Chapter Twelve: Some Kind of Hero

River landed with a crunch, the chains rattled on the wall behind her. Keeping her head down she got up onto her knees and stayed completely still while her capturers loaded in crates and such like. Ignoring the bruises she listened to the conversations and noises outside, there were different tones of humming at different pitches at different volumes. They were in the docking stations, and by the turn of the conversation outside this ship were going to be leaving soon. The final few entered the ship and sealed the door, merely glancing over at their cargo still on the floor in a corner at the back. River's eyes fixed on the control panel as a pair of dirty fingers moved over and pressed various buttons, programming in the destination. Her muscles quivered slightly as she slowly stood up and reaching a hand out towards the door, eyes never moving off the small group gathered round the cockpit discussing slams.

"Don't even think about it scrawny."

A gun nozzle was lifted almost within an instant and aimed directly at her head. The owner of the elevated gun arm hadn't even turned his head to have known that she was heading for the exit.

"Chain her."

As two of his comrades moved towards her she straightened up and bolted at the door, yanking at the lever until a pair of strong hands latched onto each arm and pulled her away with ease.

"Get off me! What the fuck do you want! What did I do?"

The leader turned around sharply and almost launched out of his seat and towards her as the other two chained her wrists to the hull. A pincer grip took hold of her chin and directed her head up to his'. His jaw was held in a strong clamp and his tone was harsh and relentless.

"You're his little toy and we've got ya. He's gonna come lookin', and when he does…"

He dug his filthy nails into her skin until letting go and flicking her head aside roughly before returning to his seat.

Riddick strapped himself in while his other hand glided over switches at high speed, getting the little ship to take off as fast as it possible could without ripping it apart. He grinded his teeth and chanted his own little mantra in his head while the ship blasted off out of the atmosphere. He'd set a scan up for recent launching activity, ion trails and was now following the most recent trail found. Pulling his goggles off, he glanced over at the lifeless co-pilot chair thoughtfully, and the cryo-sleep equipment that had been thrown onto it. Growling at himself, he turned away from the chair and its contents before eventually looking back at it. A beep from the control panel caught his attention and he focused on it, slightly relieved, cryo-sleep wasn't the best of things to be worrying about at the moment. Running his finger over the screen a path had set itself up, the predicted course of the vessel he was hunting, and it was heading straight for planet UV6. Frowning, he double checked the coordinates, unable to think for a second why exactly they were heading for an uninhabited system, but then it clicked, civilisation wouldn't approve of murdering a bystander, innocent or otherwise. These mercs were planning on using River as a piece of meat, just like Johns planned for the kid, just for different prey. Riddick confirmed the course then let the autopilot take over, not hesitating to grab up the cryo gear and set it up within minutes.

River tugged futilely at the restraints clamped to her wrists, ignoring the pain from her wrist or the complaints of her capturers. Gritting her teeth, she yelled in her throat as she continued to pull as hard as she could.

"For fuck sake, bitch. Cut it the fuck out!"

Despite the obvious aggression in one of the merc's voice she carried on pulling, even the leader's fists were starting to clench tightly.

"Shut the fu-"

"FUCK YOU!"

The mercenaries, let alone River herself, were expecting her surprisingly loud outburst. The ship went silent for a few minutes while each one of them looked around in an awkward fashion.

"Please just let me go."

"Shut up,"

The leader turned his attention to the communications monitor that was buzzing on, a black silhouette that was barely visible flickered onto the screen.

"you ready to trade? You for her."

"Why the fuck should I care?"

The leader nodded slowly, lowering his gaze, then within seconds had spun round and as heading for her. Her eyes met his for a split second just before he kicked her wrist into the hull, the thud and crack being the only sounds echoing through the ship for a long while. There was no reaction from the figure on screen, apart from arm reaching up and turning a light on. Riddick's jaw was clamped and his eyes were studying the leader of the merc's extremely carefully underneath his goggles.

"And?"

River finally managed to open her eyes and stop them from watering as much, the room was swaying from side to side slightly and she hadn't noticed that her mouth was hanging open a bit. Before she could comprehend what had happened or what was happening she found her head pinned between his boot and the hull of the ship, stars bursting in front of her eyes. Riddick kept his eyes fixed on her; the little finger on her broken hand was twitching slightly, a drop of blood dripped from the corner of her mouth. The leader at length turned his attention back to the monitor and the person on it, who now seemed increasingly tense, smirking at the reaction that he finally got. After a long enough time to satisfy the guy's joy in Riddick's discomfort he took his foot off her face and walked back over to the monitor, leaning in close to it to get a good look at his face.

"Planet's surface for the trade?"

Riddick put his fist threw the monitor then roared out at the top of his lungs.

"I hate this shit."

Turning the autopilot off, he plotted an entry course threw the planet's atmosphere and started searching for a good landing place.

River blinked several times as one of the mercs dragged her out into a dark, frozen wasteland. The blood running from her nose and ear froze within moments of being in the bitter wind and her hands and feet went numb. Looking down, she managed to open her eyes long enough to see that her toenails were already starting to go blue from frostbite. When she suddenly found the ground she noticed that it was snowing heavily and even after a few seconds on the ground there was already a layer of snow on her. She yelped as she tried to lean on her hands and sit up, flopping back down to the ground just as fast. Rolling onto her side, she looked round; there was only two pairs of legs stood in front of her, the world around her was all different hues of indigos and violets and there was a blizzard whipping around across the flatland in front of her. Looking up, they seemed to be in some kind of ice alcove that was shelter enough from the worsening storm.

"Are ya sure he's comin' for her?"

Logan turned to his contemplating friend with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah he's fucking coming for her. Look at her, he has a thing for rag dolls like her."

"Yeh, I kinda do, don't I?"

Logan looked over at Tony to find nothing but falling snow and a fallen grapple gun with only a few tiny drops of blood soaking into the snow. Aiming his rifle in any and all directions, he found himself in an ice alcove on a UV planet with a skinny girl and nothing else but the blizzard. He'd been there for at least half an hour since the rest of the team had gone to set up the pick up point for Riddick. There was no sign of them, no radio contact and no sight of anything ever since but snowflake after snowflake.

River watched as a pair of legs swept down from on top of the alcove in silence and wrapped around one of the merc's necks, lifting him up into midair before snapping his neck and throwing him over the side and down into the precipice at the edge of their sheltering spot. They disappeared back over the edge before Logan turned to find himself alone. Rolling onto her side to face him, she finally managed a smirk as she reached up and wiped the frozen blood from under her nose.

"You're fucked, mate."

Logan turned to her sharply, firing just over her head in a panic to the sudden noise. He was losing his cool and getting nervous, it wasn't just the cold that was causing him to shake.

"Shut up."

"He's gonna fuck you up-"

"Shut up! Just shut up."

He knew he was getting trigger happy and skittish, which was going to get him or his team killed, which costs in his line of work. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a minute to gather himself in readiness. River's eyes fixed on a foot that dangled over the side of the top of the alcove. Riddick dropped down in silence, unnoticed by the merc even in the slightest. She shifted, trying to prop herself up onto her elbow, catching Logan's attention. There was something moving that he could see in the corner of his eye, turning he firing, spraying the snowy air with bullets. Once he finally got himself to take his finger off the trigger, and the smoke and ice splinters had settled, he found that he'd been firing at thin icy air.

"What the fuck?"

A strong hand wrapped its steely fingers around his neck and lifted him clean off his feet. In a state of desperation he gripped the rifle, sending a spray of bullets across the space and slice into the icy walls of the alcove. The firing suddenly stopped as Logan jolted forward, spluttering as his blood spilled to the ground from the slash in his abdominal iota, and then with a slight twist of his wrist had snapped his neck. Tossing him aside, Riddick turned his attention to the girl on the ground at the back of the alcove. River managed a smile for a few minutes before getting it punched off her face. Frowning in shock, she stopped her head from rocking from the force of the fist and looked at him, stars shooting around in front of her eyes.

"What the fuc-"

"Shut the fuck up."

Riddick curled his arms under her and picked her up with ease before jogging out into the blizzard.

River sat in the co-pilot chair with a few blankets wrapped around her and her knees pulled up against her chest. She was still shaking even after Riddick had finished bandaging her hand and wrist. Cold water was dripping from her nose and chin as the ice in her hair melted and dripped down to the blanket. The small ship drifted out of the planet's atmosphere with ease at the slightest touch of a button under Riddick's finger.

"So… why did-"

"Shut. Up."

Riddick stood up and leaned over her chair, pulling his goggles off slowly, he got right up into her face and looked her in the eyes.

"So what kind of a hero are you?"

"I'm no hero."

River tilted her head to the side, smiling gently and shaking her head at him a few times.

"You're my hero."

Leaning forward, her nose rubbed passed his, her eyes sliding down to his lips then back up again. Her lips slipped apart a crack as his heated breath sent shivers down her spine. Sucking in some breath as if she was about to speak, but she never even got the chance to finish her breath before Riddick's lips impacted into her own. Shifting in her seat, she let the blankets fall off her shoulders as she moved her body closer up to his. Curling her legs around his leg and running it up, she felt his body react to her touch, his hands sliding down her back and pressing her even closer to him. As their mouths explored each other, his hand ran down her leg and followed it round to where it had wrapped around his waist. He then grabbed her arm and slid it towards her hand, grabbing her wrist and pinning it above her head. His eyes flickered slightly as his other hand felt its way to her other wrist and pinned it above her head as well. River winced, tensed up as a sharp pain shot down her arm from her bandaged wrist. Riddick pulled away from her quickly and let go of her wrist slowly, squeezing it just before he did. She sat herself back down in the co-pilot chair, unwrapping her legs from around his waist and suddenly remembering that she was actually trying to recover from frostbite and yanked the blankets back up and around her. Riddick sat himself back down in the pilot chair and went back to flipping switches and pressing buttons, glancing over at her from the corner of his eye occasionally.

"So, where are we going?"

He looked over at her with a sly smirk on his lips, raising his eyebrow as he spoke.

"Somewhere warm."

Smiling, she turned back to the exo-glass and stared out at the stars and distant planets that very gradually where getting a tiny bit closer. Once Riddick had scanned the nearby systems for the nearest quiet planet and plotted a course in, he turned to look at her, studying every little detail on her face.

"You planning on smacking me again?"

She looked at him from the corner of her eye, a smile spread across her face. He turned back to the control pane, smirking to himself.

"Only if you're planning on being a pain in the ass again."

"Hay! That was you're fault."

"Anyway, I think I could start liking the idea of kicking your ass daily."

River turned her head and looked at him with her mouth hanging open in deadpan surprise. His smirked grew into a cheeky smile as he glanced over to find the chair empty.

"You'd have to catch me first!"

Her voice echoed from the bottom of the ladder. Riddick found himself turning the autopilot on quickly and sliding down the ladder at high speed in chase.


That's all folks! Hope you enjoyed it and thank you to everyone who reviewed it, you all helped me out so much by supporting and advising me. Thanks! . Please review it so I know that you liked or disliked it and if there could be any improvements.

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Lostariel

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