"Jack," She said into the voice activated lock. Jack had just had it installed a few weeks ago. It was much better than the conventional voice locks, which just needed a code word. These ones responded to an individual's voice, not just the word that was said. And it was impervious to anything tape-recorded. The door opened silently and then closed behind her when she stepped into the comforting darkness of her apartment.
She lay down on the couch and sighed again. It had been a long day. There was so much work to be done, all centering on the rebellion. It was Dio's baby. So much of her surroundings reminded her of her missing past though. It was hard to get through a day without thinking about it, and this day was no exception.
The women at the hospital had told Jack that Riddick had left her there to die. Jack couldn't remember anything about the man, not even his face. The doctors said something about temporary amnesia, but it had been over six years. Jack had no other choice but to believe the nurses and doctors about what Riddick had done. But something about what they told Jack didn't sit right with her. Something Jack couldn't 't remember.
Jack stayed in the hospital for three months. The blast had hit her pancreas, her uterus and one of her ovaries. The doctors took out her entire reproductive system except for one ovary. She needed that for the hormones, they said. It didn't bother Jack. She had realized, even at the young age of fifteen, that her life would be much easier without those problems anyway.
As for her pancreas, that was one of the easier problems to fix. New tissue development experiments had just been approved around the time Jack was shot. She gave some blood, gave some tissue, and got a pancreas. Pretty good deal in Jack's opinion.
After getting out of the hospital, she left New Mecca, and Imam, to look for work and for a place to stay. She knew her parents were looking for her, but even before she had boarded the Hunter-Gratzner she knew she was out of their reach. They never thought she would leave the system, when it all reality, she had been out of her home system for three months before taking the trip that would change her life forever.
She lived on the streets for six months after leaving New Mecca, sleeping at abandoned construction sites, in dumpsters, in cardboard boxes. Anywhere relatively safe and dry. Work had been the hardest part. She tried saving money, but always had to spend it so she could eat. Eventually she fell in with the wrong crowd. It was inevitable, especially living where she had been living.
So she started with the petty stuff. Robbing houses led to mugging old ladies. That led to car jacking and grand theft auto. She was sent to the same minimum-security jail seven times when she was sixteen. In-between her fourth and fifth trips, she had her eyes shined. It hadn't been necessary, but she'd wanted it done. Something about how they made her look. It gave her an edge.
She also learned that Riddick had been captured. He was in a maximum-security prison in another system. Jack desperately wanted to see him, though she didn't know whether it was to get revenge or just to find out what the hell happened the day she almost died. But she knew it would have been impossible to approach the man. Since leaving the hospital, she had gathered information on him. If that was what you could call it. Hardly anyone had ever talked to him, and he didn't talk to anyone else. He wasn't a regular anywhere, and he usually didn't stick around long enough for people to get curious about his behavior. In a nutshell, Riddick was a nomadic loner without the capacity for compassion.
After he was captured, the Company came out with a new experimental procedure. Cryo freezing had been common for years, but they wanted to test extended cryo freezing. Jack remembered thinking that it was like saving left over food until you wanted it again. Evidently, Riddick had volunteered for the project. He was scheduled to be frozen for ten years. If he came out alive, he would be free. If he didn't, then the Company would never have to worry about him again.
On Jack's last stint to jail she was there long enough to make substantial connections. People who had worked around Riddick in the past. Never with or for him. Just around him. When those sources was exhausted, she just waited for her time to be up and was released. Soon enough though she would have all the information on Richard B. Riddick that she needed.
A month after her initial release, Jack was attacked by a group of seventeen men. They believed that she was trespassing in their territory, and evidently thought she should pay the price. Unfortunately for them, Jack hadn't been in a giving mood. She killed all seventeen men, ten with a blade and seven with her bare hands. Then she got caught and was dragged to the maximum-security prison on planet 565 of the Nazarek system at the age of seventeen. A maximum-security prison known as Slam.
There, she made even more connections, met new people, learned things. The long-timers there gave her some tips, showed her the ropes. They were her teachers and she was their student. Every time she learned something new she couldn't wait to try it out on her enemies. She soaked up information like a sponge that couldn't get enough water.
At first, her reputation had been like all new fish. Shit, basically. She was considered weak, below everyone else, and was pushed around by the older inmates. Well, pushed around wasn't the correct terminology. She wasn't pushed around. She got the shit beat out of her daily. After the first week, she was shocked that she hadn't cried yet. Already she had suffered broken ribs, fingers, a broken cheekbone, a broken leg and arm, and uncountable bruises everywhere. Still she pushed on.
The beatings continued until one day on "The Grounds". "The Grounds" was just the name for a large cement room. All the inmates were put together for exactly one hour, to trade, to kill, whatever. Guards didn't enter the room, they only put the prisoners in and took them back out.
Jack had been doing what she usually did when the prisoners were in "The Grounds"; sitting in the corner, observing. One inmate thought she had been staring at him. He had approached her and, when she didn't respond to him, he picked her up by her collar and slammed her into the wall. It brought something out in Jack, some great anger. It consumed her vision and she blacked out, a roaring sound filling her ears. The next thing she knew, she had killed the man with his own shiv, and had sliced the throats of six of his good buddies.
There was blood everywhere. On Jack's hands, face, clothes. She loved the feeling, the blood running down her hands and eventually drying there. She got twenty days solitary. It was hell by herself, but when she got out, it was as if she was a new person. She was treated with respect, and wasn't bothered. Later Jack found out that the men she had killed had been one of the toughest gangs in Slam.
In that prison, from one of her cellmates, she got her first tattoo. It started in the middle of her upper back, on her spine, and tapered out in both directions towards her shoulders. It was just some design, nothing special, but Jack had thought it was the best thing since sliced bread.
She remembered being told that she might have to be held down when her cellmate began tattooing above her spinal chord. If he were to go too deep with the gun, he might hit it and cause her to spasm uncontrollably, possibly doing even more damage to her spinal chord. Guns in Slam were nothing like guns outside the prison. The two other men in the cell were there to hold her down, one to get her arms and the other to get her legs. Jack smiled and remembered how the two of them and her had played gin rummy throughout the whole thing. The guys shit bricks when she started telling jokes and laughing out loud. They couldn't believe that she could be getting her first tattoo, and a big one at that, and she could withstand the pain.
Eventually though, she bid the prison farewell and was released into the public. She was eighteen and could legally find a job for herself. She found one, working the graveyard shift at a bar. They were wary about hiring her, not sure she could hold herself in a fight. That was before she kicked another employee's ass when he had passed a rude comment about her now fully developed - but not oversized - chest. That got her hired right quick.
The bar paid well. She saved up enough to afford an apartment and some other extras, one of which was another tattoo. The tattoo that caused her to find Dio. She had walked into the parlor while he was getting his newest tattoo, three six's on the front of his neck. He had waited for her and the two of them laughed and joked while she had 'pitch black' tattooed on her wrist. Dio had asked her what the tattoo meant to her. She remembered telling him that was the color of her heart, and he had bet that he could change that.
Dio wasn't bad looking. In fact, Jack considered him to be quite hot. He was tanned with black hair, and his voice carried the slightest twinge of a Spanish accent. They had walked out of the parlor together, and continued down the street. Jack liked Dio, not only because he was hot, but also because he reminded her of someone else...she couldn't remember who though. He had a shine job, as did most criminals. Those goggles had also reminded her of someone else. She felt safe with him. He hit on her as they walked, and eventually led her down an alleyway. She followed, knowing she could get herself out of any bad situations if need be.
She felt flattered that he was making moves on her, until he tried grabbing her breast. She brought him down, but he was right back up again. Between threats he found out that she was only eighteen. That was when the fighting stopped. He apologized, and then offered to walk her home. It confused the hell out of Jack, but she agreed. That was the one and only time she physically fought with Dio.
After that, he would show up at her door periodically. She cooked dinner for them both. Eventually he asked her to be his girl and she readily accepted. Of course, he explained, this would mean that she would be a part of Dio's gang. She had no family and was anxious to feel like she was a part of something. Jack eventually made her way up the ladder and now was respected almost as much as Dio himself. The fact that the relationship between Jack and Dio had grown into more than just boyfriend/girlfriend in the last year also helped boost her respectability.
Suddenly, a noise startled Jack out of her thoughts. Someone was in the apartment. Sitting up, she looked around wildly. Her eyes were shined, but they did nothing for her now. Whoever the person in her apartment was, they were hiding. She was about to stand when a voice stopped her.
She lay down on the couch and sighed again. It had been a long day. There was so much work to be done, all centering on the rebellion. It was Dio's baby. So much of her surroundings reminded her of her missing past though. It was hard to get through a day without thinking about it, and this day was no exception.
The women at the hospital had told Jack that Riddick had left her there to die. Jack couldn't remember anything about the man, not even his face. The doctors said something about temporary amnesia, but it had been over six years. Jack had no other choice but to believe the nurses and doctors about what Riddick had done. But something about what they told Jack didn't sit right with her. Something Jack couldn't 't remember.
Jack stayed in the hospital for three months. The blast had hit her pancreas, her uterus and one of her ovaries. The doctors took out her entire reproductive system except for one ovary. She needed that for the hormones, they said. It didn't bother Jack. She had realized, even at the young age of fifteen, that her life would be much easier without those problems anyway.
As for her pancreas, that was one of the easier problems to fix. New tissue development experiments had just been approved around the time Jack was shot. She gave some blood, gave some tissue, and got a pancreas. Pretty good deal in Jack's opinion.
After getting out of the hospital, she left New Mecca, and Imam, to look for work and for a place to stay. She knew her parents were looking for her, but even before she had boarded the Hunter-Gratzner she knew she was out of their reach. They never thought she would leave the system, when it all reality, she had been out of her home system for three months before taking the trip that would change her life forever.
She lived on the streets for six months after leaving New Mecca, sleeping at abandoned construction sites, in dumpsters, in cardboard boxes. Anywhere relatively safe and dry. Work had been the hardest part. She tried saving money, but always had to spend it so she could eat. Eventually she fell in with the wrong crowd. It was inevitable, especially living where she had been living.
So she started with the petty stuff. Robbing houses led to mugging old ladies. That led to car jacking and grand theft auto. She was sent to the same minimum-security jail seven times when she was sixteen. In-between her fourth and fifth trips, she had her eyes shined. It hadn't been necessary, but she'd wanted it done. Something about how they made her look. It gave her an edge.
She also learned that Riddick had been captured. He was in a maximum-security prison in another system. Jack desperately wanted to see him, though she didn't know whether it was to get revenge or just to find out what the hell happened the day she almost died. But she knew it would have been impossible to approach the man. Since leaving the hospital, she had gathered information on him. If that was what you could call it. Hardly anyone had ever talked to him, and he didn't talk to anyone else. He wasn't a regular anywhere, and he usually didn't stick around long enough for people to get curious about his behavior. In a nutshell, Riddick was a nomadic loner without the capacity for compassion.
After he was captured, the Company came out with a new experimental procedure. Cryo freezing had been common for years, but they wanted to test extended cryo freezing. Jack remembered thinking that it was like saving left over food until you wanted it again. Evidently, Riddick had volunteered for the project. He was scheduled to be frozen for ten years. If he came out alive, he would be free. If he didn't, then the Company would never have to worry about him again.
On Jack's last stint to jail she was there long enough to make substantial connections. People who had worked around Riddick in the past. Never with or for him. Just around him. When those sources was exhausted, she just waited for her time to be up and was released. Soon enough though she would have all the information on Richard B. Riddick that she needed.
A month after her initial release, Jack was attacked by a group of seventeen men. They believed that she was trespassing in their territory, and evidently thought she should pay the price. Unfortunately for them, Jack hadn't been in a giving mood. She killed all seventeen men, ten with a blade and seven with her bare hands. Then she got caught and was dragged to the maximum-security prison on planet 565 of the Nazarek system at the age of seventeen. A maximum-security prison known as Slam.
There, she made even more connections, met new people, learned things. The long-timers there gave her some tips, showed her the ropes. They were her teachers and she was their student. Every time she learned something new she couldn't wait to try it out on her enemies. She soaked up information like a sponge that couldn't get enough water.
At first, her reputation had been like all new fish. Shit, basically. She was considered weak, below everyone else, and was pushed around by the older inmates. Well, pushed around wasn't the correct terminology. She wasn't pushed around. She got the shit beat out of her daily. After the first week, she was shocked that she hadn't cried yet. Already she had suffered broken ribs, fingers, a broken cheekbone, a broken leg and arm, and uncountable bruises everywhere. Still she pushed on.
The beatings continued until one day on "The Grounds". "The Grounds" was just the name for a large cement room. All the inmates were put together for exactly one hour, to trade, to kill, whatever. Guards didn't enter the room, they only put the prisoners in and took them back out.
Jack had been doing what she usually did when the prisoners were in "The Grounds"; sitting in the corner, observing. One inmate thought she had been staring at him. He had approached her and, when she didn't respond to him, he picked her up by her collar and slammed her into the wall. It brought something out in Jack, some great anger. It consumed her vision and she blacked out, a roaring sound filling her ears. The next thing she knew, she had killed the man with his own shiv, and had sliced the throats of six of his good buddies.
There was blood everywhere. On Jack's hands, face, clothes. She loved the feeling, the blood running down her hands and eventually drying there. She got twenty days solitary. It was hell by herself, but when she got out, it was as if she was a new person. She was treated with respect, and wasn't bothered. Later Jack found out that the men she had killed had been one of the toughest gangs in Slam.
In that prison, from one of her cellmates, she got her first tattoo. It started in the middle of her upper back, on her spine, and tapered out in both directions towards her shoulders. It was just some design, nothing special, but Jack had thought it was the best thing since sliced bread.
She remembered being told that she might have to be held down when her cellmate began tattooing above her spinal chord. If he were to go too deep with the gun, he might hit it and cause her to spasm uncontrollably, possibly doing even more damage to her spinal chord. Guns in Slam were nothing like guns outside the prison. The two other men in the cell were there to hold her down, one to get her arms and the other to get her legs. Jack smiled and remembered how the two of them and her had played gin rummy throughout the whole thing. The guys shit bricks when she started telling jokes and laughing out loud. They couldn't believe that she could be getting her first tattoo, and a big one at that, and she could withstand the pain.
Eventually though, she bid the prison farewell and was released into the public. She was eighteen and could legally find a job for herself. She found one, working the graveyard shift at a bar. They were wary about hiring her, not sure she could hold herself in a fight. That was before she kicked another employee's ass when he had passed a rude comment about her now fully developed - but not oversized - chest. That got her hired right quick.
The bar paid well. She saved up enough to afford an apartment and some other extras, one of which was another tattoo. The tattoo that caused her to find Dio. She had walked into the parlor while he was getting his newest tattoo, three six's on the front of his neck. He had waited for her and the two of them laughed and joked while she had 'pitch black' tattooed on her wrist. Dio had asked her what the tattoo meant to her. She remembered telling him that was the color of her heart, and he had bet that he could change that.
Dio wasn't bad looking. In fact, Jack considered him to be quite hot. He was tanned with black hair, and his voice carried the slightest twinge of a Spanish accent. They had walked out of the parlor together, and continued down the street. Jack liked Dio, not only because he was hot, but also because he reminded her of someone else...she couldn't remember who though. He had a shine job, as did most criminals. Those goggles had also reminded her of someone else. She felt safe with him. He hit on her as they walked, and eventually led her down an alleyway. She followed, knowing she could get herself out of any bad situations if need be.
She felt flattered that he was making moves on her, until he tried grabbing her breast. She brought him down, but he was right back up again. Between threats he found out that she was only eighteen. That was when the fighting stopped. He apologized, and then offered to walk her home. It confused the hell out of Jack, but she agreed. That was the one and only time she physically fought with Dio.
After that, he would show up at her door periodically. She cooked dinner for them both. Eventually he asked her to be his girl and she readily accepted. Of course, he explained, this would mean that she would be a part of Dio's gang. She had no family and was anxious to feel like she was a part of something. Jack eventually made her way up the ladder and now was respected almost as much as Dio himself. The fact that the relationship between Jack and Dio had grown into more than just boyfriend/girlfriend in the last year also helped boost her respectability.
Suddenly, a noise startled Jack out of her thoughts. Someone was in the apartment. Sitting up, she looked around wildly. Her eyes were shined, but they did nothing for her now. Whoever the person in her apartment was, they were hiding. She was about to stand when a voice stopped her.