Chapter 3 - I do what I can
Alex opened her eyes several hours later, as the red-orange sunlight streamed through her window. Rolling over, she glanced at the clock to see it said 8am. Muttering to herself about sleeping late, she tossed off the covers and tried to clear her bleary eyes, then stood up and opened the closet unit drawers. Changing into her typical black tank top and black pants, she froze as she realized why, when she normally didn't need much sleep, she was so tired this morning.
Whirling around, her eyes flew to the locks on the door. Still in place. He must still be out in the living room. Thinking it over briefly, she couldn't believe she had acquiesced so easily last night, it must have been the shock of seeing Riddick after such a long time. That fucking promise she made. Imam had asked her about it when they had gotten to Moltai, why the girl who ostracized everyone was suddenly so willing to help a holy man and a kid out. So she told him. And Jack overheard. So both of them knew, and it had never occurred to her that Riddick would come waltzing back into her life again so that she would have to take care of him too. There was a part of her, however, that welcomed the oath which had brought her two people, Jack and Imam, who she could open her frozen heart to.
She shook herself, thinking how ridiculous it was that she was standing here in her own room, almost afraid to go outside of it because of the person on the other side of the door. She took in a deep breath, trying to prepare herself to talk to him. Which she would have to do. Yes, she was afraid of him, but the only way to get one up on him was to act like she wasn't. She looked down at her arm, at the silver armband which she always wore, it had made it through her ordeal with those creatures, and it would make it through this. It had the Chinese character for "flame" on it, but beneath it was the chip that held information for the accounts where she the emergency stash of her money, half of what was left from the original five hundred thousand. But it was the "flame" character she was looking at now, and, closing her eyes, she pictured the flame that burned inside of her.
Opening her eyes, she walked over to the weapons rack and strapped on the back sheath for her knife, pulling her tank top over the thicker material would conceal it. A little. She pulled on her boots while sitting on the bed. The fear had gone away a little when she put on the knife, and she hoped that it would be enough should anything happen. Her head hurt, and she yawned, regretting that her morning ritual would be disrupted today and that she felt so tired. She yearned for a good strong cup of coffee. She probably hadn't fallen asleep until a couple of hours ago. Sighing, she forced her feet to move towards the door. She was still afraid of him, but steeled herself to act the opposite.
As Alex moved towards the door, she heard what sounded like voices coming from the other side, but she couldn't make it out. Unlocking the door, she opened it and stopped as she saw Riddick, awake and staring at her through his glasses as she emerged from her room. The vidscreen was on, the volume low, and he was seated on the nondescript blue couch as if he had been watching it. It was only a second's pause, a shock back into the reality of the menacing presence actually in her "house," and then she nodded at him and boldly strode into the kitchen. She could feel his eyes following her as she pressed the "entry" button on the food/beverage dispenser. Her mouth was dry, but it didn't have anything to do with the fact that she had just woken up.
"Coffee, black," she said to the dispenser, her voice raspy. As she flipped up the panel to remove the mug full of good, strong, coffee, she barely kept her hands from shaking. Don't even look at him, she thought. Just don't act afraid. A flare of anger helped with that, at the fact that her relatively peaceful existence had to now be one of this intimidation game. Bastard. Just stay angry.
Riddick was indeed watching Alex as she came out of her bedroom. She was the one who had not acted afraid, at least of him, from the very beginning. When he had come out and asked her about it, she had dodged the question, and at that point he was trying to manipulate the situation to expose Johns, so he hadn't pressed the issue. He couldn't deny that she interested him. Intrigued him, more like. She definitely knew how to handle herself, and those five blades she wore. Though the sword and most of the others were noticeably absent today, his eyes had noted the small, low bulge in the middle of her back, indicating the knife she kept back there. He remembered it from last night, thinking of his slip, letting her get it around without him noticing. At first sight, seeing her in that hold with him in chains, he'd thought that she wasn't that much of a threat. Just a stupid bitch, staring at him, the monster, in chains. But she'd continually surprised him, it taught him to look past that, look for her weak points. He hadn't found many. That little speech she had given the holy man, when he overheard, had surprised the hell out of him and was the first emotion he'd seen out of her. He'd caught her staring at him a few times, a puzzled look on her face. Probably trying to figure him out same as he tried to do with her. And this arrangement she had, taking care of the kid. Most of all, he couldn't forget the fact that she had saved his life. Twice. Very intriguing.
Alex sipped her coffee and pretended not to notice Riddick, and he slid his eyes back to the vidscreen, pretending not to notice her. The growing tension was becoming so thick Alex could almost cut it with one of her knives. What to say?
The problem was solved for her as Riddick took the first step.
"Uh, thank you," he rumbled, breaking the silence. Startled, Alex stared at him over her steaming mug, trying to read his face. From all she could tell it was completely genuine, which surprised her. The most dangerous person she knew, and he was thanking her. What was his motivation? Why the hell was he here? He could have stayed in any number of places, but here? There must be another reason. And being so-unnaturally-polite to her. There had to be something else behind it. It must have taken a lot of effort to find them, effort she didn't think that Riddick would take with two or three people who he'd piloted off that rock.
She cleared her throat. "You're welcome," she said, then looked back down into her cup, as if it would give her an answer. But no answer came, so she decided to go for broke. She tipped her head back to finish the rest of her coffee, as if she was taking a shot. Putting the mug down onto the counter, she walked to the edge of the kitchen-living room border and leaned against the wall.
"How did you find us?" she asked hesitantly. But not too hesitantly. The game was still on. And yet, it occurred to her that he was a sliver more trustworthy than she had thought earlier. He had, to her knowledge, done nothing to the apartment or to them.
He turned to face her, the vid blinking in the backround. "Imam," he said simply, at which she berated herself for not realizing it sooner. Of course. New Mecca, one of the Hunter-Grazner's original destinations. The spirituality of the many pilgrims who traveled there permeated the entire planet. Imam, the "holy man," would no doubt have tried to convince them to go there or gone on alone.
"Ah," Alex acknowledged. An awkward silence followed, and he looked at her expectantly, probably wanting to know how they had become separated. She looked down at the carpet, remembering the talk she and Imam had one day. "We all stayed together but Imam, he was.dying here. This is no place for a person like him. Especially not Loku," she trailed off. The first few months had been, quite simply, awful. Even her training, her control, had not prepared her for the chaos that ruled the streets at times.
She looked back up, into his face. He seemed thoughtful, processing the information she had given him. Which wasn't much. But without knowing his intentions, the less she divulged, the better. He still scared the hell out of her, even though she tried as hard as she could to act like she wasn't afraid. A thought occurred to her that if Imam had contacted Riddick, it would have been nice of the man to give her some advance warning. But Imam had his own reasons for doing things. Interesting how Riddick had showed up not at her door, but intercepted her in the fight yesterday.
"And, I suppose, you just happened to be in that street last night?" she asked him, curious as to how he knew to be there at that precise moment. He must have been watching her. But for how long, she wondered.
"That's right. You were so busy I didn't get a chance for a second drink," he responded, a little smirk on his face as he saw realization dawning for a split second when he dropped that tidbit of information.
It hit her like a thunderbolt. The man, at the bar, whose frame had looked so familiar. It must have been Riddick. Shit, she thought, how long had he been watching her? The one night when she couldn't see everyone in the bar, he had come in. She caught herself quickly and removed the surprise from her face, but she thought he had seen it anyways. Damn. He had seen it. Her fault, for not being more careful at the bar, not realizing someone was watching her. It got her a little angry with herself. To cover it, she snorted.
"Well, least you could've done was help me out a bit," she got out, turning back to go into the kitchen. "I'm sure that you could have handled one of them," she tossed over her shoulder, emphasizing 'one' as she inwardly tried to still her pounding heart. Don't look back, don't look back. Don't let him think for one second that you care about what he thinks. She punched in the code for a breakfast bar and then walked around to take a seat across the table from Riddick, a fake sweet smile on her face.
The bolts slid out of place on Jack's door, and it opened, revealing a fully-dressed Jack with a mixture of seriousness and excitement on her face. Serious to try and impress Riddick, Alex thought. But the excitement got the better of Jack and she smiled and walked out of her room, taking a seat on the chair next to Alex. Alex couldn't help but smile back. After all, being tough on Riddick had nothing to do with being tough on Jack.
"You're up early, for a day with no school," she told Jack, a knowing smile on her face. It was pretty cute, really, this attachment Jack had to Riddick. Except for the whole 'he's a killer' part, she wouldn't have minded. But there were times when she reminded herself that she couldn't protect Jack from everything, or anything, really, if Jack didn't want her to. It was such an odd mother/sister relationship, but it worked.
"Yeah, I, uh, wanted to talk. You know, you said I could today," Jack said, glancing at Riddick, then back at Alex, almost as if for consent.
"Yah, I did," Alex replied. "Go ahead, then, don't need my permission or anything."
Jack smiled again, and proceeded to ask Riddick what he had been doing. Alex let Jack do all of the asking, listening carefully as Riddick reluctantly answered questions in that deep voice of his. A voice which seemed to be lighter with Jack than with her. Seems that he had been going from spaceport to planet to port, getting a new identity, gathering money. Just traveling around, he said vaguely. Probably doing a lot of other things that he didn't want Jack to know about, Alex thought. Jack started talking about her school, and how she messed around on the computer. She was actually quite good at hacking, for someone who learned from experience only.
Riddick was silent through it all. As Jack noticed, she wound down her talk, looking at Riddick expectantly. What was wrong, Alex thought? Tired of a fourteen year old chatting at him? She couldn't have misinterpreted his like for Jack, of that she was certain. But what he said caught her totally off guard.
"Why do you stay here?" he asked, looking right at Alex. Definitely a question she had never expected. She looked at him, weighing her options. What answer could she give that he wouldn't look on her as a fool for doing?
"It's.safe," she began hesitantly, then continued in a rush. "Safe from the law, safe from anyone who might be poking around, trying to find us. Either of us." To her own ears it sounded like faulty reasoning. "And it's what I can afford." There was the real reason, mostly.
"Come on, I saw that shit you had with you on the ship," he told her, his voice seeming more insistent. Why was he pressing this point? "If you can afford that, you can afford a nicer place than this. Or a ticket out of here."
"Look," she spat at him, angry at the assumption that she had lots of money. It was slowly running out, she had been forced to slowly leach money out of her savings, her emergency funds which she accessed from the chip in her armband. "That was a one-time deal. I don't have-" she broke off, pausing to consider her wording. "I don't have enough to start up somewhere else. This works."
How could she say that it was never in her plan to take care of someone else? Never to live in any manner other than the day-to-day, to live without a purpose? Now she had to plan, to make everything last. It would do Jack no good if she got herself killed tomorrow, and Jack could hardly make it on her own. She could never say that, though, it would hurt Jack if she let on how coldly she had analyzed it. Once. It was all different now. She couldn't leave Jack.
"Yeah, it works all right," Riddick replied scornfully, yet calmly. "Hiding away, hoping the rats of the street don't gang up on you, waiting it out, until what? You may not be as protected as you like to think."
Where the hell was all of this coming from? And what was that supposed to mean? Fucking Riddick. If he would only make sense once in awhile. She had him pegged, mostly, for a mean junkyard dog who only wanted to frighten everyone else. Or kill them. No, not a dog, a tiger, coldly calculating its next kill. But now, ever since the planet, ever since he had said "Riddick's dead, somewhere on that planet," she could not for the life of her read him. Oh come on, a part of her yelled, you never could.
"Alex does the best she can!" Jack shrilled, suddenly upset. But not angry, more like frightened. Alex felt the guilty pleasure from Jack standing up for her, but soon concern overshadowed it. "We're protected, she protects us. And I'm learning!" Alex's concern deepened as she heard the note of desperation in Jack's voice, almost like she was trying to convince herself. Looking over at Jack, Alex tried to catch her eye, to calm her down, but the girl was still upset.
"Well maybe the best you can isn't good enough anymore," Riddick said, causing Alex to snap her head in his direction and glare at him. If she could she'd burn right though those glasses, trying to see any honesty, and clue of what he was talking about in his eyes.
She could almost feel the fear emanating off of Jack in waves. She had curled up her legs and was holding them closely to herself, looking down and muttering what sounded like, "no, we're safe," over and over again. Whatever he was saying seemed to be hitting her especially hard. Alex couldn't understand why, all it was doing to her was making her angry. She broke her gaze with Riddick to look back at Jack, who had an expression of growing fear on her face, almost like what she looked like during a nightmare. She had to find out what the fuck Riddick was talking about, and without Jack right there. Executive decision.
"Get up," she said suddenly to Riddick, getting up herself and scowling at him, her voice cracking with anger. Why was he scaring Jack? "We are going for a walk, you and me." And you will tell me exactly what you mean when you say "not good enough anymore" she added to herself. "Jack, you're staying here," as Jack started to get up, too. "No questions." She walked quickly into her room and yanked down her sword and belt, slipping them on in a smooth movement, then slammed a boot knife into each sheath. You're letting him see your anger, she thought, but she didn't care. She pulled a long-sleeved shirt over her tank top, then her vest over that, and picked up her wrist knife as she walked out of the room, where Riddick had stood up and slung his bag over a shoulder, ready to go. She was angry at him, for saying she was inadequate. For frightening Jack. And for some reason, angry at herself for not knowing what was going on at all times. He knew something that scared Jack witless, and she didn't.
When he saw her stalk out of her room and start strapping on that tricky wrist knife, under the long sleeve, he made his way to the door and smoothly unlocked it, opening it as Alex put her hand on Jack's shoulder.
"I'm going to find out exactly what he means," she whispered. But Jack, the fear only showing in her eyes, now, shrugged away. Angry at not being allowed to come. "Lock the door," Alex said softly, and looked back up at Riddick, eyes blazing.
"Go," she barked, following him. The door closed behind them and she heard all four locks click shut. The elevator immediately came and as soon as the door closed she turned to stare at him.
"What the fuck do you mean, 'anymore'?" she growled to his impassive face.
But one word was all he said. "Wait." It infuriated her even more. But she waited, giving her time to calm herself down, finding the flame, feeding her anger into it. With calm came the restraining thought that she was almost about to draw on Richard B. Riddick, not exactly a good idea.
They stepped out of the elevator and she followed him through the lobby, lengthening her steps to catch up to his strides. He seemed tense, but not angry. She was certainly angry with him, however. Once they got outside, he put his hand up to shade his eyes from the blinding sun and touched the sidepiece of his glasses. A part of her, dissociated from the increasing desire to put the sword to his throat, noted that the glasses became darker.
He kept walking until they had passed into the shadows of the high rises. He slowed his pace and she walked alongside him instead of behind.
"Now," he drawled, "you want to know what's got the kid so frightened, doncha?"
Notes: Sorry it took so long with this next chapter. I had a bit of a block, oh no! I'm not especially pleased with it, but the next one will, I promise, be much better because I'll finally pick up the pace a bit.
Alex opened her eyes several hours later, as the red-orange sunlight streamed through her window. Rolling over, she glanced at the clock to see it said 8am. Muttering to herself about sleeping late, she tossed off the covers and tried to clear her bleary eyes, then stood up and opened the closet unit drawers. Changing into her typical black tank top and black pants, she froze as she realized why, when she normally didn't need much sleep, she was so tired this morning.
Whirling around, her eyes flew to the locks on the door. Still in place. He must still be out in the living room. Thinking it over briefly, she couldn't believe she had acquiesced so easily last night, it must have been the shock of seeing Riddick after such a long time. That fucking promise she made. Imam had asked her about it when they had gotten to Moltai, why the girl who ostracized everyone was suddenly so willing to help a holy man and a kid out. So she told him. And Jack overheard. So both of them knew, and it had never occurred to her that Riddick would come waltzing back into her life again so that she would have to take care of him too. There was a part of her, however, that welcomed the oath which had brought her two people, Jack and Imam, who she could open her frozen heart to.
She shook herself, thinking how ridiculous it was that she was standing here in her own room, almost afraid to go outside of it because of the person on the other side of the door. She took in a deep breath, trying to prepare herself to talk to him. Which she would have to do. Yes, she was afraid of him, but the only way to get one up on him was to act like she wasn't. She looked down at her arm, at the silver armband which she always wore, it had made it through her ordeal with those creatures, and it would make it through this. It had the Chinese character for "flame" on it, but beneath it was the chip that held information for the accounts where she the emergency stash of her money, half of what was left from the original five hundred thousand. But it was the "flame" character she was looking at now, and, closing her eyes, she pictured the flame that burned inside of her.
Opening her eyes, she walked over to the weapons rack and strapped on the back sheath for her knife, pulling her tank top over the thicker material would conceal it. A little. She pulled on her boots while sitting on the bed. The fear had gone away a little when she put on the knife, and she hoped that it would be enough should anything happen. Her head hurt, and she yawned, regretting that her morning ritual would be disrupted today and that she felt so tired. She yearned for a good strong cup of coffee. She probably hadn't fallen asleep until a couple of hours ago. Sighing, she forced her feet to move towards the door. She was still afraid of him, but steeled herself to act the opposite.
As Alex moved towards the door, she heard what sounded like voices coming from the other side, but she couldn't make it out. Unlocking the door, she opened it and stopped as she saw Riddick, awake and staring at her through his glasses as she emerged from her room. The vidscreen was on, the volume low, and he was seated on the nondescript blue couch as if he had been watching it. It was only a second's pause, a shock back into the reality of the menacing presence actually in her "house," and then she nodded at him and boldly strode into the kitchen. She could feel his eyes following her as she pressed the "entry" button on the food/beverage dispenser. Her mouth was dry, but it didn't have anything to do with the fact that she had just woken up.
"Coffee, black," she said to the dispenser, her voice raspy. As she flipped up the panel to remove the mug full of good, strong, coffee, she barely kept her hands from shaking. Don't even look at him, she thought. Just don't act afraid. A flare of anger helped with that, at the fact that her relatively peaceful existence had to now be one of this intimidation game. Bastard. Just stay angry.
Riddick was indeed watching Alex as she came out of her bedroom. She was the one who had not acted afraid, at least of him, from the very beginning. When he had come out and asked her about it, she had dodged the question, and at that point he was trying to manipulate the situation to expose Johns, so he hadn't pressed the issue. He couldn't deny that she interested him. Intrigued him, more like. She definitely knew how to handle herself, and those five blades she wore. Though the sword and most of the others were noticeably absent today, his eyes had noted the small, low bulge in the middle of her back, indicating the knife she kept back there. He remembered it from last night, thinking of his slip, letting her get it around without him noticing. At first sight, seeing her in that hold with him in chains, he'd thought that she wasn't that much of a threat. Just a stupid bitch, staring at him, the monster, in chains. But she'd continually surprised him, it taught him to look past that, look for her weak points. He hadn't found many. That little speech she had given the holy man, when he overheard, had surprised the hell out of him and was the first emotion he'd seen out of her. He'd caught her staring at him a few times, a puzzled look on her face. Probably trying to figure him out same as he tried to do with her. And this arrangement she had, taking care of the kid. Most of all, he couldn't forget the fact that she had saved his life. Twice. Very intriguing.
Alex sipped her coffee and pretended not to notice Riddick, and he slid his eyes back to the vidscreen, pretending not to notice her. The growing tension was becoming so thick Alex could almost cut it with one of her knives. What to say?
The problem was solved for her as Riddick took the first step.
"Uh, thank you," he rumbled, breaking the silence. Startled, Alex stared at him over her steaming mug, trying to read his face. From all she could tell it was completely genuine, which surprised her. The most dangerous person she knew, and he was thanking her. What was his motivation? Why the hell was he here? He could have stayed in any number of places, but here? There must be another reason. And being so-unnaturally-polite to her. There had to be something else behind it. It must have taken a lot of effort to find them, effort she didn't think that Riddick would take with two or three people who he'd piloted off that rock.
She cleared her throat. "You're welcome," she said, then looked back down into her cup, as if it would give her an answer. But no answer came, so she decided to go for broke. She tipped her head back to finish the rest of her coffee, as if she was taking a shot. Putting the mug down onto the counter, she walked to the edge of the kitchen-living room border and leaned against the wall.
"How did you find us?" she asked hesitantly. But not too hesitantly. The game was still on. And yet, it occurred to her that he was a sliver more trustworthy than she had thought earlier. He had, to her knowledge, done nothing to the apartment or to them.
He turned to face her, the vid blinking in the backround. "Imam," he said simply, at which she berated herself for not realizing it sooner. Of course. New Mecca, one of the Hunter-Grazner's original destinations. The spirituality of the many pilgrims who traveled there permeated the entire planet. Imam, the "holy man," would no doubt have tried to convince them to go there or gone on alone.
"Ah," Alex acknowledged. An awkward silence followed, and he looked at her expectantly, probably wanting to know how they had become separated. She looked down at the carpet, remembering the talk she and Imam had one day. "We all stayed together but Imam, he was.dying here. This is no place for a person like him. Especially not Loku," she trailed off. The first few months had been, quite simply, awful. Even her training, her control, had not prepared her for the chaos that ruled the streets at times.
She looked back up, into his face. He seemed thoughtful, processing the information she had given him. Which wasn't much. But without knowing his intentions, the less she divulged, the better. He still scared the hell out of her, even though she tried as hard as she could to act like she wasn't afraid. A thought occurred to her that if Imam had contacted Riddick, it would have been nice of the man to give her some advance warning. But Imam had his own reasons for doing things. Interesting how Riddick had showed up not at her door, but intercepted her in the fight yesterday.
"And, I suppose, you just happened to be in that street last night?" she asked him, curious as to how he knew to be there at that precise moment. He must have been watching her. But for how long, she wondered.
"That's right. You were so busy I didn't get a chance for a second drink," he responded, a little smirk on his face as he saw realization dawning for a split second when he dropped that tidbit of information.
It hit her like a thunderbolt. The man, at the bar, whose frame had looked so familiar. It must have been Riddick. Shit, she thought, how long had he been watching her? The one night when she couldn't see everyone in the bar, he had come in. She caught herself quickly and removed the surprise from her face, but she thought he had seen it anyways. Damn. He had seen it. Her fault, for not being more careful at the bar, not realizing someone was watching her. It got her a little angry with herself. To cover it, she snorted.
"Well, least you could've done was help me out a bit," she got out, turning back to go into the kitchen. "I'm sure that you could have handled one of them," she tossed over her shoulder, emphasizing 'one' as she inwardly tried to still her pounding heart. Don't look back, don't look back. Don't let him think for one second that you care about what he thinks. She punched in the code for a breakfast bar and then walked around to take a seat across the table from Riddick, a fake sweet smile on her face.
The bolts slid out of place on Jack's door, and it opened, revealing a fully-dressed Jack with a mixture of seriousness and excitement on her face. Serious to try and impress Riddick, Alex thought. But the excitement got the better of Jack and she smiled and walked out of her room, taking a seat on the chair next to Alex. Alex couldn't help but smile back. After all, being tough on Riddick had nothing to do with being tough on Jack.
"You're up early, for a day with no school," she told Jack, a knowing smile on her face. It was pretty cute, really, this attachment Jack had to Riddick. Except for the whole 'he's a killer' part, she wouldn't have minded. But there were times when she reminded herself that she couldn't protect Jack from everything, or anything, really, if Jack didn't want her to. It was such an odd mother/sister relationship, but it worked.
"Yeah, I, uh, wanted to talk. You know, you said I could today," Jack said, glancing at Riddick, then back at Alex, almost as if for consent.
"Yah, I did," Alex replied. "Go ahead, then, don't need my permission or anything."
Jack smiled again, and proceeded to ask Riddick what he had been doing. Alex let Jack do all of the asking, listening carefully as Riddick reluctantly answered questions in that deep voice of his. A voice which seemed to be lighter with Jack than with her. Seems that he had been going from spaceport to planet to port, getting a new identity, gathering money. Just traveling around, he said vaguely. Probably doing a lot of other things that he didn't want Jack to know about, Alex thought. Jack started talking about her school, and how she messed around on the computer. She was actually quite good at hacking, for someone who learned from experience only.
Riddick was silent through it all. As Jack noticed, she wound down her talk, looking at Riddick expectantly. What was wrong, Alex thought? Tired of a fourteen year old chatting at him? She couldn't have misinterpreted his like for Jack, of that she was certain. But what he said caught her totally off guard.
"Why do you stay here?" he asked, looking right at Alex. Definitely a question she had never expected. She looked at him, weighing her options. What answer could she give that he wouldn't look on her as a fool for doing?
"It's.safe," she began hesitantly, then continued in a rush. "Safe from the law, safe from anyone who might be poking around, trying to find us. Either of us." To her own ears it sounded like faulty reasoning. "And it's what I can afford." There was the real reason, mostly.
"Come on, I saw that shit you had with you on the ship," he told her, his voice seeming more insistent. Why was he pressing this point? "If you can afford that, you can afford a nicer place than this. Or a ticket out of here."
"Look," she spat at him, angry at the assumption that she had lots of money. It was slowly running out, she had been forced to slowly leach money out of her savings, her emergency funds which she accessed from the chip in her armband. "That was a one-time deal. I don't have-" she broke off, pausing to consider her wording. "I don't have enough to start up somewhere else. This works."
How could she say that it was never in her plan to take care of someone else? Never to live in any manner other than the day-to-day, to live without a purpose? Now she had to plan, to make everything last. It would do Jack no good if she got herself killed tomorrow, and Jack could hardly make it on her own. She could never say that, though, it would hurt Jack if she let on how coldly she had analyzed it. Once. It was all different now. She couldn't leave Jack.
"Yeah, it works all right," Riddick replied scornfully, yet calmly. "Hiding away, hoping the rats of the street don't gang up on you, waiting it out, until what? You may not be as protected as you like to think."
Where the hell was all of this coming from? And what was that supposed to mean? Fucking Riddick. If he would only make sense once in awhile. She had him pegged, mostly, for a mean junkyard dog who only wanted to frighten everyone else. Or kill them. No, not a dog, a tiger, coldly calculating its next kill. But now, ever since the planet, ever since he had said "Riddick's dead, somewhere on that planet," she could not for the life of her read him. Oh come on, a part of her yelled, you never could.
"Alex does the best she can!" Jack shrilled, suddenly upset. But not angry, more like frightened. Alex felt the guilty pleasure from Jack standing up for her, but soon concern overshadowed it. "We're protected, she protects us. And I'm learning!" Alex's concern deepened as she heard the note of desperation in Jack's voice, almost like she was trying to convince herself. Looking over at Jack, Alex tried to catch her eye, to calm her down, but the girl was still upset.
"Well maybe the best you can isn't good enough anymore," Riddick said, causing Alex to snap her head in his direction and glare at him. If she could she'd burn right though those glasses, trying to see any honesty, and clue of what he was talking about in his eyes.
She could almost feel the fear emanating off of Jack in waves. She had curled up her legs and was holding them closely to herself, looking down and muttering what sounded like, "no, we're safe," over and over again. Whatever he was saying seemed to be hitting her especially hard. Alex couldn't understand why, all it was doing to her was making her angry. She broke her gaze with Riddick to look back at Jack, who had an expression of growing fear on her face, almost like what she looked like during a nightmare. She had to find out what the fuck Riddick was talking about, and without Jack right there. Executive decision.
"Get up," she said suddenly to Riddick, getting up herself and scowling at him, her voice cracking with anger. Why was he scaring Jack? "We are going for a walk, you and me." And you will tell me exactly what you mean when you say "not good enough anymore" she added to herself. "Jack, you're staying here," as Jack started to get up, too. "No questions." She walked quickly into her room and yanked down her sword and belt, slipping them on in a smooth movement, then slammed a boot knife into each sheath. You're letting him see your anger, she thought, but she didn't care. She pulled a long-sleeved shirt over her tank top, then her vest over that, and picked up her wrist knife as she walked out of the room, where Riddick had stood up and slung his bag over a shoulder, ready to go. She was angry at him, for saying she was inadequate. For frightening Jack. And for some reason, angry at herself for not knowing what was going on at all times. He knew something that scared Jack witless, and she didn't.
When he saw her stalk out of her room and start strapping on that tricky wrist knife, under the long sleeve, he made his way to the door and smoothly unlocked it, opening it as Alex put her hand on Jack's shoulder.
"I'm going to find out exactly what he means," she whispered. But Jack, the fear only showing in her eyes, now, shrugged away. Angry at not being allowed to come. "Lock the door," Alex said softly, and looked back up at Riddick, eyes blazing.
"Go," she barked, following him. The door closed behind them and she heard all four locks click shut. The elevator immediately came and as soon as the door closed she turned to stare at him.
"What the fuck do you mean, 'anymore'?" she growled to his impassive face.
But one word was all he said. "Wait." It infuriated her even more. But she waited, giving her time to calm herself down, finding the flame, feeding her anger into it. With calm came the restraining thought that she was almost about to draw on Richard B. Riddick, not exactly a good idea.
They stepped out of the elevator and she followed him through the lobby, lengthening her steps to catch up to his strides. He seemed tense, but not angry. She was certainly angry with him, however. Once they got outside, he put his hand up to shade his eyes from the blinding sun and touched the sidepiece of his glasses. A part of her, dissociated from the increasing desire to put the sword to his throat, noted that the glasses became darker.
He kept walking until they had passed into the shadows of the high rises. He slowed his pace and she walked alongside him instead of behind.
"Now," he drawled, "you want to know what's got the kid so frightened, doncha?"
Notes: Sorry it took so long with this next chapter. I had a bit of a block, oh no! I'm not especially pleased with it, but the next one will, I promise, be much better because I'll finally pick up the pace a bit.