Selena kept replaying the conversation in her mind. She still didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Did he know something she didn't? She heard the vents open at the top to let fresh air in. She new they could only do it at a certain temperature, because it was either insanely hot outside, or ridiculously cold. As she walked the catwalk, she ran into the Guv and Riddick, who sat crouched on a ledge apart from them. He was looking up at the hole in the ceiling.
"So they do go topside." he said. "To swap out air. Interesting"
"Hey, Guv." Selena greeted him in a whisper. "Is he acting weird again?"
"Define weird." was his reply.
"Yeah, good point."
"Who the hell are you?" he asked Riddick.
Riddick looked at him. "When it happens, it happens fast. Stay on my leg when I cut fence, or stay here, for the rest of your unnatural life."
"Nobody outs this place. Nobody"
"She did." Riddick inclined his head at Selena and the Guv turned around to consider her.
"She got lucky." the Guv said.
"Nah, she didn't. She never gets lucky."
With that, he leaped off the ledge and out of sight.
"What's the story with you and this guy?" the Guv asked her.
Selena jumped over the catwalk rail and sat down next to him.
"I'm not really sure, at the moment I can't stand him though."
"If he's serious about getting out of here, you might want to think about changing that. Do you think he's serious?"
"I'm sure, and I'm sure he'll succeed too. Nothing stops Riddick." She fell silent for a moment. "What was it you wanted to talk to him about?"
"We talked about my wife." he smiled.
Selena stared at him in disbelief. "Your...your wife. Ofcourse you did." she smiled back.
It didn't matter how hard she tried, but she just couldn't imagine Riddick having small talk about wives.
"Still don't remember her name?"
"Not by the death of me."
At that moment, shots were fired from above, inside the office. Selena stood up, seeing flashes and hearing yells. The shots kept going, it sounded like chaos up there. She looked down over the ledge and saw Riddick below her, looking up at the hole as well. They might have locked eyes, she wasn't sure since he was wearing goggles. When silence fell again, she looked back up and saw Toombs come sliding down the rope in the middle of the prison. There he hung, in the air, with nowhere to go. He slid further down, and passed Selena. She wondered what he thought would happen. Her eyes followed him down, where he stagnated. And then he saw Riddick, who was looking at him intently.
Selena knew what Riddick was about to do, even before Toombs did, as Riddick took a few steps back. He ran at Toombs full speed, while Toombs mumbled for him to stop. Riddick jumped a good distance and grabbed on to the merc. He pulled himself up and whispered.
"Should've taken the money, Toombs."
At that, he started climbing, making sure to step on Toombs' head on his way up. Selena panicked. She didn't know why, but a sudden fear of being left behind washed over her. Was he really going to leave without her? No, he wouldn't leave without Kyra. But ofcourse, Selena was a different matter to him intirely. She looked at the Guv.
"Get ready." she said to him.
Above her, Kyra's head leaned over another ledge. Had she been there this whole time?
"Kyra" Selena stated.
And then, suddenly, the gates to the top opened at the sound of the buzzer. Riddick had pulled the levers. He had set them all free. Or just Kyra, she wasn't sure. But she didn't care at the moment.
"Let's go." she said. "Time to leave this shithole."
She ran up the stairs, followed by Kyra, the Guv and a few other inmates who had tasted freedom. Some stayed behind. They had been here so long, this had become their home. Suit yourselves, was all she could care to say.
When they reached the office, Selena held them back to make sure everything was safe. The place was distroyed. Dead people lay everywhere and everything was shot to shit. Selena allowed them entrance and went to find Riddick. She found him by the door leading to the railway tunnels. Selena saw the female merc on the ground against the wall, still alive, but injured.
"Mercs" another inmate said, as he looked around. "Some guards here, but this can't be all of them."
"Check the slots in the back." the Guv said. "And be careful."
"Don't bother." Riddick said, getting up and walking towards them, fumbling with his broken cuffs and throwing them aside. "The guards ain't there. They figured out the Necros are coming for me. Plan was to clean the bank, ghost the mercs, break wire through the tunnel." he paced through the group. "And then somebody got a lucky shot off with this rocket-launcher here." he stomped his foot against a launcher on the ground. "And took out the sled. Guards took off on foot, but rigged the door so no one could follow. They'll take the one ship in the hangar, and leave everyone else here to die."
Toombs head came into view above the hole, and everyone armed pointed a gun at him. He hauled himself out, hardly bothered by it all.
"How come you know all this shit." he asked Riddick, while panting from the effort. "You weren't even here."
"Coz it was my plan." Riddick answered.
Selena was overwhelmed by his planning capacities; he was way more intelligent than anyone gave him credit for. She glanced at Kyra, who glanced back, and it seemed she was thinking along the same lines. Kyra was impressed, it was easy to tell. Then again, maybe Selena was too. The man was a genious.
"What do we do with this guy?" one of the inmates asked, pointing his gun at Toombs. Selena stepped forward.
"Leave it to me." she smirked.
Toombs ever lasting smirk faltered for a second.
"I knew you'd warm up to me sometime, babe."
Selena smiled at him, and in a flash, hit him in the throat with her fingers. Toombs grabbed his neck, and fell to his knees, choking.
"That's me showing affection." she said to him. "Grab him." she instructed the Guv.
He didn't ask questions, but helped her drag Toombs to the back, where Selena knew the hounds were kept.
"I'd say this is a bit sadistic, for you." Riddick stated when he saw the cages lined up against the walls, the hounds growling and snapping at them.
"And I'd say you still don't know shit about me." Selena chimed back.
She left Toombs behind and walked over to an empty cage, positioned between two occupied ones.
"This one will do."
"I love the way your mind works." the Guv stated, dragging Toombs along with him.
Toombs was struggling the whole way, knowing what was going to happen next.
"Please don't tell me you feel sorry for him, Riddick." Selena said.
"Just sayin' I never knew you were this creative."
Together with the Guv, she pushed Toombs inside and locked the door.
"Selena can be very creative." Guv started, sounding proud. "You should have seen her when she was here the first time, she-"
"Guv" Selena warned.
Everyone looked at her curiously, even Kyra. Selena had never been too open with her about her time in Crematoria.
"Maybe some other time then." the Guv mumbled.
"Sorry bout that, babe." Selena said to Toombs. "Enjoy your stay."
At that, she smirked and left.
"I should've taken the money." Toombs said to himself as the hounds on either side of him went beserk.
Selena walked out past Riddick, who was still looking at her with slight curiosity. He didn't say anything though. Selena had one last thing to do, before they could leave. She had to get her weapons back. Guns could be replaced, but not her Sais. There were no other alike in the Universe, and they were priceless.
Riddick set himself to controlling the vents, while she searched. Then, behind the console, she saw a safe. This should be a walk in the park.
"We should leave." Riddick's voice came from behind her.
"Give it a minute." she replied as she set herself down on the ground, in front of the safe.
"We need to time this haul. Unless you wanna get a tan."
"Stop talking, or it'll only take longer." Selena concentrated on the safe. It was an old fashioned one, with a dial. Exactly the way she liked them. She scooted closer and set her ear against it. She heard Riddick step closer, and his footsteps were distracting.
"Shh!" she snapped as she turned the dial.
She could hear the gentle clicks in her ear and she closed her eyes to become one with the sound. And then there was a different click, one only a pro could distinguish. Selena started turning the dial the other way and once again waited for a slight change in sound. And there is was. She did this twice more, and then a louder click was heard.
"Booya" she grinned and pulled the safedoor.
"Pretty impressive, for a woman." Riddick said.
"Yeah, yeah, save it." she replied, and laughed when she found her Sais and guns inside the safe. These people were so predictable. Even they were clever enough to recognise true art.
"Could have just shot a hole through it." he said.
"You really think brute force is the answer to everything, don't you? This is a tremorproof safe, Riddick, that means if it's hit by force, bolts fall into place and the damn thing will never open. We couldn't even open it with a bulldozer. Sometimes things require to be handled gently, not with force, but you're just a man, so you wouldn't know that, would you?" she shook her head and passed him.
It sure felt good for once to know something he didn't. She really just wanted to go 'nanananana' in his face.
Her Sais felt good in her hands, and she twirled them around for a minute before she placed them in her harness. She'd found her guns and ammo as well.
Riddick pushed a lever and the entire room moved up.
"What is this? What is he thinking?" one of the inmates asked.
"Once that sun comes up, we won't last five minutes." another said.
"Five minutes? We ain't gonna last thirty seconds out there, it'll light you up like a match."
Selena sighed. "Please be my guest and get your ass back downstairs if you don't like it."
The inmates looked at eachother, but said nothing more. Huge stone doors opened before them, allowing them a view of the planet's surface. It was rocky, like solidified lava.
"A twenty mile buffer zone." an inmate stated. "And thirty clicks to the hangar."
The Guv stood looking outside with his arms crossed. He seemed worried.
Selena felt it. She was worried too, so she focussed on her breathing and slowed it down, along with her heart rate.
"Thirty clicks, over that terrain." one of the inmates said to the Guv.
The room stopped moving, and they all moved towards the window to get a proper look.
"It's moving in the right direction." the Guv said. "We could make it."
Riddick faced them and sat down on the console.
"Stay behind the night." Guv continued, looking at Riddick. "Ahead of the sun."
"There's gonna be one speed." Riddick answered and stood up. "Mine. If you can't keep up, don't step up, you'll just die."
Selena glanced at Kyra, who looked worried and slightly terrified.
"Cheer up, Kyra." she said to her. "It'll be just like old times."