****Sorry this took so long to get out. I'm revising the whole story, not taking anything out, just adding to it to make it better. So if you've read this before, make sure to keep an eye out for the updates. I'll try to make it fast. Any comments you have are more than welcome. Feel free to e-mail me or just submit a review. Lots of love. =)
Riddick all but ran to Eric's ship, unsure about his decision to leave the others, to leave Skye alone to watch over Jack and Carrie but he remained alert and ready for anything as he wound through the near empty halls to the docking bay. Hot adrenaline burned through his veins as he got closer to his destination.
Silencing his steps upon reaching the bay, Riddick stuck to the darker areas and carefully made his way along the wall to the ship. There were a few people mingling but they were easily avoided.
Riddick circled the ship looking for the side hatch Eric had told him about. Using the ramp would draw unwanted attention to himself and right now he needed to move about unnoticed.
It didn't take long for him to find it. It was located just as Eric said, about eight feet off the ground, with now way to get up to it. So, Riddick jumped up, grabbed the edge of the platform, and with a quick silent exhalation he pulled himself up; keyed in the code for the door and slipped inside.
The place was dark so Riddick removed his goggles, scanning the area carefully. He was in a small empty room and the only door in there should lead out into the hall near the room he and Eric shared. No one would know he was here because he could check the entire ship in the dark.
He started down in the engine room his eyes glowing in the near darkness, reflecting the light from all the control buttons on the panels throughout the room. Moving fluidly, he checked all the gauges, switches, and connections but he couldn't find anything wrong.
He climbed back up to the main deck and continued to move silently throughout the rest of the ship, checking every detail he could think of. Nothing was out of place. Eric's ship was fully stocked, fueled, and ready for take off but it wasn't going anywhere. His earlier suspicions were confirmed. It was just a delay.
As Riddick finished up, a sudden sharp pain stabbed through his left shoulder blade almost sending him to the floor. Once he regained his balance he turned to fight but there was no one there and the pain was gone as fast as it had hit.
He was breathing hard, trying to shake the confusion form his senses. "What the hell was that?" he asked out loud. The question still lingered in his mind as he stepped into the cockpit and peered out the glass. Raven, Kyle, and, Eric were headed his way and what they didn't see were the security guards heading their way. Riddick quickly hit the button on his earpiece.
"Eric, you have company," he said. Eric got the message and spotted the guards but it was too late. They couldn't avoid a confrontation. From Riddick's vantage point the scene being played out below looked normal and as he watched he tried to beep Skye but he got no response. A strange twisting sensation started up in his belly, a sign of fear, the first one he's felt in a long time. Something was wrong and he felt helpless to do anything about it. He was really losing his edge. His focus was scattered and he fought to bring it back under control, which was a good thing because the group down below were now heading to the ship.
Riddick wasn't sure what was going on but when he heard the ramp opening, he took off down the hall and ducked out of sight.
He could hear voices as they came up the ramp but it was only Raven and Kyle; it seemed Eric was distracting the guards with small talk to keep them off the ship.
Kyle was stowing their stuff and after a backwards glance towards Eric, Raven set out to find Riddick. As she passed by the intersection Riddick was hiding in, he grabbed her arm, covered her mouth with his free hand, and pulled her to him. He pressed her to the wall and leaned in close so she could hear him.
"What's the deal?" he asked, slowly taking his hand off her mouth. All Raven could make out was the steel glint of his eyes.
"They're letting us pack up but they need to talk to us about a few 'details' of the mission."
"Yea, I'll bet." Riddick eased his grip on her and moved back, barely enough to give her some breathing room. "They say talk but I don't think it's what they really have in mind." Raven understood what he was talking about and it made her shudder against him.
"Do you think they'll kill us?"
"Don't know," he replied, looking out into the hall to see if they could still talk. All was clear for now but he didn't have much time. "I tried to reach Skye but she didn't answer," he continued, not turning his gaze back on her. Raven's breathing hitched.
"What do we do?" she asked in a shaky whisper. Riddick finally turned to look her.
"You three do what you're told; I'll take care of the others." He started to release her but grabbed her arms again. "Remember, you don't know where I am." Raven nodded and he let her go. As she walked down the hall and into who knows what kind of hell, she glanced over her shoulder and saw the two points of light that were Riddick's eyes, dipping slightly as he nodded to her. Raven felt safer knowing he was there and she finally understood the strong connection Skye had with him. She knew, some how, that he'd be able to get them out of this mess.
Kyle, Raven, and Eric allowed themselves to be escorted by security through the twisting maze of hallways and into a small room that looked like an interrogation room, double-sided mirror, and a table in the center with a few chairs. The three of them sat side by side and Raven began tapping her foot with obvious nervous tension as the two guards in the room with them watched her curiously.
"How long are we going to have to wait?" she asked, her voice a lot stronger than she felt.
"Don't worry, it won't be long," one of the guard's answered. Her tapping resumed and Kyle reached out and put a hand on her knee to stop her twitching. She jumped at the contact and looked over at him, realizing what he was doing. There was a calming feeling about his hand on her knee and she gave him a small smile, which he returned, and she took a deep breath to try and relax. It wasn't like her to feel nervous like this but a lot was happening and people she cared about were involved and that changed everything.
Eric sat on the other side of Raven, looking like he was bored out of his mind. He was pretty good at that but it was just a cover; he was extremely focused and was readying himself for anything. That was kind of hard to do considering he could not imagine what was coming next.
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Riddick had listened as the ramp closed and remained in his hiding place a few tortuously long minutes before heading to the hatch. Only the air was disturbed as he dropped to the metal floor into a crouch, there was no other sound. He did a quick scan of the area before moving up against the wall. There was no one around that he could see and he wished more than anything to have Skye's 'sense'. He could hear and feel people before he saw them but he felt that it might not be good enough this time.
The tension in his body was building the closer he got to their room. He almost knew what he was going to find there but he forced that thought away from his mind and focused on the fact that he hadn't run into one person on his way back. There were too many people that worked here to not run into at least one of them. That was bad enough but when he finally reached the door, he could feel the danger that had recently been there, hanging in the air like a bad dream you just woke up from.
When he stepped into the room he wasn't shocked to see the condition it was in. The room was empty, completely void of life. Riddick managed to keep his cool as he strode to the door of the bedroom Jack had been in, knowing full well she wasn't in there. He eyed the broken table, stepping carelessly over the broken pieces that littered the floor. Taking a breath, he placed his hands on the cool steel door, focusing on its caress as it slid open.
His heart quickened in pace as he stepped into the vacant room. The sheets and blankets on the bed were in disarray and a bag sat on the floor, untouched, but there was nothing else. Riddick couldn't figure out what happened here but he was pretty sure who had won this little battle.
Clenching his fists, feeling the muscles burning in his forearms, Riddick turned and stepped back out into the main room. He angrily kicked through the debris when something caught his eye. The book Skye had found, detailing the experiments that were going on here.
A sleek smile crept over his face as an evil idea formed in his head. He made for the door fast; looking both ways as he moved into the hall, then broke into a run for the nearest elevator.
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Skye slowly came around almost painfully confused. She kept her eyes closed, feeling out her location, taking mental notes of any immediate harm that could come upon her. Satisfied that she was okay, her eyes opened and adjusted to the dim light.
Looking left then right, she could see her wrists were bound with rope and her arms were out-stretched while she was seated, her feet free of any restraints. Concentrating further, she could feel that there were three men outside the door but no where else. She was kind of surprised that her head was really clear for the first time since joining the team. In fact, it was clearer than she's ever known. Her head buzzed almost with a sense of precognition. That laser blast seemed to have kicked her 'sense' into high gear.
Testing the ropes with a few quick pulls brought the dull ache in her shoulder to a full throb. She groaned her way quietly through the pain and pulled on the ropes again when it passed. They appeared to be weak and she smiled on the inside. She must look fragile to other people or they would have secured her with something like metal chains.
Sudden movement outside her room brought her to immediate attention. Two of the men were leaving the area but the remaining one was at her door. There was a click as the lock disengaged and the door slid open. The man's form was backlit by the light from the hall making his features appear to be non-existent. He stepped into the room with careless confidence and approached her quickly.
Skye felt repulsed by the vibes he was putting off with every step. It was a cold evil feeling that most people would connect with Riddick, but even though she could feel Riddick's animal side, it never felt anything like this.
She pressed her back to the wall as he crouched down in front of her, putting his disgusting hands on her knees.
"Looks like it's just you and me," he drawled in a voice slightly altered with some sort of accent. "They told me to keep my eye on you so that's what I intend to do." He reached up and traced the neckline of her shirt, dipping his fingers underneath to feel the slight swell of her breasts. Skye flinched on the inside but she kept her eyes and face emotionless, something she'd picked up from Riddick.
The guard looked her over, being very obvious about where he was looking and he didn't seem bothered by her lack of response.
"Well, actually, I think I'll keep more than my eyes on you."
"Why don't you just kill me?" Skye spat out. The man laughed, a rough scratchy sound that made her cringe.
"I'd really like to but they need you alive. It seems you have something they want." His breathing picked up as the hand on her knee slid up her thigh, right to the junction and he squeezed hard. "Seems like you have something I want as well."
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Riddick had the most evil smile on his face as he stepped out of the elevator onto the lower deck. The atmosphere around him was radiating with animal heat, but it wasn't only from him; there were things worse than him down here and it struck him funny that it wasn't the first time his level of evil was surpassed.
He listened carefully for unusual sounds, almost expecting to hear the whooping and clicking of those creatures back on that eclipsed planet. But all was still. Riddick took carefully maneuvered steps down the hall to avoid calling attention to himself, opening access tunnels and propping the door to the stairwell open as he proceeded, and the farther he got; the more the hallways became filled with noises that tickled his ears. Heavy thuds on concrete, the high-pitch screech of something sharp being dragged across metal, the raspy breathing of something big, and other sounds of movement behind the closed doors he passed.
Riddick ran his hand over the walls and doors on his left as he walked, silencing whatever it was on the other side, as if they sensed a likeness in him and quieted down out of respect. The hall was once again in complete silence as Riddick rounded a corner and came to a dead end. This was it, the end of the road, literally, and all hell was about to break loose at his command.
What he was about to do was dangerous but it was their only chance to get out alive. His team was good but they needed a distraction. He just hoped they would be ready for what he about to unleash.
Riddick absently rubbed his left shoulder, still feeling the sting from the phantom hit he'd taken earlier, his mind drifting to Skye, wondering if she was okay. He closed his eyes and took slow even breaths, preparing for the run ahead and the fight for survival from the hellhounds he knew would be biting at his heels.
Without another moment of hesitation, Riddick broke into a run taking long powerful strides around the corner. He hit the switch on the right, releasing the lock and opening the door, then the left and back to the right, all the way down the hall.
Growls and snarls emanated through the open doors behind him but he kept going, there was no turning back now. A shrill howl of pure delight rang out to him that made his skin crawl.
Riddick was going to take the stairs up, a faster route than the elevator, and just as he stepped onto the landing, the lights went out. Not really a problem for him but he wasn't sure how the others were going to handle it. He ripped his goggles off his head and shoved them into his pocket, taking the stairs two at a time, resisting like hell the urge to look back. Those things weren't wasting any time; he could here the heavy pounding of their feet as they surged forward. It wouldn't be long before they found the open doorways Riddick had left for them.
As he passed the first floor, he was suddenly bathed in a dull red light, emergency lighting; a female computerized voice came over the intercom system saying, "Station is on lockdown, lower-level lab has been breached. Warning: breach in the lower-level."
Breach in the lower-level my ass. Riddick thought to himself. There was nothing to goddamn breach. There must be some asshole in charge of security on that level; either that or those in charge thought they were above and beyond any harm their little experiments could cause. Over-confidence can certainly come back and bite you in the ass.
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Skye suddenly found herself in complete darkness and she took it as an opportunity; bringing her knee up hard, she caught the guard by surprise right in the crotch and he fell to the ground screaming in agony. She kicked out with her foot and managed to get a lucky shot to the side of his head and the screaming came to a halt, as he lay there unconscious.
Skye pulled as hard as she could on the ropes, ignoring the burning pain that moved from her shoulder into her arm, the pain only made her pull harder, and with a simultaneous snap, the rope broke and she was free.
She blindly fell to her knees and crawled to the fallen guard, searching his body for a weapon just as room was filled with red lighting. There was a voice coming through the intercom but the blood rushing through her ears and the pounding of her heart drowned it all out.
She found what she needed, a fully loaded 9mm, and another full clip, which she slipped into her pocket before running to the door. With the gun pointed straight ahead, she stepped into the hall and started down, only stopping when she heard the voice on the intercom again. This time she heard it, something about a breach in the lower-levels.
Shit, that had to be Riddick. She thought as she started running, heading for Jack and the baby, very afraid of what could now be roaming the station, at least her sense was working properly but she was very afraid for the others.
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As soon as the lights went out Kyle squeezed Raven's knee hard and Eric put his arm out in front of her, not wanting to lose each other in the black out. The eerie emotionless voice over the intercom made the blood in their veins freeze and they all knew it couldn't get much worse than this.
With red light filling the small room and reflecting off the glass, it looked like they were sitting in the middle of a blood bath and the two guards, after hearing the warning, panicked and fled from the room. Eric stood, pulling Raven up with him. She looked to the ceiling in confusion as Kyle stood and moved in close to her, taking in the worried expression on her face.
"Looks like this is it," Eric said as he moved to the door. "We gotta find weapons because I have a feeling we're in for one hell of a fight."