Lifeline

Chapter 35

Riddick's eyebrow rose as he opened the bathroom door, watching Chikage pull her boots on, lace them and tie them, and then pull down the legs of her black leather pants. She straightened, blinking as she noticed Riddick standing there.

"What?" she asked quietly. He shrugged, walking into the bedroom. She stared at him as he moved to the closet, pulling out a pair of black cargos and a black tee shirt. "Why were you looking at me like that?"

"You look good," he said simply, shrugging one shoulder as he dropped his towel.

"You looked surprised," she pressed, reaching for the black leather trench coat she'd tossed on the bed. He shook his head, tucking his shirt in. She shrugged her coat on, pulling the braided ponytail free.

"Not really," he said, pulling his boots on. "Are you ready?"

"You mean am I put together? Yes. Am I ready to face the IGC again? Fuck no," she said quietly, shoving her hands in the pockets of her coat. "Especially unarmed." He glanced up at her quickly.

"You've gone before the IGC before?" She nodded slowly, swallowing. "When?"

"A while ago they heard an issue on the limitations of women in Company service."

"Limitations…" Riddick said slowly, shaking his head.

"How far they could advance, what kinds of missions they could go on." She shrugged. "Shit like that."

"And?"

"And I was the highest ranking female on one of the most successful and most intense teams. Hell, I was the only female in the entire collection of strike forces," she snickered. "They wanted to hear from the one person in the greatest danger, I guess."

"You were a sniper," Riddick said slowly, tying his boots.

"When you left, yeah," she said. His eyes narrowed up at her. "I asked to transfer into your position a week later. We lost four guys in that amount of time, and I was getting sick of it."

"You asked to transfer." She tilted her head to the side. "You got brass ones, Chi." A small smile broke on her face.

"Well, if I can handle that shit, I can handle a few questions from a panel of IGC goons, right?" she said with a laugh.

"I guess we'll see." He glanced up at the clock. "We gotta go." She nodded, stepping aside to let him through the door first, following him out.

---

Riddick and Chikage paused at the corner, staring up at the huge building looming over them. Suddenly, she felt lost without her guns, and he without his shivs. They glanced at each other for a moment and stepped out into the streets. The people that had been milling around suddenly stopped, staring at the pair dressed in all black as they walked across the street, eyes straight ahead. The murmurs continued as a quiet hum as they closed on the doors to the IGC, cheers erupting the moment Riddick opened the door for Chikage. He stared out into the crowd, and it fell silent until he also disappeared through the door. They each opened an inner door, pushing into the main room simultaneously. All action stopped, at least twenty pairs of eyes focused on them. Riddick saw her eyes shift to the guard standing at the metal detectors before them, and turned his attention as well, watching the guard reach for the pistol on his hip.

"We're just here to talk to the council," Chikage said, slowly raising her hands. "They should be expecting us."

"They are," the guard said shortly. The snap on his holster popped, and Riddick raised his arms as well.

"Go ahead and take it out, buddy," Riddick said quietly, nodding to the man's gun. "We're not planning on causing any trouble. I think we can understand people wanting guns on us right now." Chikage nodded, and the guard raised his gun, motioning with the barrel for them to continue through the metal detector. Riddick went first, without incident. Chikage walked through, and the alarm went off, red lights flashing.

"Got any change in your pockets? Guns in your boots?" She sighed, walking around to the other side of the detector again.

"The only metal I have on me is the clasps of my boots and the underwire in my bra," she answered.

"Boots off."

"And the bra?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah," he said quickly. "On the table here." She cocked her head to the side, pulling her coat off and handing it to him, waiting until he was done fishing through her pockets before pulling the black lycra shirt over her head, tossing the bra on the table before walking through the detector again, naked from the waist up. She stopped on the other side, placing her hands on her hips and turning back to the guard.

"Happy now?" she asked without any inflection in her voice, nothing to indicate her assessment of the situation.

"Get dressed," the guard said quietly, swallowing. Riddick held his smile back as she glared at the guard, reaching for her clothes. A moment later, the guard followed them to the elevator, another taking over for him at the entrance. Chikage pushed the button and shifted her coat on her shoulders with a slight shrug. The gun was kept trained on them up to the fifteenth floor, and the guard waited for them to get out before following, staying behind them. Mason sat on a bench with a briefcase in his lap, a leg bouncing nervously. He heard the ding of the elevator as it signaled its order to descend back to the first floor and looked up, scrambling to his feet as he saw Riddick, Chikage at his side, and the guard behind them. He met them halfway between the elevator and the door to the hearing room, glancing anxiously at the gun.

"I didn't really think you guys would show up," he said, quickly getting his nerves under control. "I'm glad you did," he added with an honest smile. His eyes turned to the guard. "You can go now. Thanks." The guard paused.

"You sure?" Mason gave him a dismissive nod, and he stood there for a moment before replacing his gun in its holster and walking back to the elevator, his hand hovering over his weapon as he waited, watching them intently.

"They should be ready in a few minutes. You two will testify first and then I'll present… my…" he trailed off, brows furrowing as he looked past the pair. They both turned, and Chikage absentmindedly grasped Riddick's elbow, two heavily armed guards approaching them, chains in hand.

"Mason?" she asked quietly. He shook his head, stammering without forming coherent words.

"This wasn't part of the deal," Riddick said, his voice dangerous as he addressed the guards.

"The council feels it's in their best interest," one of the guards said, a smarmy grin sliding across his lips. "If you're really just here to talk to them like you say you are, there's no problem here, is there?" Chikage's fingers tightened on his arm, and his eyes narrowed.

"No chains," he said flatly.

"They won't hear your case without them," the second guard informed. "It's for their protection. And let's face it, chains aren't as scary as guns, now, are they?" Chikage glared, lowering her hand from Riddick's arm.

"Can you give us a minute to discuss it with our clerk here?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and nodding to Mason, who audibly gulped. The guard shrugged, and both of them took a few steps back. "No chains," she hissed quietly at Mason.

"I told them they'd have nothing to worry about as long as you didn't feel threatened," Mason mumbled.

"Can you make this case without us?" Riddick asked, watching Mason's eyes snap up to his, then move away quickly. He wasn't sure if it was the man's answer or fear of the shine that made him so edgy.

"No," Mason said. Chikage sighed, shaking her head.

"No chains," she repeated.

"Chi, listen to me," Riddick said quietly, containing the urge to touch her. For some reason he felt like it would somehow compromise them if anyone in this place thought they cared. He just chalked it up to instinct, and his seemingly natural fear of people capitalizing on and taking advantage of his rare attachments to other humans. "I know, believe me, but if this is the only way…" he trailed off, shaking his head as he tried to keep the goose bumps from rising at the thought of having the metal touch his skin again. "We came this far, and I doubt it will be easy to back out now with so many people knowing we're here right now." Her eyes squeezed shut, and she shook her head, inhaling sharply.

"Fine," she said suddenly, adjusting the vertebrae in her neck. "But if I wig out, it's not my fault." Riddick nodded, turning to the guards. Mason had a quizzical expression on his face, but she only shook her head and it dissipated. The chains rattled as the guards took the two steps they'd retreated, and Riddick held his arms out, palms up. Chikage's face whitened as the cuffs clicked around his wrist, and the guard wrapped the connected chain around Riddick's waist, securing his arms close to his body.

"Next," the first guard said cheerfully, as though he was a bank teller and Chikage was a patron. She scowled at him taking off her coat, and he snatched a wrist, quickly slapping a cuff around it as the other guard took her jacket. A shiver ran down her spine, and she felt Riddick take a small step toward her, his arm barely grazing her shoulder as the other cuff was secured. "They're waiting." Chikage let out a slow breath, and she and Riddick were shoved toward the door, Mason following the guards pushing them into the room. They were split up, taken to separate podiums, where their ankles were chained to a metal loop in the floor. Riddick's head snapped up, his attention torn from the guard securing his feet as Chikage let out a cry. He started to move, but the guard's hand shot out, flipping a latch on the cuffs. Riddick grunted, two spikes shooting out of the inside of the metal bindings into his wrists, one on the top and one on the bottom, meant to keep the occupants from trying to slip out of them. He shook his head, as though shaking the pain from his mind, and turned to Mason, who stood frozen behind his podium, staring at Chikage in horror. Blood dripped from her fingertips as she stood to her full height, pulling her shoulders back as she blocked out the pain, her attention now on the parade of council members filing into the room, standing behind their chairs until the door was closed.

"Richard B. Riddick and Chikage Pierce, both in the same room," the councilman in the center said, a wry smile on his lips. "To what do we owe the pleasure of you both choosing to grace us with an appearance?"

---

Chikage sat in her cell, leaning against the bars behind her bunk, her knees drawn to her chest and arms balanced on them, hands hanging limply from the gauze wrapped over the thick puncture marks on both sides of her wrists. She heaved a sigh and shook her head.

"This is so incredibly fucked up," she muttered, closing her eyes and letting her head fall back with a thump against a bar behind her. Metal clanged down the hall, and she opened her eyes, staring up at the ceiling as an outer gate opened. Chains rattled, feet shuffled, and she lifted her head, staring out into the hallway as a guard stopped outside her holding cell in the basement of IGC headquarters. Her mouth fell open as a guard pushed Riddick down the corridor past the door to her cell, a steady trickle of blood running from a cut in his temple, his eye already puffy and purple. "Riddick?" she asked quietly. He only glanced at her, scowling, and she swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. He was shoved into the cell next to hers with such force it almost threw him off balance enough to fall, but he recovered, turning to sit on the edge of his bunk without a word. The guard made a snorting snickering noise, shook his head and turned back down the corridor, twirling his key ring around a finger. "Are you okay?" she asked timidly, turning her head slightly to look at him from the corner of her eye.

"I'm fine," he said, wiping more blood from his face. "Just a cut." She nodded, turning her head and resting it against the bars behind her again. "You?"

"I guess," she said quietly, staring at the wrapping around her wrists. She felt his eyes on her and turned, managing a weak smile. He sighed, shaking his head. Her eyes focused on the ceiling again, and felt a sudden warmth at her back, realizing he'd scooted back on his cot to rest against the bars behind him, just as she was, with his back against hers.

"Are we alone?" he asked quietly.

"There's a camera in the hallway," she answered in a whisper. "I can't tell if it's just video or not." He nodded. "Why didn't they just put us in together?" she sighed. His light chuckle echoed off the concrete walls surrounding the holding area, split into cells only by bars.

"It's a holding area, not a slam. They never put more than one person in a single cell until they run out of room, and then it's never someone you know."

"So what now?"

"We behave ourselves," he said quietly. "They're expecting trouble from us, so we're not going to do anything." She nodded absently. "Get some sleep," he added gruffly. She sighed, sliding to the mattress with a groan. Riddick continued sitting there, and she gave up on watching him, falling into a restless sleep.