To Watch a Master Work…

Elsewhere on the Kubla Khan: There was only one thing that Harley knew; she despised the man she had been ordered to de-ice. Not only was she to wake him up but it was her duty to keep him under control. 'As if he could be controlled,' she sighed. Harley straightened her green and gray environsuit before stepping into the atmosphere-negative dimly lit hallway. She compulsively double checked the name and number of the merc in question and was disappointed to find that it hadn't changed. Reaching the de-lousing chamber prepped for use she made a face before beginning the sequence to resuscitate the first of the mercs she's been ordered to wake up.

A confirmation request, "revive: Toombs?" popped up on her handheld control. It almost seemed as if the ship itself was stating 'Are you really sure?' Of course she wasn't. And Junner had been unyielding when she'd tried to get a different merc for her crew. She paused with her finger hovering over the command for a long, long second. Another sigh and Harley forced her finger down on the 'yes' key. She was going to regret this. With a faint whir the machinery set to work retrieving one of the numerous cryo-tubes. Out of hundreds, Harley reflected, it would be a lifesaver if just one – a very specific one – malfunctioned. The tube hooked up with the reviving chamber and the merc's lifesigns sprawled onto her control pad. 'Toombs is a healthy as a 20-year-old,' she made a face. Nothing was going right today.

At least the machine has no humanity to it as it unceremoniously ejected the wild haired scruffy bastard into the de-lousing chamber. Harley always liked this part, watching the various mercs groggily landing in heaps and being gassed. Toombs was no exception. The de-icing was so speedy that he was still out of it as he fell. He landed on his knees with a grunt. Harley frowned at his form; Toombs remained kneeling for a few seconds. As she stepped forward he charged the glass, "Miss me?"

She stepped back and collected herself. This was why she disliked him so fuckin' much. He had no class. He was careless. And he had a bad habit of getting everyone around him killed. Harley didn't bother to answer Toombs' wild-eyed question. Her hands were shaking. She fixed him a cold glare before telling the chamber to delouse him.

Toombs however had lungs that could survive just about anything. He made a show of 'showering' in the pale gas that flooded over him. "Mmm. Fresh as a daisy." He knew it annoyed the shit out of the woman who has been placed in charge of him, even without knowing her personally.

Harley snatched the packet with his name on it and opened the port to the de-lousing chamber. She flung it into the drawer and slammed it closed. Without giving him time to back talk she ordered, "Suit up and report. Must be something big, them taking you off ice after what you pulled."

He was unfazed. "Sister, I certainly aim to find out," he smirked. It took him only moments to tear into his gear and pull out the one thing he missed. Toombs looked at his gun with relish.

oOoOoOoOo

"I do hope you have a plan…" Carolyn Fry prayed that Riddick could somehow get them out of this. She could see that the ex-ranger was fighting with himself, struggling not to turn on the white haired woman standing just behind him and off to his left. It was kind of nice, she thought, that he was pissed off enough to nearly forget himself and want to strangle someone with his bare hands. It was also sort of scary that she was looking at him to save her, yet again, from someone who was supposed to be on the same side of the law as she generally thought herself on. Her legs were rather wobbly and weak still from the weeks spent on the skiff. It was her own damn fault, really. She was the one that refused to exercise with Jack once in a while. And thinking of Jack… the young woman, because there was no way to see her as a child any longer, was slowly coming into view struggling every step of the way.

Jackie attempted to elbow the man taller than her mate who was holding her, nearly unable to breathe through the panic she was feeling. It was overwhelming. The last time she'd felt this way Johns had showered her in mud and rock before dying a justified death. For a moment she was small again and the man holding her was someone else. Then her vision corrected itself. She smelled her mate, musky and warm, off to her left and Chillingsworth wafted with a faintly sweet, slightly nutty, and floral scent off past his side, her feet making a light tapping noise. Junner's rather stale soapy odor was weakly annoying. Her friends and Lujjan all nearly screamed up at her with the panic driven fear that their scents belayed. And there was something else… an undercurrent that was alien. She went still, focused on that foreign smell of something inhuman.

The bitch-witch must have indicated for Junner to walk forward because Jackie's view of the pit and her friends suspended by collars – nooses for all practical purposes – was getting better not worse. Hanging limply now, all her senses focused toward the far side of the pit, she was developing a very bad feeling about this. Something made the hair on her arms under the layers of sleeves rise as though a cold breeze wafted over bare flesh. Carolyn was looking rather weak, as though she'd been sick. Balancing on the sphere she was standing on couldn't be easy for her. Lujjan was trying to get the docking pilot to focus on anything else besides her shaky legs with little success. Imam was wearing a brave face as though that could make the entire mess vanish.

The ex-ranger was surprised that he'd been given the freedom to walk forward. Jack's scent spiked in panic then tapered off as she got herself back under control. He listened to her go still. She had caught some subtle clue that he had not yet. Riddick scanned the pit with his eyes. He avoided Abu's face, noting the pattern on the floors and walls instead. They glowed blood red, casting their ruddy light over the entire room. With his goggles on he could see that detail. He pondered the purpose of the pattern for a moment. Jackie hung limply to his right. The animal darkness was already close to the surface, holding to its promise to respond at a moment's notice and to behave when not needed. For once, he was glad he'd made that deal with his demon over Jack. He had much more control over himself than he'd ever had. He could hear his hostess becoming restless behind him and spoke to cut her off, "What do you want?" Riddick rumbled deeply.

Her voice was an odd sound, a mixture of ice and silk, "To watch you work." He felt her move up beside him with the ease of someone who knew no danger. "I've spent the latter half of my life observing fantastic things--" she turned to look at Riddick's impassive face in the scarlet glare, "The work of terrible men, men such as yourself--" she crossed between Jackie and Riddick. Pausing near what she thought might be the persuasive element, she studied the impassive man some more, "But it's always after the fact…." Antonia's voice trailed off as she ran her hands over Jackie, feeling her arms, her ribs, her abdomen and noticing that everywhere was toned to nearly the same degree as the man she was taunting. "…When the moment of Bloody Creation is cold and passed," she picked up the thread of her speech again, "That changes now." She signaled Junner again and doors on the far side of the pit opened up. Carolyn and Imam watched the door squeal open and then looked up at Riddick. Jackie resumed her struggle in Junner's grip. "I need to see it, Riddick. I need to see it with my own eyes as it happens."

Fighting for someone's entertainment had never been something he'd done willingly. Sure, he'd fought in the slam but that was always for personal gain. And, yeah, he'd fought on the run; it was a matter of survival. But this? He was disgusted with the entire deal. It looked, to him, like Chillingsworth had set up her own private gladiatorial pit and was turning the champions into trophies. If she had been truly shallow she would have simply demanded that he kill his former companions. But that was not to be. She had an opponent in mind that would challenge him. Of course to get him to agree she had made a bet that he had indeed become friends with those she found him with. Sadly, she was right. He didn't want to place his friends in any more danger.

But could he save them from whatever it was that was being let loose? He knew that something alien, with an inhuman scent, had been released and was already heading this way. It had a slightly metallic odor, natural not mechanical. It was likely a soft-tissue creature, perhaps using venom of some kind. He guessed from her reaction that Jack must have already known. So her nose, with time, would be better than his. No surprise there. Leaving her up here was out of the question, and her needed her near. He wasn't about to do this without her. His gaze scanned the ceiling and spotted another cable. He narrowed his eyes. It was a risk he had to take… The killer refused to fight if she was up here in Junner's control, "Go to hell."

Antonia was already settling down on her seat and was unsurprised by his refusal, "Oh, I thought you might be that way." She made a flippant movement before looking at her second, "Junner, add the girl." This played right into Riddick's quickly forming plans. He had to trust that his mate would think on her feet.

Jackie was rather startled by how quickly she found herself slapped roughly into a neck chain with a stiff collar. Before she had come to stock with that, Junner had tossed out her away from himself and she was swinging over the pit with no support. The others in the pit let out gasps of dismay. If Jackie had thought she couldn't breathe before she was absolutely choking now. It was imperative that the pressure on her throat lessen. Without thinking she reached over her head and grabbed the chain with her bound hands while still swinging. She was instantly grateful for the weeks of pull-ups with Riddick's boots tied to her ankles.

Riddick watched until he was sure that she wasn't going to strangle. The beast inside itched to break out. Jackie glanced at him as she twisted, signaling that she had things under control for a moment. He let the beast go, spinning toward where his hostess was lounging and moving across the short distance with a speed that Junner had no chance of matching. "I get outta there alive, you'll see it again…" his face twisted into a snarl as he moved into Chillingsworth's personal space, "this close." They were nose to nose. Anyone in their right mind would have been quaking in their boots.

Only Antonia had never been in her right mind. "No, Riddick." She caressed his chin with the side of a blade that he instinctively knew was his own make. "I want your masterpiece," the blade twisted until the point was pressed into his flesh. He ignored it as he continued to growl at the woman teasing him. Behind his back another problem developed as Jackie felt her hands slide on the cable. Gagging as she slipped, she thought, 'there has to be a better way…what if I was higher up?' Slowly working her legs up over her head, Jackie remembered how some of the more agile workers on Sigma 3 had learned to loop rope while climbing the few remaining trees. 'Maybe I can loop this around one leg…' She heard the metal blade clatter onto the floor, "An artist is nothing without his instrument."

Junner walked up to Riddick as he was retrieving the weapon. "When we meet again," Riddick told him, "I'm gonna bury this – in your eye." Riddick lifted his goggles and studied the man. Junner simply pointed. As the killer turned he noticed that the piggish merc was rather in a good position. One of the other fake badges that annoyed him was close too. Time to make good on that promise…

"Let him in." The woman told those guarding the edge. There was no way in hell that the pair Riddick targeted would get away. He fixed the overweight one with the same snarl he'd given him back in the hall when Carolyn was being harassed. That halted the merc's steps just enough to keep him in range. Jackie remembered her shiv and palmed it off up her sleeve from her sock as her leg and hand crossed. She got her leg looped into the cable and raised herself into a crouch suspended in midair. Back on the upper platform the thin merc standing in front of Riddick decided he was moving forward too slow and that he was going to help him get into the pit. He should have moved away.

The killer burst out, quickly taking the two mercs. A well-aimed slash later, the thin one was dead. As both blood and body flew Riddick had tackled the heavy merc and sailed over the railing. He made sure the piggish fellow remained on the bottom to cushion his landing. They hit the floor with a wet thud and a moan. 'So much for simply lettin' me in,' Riddick though with a smirk as he rolled away from the smelly merc and moved toward his friends. Three steps away from the landing point he heard Antonia order, "Go ultraviolet."

The pit went black. It was a deep cool black. Riddick took a moment to let his eyes adjust and noticed that the walls and floors shed a soft purple light. It was faint and he doubted that the others could see anything at all. Jackie's cable creaked as she shifted her weight slightly. The outlines of the globes revealed themselves through the distortion of they reflections off their surfaces. The alien thing was getting closer.

Riddick was right, none of them could see. Not a damn thing. Jackie couldn't even be sure of where anyone was. But she heard the sound of Riddick's boots on the floor below her and knew he was on his feet. "I was on a pilgrimage. Just a pilgrimage," Imam said softly. He was blind under the current conditions. Where he'd survived the stress of the skiff with his beads in hand he didn't dare move for them here. He had seen Jackie move into a crouch with one foot balanced in a loop of cable suspended above his own head before the lights went off. Fry, he noted, had watched Jack like she had never really seen her before, the amazement drawing the docking pilot's attention away from the weakness of her own legs. For that he was grateful. Lujjan shifted her position in the dark making her globe rustle against the floor. She tried to stay calm but something was moving in the dark near her. Her position placed her closest to the door and the air was making strange movements.

The darkness prompted a question; "This is bad, huh?" It was Carolyn. She was sounding less shaky.

"Yeah, I'd say so." Jackie chimed in sounding rather distant due to her height on them all, "I can't see." 'Okay, Shirah…. That sight thing would be good now….'

Riddick interrupted, "Give it a minute --" There was silence as they waited. Of course with his night vision he could see. At first there was nothing. Then his eyes picked up faint outlines of tentacles. He couldn't be sure of the numbers though. He just hoped that there was only one of the things, whatever it was. "Imam, pray," This was beyond bad. He had no idea how it killed, but he was sure that it was deadly. The form split into two, colors brightening as their tentacles moved in distracting patterns. Riddick heard the others gasp as one in alarm. So, now they could see the opponent. One was cool-toned, in aqua, blue and green. The other was warm-toned, rust, scarlet, and hot pink. The movements became threatening as though the intelligence possessed by the creatures knew that they needed to intimidate.

He turned sideways as the creatures advanced on him. Their colors darkened as they went into attack mode. The merc got to his feet. The closer creature swiped at the man with a tentacle that went invisible in the dark. Gunfire sprayed the path where the appendage had been. It hit nothing but allowed Jackie take note of everyone's positions. The merc lowered his gun and stood, staring at the emptiness for a split second before the creature snared him with all four glowing arms and pulled him in. He screamed and shot the ceiling. As he did so the creature injected him and he swelled, bursting into glowing greenish goo. Fry and Imam wheezed in horror. Lujjan looked stricken. Jackie swallowed, 'Okay, maybe I don't want to see.'

Back on the ground the killer studied the display of inhuman death with dispassion. He felt cold. His friends didn't deserve to be in here with him. He wasn't even sure that the merc deserved to die quite like that. He had little time to think such sympathetic thoughts though. The warm toned creature advanced on him. He focused on it, ignoring his companions for the time being. The shackles were a hindrance, but he was able to play 'keep-away' from the thing as he studied it. The creature attempted to distract him with a hypnotic dance every now and then punctuated with a thrust forward.

Riddick's responses were varied. At times he dodged to the right or left. He took the opportunity to duck under and spin to the side when it presented itself. He even slashed out with his shiv to drive the tentacles back. It wasn't until he noticed the second creature approaching that he began to feel a little desperate. He needed the shackles off. Thrusting his arms toward an incoming limb he hoped that the chains would bust, but instead found his arms looped around it. He had no choice but to hang on as he was lifted into the air. He felt a ripple that caught the chains and was aware that the end of the tentacle was getting closer. Then with a flick, he was in the air, flying backwards.

He hit hard, vaguely hoping that it was the wall he collided with. The surface moved. 'Nope, not the wall,' he ruefully noted. The scream and gasping noise was feminine, but not Fry. So he'd hit Lujjan's support. He was slightly aware of the secondary impact as the sphere and he came to a stop. "Riddick? You've got to get up!" His mate's voice distantly roused him. He heard the rustle of another globe as Imam rolled his sphere over and under the princess' feet. The pair grabbed each other and the ex-ranger could smell their fear. He shook his head and began to regain his feet. The faint sound of metal on metal sounded like someone trying to cut cable. Then the sound stopped and another noise, lightly groaning metal, came to his ears. Good, Jack was trying to get free.

The scream convinced Jackie that she was no use up where she was. She had to get down somehow. The cable would not cut. The catch on the collar, however, was not that good. Jackie began to pry at the hinges on the collar around her neck with the blade of her shiv. Once she got the collar off she could maybe get Fry and Imam to safety.

Riddick crouched. The creature advanced on him and he swung his shiv with a well-timed blow. It was enough to get the creature to back away. Riddick advanced with a series of blocks, pressing his advantage. Imam and Lujjan watched the eerie and deadly display until Imam spotted one of the tentacles and a glimpse of the creature behind it, sneaking up on Fry. He looked at Lujjan. She nodded. Abu felt her arms tighten around him as he grabbed the rope over his head. Then in unison they sent their support hurling across the floor. The globe flattened the creature after the docking pilot. In spite the difficulty Imam now found himself in, warmth flooded through him.

Jackie heard them struggling. With a burst of strength she got the collar off and landed lightly on the floor, thinking she could roll a sphere over. Riddick also heard his friends in trouble. He was closer than Jack was. The creature after Fry was turning toward him, while his pervious opponent was now after the pair hanging in midair. 'Fuck this,' he swore as he reassessed the situation. It was time to stop fooling around and kill his opponents. Only he needed to save Imam's life first… He turned, dodged the greenish creature, jumped on the back of the ruddy creature taking off one of its limbs in the process, and cut his friend down. That the swing managed to free the woman holding onto Abu was just a bonus. The three landed with a hard thud before Jack could act. Lujjan had not been ready for this, her position placing her leg under her. It snapped with a sickening crunch. 'Broken – something,' Jackie noted from the other side of the room. "Get her to her feet!" Riddick ordered as he set himself between the danger and the holy man still on the floor.

Both creatures had gone dark with the last defeat, "I cannot see!" Imam protested. Lujjan groaned.

As the faint outline of the tentacles surrounding the inhuman forms became visible again, Riddick reassured him, "You don't want to."

"Jackie?" Imam asked.

"Here. Down. Coming over." Flashes of dim purple allowed Jackie to move over and help Imam get Lujjan up. Her hands were as bound as theirs were, but she had a shiv, which she passed off to Imam, so that he could get the locks open on the cuffs. Imam turned his full attention to getting the shackles off while Jack kept her eyes peeled for any sign that either of the creatures was heading toward them. Riddick stood in front of her glad for the moment that Carolyn was being ignored. Both creatures seemed to think that the bulk of their enemies were right here and kept advancing. There was a pause as the hypnotic pattern of weaving motion resumed only slightly diminished by the stump the scarlet creature bore where its tentacle was missing. They brightened back slowly to being fully visible for the maximum impact on their targets. But Riddick was like a snake charmer, smoothly weaving his body against their rather regular attack pattern.

"They're gonna kill him!" Lujjan said. Imam paused in his effort to free her, curled one hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her. He then concentrated on the cuffs in an attempt to get them off while he had some light.

Riddick watched the pair of creatures move in perfect counterpoint to each other. He focused on them, ready for their next move. The two creatures started to move apart and he stepped back defensively. They blinked dark again. The creatures separated. The green creature targeted Riddick and the other went for Fry. "Babe? Fry," he ordered. Jackie had no weapon, but she rushed over to a globe and tried again to get the second creature away from the docking pilot. Acting blindly she heaved the sphere toward the general area where Carolyn was. This time the creature was ready for the tactic. It gracefully dodged to one side and whipped out a tentacle toward Fry. It was not expecting the docking pilot to push her support into it. Both globe and creature went rolling away. But that left the blond hanging. She was choking even as she weakly grabbed the rope with her shackled hands.

Jackie tried to make her way over to the woman in hopes of catching her feet. She had to dodge Riddick's fight, whipping tentacles, and faintly glowing goo. "Calm down. It's under control. It is under control, right, Riddick?" Jackie asked. She reached the docking pilot and curled her arms around the other woman's waist. Carolyn took several deep breaths of air, feeling much better that Jackie was there. The reprieve didn't last long. The second creature that had been attacking Fry came back in its stealth mode. Jack felt the air whoosh past her and tried to sidestep while holding onto the docking pilot. The creature walloped the slim young woman out of the way. "Oophf--" came the soft noise as the wind got knocked out of her. This was followed by the noise of Jackie connecting with the wall. Riddick looked that way in time to see the creature's casual tentacle flip and it heading for Fry again. It brightened so that it was visible.

"We must do something!" Lujjan tried to move to the docking pilot's defense even with her broken leg. Imam held her back with a sad head shake. They had no chance of stopping the thing, no time to get over to the blonde woman. Even if he had been able to reach Fry he had no idea how to fight something he could not see. He held onto Lujjan thinking that she was being reckless over someone she barely knew and feeling guilty that he didn't have the backbone to save someone whose actions had saved him.

To make matters even harder, Riddick's battle was nearly directly between them and the docking pilot. Imam prayed that Jackie was able to regain her feet… Breathless moments passed. Time slowed to a crawl. He had a flash of Shazza in the cloud of hatchlings, their tiny forms devouring the noble woman right before their eyes. Then his vision returned to the now and he watched as the ruddy creature slowly, ever so sluggishly, reared back its stinger. Fry screamed. The sound moved slowly and distorted. The glowing appendages folded around her blocking the docking pilot from view.

There was a groan from near the floor. Jackie was struggling to her feet. That snapped Imam's mindset back into time. Riddick was too busy with his own fight to help other than to yell at Jack, "Get the fuck up, Jack!" The creature he was dealing with shot forward with its stinger and Riddick thrust his shackles into its path. The chains shattered. As he dodged away he heard his mate scrambling toward Fry again. Part of him wanted her far, far away from the battle, yet he was proud of her unswerving devotion and trust. He'd told he to help Carolyn and she was determined to do just that. He heard her leap at the creature and saw her land on its 'head.' Her shackled arms didn't let her actually hug the thing, but she was able to get two good handfuls of tentacles rather high up. She threw her legs around the creature for good measure.

Jackie was assaulted by the strong iodine odor that came off the alien thing she was grappling. The creature spun away from its target and worked to loosen the woman clinging to it. Up above the desperate battle Antonia Chillingsworth was thrilled beyond all expectation at this development, "Beautiful, beautiful creatures…"

Junner spoke in response, "Shrill are an exquisite species."

"I'm talking about the Furyans," she said in annoyance, rolling her eyes and looking over at Junner with a fond expression. She turned back to the battle to find that while positions had changed a little that she'd not missed much.

The monster, a shrill Jackie now knew it was called, had no shoulders. She was sliding down its body, drawing its tentacles back from the center spinning structure. This made the creature twist this way and that as it tried to get her off. She was not worried about getting slime under her fingernails and readily clawed into the tentacles in her hands in a bid to hang on. Fry made a wild kick toward the brightest part of the monster – the brain-like central structure. Her shoe got caught between the spinning protective ribs that surrounded it. The creature let off a shrill, high pitched sound of alarm. 'Well, that explains the species name, don't it?' Jackie thought wincing from the noise.

Riddick suddenly knew how to kill the damn things. "Punch it!" he ordered. Carolyn tried desperately to toe off her shoe with the other foot before her caught leg became damaged from the wild movements and thrashing the creature was making. At the current moment Jackie was more worried about the docking pilot than the creature she cling to. Suddenly she noticed Fry's legs drop away.

She had no time to wonder though, "Wha -- ?" Jackie and creature went spinning past Riddick as Carolyn's shoe came off her foot. She was really kinda glad she still had the cuffs on at this point because the temptation was to fling an arm out to keep her balance and they kept her from doing so. She was starting to feel dizzy.

The ex-ranger watched his mate go spinning past. "The center. Punch it," he ordered. Jackie thought about the horrid noise the creature was making and how funny it must look with Fry's shoe sticking out of it. The shrill slammed into a wall pushing the shoe in even farther. It teetered and wobbled for a long moment. Jack stared at the scarlet glowing brain. She could reach that phosphorescent wrinkled glob that was just about chin level rather easily.

With a mental shrug she released her left hand because her grip with her right one was better anyhow and curled it into a fist before picturing Carl Johanstein's face where glowing orb was. She drew back and punched with all the force she could muster. The chains limited the force a bit, but the shrill noise abruptly ended as Jackie's fist was enveloped in what felt like warm jelly-like mush. It oozed down her arm, as the shrill seemed to wonder what was happening. Then, unexpectedly, the creature crumpled under her. "Yuck!" Jackie tumbled to the floor, covered in slime. The silence lingered for a long moment. Finally she said, "Yeah, punch it… Thanks, Riddick."

"No problem, babe." He dodged some more, "But you might want to get Carolyn to the floor."

Jackie stood and looked his direction, a guess on her part because it was so dark, "You got the shiv." Riddick grunted at her and steered his battle that direction. He deftly maneuvered so that Jack could catch Carolyn's waist again before he cut her rope, all the while keeping the shrill, the undamaged cool toned one, focused on him. One down and one to go, thanks to his mate's willingness to take his insights and get dirty.

It was really past time to end this though. He dodged the shrill away from Jack and Fry so that they had a path back to Imam and Lujjan. The creature tried to veer off toward the two women and Riddick stabbed the offending limb, "You wanna go?" he challenged, "Let's go." It slung a tentacle at him and he handily sliced it off. Riddick stood coiled for action… waiting. This creature is the more dangerous of the two, and it senses that contrast is its best defense. It becomes blinding bright before dropping without warning into darkness. There is silence, near total, in the pit. Riddick blinks as he strains in the darkness for some sign of the shrill. He didn't dare look over at the other four with him for fear that he'd miss the creature's subtle reappearance. There's a rustle over to his left. Without thinking Riddick moved to a sphere and pushed it into the noise. There's a sudden squeal and aqua flash as it collides with the shrill. He looked at his opponent in surprise, not having really believed that it was there, "Huh?"

But the shrill was not fully behind the sphere and had far more control over its individual limbs then the younger, now dead reddish one. One tentacle, still dark, moved up toward the fanged limb of its opponent. The only clue of its approach a faint slithering. Jackie heard slithering – It could only be one thing. "No!" She screamed as the shrill caught Riddick by the arms and immobilized him. His blade went flying. She heard it clatter to the floor. Seeing her mate struggle with all his might was more than she could stand. Before anyone could stop her she had ran through the goo, sliding and slipping, until she reached the area where the shiv had to be. Jack began to search frantically for it.

It was Fry, feeling as though both fighters had gone out of their way to save her, which grabbed one of the tentacles off the floor. Imam, having gotten both his and Lujjan's chains and collars off, retained Jackie's blade. Jackie was on her knees in the sludge looking for Riddick's shiv, heedless to any danger she might be in. Sucking up her fear, Carolyn whipped that tentacle around the remaining shrill's 'neck' and was flung off her feet as it struggled with the new attack. The movement was enough to help Riddick use the monster's stinger against itself as it tried to inject him. His arm, weighted down by heavy shrill tentacle was none the less free.

Jackie's fingers brushed the discarded shiv, "Riddick?" She grasped the handle firmly.

"Here!" He reached into the air as she tossed the blade. It sailed into his hand like they had practiced it a million times before. He freed his other hand with a smooth slice from the razor sharp shiv. The shrill reared its stinger back, screeching in pain as three of its tentacles were now separated from its body. Riddick whipped the tentacle around his arm into the center of the creature and allowed it to pull him in. And in seconds it was over with a bright flash of light.

The death of the second creature left them all in blackness. The rustle of clothing told Jackie that Abu was near. She felt him press her shiv back into her hand. He, Lujjan and Fry sank to their knees. Silence settled over them for a moment, as if the entire ship was holding its breath. Then the clapping started and the lights came back on. Not the red light of before, but full white light. Jack looked over at her mate. He, like the others, was on his knees, head down, shielding his eyes from the painfully bright glare. She growled low in her throat. Riddick shifted his head her direction, listening to her. A faint smirk danced on his lips as he pulled his goggles on before getting to his feet. "Bravo! The grace, the expression, the sheer violence of it! Exquisite."

"Give--" Riddick looked exasperated, then he looked at Jackie. Instant communication flowed between them. The bitch had left the remote out of reach. Jackie moved for the shiv still in the creature.

"What?" Imam asked.

"Give me the knife." Jackie was already on her feet, moving over with it. Imam took the blade and waited for the signal. Jackie palmed her own shiv. If they were gonna do this they had to do it together.

"Such a complete and thorough performance." The woman said breathlessly, "It leaves only one question."

"I got a feeling you're not gonna like it." Carolyn stated as she plucked her shoe out of the muck. Two of the individuals were watching the slim woman above them like a pair of predatory cats.

The woman closed her eyes; Imam passed the shiv to Riddick, Jackie mentally prepared herself to follow Riddick's every move no matter how much it was gonna hurt. "How will I ever have the pair of you mounted…" The woman opened her eyes, "to do it justice?" Moving together, Riddick and Jackie raised their blades and cut into their necks. Junner had put his remote down too. Neither was in hand. "What are you--" Chillingsworth realized too late what was going on. "No!" She turned for the remote. 'Hell, this hurts,' Jackie gritted her teeth, 'It's got to come out…' She followed Riddick's example in digging the explosive charge out of her own neck.

"Are you going to keep those?" Lujjan asked.

"Looks like the two of you will have to be an abstract piece."

"Down! Now!" Jackie threw and ducked again in time with Riddick's example. Fry and Imam grabbed Lujjan and hobbled with her for a few rushed feet before spinning themselves into a skid in order to put some distance before the duel explosion. The docking pilot quickly regained her feet and began to run for the still smoking hole in the wall of the pit. The explosion had thrown both Jackie and Riddick through the air. With Carolyn motioning for them to hurry, the young Furyan woman reached for her mate pulled him to his feet as Imam was helping Lujjan to hers. Riddick groaned as he responded to the desperate urgent tugging. "Come on. Move!" Jackie shouted. Their flight was accompanied by angered feminine screeches that drifted through the blackened, smoky air.