Author's Note: I wish there was some form of punctuation that was half way between a period and an exclamation point. That's the place Riddick's tone lies when he's angry. Don't forget to tell me what you think when you're done reading this chap. :-)

Chapter Five

She chewed her thumb nail absently as the car rose. The soft ding that sounded as the elevator settled on the third deck brought her blank stare into focus. The double doors slid back, and she was immediately confronted by a pair of armed guards. "I just wanna see my prisoner," she told them, her voice stale.

The only light on the floor came from a lamp near by, illuminating their makeshift camp. "Pilot's name, your name and title, and prisoner's name, all as listed in the manifest you provided when docking," one droned, laying out the standard procedure.

"Pilot is J. Toombs. I'm Kyra Recro, copilot and Scan Man. Prisoner is Richard B. Riddick."

"Purpose for visit?"

She scoffed, "Why is that any of your business?"

He smiled innocently and shrugged, "Just curious."

She brushed past him, not in the mood to indulge cage keepers. The two men returned to the game of chess that she had interrupted.

Her determined steeps gradually slowed and lost tenacity as she approached the end of the block. She stopped all together a few cells away. She looked down at the sheet of paper in her hand like it held the zip code to Hell. Struggling to keep her heat beat steady, she wadded it up and touched it to her lips as if it were a string of rosary beads.

She squared her shoulders and continued on. A few more measured steps found her peering in to the dark cell. She caught a glint of animal eye shine. Holding back a cold tremor, she drew herself against the bars. He wasn't looking at her, but she could feel his awareness of her presence. His head was tilted towards the floor, as if he had been trying to sleep.

She held her breath as she punched in the code to unlock his cell and null the screens. As she slid the bars to the side, the laser and plasmatic screens flickered out. He stood up straight.

He focused first on her mouth. That little mouth that used to like to talk so much, asking him so many questions and echoing so many expletives. Then her nose, small and round. Her eyes, the same foggy expression masking their sharpness like he remembered. Her eyebrows, her cheeks, her ears, her chin... All mature and womanly, but still so familiar. It was her. All of it.

But how could it be? He choked down the confusion that bubbled up within, threatening to gag him.

He displayed nothing but dogged indifference as she approached him. She bit her lip, trying to make her functions quit fluttering. Behave, she chided her heart and lungs, You're embarrassing me. Mustering up a decent bout of determination, she slid her hands behind his head to undo the latch that held the bit in place.

She wouldn't look him in they eye, and yet he tried to capture her gaze. He was convinced that if he could only see into them, everything would be explained and fall into place. But she continued to refuse him that window into her being.

She was so close to him. If she had been a lesser woman she might have cried, or fainted, or hit him, or screamed. But she was Kyra, and Kyra was strong. His hot breath tumbled across her neck in plumes, and the perpetual growl of his breathing made her swallow harshly. His smell was heady, and so remarkably male. It clouded her head more so than the alcohol in her system.

His stony gaze made her nervous. She felt more vulnerable at the moment than she ever had in front of any vulgar convict she'd chained. Suddenly she was very aware of her curves and felt awkward in her own skin. She couldn't get her fingers to work properly, they fumbled again and again before she had the latch open.

She pulled the bit out slowly, trying not to hurt him. As soon as it was free of his lips she took a giant step in reverse, happy to be able to put space between them.

He popped his stiff jaw, shifting it from side to side until the ache went away. For a long while they didn't say anything, just stared at each other. Her fingers twitched, and she buried them deep in her pockets, stifling the sudden urge to slap him.

Finally, she turned her back on him, holding onto the cell bars for support. "I came looking for you," she said, more roughly than she'd intended. When he didn't respond, she whirled around, "And that's not the best part. I found you. I trailed you to Lupus Five. I saw you there, at night. It was raining and you were standing in an ally way, looking up between the buildings at the sky. I hid behind a trash bin so you wouldn't see me. I watched your face, saw how you stared at those stars. All you wanted to do was get off the ground." She turned around again, not wanting to watch him. He was dead, unreadable, like she was talking to a statue. His lack of obvious emotion made her furious. "I saw on your face exactly why you left me. I saw the truth.

"When I first stepped into that side street I was so relieved. I was ready to jump out and hug you, to show you that I'd changed my mind. But that look held me back. You were so..." she clenched her jaw, and forced the words through her teeth, "Happy. Then I realized: It was all an act. You made me believe you cared when you really didn't give a shit about the brat you left behind. All you wanted was your freedom.

"So I left. I left and I cried. Poor little girl, out on the streets, balling her eyes out. And then- oh, and then..." She looked over her shoulder, a wicked smile twisting her lips. "Then I wanted to hurt you. After the tears I was mad, I was steaming. I wanted to beat the crap out of you, tear you down and rattle your foundation. Of course, Jack couldn't do that. She was a weak little urchin. She couldn't cut it. And now she's dead," she shrugged frankly, "Jack's long gone Riddick, you made me kill her."

His eyes darted to the side, lifting from her for the first time. He pursed his lips, keeping quiet so that she would be forced to continue, forced to explain it all.

She paused and clamped her mouth shut, realizing she was doing exactly what she'd promised herself she wouldn't. She was spilling her guts when he was supposed to be spouting his. She began wandering around the cell, waiting for him to take up the conversation. The silence was tense. Both of them felt edgy, as if they were standing exposed in the middle of a thunder storm.

Soon she couldn't stand his mute act any longer, and found herself face to face with him, demanding he say something, anything, "You gonna tell me I'm wrong? You wanna tell me again that you left to protect me?"

"Jack-" he whispered lowly.

"Don't call me that," she snapped. "The name's Kyra now," she glared at him, "And I'm a new animal."

"You could have come with me. I told you that," he said gruffly, his undertone challenging her to deny it.

"You were asking me to say no, Riddick. You didn't have to go anywhere. Every one thought you and I were dead. We were safe. I was a scared kid, you knew you couldn't drag me from one side of the galaxies to the other. I needed you, and at the worst possible moment you decided it was time to fly. You said you'd take care of me. That was a bald faced lie!"

"I did," he stated. "I wanted to..." he trailed off as she began shaking her head.

"I can't believe you. What are you trying to pitch? That you had my scrawny ass covered from half way across the universe? You didn't take care of me, and you never intended to."

She ran her tongue over her teeth, "And now look at me. The next day I high tailed it to the nearest space port and found myself a pack of mercs. I hooked right up with them. They signed me on, said they'd teach me the trade. It was the worst day of my life, the day I took off with them. Take a stab at why I went looking for mercs. Come on, I bet you can make a guess," she heckled.

He didn't make a sound.

"Yep, that's right," she smiled painfully, "I did it because you hate mercs more than anything else in this entire 'verse. I wanted to hurt you. Every time I made a capture I pictured the look on your face when you found out it was me who grabbed 'em. Kurt Seagull, that was me. John Ratchet, me. Claudia S. Don, me too. And now I've made the biggest kill of them all, Richard B. Riddick."

She stepped back, throwing her arms melodramatically wide, "So, did I succeed? Did I do my job? Did I hurt you? Or do you still just not care?" she punctuated the last three words, throwing all of her accumulated disappointment into them.

He rolled his tongue in his mouth, it felt thick and sticky. "She signed with mercs," he mumbled to himself.

She snorted, tossing her head like a haltered pony, "There was nobody else around."

"Why didn't you come with me?" he asked, his voice dangerously low and grainy.

Her lip quivered, but no tears threatened to appear, "Because you didn't want me," she said airily, begging him to admit it.

He lunged forward at her, straining as far as he could, "Remember who you're talking to."

"I'll never forget that," she barked, "Never."

He relaxed minimally, sucking on the inside of his cheek to steady his anger.

"Suppose I should be thanking you," she said contemptuously. "Now I'm helping lock up killers like you instead of tagging along behind them."

"You joined the same fake badges that wanted to cut you up and use you for bate!" He snarled.

"Quit your preaching." Her pitch dropped, "They were there for me. They took your place. They gave me what you never could." When she spoke again it was sluggish and almost inaudible, "Mercs, Riddick. Goddamn mercs." She lugged the bars open, ready to leave.

"You'll never make it to the next system with me still in cuffs," he calmly informed her.

She bowed her head and couldn't prevent herself from smiling slightly inspite of her frustration, "Yeah, I know."