Lifeline
Chapter 31
Chikage opened her eyes slowly, suppressing a yawn as she arched her back, stretching with a grunt. Riddick stirred against her, pressing slightly closer, and she smiled, the expression in her eyes slightly sad. She was actually quite surprised she hadn't awakened him already, and she held her breath, trying to slowly slide out of his grasp. His arms tightened around her, and she paused, biting her lower lip as he opened one eye.
"Where do you think you're going?" he grumbled, letting his eye close again. She sighed, lowering her head to his stomach as she curled up next to him.
"I didn't want to wake you," she said quietly.
"I wasn't asleep," he replied. She shook her head, tracing the slopes of muscle in the arm he'd thrown over her.
"I have to pee," she whispered. His arm lifted, and she stood, taking the time to stretch again before ambling into the hallway. Riddick sat up, rubbing his eyes, and then stood to dress before heading up to the cockpit. She didn't bother ducking back into the bedroom, instead going upstairs to see what he was working on. "How close are we?" she asked, nodding toward the large planet now looming before them.
"Got a few hours before they'll want to know who we are." She nodded, sliding into her seat to start changing their identification and certificates. They sat in silence for a while, both working at a leisurely pace. She quickly finished modifying their information and leaned back in her chair, cracking her knuckles. "Done already?" A quick nod, soon abandoned for a monstrous yawn. He smiled, but it fell quickly. "Look, Chi…" he trailed off, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.
"Don't," she said quietly. He turned his head to look at her, but she was staring at her keyboard, her thumb tracing the perimeter of a key absently. Her eyes lifted to his for only a moment before returning to watching her finger trace the key, and she shook her head slowly. "There was no way you could have known. Now you do."
"But…"
"Just don't do it again," she interjected, meeting his eyes again. His brows were furled, and he swallowed, looking more concerned than she'd ever seen him. She managed a small smile. "Listen. I'm not afraid of you. You just…" she broke off, shaking her head as the smile fell. "Don't do it again and we'll be fine."
"You make it sound like we're not fine right now," he said quietly. His eyes followed her as she stood, walking behind his chair. Her boots stopped directly behind him, and she turned toward him, bending down to wrap her arms around his chair, catching him in her hug in the process. She pressed her lips to the side of his neck, feeling his pulse race, a rare occurrence for someone as in control of himself as Riddick was. A moment later, she was gone. He ran a hand over his head and murmured to himself as he returned to the control panel.
---
"Hey Jack?" Chikage entered the library, watching Jack lower the book so just her eyes peered over the top of it. "We're gonna be landing in a few hours. Do you want to eat now or after we land?"
"Where are we going?"
"Back to Ergon." Jack's eyebrow rose, and she snapped the book shut, sitting up completely.
"What happened?"
"Nothing. We tracked down someone we need to talk to," Chikage said with a shrug.
"There's more to it than that." Both Chikage and Jack turned to the door, where Riddick now stood. His eyes shifted from Jack to Chikage, and he entered the room, lowering himself to the couch, sitting next to Jack. Chikage took a seat on the other couch. "Jack, I think you need to be in on this, just so you know what's going on and can be prepared if something happens."
"Riddick—" The look he sent Chikage shut her up. She was just going to tell him not to worry so much, but the thought was quickly abandoned.
"We're going back to Ergon to make sure someone knows better than crossing us," he started. Jack's eyes went wide, but she nodded. "With the records and tests and everything Marie did, giving us copies and everything, we're going to the IGC."
"What?!" Jack launched off the couch to stand in the middle of the room, staring at Riddick like he was one of the hammerheads they'd left behind on that god forsaken planet. "Are you fucking crazy?"
"Jack, listen to me," he said firmly. "You are going to stay here, on this ship, until we get back. We just need to think about this first step for right now, okay? Then we'll decide."
"So what's the first step, then?" Jack asked slowly.
"Making sure the middle man knows not to fuck with us," he said with a small shrug. "And after that, you're gonna go stay with Imam, and I fucking mean stay with him, Jack." His tone had suddenly taking on a scolding quality, and her eyes fell to the ground. "We'll come pick you up when it's safe," he added gently, the angry father expression gone from his face. She glanced up at him quickly.
"Why can't I go with you?" she asked weakly. Chikage stared at Riddick as he stared up in shock at Jack. Finally, he leaned back on the couch, rubbing his forehead.
"C'mere," he said gently, waving at her to come to him. She complied, pausing a few steps away from him, and he reached out, folding her in his arms as he cradled her against his chest. "Because I want you to live to see your fifteenth birthday," he whispered. Jack's arms wrapped tightly around him, and Chikage just watched them, completely oblivious to her as they said an early good bye in a way. Silently, she slipped from the room, leaving them alone.
---
Chikage stared out at the nearing planet, her feet propped up on the control panel as random beeps sounded, the ship going through its programmed course and alerting her every time it completed a task. A hint of a smile lingered on her lips, the image of Riddick and Jack still fresh in her mind. A pair of boots clanged up the stairs, jolting her from her thoughts, but she didn't turn.
"Everything okay?" she asked quietly, hearing his chair squeak.
"Yeah, I guess," Jack said quietly. Chikage glanced at her from the corner of her eye, the dejected look on the girl's face making her turn.
"You sure?" Jack only nodded, still staring down at her hands in her lap. Chikage licked her lips, trying to think of a way to talk to Jack without sounding like she was trying to be motherly. Finally, she sighed, and Jack looked up at her. "Look Jack," she started slowly. "Believe me, I know what it's like to be left behind." Jack's gaze fell away, and Chikage sighed again. "And I know I haven't had time to completely earn your trust, but Riddick and I want to protect you as much as we can."
"I'm not as naïve as you both think I am," Jack insisted softly. Chikge smiled.
"He thinks you're more naïve than I do, but that's not why we're doing this." Jack looked up at her again, a slightly hopeful look in her eyes. "I remember when I was little my guardians always told me I was too young for this and too young for that…" she trailed off, shaking her head. "Jack, I'm not going to tell you you're too young for this because you're not." She paused, glancing over her shoulder at the door, thinking she'd heard something. Jack followed her gaze and looked back at her, confused. Chikage sighed. "There's no gentle way to really say this, and I'm not sure that's what you'd want anyway."
"Just say it, Chi," Jack pressed quietly. Chikage nodded, meeting Jack's eyes.
"It's just that you've already gotten through so much more than you probably should have." Jack blinked quickly. "Riddick wants to shield you from as much of that kind of thing in the future as he can because he lives on chances. And he seems to think you're running out of chances and that scares him. That's what I think." Jack swallowed, nodding slowly as her eyes turned to the windshield.
"What do you think?" Jack asked weakly, clearing her throat to try to cover up the crack in her voice.
"It doesn't matter what I think."
"It does to me." Chikage stared over at Jack in awe. She swallowed, blinking a few times.
"I think if something – anything happened to you again he'd blame himself, just like every other time." Jack glanced at her quickly. "And I don't know if he could handle it again as well as he has in the past." A ghost of a smile broke on Chikage's lips. "I feel really sorry for whoever he chooses to take it out on if it happens again." Jack couldn't help but smile. Another pair of boots started up the steps, and the conversation was dropped.
---
"I'm leaving one engine on for you, Jack," Riddick said gruffly, taking the pack Chikage handed him from a locker. He unzipped it, dumping its contents on the kitchen table as she set hers down, also rifling through. "Don't leave the ship. Don't open the ship up for anyone. If it's us, we'll just come in, okay?" She nodded, watching Riddick check the magazines of the three guns he would carry. "You've got plenty of food and water and everything in case we have to hide out for a while." Chikage handed him a small earpiece, which he inserted while she strapped a microphone belt snugly around his neck, a round object pressed against one side of his throat to pick up the vibrations of his voice and transmit them to her. It would be less obvious than the headset, though they wouldn't have the luxury of the video eyepieces, not like they had a map or surveillance equipment anyway. "If shit gets too thick, I'll shoot off a message to you and the ship's alarm system will go off. Just go up to Chi's computer and I know you can figure out the rest." Another quick nod. "The message will tell you exactly what you need to know. Worst case scenario, you leave and blow the ship." Her eyebrow rose. "Chi's already got it rigged. There's a file with instructions on her computer. Just follow those if the occasion calls for it." She swallowed thickly, but Chikage gave her a reassuring smile. "If that happens, get somewhere safe and do whatever you have to do to get to Imam, got it?" She nodded, a pained expression on her face, but he reached out and tousled her hair with a crooked grin. "You'll be fine, kid. Just covering the bases. We'll be back before you know it." The sound of Chikage zipping up her pack caught his attention, and he glanced over at her, watching her slip the straps over her shoulders. He reloaded his pack, sliding one of the guns into the back waistband of his pants before throwing his pack over his shoulder. Jack forced a small smile until they disappeared down into the cargo hold, and her lip began to quiver.
"So what do you think?" Chikage asked, powering up her night vision glasses and wiping them off before putting them on. Riddick glanced at her quickly without a falter in his step. They were just strolling slowly toward the building supposedly holding the IGC clerk called Mason.
"What do I think about what?"
"How do you want to do this?" she clarified, a small smirk playing on her lips.
"Go in, walk up the stairs, knock on the door." She stopped walking, openly staring at him. He took a few more steps, sighing before turning to her. "What?"
"Just walk in, huh?" He shrugged, turning back toward their path with another weighty sigh. "Not like you, Rick," she said, shaking her head as she followed. "You're more the type to go in through the ventilation system, wait in the shadows, and ambush. Not just knock on the fucking door."
"Look, from what Marie said, this guy is willing to help both of us, so let's just try to be fucking civil for once, huh?" he snapped, avoiding her eyes. Her eyebrow rose.
"And you're ready to trust a complete stranger with you now, huh?" He sighed again, rubbing his forehead. "Just like that. Marie says he's okay, so that means he really is willing to help and the theory that he could just be wanting to collect that big ass fucking bounty is completely ludicrous, right?" He stopped, and she had to throw on the breaks hard to keep from ramming into his back. His jaw clenched, the muscle rippling in the tiny amount of light being emitted by the distant quarter moon. She swallowed thickly, eyebrows trembling. "You've survived for more than fifteen years with a price on your head just fine. What's different now?" she asked weakly, taking a step back as he turned. "Hell, I have too. Why the fuck should we take the chance on leaving Jack by herself for the rest of her life on the tiny possibility that he'd help in the first place, and then that it'd work out?" In an instant, she was pinned against the wall, a good foot off the ground, staring down at him with wide eyes. The beast was released again, shining brightly in his eyes, his face drawn into a menacing glower. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why can't we just find someplace to go where they won't look, or keep hopping around so they can't find us even if they try?"
"Because they always look and they always eventually find us," he growled. "I will not put Jack in a situation like that." She blinked, her expression softening only slightly. "The only way she's safe with us is if the bounties are gone and no one gives a shit where we are."
"Then put me down and let's do this," she said quietly, adding a nod while holding his gaze. He blinked, shaking his head slightly as though snapping out of some kind of a trance, and let go, letting her drop to the ground. She barely caught herself before her nose smashed into the pavement. He rubbed a hand roughly over his stubbly head, his hand shaking. She picked herself up off the ground, brushed herself off, and began picking the pebbles out of her hands as they began walking again. They reached the building after four more blocks of silence, and paused outside the main door. After a moment of just staring at the entrance, they glanced at each other and drew their weapons simultaneously, the safety latches clicking quietly in the darkness. He nodded, she mirrored it, and they went through the door, clearing the landing before heading up the stairs. After three flights, he slowly opened the hallway door, peering through a crack before walking through the door, Chikage in tow.
"You take the left," he whispered. She nodded, pulling back the slide on her gun with a too-noisy click. They both cringed, and again when Riddick did the same. They both pressed against the wall, Chikage on the left side of the door with her gun leveled, and Riddick on the left, his gun leveled as well. She swallowed, watching him reach out and knock three times.
Dishes clanged, and boots thumped madly across the room toward the door. Chi and Riddick glanced at each other, their fingers hovering to the side of their guns, ready to position over the triggers. The door was flung open, a moment of confusion running over the man's face before his eyes widened. He lifted his hands into the air slowly.
"Mason?" Chikage asked quietly. His eyebrow rose, his gaze shifting from the large man to his left to the woman on his right. He nodded once, swallowing slowly. "You know who we are?" Another nod. "Wanna invite us in?"
"Yeah," he stammered, nodding some more. "Yeah, sure. Um… come on in," he said, eyes still wide as he lowered his hands and backed up, leaving the door open for them. Chikage holstered her weapon, watching Riddick lower his but not put it away as they entered. She listened, but didn't hear the safety lever click. Mason led them down a narrow hallway into an open room. He gestured toward the couches, and both Chikage and Riddick cocked their heads to the side.
"Go ahead," Riddick said. "We'll stand." Mason nodded slowly, lowering himself to the closest couch with something between a sigh and a whimper. "I'm sure you're wondering how we found you." Mason' eyes snapped up to Riddick's, a quick shiver running over him as the silver eyes narrowed down at him. "I'll just say we have our ways."
"Does Marie know you're here?"
"Marie doesn't even know we know you were on the same planet as her," Chikage answered, scratching her forehead. "Hell, she probably doesn't even know that."
"You know why we're here?" Riddick asked, leaning forward on his elbows against the back of a chair, gun still in hand.
"I'm willing to bet you want to feel me out," he said with a small shrug, slowly gaining his confidence back. "See if you really can trust me, am I right?"
"We're not the trusting type," Chikage said coldly, adjusting her glasses while still keeping her hateful stare focused on Mason. "Give us a reason to trust you and we'll see what happens."
"Fair enough," he sighed. "What kind of reason are we talking about here?"
"Think of something," Riddick growled. Chikage glanced up at him quickly. This was no time for him to lose his patience. He nodded, rubbing his chin as he thought. The two intruders waited in silence as he considered his options.
"Okay," Mason said slowly. "First off, your case hasn't been solicited."
"Meaning what?" Riddick interjected, receiving a quick glance from the man.
"Meaning I've not been asked by the Council to look into it." He heaved a sigh, leaning forward on his knees. "Here's how it works. If a pressing issue comes up, like Company's extermination of the few species on Krylon 29 so that they could colonize, a Councilmember would come to me and ask me to investigate. Find anything that would help the IGC decide if the action is permissible or not."
"And was it?" Chikage asked quickly. Mason's eyes met hers, and she shook her head, a disgusted smirk twisting her lips. "Bastards."
"Wasn't my case," he said with a shrug. "If they'd come to me, they'd never have allowed it."
"And you didn't step in," Riddick assumed.
"I couldn't. But back to the issue at hand. They'd come to me, I'd do some research and present my findings." He shook his head, leaning back into the cushions with a sigh. "Thing is, the IGC doesn't know about the experimentation."
"Bullshit," Chikage mumbled, shifting on the arm of the couch she'd settled onto.
"Okay, they know about the initial experiments, but they were under the impression that Company abandoned them after the investigation."
"What investigation?" Riddick asked.
"It only needed to be superficial to find the grounds to terminate. Everyone suspected they just moved it."
"And no one bothered to check into it?" Chikage asked, raising her voice slightly.
"Didn't have the proof," he explained, shaking his head. "No one had the balls to take it before the Council without probable cause, and no one could get it anyway. They hid their tracks too well." He paused, staring at his shoes. "But now, it's different. We've got the paperwork Marie said you took from the abandoned base, Richard, and the tests from both you and Chikage that corroborate your stories. Marie said she's willing to testify before the Council as well." Chikage couldn't help but snicker. "She is," he insisted, scrunching his forehead up in a somewhat insulted expression. "She feels horrible for having a part of it, and if it turns out she has to pay for it, she's ready to."
"Martyr wish?" Riddick asked, mimicking the smirk on Chikage's face.
"Guilt," Mason corrected quietly.
"So," Chikage said, the smirk replaced with the business look as she stood, slowly pacing in a small square. "How does this work?"
"Give me a week to get my shit together and present the idea to the Council at their weekly conference. I'll contact you," he paused, glancing quickly at Riddick when the low rumble registered in his brain as emanating from the large man with the gun in his hand. "Or you can contact me," he quickly corrected, his voice squeaking slightly, "and then we'll see what the Council says."
"Go on," Riddick pressed.
"If they deny the hearing, we can appeal, but it probably won't do much good. If they issue the request for the hearing, it'll take two days to process and then the testimony begins."
"Like a trial," Chikage guessed. Mason nodded quickly.
"Yeah, kinda. But, see, there's only one side. There shouldn't be any Company representatives to argue against it. We present our case and they decide."
"Is there a chance any monkeys will show up to argue their case?" Riddick asked, standing up straight. Chikage barely hid a relieved smile as the safety lever on his pistol clicked into place.
"I guess, but I don't know why they would. I mean, if we've got the paperwork we have, and I might be able to find more actually, they won't have anything to counter with. You said the documents you have are signed?" Riddick nodded. "Did you happen to bring them with you?" A booming laugh startled Mason with a quiet gasp, and he swallowed. "Didn't think so," he murmured, wiping his hands on his pants. "Well, anyway, they'll recognize the names, or run them if they don't. They're official Company documents, so even if they tried to cover the trail it should be enough."
"Should be." Mason's eyes flitted over to Chikage's quickly. Her eyebrow arched slowly as she tilted her head to the side. "Should be doesn't sound good enough to me. How 'bout you Riddick?"
"I'd prefer something a little more definitive, myself," he answered, making a show of ejecting the cartridge in the chamber, catching it in his other hand, and reloading it. Mason's eyes followed, his mouth hanging open slightly.
"I'm afraid I can't give you anything more definitive," he admitted quietly. "There are no guarantees when presenting an issue to the Council. You just have to hope your evidence is strong enough to sway them."
"Let me ask you something," Riddick said quietly, still playing with his gun. "Say Chikage and I decide to testify. What's to prevent them from just hauling our asses in and dumping us off at the nearest slam?" Chikage made a face that said 'good question, hadn't thought of that', nodded, and looked back to Mason.
"When I present the issue for consideration, I'll qualify that you are to be given temporary immunity for the duration of the hearing." He looked to Chikage. "Both of you, I mean." She nodded, turning her head to Riddick.
"Sound good to you?"
"Sounds good to me," he said with a shrug. "Now tell me what's in it for you."
"I made the mistake of letting Marie talk me into this," he said with a small smile. "What's in it for me is that you'll let me live if I pull this off." Riddick snickered, shaking his head as he reloaded the cartridge into the chamber and slid the gun into the back of his pants.
"Just curious," Chikage said quietly, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. She felt Riddick's eyes on her, but didn't look up at him. "Why'd you let her talk you into it in the first place?"
"Are you kidding? He's got the biggest bounty in history on his head." Riddick growled, but Chikage held out a hand to make him let Mason finish. "If I got you pardoned, do you know what that could do for my career?" He huffed, shaking his head. "Hell, I could even go back to practicing law, or work private investigation or something. The possibilities would be endless."
"Personal advancement your only motive?" Riddick rumbled. Mason looked at him sharply, gulping.
"Honestly, the biggest motivation, yeah," he stammered. Riddick's eyebrow rose. "But I have seen enough to know that they seriously fucked both of you up."
"You have no idea," Chikage sighed, leaning back against the wall.
"If the tests show what Marie says they do, you've got reason for exoneration – full pardon because of what they did to you," Mason insisted. An unsettled silence fell over the group. "Would you like some tea?" he asked suddenly, nervousness showing on his face as the two other pairs of eyes in the room focused on him. "No? Okay," he mumbled, returning his gaze to his shoes.
"We should be going," Riddick said, nodding toward the door. Chikage stood, popping her neck before walking to his side. His hand on her stomach halted her, and she glanced up at him questioningly, following his gaze to the man staring at them. "I'll call you one week from this moment," he said. Mason nodded. "You don't answer, I'll track you down and kill you." The muscles in Mason's throat contracted as he swallowed in an audible gulp. "Slowly," Riddick added as an afterthought. "Either of us even gets an inkling you're fucking us over, we'll both kill you slowly." He nodded in a seizure-like gesture. "Got it?" Another seizure-nod. "Good. We'll be in touch." Mason let out an endless sigh as the door clicked shut behind them.
Chikage followed as Riddick quickly walked to the stairwell they hadn't come in through. His steps were hurried, as though he were trying to evade something without standing out, and she had the feeling he thought something was wrong.
"Riddick?" He shook his head, pausing on the landing just inside the door, looking down at the stairs to the lower level and up at the stairs to the next highest level, back and forth. "Talk to me."
"Something's not right," he said after a long pause, launching himself up the stairs to the fifth floor. She followed, boots pounding up the stairs as they continued to the roof, bursting through the door. Riddick paused, jaw clenched as he looked around.
"Riddick…" she sounded hurried, upset maybe, and he glanced over his shoulder at her. His brows furrowed. Boots were thumping up the stairs, more slowly than they had moved, and he growled, reaching over her to slam the door shut. His eyes darted around, looking for something to jam the door with, but there was nothing on the roof but him, Chikage, and dust. He swore.