Amethyst cocked her head to the side as she heard the footsteps starting their way. Riddick kept his head bowed, his glowing eyes pointed to the ground. Amethyst let go of his hand and focused on the ground like him. "Finally found something worse than me, huh?" Riddick questions.
"So, here's the deal." Johns says, keeping his hand on his gun and standing cockily in front of Riddick. "You work without chains, without bit, and without shivs." Riddick pauses, his head cocked, eyeing Johns over from the corner of his eye. "You do what I say, when I say it."
"For what?" Riddick asks.
"The honor of going back to some assole of a cell? Having my daughter get thrown behind bars or sold to some other family like a trophy? Being separated from Amethyst for another two years? Fuck you." Johns looks like he was getting irritated. He aggressively licked his bottom lip, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling, shifting his weight, and looking down at Riddick with frustration.
"The truth is," He pauses and Amethyst knew instantly that whatever came out of his mouth next would be complete and utter bullshit. "I'm tired of chasing you. You and your girl." Amethyst scoffs in disbelief.
"You're saying you'd cut us loose?" Riddick asks.
"Bullshit." Amethyst cuts in. "You've been on our asses for almost five years. No way you'd just give up now. It's bullshit, Rid, he's just playing us."
"Sit down, Ames." Riddick's voice was rough and stern. She glares at him, but does as he asks.
"I'm thinking you could have died in the crash."
"Yeah, and what do you get out of this, huh?" Amethyst snarls.
"My recommendation," Riddick says, ignoring Amethyst. "Do me." Her breath caught, she stared over at Riddick in disbelief. "Don't take the chance that I'll get shiv-happy on your wanna-be ass."
"Okay." Johns says as Amethyst curls her hands into fists, struggling to not start screaming.
"Ghost me, mother-fucker. That's what I'd do to you." Johns moves quickly, grabbing his shotgun and firing off a round. Riddick just barely dodges it. Riddick freezes for a second before turning to look at Johns, jerking his arms down, the chain falling free with a rattle.
"I want you to remember this moment. The way it could have gone and didn't." He held up Riddick's goggles along with Nova's and Amethyst's. "Here." Riddick moves to take all three before jerking his leg into Johns, grabs the gun, and points it at Johns in only two seconds. Johns holds up his hands, fear filling his eyes and stinking up the room. Riddick looks like he wants to pull the trigger, but he doesn't. He doesn't like guns and Amethyst knows this was not the way Riddick wants to kill Johns. He wasn't the monster everyone thinks he was. He was just a man trying to protect his family and get them back home.
"Take it easy." Johns says.
"Fuck you!" Riddick snarls.
"Do we have a deal?" Johns asks as Riddick continues to silently point the gun at Johns. Riddick's eyes shoot to Amethyst, who was silently staring at him. Riddick sighs.
"I want you to remember this moment." He lowers the gun, throwing it to the ground and ripping Amethyst's chains straight out of the wall.
She quickly follows after him. When they got far enough away from Johns, Amethyst forces Riddick to stop. "You fucken bastard." She slapped Riddick with all her strength, sending his face sideways. "If you ever, ever pull that crap again-" He grabs a hold of her and slams her against the wall.
"You'll what?" He snarls, staring down at her. She looks up at him and his breath catches as he sees the tears in her eyes.
"I fucken hate you." He lifts up a hand and gently wipes her eyes.
"I knew he wouldn't do it, Ames. He's too much of a fucken pussy."
"What if he had? Huh? What if he had ghosted you? Then Nova would be without a father. I would…" The tear slips down her cheek. Riddick lowers his forehead to hers.
"It'll take a hell of a lot more than little Johns to kill me."
"I hate you." His lips are on her, a fast and violent brush of lips. He grabs her by her thighs, lifts her up, and slams her against the steel wall. His mouth moves forcefully against hers, his hands digging bruises into her soft thighs. She moans, digging her nails into his shoulders before letting them rip down his arms. He grunts at the pain, his groin grinding against hers. She pants as he finally releases her mouth. She lets out a gasp as he bites down on her shoulder, hard, hard enough that blood pooled into his mouth. "Riddick." She moans. He lifts his head and kisses her again, forcing her mouth open so that she can taste her own blood on his tongue. He grabs her by the hair with one hand, pulling on the strands hard, earning a cry from her. He releases her mouth, but keeps a tight hold on her hair.
"You'd think I'd leave you to handle this on your own?" She doesn't answer. "Do you! Have I ever left you?! Huh!"
"No." She whispers.
"Then don't fucken doubt me again!" Their eyes met and his expression softened. "I ain't leaving you, Ames." His finger strokes her cheek. "You or Nova. You got that?"
"I got it."
"Good." He lets her hair go and gives her a much gentler kiss before setting her down.
"Rid-"
"No time." She huffs but nods in acceptance. She takes her goggles from him, slipping them onto her head.
"Let's get Nova." When the two prisoners walked outside all eyes fell to them. Riddick's jaw clenches as he spots his daughter sitting tied up outside against the ship. She had her eyes clenched closed, obviously trying to not let the sun in. Riddick stomps over and forcefully puts the goggles onto her head. Only when she has them in place she opens her eyes.
"Daddy."
"You good?" She nods.
"My head hurts." He runs his fingers over her head, being careful of it in case it was still damaged.
"No bump." She hisses as he presses down on a spot. "A bit tender though. It'll heal soon."
"Who hurt you?" Amethyst demands, anger burning in her voice. She can feel the other's eyes on her, but she ignores them as she crouches down beside Riddick in front of their daughter.
"Shazza… she looked after me, but then she kicked me in the head." Amethyst growls as she sees a tear escape from beneath Nova's goggles. Riddick's jaw clenches again, but he doesn't say anything. He simply lifts Nova up into his arms. Her arms wrap around his neck and she climbs over him so that she can cling to his back, allowing for him to use his arms freely. This was a system of theirs. Nova knew to do so without question. Amethyst glares at the group that was staring at them.
"Let's get out of here."
"We need those power cells." Nova says. "We have to stick with them so we can get all those power cells to the escape ship." Amethyst blows out a breath before nodding.
The group collects all the power cells that they need and Riddick is tasked with dragging them all himself. Amethyst's temper is only boiling more at that. "So, click your fingers, and he's one of us now?"
"I want her dead." Amethyst growls beside Riddick, low enough so only he and Nova hears her.
"Don't worry. They'll all be dead."
"I like Jack." Nova whispers. "Let her live." Riddick cocks his head. "She's pretending to be a guy. Don't ask me. I haven't a clue? But her voice needs working because she sounds rather high pitched for a supposed guy."
"I didn't say that," Johns chuckled as if Riddick didn't just have a gun aimed at his face. "At least this way, I don't have to worry about y'all, uh, falling asleep and not waking up."
"So, can I talk to him now?" Jack asks.
"No." Both Shazza and Johns say.
"Still not sure how I feel about Jack. She is a bit naive, trying to be like you without really knowing what it takes."
"Jealous?"
"Fuck you."
"Language, we got a kid here." Amethyst huffs at the condescending tone.
"Fuck… you…" Riddick smirks. Paris drops his liquor.
"Blasted." He runs back to grab it when Riddick kneels down and grabs it, causing Paris to pale and freeze where he kneels. They both stand and while Paris is on higher grounds, making him taller, he is still easily over intimidated by Riddick, which only makes sense. "Paris P. Ogilvie." He introduces with a shaky smile. "Antiquities dealer, entrepreneur." He holds out a hand.
"Richard B. Riddick." He grins. "Escape convict, murderer." Nova giggles from on Riddick's back, smiling down at Paris. Paris looks over his shoulder nervously as Riddick takes out the quark in the bottle.
"That's… That's a particularly good shiraz." Paris explains. "It's… It's a lovely drop." Amethyst raises an eyebrow. "It's… It's very expensive." Amethyst bites her lip to keep from laughing as he nearly drains the entire bottle, giving the rest to Nova, who is all too pleased to finish the last tiny sip.
"As if they didn't think us bad parents before…" She mumbles.
"It's only a drop, mama." Nova grins.
"By all means, please help yourself." Nova tosses the battle at Paris, who fumbles to catch it. Nova tightens her arms around Riddick's neck as he goes back to pulling the sligh. Amethyst places the breathing tube in Riddick's mouth, letting him get a gulp before taking a hit.
"You okay?" Riddick asks, quietly.
"Yeah, it's getting better. Like I said, I'm not used to this air. Reminds me of my cell. I forgot how to breath it."
"You adjusting?"
"Yeah."
"Good." They make it back to the ship, Paris complaining already.
"I mean, normally I appreciate antiques, but this… this is something else."
"It'll work." Johns says.
"It's nothing we can't repair so long as the electric adapts." Carolyn says.
"Well, it's not a star-jumper." Sjazza says.
"It doesn't need to be." Riddick says. "Take a two-seater like this back up to the sol-track shipping lanes. Stick out a thumb, bound to get picked up. Ain't that right, captain?" Riddick says as he stands there with his two girls, one on either side of him. He has his hands behind back and is rocking on his heels, Nova copying his stance and movement perfectly, making Amethyst smirk at the sight of the two.
"Can I have a little help here?" Carolyn asks. Jack moves forward, but Paris jumps up.
"I got it. Come on."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Johns says as the three start for inside the ship. "Do me a favor." Riddick cocks his head at Johns. "Check these containers out and, uh, see what we can patch these wings up with." Amethyst snorts and the three head off.
"He's trying to feel in control of a situation that he has no control of." Amethyst says as they check the areas with him.
"Come on, Ames." She follows him as he begins to look around. He bends down to see a compass and a pair of glasses, both broken and laying on the ground under some sand. He walks up towards the doors of the building and tried to open it, but they held shut as if they had chains on them. Amethyst cocks her head as she hears movement inside.
"Riddick?" He lifts the trape to see the words 'coding room' written above. A whistle has them looking behind them to see Johns standing there cockily. "You're missing the party." He slaps his leg. "Come on boy."
"Arrogant bastard." Amethyst whispers before noticing Nova went off on her own. "Fucking, Nova." She grumbles.
"Let's go." Johns calls again.
"You go ahead and shut him up. I'm going to find Nova."
"Be careful." She raises an eyebrow.
"Always am." He yanks the trape, causing a gasp to sound. They both look up to see Jack hiding on top of the building, under the trape.
"You're missing the party. Come on." Riddick says as Amethyst slips around the back of the building.
"Nova?" She calls.
"In here, mama. Me and the other kid are looking around." Amethyst felt an uneasy feeling enter her.
"Nova come out now."
"Why?"
"Nova, listen to mama, now." She orders as she suddenly hears a beeping as if something came online inside. "Nova." Her voice goes shaky as she hears a growl come inside the building, it was a quite earthy growl.
Nova looks up with Ali as two sliding doors begin to move above them, which hid a window. "Mama-"
"Nova get out right now!" Nova turns as she hears screeching. "Nova!" Nova shoves Ali down as tiny birds start flying above them. Amethyst looks for a way inside. She can't seem to find how they got in.
"Papa!" Nova calls as she struggles to flee the birds.
"Nova, how'd you get in? Get out of there!" Nova's eyes fell on the small flap on the wall that she had climbed in after Ali. She grabs Ali and the two rush for the exit as he cries in alarm.
"Stay low!" She orders as he stands up and gets storm. "Ali! Stay low." She tries to pull him down, but he moves away from her and to another set of doors. "No!" She calls. She can hear scratching from behind those doors.
"Nova! Get out of there! Forget the kid! Get out!" Nova looks from the door to the kid as the kid gets closer to those doors, looking for safety.
"Fuck." Nova curses before rushing towards the kid. "That door is bad. They don't like the light! Stay in the light!" Nova orders as she shoves the boy to the ground as the little birds bite and scratch her arms. She cries out at pain at the nips, but she pushes past the pain, grabs the kid by the scuff of his robes and begins to drag him towards the door with strength that most kids her age wouldn't have. The boy screams and cries as the birds attack them, but Nova ignores the pain and pushes forward.
"NOVA!" Amethyst tries to open the doors, but it wasn't working. They won't budge. She throws her weight against the doors over and over again. "Nova!" The two kids were getting closer and closer to the small exit.
"Move!" Amethyst moves just as Johns fires his gun, putting a hole in the door. Nova climbs through the doors and drags Ali with her.
Riddick kicks the doors in and rushes inside with the others. He looks around, searching for his daughter. "Ali?" Imam calls. Nova falls back on the ground panting as Ali clings to her. "Ali?"
"Jack, wait." Carolyn calls.
"Nova!" Riddick shouts.
"Ali!"
"Nova!" Amethyst calls, her breath catching as she sees the blood on the ground. "Rid…" Riddick follows her eyes and feels a lump forming in his throat. He sniffs the air and can easily smell that it was Nova's blood.
"Nova?!" He shouts. The others watch the two parents searching for their little girl as Imam searches for the body he was task with caring for.
Nova gets up from the ground, blood dripping down her arms from the shallow cuts running up her arms. Ali continues to cling to her as she walks, which made walking difficult because the boy was twice her height.
"N-nova." Amethyst voice cracks, looking around for any sign of her daughter.
"Nova! Goddamn it, answer us!" Riddick growls, moving around the room, looking for any sign of his blonde girl.
"Mama, I'm right here." The group turns and Amethyst rushes to Nova, pulling her into her arms as Ali runs for Imam.
"Don't you ever, ever do that again to me, do you understand, Nova, do you fucken understand?" Nova nods.
"I'm sorry. I was just trying to save Ali." Nova says, causing the others to turn to her.
"Save him?" Carolyn asks. "Save him from what?"
"Bad door. Bad door." Ali points at the doors that he almost went through.
"There's something behind the doors. Ali almost went in there." Nova says. "It's the monsters."
"What are you telling this kid?" Johns scoffs, looking over at Riddick. Nova looks up at her father, who still hadn't said anything nor move towards her. They pause as they hear noises coming from behind the doors. Imam moves forward and opens up the dual doors, causing a huge wave of birds to come flying out. Imam gets low on the ground as the others shut the door to protect themselves. The birds flew down a drainage pipe.
"Those are what attacked us!" Nova says.
"Imam!" Johns calls.
"Imam." Carolyn says in a more whisper as if afraid to speak too loud.
"Papa…" Nova whispers. "Are you angry?"
"I am here." Imam calls as he stands up and moves away from the pipe.
"Let's see if we have a flare we can send down the pipe." Johns calls. The group head back to their packs to find a flare as Amethyst pulls Nova aside.
"I'm really sorry mama. I didn't mean to scare you."
"You promised." They both turn to Riddick, who stared down at Nova. "You promised that if the situation called for it, you saved yourself."
"But, Ali-"
"I don't give a fuck about Ali!" Riddick snaps. "You are my daughter. All I care about is you and your ma. I told you, save yourself. Don't be a fucken hero." Nova whimpers in the face of Riddick's rage.
"Rid-"
"You could have gotten yourself fucken killed! Look at you!" He growls, grabbing her arms in a more gentle grip than Amethyst thought possible with his anger. "You're covered in blood." He whispers. Amethyst swallows and kneels down beside Riddick. She had never seen him like this. For the first time ever… he was afraid.
"She's okay, Rid, she got out of there. She was smart."
"She went back for the kid."
"She's everything we aren't." He turns his head towards Amethyst. "She's good." She cups his face. "She's okay. She's alive."
"I'm sorry daddy." She cries. Riddick swallows and pulls the little girl into his arms, holding her close to him, burying his face in her tiny neck.
"Get some bandages." He mumbles, causing Amethyst to nod.
"I'll be right back." She heads back to the others who found a flare. She ignores the group and begins riffling through packs.
"What are you doing?" Shazza sneers.
"Getting bandages for my daughter. You got a fucken problem with that?" Amethyst snarls.
"Here." She looks up as Imam holds out a bundle of bandages with peroxide. "Your daughter is the reason Ali is alive. We will do anything to repay her." Amethyst stares at the man before grabbing the bandages.
"Thank you." She mumbles before starting for the coding room where his daughter and mate still were. When the group and her arrive back Riddick was leaning against the wall outside with Nova leaning against his legs. "Come here." Nova heads over and allows Amethyst to pour peroxide on the girl's arms, causing her to hiss, but she doesn't pull away. Amethyst wraps her arms quickly, tightly, and skillfully.
"Thank you, Nova, for saving Ali." Imum says as the boys all boy their heads and muttered thank yours in their language. Nova gives him a smile before holding her arms up for Riddick. Riddick picks her up, but doesn't let her climb to his back as usual, but instead insists on holding her normally, which makes them both happy. She lays her head against his shoulder, her legs around his chest, and her arms loosely around his neck.
The group walks back inside and drop the flare down the shoot, which went very far down and they see millions of bones. "Other buildings weren't secure, so they ran here." Riddick says as he looks down. "Heaviest doors. Thought they'd be safe inside, but they forgot to lock the cellar." He carries Nova back outside. Shazza walks out and stops by them.
"Here." She tosses her breathing tube, causing Riddick to catch it.
"What, it's broken?" Riddick asks, tossing it down to the ground, not trusting the woman as far as he could toss her.
"No, there's still a few hits." Shazza says. "Actually, you asshole, I'm trying to say that I'm sorry."
Riddick looks at her. "You kicked Nova's head, beat a kid. You think this makes us even?" He questions, scoffing at the thought. "We're far from even."
"I didn't think-"
"I don't give a shit what you thought. You know, everyone thinks I'm the villain." He stares down at her as he stands. "But I ain't the one killing people here and I'm not the one who nearly killed a little girl. Last I checked, it was mine that saved the kid. You gotta do a hell of a lot better than that half-assed apology and a few hits from your oxygen." He spits at her feet, causing her to recoil in disgust. "A hell of a lot." He says before picking his daughter up and heading back towards the ship.