A/N: new chappie! enjoy!

Chapter 8: Escape

"Alright everyone," Ebony called over the loud speaker. "Go ahead and stretch your legs."

The cell door opened and Deirdra was about to run through it but Riddick caught her arm. She looked back at him with a frown as he sat on the bed and stared back at her.

"Where you goin'?" he asked in an uninterested tone. It didn't matter where she was going. He wasn't letting her go anywhere without him.

"I'm going to tell the doctor that he's coming with us," she retorted as he stood to face her.

"If he wants to know whether we are or not that badly let him come to us," he snapped back and pulled her closer. "You shouldn't be running to any other man but me anyway."

"Oh, that doesn't make you at all possessive," she smirked, sarcastically.

"I don't give a shit," he growled, lowly. "I catch you doing that again you're gonna regret it."

"Oh, bite me," she shot back, playfully.

"If you insist," he smirked, devilishly. He suddenly heard footsteps near the cell door and looked up just in time to see Xenos standing there.

Bad goddamn timing, Riddick snarled in his head. Deirdra caught Riddick hard-staring the cell door and turned to see what had caught his attention.

"Doctor," Deirdra smiled, but instead of going to greet him she turned in Riddick's arms and leaned against him. "We have good news. We've decided to take you along with us."

"We?" Riddick scoffed. "You mean you."

That earned him a jab in the gut as Deirdra just kept smiling at the doctor who smiled weakly.

"Thank you," he nodded and Deirdra frowned as she finally walked toward him, but Riddick held fast to one of her hands.

"What's wrong?" she wondered. "I thought you'd be excited."

"I am," Xenos nodded again then rubbed his eyes. "I'm just tired, that's all."

Riddick suddenly closed in on Deirdra and leaned his mouth next to her ear to whisper, "Stay here."

"What?" she frowned as he headed out the door. "Where're you going?"

"Take a leak," he grumbled, but she heard and Xenos frowned at Deirdra.

"What did he say?"

"Nothing," Deirdra replied, blankly then gripped the doctor's wrist to pull him into the cell. "I'm actually glad he's gone. I need to ask you something and I'd rather he not hear of it till it's done."

She sat him on the bed then sat next to him so she could see the entrance before explaining.

"What do you know about eye shining?" she asked first and Xenos' frown deepened.

"Eye shining?" he echoed and Deirdra nodded. Xenos thought for a moment then glanced back at where Riddick had left. "You mean, like Riddick's eyes?"

"Yes," Deirdra nodded again and scooted closer to the doctor, her eyes wide.

"Well, it has risks, if that's what you're asking," he replied.

"I know it does. But, how much would it cost in a hospital?"

"It's really a cosmetic surgery, so it would be rather expensive…" He trailed off then looked back at Deirdra with wide eyes, filled with disbelief. "Don't tell me you want your eyes to be like his!"

"Why not?" Deirdra frowned. "It would help us, wouldn't it? We'd both be able to see in the dark. Catch something the other might have missed. We could help each other!"

"You mean you can help him," Xenos corrected and Deirdra glared at him.

"What business is it of yours, anyway?" she snapped. "They're my eyes, aren't they? I can do what I want with them!"

"You're asking me, that's how it's my business. You asked a nosy doctor, and as a doctor I'm going to tell you that you really have no business shining your eyes." Xenos paused and tilted her chin toward him slightly. "Your eyes shine enough without surgery."

"You're sweet," Deirdra smiled, taking his hand in both of hers and pulling it back down, "but I'm asking you as my friend."

"Then as your friend I advise against it as well," he replied quickly, pulling his hand away. "I don't think Riddick would be pleased with it, either."

"Well, he wasn't pleased when I made him cut my hair, but I still did it," Deirdra shot back. "My eyes, my choice."

Xenos frowned but said nothing as he looked away from her to hide the guilt in his eyes over what he was doing and she continued.

"Are you familiar with that type of procedure?"

He turned back to her with a frown and replied, "What do you mean by 'familiar'?"

"Can you perform it?" she replied without hesitation and his eyes shot wide.

"Riddick would ghost me in a second if I touched you!" he hissed.

"After we get out of here," she explained. "We'll find a hospital somewhere and you can do it. After that, we'll leave you wherever you want."

"I'm sorry, Deirdra," Xenos sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know how to, and even if I did, I don't think I would. Like I said, Riddick would kill me."

Deirdra sighed and looked away in disappointment. Xenos suddenly perked up, knowing exactly how to plant the seed on where to go after they got out…to get to Zain. His stomach knotted up immediately and he turned his head and opened his mouth but nothing came out. He cleared his throat, catching Deirdra's attention and he coughed before finally going on.

"I know someone," he explained, "a doctor friend. Doctor Harko Thompson. I met him after leaving Furya. He's one of the few who shines eyes, but he's not cheap. He's in the Messer system, Planet Cicero."

"How much?" Deirdra wondered, engrossed and Xenos swallowed.

"More than you probably have," he replied. "Thirty menthol kools."

"Jeez," she sighed, slouching in her seat and looking away in thought. "Cicero, you say?"

Xenos nodded as she looked back at him.

"Alright," she nodded. "Thirty menthol kools shouldn't be that hard to get, right?"

"He might even do it for less or free if you tell him you're with Riddick," Xenos blurted with a smirk and Deirdra's face lit up.

"Thank you," she smiled patting his hand and he gave a quick, weak smile making her frown again.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Aren't you psyched about getting outta here?"

"Oh, sure," he replied, weakly then rubbed his eyes. "I told you, I'm tired."

"I'm trying to figure out what could possibly make you tired here," she chuckled.

"People trying to mess with you."

They both jumped when Riddick marched back into the cell and yanked Deirdra to her feet then turned to Xenos.

"Stick close," he ordered and the two frowned at him.

"Pardon?" Xenos asked, but at that moment, the minimal lighting supplied in the slam shut down, enveloping them in pitch black darkness. Xenos felt himself pulled through it and realized the gentle hand around his wrist could only be Deirdra.

The shouting was all around him, and he felt people shove past him, almost knocking him to the ground, but Deirdra's death grip on his wrist held him up. They were suddenly heading up some stairs, Riddick still leading the way, being the only one able to see and they suddenly stopped. There was a loud bang and they were moving again. The shouting was fading away and Riddick and Deirdra couldn't help but wonder why this was so easy. Then again, in the dark and in a panic, no one would stop you. Xenos, however, knew why this was so easy.

The light suddenly went back on and they all looked up at them.

"Shit!" Riddick snarled, shoving his goggles over his eyes. "They weren't supposed to go on for another minute!"

Well, Zain couldn't make too easy for them, could he? Xenos assumed, silently.

Riddick stopped at another door, kicked it open and they ran up the stairs that led to the hangar.

"Small or large?" Deirdra wondered as they came to said hangar.

"Do I look like I give a shit?" he growled. "Just high-jack something that'll fly us the hell outta here!"

"Just thought you'd want a say in what we flew," she shrugged as Xenos stuck close to her. "Don't get so touchy!"

She dragged Xenos behind her as Riddick strayed behind to look out for any slam guards or anyone, really, with a gun who wanted to stop them. Deirdra finally picked and boarded a ship that fit three taking a quick run and shoved Xenos into a seat telling him to strap in as she headed to the co-pilot's seat and Riddick shut the hatch behind them then headed for the pilot's seat and started the flight sequence.

"You got the hangar door open, right?" he asked Deirdra, not looking at her.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw her freeze from helping him with the flight sequence and she turned her head slowly toward him, her eyes wide.

"Hangar door?" she echoed and Riddick gritted his teeth, knowing what was coming. "Didn't you open it?"

"Would I have asked you if I did?" he snarled back.

Xenos looked out the small window next to his seat and saw slam guards coming in through the doors around the hangar. They must have realized their new arrivals had gone missing. He slouched forward and looked at the two bickering at each other on what to do. With a sigh he unbuckled his belt and headed for the hatch.

I don't wanna be there when her trust in me shatters, he thought to himself as he pressed the button to open the hatch. I'd rather be in the hole.

Riddick and Deirdra stopped yelling at each other long enough to here the hatch door opening.

"What the shit does he think he's doing?" Riddick snarled as Deirdra unbuckled herself and stood to see Xenos hurrying down the platform.

"Xenos! Wait!" she called, but he just kept going and at the bottom of the platform he turned to face her as it was going back up.

"I'll open the door and you two get out of here!" he called then darted toward the control panel in the opposite direction of the oncoming guards.

"Wait!" Deirdra called again as the door closed.

"Girl! Get your ass back in this seat and get strapped in!" Riddick snarled. "If he wants to get thrown in the hole, let him!"

"But…"

"Get your goddamn ass in the seat! Now!"

Deirdra tore herself from staring at the door and did as she was told, strapping herself in and flipping more controls, but she gritted her teeth as she did in rage. She knew it wasn't time for an argument when they were escaping slam, but she was definitely going to talk to him about the way he talked to her.

Xenos ran toward the control panel and glanced over his shoulder, seeing the guards go for the ship instead of him. He wasn't sure if they'd seen him, but he didn't waste any time. He reached the panel and pressed the button to open the door then watched it open as the ship floated up into the air. He turned to see the men coming at him and he stepped away from the panel as they pointed their gages at him and he raised his hands.

"You're goin' to the hole, jack ass," one of them growled as some of the men tried shooting at the ship as it shot from the hangar.

"I don't care," he replied and one of the guards gripped his arm to drag him back to slam and to the hole.

Riddick and Deirdra broke atmo and he started flipping switches as Deirdra un-strapped herself to get more comfortable and she glared at him, sideways.

"Alright, say it, Girl," he taunted, not looking at her. "You wanna say something, say it."

"Whether you trusted him or not," she seethed through clenched teeth, "he was supposed to come with us and you just let him go!"

"He made his choice," he replied, not looking at her. "Apparently he didn't wanna get out of slam that badly."

"But you didn't even try to stop him," she said, mirroring his calm.

"It's too late now," he told her. "All we can do now is figure out where we can go to lay low for a while."

Deirdra sighed and stood to stand next to him as he started tapping on the screens to figure out what was around. She said nothing but remembered what Xenos had told her about the doctor on Cicero in the Messer system. She didn't let herself think of how she was going to get away with eye shining, but if she could just get there…

"How 'bout we head back to the Messer System?" she asked and Riddick frowned as he looked back at her.

"Which planet?" he wondered.

"Cicero," she shrugged, hanging her arm around his neck as she leaned her chin on his shoulder. "They won't look for us in Messer again, right?"

"Probably not," he agreed. "Been to that planet before?"

"No," she admitted. "I'd like to see it though."

"We should probably go some place familiar," he advised and Deirdra felt herself near a panic. She had to get to Cicero…to that doctor. She wanted to be of some help to Riddick.

"Alright, I'll confess," she sighed and he turned to her with a slight frown as she stood tall next to him. "Xenos told me that if he didn't make it, he wanted me to get a message to a friend of his on Cicero. Me. No one else. So I can't tell you what the message is, but we have to get there."

Riddick stared at her in suspicion as she stared back at him, hoping her lie wasn't so obvious. He turned back to the panel, flipped it onto autopilot then stood to come face to face with her. She stood still, holding his shining gaze as his eyes shifted, studying her face.

"You know I can tell when you're lying, Deirdra," he warned in a low voice and she straightened.

"I know," she nodded and suddenly felt flush.

It didn't matter what they were talking about. Whenever he was this close, she wanted him. That animal instinct she supposed but there were some times when she hated it. She wanted to talk to him seriously without thinking about ripping off his clothes. Riddick let out a low growl, but Deirdra didn't hear it as threatening. He was as turned on as she was, she could tell.

"Fine," he said, huskily and sat back in the pilot's seat to find Cicero in the Messer system and chart coordinates. "We'll go there, but I'm gonna follow you there."

"Uh…" Deirdra hummed, her eyes shifting as she tried to think of another lie. "I don't think that's a good idea. If this guy sees you, he might think I'm there to hurt him. Xenos told me he's really paranoid."

"Well, that's too bad, because I'm going whether you like it or not," he replied, tapping the screens in front of him.

Deirdra sighed in appeared defeat. She'd think of something when they got there. Unable to help herself she leaned over to watch him finish punching in coordinates and when he was done, she moved the arm closest to her and slipped into his lap.

"Wanna put it on autopilot?" she murmured with a saucy smirk and he let out that growl again that rumbled through her own chest as well.

He flicked the autopilot on and shoved her off his lap, making her stumble to her feet and turn to him with a frown. He only stood and yanked her back toward him, wrapping his hands around to her rear and pulling her up off the floor. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck as his lips landed on hers and he shoved her against the nearest wall.

A/N: ooh. steamy. lol! reviews?