-3-
Imam had taken Lajjun to the doctor so Riddick had offered to pick up Jack from school. The yellow sun was in the lower quadrant of the sky, casting long shadows of each person passing by.
During the day Riddick chose to be slightly covert in his journeys through town. He'd stay to alleyways or rooftops, simply because he did not want to bother with most of the merchants on the main path.
As he was passing over some of the dingier rooftops he heard some commotion to his left. He crept slowly to the edge of the building and drew his shiv. He gazed down on those below him in the shadowed alleyway.
There were four rather large men circling a small woman. She wasn't turning her body or cowering in the center trying to keep her eyes on all of them, like women usually did. Riddick just chuckled, hoping that the dumb crooks would just take her money and leave her. He started to sink to the ground, readying himself for the jump to the next building when he saw the flash of the knife.
He looked down and watched as one of the men lunged at the woman, who with some sort of luck dodged the blow. She swung out an arm, rather gracefully he thought, and landed a hit to one of the men. The man growled and all four of them converged on her.
Riddick was debating leaving when he realized that the girl could have been Jack's age. If it were Jack down there, he would have gone down in a heartbeat. But he didn't know this girl at all. Why did it matter to him?
He realized it didn't and tensed his muscles, until he heard the strangled growl below him. He looked down and saw all four men swinging at the small girl who was trying to deflect their blows. He shook his head, realizing he'd gone completely fucking soft and jumped down into the alleyway pulling off his goggles before he landed.
He crashed down on top of one of the men, hearing a sickening snap in what he hoped was the man's neck. The other three where preoccupied with the small girl so it was easy for him to pick off another man who he simply grabbed by the shoulders and threw into the side of the building to his right.
As he turned back towards the girl, ready to grab the man who was fighting her, he watched as she kicked out at an unnaturally high angle, bending her leg, pulling the man's neck towards her knee and throwing him to the ground. She glanced up and saw Riddick.
He smirked at her, getting ready to turn and walk away when she ran at him. He flipped around to defend himself as the girl flew at him. Her foot connected with the side of his head and he faltered slightly. He turned back to her and her fist was flying towards his face. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her, using her momentum to throw her towards the wall of the building. His hand was against her shoulder and she deftly twisted in his grip, put her foot against her wall and used it to launch herself up into the air, flipping over Riddick and coming down on the other side. She kicked out using her foot to pin him against the wall. Riddick was about to push against her leg until he really looked at her. She was small, maybe 5'2", with dark hair, light skin, and piercing blue eyes. She was wearing a black wrap around dress with knee high boots, one of which was against his windpipe. The power with which she was pushing was immense. He was surprised that such strength was behind such a small leg. He stared down the smooth muscular leg and caught her eyes. He grinned again and grabbed her ankle and pushed her back. She skidded backwards and landed in a squat, her long black hair cascading across her features.
"Nice kick." He growled.
The girl stood and stared at him, her head cocked sideways. Riddick could tell that her piercing glare was gazing directly into his shined eyes.
"Got a name?"
She looked puzzled. There was a whistling sound to her right and she turned her head. Riddick followed her glance to a backdoor of some store. She looked back at him and he raised an eyebrow. He saw her lips spread into a tight smile before she turned on her heel and ran into the building.
Riddick just shrugged and ran off to get Jack from school.
"They finished?" Clarence growled. Lottie nodded her head and fell to his side. He flicked the shackle onto her neck and clicked it into place. Clarence looked down at his feet, spat, and stepped over the bleeding groaning body.
"Take whatever you want."
Clarence simply laughed, "Now that's not doing proper business. I only take what I'm owed and nothing more." He gathered a few things off the table and nodded to Lottie.
He walked out of the shop, with Lottie trailing behind him. Her mind was distant, thinking about stars and pools of mercury with a sly smile beneath it.
They retreated from the building leaving the destroyed people behind them and approached their vehicle. One man opened the door and Clarence ushered Lottie inside and everyone else followed.
Clarence lit a cigarette as one of his cronies offered him a drink. Lottie sat, squished against the window, staring at the stars up above. She wondered idly why they shined the way they did and another thought crossed her mind. The man in the alley. She was taken aback for a moment at the thought of the man. She felt like she never really had any other thoughts aside from the stars and occasionally the anger, but those she could control. The silvery stars and those liquid eyes - they seemed to be connected some how. She felt short of breath for the first time in her life and her chest actually hurt. She looked down, grasping at the material of her cloak and wondering why it would hurt so much to breathe.
The pain disappeared when a large hand connected with the side of her head, "Pay attention damnit!" Clarence screamed. Lottie looked up at him, her eyes swimming with fear. He only yelled at her when he was very upset. She knew she didn't like the things he did when he was upset, so she paid attention. The burning in her chest ceased.
"We're going to a club tonight Lottie. A very important club." He smiled, stroking her face with such gentleness you wouldn't believe it was him that just hit her so hard her ears rang. "If you do what I ask you to do tonight. I will give you whatever you desire."
Lottie looked at him for a moment. What did she want? She had all she needed: food, clothes, and a home. What did she want?
"A book." She said softly, her eyes floating back to the sky, "A book about stars."
"A book?" Clarence laughed heartily, joined by the rest of the men in the car, "Silly pleasures for a silly little mind."
A few moments later they pulled up to the back entrance of the club. The men ushered out and Clarence pulled Lottie along beside him. She kept her head down, like he always ordered, but she heard the noise before the door even opened. When the door opened, two large men came out with a smaller man behind them. Billowing smoke flowed out of the club, in synch with the music, reaching her nostrils and filling them with a sweet, chemical scent.
"Nice to see you Clarence." The smaller man said. He was rather thin, with a pale face and flat features. His dark hair was cropped short and slicked down against his skull. He had a rather long beard that curled at the end and he was dressed in a suit of pure black. Lottie spent most of her time staring at the men beside him. They were tall and dark and almost identical. Thoughts danced through her head about the easiest way to incapacitate them and her muscles unconsciously flexed.
"Nice to see you too, Ilian." Clarence smiled.
The thin man put up a hand to stop Clarence and his group of men as they tried to walk in, "Please, no weapons." This elicited a few muffled expletives from Clarence's men but Clarence simply put up a hand.
"Any man who wants to keep his gun stay outside with the car. I'll be perfectly fine with Lottie." Clarence smiled. A few men relinquished their weapons while two more stayed outside with the car. The large men frisked Clarence's guards for good measure and Lottie as well. They pulled off the belt on her leg with the knives and five other knives she had hidden on her person. "We'll be wanting those back." Clarence said and the bouncers nodded.
"Please," The thin man said, "Follow me."
Clarence pulled Lottie into the club and she was mesmerized by the sights and sounds. It was dark, except for numerous flashing lights of all different colors. The air was thick with that same sweet, chemical smoke. There were hundreds of people inside and Lottie felt the urge to hit a few of them as they bumped and rubbed up against her. A few men actually approached her, but were dispatched with a snap of Clarence's fingers. The music was deafening but Lottie barely heard it. She was consumed by the colored lights and the tight grip on her arm from Clarence's large hand.
They walked through a back hallway littered with people who were dressed well, compared to the people who were dancing in the main room. The chemical smell was still strong in this passageway, but the lights and the music were gone. Above her, lining almost every inch of the ceiling were fluorescent lights, beaming down on them and causing sweat to prickle on the foreheads of the men around her. Lottie could almost taste the mixture of the sweet smoke with their scents. She could tell the men behind Clarence were scared, though Clarence was extremely confident.
They followed the thin man for fifty-seven more steps and then went through a pair of large swinging doors. The light was very different here. It was dark around the edges but there was a center area that was flooded with light, though Lottie could not see what was there.
The group snaked their way through the crowd and finally to the edge of the light. Lottie stood there, motionless, thinking idly about stars.
"Five thousand credits to buy in. You can place bets over in the corner for the more common folk or you can place a bet with me. Winnings are divided according to the spread for the commoners but all bets with me go directly to the winner, since our bets are slightly more specific." The thin man said.
Clarence smiled, "How specific?"
"Time and manner."
"Sounds good." Clarence smiled. He nodded to his three associates who drifted off into the crowd to place their bets and find some drinks. Clarence grabbed Lottie's shoulders and spun her around to face the brightly lit square in the center of the large warehouse.
The center area was caged and absolutely enormous. Each wall had something different lining the chain links: razor wire, spikes, and broken bottles hanging from the top. Lottie stared at it in wonder. There was a person in the center, a man. He was somewhere around seven feet tall with muscles covering every inch of his body. His face was flat, but unlike the thin man, it looked like it had been pressed into the ground, numerous times, rather than just a lack of features. He had a black Mohawk dividing his enormous skull and he was growling and spitting in the center of the ring, while people shouted at him from the edges. He was wearing simple black pants, but was shirtless and his body was covered in gruesome scars and tattoos, including a knife that came down from his left temple and ended on his left jaw.
"This is our eight-time undefeated champion. The fight begins whenever she is ready." The thin man said, tracing his cold fingers along her jaw.
"And ends?"
The thin man chuckled, "Why, its to the death of course. I thought you understood that."
Clarence looked slightly flustered, "No problems then." He growled and turned to Lottie. He untied her cloak and let it fall to her feet. A rather large man moved from behind her and opened a doorway into the caged arena. Clarence pushed her to the entrance and grabbed her neck. He pulled her close to him for a moment, kissing her cheek and whispering in her ear, "Kill'em."
He unlocked the shackle from around her neck and Lottie was off.
