Age of Nox

Chapter 4

There was a push for a) and b), so I'll be working it all in at some point, no worries. Edit: there seems to be a push for ALL of them, so I don't know what to do, but I'm going to work in a bit of each?

Jack stirred in his arms when he was walking away from the slave-house, her eyes flittering open before closing again. A quiet moan made its way to his ears and Toombs went faster. If the temperature of her body through the coat was saying anything, it was that she had a fever and it wasn't going down.

He had no trouble getting into his ship, but made sure to lock the door hatch behind him. The slave-traders would not be pleased when they heard their new profit had suddenly disappeared. Toombs hoped that the small beat up session he had with Mr. Pony Tail would keep him unconscious. The longer silky hair took to wake up, the longer the traders would have to wait before they knew who had come in.

The leather coat was set aside and he messily rearranged the emergency blanket on the floor. Jack laid there, mumbling incoherently. With a few trips to the bathroom, he was cooling her off by wiping her body down with cold strips of cloth, pausing when she shivered at the touch. The fever went down he and stayed awake long enough to make sure it was staying down. Another trip later and he was cleaning her wrists and ankles, glad to see that no stitches were needed. He wrapped them regardless before slipping on an oversized shirt over her thin form.

He shook the thoughts from his head of his long ago dreams of having a woman who would willingly walk around in his clothes and be happy with him.

Toombs sat back on his heels and watched her small form steadily breathe. He didn't like what was happening to him, but he didn't think he could avoid it at this point either. The girl had surely made a near parasitic investment in him, but she might not have realized. When he had been wiping her down, he saw scars. Not by any means suicide leftovers, but it made him wonder. That lightning bolt of a slash down her right hip bone made him curious and with further investigation, he found many other scars, some nearly faded. Along her arms, as if she had been blocking something incoming from above and then there were a few just covered by the fuzz on her head. Her back wasn't flawless, either, but he did wonder at the strange scars around her feet and ankles. They weren't the ones from the slave-house, but older ones. How did someone get hurt there?

Standing, he groaned at the soreness in his legs from kneeling for so long. Toombs grabbed the leather coat and laid it over Jack, making sure she was covered. She shifted slightly, but soon was motionless again.

He heavily sat in the captain's chair and swiveled it around to watch Jack. Before he could even think about trying to stay awake, his eyelids drooped and he was snoring minutes later.

Jack awoke to being carried.

Didn't feel like Toombs arms, though. Cracking open her eyes, she gasped when she saw who it was.

"Riddick!" She exclaimed and he just glanced at her. "You're back, you said you were leaving for just about ever and you're back! Where are we going?"

He stayed silent.

"I know it looked like I signed up with a merc, but I swear it wasn't like that. I wasn't even part of his crew!" She began to squirm, she wanted to walk. She jumped when he tightened his grip on her, bruising her.

They turned a corner. Jack thought they were in New Mecca. Looked like it, anyway.

"Riddick! Stop! Let me go!" She struggled and with a snarl he tossed her over his shoulder. Jack realized in shock that her wrists were cuffed. Trying her legs, she realized her ankles had been cuffed as well. What the hell was going on?

Jack yelped when she was roughly tossed down onto the ground. She looked up at Riddick who had a predatory look in his eyes that she had never seen. She had seen him angry but this was frightening. His eyes blazed at her as he advanced and a smirk played over his lips.

"Don't scream, kid." He growled, pulling out a roll of tape and ripping off a piece. She tried to move away but he grabbed her neck hard and forced the tape over her mouth. "I know what you wanted, Jackie girl, I know."

That's when it hit her.

He was going to rape her.

She seriously began to struggled and screamed, not caring that it was muffled by the tape. Just as he reached for her shirt, he grunted as he was smashed in the head with the butt of a blaster. Through tears Jack couldn't see who it was and she backed away, trying not to whimper. A fight ensued and Jack saw that Riddick lost, but he wasn't dead, just knocked out.

Someone approached her and knelt in front of her, gently taking off the tape and the cuffs. She could barely moved when she felt rough hands hold her face carefully, thumbs wiping her tears away.

"He ain't gonna hurt you, okay? Got 'im right where it hurts, he'll be down for a while. C'mon, up we go." He lifted her into his arms and Jack let her head rest against his chest. She looked up at him and was captured by the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen.

"Yeah, Jack, it's me, Toombs."

Gasping, Jack shot awake, trembling in an embrace she couldn't identify. Turning around, she gripped onto the person's shirt, holding it as tight as she could. When she was calm enough to hear the voice, she could breathe easier.

It was Toombs.

"Hey kiddo, it was just a freaky dream, that's it. Calm down now, I don't do the tears thing," he grumbled, but pulled her onto his lap and let her sit there.

They sat in silence for a while, lost in their own thoughts. Toombs was glad she was awake, she had been out for a long time and he hadn't been sure if she was going to wake up. Jack was confused by the dream and wondered how much did Toombs know about.

"Don't worry, that guy scares a lot of people. Riddick's a creepy dude, won't lie about that." He commented and Jack froze. "What? His name scares you?"

She shook her head.

"Just reminds you of your dream then?" He asked and she nodded, not wanting to give anything away.

"Like I said, just a dream." He rubbed his hand over her head and was surprised by the near immediate purr he received. She was relaxing and that's all that mattered.

Though he wasn't too keen on having to sit on the floor for this long.

Toombs winced again.

"For chrissakes, Jack! That fuckin' hurts!" He tried to pull his hand away, but her grip was steely.

She had seen the embedded glass in his hands and flipped out, so he let her clean him up. But she was meticulous and slow, paying attention to every part of it. It was driving him crazy. And it hurt like hell.

She had finished with one hand and was slowly un-taping the other, careful around the bloodied parts. Toombs had to admit that her method fascinated him and he was more focused on her then on the pain.

"Why do you tape your hands?" She asked suddenly, tightening her grip on his hand as she used the wiping alcohol swab over it.

"For gripping shit." He replied and Jack laughed.

"Gripping shit? What are you gripping that needs tape?" She pushed him further, the question finished by the clinking of another shard glass in a small metal dish.

"Ship controls, guns, handles…like I said, gripping shit." He returned and once again tried to pull his hand away. "How the hell do you do this anyway? Would take me hours to get one shard out."

Her face darkened in memory and she kept working. He knew he had walked into locked territory and was hoping that he didn't screw it all up. They were just starting to get alone and he had just saved her ass from the slave trade.

"My father." Jack started, sighing. "He would need this same sort of help all the time. My mother was an alcoholic, a violent one at that. She would come home every night and fight him, but he loved her. He never hit back. Never once did he hit back. One day, the cuts were set in with infection and he had a fever. She came home roaring, ready to beat him with her beer bottle. I told her what had happened and she blamed me for all the fucked up shit in her life and began to beat me. She smashed the bottle over my crossed arms," she showed Toombs the scars on her arms, "took another one and threw it at my feet," she motioned to the scars he had been wondering about earlier.

"My father woke up when I screamed and was furious. He told me later he saw red when he realized what had happened, so he pushed her into a closet and locked it. He gave me all the money he had and told me to get the hell out of there." She finished, packing up the med supplies.

"Your parents love you?" He asked, not sure where it came from.

"Probably. But my mother was too drunk for me to know and my father was busy finding ways to get the money she had spent on booze." Jack stood and watched Toombs stand, but his look was different. "You?" She moved, gathering up the bloodied cloths and swabs.

"Garden variety orphanage boy," Toombs replied, his voice and demeanor back to normal. "You should get some shut-eye."

"With wounds I prefer to stay awake," she said without turning to face him.

"Gonna get nightmares?" He knew he didn't need to ask. She nodded anyway. "Hey," he had no idea where he was going with this. "You calmed down like a virgin drinkin' helkin when I held you."

She didn't reply, but tossed the trash into the incinerator. Jack knew that he was right, if someone held her while she slept and that her inner self could trust that person enough to sleep, then she wouldn't have nightmares. But he had saved her ass, she didn't expect him to be the teddy bear guardian. Jack smirked. With that scruffy facial hair he would be a porcupine, not a teddy bear.

"Thanks, Toombs, but I know you'd rather spend some of the extra cash on whores and booze. Anywhere I can rest that isn't the floor?"

"My room, down the hall, door in your face." He replied, not surprised that she knew exactly what he wanted to do. But it didn't feel right, he should stay here. Before he could do otherwise, he heard the door slide shut and her body thump onto the bed.

"Toombs! Hey dawg, how's it hangin'?" The bartender greeted him.

"Like shit, Benny, like shit. What'd you have tonight?" Toombs sat on a barstool, across from Benny. He was the bartender of the best bar in New Mecca. Well, the best merc bar.

"If you got cash for helkin, I can serve you up a shot." Benny whispered, leaning over the counter. "Booze is gettin' hard to ship round New Mecca. Those religion dudes are crackin' down on the 'sinful business'."

"Religion dudes?" Toombs asked, a sneer evident. He'd never been one for prayer. Praying was not instant cash, which was what he handed over to Benny, barely able to sit still knowing a flame of helkin was waiting for him.

"Totally, this one guy, glasses, robes 'n shit, came in here a while ago. Wait, but he wasn't lookin' for trouble bout booze, never mind." He poured the drink and handed it to Toombs who watched it near lustfully.

"Nah, tell me Benny boy, I'm in the mood." He almost didn't want to drink it, wishing he could save it instead. But he sure as hell needed it now. But what Benny said almost made him spit out the drink when he had tipped it into his mouth. Luckily, he swallowed it down, but the words had made the burn all the worse.

"Say what!" Toombs yelled.

"Whoa! Just said he was lookin' for a girl who looked like a boy. Said her name was…no, wasn't Ace…oh, Jack! Yeah, said it was Jack. Shaved head 'n shit. Come to think of it, that was the description those dudes," he pointed to a corner table in the back of the bar. "gave when they were lookin' for someone that had been kidnapped. Weird, think they're lookin' for the same kid?"

"Don't be a shit brain, Benny, they're slave traders. Tell me bout this other guy, the religious one." Toombs took a pint of beer now.

"Name was Imam, pretty up-to-do name, I asked around after he left. Big hubbub about him, miracles and that sorta crap." Benny was wiping down the bar counter. "Toombs, you gotta get off this shit planet, it's too good for our likes, you know?"

"Yeah, I mean, what's a planet without a brothel?" He sipped his beer and Benny laughed.

Imam closed his eyes and prayed. Allah would lead him onto the right path. His quiet chanting mixed with the incense as he begged to be steered into the direction of divine goodness and away from sin.

He also prayed for Jack.

Lot of stuff happened in this chapter and I had issues working in the choices. But, consider this Chapter 4, Part 1. Next one will get better, I just had to get this out of the way. Besides, six pages is a long chapter.

-Shamrock