WOOHOO! I got one more in before the new year! This is the longest chapter I've ever written, and I hope it meets everyone's expectations! GINORMOUS thank yous to every single one of my reviewers! I love you guys!

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. I don't have much and you wouldn't want it anyway.


Devil only knows how long they'd been hanging there. Kyra generally had a good sense of time, but the hours seemed to run together now, and she was beginning to feel quite like a carcass hanging after the hunt. Her arms ached, and her stomach had been groaning for quite a while, and the silence emanating from the man across from her wasn't helping to pass the time. In lieu of conversation she tried focusing on what Jonas possibly could have meant by his dying words. She replayed them over and over again in her mind: "I promise…I'll be back for you both…somehow."

He couldn't be back for them, after all she'd seen him die with her own two eyes; she watched his eyes dilate and felt his last breath on her cheek, and there was no coming back. She explored the possibility that she could have perhaps heard him wrong, although she was reasonably sure she hadn't. This was going to nag at her for a long time.

Riddick too was absorbed in his own thoughts, thoughts of how to get the two of them out of this little predicament without killing and/or mortally wounding either of them in the process. Riddick was sure Toombs had plans for him; after all, he wouldn't have gone to all the trouble getting him here if he didn't have something in mind. Knowing Toombs' convoluted and maniacal mind it would be slow, torturous, probably something to do with Kyra, otherwise he would have ghosted her already. His head was throbbing from the lights even though he'd kept his eyes shut. Toombs was trying to wear him down and break his inner animal but was succeeding only to piss him off, which would not be good for Toombs.

"Riddick?" Kyra tried once again at conversation but when she got no response she momentarily lost her temper.

"RIDDICK! Goddamnit answer me!" She yelled a little louder than she'd intended, but in all reality she wanted to kick and scream and fight and roar at him.

"What!" he yelled back, both their voices echoing inside his head.

"Talk to me please! This silence is driving me crazy!" There was a hint of desperation in her voice that touched something in him. However, he didn't let it soften his tone.

"What do you want me to say, huh? That it's all gunna be okay? That I know exactly what's gunna happen and when it's gunna go down? What Kyra! That I…" she whimpered, sounding like she was going to cry and he cursed himself mentally for his callousness. She sucked it up, determined not to be weak, at least not in front of him.

"I don't know, but anything is better than nothing. How long do you think we've been hanging here?" Now he softened his tone just a little.

"I don't know, 'bout twelve hours or so… give or take ten." He smirked as he heard a groan from her direction.

"How are you feeling? Your eye's stopped bleeding."

"Got a colossal fucking headache, other than that I'm just peachy." That was sarcasm at its finest. There was silence for a moment, then came the question she'd been dancing around.

"What do you think he's going to do to us?" Riddick didn't want to answer her. It wasn't what Toombs would do to him that scared him the most and he really didn't want to tell her that.

"All I know is this room was made for me. It's bright, it's totally soundproof, there's no door, no window, nothing that I could possibly escape through. That fucker's been waiting for this for a long time, I know he has a plan. Toombs always has a plan. Kinda like me." He smirked again he could almost hear Kyra roll her eyes.

"You don't have a plan now, boy scout." 'Ha, got him.'

"Sure I do. My plan is to wait until Toombs shows me his plan." A sharp 'hmph' was all he got in response before they heard a noise above them.

"Pop top ceiling, I should of known," Kyra grumbled.

The ceiling split open from a previously unseen seam in the middle, spreading just enough to pull one of the two bodies below up through the hole. Kyra began to freak when she realized she was the only one going up.

"What the fuck! Riddick! Fuck!" she yelled. He stayed still, listening.

"Yeah, that's right. Don't get any bright ideas big man," one of the guards hollered down. Another snickered at his buddy's remark. Only two guards, maybe seventy-five kilos apiece, maybe a shiv on each of them, but no guns clanking at their sides. No problem.

Suddenly, Riddick swung and pulled his legs up over his head grabbing the chain between his ankles, inverting himself.

"Oh shit, shut the door, shut the door!"

"I can't shut the door without bringing the girl up first!"

"Well hurry the fuck up man! Can't that shitty wench go any faster! He's gunna pull some shit and we don't got hypos or nothing!"

"Man. Fuck! Toombs was right about him!"

With a wide smirk Riddick used every muscle in his magnificent upper body and curled up to grab the chain from between his ankles and began to climb. He shimmied his way up to the opening in the ceiling, nearly beating Kyra to the top. One of the frantic guards tried to kick him in the face to knock him back down, but Riddick heard the rustle of the guard's pants and simply grabbed his boot and tossed him into the white room where he landed on his neck with a 'snap'. Riddick grinned and pulled himself up to the floor of the corridor, facing the direction of the other man who was pulling Kyra up.

"She goes, I go," Riddick growled. The man nodded vigorously, though Riddick still had his eyes closed, he knew. "My goggles?" It wasn't really a request, the man knew it was more of a 'do it or I'll kill you and do it myself' kind of thing, so he obliged cherishing very much his own meaningless life. The guard had won the pool on who got Riddick's goggles, so he had them snug in his pocket. He handed the larger man the specs and pulled Kyra in front of him like a shield. Riddick snapped them on and smiled as he could see now for the first time in a long, long while. What he saw pricked the ears of his inner animal; another man with his arm around Kyra's neck, backing her up slowly toward the elevator at the end of the corridor, a shiv at her throat.

"Now, don't do anything stupid, big man, I wouldn't wanna hurt your little girlfriend," the guard flickered his tongue out and licked at Kyra's neck. Her eyes darkened. Riddick smirked as he saw her anger well; she didn't take kindly to being licked, groped, pinched, fondled, manhandled or anything of the sort. Unless it was by a certain…ahem… other man.

"My little girlfriend can handle herself." Came Riddick's casual response, which flustered the guard a little.

Taking that as her cue, Kyra dropped her legs out from under her, momentarily throwing the man off kilter and giving her the advantage. With all her strength she threw her head back clocking the guard between the eyes and knocking him out. She got up rubbing the back of her head. That was going to leave a bruise.

"I told him." Riddick chuckled, checking the man for anything else that might come in handy. He took the shiv, a set of keys and a nice sized beating stick. "Are you okay?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, that big head must be all skull because that hurt like a bitch," she grumbled, kicking the man once in the gut. She caught the nightstick as Riddick tossed it to her, "Now what do we do?" she asked. Riddick quirked an eyebrow at her.

"We're not doing shit. I'm going to find Toombs and take care of some business. You're going to quietly find a way outta here and get us a ship, hopefully our ship." Kyra just stared at him, stricken.

"What was that again? I don't think I heard you right, I could've sworn that I just heard you suggest that we split up after all this. Is that right? ARE YOU NUTS!"

Riddick pulled her to him and clasped a hand over her mouth in one deft move.

"Shut the hell up! Are you trying to defeat the purpose of our quiet escape?" He growled into her ear. She took a deep breath, filling her nostrils with the smell of sweat, dried blood, and another scent that was Riddick's alone. It calmed her instantly, and sent ripples through… 'Not the time, Kyra.' He noticed her calm down and hesitantly he lifted his hand to ensure she was done ranting. He almost … enjoyed her being so close. 'Later,' he thought. She took a step back to regain her austere demeanor.

"Fine, like you said, I can handle myself." Riddick went to turn but she grabbed his arm, "Just… just be careful, ok?" There was a small amount of pleading in her voice underneath the doubt. Riddick smiled a little inside, not that he would ever let on.


After leaving Riddick at the elevator they took back to the surface, Kyra stuck to the shadows knowing damn good and well Toombs was smart enough to have surveillance all over. No sense in making a big ruckus when there was no need … not yet at least. It was night, from what she could tell, and it would be a shame to wake up all those sleeping guards. Besides, there would be enough of a ruckus when that guard she'd knocked out woke up. She figured she had an hour, give or take thirty minutes, to get out before he came to and alerted the whole damn place. Long before then Riddick would be at Toombs' throat, but what about her? She almost doubted herself, but she shook the thought from her mind as she traveled stealthily down one passage after another, hoping she was headed for an exit. She stopped, hearing footfalls around the corner. She started to backtrack, to look for a different way. She heard voices behind her now. 'Shit shit shit,' she thought. She ducked into a doorway, sucking into the shadows as close to the wall as she could get, hoping for nothing else but to become invisible, but readying her nightstick just in case.

"Yeah, I could do with a good blow- ugh!" Was that a punch?

"Hey you!" There followed the sounds of a fistfight, another guard ran past her, and Kyra peeked one eye around behind her when she heard the soft 'thud' of a body hitting the floor. Another punch and 'thud'. The dark haired man standing over the bodies on the floor was familiar. She couldn't believe her eyes.

"Jonas!" She ran to him as he drug the bodies into a nearby room. Then it hit her.

"Nonono, you're dead! I saw it; you can't be here, you-" Kyra babbled. Jonas turned and shushed her. She gasped. His eyes were different now, a limpid blue where the darkest brown had once been. She started to back away, a little frightened.

"I assure you, I'm here. I'll explain later, c'mon. I know where the skiff is." She shook her head.

"Do you want to get out of here in one piece or not?" He turned and started down the corridor. Bewildered, Kyra followed him back to the skiff, awaiting his explanation.


Riddick walked hastily back to the room where Toombs had been. He had run into a guard, who was now quietly napping in the middle of the hall, other than that had met no resistance. He used the keycard he picked off the guard Kyra had knocked out and entered the room. He closed and relocked the door, quietly breaking the control panel. The sleeping form in the mechanized hospital bed stirred. Riddick lifted his goggles, walking over and nudging the man roughly with the business end of the gun. Toombs' eyes shot open and he went to yell when he saw who was at his bedside, but feeling the cold steel of a big gun pressed to the bottom of his jaw made him reconsider.

"Just you and me, Toombs," Riddick said menacingly. He saw Toombs try to sneak his hand to a panic button on the bed, "I wouldn't do that, I don't want to have to kill you yet."

"You kill me, and this whole place will be on you like stink on shit in a matter of seconds. There's someone monitoring my vitals all the time. They see me flat line, they sound the alarm." He was a little too smug for Riddick's liking, but he was right.

"You think I couldn't get away from your punk ass guards? Shit! I ghosted one and knocked one out on the way down here to see your pathetic ass, so I don't think the rest would be much of a challenge." Toombs' eyes went wide, knowing the truth in the other man's words.

"Go for it then, you asshole! Kill me! Get it over with! Save me the suffering!" Toombs was a desperate man who desperately wanted to die. Riddick could smell his fear, it emanated from him like a man bathed in cheap cologne. Riddick smirked wide.

"No, that'll be too easy," once again Toombs' eyes went wide, "I'm gunna leave you here to rot in your own skin." Riddick looked up through the small window, seeing the skiff he'd arrived on land off in the distance. 'That's my girl,' he thought.

"I'll be going now, but first, I want a souvenir." His wicked grin was reflected back by the shiv shinning in his hand.


Jonas and Kyra watched intently out the front window. It seemed to Kyra that Riddick was taking forever, but in all reality they had only been parked here for a few moments. She was anxious, and jumpy. She was aware of his every breath. Could've had something to do with the fact that she had a presumably dead man sitting next to her, and he was very much alive. He wouldn't tell her what he was until Riddick got there, partially to keep her on edge, and fuck with her nerves. Mostly just so he wouldn't have to tell his story twice, it wasn't a pleasant one, after all.

"I'm going to find him!" Kyra announced as she stood from the co-pilot's seat. Jonas grabbed her arm and she went to backhand him, but he blocked.

"Just wait, you know he'll get here when he's ready." Kyra stared at him in awe. It wasn't just his eyes that had changed; his whole manner was different. This Jonas was a far cry from the bumbling apprentice merc they had taken with them off the Carrier II.

"Look I don't know who, or what, you are but-"

"Look! There, just beyond that ridge, I saw his head." Kyra cautiously turned from Jonas and looked for herself; there in the distance was Riddick's bald and goggle clad head bounding toward the skiff. She thought she'd heard Jonas mutter an 'I told you so', but wasn't sure and didn't particularly care to find out. They lowered the ramp to let Riddick aboard then made a swift escape. Not a moment too soon, as they took off they saw a fleet of guards coming in their direction. They cleared the atmosphere in a matter of minutes, and when it was safe Kyra met Riddick at the hatch.

"What the fuck took you so long?" she started to yell at him, and then looked down, "Your hand… it's bleeding!" Kyra went for the med kit. He did have a few minor cuts from punching out the window in Toombs' room, but that wasn't where the blood was from. Riddick stopped her and opened his hand. There in his palm lay a bloody and mangled tongue. Kyra looked upon it in shock, instantly feeling a queasy satisfaction in knowing whose tongue it was.

"I told him I wanted a souvenir," he said with a wide smirk. Riddick went to wash up with Kyra padding along behind him. He washed his hands, setting the tongue aside for now. Kyra took a rag and began cleaning the dried blood from the side of his face. 'She never ceases to amaze,' Riddick caught himself thinking. The cut over his eye wasn't as bad as it looked, Kyra noticed, but it would still leave a tiny scar. Riddick looked into her eyes.

"Kyra," he began, but she cut him off.

"Don't, Riddick. Let's get some sleep and then we can talk." She stayed focused on wiping at his face.

"I was going to say, what coordinates did you set?"

"I didn't, actually, why?" Kyra looked a little puzzled.

"Well, if you're here, who's driving this shitty little undercutter?" Now it was Kyra's turn to smirk.

"He said he'd be back. He wasn't lying."


(Gasp! A cliffy!) Sorry everyone, but I can't just tell you all about Jonas now, then you wouldn't read the next chapter! I promise to update really soon, like hopefully by tomorrow. Stay tuned! ;o) Batty