Death's Grin 4
"He's got to be fucking with us, Riddick; Johns is dead! He was shived, eaten and digested! Monster meat!" Jack yelled, following Riddick to the back of the ship. He didn't say a word as he continued farther back because he was in search of something and didn't have the time to stop and argue with Jack.
She followed him angrily, her body radiating hate. Right then she was cursing him for taking on the job, but she ignored it while she watched him open a compartment in one of the walls. A shelf of discs flipped out and he trailed his hand over the row before plucking one out and pushing the shelf back into the wall. As he sat back down in the pilot's seat, Jack stood behind, watching.
"Riddick…" she said, her voice now sounding tired. Suddenly he stood and faced her, entwining the fingers of her hands with his. She willingly moved in for the kiss he offered and cursed herself for having no will to resist him. When he pulled back, she was much less hateful, although still confused.
"I know this is weird, but think about it this way," Riddick started and he could see Jack's eyes focus on his voice, so he continued. "Whoever or whatever that is, whether it's some twin, a copycat, a robot…whatever, it's best that we know about him before he knows about us. We kill him, threat's gone, and we're fine."
"What if he and Toombs are conspiring against us?" Jack asked and Riddick shook his head.
"There's a snowball's chance in hell that those two mercs would ever work together." Riddick replied, and Jack felt comforted. Almost.
"What if it's really him?"
"Then…it's going to be one hell of a reunion." Riddick sat back down and tugged Jack into his lap, who complied and rested her head on his shoulder while he snaked an arm around her waist to slip in the disc he had gotten.
"What's this?" She asked, her eyes narrowing as a program flashed up on the screen.
"I took the liberty of copying Toombs' hard drive over that lengthy conversation you had with him. These are merc lists; it continuously collects data on any known merc. If Johns is still alive, there should be 'recent' activity on his file." Riddick explained, making Jack grin.
"Maybe he's a vampire or something." She said, making him roll his eyes. They went through files and passwords before they got to Johns' file. Riddick scrolled down the page and stopped dead at one point. Jack read the file aloud, trying to humanize it.
"'Briefly lost contact while transporting criminal Richard B. Riddick to a slam. Presumed dead in the tragedy of H-G, a passenger ship destined for New Mecca. Investigators and scientists followed up on the crash shortly after, discovering a light-phobic alien creature. Ten were captured and removed from the planet for testing.
"'The orbit patterns of the planet were studied and it was discovered that there was a complete solar eclipse every two decades, give or take a few years. These creatures come out only during that time and unless there is an available food source, they end up eating each other. In this case, the food source was the survivors of the crash, Johns included.
"'During the testing of the largest creature found and captured, the chemicals injected into the creature had adverse effects and seemed to be affecting the unborn creature within it. It began to move around in the lower part of the animals body and emit strange noises, unlike the wailing ones heard by the creatures.
"'The discovery proved to be even stranger when the other females of the captured test subjects began to lay eggs. Immediately the largest one was killed and dissected and a still-living human was found within. It seems that the digestive system of the creatures were extremely slow, so as to keep as much food and energy within the creature as long as possible.
"'The human was taken out and, after years of rehabilitation and surgery, was seen fit to go back into society. This human was Johns.'"
Jack stopped and blinked at the screen, unable to go on. Silence reigned in the ship as they digested the information, barely able to believe that Johns was alive and kicking. Swallowing, she continued.
"'Many vital parts of Johns were missing, so many transplants were needed for him to fully recover. The funding for this was given by the government, who viewed Johns as a test subject.
"'The whereabouts of Johns is unknown, as is his profession. He was a merc before the H-G crash, but it is not proven that he is still in that line of work as of now.'"
"That's sick, they recreated possibly the worst man to recreate, why couldn't they have brought back Shazza or-" Jack started, her voice wavering with emotion. Riddick silenced her with a look and gathered her up in his arms, cradling her against his chest. They had almost never discussed the crash, both trying to block it from memory. Jack buried her face in Riddick's neck, tears falling from her eyes and onto his skin. He did his best to comfort her, kissing her hair and holding her tighter, whispering nonsensical words into her ear.
"Jack…Jack, c'mon, I know it's painful, but there isn't anything we can do now. At least we're chasing him now, not the other way around." He offered and felt relieved when he felt Jack smirk against his neck. Sitting up, she wiped the remaining wetness from her face and did her best to smile.
"So, are we going to catch this bastard anyway?" She asked, grateful for Riddick's presence. Nothing had been like the time in the hospital, in her nightmares. She didn't have nightmares anymore, always wrapped safely in Riddick's arms.
"We'll be doing a lot of port jumping, that's for sure. Try to find a source of where he was last seen, work from there." Riddick explained and Jack nodded. "Let's get to work then."
"Riddick!" Jack's call startled him from picking through the endless cardboard cartons of instant food they lived off of. Grabbing two from the counter, he quickly went into the main room, where Jack had selected a repeating streaming tape of a security camera. He tossed her a carton of noodles, which she caught easily while twisting off the metal bottom. She noisily slurped at it, not even bothering to use a utensil.
"So?" He asked, not impressed.
"Look! That guy in the hat!" She pointed him out and Riddick narrowed his eyes. Still didn't see it.
"Ok, let's try this…" she typed in a command and the screen switched to heat vision. "I went through his file and not all of his new body parts are from another human, they're manmade. They were still perfecting the blood running through the arm and such, so one of his arms is mechanical. Thus it will have no heat signature." She was right, on one of the arms there was no heat signature at all.
"So? Anyone could have an arm like that." He said, beginning to wonder if Jack needed some sleep.
"Yes, but…" she froze the frame, zoomed in on a glass counter that he was passing. Picking up the frame, she narrowed the focus and sharpened the image and a clear reflection of the man in the hat was seen. She flipped it over and sure enough, it was the shifty-eyed Johns staring off somewhere. She grinned when Riddick slipped his hand around her waist and rested it on her hip.
"Knew you could do it, Jack." He rumbled, tossing his empty food container in the flame disposal and Jack's carton soon followed. "Time to track."
"Oh, joy." She grumbled, sitting back down in her chair. Tracking was so boring; it was the chase that got her excited. She reviewed his medical information but soon began to drift off to sleep as the soft noise of keyboards working continued. She vaguely remembered the noise stopping and feeling Riddick's arms slip beneath her, carrying her to their bedroom.
She woke up slightly on the walk there and rested her head against his chest. He deposited her on the bed and moved back to take off her shoes but grabbing fistfuls of his shirt; she tugged him onto her and kissed him deeply. A battle of dominance ensued, Jack shivering as Riddick trailed his tongue up the roof of her mouth. Breaking for air, she grinned sleepily at him and kicked off her shoes. He turned and took off his boots, not facing Jack as she pulled down the covers and slipped beneath them, not bothering to undress.
"Tired?" He asked and he was answered with a sleepy affirmative.
Pulling up the covers around himself and Jack, he rested his head against the pillows as she instinctively moved close to him. He raised his arms over his head, clasping his hands behind, watching Jack snuggle towards him, laying her head on his shoulder, her hand relaxing on his chest. Unlocking his hands, he draped one arm over Jack's waist and laced his other hand with her hand that rested on his chest. He arched his neck and kissed her head and was rewarded with a content purr.
"Night Riddick, love you…" she mumbled, grinning to herself as she heard his heartbeat speed up slightly at her words. She knew he loved her, but it was a contest with herself, seeing how many times she could get him to say it.
"I know, Jackie…love you…too…" he barely said but Jack heard it before she fell fast asleep, a smile on her face. Riddick drifted into a half-sleep, a catnap, his senses still on alert for any threats. It wasn't to protect himself anymore, but to protect the beautiful woman who even as a girl, trusted him and held faith in him even though it was buried deep inside of her. He would never let that go and more importantly, never let her go.
Sorry for the late update! Life's been more hectic then necessary lately. More regular updates, although I won't be near my laptop for the holidays.
Thanks to these reviewers:
TRO- Hope you liked the twist, I must've scratched four or five plans before I came up with this one. Thanks for reviewing!
lamyka- Oh yes, this has been some "quirky shit" as you so elegantly put it. Glad you like the dialogue, I always wonder if I'm messing up some grammar rules, but if the masses like it, it's good.
njrd- Toombs actually isn't that bad, he is a bit of an arrogant bastard, but in all honesty, I think he could be a hell of a lot worse. Yeah, I tried to keep Toombs' character intact. I'm afraid it's Johns himself, not his brother. Hope you like it anyway.
TrunksgirlBlaze27- Sorry about the late update! Gah! But yeah, Toombs is back and ready to…well, clearly be a coward and not get Johns himself. We might have him work with Riddick and Jack…maybe, just maybe.
Nikita1506- Toombs can be a very nasty guy, although very good to laugh at. Thanks for reviewing!
teiboi- Gah! Considering that was your only review, I feel bad about not updating sooner. As I said, hellish life less updates.
ren3017- Sorry for the late update, Renee, but I'm glad you like the Toombs I made out; you know, bachelor (probably eternally so) watching porn, eating instant food. Are we surprised? No.