Chapter VI
Crossing Paths
Jack lingered in the doorway of the ship, looking back at the port, as if waiting for someone. Marius was further in, placing the books in various piles all over the place, not noticing that his mentor wasn't directly behind him. Growling, Jack swung herself into the ship, slamming her fist on the closing lock, almost breaking it. This startled him and he looked up, seeing a glowering Jack avoiding his questioning gaze.
"Jack?" He cautiously asked, subconsciously straightening a pile of books.
"What is it?" She snarled, immediately feeling sorry.
"I…I…you…" he stumbled.
"Don't worry, it wasn't you…just…you're staying in tonight." She said, waving him to sit down. He did just that, sinking into the copilot's seat and staring at her.
"What do you mean, 'you're'?" He asked, receiving a softer glare.
"I need to do some…scouting. You will stay here." She ordered, crossing her leg beneath her as she sat down in the pilots seat.
"But-"
Her icy stare silenced him, so he let it go, not wanting to anger her any more. He had known something was bothering her since they left the bookstore, but he dared not voice his suspicions. Picking up a book, he flipped open to the front page and began to read.
"Marius, are you hungry?" She asked suddenly, making him glance up, holding his hand at his page. She seemed completely preoccupied, the dangerous glint in her eyes not fading but it wasn't directed at him. He nodded, still not sure if he should speak.
The meal was eaten in silence, Marius gladly using the time to read and to let Jack brood over whatever was bothering her. He mused that she seemed particularly vicious with her knife as she cut her food, maybe even scratching the plate. When it was done she stood and cleared their makeshift table, walking off to the sink and leaving her charge at the table.
As she walked back, she saw how absorbed he was in his books and figured it would calm her down to take a walk. Or scouting, as she had told him. She re-armed herself, feeling distant from the world as she did so, lost in memories of times past.
"Riddick?" Jack propped herself up on her elbows, peering over the back of the shabby couch. He had just laid his hand on the door knob of their run-down apartment when she spoke.
Turning, he raised an eyebrow at her. In truth, she looked out of place in the room. Her hair had grown and now fell just beneath her shoulder blades, black waves of wild mane contrasting sharply with her hazel eyes that blazed green when she was angry. So it wasn't often that her eyes weren't that vivid shade of emerald. She had dyed her hair black, seeing how there were pictures of them all over merc nets, so they had to change appearances.
"Going out again?" She asked, sounding hurt. Jack felt like she wasn't talking to the same man, seeing how his eyes were hidden by colour contacts, an uninteresting shade of brown.
"What's it to you?" He rumbled back, smoothing his hand over his shaven scalp.
"Clearly I don't want you to leave." She snapped, sitting up. Her body had grown as well, and Riddick wasn't sure how long he had until she caught on where he was going almost every night.
"I'll be back." He growled, turning again.
"Yeah?" She questioned, jumping over the back of the couch. "I don't want you to go." She repeated, crossing her arms over herself. Sighing he turned around again, unsure if it was anger or pain he smelled.
"I go, I come back, big deal. Christ, Jack, you're going to be fine." Riddick said, doing his best not to glare at her. He was just about to step over the threshold of the door when he heard her retreating footsteps, a slam of a door and what he thought was her mirror being smashed. "Fuck, kid, gotta work on this anger problem," he mumbled, shutting the door behind him and walking swiftly towards her room.
Of course the door was locked, but it wasn't going to ask permission. Riddick didn't know what it was that tore him up inside when he heard a strangled sob from her, nor did he want to find out, but he wasn't going to have her wallowing in misery while he went out to please himself. Kicking the door open, he went in to see that indeed the mirror was smashed and Jack sat on the floor, holding her right fist, which was encrusted with blood and shattered glass.
"Riddick," she choked out, "go."
"Nice try." He shot back, toeing all the glass towards the wall as he made his way to the young girl. She was going to be very strong, but that wasn't yet. Jack needed to not be alone, she didn't have it in her to be stuck in solitude for her life and he saw that.
An hour later found the pair in Jack's bed, Jack sleeping peacefully, face dried of tears. Riddick was behind her, holding her around the waist and lightly holding her bandaged hand in his, not wanting to have it moved around during the night. Jack sighed in her sleep and moved closer to his body, humming quietly.
No, he wasn't going anywhere tonight.
Tightly pulling the last strap over one of her shivs, Jack refocused her eyes on Marius, who was watching her move. With a slight smile she walked to him and stood in front of him, almost like a war general before peaceful and intellectual prince. But Marius could fight, so she wasn't too worried about leaving him in a locked ship.
"I'll be back later." Was all she said as she headed out of the cockpit and to the door. Marius softly said goodbye to her, but he knew she had heard him, although the only thing that replied was the hiss and lock of the ship's door. Cracking his jaw, he settled back down into his book, vaguely wondering where Jack was going to go.
She was swiftly moving through the port, waiting for that feeling she got as they had been walking home earlier that day. Jack didn't like the feeling of being chased, or being the prey, as Riddick would've said. She kept her fingers impossibly close to the trigger release of her claws, her eyes accustomed to dark as they moved over non-threats and studied ones that could pose a problem.
Hearing a slight scuffle to her left, she headed that way, not yet unsheathing her claws. It was none of her business to see what was happening, but Jack had always been attracted to fights and trouble to start with. Two men were beating each other up in the dark alley of the port, one losing terribly. He was on the ground, begging for the other's mercy, his nose broken and blood dripping in grotesque patterns all over the cement.
"Hey!" She snapped, sliding into a fighting stance. "Let him go!" When had she become the hero of the dark world of night?
"Eh?" The winning man straightened his back, his fisted hands covered in blood. Sneering at her, he took the man's shirt and roughly slid him away. He scrambled up and ran off, leaving the other two. "Girly girl, what's yer problem with me?"
"It's my problem with everyone. Fuck off." She snarled, wondering if the fight was a bad one to get into. Jack pressed the trigger release and the claws shot out, flashes of bright silver in the dark alley. She saw a momentary hint of fear on the man's face, but it was replaced with that arrogant confidence that she hated.
"Well, girly girl, seems like yer outnumbered." He smirked, Jack cursing herself as she suddenly felt at least eight more men surround her.
"Call me a girly girl, sure. Beat me? In your dreams, bitch." She mocked, letting him run at her. Jack wasn't going to let these guys live, so her battle style was entirely different.
He ran head down, as if charging, so she jumped and as she passed his head, dug both claws into the base of his skull, pulling towards her. When she landed, part his scalp dropped from her bloodied hands. He stumbled for a moment, but she ran forward and pulling a shiv, cut his throat open and let him fall.
"Kind of like the way you killed our leader. What do you think of doin' her in the same way?" Another stepped forward, bearing a mace. Jack gritted her teeth and slid into fighting position once again. This wasn't going to be easy.
Marius sighed dreamily as he turned another page, he hadn't been this deliriously happy since Jack told him she wasn't going to throw him back into the streets. He glanced to the top of the page to see how far he was in his first book and was distracted by a glint of silver across the room. Looking up, he saw one of Jack's favourite blades left on the table. In his haste of getting up, his book fell to the floor and he quickly righted it and went to the table. He groaned when he saw it was her bone shiv, she went nowhere without it but she had been in another place altogether when she had been arming herself only some twenty minutes earlier.
His mind was bent with dilemma, stay here like Jack said, or go run and find Jack and give her the shiv. She had said to stay put, but it didn't mean that he couldn't go find her. Grinning, Marius decided to tell her later that she had to be more specific with her orders. Snatching the blade off the table, he fit it snugly between an extra leather belt and his pants. It gleamed a fearsome white against his darkly coloured clothes, but he was more intent on getting out of the ship.
With his feet on the ground, he looked left and right, wondering where she had gone. To the left it was the departure ports, where they took off into space, so he went with the right. 'There's logic, but now instinct,' he thought as he began to lightly jog to the right, glancing in at the small alleys that littered the port.
He suddenly skidded to a stop, his ears lifted, trained to hear sounds that normal human ears would have trouble picking up. Scuffles, curses, the familiar sound of blades tearing through flesh. Jack had to be there, he decided, about to move forward again when a massive form dropped from above and landed in a crouch in front of him. Gulping, Marius reached for the shiv but stopped, knowing that it wasn't going to help him to use his strongest weapon first.
The figure straightened itself, and Marius was concerned with the massive height and body mass difference between himself and the unnamed man in front of him. The figure was indeed intimidating, the broad uncovered shoulders baring very well-muscled arms and the clothing altogether hid nothing of the man's strength. Marius mused that he wouldn't be as scary if he had hair and if he could see his eyes, which were covered with goggles, but he wasn't going to worry about it.
"Don't have time for names, where did you get that shiv?" The man asked, his deep voice shaking Marius to the bone. But he didn't dare show it, but walked up to the man.
"And I don't have time to talk to nameless men." He shot back, trying to walk around him, but his arm shot out and blocked him. "I mean it, I've got to go." Marius stated, his voice showing no trace of the fear he felt eating at his spine.
"We've all got places to go, kid. Where'd you get the damn shiv?" He asked, sounding arrogantly bored. To the nameless man's surprise, Marius let out an animal-like snarl, obviously impatient. He opened his mouth to speak, but a woman's wild yell cut the air and something else entirely came out of his mouth.
"JACK!" He shouted, his eyes widening in panic.
"You know Jack, huh?" He asked, smirking. The young boy pulled out the shiv and stood in a fighting stance, similar to Jack's but with a classical forbidding presence.
"Maybe I do, but what's it to a hairless and most likely brainless ape like you?" Marius growled out, knowing he could get seriously pummeled for insulting him like that.
Four of the men were moaning and dying in pools of their own blood and organs, Jack just keeping her footing on the slippery surface. Her claws were red, as were most of her arms. Another angry man charged at her, and she took him out just as easily as the others, dipping beneath him and catching the back of his head in her hands, snapping the spine with a quick jerk. Panting slightly, she cursed as a few more men appeared.
"You're pretty good for a woman." One of them spat, approaching her. She stayed silent and moved her hand back, to where she kept her bone shiv hidden on the back of her thigh.
"Yeah, she is, wonder if she is this crazy in bed." Another added, making the rest of the group bark with laughter.
"We're gonna find out, ain't no way a insane bitch like this can last for long, right boys?" The first one spoke again, pulling out two small daggers. They weren't throwing daggers, but they looked viciously sharp.
He ran towards her and Jack moved to where her shiv was and to her shock, her hand came up empty. Panic overtook her for a moment as the man kept running at her and just as one of his daggers deeply cut her forearm that she had brought up to block her face, she released the claws again. Jack dug them up into the man's stomach, wrenching the sharp metal around and out, spending time to move farther up his chest and take out his heart as well. The man's mouth gurgled with blood and she shoved him to the side, still sitting on the ground.
The other men advanced, smirks not fading on their hideous faces. Jumping up with a battle cry, Jack released both of her claws and ran into the fray.
Riddick had just about lost his cool, this kid had a lot of nerve. After he put this kid down, he could go find Jack, if he followed her yell correctly. But suddenly the kid turned on his heel and sprinted the other way, definitely away from Jack. Riddick let the chase run and followed him, his larger form easily taking over the boy's stride. But Marius was smaller and maybe even faster.
He skidded short in step and charged right at Riddick, jumping at the last minute and using Riddick's head as leverage beneath his feet. Springing off the man's back, he didn't look back but ran as fast as he could to where he thought his mentor was.
"Well I'll be, there isn't a doubt that kid is with her." He smirked, turning to follow the boy. Riddick would have gone slower, waiting for the perfect moment to show up and save them, but above the smell of the dead attackers blood, he smelled the blood from T2. Jack's blood. He went into an easy lope, pulling out both shivs and a terrible change went through his face as he took off his goggles. He was the killer once more and was not going to let any filthy hunter touch her.
Marius easily found the fight and Jack had been caught behind by one of the larger attackers, struggling against his grip. Men stood behind the one who had her captured, watching their temporary leader stalk up, a sick smile plastered on his face. Hidden by the dark alley, he stayed low the ground as he approached the group, the shiv in his hand looking like a single talon.
No one besides Jack knew he was there until he had jumped up onto the man's back and slit his throat from behind, letting him fall the ground before Jack. Scrambling over, he slid onto his back through the bloodbath, grabbing onto the man's legs who had Jack. Using the shiv, he cut the man's tendons and muscles behind his knees and his Achilles tendon. He screamed in agony as he fell and Marius stood up, gluing his back to Jack's, who was recovering and ignoring the gaping wound in her forearm at the same time.
"Marius, I told you to stay on the ship." She growled, judging the enemy.
"But you didn't say to not go looking for you if you forgot your favourite shiv." He shot back, briefly showing Jack the shiv. She glowered at him then rolled her eyes, focused again on the men in surrounding her and her charge.
"We do this together, got it?" She asked, feeling the young boy's determination.
"Yeah, lemme guess, these are the vengeful drooling idiots?" he asked, making a few of them shout in hurt anger.
"Yep, these are the bitches." She confirmed, wondering if they would survive this. "Ready?"
"As ready as I'm going to be." He replied.
"Go!" She shouted, and they both lunged forward, slicing, kicking and smashing fists wherever they could. Jack realized with a sinking feeling this might be the first time Marius had gotten into such a fight, so when there was a pause in her attackers, she glanced over at him to find that he was struggling wildly against them. One had his arm tightly around Marius' neck, holding him against his larger body. The boy refused to give up the shiv, but his arms were held as well, so he couldn't move and defend himself.
"Stop!" The man shouted, bringing an end to the fight. He stepped forward with Marius still fighting against his hold. Jack snarled when he punched Marius in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and probably bruising a few ribs.
"Let him go!" She yelled, disgusted by his cowardly nature. And she had thought hunters were better then this.
"No, I don't think so. Either we kill 'im or you willingly surrender to us." The man bargained, tightening his grip. Marius was heaving breaths now, the lack of oxygen beginning to take a toll on his small body.
"Let him go!" Jack demanded again, sheathing her claws and taking out two other blades. The man opened his mouth to speak again but closed it, his eyes widening in obvious fear. Jack turned and to her surprise, a very familiar figure walked forth from the shadows, his voice calm, but she recognized the anger beneath it.
"I don't think you heard her, she told you to let the kid go." He spoke, stopping next to Jack. His silver eyes flashed in the dim light, making the attackers shudder. "Besides, when could Bellger's hunters walk freely around on Valen III and start fights?"
Jack recognized the name, it was the man she had killed. Bellger, the bastard had really pushed her into this shit. Too bad she couldn't bring him back to life and kill him again.
"Valen III…." The man stuttered, knowing he had gone too far.
"You know as well as I do that Nattuck is neutral territory, but Valen III simply," he walked forward, reaching the man holding Marius. He moved behind him and pressed his shiv to the man's spine, specifically the sweet spot. "not," another dull but soon to be sharp poke, "your," another poke, "ground." With that Riddick shoved his shiv in, making him release Marius, who stumbled forward. Jack caught him and picked him up, letting him regain breath in her arms.
Riddick let the man fall and stood tall again, his imposing figure obviously not one to fool with. A quiet snarl was all that was needed to have the rest of men running, tripping over themselves and barely able to gather their weapons. Waiting until they all left, Riddick turned to see Jack kneeling on the ground, cradling the young boy in her arms as he took his first few normal breaths.
Suddenly Riddick remembered a night where Jack must've had a dream about someone suffocating her and she woke up, clawing at her throat. He had gathered her into his arms immediately, ordering her to calm down and get her ass back into reality. She tried and succeeded, rewarding Riddick with a grateful smile before she fell back to sleep, exhausted with the ordeal.
"Jack," he spoke, his voice stronger, "your shiv." He held it up, it had been clenched in his fist the entire time. Smiling gently, she took it from him and sheathed it in its proper place, where it should've been a few minutes ago.
"Doing alright?" She asked, watching him struggled to stand. She stood easily and helped him, only then stopping to look at Riddick. Marius was too busy finding his balance and nodding to Jack at the same time to see the silent thanks Jack sent to the ex-convict, who approached the pair. But when he got close enough, Marius' head snapped up and he glared at Riddick, who smirked back at him.
"You! Jack, that's the guy who stopped me, he was asking about your shiv and then-" he rambled, quickly explaining to her but still shooting angry glances at Riddick.
"It's fine, Marius. I know him, he's not going to hurt me." Jack assured him and he stopped, breathing nosily through his nose. "Not kidding, it really is ok." With a growl Marius nodded, but he didn't like the other man there anymore then he had before.
"Nice charge you got there, Jack." Riddick commented as they turned to walk back to her ship.
"Glad to know you're interested." She said coldly, not looking at him. Riddick didn't know if she was doing this just to show Marius that she wasn't overly friendly with him or if she was doing it just out of genuine feeling. He hoped for the first.
They got back to the ship without another word, Jack sending Marius to their room with his books. He protested, pointing at the bloody wound on her forearm but with another order, sharper this time, he left, taking time to glare at Riddick again. Jack sighed once he left, sinking into the pilot's chair, not taking note of her still-bleeding wound. Riddick left in search of the med bay, taking a first-aid kit when he found it and heading back to the cockpit, where she still sat, staring out the window.
"Arm." He said, and she looked at him, fading amusement in her eyes. She leaned and rested her arm near him as he cleaned it and began to stitch it. "See you've kept yourself busy."
"I didn't find him, he found me." She replied, glancing up to meet his silver eyes looking at her face. Jack felt bits of her melting, but refused to let it show.
"Somehow I could say the same about you." He added, returning his eyes to his work, where the wound was neatly being pulled together. When he finished, he firmly bandaged it and moved his hands down to hold her hand. This got her attention and she looked at him again, her eyes curious.
"Riddick," she started, holding direct eye contact with him, "Since when did you know the details of merc hunter's territory?"
He wasn't going to dance around the subject, but he had to admit to himself that Jack was as sharp as ever, her mind picking up on the smallest details.
"Since I became the leader of a merc hunting group." He slid back into his seat as Jack suddenly jumped and collided herself into him, half-heartedly beating her fists on his chest, angry tears coming from nowhere. He caught her wrists and held them gently, waiting until she calmed down.
"How could you? You hate mercs, you hate all of it and you become one of them! I run from people like you, Riddick!" Her pained voice hurt him, but he let her continue. "What happened, just one day you sat back and thought 'Huh, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'! You always beat them, even in the long run, you escaped Butcher Bay!" Jack was furious, how could he give in like that?
"Jack!" He shouted, making her stop and stare down, not daring to meet his silver gaze. "We both know I beat them every time, but it always meant I was chased! Do you know why I did this? Became a hunter?" He asked, not wanting to remember the few days that had torn him apart. He had been near suicidal during the decision, it had gone against everything he had ever done. But he had a reason, one he kept reminding himself of every day since he joined. "Do you?" He asked again, letting go of her wrists, which fell limply to her sides.
"No." She replied, looking up to see his face. It hadn't changed at all since the last time she had seen him, but she had missed it terribly, missed him horribly.
"Jack, what was the reason I left?"
"Said you didn't want me to live my life being chased all the time." She instantly replied, surprised that she had pulled that up so quickly.
"Right, and how can I be chased when I'm the chaser? Jack," he took her hands this time, "I did it for you. I could find you and we could hunt together and not be chased." He reasoned, pushing the thought from his mind of why he was suddenly so talkative.
"But you didn't, I disappeared off the face of the universe." She continued, inwardly touched by what he had done.
"Right again. Understand now?" He asked, his rumbling voice gentle.
"Yeah, but," her tone took on a playful edge, "you didn't want to be chased anymore yourself. There is only so much attention Richard B. Riddick can handle, you big celebrity, you." She teased, making both of them smile.
Only then did she realize that she was sitting in his lap, almost straddling him. But she didn't care, seeing how she slumped forward and rested her head on his chest. Somehow it didn't bother either of them that they were mostly covered in blood, as Riddick let down her hair and idly played with it. When she spoke, he closed his eyes, thanking some god, or anything in general, that she had made her way back into his arms.
Thanks to:
TotallyRiddickObsessed – hoped you like her reaction, the next chapters are kinda semi exciting, kind of plotfillers too, but amusing plotfillers, I promise. Thanks for reviewing.
Hey guys, I'm sorry for the lack of updating for about the past week. I violated a rule on with Jack's Every Step, which I really liked. But they took it off and wouldn't let upload chapters for a week. Sorry about that, but you can expect regular updates.