A/N: Here's another chapter for y'all! Thank you for the reviews and follows/favorites already! *happy dance* A quick note, in Under the Summer Rain I had Riddick's age at 36 (which is his proper age), but I've decided to change it to 34 for my stories instead. So, Eris is 22 and Riddick is 34 throughout Pitch Black and Dark Fury. Alright, onward! Let me know what you guys think! (Oh, I don't own Pitch Black/Dark Fury/Riddick. Boo.)

Chapter 2

The interior of the skiff was lit dimly from the light of the multitude of stars outside, so at least we weren't sitting in total darkness. Again. Jack and Imam sat back down in their seats, Riddick forming his hands into a steeple.

"First you're a boy, then you're a girl, and now you're a psychic," he remarked, glancing at Jack and drumming his fingers together. "Careful what you wish for, Jack."

She just blinked and smiled sweetly, looking up as a man's voice came over the intercom.

"Unidentified craft, state your purpose and contents."

No one spoke, all of us staring at Riddick for direction. He remained silent, the unknown man repeating his message two more times, his impatience obvious by the last time.

"Name's Johns," Riddick finally answered. "My ship got scrapped on a transport run. The only other survivors from the whole mess are with me. Outside of that we got nothing."

"Tell me, Mr. Johns, what brings you to this lonely corner of space?" the unknown voice asked. The voice was low and smooth, oily almost. One that wasn't to be trusted.

"I'm a bounty hunter," Riddick replied.

"Then it appears we have something in common."

We waited with bated breath, hoping our ruse had worked. A few tense moments later, the skiff jerked and I knew we were fucked.

"They're reelin' us in!" Jack gasped.

I swallowed nervously, but didn't say anything. Johns had been a dick, but he was only one merc and fairly easily handled. If this was a ship full of them we'd be in trouble. I'd heard plenty of gruesome stories and had almost learned firsthand what happened to women captured and brought aboard. The two assholes that had tried with me met with an…untimely end, and I figured that I'd be able to handle myself well enough, but Jack was my concern. Just because she was young didn't mean a thing. Not to mention Riddick's large bounty.

My face must have betrayed my worry, because Riddick reached over and almost gently grasped my chin, forcing me to look at him.

"That won't happen," he said lowly as the skiff came to a stop and everything went black. He released me and I heard the sound of a lighter flicking one, twice, and on the third try a flame sputtered to life, the dancing flames reflecting in his goggles. He stood and moved past me, searching. Bending over, he straightened back up, a cutting torch in his other hand. Jumping the flame, he placed the torch close to the fire sensor overhead.

"No offense," Jack said skeptically, "but I don't think that's gonna cut it against whatever it is that's coming for us."

"It gives us the element of surprise," he explained calmly. "Eris get over here."

Slightly confused, I nonetheless acquiesced and rose out of my seat, sitting beside Imam.

"Hold your breath."

Oh, no…

We heard multiple voices outside the skiff and I sucked in a deep breath just as the inside filled with extinguishing foam, the cutting torch burning out. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to panic. The last thing I wanted was a lung-full of foam. I don't even give a shit right now, these fuckers had better hurry up and open the damn door! I thought, my heartbeat speeding up.

I heard a voice right outside the door, so I pulled my shiv out of my armband, my movement hindered by the foam. It seemed like ages, but in reality only a couple of seconds later that the door burst open sending us outside the skiff in a huge pile of fluffy crap. I felt my air supply running low, so I waded through, trying to find where the foam ended and air began. My head broke through what was apparently the front and I gasped, drawing in a large breath of sweet air.

I hurriedly assessed the situation: We were in a large hangar - Riddick had left us and was currently busy cutting through a large group of mercs. He seemed to be kicking ass, as usual, though this was the first time I'd seem him do it with humans, not monsters. May as well be the same thing, I thought grimly, quickly ducking back inside when bullets started raining in my direction. Feeling a body brush my leg, I moved away unsure if it was one of the others or one of Riddick's casualties.

Amid the shouting and screaming, I heard Jack's clear voice yelling something at someone before she was abruptly cut off. Worried that something had happened to her, I resurfaced only to shriek in surprise when I was grabbed and thrown to the ground, my shiv knocked out of my hand. Landing on my back, I looked up to see the butt of a gun pointed at my head. My eyes traveled further up to see, albeit upside down, a tall, dark haired man dressed in a creepy white coat and green glasses, a slightly surprised expression on his pale face. He was expecting Jack, not me. That's who she was yelling at. Damn girl.

"I think not."

It was the unknown voice from earlier.

"Think not what?" I snapped, freezing when he lightly pressed the gun closer, something pointy jabbing my forehead. Fuck.

Bodies were floating everywhere so I surmised we must be in zero gravity. I didn't see Jack or Imam anywhere and hoped they were still in the foam. A movement to the left caught my attention and, trying not to move my head, I strained to see who else was on the ground.

Riddick.

He was kneeling on the ground, holding down a merc by the throat. Probably the last one alive, I thought, beads of sweat forming at my hairline.

"Call off your lap dog, before his trying to impress you gets him killed," Riddick drawled.

I couldn't see who he was talking to from my position on the ground and I didn't dare try.

"Am I so obvious?" a woman asked, sounding amused. I twitched in surprise, the creepy asshole applying more pressure on my forehead, but not enough to break the skin. Yet.

"Call it what you want, but tell him to stand down, now," Riddick answered with the tiniest hint of a warning.

A sharp staccato echoed throughout the hangar and I guessed the woman had stepped closer, wherever she was, and that she was wearing heels.

"Allow me to introduce myself," she said, her accent unfamiliar to me. I heard Riddick snarl and if I wasn't in my current situation, I would've rolled my eyes. "My name is Antonia Chillingsworth. You'll have to excuse Jenner's excitement-" so that was creepy dude's name "-it sometimes makes him a touch…quick. Though I can't say I blame him. You see, he's just heard so much about you, Riddick."

Riddick's back was towards me, so I couldn't see how he took this new development.

"Yes, I know your name," Chillingsworth continued. Well, that answers my question. "Quite a bit more about you, I think."

"Careful. You may find what you're digging for," the convict advised, his tone far from friendly.

"I'm willing to share, of course, but I must ask that you surrender your weapon…before any more of my apparently overpaid associates…come to an untimely end."

The way she spoke was very polished and refined, but something was just off about her.

Riddick apparently already had an answer. "Mmm. Not gonna happen."

"No?"

Jenner looked down at me, his finger tightening on the trigger.

"I dare you," I hissed, glaring up at him. I could've sworn I saw his one eye twitch behind his glasses.

"Don't tempt me," he returned smoothly, pressing down slightly.

After dealing with the craziness of the last freaks we ran into, my common sense had obviously abandoned me. At this point though, I really didn't care. These people were nothing compared to the bloodthirsty creatures that had chased us nonstop, ready to rip us to shreds.

"The girl is nothing to me," Riddick bluffed. At least, I hoped he was bluffing. You'd better be fucking bluffing, dickhead.

"Then enlighten me," Chillingsworth demanded. "Why would a stone-cold killer such as yourself go to all the trouble of keeping the likes of her, a woman, not a girl, alive? Unless of course, you've grown attached."

Her tone of voice had turned sly towards the end and I knew she wasn't buying it. Riddick looked towards me and I stared back, not even sure what I was trying to convey to him. How about, don't let me get killed? Yeah, that sounds like a good start.

"She's a fuck, nothing more," Riddick said, turning back around. Even though I knew he was lying, (I hoped, since I hadn't even gotten to fuck him. Yet.) it still stung. "You shoot her now, and you'll be saving me the trouble."

"Then I have your blessing," the woman said dispassionately.

I'm going to fucking die, I realized as Jenner squeezed, the trigger clicking ominously. A whistling noise caught my attention and I yelped when a familiar shiv embedded itself into the side of the gun, forcing it up and away from my head.

Retreating staccato and Chillingsworth's smug voice floating back," Maybe I know more about you than you do yourself."

"Now just ain't the time," Riddick growled. I heard a groan and a sickening crack, recognizing the sound of a neck snapping.

"Lock them down. We're done here."

Jenner lifted his gun away from my head and I reached up, feeling a small spot of blood.

"Asshole," I muttered, quickly grabbing my forgotten shiv and tucking it away before clambering to my feet as more mercs filed into the hangar. Quite a few grabbed Riddick, while others broke off to grab Imam and Jack out of the foam, one carrying the young girl by the back of the shirt. Two burly mercs grabbed each of my arms and we were marched into a corridor, Jenner and Chillingsworth discussing who knows what behind us.

This is just great, I thought sourly as we were led away.