Chapter Thirteen

Kyra was slowly coming to once again. The damn blinking wouldn't leave her in peace. This time when her eye fluttered open she was able to decipher her surroundings. The red light was a digital plasma clock face on the far wall. It briefly read 7:41AM before rolling over to the next minute.

She felt like she had the biggest, baddest, most horrendous, stranglingly obnoxious hangover of her life. Unfortunately, it hadn't been preceded by a night of good times and rough bangs.

Her first thought was, Damn. I wanna puke. Her next was, Shit, the fuckers actually found me.

She rolled her head from side to side and found that she was standing in what looked like a bath tub that had been tipped on its end. Her arms and legs were chained, holding her spread-eagle. She peered over the lip of the tub-like locker and saw several more on both sides. The one directly to her right had a heavy tarp draped over it.

Again, the door to her left opened, temporarily dousing the cramped room in cold, white light before it swung shut. The figures in black were back, followed by the man in the gray coat.

"Look at that, Father," said the woman, "I do believe she's truly awake this time."

With that, the three of them unmasked themselves. The woman stepped forward and pinched Kyra's cheek. "We've missed you," she said, mockingly sweet.

"We brought a present for you, Audrey," said the second man who hadn't been addressed as Father. He was very stately, and held his chin high, as if he were trying to inconspicuously peer over a neighbor's fence. He motioned to the man in the turncoat.

The man moved to the shrouded locker next to hers, and with a crooked grin pulled the tarp down, flamboyantly throwing it to the floor. With ease, he swiveled the locker for her to get a better look at its occupants. There was Riddick, head dangling, blood still steadily dripping from his nose, his eye lids open only a fraction.

Her lips parted and her mind went temporarily blank. Then, three words looped themselves through her brain, Oh. My. God.

Her four abductors looked all too pleased with themselves. She snapped her mouth shut and wiped her features clean. She would not give them the satisfaction of seeing her freak out over him.

"Ah, Audrey. When you left, we thought we were through," sighed Father while rotating her locker as well so that she and Riddick faced each other, "We were devastated. We had devoted years of our lives to you." He smiled, "But in your absence you accomplished more for us then you ever could have at the center."

She snorted distastefully, her eyes glued to Riddick's limp form.

The woman's eyes flicked between them, "Should we wake him for you?"

Father's hand caught her arm, "No, Mother, not yet. Uncle and I still have observations to make."

Uncle nodded his concurrence, "Yes, we should leave them."

Mother sighed, but agreed. They began to leave, but Kyra stopped them. "Wait," she said, her voice strong and steady. She nodded at the man in the coat, "Who's he?"

"You can call me Brother," he said pleasantly. Then they were gone.

"Right," she whispered to herself, "Brother."

She turned back to Riddick. The small glint of eye shine she could see looked duller than usual. She bit her lip. What the hell did they need him for? Shit, it just figured. Once she thought she was finally rid of him, he was thrust back onto her.

"Psst!" She looked franticly around. Maybe if she woke him up he'd some how be able to figure a way out of here. "Hey. Riddick!" she kept her tone low, but harsh. He made no sign he had heard her. She gritted her teeth. "Yo, Big Evil. Hello in there." She pulled against her restraints, not really expecting them to give, but not knowing what else to do. "Riddick! Come on. Riddick!" She leaned forward, straining towards him, "Hello? Can Riddick come out an play now? I need him to wake up before my stupid-" She jerked her wrists from side to side and growled, "-Before they get back." She stomped her feet, becoming extremely agitated and all together frustrated. "Damn you, you big bronze ape! Why the hell did you get yourself dragged into this, hu? Wake up!" She raised her voice, "Wake up! I swear to you, Riddick, if you don't snap out of it right now I will come over there and surgically reverse that shine myself!"

She paused for a moment, holding her breath to see if there was any change. Still, he showed no response.

She leaned back and shut her eyes. This just wasn't her week. Thinking back on her previous predicament, she knew there was no contest. She would much rather be in a sleazy hotel room, tied to the bed with Riddick lording over her, instead of here, in the bowels of some sort of transport, with these crazy people popping in and out.

She set her jaw and stood up straight, ready to try again. "Riddick?" she prodded gently, "Riddick? Riddick, I need you right now. You've got to get up, big man. Come on, I know you're in there." She gulped loudly, "Riddick, Please. If you wake up I promise I'll tell you everything. All of it. But first I need you here so we can form some sort of a game plan, all right?"

Nothing.

"God, Riddick! How come it's only when I need you that you're never there, hu?" She got louder again, like a hyped up football coach giving his team a pep talk at half time, "I know they hurt you, but you can't fool me. No one breaks Big Evil."

She looked up at the ceiling, searching it for some indication that they were being taped. She knew the four were watching this. Fine, let them watch.

"Riddick. I hate you. I hate you so much I'd rather suck warmp weed than let you lay one finger on me again. So, if you're trying to punish me, I understand. But there are a lot worse things than hate, and you know it. Damn it, are you listening to me? You can drag 140 kilos through the mud during a shit storm, but you can't shake off a bar room brawl!"

His eyes shot open, and he sternly lifted his head, gazing at her intensely.

She clamed up right away and returned his stare. She wondered how much of her ranting he'd actually heard.

He sniffed, trying pull the blood back into his sinus' capillaries. His lip was split, and a big purple stain blossomed below one eye. He gave her a quirky half smile, "That was one hell of a shit storm, wasn't it?"

She stood stone still, and said seriously, "That was the most terrifying night of my life."

He matched her demeanor, "Mine too."

She quickly added, "But it wasn't the worst."

He rolled his eyes back, "Do we have time for this now?"

She didn't like how the stillness of the rest of the room caused his deep tones to vibrate through her body. She wanted him to shut up so that she wouldn't have to feel it invading her bones.

But he had never been one to do what she wanted. "So what's the deal with these people? Rival mercs?"

She was offended, "You think mercs would have the gall to take me out? No, these... they're something entirely their own. No paydays here."

Riddick was abruptly forced to shut his eyes as the four membered party entered, but the darkness returned within moments. Mother smiled at the pair of them, "So, going to introduce us?" she asked Kyra.

She sucked on her top lip, then smiled briefly back, "Riddick," her voice had a guarded edge to it, "I'd like you to meet my parents."

x.X.x

The suffocating silence that followed seemed to last forever. Riddick was stunned to say the least. "Parents?" he growled. Now this was some twisted shit.

The woman appeared to be in her mid forties. She'd aged well. Her dark hair was wound in tight curls that bounced just above her shoulders. The two men in black looked older than she did by at least a decade. The structuring of their faces was similar enough to safely say they were closely related. The man in the coat hung back near the door, a cheesy smile stapled permanently to his face. He was most likely in his early thirties.

"What, she never mentioned us?" asked Uncle.

"What a shame. I'm offended, Audrey," said Mother with a pout.

Kyra pursed her lips, "Don't call me that," she warned.

"Audrey?" Riddick cocked his head to the side.

"I said don't call me that!" she snapped at him.

"Yes, we were her parents," Began Mother, ready to tell the tale. She slipped up beside Kyra and leaned casually against her tub, "The only ones she ever knew. And she ran away from us. We gave her a home, clean cloths, nice food, even friends to play with-"

Kyra captured Riddick's eyes and held them. "They took me from my mom, they shut me in a center, they-"

"She was a morphine addict," Father barked, "She didn't care about you. Her entire life centered around her next fix and finding enough money to get it. You became government property at the age of five."

"Yes, government property," continued Mother, reaching out a hand to stroke Kyra's tangled hair. It was an absently affectionate gesture. "But you know you were more to us than that."

"They're leading specialists and technicians in bio-electric engineering and weaponry," Kyra explained, pulling back from Mother's touch. "They used me as some sort of catalyst or something-"

Mother laughed, the sound bubbling high in her throat, "No, dear. You were the variable." She swaggered over to stand next to Riddick, "She's a pure blooded Hellcastian. Do you know what 'Mirror Species' are, Mr. Riddick?"

"Why don't you explain it to me?" he said coolly. "Pretend like you're talking to some one who's been educated in the penal system." He smirked, "On second though, don't pretend."

She looked him up and down, appreciating the not so subtle harness of his muscles as they slid behind his tank and his pants. She'd never get tired of working with a body such as his. She leaned against the lip of his locker, and lightly skimmed her finger tips down his abdomen. "Mirror Species are two ultra-compatible races. They make up for each other's faults and weaknesses, and awaken something in each other that no one else can. It's a beautiful spin mother nature decided to throw on things. It's as if from the beginning of time beings were fated to travel the stars.

"Any way, Hellcastian females mirror Furyan males. Have you heard of Furyans?" He shook his head. "Furyans were a strong people. As a whole they were cunning, reflexive, both physically and intellectually skilled. Now, I say were because, technically speaking, the race no longer exists. Furyans rarely left their home planet, and the government did not trade with near by systems. They also did not appreciate foreign visitors, so not many people knew much about them. They were pretty much ignored for the most part. The rest of the systems viewed Furya rather like one does a child who prefers to crawl and refuses to walk; when they're ready, they'll do it. Eventually they'll come to us. Unfortunately, Furya never got its feet beneath it.

"It is a shame, really. Because of their intergalactic silence no one knew it when the planet was attacked. The Furyans never cried out for help, defiant 'till the end. It was just over thirty years ago. They were massacred. An army of some sorts descended upon them, but were very specific about whom they killed. The men were all killed. The women were practically untouched, with the exception of those who stood in the way, barring the path between the men and the army." She shook her head and laughed dully, "I say 'untouched'. Furyans being what they were- Most of the women stood up to fight.

"And fight they did. Very primitively. Hand to hand combat they were used to, but they were unprepared for the destructive power of the army's technology.

"After the adults were slaughtered it was on to the children. Boys were struck down in their homes, in the parks, every where. If pregnant women were found the solders induced labor. If the child was male, he was strangled with his own cord."

Riddick had been listening intently. Now he looked the woman in the eye, searching.

He didn't know where he came from. His home planet had always been spoken of as if it had no name. A foster mother had explained to him about his attempted strangulation when he was eight. Dumped in a trash bin behind a liquor store. Garbage from the moment he was born.

"I wonder, Riddick," His name rolled off Mother's tongue liquidly, as if she were enjoying the taste of it, "How did you survive?" He didn't answer, and she didn't expect him to.

"Don't know, Riddick?" asked Brother, moving closer. "Then let me enlighten you. A mercenary ship was barreling through the system right about the time the big guns up and left the place. They landed, looking to see what they could scrounge up out of the ashes. They found your poor mother sifting through the trash, desperately trying to find you. She was looking in the wrong bin. Eventually, probably because she was in shock, she just," he shrugged, "Gave up. Not long after she left you started crying, fighting against the noose around your neck. They weren't sure how you accomplished it, but you earned your self enough air to let out a good scream. The mercs dug you out and packed you aboard. They saved your life. Only a hand full of other males escaped."

"Well now, That's the story of Riddick," said Mother, "Maybe we should save Audrey's for later."

"Kyra," he informed her lowly.

"Hmm?"

"Her name is Kyra."

Father turned to her, "Still playing the name game, are we? She always was a creative child. Every other day she wanted to be called something different. She was never satisfied with the name Mother gave her."

Kyra clenched her jaw and swung her face away from their boring eyes. Riddick noticed for the first time that her tense hatred wasn't directed at him in the slightest. For the moment. "You took everything from me. Who I was, who I could have been."

"You would have been a nobody. A no good, spiking piece of gutter refuse."

"At least I wouldn't have been a lab rat!" she shot back.

Mother pulled something from her pocket and held it up in front of Riddick's nose. A micro chip. Her words ignored the object, "Furyans are fiery. But when coupled with a Hellcastian, they become more docile. Normally, pheromones are designed to make a man's blood boil, to send him into an animalistic trance of lust. Hellcastian pheromones sooth a male Furyan. Yes, they still play into his physical desires, but they make him gentle.

"When Hellcastian females hit puberty they are then receptive to males on a new level. They find a man and attach themselves to him. Of course, they aren't aware of it at first. It's something the mind has no control over. The body knows what it wants and reacts in accordance. When the female finally attaches herself to a male, she suddenly begins to produce a new sort of hormone. That's where this little device comes into play." She pulled out a key pad and hit a button. The chip flickered to life. It was internally illuminated by a harsh, red glow. "This detects that change. They were inserted into all of our female variables at the center. When the new hormone is produced the light changes from red to blue."

She hastily unchained Kyra's left arm and rolled her to the side so that the back of her shoulder could be seen by everyone. Mother tapped the skin just below her shoulder blade. "Audrey's is right here." She held up the key pad, her finger hovering over a button, "Any one want to take a guess? Red or blue?" She quickly slammed her finger down. The chip lit up, showing clearly through Kyra's thin human hide. The color was an unmistakable, astounding shade of azure.

Author's Note: Confused? That's okay, all will be made clear in time. Another chapter should be on its way quickly.