The fight had barely started when music started to accompany the bots, which were pouring out from everywhere. Riddick's mind barely registered the new noise, as he was actually having fun killing the bots.
Shaen's mind recognized the song briefly as she flipped backwards onto the wall and jumped over three bots. Her claws came out and there was a flicker of light shortly before the bots fell to the ground, each with a resounding thud, and Shaen ran towards the group that were coming up behind Riddick.
Riddick saw the deep blue colored figure of Shaen coming towards him and the group he was easily bringing down. She looked tired but fully alert as she joined the fray. Riddick's ears caught the sound of her ragged breathing and also the snap of a mechanical neck shortly before he slashed the throat of one of the bots. Looking around he estimated that only ten or so bots were left. Most of them unable to move, but still able to fight if he or Shaen got too close. As the last of the bots hit the ground, Riddick finally turned his attention towards the abused looking girl.
"You okay?" He asked.
Shaen didn't look at him but instead her eyes darted around momentarily before closing. She slowed her breath and listened carefully for the last bot. There had to be at least one left, for the computer had not announced weather the simulation had been passed or failed. Shaen silenced Riddick by holding up her hand and listened as hard and carefully as she could.
Swishing silently was the rope that hung from the ceiling.
A small wooden creak from the balance beam in the far corner.
Heart beats from Riddick's chest.
Faint whirring from the air conditioner overhead.
A mechanical shifting from behind her.
There you are. Shaen thought.
She barely had time to register the enemy before hearing quick footfalls and then feeling something small jab into her inner arm, just at the elbow vein.
"Shit." She thought before it all went black and she hit the ground with a thud.
Riddick looked from Shaen to the bot before knocking its head off and picking up the unconscious child. He silently thought that it had been pretty comical for her to have gone through the process of trying to find the last bot, only to be taken down by a scavenged cryo needle. Thinking it best to just keep Shaen in cryo, He carried her off towards the room in which Jack was still sleeping peacefully in the cryo tube. He set her down in the cryo chair and hooked her up to it, setting the time to only make her sleep for a few hours. He left her alone, resolving to check on her later, and headed to the gym to workout.
Shaen whimpered in her sleep as the haze of her once peaceful dream faded, plunging her into the darkness of her nightmares. Her cries of fright were all but silent as a figure swiftly made his way over towards the girl's sleeping form.
"I do believe that's enough cryo for you." A deep bass voice chuckled. As promised, Riddick had been on his way to check on Shaen when she'd started crying and shrieking. He pushed the abort button on the display panel and gently reached over to Shaen's arm before removing the two needles that had previously been pumping cryogenic sleeping fluid into her veins. Shaen stirred again, this time coming out of the sleep, and muttered a single word.
"Riddick."
The man next to her cracked an amused smirk before answering.
"Yeah, kid. I'm here."
Shaen smiled slightly before her eyes cracked open and she was greeted with the masculine form of Riddick, who was sitting beside her. She gave a sharp inhale of breath before clutching the arm that the needles had been in.
"Why does my arm burn?" She asked, trying to pick her head up off of the back of the chair and failing. She slowly felt her body weakening and the burning in her arm spreading. "Riddick…tell me you didn't put cryo-junk in me." She practically begged.
When she received no answer, Shaen started to worry. Her body had begun to seize up and she started shaking momentarily. Riddick watched as she started to shake and wondered what was going on. Then it clicked with him.
Cryo-shock. He thought morbidly.
Riddick wasted no time in heading for the medical kit in the bathroom. Time was of the essence and in the next few seconds he was rummaging through the kit looking for the antidote.
By now, Shaen was in immense pain and she started to scream and dig at her own skin, which felt like it was on fire. She thrashed around in the cryo chair and tears stung her eyes. Something in her told her that she was going to die. In the distance, Shaen could hear Riddick quickly making his way back to her, hopefully with the antidote. Riddick looked down at her and said something that Shaen couldn't hear, before setting aside the syringe and taking the careful time to restrain the girl so she wouldn't cause any more damage to herself. Shaen struggled against the leather restraints before she felt the sharp jab of a needle in her chest and everything went black.
Riddick stood there, making sure that Shaen hadn't died before removing the needle, throwing it away, and carefully moving the girl to the lab and setting her on an observation table.
"Time to wake Jack, then." He muttered as he hooked the machines up to Shaen and started them. He checked that they were monitoring the girl's vital signs before leaving the room and rousing Jack from cryo sleep.
Riddick explained everything that had happened once Jack's head was clear and she was Alert. jack made a noise of frustration before reprimanding Riddick.
"Riddick!" She started, making her way out of the cryo room and down the halls towards the lab. "Don't you remember what Mercuri told you? Shaen's ALLERGIC to cryogenic solution. The little bit that the bot MIGHT have injected into her wouldn't have harmed her. But you!" She turned the corner and continued, "You put SIXTEEN ounces of that shit in her body. You could've KILLED her. Then we'd be stuck with another body and you'd be blamed for another death and the Mercs would find us. You've got to be more careful!" With the last word, Jack had entered the lab and quickly moved over to Shaen's limp form on the table.
"An observation table? Riddick, sweetie-pie, that's not going to help her. She's got to regenerate whatever she's lost." She informed him, sarcastically calling him sweetie-pie.
Jack walked over to the switch panel by the door and flipped on all the lights for the medium sized lab. In the far corner was a cylindrical tank that was the full height of the room. It was empty at the moment but a small control panel to its left would surely fix that. Jack motioned to the tube.
"Regeneration tank." She explained.
"I know what it is. I just didn't know it was there, cupcake." Riddick responded, saying the last word sarcastically.
Jack scoffed and walked over to the tank's control panel. She pushed a few buttons and a small door slid open on the wall. From this opening came several little robots, which they would later find out, were Shaen's portable Med-bots, complete with anti-gravity cells and power, allowing them to hover around and pick up heavy objects, such as the human body.
Seven of the eight bots zoomed over to Shaen's form, which after their scan had proved to be the life form in need of the tank, and picked her up gently. They transported her over to a small table that had come out of the wall near the tank before opening a slat and sending the table, as well as Shaen into the preparation room, which neither Jack or Riddick could enter. The seven bots that had transported Shaen, returned into the wall while the last one hovered next to Jack.
"Please initiate filling sequence." The bot asked in a mechanical voice.
Jack nodded and pressed a few more buttons. The tank slowly filled with a bluish green fluid. When it was filled with the fluid, the seven other bots placed Shaen inside the tube, where she floated in the middle with nothing touching her. Her chest and pelvic area were covered with a solid black cloth that stuck to her skin and reminded Riddick of electrical tape. Her body was littered with needles and sensors, most of which were monitoring her vitals and allowing her to regenerate missing blood cells and the like.
"I wonder what it feels like." Jack said mostly to herself, as she looked at Shaen's body, suspended in the fluid. The girl's long burgundy hair floated around her idly and a few of the Med-Bots skittered around the Lab, preparing it once more for use.