Alright did anyone else think that Merc chick looked more like Jack than the girl they got to play Jack/Kyra? I was like, cool that'll be Jack, taking him prisoner cuz he hurt her, only she'll have something up her sleeve and it'll be great. Only…not…and that didn't happen. I was kind of let down by that. Agreed that the girl playing Jack/Kyra was hotter and I liked her just fine and all, but I thought the shape of the face and the hair color and whatnot of the merc girl…anyways. So in my musings I decided to write this AU fic in which that Merc chic really was Jack. Also so that I'm not dealing with multiple storylines in my crazy mixed up brain, we're losing the whole Necromonger thing. Iman called Riddick because he worried for Jack hearing (incorrectly) that she was in Slam.

Love it? Hate it? Rate it!

also I own none of this...sadly.

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The Merc waited until they were all asleep before approaching Riddick. Sitting in the back like he was on a throne and not 'all back of the bus and shit' the way Toombs described it.

He was a God. Thick muscular frame bound to the seat with heavy manacles that only served to look like items of adornment on him. Just the way he carried himself spoke volumes. The Self-confidence, the sheer cockiness of this man.

Toombs was a fool to think that they'd taken him. You did not take Richard B. Riddick anywhere he did not want to go. If you got lucky your paths might travel in the same direction, if you were luckier your paths would never cross.

She edged closer, her pulse quickening, impossible to see his eyes behind those goggles. His breathing was even, he seemed asleep, but she couldn't tell for sure. She leaned over him, breathing in his scent, intoxicating.

Man, and leather and metal. For a man who dealt in so much death he smelled so very alive. She trembled; moving closer; wanting to press against him, touch that perfect physique. Her fingers twitched as she reached for his goggles, slipping them over bronze skin gently, leaning over him, her shirt grazing alluringly against his.

His eyes snapped open. She tried to pull back, but his knees clamped around her leg in a vice she couldn't break. She couldn't cry out lest it bring the others.

He smirked at her, radiating that famous confidence that made Riddick one of the most feared men in all the known galaxies.

"You grind your teeth in your sleep…sexy…Jack."

She pulled back her leg with a snap, which he allowed, glaring him down, but he only laughed low and quiet. She backed away, furiously glancing at the other mercs, but they slept on.

So, He knew. She wasn't surprised. A man that could smell the blood from her twelve-year-old body and know she was a girl when all others had been fooled. No, she wasn't surprised, just a little disappointed.

Riddick would play along. He wouldn't give her away to Toombs. She was whom he'd come after, after all. He was the reason they were headed to Crematoria.

She went back to her seat and tried to go back to sleep, but she could feel his eyes on her, watching her, wondering what she had planned, and laughing. But she'd wipe that laugh off of his face; she'd punish him for how he'd left her behind.

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They were approaching Crematoria, would be there in just a few hours. Jack woke, not having realized she'd fallen asleep, she could feel the iridescent eyes still trained on her even with her back turned. Feigning a yawn, she leaned forward to drop a few thousand credits into the escape pod.

One of them would see it, greedy bastards. All she had to do was wait. It had taken her years to save up all that money, but it was worth it now. She couldn't hope to take them all fully armed, so she had to take them by surprise.

She'd readied the escape pod, even before they'd taken off, everything prepared. She'd planned this a long time. So when she'd heard the call that Toombs had seen Riddick, she'd answered.

Within the hour Toombs himself had yawned and walked by the escape pod, the money catching his eye like a Hawk sees a mouse at a hundred feet up. 'The Creed is Greed,' she thought to herself.

Knowing Toombs to be the greedy bastard that he was, she didn't expect him to remark to anyone about his finding, so she spoke up.

"Hey, what'd you find in there?" She pitched her voice to sound as greedy as his.

Toombs looked up guiltily; thousand-cred mark in hand and the others stopped what they were doing to investigate.

"Is that a thousand creds? Who the Hell would leave that in a ship? Where did you find it?" The others moved to search the pod.

She moved to follow them into the pod, but paused right outside, the last one in the ridiculously cramped space. She pressed a button beside the doors and they slammed shut trapping the mercs inside.

With a sadistic grin and a little wave they were jettisoned dead into space. No food, no water, no working communications and the piloting fried. She glanced at Riddick as if to say 'See, I can be evil too.'

But she didn't speak to him, she simply went to the controls and turned the ship in a different direction, checking fuel and air cabin pressure and making sure the extra food she'd packed was undamaged.

All the time those eyes gleamed at her from where she'd lifted his goggles to his forehead and never put them back. She could feel the smirk, but wouldn't rise to meet it; 'he can wait, like I waited'.

Finally she was convinced that all her careful planning had gone as was expected and she could take a moment to breath. She got up and paced the length of the cabin to procure a mouthful of water from the extra rations she'd hidden onboard. She stood right before him, taking the water slowly in her mouth and swallowing with a smile.

"Thirsty Riddick?"

His eyebrow was raised. He was confused. He had no idea what she had planned.

"I heard you came looking for me."

"Is that all you heard?"

"Signed up with Mercs?" He sounded disgusted, she could read the loathing on his face, "The same fake badges that wanted to cut you up and use you for bait…"

"There wasn't anyone else around, Riddick, and besides…I found you didn't I?"

Riddick chuckled darkly, "Yeah, you did."

She stretched languidly, tough muscle sliding over bone. She'd kept her voice very calm on purpose, but she was furious. She wanted to slide her shiv over his cocky face and carve a frown into it.

He moved slightly, rustling the chains that held him, and looked at her expectantly.

"What do you have in mind Jack?"

Oh she was so tempted to tell him. She leaned over him, a hand on his strong shoulder, her breath warm on his face, just below his ear.

"Wait and see."

She moved her mouth sharply; the blade she held clenched between her teeth slicing him a tiny cut on the cheek. Just a taste of the pain she had in store for him.

She backed away, warm brown eyes watching him with amusement. He looked startled. She had startled the infamous Riddick. A moment of pride she allowed herself before going back to the captain's chair.

She felt those eyes still on her, intense, angry now. He wasn't just confused, he was pissed off, and she smiled, looking out at the stars and planets. She had waited a long time for this. She was going to savor it.