Death's Grin 5
Riddick woke up the moment the mattress shifted beneath him and immediately tightened his grip on Jack. He heard an amused sigh crossed with a snort to his right and he looked to see Jack smiling.
"It's ok, big guy, just me." She said, stroking his arm gently. She had seen more then once the moments when Riddick wasn't quite alert enough to keep his beast under control, so a flash of it would snap through the barriers, a biting spark of fire in the silver. It had unnerved her the first few times, but she realized that her voice would bring Riddick back faster.
"So why are you getting up?" His deep voice growled unintentionally. He had been very comfortable up until a few seconds ago. Jack sat up and Riddick let his grip slide as she placed one of her hands on his toned stomach, lightly tracing the contours of his muscles.
"Phone's ringing and I bet it is Toombs. What a shitty hotel wake-up call, huh?" She joked and Riddick flashed her a cat-like grin before quickly sitting up and claiming her mouth with his.
Needless to say, the call was forgotten until a few minutes later.
"C'mon, let's go say morning to Toombsy." Jack said, her voice suddenly smooth with lust. Riddick followed her as she made her way to the call screens, his hands nearly twitching to grab her hips, slam her to the floor and have his wicked way with her. And as if she could read his mind, Jack said, "Employer comes first, dear."
"He ain't much of an employer, Jack." Riddick replied.
"Work hard, party harder." She said and he grinned at that. He was definitely getting rewarded after dealing with Toombs.
He sat down first and Jack made herself comfortable in his lap, nuzzling his neck before he patched through a connection. When it was made, Toombs face couldn't be seen, so Jack yelled for him.
"HEY! PUSSY! GET YOUR MOUTH OUT-"
"I'M HERE!" Toombs yelled, nearly throwing himself into his chair. Jack laughed with Riddick, who discovered that maybe these calls weren't so bad if Toombs was going to be shamed in every one of them.
"Aw, if it isn't Toombsy-woomsy, and how did you sleep last night?" Jack cooed and Toombs narrowed his eyes at her.
"Just fine, thanks." He nearly spat.
"Really? Even with that boner? Cause face it, there ain't no way you're smart enough to jerk off, even to a vid." Jack answered and Toombs was nearly sputtering with disbelief and rage.
"That's enough, Jackie, don't get too creative yet." Riddick said and Jack smirked with victory. "You alright Toombs? Look a little flushed." He commented and Jack couldn't resist.
"Course he's flushed, he's embarrassed because the actual truth of the matter is that he's a eunuch!" She nearly crowed with glee when Toombs let out an offended gasp at the insult from their previous conversation. Jack lifted herself off Riddick's lap and went to laugh elsewhere, giggling the entire way.
"Alright, down to business, Toombs." Riddick growled and with another lip twitch, Toombs nodded. "Why the fuck is that bastard after you?"
"Kinda cheated him of a bounty and he's on my ass for that. That and probably information on you." Toombs explained and Riddick snarled, basically saying 'not good enough'.
"Ok! Fine! When he was transporting you, the bounty was paid before he got on board, so he had it being transferred to his account. I was pissed because I'd been chasing you for years, it should've been my bounty! So I kind of…rewired the transfer."
"So he's chasing you over my bounty? Don't lie, Toombs, there's got to be something else." Riddick said, shaking his head.
"When he went through all that surgery and shit, I was on his contact list and stupidly responded to the hospital's call. So I went and shit and I flipped when I realized who it was. So I did a few things to him while he was there…messed with his circuits a bit, anything that would kill him that wasn't obvious. So he's after me because I want him dead." Toombs further explained and by this time Jack had returned and she didn't look like she believed him.
"Toombs. I am personally giving you one more chance, if you don't answer this, you will be a eunuch." She said and he nodded nervously.
"You said he wanted info on me and Riddick; this is plausible since you are the only merc in existence who keeps updated tabs on us, you've got highly valuable information here. So, what's the story now?" She asked coolly.
"He wants me dead to take my info, track you guys down and kill you."
"So how do we know this isn't a trap because it certainly seems like you're making us walk into our own death." Jack shot back and Toombs shook his head.
"Princess, there ain't no way he and I could ever agree on anything, not even whores." Toombs said and Jack nodded, still looking unconvinced.
"Right, so, there's no amount of money he could offer? Nothing? If he can get nearly full body reconstruction-"
"Don't jump ahead of yourself, babe, remember the government paid for it." Toombs smirked, correcting her.
"He'd still have a lot in his accounts, unless you transferred it all to your own and then it'd be no wonder he wants you dead. Stole a dead man's money, bitch, bad idea." Jack snarled and Riddick laid a hand on her arm; he did not need Jack's anger to be unleashed on Toombs, considering the poor guy didn't know what the hell he was teasing.
"I didn't alright! I told you the truth and now I want him dead!" Toombs snapped back and Riddick suddenly heard it. He was still lying, he could tell.
"Fucking hell, just spit it out, alright? We ain't got time for this shit and if you don't, well, I'll let trigger-happy Jack get a shot at you." Riddick threatened and Toombs stopped for a moment, as if considering his options.
"Alright, alright, keep your pants on ladies." Toombs replied at first and started when Jack glared at him. "So he wants the info I got, I'd say he's still pissed at Riddick for leaving him to those aliens back on that planet."
"Not working yet, if he wants Riddick, why doesn't he just pick his lazy metal ass up and get here?" Jack asked.
"It'd be safer to work off of information for one thing and that information…well, as you've said; I've got that, so he needs my info. He knows I won't sell it, so he's got to kill me."
"How do you know he wants you dead anyway?" Riddick asked, a dark look taking residence in his face.
"Grapevine, Dickey Boy."
"So in short you want us to kill the guy who wants you dead to get info to kill us?" Jack asked, looking incredulous.
"Basically, yeah. And he won't be expecting his future targets to show up to slit his throat, either." Toombs added and Riddick thought of something else.
"Toombs, when you wire us the money, do it from your personal account, not your bounty account." He ordered and Toombs looked just as pissed as he did.
"No."
"Do it or we won't do this job." Riddick said and Toombs groaned and dragged his hand down his face.
"You smart bitches." He mumbled and Jack laughed.
"Damn straight." Jack said smiling. "So, you stay out of the light until we nail this bastard, alright? Is that easy enough for you or should I just lock you in a whorehouse with an endless supply of beer? Surely such a bottom-feeding-"
"Toombs, stay out of this, we'll take care of it." Riddick interrupted Jack and sent her a glare. "When we've bagged the shithead we'll contact you, alright?"
"Fine by me, Dickey Boy." Toombs said, grinning.
"Go fuck yourself in a corner." Jack snarled and his grin lessened. Usually taunts like that would've slid off him faster then fish slid through water, but when she said it, damn did it hurt.
"JNR9047, you have permission to land." A voice spoke through the speakers and Jack tapped into the headset.
"Thank you." She said before twisting the speaker piece back behind her head. She glanced at Riddick who was smoothly piloting the ship into its port lot, as if it were second nature for him.
When they set down, Jack immediately unbuckled the straps and took off the earpiece, tossing it into her chair. Riddick wasn't far behind her, trailing her path to their weapons closet. Well, one of them at least. As she opened it, he watched her eyes categorize the weapons for this kill, as if seeing in the future to see what weapon would work best.
"What's it going to be today, ma'am?" He asked sarcastically and Jack, who had picked up her favorite handgun, laughed and tapped his chest with the barrel of her gun.
"Don't get sassy with me." She smirked and cocked her gun, sighing when she realized it wasn't loaded. She moved to a different section of the closet for ammo and the like and loaded her gun as well as taking extra magazines.
"Sassy?" Riddick asked, laughing. As he spun a shiv in his hand, quickly sheathing it somewhere out of view, he said, "Jackie, if there is anyone sassy on this ship I'd say it would be you."
"Sassy or not, let's get this done with," Jack said, sounding a little unnerved.
"You alright?" Riddick asked, unsure if they should go out now. Last thing they needed was Jack to be high strung with two Berettas fully loaded in hand.
"Yeah, just that I don't like hunting down others for information, you know, the stalking through degrees." Jack explained, waving the barrel of one of her handguns around. That always unnerved Riddick, the way she easily, without any hesitation whatsoever, used her weapons to emphasize her point.
"Stalking through degrees…I like that." He mused, walking out from their walk-in closet. Riddick had always found it amusing that most the people they were sent to kill had clothing walk-in closets, but no, not for himself and Jack, they had a weapons walk-in closet.
"Thought you would," she quickly added, tapping in the security key code for their weapons.
"Ready?"
"Ready as I'm going to be. Think I'll be giving out some free hospital rides today, darling." She said and Riddick winced. This could mean only one thing. It was that time of month where Jack took out her hormonal aggression on their targets. He was secretly glad there was a target because being her object of aggression during those few days was hell.
Thanks to these reviewers:
Note: sorry this update is late again, I was working on the story when I was away, but I didn't have internet so I couldn't get the chapters to my beta, much less update it.
TRO- Yay for nice twists, just wait for the next chapter. Don't worry, Toombs will always be in and out, his character is too irresistible not to write about.
ren3017- Yeah, it is pretty gross but it was the only way I could really think of doing it, besides some strange voodoo thing of like, Johns' past lover putting him back together through voodoo, not that Johns would have a lover that would ever put up with him. Hope you had a good holiday too.
lamyka- Good, I was worried you guys wouldn't really like how I brought Johns back, glad it worked. Hope you liked this chapter.
Nikita1506- I think to bring back Shazza would've been harder, considering half of her would've been in one beast, the other half in another, if I remember correctly. Yes! When I was typing it I wondered if it seemed realistic that he would ever say them.
njrd- Thanks for your great review, it always makes me happy. I'll review Soul Mates as soon as I finish this up, it's going really well.
harmony69- Gah, you reviewed three times, but thanks. Hope you liked the chapter.
teiboi- Didn't get around to the 'soon' part, but did update.
Missy Jade- Wow, thanks, you read Of Schoolgirls and Convicts in one night? That's damn impressive. Hope you like this one, too.