AN: Unfortunately thisMIGHT be the last chapter I post for about a week and a half. I have finals next week, and as much as I hate to admit it, at some point I need to drag myself away from my computer and start studying for them. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, you've been really great!
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She was on the planet Nehca, and on Nehca they had some of the softest stepping muggers in the universe. Jack knew this to be true when seemingly out of nowhere a large hand came down hard on her left shoulder, the one her pack was slung over, and restrained her with enough strength that ordinarily she would've known she was in BIG trouble.
But somehow her bitterness managed to get the best of her, outweighing her natural fear as it so often did. How many times had Imam warned her that her temper would get her in trouble someday? Then again, did she really care at the moment?
Jack rolled her eyes as the initial shock of being grabbed quickly wore off. "Not today bud," she growled, stomping on an instep as she put her left elbow into her attacker's diaphragm, stunning him long enough for her to draw her knife.
She spun around, cutting him diagonally from right hip to the ribs above his heart in one fluid motion. She felt the pleasant sensation of the blade biting into clothing and flesh alike, and knew she'd executed perfectly.
When the damage was done she hopped back, throwing her pack clear of her body as she took up a boxer's stance, knife facing out and bloody in her right hand, ready to slice and dice.
"Ah fuck Jack, what the hell's the matter with you?" the thug complained, nearly startling her into a moment of weakness. But her survival instinct held. This could be a trick.
It was too dark for her to see if this was Riddick, and she couldn't see how it could possibly be him. Not unless he'd really let himself go.
No way had his reflexes slowed that much.
"Who're you?" she demanded harshly, not letting her defensive stance drop.
"Who the fuck do you think it is?" he growled back, pressing both hands to the shallow wound she'd drawn across him, trying to stop the light blood flow.
"Prove it. Rid...Rick wouldn't have let me get away with a stunt like I just pulled! He would've seen it coming a mile away!"
"Rick did see it fucking coming!" he growled. "Ah, shit Jack, I agree to take you in and you try to gut me?"
She smirked just a bit with pride. "Key word being 'tried', I am capable of succeeding you know. I still could do the honors if you don't come up with some proof quick. I'll give you five seconds," she challenged, backing away another step towards her bag should her flight reflex need to be exercised in the extremely near future.
"I know that you're bleeding Jack, maybe that's why you're being so bitchy," he mocked, taking out a white handkerchief to help with the now dripping blood.
"Very funny, try again asshole," she snapped.
She was not at all pleased at the reference that the reason she was pissed was because she was female, NOT because she had perfectly good reason to be pissed at the moment! He had grabbed her, and he (Riddick), the king of cautious, should've known better than to startle those who tend to be chronically on edge!
"You know it's me Jack, now you're just begging for a fight. I'm NOT going to play this game with you. I'm walking away, cause you aren't worth my time! Should've known the holy man was crazy trying to get me to take a babysitting job," he ground out, walking away as the cut he'd sustained continued to ooze and sting.
However, turning his back on her with so much disregard did nothing but make Jack see red. Once again she threw all her rational thinking right out the window.
"Fine!" she shouted after him. "Now I can go back to New Mecca and Imam can pay me the money he owes me! I made a bet with him that you were too much of a God damn coward to face me Riddick!"
Riddick froze mid-stride, turned and heatedly stalked back towards her as Jack prepared to defend herself. But when she struck at him with her knife he easily caught her hand in a death grip and spun her around, drawing her own knife up to her throat as he pinned her back to his front.
He'd made her completely defenseless, and had done so only using one arm. Jack tried to elbow him in the stomach, but in spite of his wound he didn't even flinch this time, tensing in preparation for the blow.
"Weak Jack, really weak. You wanted proof? How's this?" he roared in her ear.
Jack screamed her frustration, but to no avail, she couldn't get free no matter how she struggled. His arm was like steel around her neck, and her own knife was biting into the tender skin at her throat.
"Fuck you Riddick!"
"It's Rick Jackie, Riddick has long since left the building."
"Johns was right, you do belong in the fucking Asshole Hall of Fame! Everything he said about you was true!" Jack tried to take a bite out of his hand, only to have the blade still locked in her grip get pressed even tighter up under her jaw.
"Johns wanted you dead Jack, he told me to make you hammerhead bait," Riddick replied far too calmly.
Jack forced herself to laugh. "Yeah, and if you didn't have the balls to do it then, Dicky, why would I be afraid of you actually getting the job done now?"
He let her go suddenly, twisting the knife from her hand as she fell to her knees, gasping for air, holding her nearly-cut throat with both hands.
"Let's get one thing straight Jack, whatever the hell it was I did that pissed you off so bad...you're over it starting right now! I'm not doing this with you ever again. I've set up a decent life for myself here, and some punk kid isn't going to come along and ruin the only good thing I've ever had! Got it?" he rumbled dangerously, daring her to have a problem with that.
Jack glared straight ahead, not bothering to look back over her shoulder at him. She wanted to scream at him some more, but her instincts told her she was on thin ice, and if she wasn't careful, she could be swimming with the fishes before long. How did the saying go? It's usuallybest, if at all possible, to avoid heckling heroine addicts, postal workers, and mass murderers?
"Yeah, I got it, Dick," she rasped, coughing painfully once or twice.
"It's Rick Jackie girl, call me Dick one more time and I'll give you scars to match the ones you gave me tonight. And Jack—"
"What!"
She heard the low thunder of his sardonic laugh, and it only caused the rage inside her to flare up all the more. She clenched her fists, fighting down the urge to jump up and take a swing at him.
"Nice moves," he said lightly, before turning and again walking away, leaving her to decide if she would follow or stay behind.
