Section 5: Whom?



Manny's hold on her wasn't too hard to break considering he was only a few inches taller than Elise. Ripping the "Stickee-Tape" off her mouth was the most challenging thing. It took a minute for Manny to get over the hard hit he had taken to his jaw with the heel of her hand. He managed to get up and pull his knife out before she could pull the tape even ΒΌ of the way off. He wasn't exactly sure where she was, and he didn't want to hurt her too bad, so he backed up some with the knife held out in front of him. Then he said, "Listen missy, I've got a knife in my hand, and if you pull another stunt like that I'll gut ya good." His mistake was in thinking that she was still in front of him. To her finely tuned ears, his shuffling feet gave away his every move. The tape was so slow that it was nice and quiet when the last bit came off.

She remembered that he was right handed. He had grabbed her arm before with his right, even though the easier would have been to use his left. She was directly behind him and he didn't even know it. She almost felt sorry for the ass. Almost. Simultaneously she wrapped her left leg around his to bring him down, placed her right arm on the inside of his, grabbing his hand, brought that arm back so his arm was pinned behind his back, and put her left arm under his left armpit then grabbed up around the top of his neck to place him in a head lock. His whole body was trapped in less than 3 seconds. His neck was in such an uncomfortable position he could scarcely make out a good scream. "Surprise jackass. Drop the knife." He did. "Lights on." They blinked on. She waited a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the brightness, then she released him, throwing forward enough so that he could have slammed head first into the door. Instead he fell to the floor. His breathing was labored, and his face a deep flush of red. Brock was on the outside of the door right about here.

"You-" He couldn't quite talk right yet, so he tried again, "how did you do that?"

She bent down and picked up the knife. It was the most peculiar thing. It had a curved blade with a small handle. The metal was flawless, the hilt perfectly shaped. It looked like something specially designed to fit a specific persons hand. Studying the handle she saw first that the hand would have to be much bigger than Manny's, then she saw that there were initials carved into the base. R.R. Brock heard her murmur the initials. "I can't believe you Manny. You actually ripped this knife off some poor schmuck. R.R.! Do you even know who you stole it from?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He leaned back against the door and rubbed his wrist. It was the second time she had almost broken it. If it wasn't swollen the next day, it would be a miracle.

"Oh Christ, do you expect me to believe that your hand is the size of a fucking gorillas?" Brock was silently chuckling at this when Manny said something he would regret.

"I don't know what you're talking about because I didn't steal it, I borrowed it from my good friend Brock."

Elise was silent for a minute. She contemplated what his exaggeration of Brocks name could mean. "Is that right? And that means what to me?" Manny had been smirking, but the cold seriousness in her voice suddenly penetrated.

Manny began to pout slightly as a bratty child might. "Well you wanted to know where I got it from."

Elise walked over to him, holding the knife out in a somewhat offensive manner, and bent down close to him. Brock had to crouch down to approximately their height to hear what she was saying to Manny. Her voice was low and menacing, not a good combination for Manny, his breathing was becoming short and shallow. He had risked enough taking the knife without asking Brock, now a girl who had every right to claim vengeance was holding that same, sharp knife 6 inches from his throat. "I want you to tell me what these initials really stand for Manny. Can you do that for me? Cause you know, I'd really appreciate it."

Riddick's heart was pumping faster and faster. She couldn't know his real name. Everything would be ruined. People would die, and he would be on the run again. Fortunately for Riddick, Manny may be chicken shit, but he still wasn't stupid. "Oh, oh! Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I thought you were going to ask me something hard." He breathed some and then told her, "The letters stand for Ronald Richardson. He hates his first name so he made up a name, Brock" He even managed to look more afraid, "But you can't tell anyone! He'd kill me if he knew I'd told someone! Oh God. Oh God."

Elise knew something was wrong with this picture. It didn't matter, she'd find out one way or the other. The important thing was to get him out of her room. "Don't worry dear child, your God is here before you. Unfortunately for you, it's Judgment Day." At this Manny nearly screamed in hysteria. Riddick was utterly dumbfounded at what she said, but if she wanted to do it, he couldn't stop her. Elise had no intention of doing anything to Manny though. She placed a hand over Manny's mouth to quiet his whimpering, but this only frightened him more. Elise couldn't help smiling at his near hysteria. She threw the knife behind her hard enough for it to hit the other wall. "Hey! Listen. Shhh. I'm not really going to hurt you. I was kidding about the God thing. I'm not psycho or anything." He was still freaking out, she couldn't hold back the smile that kept wanting to sneak back some more.

Then she heard something scrape the door from the other side. Riddick was in the process of getting up and accidentally grazed the door with his watch. Elise grabbed Manny by the shirt and pulled him up to his feet. She spun him around and gripped the back of his neck with her hand. She yanked the door open and shoved him out. Riddick barely had time to put his back to the wall next to the door. Manny made to turn back around to look at her, but she closed the door and pulled the bolt. Who Manny saw instead made a small pool of warm liquid form at his feet.