I'm back, sorry if this is a little long winded.
The market place in a busy city of Morse Four was swollen with people, doing their day-to-day business. People sold objects from stalls and shoppers stopped to inspect goods. Jack was dressed like the other women there. Hair tightly braided under a sheer headscarf, long sleeved shirts and skirts, mainly because of the cold that came from being further from the sun than the other planets.
She passed from stall to stall, keeping her head ducked in what would seem like modesty, stopping briefly at some stalls to see what they offered.
Returning to the docks where they had landed three days earlier, she stepped onto the ship, pulling the scarf from her hair.
"Riddick?" she called. As usual there was no answer. Walking into the kitchen to check the food stocks, she made a note of what food they would need.
Scribbling a note to Riddick and leaving it on the counter, she covered up her head again and left, this time headed for the food shops.
She shopped quickly, grabbing only what they needed and paying with cash. Grabbing the bags, she worked her way through the crowd and into a back alley that offered a short cut to the docks. She kept walking, even as she sensed someone was coming up behind her, not turning around, she quickened her pace.
"Going somewhere?" asked a deep voice.
"Riddick, you almost gave me a heart attack." Jack said, gasping. "If my arms weren't full of food, I would hit you." She threatened.
"Here." He said, taking some bags from her and considerably lightening the load. "I got word from a friend on Morse Prime that Toombs and his crew headed out a few days ago." He said.
"If they don't stop by here, they'll go straight to Lirage Prime." Jack noted.
"Yeah, but it took them a few days on Morse Prime, which means they probably stocked up and refuelled." Riddick said.
"So when do we leave?" asked Jack.
"Day after tomorrow." Riddick said as they reached the ship and walked inside.
"We don't know if the ship they have at the moment is faster or slower than ours." Jack pointed out.
"This is one of the fastest Jack, ever wondered why no cryo?" he asked.
"Fair enough, I still reckon you should get some installed." She said as she put away the food. Pulling off her headscarf, she shook all her hair free, noticing that she needed a haircut as the lengths fell down to her waist.
"God, I don't know how they wear those things." She said, letting the length of material fall to the ground. Riddick bent down to pick it up.
"Don't let them onto the fact that you're not from here." He said. "Last thing we need is someone trailing us here."
"Or trying to rape and kill me in a back corner somewhere." She said.
"Exactly." Riddick said. "I'm going out for a while, don't stay out after dark." He ordered, before disappearing.
Jack finished putting everything away before hearing the message alert go off in the cockpit, walking up there, she walked over to the screen and hit the accept button. Scrolling through the message she saw that Toombs had just passed by Morse Four, but his destination was Lirage Seven, a cold little planet on the very edge of the Lirage system.
"What are you doing Toombs?" she muttered to herself.
Looking at the time, she saw that she had an hour till sunset, grabbing the annoying headscarf and a jacket, she locked up the ship and walked through the alleys, going to find a place where she could get hot food.
A group of men detached themselves from the crowd, spotting Jack they walked into the alley. Jack counted about five of them and judging from the footsteps behind her, another two had come around to box her in.
She resisted the urge to laugh at them, they seriously didn't know what they had gotten themselves into.
"What's a pretty thing like you doing, wondering the back alleys?" asked the leader of the pack.
"Tyring to avoid idiots like you." Jack said sweetly, her hand was drifting to the knife she wore at her side.
"Don't be like that sweetheart." Said another.
Jack had heard enough, she knew their intentions and she also knew that they wouldn't walk out f this unharmed. Quickly pulling out her knife, she threw it at one man, hitting him between the eyes, pulling out another, she ducked as one of the men went to grab her, standing up again, she slashed the throat of another, before burying the blade into one man's chest. The remaining four men looked panicked at Jack turned to them. They ran towards the end of the ally, only to see it blocked by Riddick, who gave them the full wrath of his un-goggled glare.
"These boys bothering you Jack?" he asked.
"I had the situation under control." She said, walking towards them.
"I can see that." He said, looking over at the bodies behind her. one of the men panicked and tried to run past Riddick, only to be stopped by his shiv at his throat.
"Where do you think your going?" he asked. with a quick motion, he slit the guys throat, Jack came up behind another and stabbed him in the back, then did the same to the other guy. The remaining man broke free and fled up the alley, Jack flipped her knife over, gripping it by the blade, she threw it. It flew through the air, hitting the guy in the back. He fell down and didn't get up.
"Why do they always go for the defenceless girl in the back alley?" she asked, walking over to the bodies and retrieving her knives and wiping the blood off onto the dead men's clothing.
"You should get back to the ship." Riddick told her.
"A message came through." She said. "Toombs and his crew passed by, they're on their way to Lirage Seven."
"We leave tomorrow then." He growled.
"Why Lirage Seven?" she asked.
"He's waiting for us to pass, follow us, just out of range to Lirage Prime." Riddick said, thinking.
"What's the plan?" she asked.
"The plan is for you to go back to the ship." He said. She rolled her eyes and walked back, grumbling all the way.
Jack waited until he came back, which was much later that night. He ignored her and went straight to the shower, Jack could smell the scent of blood from down the hallway.
"What happened?" she asked when he stepped out.
"I've been trying to find our who hired Toombs." He said.
"And?" she asked.
"It's from Helion Prime." He said. "Had you in their sights for a while, waiting."
"Waiting for what?" Jack asked.
"Me." Riddick said, looking at her where she was leaning against a wall.
"Who wants their hands on a convict so badly?" she asked.
"The bounty isn't just for me, it's for you too, both of us alive." He said.
"Thrilling, not even eighteen and I have a bounty on my head." She muttered.
"I was in a slam before I was sixteen, that's nothing to brag about." He growled at her.
"Who said I was bragging?" she said, walking away.
The next morning, there was a silence between them, nothing was said except for the orders that Riddick barked and her acknowledgment of that.
They took off early, avoiding the sunrise and the traffic that came with it.
"So tell me about this person who wants us." Jack said to Riddick.
"They were on Helion Prime, it was anonymous, and they hired Toombs because he's one of the best." Riddick told her. Jack snorted at hearing this.
"Pretty crappy considering that he's the best, why do they want us alive?" she asked.
"I don't know." He said, his expression changing.
"Oh no Riddick." Jack said, seeing his expression. "You really want to give Toombs the satisfaction?"
"You want this bounty off our heads?" he asked. "I can break out of any cell they put me in."
"But what about me Riddick?" she asked.
"You stay with me." he said.
"You can't guarantee that." Jack told him.
"Trust me." was all he said. Jack bit her lip and nodded.
The landed on Lirage Prime in the afternoon for that planet, they waited in the hanger, not really doing anything, just waiting. It didn't take long for Toombs to find them.
In just moments, the ship was surrounded by mercs, Jack counted about twelve, with more in the shadows.
"Learning from your mistakes Toombs?" she asked as he emerged. Riddick waited, not moving, he could have taken them all on before they could even blink.
Within moments, the both of them were in chains, Jack gritted her teeth as they patted her down and removed all the knives she had stashed on her.
"Get them on the shops boys." Ordered Toombs, once again overlooking his female crewmembers.
"Well this is going to be fun." Said Jack sarcastically as they were chained into the ship's cryo chambers. "See you on Helion Prime."
She felt the effects of the sleeping gas as they overwrought her senses, her vision blurred and her eyelids felt heavy as she went to sleep.
For Riddick, the hardest part of the journey wasn't all that time semi-conscious in the cryo chambers, but having to watch Jack as she slept.
He had seen how she had gritted her teeth while those bastards had patted her down, and how they had roughly chained her up. She wasn't an escaped convict, sure she was dangerous, but she was also just a kid. He had been through slam before he was sixteen, he was used to the way prisoners were treated.
But this was the kid he had met when she was a twelve year old, already then she had seen more than a kid her age should have to see. She had seen him like a brother, and it had hurt him to leave her, and now she was chained up, something he had never wanted to see.
He waited, soon they would reach Helion Prime, then when he had gotten the bounty off their heads, he would make Toombs regret the day he put his eyes on her, and the rest of his pitiful crew, then he would kill the person who had set the bounty.
Then him and Jack would find the holy man, no bounty, and no chains, just them.
Jack awoke to a bright light streaming into the cabin, she could see that everyone else was awake and preparing to land. Looking across the cabin, her eyes met Riddick's. but she closed her as they hit the atmosphere and began to land.
Riddick and Jack were escorted from the ship in chains, twelve guns aimed at them, more at Riddick then at Jack, but them again she hadn't worked up that much of a reputation for murder and escape.
They were led to a hall where people seated above them in galleys to watch as they were led in.
"Anyone would think that this is a fucking freak show." Jack muttered to Riddick as she looked around at the people who were watching them being bought it.
"I think their chains can be removed." Came a voice from the front of the hall. A figure stood there, shrouded in a black cloak.
Toombs' men came forward, almost hesitantly to remove the chains. Jack rubbed the raw skin where the chains had chafed at her wrists.
"What kind of man hides behind a cloak, won't stop me from slitting your throat." He growled.
"I assure you," Said the figure. "Death does not frighten me." he reached up to remove his hood.
The man underneath was so pale that Jack had to wonder whether there was any colour to his skin at all, black eyes stood out against the white, staring at them deeply.
"Am I supposed to be awed or something?" asked Riddick.
"Come, we may discuss matters privately." Said the man, motioning with his hand.
"What about her?" he asked, motioning towards Jack.
"She will be fine." He said.
"I'm not going anywhere without her." He growled.
"Fair enough." He said. Jack and Riddick walked out of the hall and into a smaller private room. "Forgive the audience." The man said as they walked. "They wanted to see the famous Riddick for themselves."
"I think you mean infamous." Jack said, looking around the room, which seemed to be some sort of study.
"On the contrary, we see him as our salvation." Said the man.
"Who is 'we'?" growled Riddick.
"My name is Greayon, these people are the ones, the only ones to have escaped the wrath of the necromongers." He said. "Very few have opposed them and lived."
"Necro- what?" Asked Jack.
"They are the race of men, who convert, or kill entire planets, only a handful of people have escaped with their lives." Greayon said.
"And what has this got to do with me?" asked Riddick.
"Because you and her are of the utmost importance." He said seriously.
"Cut the crap and get to the point." Jack said.
"They say that the only people who can stop the necromongers are furyian warriors." He said.
"I'm sure this has a point somewhere." Riddick said.
"Knowing that their defeat lies with the Furyians, furyian males were strangled at birth by their own cords." Greayon said. Jack watched Riddick as his expression changes. "You have to help us."
"I want this bounty off our heads, I don't have to help you do anything." He growled.
"The future of the universe is at stake." He said.
"Not my fight." He said. "Why bring her into this." He said, pointing at Jack.
"She too, is Furyian." Greayon said.
"Excuse me?" said Jack.
"Have you not spent your life running away from foster homes, you learned to escape quickly, you learn quickly, were always good at blending in, being unseen."
"That means nothing." Jack said.
"It is the traits of a Furyian, smart, strong and resilient, they are able to adapt, to hide, to change. Did you not dress up like a boy to travel safely, after spending one hour in a new city you were able to fid your ay through any back alley or main road." Greayon looked looed between them. "You are Furyian, the strongest, the ones who would never bow down."
"Not our fight." Said Riddick, walking towards the door.
"That is where you are wrong. They destroyed your home planet, they killed your people." Greayon said.
"How do you know all this?" asked Jack, turning around.
"Because I too, am Furyian." He said. "You are the ones who can help us."
"We want the bounty off our heads, we don't want to be dragged into this." Jack said.
"We can give you the life you dream of." Said Greayon. "No mercs, not bounty, you would be a free man. And her too, both of you could live in peace."
"What do you want us to do?" he asked.
"The invasion is coming, keep that in mind, you will lead an army against them." Greayon said.
"I only take care of two people, me and her." Riddick said, meaning Jack. "Not my problem." He said, walking out, Jack followed him.
"We can't guarantee your safety if you walk out." Greayon said. It was enough to stop him. "We know you would do anything to keep her safe." He said, meaning Jack.
"Maybe I could think it over." He said.
"Of course. Avalon will show you to your rooms." He said, motioning to a girl who walked in the door.
"They have room's prepared for us?" Jack asked.
"Three days Jack," Said Riddick. "That's all I give them."
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