Story Rating : M/R+
Chapter Rating : M/R
Story Warning : Graphic Violence, Harsh Language, Gore, Murder, Sex, and Controversial Subject Matter.
Chapter Warning : Graphic Violence, Gore
Pairing : Riddick/Jack
Disclaimer : I do not own the Characters or Events of Pitch Black. If I did, the sequel would have forced them to invent a new rating system.
Feedback : I love reviews, but I ask those that decide to press the little purple button to please provide me with something besides praise and a demand for an update.
FitMama – Again I must thank you for the eloquent review. You have pointed out the very things that were supposed to be seen. I'm very glad that you think the characterization is going well, for that was what I was most worried about. Again, thank you, yours is the type of review that I love to get.
Ren3017 – I thank you for your review as well, although I would ask what it is you liked about the descriptions. I also apologize for the delay between chapters, as things like school tend to get in the way.
Tini243 – So good that you think it's close to character, as I mentionedabove it was one of the things I was most worried about. Thirty chapters is, of course, the number I'm aiming for, with only about half of it actually written. There might be more than thirty, depending on whether or notthe storyactually reaches the point of the plot.
Tinca – I thank you for your review. Perhaps you shall like this chapter, for it does have Riddick kicking some ass and shall be the first chapter to fit the actual rating of the story.
Note : And here is where the rating of the chapter actually fits the rating for the story. I apologize for the delay, as there is this thing called school which gets in the way of my life.
Ghost of You
Rescue
Time : Ten Years Ago
The gage was red now, blinking insistently for the air tanks to be changed out.
Riddick stared at it, though he wasn't really focused on the minuscule glow itself, but on silence behind him.
They were eating, the holy man and the girl. They had offered him some of the food but he'd turned it down, earning a worried glance from her eyes.
It caused a discomforting feeling in his chest, that worry.
He looked away from the gage, to the point of his shiv. It glinted only slightly in the dim light, reflecting in the window. His eyes flicked up to his reflection, then to the forms of those huddled in blankets behind him.
The girl must have felt his eyes, for she looked up. A half-smile formed itself on her face, a renewed hope there that caused the disquiet he felt to increase ten fold.
He closed his eyes.
Suddenly there was a clicking, grating, scraping, grinding screech of metal on metal cutting through the thin air. Riddick's eyes snapped open again, darting upwards to the source of the sound.
An instant later something on the outside hull hooked itself into the wing, causing the small craft to jolt forward violently.
The girl cried out, startled, and Riddick looked towards her. She was clutching the arms of one of the auxiliary seats, eyes wide and fearful. Her eyes turned to him again, questioning, though it was the holy man who gave it voice.
"What is happening?" the cleric asked, looking towards the ceiling, worry in his tone.
"Grappler arms," Riddick responded, unable to keep the annoyed growl out of his voice. "Junkers."
"Then we are rescued?" the holy man asked hopefully, smiling.
"Rescued?" Riddick echoed, then laughed, shaking his head.
He froze upon seeing the scared expression still etched on the girl's face. Somehow it fueled the strange feeling in his chest, as if her fear was causing him a kind of physical discomfort. It annoyed him, this feeling.
Riddick made to stand up, growling at the slight pain in his leg still from the stitches. The skiff was moving again, being pulled backwards by the grapplers. He glanced at the girl.
She moved away, quicker than he had ever expected her to move. One moment she was standing near the back of the pilot's chair, blankets still draped over her shoulders, the next she was behind the co-pilot's chair. Her eyes were still wide, watching him.
Riddick could smell her fear permeating the air.
She wasn't afraid of him, that much he knew. He watched as she raised her eyes to meet his, blinking very slowly, as if time itself had slowed down.
"No one's going to hurt you, kid," he told her, finding the name of the fear she hadn't dared to give voice to.
She looked surprised for a second, to be replaced with the awed gaze he remembered from when they'd first spoken to each other. Back at the crash when there had been more who would of survived, could have survived, should have survived.
"Promise?" she asked, a word whispered.
Riddick became aware of the holy man's eyes boring into him, as if the cleric were trying to x-ray his soul.
"Yeah, kid," he answered, not looking away from her. "I promise."
A shadow suddenly fell over the window, drawing his attention. The skiff jolted again, grinding to a halt inside the darkness of what could only be another ship. The stars outside were soon cut off from sight as the instrument panel flickered and died, leaving all but him in darkness.
There was a faint hiss, like the sound of oxygen being pumped into the void and the sound of a door creaking open somewhere.
Riddick moved towards the door of the skiff, ignoring the holy man. With the power out on the skiff, he couldn't open the hatch, not that he wanted to until he knew something more about the ones who had picked them up.
Abruptly there was a smashing sound behind him. The girl gave out another startled cry and he spun in time to see her duck away from the thick shards of falling glass that had been the window. She scurried away even as he moved back towards the front.
Someone outside cursed in a language he didn't know.
There was light, a flashlight beam against the darkness, attached to the barrel of a gun distinctly similar to one he knew well. He heard the safety click off, telling him everything he needed to know.
In an instant Riddick scrambled out through the shattered remains of the cockpit window.
The light burned at his eyes.
He let out a growl, knocking the barrel of this unknown assailant's gun aside. The bullet went off with a deafening crack that reverberated throughout the enclosed space.
Another gunshot went off, aimed wildly from someone panicking on the floor below.
Unflinching, Riddick lunged forward. Closing his right hand over the junker's neck, he slammed the man down onto the nose of the skiff. His left hand came down in a simultaneous swoop, shiv slicing through the man's throat.
Then he was moving again as more gunshots rang out. Poorly aimed with little aid from whatever dim lights were being provided from one of the inner hatches, none of the shots hit him.
The smell of blood now filled the air. Fresh blood mixed with panic and fear, fuel for the adrenaline that now pumped through his veins.
He struck, jumping down from the front of the skiff into the midst of the junkers and their guns. Words shouted, escaping their throats though none of it held any meaning to his ears.
Riddick lashed out at the nearest one so fast that the sound of his own neck snapping reached his ears before he realized he was dead. Lunging away from this one kill, he let his newly bloodied blade slammed into the chest of a second person, knocking him to the floor. He yanked theshiv back, a small chunk of flesh coming with it.
Some of them were backing away now, not that it mattered.
Riddick spun low and sliced through the Achilles' tendon of the next man. The junker went down only to have his neck crushed by his assailant's heavy soled boot.
Swinging the shiv in an upwards arc as he stood, Riddick hit a fourth in the gut. However, this one was wearing a military issue vest. The blade snagged where it should have cut.
This delay was enough so that the remaining member of the welcome party managed to collect his wits. He pulled the trigger only to find that it was his comrade on the other end of the barrel.
The bullets tore the man apart and Riddick came up from behind.
He closed his right hand over the man's face, cutting off his ability to breath, then slammed his head back against the side of the skiff.
The first time there was nothing but the hollow clang of something thick hitting the seemingly unmovable metal wall. It was not enough force to render the owner of the skull unconscious.
The junker's skull cracked under the force of the second blow.
Collapsed with the third.
Nearly liquefied with the fourth.
Only then did Riddick release his hold. Letting the battered corpse fall to the floor, he stepped away.
The scent of blood still filled the air, but the adrenaline was fading. The threat was gone, for the moment at least.
He turned back towards the front of the skiff to see the girl staring at him from out the window. Her eyes were wide and she was gaping slightly. It was apparent from her gaze that she had seen everything. Riddick stepped towards her and abruptly she jerked back.
He stopped.
There was fear now. Fear of what he'd just done. Fear of him, all reflected in those round eyes.
"I'm not going to hurt you, kid," he told her, that clenching disquiet returning.
She stared at him, biting her lip.
"Promise?" she asked, eyes never leaving his face.
"Yeah, kid," Riddick answered as the holy man emerged from the window, a horrified expression on his face. "I promise."