Author's Note: I would just like to say, Wow! Thank you all who have reviewed so far! And as a thank you, here's an early update for you. I made this one a little longer than usual, to make up for the shortness of the last chapter. Hope you enjoy it!
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: As much as I would love to say yes, *sigh* the answer is still no, because Santa did not give me the rights to anything Riddick-related...but there's always next year.
Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays, Everyone!
Chapter Four:
According to the medical files on board the Titan, "Captain" Carolyn Fry had been attacked while on the planet. Amongst the plethora of superficial wounds scattered across her body, Carolyn had four large diagonal cuts going from her left shoulder to her right hip and a vicious stab wound to the left of her spine.
From the eye-witness accounts of the crew, the other three survivors were quite protective of their captain, especially the big one. Going by the name 'Johns,' this was an individual who keep mostly to the shadows and tried to avoid standing out. Obviously he failed. The crew said that he had seemed animalistic in his movements and the way that he acted around the others.
Carolyn Fry the most likely person to know where Riddick is hiding.
Of course the crew had told him about her coma and everything, so if worst-case scenario was that she was still in a coma; he could still use her as bait.
Toombs couldn't resist the smirk that made its way across his face, why would he want to? Everything was going together perfectly, and he barely had to lift a finger.
The crew had been so gracious to inform them, along with everything else, the exact port that they had left the four survivors in New Mecca. It was easy to assume that Riddick had already gotten his ass off that planet the first chance he got, but what about the others?
There were two ways, Toombs figured, that things could've gone down after they'd been dropped off in New Mecca:
A) The other survivors were still living in New Mecca, going about their lives as if nothing had happened on that planet and they'd never even met a Richard B. Riddick, or B) Riddick had ghosted their asses as soon as they made port, which seemed to be the less likely of the scenarios only because they had even made it off that shitty hell hole. But then again, Riddick was the sort of sorry shit that would do something like that after he'd saved them.
They'd left the bowels of the Titan, as soon as they'd gotten the information and hightailed their asses to New Mecca. It turned out that they didn't' really have to go that far to find out their missing information.
There were very few ports in New Mecca, and apparently, their walking bait worked for the same port shipping company that owned the port they'd arrived through. The port was owned and operated by a certain gentleman who dealt a good portion of his time in the less reputable businesses, such as selling out your employees for a price.
From him, we found out that Miss Carolyn was currently off planet making a short-distance delivery and was scheduled to be back the next day. They could wait that long.
They went ahead and scouted out her place, but didn't stake out inside. If there was one thing he knew, it was that after a few too many close calls, you get to be real sensitive to your surroundings, and they wanted her as unprepared as they could get.
It wouldn't be long now.
They'd gone back to the cutter and, while the other three were gone, contacted his employers to tell them how things were going. It had been part of the deal anyways, for the interest of their money after all. They dicks planned it so that if he didn't check in with them, they could either assume he was dead and go on to the next merc or assume he had run off with Riddick, to cash him in with some other person willing to pay, and have them put a bounty on his head.
Given the choices, he figured he'd stick with checking in every now and again.
"I take it you have made some progress?" The voice asked, all pristine and shit.
"Of course, who the fuck do you think I am?" He replied in the sickest sweet voice he could muster.
"Well?" It intoned, obviously annoyed.
"We got a lead with one of the other survivors, who will know where to find Riddick," he didn't feel like telling his 'boss' about any of his other contingency plans, if that plan were to fail, so he didn't. Fuck 'em.
"You were to use our information to find Riddick, Mr. Toombs, there was more than enough to find him-"
"Horse shit, you gave me the basics and with those I figured out my own way of catching this son of a bitch."
"Mr. Toombs-"
"We're gonna be doin' things my way," and before the voice could say anything more, he turned the communications off with a kick of his boot.
Carolyn was not a happy pilot, right about now. She'd been gone for almost a month, delivering a package off-world. Thankfully these particular deliveries were few and far between, but when they did happen, they always left her in a pissed off mood.
Jack was still at Imam's, thankfully he and his wife hadn't minded watching out for the girl, while Carolyn had been away. Carolyn was supposed to go get her as soon as she got back (Jack's orders of course,) but it was late and she was so tired. Just because it was called 'cryo-sleep' didn't mean you actually got any rest.
She climbed out of her jumpsuit and headed for the bathroom for a quick shower. The shower was really just so that she could feel like she was clean, after all, she had been unconscious during most of the flight and didn't really need one. She stayed in there for a while; nonetheless, with the water on as hot as she could stand, which is to say, on full blast. She ran her fingers, idly through her blonde hair, as she let it slip through her fingers.
Even though she was no longer required to keep it cut short, Carolyn still maintain the short style, to the point that Jack's hair was longer than hers now. That girl's hair grew faster than she thought possible, for hair to grow.
After the water had begun to run cold, she got out and pulled on the loose fitting, almost bronze-colored pajamas, that Jack had bought her for her birthday. Jack had insisted on them because, apparently, they were the latest styles.
Whatever made the girl happy.
Carolyn headed towards the living room, like she did almost every night, with a cup of warm tea between her hands. From the balcony, she could see where some dark storm clouds were beginning to form, blotting out the stars. She knew from the dull ache of her back that it wasn't going to be just any kind of gentle rain, but a heavy downpour of a Thunderstorm.
Great, on her day off too.
Everytime a package needs to be delivered off planet, that delivery-person usually gets the next day off, so at least Carolyn didn't have to worry about doing any of that tedious paperwork, but still, talk about raining on your parade.
Oh well, she thought. She didn't know how it happened, but she eventually found her way to the couch, and was out cold before her tea even had a chance to cool.
...
Her body moved of its own accord, her mind just seemed to be along for the ride, as she watched everything unfold before her. She'd left them at the skiff, in the safety of the light, but she was running away from them, into the darkness with all of its teeth and monsters, to find a specific monster who needed her help.
"Riddick?" Was that its name? She didn't know, but she had to find it, this monster that made its home in the darkness. Pale blue light washed over every surface around her. The light was safety; she had to bring this safety to her monster.
"Arghh!" Was that him? The rain was pouring down so hard that it made it difficult for her to see ahead of her, let alone find this 'Riddick' in the darkness.
"Riddick?" Again, she could hear him cry out in pain. "Riddick!" She felt that all-too familiar panic begin to rise in her again, like the waves in the ocean, back on Earth. She was turning around in circles, trying to find his familiar shape in the shadows lurking all around her.
Something lunges out of the darkness towards her, crashing into metal barrels and knocking them over, the sound echoing into the blackness all around. A gasp, but not from her.
He is covered in blood, which the rain only seems to make more gruesome. The creatures that thrive in the darkness, are attracted to the blood, she remembers. Her mind says to stay away from him, the creatures are attracted to the blood! But her body doesn't listen as she runs towards him, trying to help support him so that they can get back to the safety of the light.
The skiff waiting to take them away from this place of darkness and death.
He is breathing raggedly and all she can think about is that he will probably not survive any longer in this state, if they do not hurry.
"Okay hold onto me. Hold onto me. We're gonna get out of here. I got you. Come on." She whispers to him, like a mantra. He only has to get to his feet and then they are as good as safe, but she cannot get a good hold on him and his feet will not hold him, so he falls swiftly to the ground.
"Come on, Riddick! Get up!" He is on his stomach and she grabs his arm trying to pull him up. She shouts at him, "Get up!" and he manages to listen to her, little by little getting to his feet as she continues to pull him. "Get up!" she says again, when he begins to slip, but he stays upright and she loops an arm under his, so that she shares his weight, as he gets to his feet. All the while, keeping the pale blue light above them in a halo of protection.
She pulls at him and maneuvers him so that his arm is over her shoulder, but he begins to lean forward again, threatening to fall. She pulls him as close to her as she can, until her mouth is near his ear, as he continues to sag.
"I said I'd die for them, not you. Let's move. Come on." She is trying to motivate him, to get him moving. He is not allowed to die. It is such a strong conviction that she knows she has to do all in her power to ensure that it happens.
She throws the light in front of them, to guide her steps as they continue to stagger back towards the safety of the skiff. He is beginning to slip more and more, and she knows that it is only a matter of time. A creature screams in the darkness, and suddenly she gasps.
His arms are still around her, trying to keep his balance, but she knows that he knows. She feels the blood dripping down her back falling to the ground like red rain drops.
All she can do is stare at him, at the irony. She had told him that she would not die for him, but did anyway. She had gone out into the darkness to save him from death at the claws of these creatures, and was killed by them, instead.
It seemed like forever that she stood there, rain falling on her face, as the blood fell to the ground. Riddick's face was...conflicted. Odd, that didn't seem to fit with her idea of this monster, he was never unsure. She tried to smile at him, to make that expression on his face disappear. Quickly his unsure expression disappears and she is happy, if only for a moment, because his expression is replaced with surprise and panic, which fit even less than uncertainty.
Suddenly the thing jabbed into her flesh pulls back and she is flying back towards the creature that will kill her, like it has done to so many others since the came to this monstrous underworld. The rain pelts at her skin, icy cold and sharp, but the sting slowly begins to disappear. All she sees as the world turns black, is the hand wrapped around hers, not willing to let go.
...
Carolyn's eyes snapped open. Her dreams had been like that lately, as if she were replaying a specific event, instead of simply dreaming. But, it was always whenever she would try to concentrate on a specific image from her "dreams," that whatever it was would disappear back into her, ever constant, mind-fog.
Sighing, she hauled herself up into a sitting position. She'd fallen asleep on the couch again, she noted with more than slight irritation. That would explain the crick in her neck. She was in the middle of rolling her neck from side to side, to try and help in lessening the pain, when she noticed it.
A very noticeable 'it' and yet it had taken her this long to fully realize. Damn first she thought it was just that leftover feeling from one of her nightmarish dreams, but it was far too real to be a figment and failed to dissipate upon awakening.
Someone else was in the room with her and whoever it was, was no friend of hers.
Everything happened all at once. Someone lunged at her from her right, tackling her to the ground, as she got to her feet. She jabbed a elbow straight behind her, feeling as well as hearing, a sickening crack as the blow made contact with her attacker's nose. Before she could do anything about this little victory, however, she had a sudden fist hit her square in the jaw.
She fell onto the coffee table, which surprisingly managed to stay in one piece during its sudden tumbling to the ground. She heard the unmistakable sound of glass shattering, before another body was suddenly on top her, trying to restrain her. She struggled against her attacker, but only managed to get some shattered pieces of glass, imbedded into her palm.
The one whose nose she'd broken appeared to her left with a soaked cloth in his hand.
Oh, shit.
She knew that bitter mind-numbing smell. A third person came around to her and held her head still, while broken-nose pressed the cloth to her face. Her vision began to swim, and everything sounded as if it was traveling through a long hallway to get to her. She felt herself continue to struggle against her attackers, so similar to how her dream-self had been, until the drug finally won out and darkness enveloped her.
Drugging that bitch had been more troublesome than he'd thought it would. He was starting to have doubts about the efficiency of this crew of his. They planned to take the bait back to the cutter. Even if she somehow managed to wake up out of her drug-induced stupor, she wouldn't be able to do shit about it out in space.
Jace was setting Weiss's nose back into place with a resounding crack. The dumb-fuck should've known better, Toombs thought.
"Son of a Bitch!" He shouted, pulling away from Jace. "I can't believe that bitch broke my nose!" He sent an especially scathing look towards the woman in question, that Connor was currently hoisting over his shoulder in a fireman's hold.
"We should probably be getting the hell out of here, in case anyone heard us," Connor sent his own dirty look, back in Weiss's direction. "You just had to tackle her, didn't you Weiss?"
"Fuck you!" Weiss spat back.
"Will you two girls shut the fuck up, already?" Toombs asked the two, who immediately shut themselves up. The place seemed pretty decent, for someone on a deliverer's paycheck, too bad she'll probably never see it again.
Toombs pulled a vidscreen from his pocket and pulled one of the small side-tables, away from the couch, and out into the open floor. He set the vidscreen down onto the table, and stabbed a sick-looking blade down into the wood of the table, that way there'd be no way that they missed it. He figured it would be only a couple of days before they noticed the "dear captain's" absence and came to check on her.
On the vidscreen he'd left specific instructions, for the other two survivors, to give to Riddick. If they didn't already know where he was, then they would just have to go out and find him. Either way, all Toombs had to do was sit back and wait.
It really did seem that he'd been a little overly-cautious in recruiting a four-man team, so far it's been only a three-man job and from the way things are looking it's barely that.
The blade, however, was just something that he'd thrown in to spice up the scenery a little, to make sure they understood that little Miss Carolyn wasn't gonna be on no picnic.
"Boss?" Connor called from the doorway, the rest of the crew in tow.
"Yeah, yeah, keep your panties on," he muttered to them as they left the house, closing the door behind him. He walked away from Carolyn's flat with a smile on his face. The biggest payday of his career and he didn't have to do shit.
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