Author's Note: First of all, I'd like to say that this is not my most favorite chapter, but it was the best I could do with what I had. I don't really like the mercs very much, I'd rather be writing in the POV of the other characters, any of the other characters, but in the best interest of the story, they needed their screen time. *sigh* By the way, "UD" is Universal Denomination, got it from watching Dark Fury.

Secondly, I would just like to point out that, as of this posting, I have had 136 hits for this story, and yet I only have 6 reviews. I mean, I know I suck at math, but even I know that those numbers don't add up. Please, please review, even if all you say is "Good" or "So-so" or "It's crap, do it all over again," (please don't really say this last one, but you understand what I'm trying to say.)

Summary: AU: Riddick's dead, or at least that's what everyone else is supposed to think. However, it's a race against time, when some Mercs decide Fry's just the sort of bait they need to get Riddick out of hiding, the problem is; she doesn't remember him. R/F

Disclaimer: Anything that looks familiar, I don't own. Poor me…

Chapter Three:

Toombs was pissed. Here he was minding his own damned business trying to find a good offer on a bounty, and he just had to get stuck with this clown.

"Riddick's dead," he growled at the disembodied voice over the com speakers. The last fucker, who'd gone off to capture that merc-killing convict, had gotten himself stuck on some planet after the ship they were on crash-landed. Serves the damn bastard right for picking a Ghost Lane.

A shitting way to end things, though.

"We have evidence that suggests otherwise, Mr. Toombs." The voice seemed to take on an edge that made Toombs grin in satisfaction. "We are prepared to pay you 650,000 UD, which is more than generous, for bringing him to us." That got his attention. He could do a lot with that much money, pay off some debts, buy some girls; there was only one problem.

"Riddick's dead," he told the voice a second time, a bit louder than the first, but just as pissed off. "Look, as much as I would love to go off after this bounty, dead is dead. So unless you got some big amazing Intel; me and mine will go find work elsewhere."

"We have the intelligence, but you'll excuse us for not wanting to share it with you until after you sign on." The voice had an air of smugness to it that Toombs didn't appreciate in the least. Well, unless it was him being smug.

Toombs thought things over for a second, as a smug grin found its way across his face.

"750."

"Excuse me?" The voice asked, with obvious outrage.

"You want me to go out, wastin' my resources and man-power, on some chance that Riddick is still alive. Faith like that is gonna cost you, no matter what merc you talk to." Toombs leaned back in the pilot's chair, his arms crossed behind his head, legs kicked up on the dashboard. He had the cat by the tail, so to speak. There were a few moments of silence, but Toombs wasn't too worried, he had the sucker just where he wanted 'em.

"Fine," was their curt reply. "See that it gets done. We're sending you the information we have, now." The screen in front of him began uploading the information.

Huh, there were four survivors from the crash, looks like there was a possibility after all.

"Now that you have the information, we expect results soon." And with that, his current client terminated their communications.

Toombs hurriedly began busying himself in plotting the coordinates for Lupus V, it was about time he got himself a crew.

"Time to go huntin'."

Lupus V was just as he remembered it: a shithole. A glorified shithole.

But this planet was the best way to find a good crew fast. (And he used the term 'good' very loosely.) After a little good old-fashioned interviewing, Toombs managed to find himself a reasonably decent four-man crew, with all things considering. That's also including himself; the less men, the less ways the money's got to be split.

Recruiting hadn't gone exactly according to plan for Toombs, though. Obviously, the other no-account dicks on this planet didn't want to go off on a wild goose chase looking for a dead convict, but he'd managed to get a crew together, nonetheless. There was one person of interest in this new crew of his: a woman, but not because of the usual reasons.

Now normally he'd be thrilled, space can get kind of lonely and a guy's got needs and all that, but it was why she'd signed up. The other two boys had singed on only after he'd mentioned the payday; she'd signed on as soon as she'd heard they'd be going after Riddick.

Despite the business, revenge never was something that Toombs tried to get involved with, it leads to a lot of drama and people not thinking straight and doing all kinds of crazy shit. But he'd agreed to it anyways because she had one hell of a rack and looked like she could kick the other two guys' asses, which was good for going after a merc-killer like Riddick.

The other two seemed to know each other from some previous job together, something else to keep an eye on, more likely to try and start something if they think they got you out numbered. Just because they were his team, didn't mean he had to trust them.

They headed out of Lupus V, and the first thing this new crew of his wanted to know was everything about their bounty. There was hope for these clowns yet.

But then again, like hell, he'd just tell them everything.

"Bounty's for one 'Richard B. Riddick," Toombs told them, doing his impersonation of some professor with a stick-up-his-ass. "Who disappeared almost two years ago, under unusual circumstances on planet M6-117, better known to you ass-wipes as 'Hades.' A name that you probably remember from back when the New Olso Corporation served the locals there, a nice buffet of human flesh trying to recover their ship."

"We know that already," the chick interrupted him. Jace, he remembered her name with a sneer.

"Well, fuckers," he continued with a smile on his face, "our sponsors think that Mr. Richard B. is still alive n' kickin', and gave us a whole bunch of Intel that they think will prove 'em right. All we gotta do is follow it to the biggest payday of our lives." He leaned back in the pilot's chair, with his arms crossed behind his head.

Piece o' cake.

The first step on this wild goose chase was the flying wreck known as the Titan, which was much harder to find than he'd first thought.

Apparently the ship liked to travel the lesser known Ghost Lanes of the Universe, and didn't let a lot of people know where they were at any given moment. When they'd finally found the piece of shit, docked at a satellite to refuel and restock, they were surprised to learn a few things.

"There were three of 'em," the Captain of the Titan told them, "No wait-now that I think about it there were four. The fourth one was this woman, who had her back ripped to pieces and was stabbed in the back. Heh, literally. She stayed in a coma the entire time she was on board, tiny thing too." He was a middle-aged who'd spent more than two-thirds of his life on his ship, and while that was something that Toombs could appreciate, the man just seemed to be another one of those things that pissed him off.

Stabbed in the back, that definitely sounded like Riddick's M.O.

Thankfully Toombs wasn't the one conversing with the esteemed captain; he never could do that 'people-person' bullshit, even when the situation called for it. It was one of the other two guys talking, Conner, trying to get as much information out of these lowlifes as possible.

"The other three were an old Muslim, a teenage boy, and a big bounty hunter." Bounty hunter?

"What'd that bounty hunter look like," Toombs asked from across the room. The captain looked puzzled for a second, no doubt wondering why the hell that was important. The other three members of his crew seemed to have a similar reaction as the captain.

"Uh, I dunno, the guy was big, real fit, like a guy who's been brawling his whole life." The captain was scratching the back of his head, obviously trying to remember something else, but considering that just a minute ago, he couldn't even remember how many survivors there were, his particular input was looking less and less reliable.

"Um," one of the scrawny guys moping the unloading dock behind them, interrupted, "he had a shaved head and wore goggles the whole time too, right Captain?"

"Yeah, that's right, he did, wore those things the whole damn time too, even into cryo-sleep." The dimwitted captain agreed, latching on to what the kid said.

Riddick, a smug grin spread across Toombs face, so you are alive after all.

"Where were they headed?" Jace practically shouted at the captain and his helpful crew member.

"Uh," the captain began again, looking back to mop-boy for help.

"New Mecca," the kid told the group of mercs. "Like the Captain said, the woman was pretty bad off. The big guy, Johns," Toombs noticed that Jace flinched as soon as the kid said that name; "he rarely left that woman's side. It was only after the Holy Man told him that it was okay, that Johns let her go, and even then he had this look, like he was just waiting for you to try something so that he could kick your ass."

"Real animal-like, too." The Captain agreed.

"What was the woman's name?" Connor asked the kid.

"Her name was-"

"Oh, her name was Carolyn Fry," the Captain said in a booming voice, drowning out whatever the kid had been about to say. It was plain to see that the old man was trying to salvage any credibility that he'd lost when he'd had to ask the kid for help remembering.

Toombs, though, remembered that name from the file. Carolyn Fry had been the docking pilot of the Hunter-whatever, that crash-landed on that God-forsaken rock.

Interesting.

"Was she his wife or something?" Weiss, the other member of the crew, asked.

"I don't think so," the kid answered, casting surreptitious glances back at his captain, not sure if he should continue to answer after his booming outburst. "They all seemed to have a certain amount of protectiveness for her. I think they'd said that she was the reason that they were alive in the first place."

It was obvious that the Muslim, kid, and pilot had lied about Riddick; he was still alive. Although Toombs did have to admit that it was pretty impressive that the convict had managed to stay off of the radar for as long as he has.

Well, that is, up until now.

Author's Note: I really liked Toombs, he was the only new character introduced (besides Ziza) that I actually liked in 'The Chronicles of Riddick' and that includes their messed up version of Jack.

Remember, reviews are love. Love me.