Author's note: We have some non-consensual things in this chapter. Tis the plot, but some people are sensitive, so I offer that as a warning.
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Waking up restrained was not something you got used to, even after as many times as he'd been through it. He never really got why they blindfolded him, sight was his weakness, after all. And taking his goggles away just pissed him off. Take his blades, take his boots, take his clothes... Wait, she did take his clothes. That was a new one.
He was spread eagle on a metal table, he flexed his arms briefly, testing restraints. Leather lined metal cuffs. Medical, so he wouldn't hurt himself. That jibed with the sterilized smell of the place, chemical, clinical. Lab. That's why he'd recognized the woman's smell, she smelled like a fucking scientist, the ReGen Lab. He heard her move on the other side of the room, walk toward him. Fingers on a keyboard, glass and plastic clinking. Unless someone was really good at being quiet, she was alone. So why did this place reek of Nicola? He moved his wrist again, testing the give on the cuff. It squeaked, and the typing stopped.
"Ah, awake are we? Good. We do have a schedule." Again, the voice was familiar, detached, and annoyingly smug. A bright light swung past his vision, and he felt cool fingers on his arm. Now he noticed the plastic band tied above his elbow, felt the light prick of a needle, caught the scent of something bitter, spicy and synthetic. "You have good veins, Mr. Riddick. Anyone ever tell you that?" The plastic slipped away. Riddick grunted, tightening the muscles in his arm, trying to yank his hand free. More show than anything, displeasure, but if he rattled her, she was more likely to make a mistake. She stepped back, but her laughter was amused.
"Go ahead and fight, dear. You're not going anywhere. I had a friend, a client really, ship this table in from the criminal psychiatric hospital on Corovan. He has a medical fetish, you see. That table has seen bigger baddies than you, and held up. And they," she patted his forehead, "weren't coming off tranquilizers.
"But don't worry, I have no plans to lobotomize you. My research is much less surgical in nature. Still rather hands on, but sometimes, for successful experimentation, one must get a little dirty." She ran a hand over his chest.
"What do you want?"
"Always to the point, aren't you? No concern for the details. Barely hear someone out before you've made up your mind. No consideration if you're not in the mood." This last said down by his ear, her hair, he could see black hair, brushing his skin. Black hair, scientist, his mind was racing to place her...
"Listen lady, whatever you're saying, I'm sure it's quite clever, for someone who gives a shit about subtleties, but if I'm your only audience, you're gonna have to speak a little more plain." She snorted, stepping away. "Dr. Othnhaus always did."
Her footsteps stopped. Fingernails drumming a counter. "Othnhaus is an dolt. Far too concerned with upsetting the Defense Minister to get anything done." He could feel her anger, heart rate climb. His little shot in the dark was dead on.
"What? He kick you off the project?"
"No. I quit. I make more money in my side job now anyway. My scientific post was just a lovely way to network. Military and government men have a lot of power and money, and if you're willing to keep their... predilections quiet, well... Nevermind." She stepped back to the com, typing again.
She returned after a minute. He heard a machine click as she set something on the counter near him. "Hope you don't mind video, don't care if you do. Documentation is important, and it's not like you're going to remember this in a few hours anyway." She stepped back.
"Subject tranquilized with Nimetazepam R3 derivative at approximately 20:30. Double dosing on the 500 mg delivery dart, but both removed before full injection, so, estimating 700 mg dose. No signs of cardiovascular or respiratory depression, subject metabolized dosage at approximately 20:45. Accounting for accelerated metabolism and biological data, my calculations are right on.
20:50, administered Yohimbine/Prostaglandin mix, again accounting for subject's high metabolism and psychological reticence, approximately 250 mg dose. Will continue to monitor cardiovascular and respiratory function. Waiting 10 minutes for reaction and addition of pheromonal activator compound." She hit the stop button.
"Done with the sexy science talk? Too bad, kind of a turn on." The woman laughed, leaning over him, fingers stroking his chest again.
"Oh Mr. Riddick, if you knew the irony... " She paused, musing. "Well I'll let you in on the joke, since, as I said, you won't remember this in a few hours anyway.
I just shot you up with a rather heavy dose of veterinary stimulant. An... agricultural aphrodisiac, if you will. Something a colleague of mine produces for farmers who have reluctant bulls or stallions who aren't making their procreative quota. Has that nice anterograde amnesia side effect."
"Isn't dinner and drinks a little more traditional?"
"If I thought I had a chance in hell, perhaps." She stepped away again, crossing the room. "But you seem stubbornly attached to that mousy little girlfriend of yours. Gods know why."
Riddick didn't say anything. The bitch had mentioned Nicola. The animal in him stirred, heating his blood. But it wasn't responding correctly. His adrenaline was flowing, but it wasn't defense it was demanding, it was thinking sex. He grunted, fighting the sudden chemical twist in his mind. His body wasn't listening, a biological response he didn't want. He didn't get aroused in a fight situation, and so this sudden betrayal of his body was unnerving.
"Oh don't fight it dear," the woman called from across the room. "You'll just give yourself an aneurysm." She returned with something new, set it on the table. "You are a lovely specimen, you know that don't you?" She sighed.
"And that darling defense minister of yours can't possibly appreciate you in the multi-faceted ways I can. Beauty is only skin deep, after all. But you...you are a biological marvel.
Somehow in the act, you managed to dominate her on a DNA level, bend the basest genetic laws of propagation. Something we couldn't duplicate in the labs even if we tried." She picked up a glass, a vial, something was making a liquid sound as she swirled it.
"That, of course, is why the artificial insemination subjects only produced half-breeds. I think you need to be present. I think there's will involved in this equation." Riddick was trying to control his racing heartbeat, fighting back the sexual stimulation the drug was spreading through his veins. This was no longer amusing. He didn't usually gut women. But this one was gonna pay. And it wasn't going to be quick or clean.
The woman picked up the camera, clicking it on again. She started walking a slow circle around the medical table. "20:55, subject responding quickly to stimulants, apparently no diluted effects from combination with the tranquilizer. Will introduce PAC momentarily." She put the camera down.
"Now we get to the fun part." She picked up the liquid again, set it on the table by his head. He heard the rustle of fabric and then he felt the soft cool skin of her body slide over him. She sat on his stomach. He growled at her, rage fighting the biological response of sex. He could smell her now, and the animal knew she was in estrus.
"Get. The fuck. Off me." The words were punctuated by a twist of his torso. He strained against the cuffs, felt the leather burn against his skin,heard the metal protest. Rope burns, scrapes, but pain was good. Felt better than this slick witch on his chest. The fury in him was beginning to cauterize the chemical junk's advance in his bloodstream.
"Shhh. What did I say about fighting it? Besides, I have the best ingredient right here." Cold drops hit his chest. Fingers followed, rubbing it in with the sweat on his body. Scent hit him hard and he inhaled sharply.
"Nicola..." He stilled. Every nerve in his body exploded, responding to the chemical kiss. It was a lie. A horrible lie. But he was trapped in it, as it snaked through his defenses, joined the drug war and pushed him back. That was her lure, how she'd gotten him here. Synthesized his mate's chemical call. She'd turned his instincts on him.
"Pheromonal response, Mr. Riddick. You told her yourself, five years ago. Why you picked her. She told us. Dr. Othnhaus dismissed it. I didn't." She was on him now, moving slow, enjoying her victory. "Now I get what I want. And even if it is a girl, I'll have my own Furyan child to test further. No paperwork, no authorizations, no permission. And you can just be on your merry way. Perfect arrangement."
Riddick was silent, still, defeated. Run through by his own weapon. He'd fought big, nasty evil before and won. He'd cut down just about every shade of black in the rainbow. But this woman, what she was taking, was such a small, hateful immorality. Inhuman didn't cut it. She was twisting life. She wanted what Jack was. But not as a child, as a pet or even a trophy. She wanted it as an experiment.
There were some things you just didn't do.
There were some things that just made him mad.
And there was a reason he was called a Furyan. It was why he fought to control his anger and primitive emotions. It was why the animal had been caged. Even drugged, the animal could respond to this call. Though this was the first time he'd ordered it to fetch.
The woman grinding on him may have noticed his breathing change, the spike in his body temperature, the sudden trembling as his muscles contracted, but she misread the indicators. If she hadn't been so preoccupied with her own plans, she'd have noticed the white ghostlike shimmer of gathering power under his skin, the phosphorescent glow of a handprint that didn't match her own.
Riddick welcomed the pain as it mounted, burning off the drugs and the lies and the touch of the succubus-thing trying to steal his essence. The energy exploded from his body, an electro-luminescent pulse that rocked the room like a grenade. Everything went black.
When he awoke, it was in near-darkness, still half on the table. He pulled the blindfold off his eyes one handed, then rolled to remove the restraint still on his right hand. The air smelled like fried electronics and burnt skin. The com on the other side of the room glowed faintly. Riddick stumbled toward the door, finding his clothes and duffel sitting on a table by the door. He dug for his wrist com. It beeped briefly.
"Riddick? It's 22:00!"Ziza's voice was groggy
"I know. I need you here."
"What happened?!"
"I need you to take care of something for me. Clean up. " Ziza was silent a moment.
"... what did you do?"
"Only what I had to. Can't explain on the com. Can you trace this?"
"Yeah." She was awake now.
"I may need you to wake Gen. Houston. But I want your eyes on the situation first."
He heard typing. He waited.
"You're in the military storage complex, northeast corner."
"Yes."
"I can have the guards there in 30 seconds..."
"No. Just you." He hung up.
Ziza stepped through the open door, shining her flashlight around the room. The place looked like an illegal drug lab. Riddick was sitting next to a com screen, contemplating some small smashed piece of equipment. To her critical eye the room looked like some homemade bomb had exploded prematurely. She was Intelligence now, she'd seen a few terrorist incidents. She also knew Riddick didn't play with explosives. Everything in here was off. She waited for Riddick to speak.
"DB in the corner is Dr. Jesamine Thom. Also known as Mistress Jean. I'd watch who you call on clean-up, she's got a pretty interesting list of names in her files."
"What are you doing here?"
"She lured me here, drugged me and..." He stopped.
"And?"
"... lets just say I said 'no' several times."
"Oh... shit. Does Nicola know yet?"
"No. She's not going to."
"You have to tell her!"
"Not if you take care of this."
"I'll take care of it. Go to Gen. Houston if I have to, but you're gonna tell her. You can't keep a secret like this from her. It'll eat you up inside and she won't know why."
The big man regarded her for a minute. She didn't back down.
"Fine. Call me when it's done."
