There was a large push towards Toombs. Closely followed by Jack getting into bad trouble. No questions this chapter, but not all is lost. And yes, Toombs is in this chapter. Personally, I'm a fan of Toombs. Not saying I dig the side burns, though.

Age of Nox

Chapter 2

What the hell was she doing out here?

Jack stuck to the shadows, torn between pushing forward and going back to Imam. Growling, she pushed forward. There was no way she was going back to him. And he couldn't do anything about it. He didn't know New Mecca that well, so he couldn't go out and find her. Nor could he contact Riddick because Riddick was traveling and Jack knew that he would at least need a month staying out of any contact before it was safe.

She rolled her eyes when her stomach grumbled. As annoying as it was, she had to do something about it. But she ignored it for the time being, making her way down the dark street and doing her best to stay blind the more then questionable people she saw. All the same, she couldn't help but snicker when she had to step over a few passed out drunks in the street.

A few feet away, Jack stopped. They were passed out. With their wallets unguarded. She shook her head, that was not right. As desperate as she may be, she had her own ways of finding money that didn't resort to stealing plastered people's wallets. But didn't mean she couldn't take any weapons.

About five minutes later found her with a small belt that had a decent-sized blade in a sheath hanging off it. The man who had been wearing it had been larger then her around the middle, so she had cut off the extra length and wrapped it around her wrist. She figured it would come in handy at some point. Either way, the black leather strip that went all the way up to her elbow looked pretty cool.

Feeling better, she went to see what she could do about some money. And food.

"Mother fuckin' sons of bitches!" He kicked a wall of his ship, cursing again when he hurt his foot. But that was the least of his problems.

His crew had abandoned him, as well as screwed up all his systems in his ship, making it impossible to even move an inch. Hell, they had even shut off the hot water, basic electricity and the heating systems. Growling, he ran his taped hands through his messy black hair, wishing that he had some extra cash to find a brothel.

He laughed at that.

Brothels? In New Mecca? Ri-fucking-diculous.

He didn't have enough money to even pay for repairs. To top it off, he couldn't even repair it himself. His various crews had always told him to be self-reliant, but at the time, he had a crew. What the hell did he have to worry about?

In the mean time, he kicked up his feet and linked his hands behind his head. As he watched the rain begin to fall outside the ship hanger, he realized things could be much worse. He could be dead.

"You're kidding me. Rain!" Jack exclaimed to no one. It didn't matter if she could have found shelter - she was soaked in seconds.

Thankfully she had bound her chest before she left Imam's home, so she still looked something like a boy. God, who the hell would help a cross-dressing homeless kid? Jack began to shiver and knew she had to get somewhere dry.

She spied a ship hanger, one of the cheapest in New Mecca. Riddick had told her that.

Jack snorted. What a friend he turned out to be.

She jogged into the huge open doors, taking a moment to drip on the dry concrete. Still shivering, she took a few steps forward and looked around. It wasn't long until she had spotted some supply crates and went to those, figuring she could hide and rest there for a while.

"Look what the rain washed in." He smirked. Perhaps part of his new crew?

But before he could even consider that, the tell-tale sound of power dying echoed in his ship and the emergency lights turned off.

"When I get my hands on those fucking pussies, I will tear their throats out!" He snarled, getting up and physically forcing the exit hatch down. Having no idea what noise he was making, he was just pleased when the hatch finally let loose and clanged to the ground, giving him freedom.

At the grating noise, Jack poked her head up over one of the crates, raising an eyebrow. Finally a man forced himself out of the ship and she tilted her head. Observing people was fun, and right now, that's all she had to do.

He wasn't short, not by any means. Nor was he out of shape. In fact, he was well-muscled and if he took a shower, maybe even good-looking. His terribly cut short hair conveyed his attitude towards the world and Jack kind of liked that. She briefly wondered what attitude bald people were trying to convey. Smirking, she continued to watch him, trying her best not to giggle when he cursed at his ship. Upon closer inspection, Jack admitted to herself that if he shaved off those mutant sideburns, kept the scruffy goatee and didn't mess with his hair, he'd be quite attractive.

What could she offer this guy? He seemed to be without any sort of help, or money for that matter. Nor did he seem to trust anything that breathed. She could definitely work with him.

Jack stepped out of her hiding place, her clothes still wet, but not dripping. So it wasn't hard to approach him without him realizing it. But he was busy trying to glare his ship into working to even register that it was raining, so anyone could've done it.

"I can fix it." She spoke suddenly and he whipped around, but she didn't flinch when he had a blaster aimed right at her face.

"Fix it?" He asked, his voice sarcastic.

"Your ship." She clarified, letting out a short breath of air. "And you don't need to pay me."

He laughed. Threw his head back and laughed, but found it safe enough to holster his blaster. Still chuckling, he stepped towards her, looking her up and down. A devious smirk was held in the bluest eyes Jack had ever seen.

"I ain't stupid, what's the catch?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

"House me, feed me and I'll keep your ship in the best condition." Jack set the terms. She had to be firm.

"Whoa, back up short stuff. You sound like you wanna be part of my crew." He glanced back at his ship. "No one can fix that piece of shit, so just run on home and next time you run away, find better boy's clothes."

Jack was not going to stand for this. And he had just turned his back on her. Oh no, she was not going to let this slide.

"So I'm a girl. What are you, threatened?" She shot at him and that turned him around. "Let's get this straight. You don't have a crew, I don't have a home and these are the only clothes I fucking have. And I can fix that ship."

The man had a fleeting look of concern.

"What's your name?" He asked, face blank.

"Jack." She replied shortly.

"Name's Toombs, little lady. Get your skinny soaked ass into that ship and get fixing." He gestured roughly into the ship and Jack was in it before he could even turn to walk to the ramp himself.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! More Toombs next chapter and maybe even some bad things happening to Jack…you all are creepy. I kinda like Jack not-hurt.