was getting closer. What was wrong with her? She hated this man. Shoving down the sudden urge to feel his lips against hers she felt him shake her lightly.

She blinked in confusion, feeling the blood spreading down her sleeve. "I-I'm fine." She nodded, feeling his hand squeeze her uninjured arm for confirmation.

He watched her nod again and quickly peeled away from her to check on the attacker.

Abigail mentally shook herself, pulling out her gun and covering Khan as he pulled his knife from the man's skull. She watched his body heave with a frustrated sigh as he stood.

"One of their tests," he scoffed, kicking the lifeless body at his feet for good measure.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, holstering her weapon and grabbing his arm to pull him away from the body.

He glared down at her, looking as if he wanted nothing more than to swat away her hand and yell. "To keep us on our toes," he spat, looking disgusted as he turned around to walk in the way they had originally come from.

"Aren't you going to call it in?" she asked, frustration latching onto her mind as she turned to call after him.

"Why don't you do it," he inquired coldly, spinning around and coming very close to her again, "darling?"

This time her mind did not freeze up, anger erasing the pain from her shoulder. She shoved his chest with both of her hands, stepping forward as he stepped back. "Don't test me, Khan," she hissed, wincing as he pressed his thumb against the still bleeding bullet wound.

He narrowed his eyes at her, waiting for her to back down. "Let's go get your shoulder checked out," he growled through his teeth, his cold eyes unwaveringly on hers.

"Fine," she breathed, gritting her teeth together as he pressed down on the wound more, "but I'm telling them you shot me."