The city was overtaken chaos. Soldiers were swarming, and there weren't any residents left on the streets. It seemed now that the actual fight was over, and lost. The hostiles narrowed the search and more soldiers were set up to do the task. It made it hard for Selena to search for her friend. She was hiding more often than moving, and at times she had to climb builings to get past groups of soldiers unnoticed. It was tiring, hard work. She wondered if it wasn't for Imam, would she be here right now? The answer was probably yes. Yes, she would be, and not just because of Riddick, but because of everyone.
She had a job, a task, and she loved it. She felt free for the first time in years. Imam could be anywhere, and so could Riddick. Maybe Riddick had taken him off this planet, knowing Selena would keep Lajjun and Ziza safe from harm. But she had to keep searching.
When she finally reached the spot they had been hiding before, she went the same direction Imam had taken off in. Selena checked every building she came across, hoping for any sign of Imam or Riddick. The search was slow, and after what seemed like hours, she finally found Imam. "Oh, no." she whispered. He was lying on the ground, dead. Selena crouched next to him, and tears flowed from her eyes. Riddick had been too late.
"Thank you, my friend." she whispered.
As soldiers came around the corner, she was gone.
She had to get back to her house, back to Lajjun and Ziza. Maybe Riddick had gone there, knowing it was the rendevouz. Progress was once again slow and the first soldier she met, had to taste her vengeance. And so did the second. Still, she was carefull, she had a responsibility. She climbed on top of a building to get a better view of the chaos around her. She scanned her surroundings like a hawk, trying to anticipate her next move. She moved on over the rooftops to avoid any more soldiers, and jumped down on the other end of the block, where she hid in the shadows of the alley. And that's when something caught her attention. It was Riddick, running past her alley, on the main street. What was he doing?
"Damnit" she whispered and ran after him. When she came around the corner though, she saw a huge ship flying down out of the sky, to her right, coming right at them from behind.
"Shit, Riddick, what did you do this time?!" she yelled as she tried to catch up with him. "Oh, shit, oh, SHIT!" Selena yelled as the danger behind them came closer very rapidly. As it hovered over them, probably trying to suck them up into the air, rockets came out of nowhere, assaulting the ship. Instead of making things better, this was even worse. It crashed down behind them, and nearly knocked Riddick off his feet.
Selena went down on her knees, but she scrambled up as fast as she could, half crawling half running after Riddick, who was still a few yards ahead of her.
She was about to be crushed by a spaceship. What the hell was wrong with her life? The ship turned over and flew over their heads upside down, and Selena was once again slammed into the pavement below her. The ship crashed into buildings in front of them, fire, debree, dust and rocks flying everywhere. She heard footsteps behind her and turned to look from het position on the ground. What she saw did not improve her mood. Mercs. Not just mercs, mercs carrying big guns and rocketlaunchers. This was just her luck, wasn't it? She got to her feet, and stood behind Riddick, who didn't seem at all bothered, he didn't even look at them.
"Am I ever going to have a lucky day with you?" she asked him.
He shrugged and cocked his head.
"Let me guess, a five man crew this time." he said, still with his back towards them.
"Couple of things you coulda done better." was the reply, and a man took off his hood. Selena tried to calculate him. He must be the leader of this little gang.
"First" he continued. "Trash the locator beacon inside my ship, the one you jacked? And second, and this is really the more important part, dust my dick when you get the chance. Any questions?"
"Yeah" Riddick said, turning around, smiling. "What took you so long?" he raised his hands in front of him, in a way of surrender.
"What?" Selena said. The merc inclined his head towards a woman, who came stalking towards them.
"You got yourself a girlfriend?" the leader asked. "Selena Vega, right? Yeah, I know all about you." he added when he saw the look on her face. "Ollie told me I could find you here, thought that maybe I'd leave you be if we knew the info came from you. He was wrong, wasn't he? What a dumbass. Looks like we got two for the price of one!"
Selena made a note to self, to thank Ollie later, for indeed being such a dumbass. The woman had shackled Riddick, and was now taking Selena's weapons, pushing her hands up behind her head. Selena was beyond pissed now.
"You planned this right from the beginning, didn't you?" she growled at Riddick from between her gritted teeth. "Fuckin' asshole." she added when he didn't reply.
"Just an eye for an eye." he said as they were led away, surrounded by big guns and smelling mercs.
Selena was fuming. "First chance I get, I'm gonna slice your head off." she snapped at Riddick.
"With what?" the hooded merc asked, who was listening in on their conversation.
"My fingernails, I don't care, and mind your own damn business!"
He laughed, it was an arrogant laugh, one that reminded her of Johns.
"You know, babe, you are my business and listening to you two quarreling like an old couple is making my day. Oh wait, IT WAS ALREADY MADE! HA!"
"You should get that looked at." Selena stated, convinced he was out of his mind.
"Be my guest." he said, and Selena rolled her eyes at the remark.
"I'm sorry, I'm not carrying my telescope at the moment." she replied. The merc turned to Riddick.
"Your girl over here's got a mouth on her. I would've put it to better use if I were you."
"You really shouldn't piss her off, Toombs." Riddick sang.
"Oh, she's just talk, aren't you?" Toombs said, turning to Selena. "Look at her, I'm three times her size." he laughed his crazy laugh again.
"And I still got bigger balls than you." Selena said.
"Let's see about those balls when your ass is back in slam, surrounded by hungry dogs." he threatened.
Did he mean that literally? They reached a small ship, hardly worth being called a ship. It looked like Charon's boat to the underworld to her though.
"Sorry princess, caddies were sold out." Toombs said when he saw her face. "But we'll get you a nice cozy seat." He laughed.
One of the others pushed her on board and she nearly tripped. The inside showed no surprises, it was just plain small. Riddick was led to the far back and placed in a seat, where his arms were spread and shackled. Selena looked around the small craft. This really was cozy, and not in a good way either.
"Let's set you down right here, shall we?" Someone took her by the arm and set her on the ground near the back of the ship.
"You want me to sit on the floor the entire journey?" Selena asked in disbelief.
"Yup" the merc said, while he shackled her wrists to the wall behind her.
"Oh, come on!" she gasped, but he just left her there anyway.
"Comfortable?" Riddick asked her.
"Don't talk to me." she snapped at him.
She was still pissed, and it wasn't going to pass anytime soon. Riddick smirked and left her alone. Across from her were some chairs, possibly for cryo-sleep. Selena really hoped they weren't going to travel far, or she would have to sleep on the floor like this for a very, very long time.
An Asian looking merc sat himself behind the wheel and started up the engines. Selena rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes. Why does shit like this keep happening to her? She told Imam she didn't want to get involved, and now, he was dead, and she was going too far away to be able to help Lajjun and Ziza. The ship started vibrating and they took off. Shields on the sides of the windows were lowered and the group of mercs stood huddled around the pilot seat.
"In and out, unsuspected and undetected." one of the mercs cheered, clapping hands with his collegue. "Damn, I love a good smash n' grab."
"Not so fast, not so fast, dickheads." the female merc said, sounding worried. "We're pickin' up fields here." The computer stated the same message.
"Oh, lord, here it comes." the pilot said.
"It's some kind of scan." the woman said. "I don't know, reading our BTUs maybe?"
"Let's drop one." Toombs said.
"Dropping" the pilot said.
"Launched" the computer said. "Preparing to engage ion-drive."
"So" Toombs said before turning around to the back of the ship. "Where do we drop your merc killin' ass?" he asked Riddick. "Who's gonna pay the most for you now? Butcher bay?" he lit up a cigarette.
"Butcher bay." Riddick smiled. "Ten minutes every other day on the dogrun. Protein-waffles aren't bad." Selena hated those waffles.
"Hey, how bout Arcelona?" Toombs continued. "Nice little double max prison."
"They keep a cell open for me, just in case I drop in." Riddick replied.
"Show off." Selena mumbled.
"You know the problem with these joints now?" Toombs smirked. "Health clubs, for waffle eatin' pussies. Maybe we should think about uppin' our game here a little bit." he said to his crew. "Think about some place truly diabolical."
"What the hell is he thinkin'now." the woman stated, popping something into her mouth.
"He's thinkin' a triple max prison." Riddick said. "A no-daylight slam. Only three of em left in this sytem, two of em outta range for a shitty little undercutter like this one, with no legs. Leavin' just…one. Crematoria" Toombs looked at him, Selena completely forgotten. "That is what you had in mind, right Toombs?" Riddick asked, smirking.
"Hey" one of the others said. "How does he know where we're going and we don't?"
"Dope it out." Toombs said to him.
"I hate this run." the pilot commented, kissing his necklace for good luck.
"Just, do it!" Toombs said, emphasized with his hand. Riddick had done it again, Selena thought. He had manipulated everyone around him, including her, and she wasn't going to forgive him anytime soon. She'd be back on Crematoria, the last place in the system she wanted to be, apart from Achlys ofcourse.
"I don't know about this new crew of yours." Riddick said to Toombs, a smirk still on his face. "They seem a bit skiddish. Probably shouldn't tell em what happened to the last crew." he taunted.
The crew shot worried looks at their leader, wanting to know what he was talking about. Toombs smiled and took a few steps towards Riddick. He then put his face real close to his.
"You know, you're supposed to be some slick, shit killer. Now look at you." he blew his smoke into Riddick's face. "All back of the bus and shit."
Selena really didn't feel sorry for Riddick, he had it coming this time. Getting himself caught on purpose was one thing, but dragging her down with him was just low. She still sat on the floor, trying to keep her anger in check, and she knew if he spoke to her now she was going to snap. She'd probably snap at anyone who dared speaking to her now, because obviously, she hated everyone on board right now.
"You think Crematoria will want you back?" Toombs asked her, pulling her out of her thoughts. "How you managed to get out is beyond me, but I'm sure they've got a little cage prepped for you. Or maybe they'll just send you on your way to Achlys. And that means I get to take you to Butcher bay."
Selena shot him a venomous look. He laughed at her.
"Don't look at me like that babe, it ain't my call, I just go where the money goes. And the money goes where you go. It'll break my heart to split you two up, but by the looks of it, Riddick hasn't been treatin' you very well, so I might be doin' you a favor."
Selena was too dumbstruck to snap. Toombs could be right. Achlys would pay for her, and Butcher bay was just around the corner. If Crematoria didn't pay up, they would be taking her back to Butcher bay and she would be locked up for life, while Riddick was reunited with Jack. He had just ruined her life and she didn't even ask for any of this, she told him she wasn't going with him, but he just had to push it, didn't he? Well, he pushed her too far this time.
"Nothin' to say this time, babe?" Toombs asked her.
He laughed when Selena still said nothing, and she turned her head away to keep herself from crying. That's how angry she was.
"You're not really livin' up to the stories. I heard you're quite the cat, but maybe you're just a kitten." he laughed again.
When he noticed he couldn't taunt her into a reaction, he turned away. "Strap in." he said, motioning his tumb towards the cryo-chairs. The crew got into the chairs and Toombs activated Riddick's cryo-tube, which he wore around his arm. The liquid started pumping into his veins.
"Sorry bout that, babe, you're just gonna have to dream on your own. While you can." Toombs added with a sinister laugh. He then sat himself in a chair and pumped the liquid into his own veins. After a few minutes, all went quiet. The mercs were in deep sleep now, but she knew Riddick wasn't asleep. Cryo just didn't work on him the way it did on normal people. Still, he pretended to be asleep. This infuriated her even more. Couldn't he just appologise or something? Yeah, like that was ever going to happen. Even though his head wasn't turned her way and he was wearing his goggles, Selena knew he was looking at her, she could just feel it. And she couldn't stand it.
"Fuck off, Riddick." she growled and tried to turn her back to him as much as her shackled arms allowed. In her head, she could see he was smirking at her, and she knew that was exactly what he was doing behind her back.
"And stop laughing!" she snapped. "This might be a joke to you, but I'm not amused."
She felt felt his eyes on her back, but she tried to ignore it as best as possible and leaned her head against the wall, trying to get comfortable enough to actually get some sleep. It took a long time for her to fall asleep, as visions of how she could hurt Riddick and Toombs kept popping up in her head. After about an hour, as she started to drift off, other, uncontrolled images took over. Images became a dream, a dream that took over the images of Riddick. Just not what she had been thinking about minutes before. Selena woke up as the images became more prominent. Most of them where instantly gone, but some lingered behind. Images of Riddick running his hands over her body.
Where the hell did that come from? Selena tried to push the image from her mind, and she felt embarassed with herself. She then remembered having dreams like these before, that had been years ago, after they had both gone their own way, after he had suddenly kissed her for some reason. Apparently, it had had an effect on her, and she wasn't even aware of it. She mentally kicked herself for having such thoughts, when all she wanted to do was strangle him right now. That manipulating asshole.
Then she heard a sound behind her, and she understood what had woken her up. Someone was walking, very carefully, towards Riddick. She secretly thanked the person for waking her up. Then she heard intakes of breath, and she realised it was the femaile merc. What was she doing? Selena fought the urge to turn around and take a peek, but she was curious. She opened her eyes to listen. Suddenly she heard a stumble, followed by Riddick's voice.
"Do you know you grind your teeth at night? Sexy"
A jolt flew through Selena's stomach and a sudden rush of anger followed. She had no idea why, but his remark pissed her off. She heard another stumble, and breathing behind her. The woman said nothing more and Selena could hear her get back in her seat. Looks like someone else was having funny dreams. Only she chose to get her ass out of her seat and give Riddick a lapdance. Another rush came over Selena, as she pictured this in her mind. What the hell was wrong with her?
She forced herself to think of something else, and dismiss the feeling, as just angry because he was amused. All went quiet again and after a few more minutes, Selena fell asleep again. When Toombs woke her up by slapping her on the ass, she couldn't remember any recent dreams.