Adult-FanFiction.org : Movies

A Matter of Instinct	By : ehiltebe Category: M through R > Pitch Black Views: 2587 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Riddick, Pitch Black, or any of the characters from that universe. All I have is Eileen... And I make no money from this story, either!

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
A Matter of Instinct

A Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury Alternate Universe

Chapter Five

The edge of the balcony dropped four meters to the red-and-black patterned floor. Closed doors stood on the opposite side of the arena, with three massive spheres set in a precise equilateral triangle between there and the balcony. The nearer globes held Shazza and the imam, with Jack furthest from us. Cables fell from the unseen ceiling, attaching to metal collars that would become nooses the moment anyone slipped. And, of course, their hands were bound.

“What do you want?” Riddick was clearly livid. Here we’d gone through hell to get ten people off that shithole eclipse planet, one was already on the brink of death, and this fucking bitch threatened a third of the remainder. Plus the fact that I liked the girl and the rogue heiress, and the convict felt as protective of kids as I did.

You are so askin’ for an ass-whoopin’.

“To watch you work. I’ve spent most of my life observing fantastic things— the work of terrible men and women, such as yourselves— but it’s always after the fact, when the moment of bloody creation is cold and past. That changes now.” As she spoke, the massive doors opened onto blackness. “I need to see it, Riddick. I need to see it with my own eyes, as it happens.” The merc queen reclined on the divan.

“We get outta there alive, you’ll see it again.” The big man leaned into her personal space. “This close.” Soft footsteps, likely inaudible to normal ears, heralded the appearance of another woman. Her smooth Asian features contrasted sharply with the lean-muscled body under the close-cut clothing. And the tray in her hands held four very familiar blades.

Without looking, the head bitch picked up one of my daggers and ever-so-gently tapped it on the underside of Riddick’s chin. My vision went hazy again with rage, a growl bubbling up from my chest. If there was one place that sharp point didn’t belong, it was on my mate.

Internally, I blinked, blindsided yet again by my feral alter ego. ‘Battle-mate’ was one thing. And I was definitely in lust with the man, but ‘mate’ felt rather… permanent. Yet at the same time, inevitably, the title belonged to him in my mind.

“No, Riddick.” The lavender-haired woman crooned as she spoke. “I want your masterpiece. An artist is nothing without their chosen instruments.” A deft flick sent the blade spinning past him to bury its tip in the decking, perhaps ten centimeters short of the edge. The smaller woman quickly sent the other three to join it with deceptive ease. I snarled; thicker-than-normal coat of titanium carbon nitride or not, they weren’t designed to withstand the same stresses as throwing knives.

As we moved to collect our weapons, Junner and his female counterpart shifted to shield their mistress. I sneered, watching the four grunts at the ends of the opening warily. One was the redhead who’d hauled Jack about like a sack of grain, and another the piggish numbskull.

“When we meet again, I’m gonna bury this in your eye.” My battle-mate used the curve of one swingblade to point at the man in the white coat. Then he stepped behind me, nose brushing my hair as his hands slid up my sides. Feeling the grips of the evil-tempered swingblades hanging between his thumbs and index fingers sent an atavistic thrill up my spine.

“Let them in.” The mercs advanced on us. I struck low, sweeping the redhead’s ankles out from under him as Riddick went high, his foot connecting with the fat man’s head. He gutted one of the others as I hamstrung the fourth, and then we retreated toward the balcony’s edge, watching the remaining pair carefully.

They took the bait, rushing us. Fatso’s sheer mass managed to bear my partner over the drop, though, judging by the sounds that followed, he became the more muscular man’s landing cushion. I went to one knee, catching Red’s shins with my shoulder and sending him sailing into thin air. I leapt after him, planning on rolling to absorb the impact with the lower deck.

(Riddick)

My hands shoot out, catchin’ Eileen’s hips an’ startlin’ a squeak outta her. I put her down with a smug grin on my face, peck her on th’ lips, and push up th’ shades she got me. She takes her own off, hookin’ ‘em over the edge of her tank top.

“Go ultraviolet.” The lightin’ changes, just as th’ bitch demands, an’ four things show up in th’ doorway. They fuckin’ glow, big donuts for bodies, balls spinnin’ in the centers, two pair of tentacles wavin’ on each one, an’ root-like bases.

“I was on a pilgrimage.” Holy man’s voice is definitely scared. “Just a pilgrimage.” The weird things spread out, creepily slither-stalkin’ somebody on th’ floor.

“This is bad, huh?” I don’t like hearin’ terror in th’ kid’s words.

“Who took on a grue hand-to-hand and won, Jack?” Eileen asks th’ question even as she ducks a whip-strike.

“You guys.” That firms up Jackie-girl’s voice; she liked hearin’ ‘bout th’ way my woman took out th’ dumb fucker that cornered me in th’ settlement.

Th’ animal goin’ after Fat-Boy goes dark all of a sudden, an’ I c’n just make out th’ tentacle snappin’ out after him. He fires blind, not hittin’ a damn thing ‘fore he’s strung up for dinner. Thing lights up again, grabbin’ him with another limb, an’ starts makin’ some kinda colorless goo. It covers th’ guy quick, then brings up a barbed tail-thing an’ jabs it at th’ sack. Th’ merc swells for a second in the ooze, then kinda bursts inside it an’ gets sucked up.

That has t’ go on my ‘yuck’ scale.

Eileen avoids th’ one goin’ after her, but Red slips up an’ gets absorbed in pretty much th’ same way. A barb comes at me, an’ I duck while shootin’ my hands up so it goes between th’ cuffs an’ breaks th’ chain. A second thing jumps me, an’ th’ two of ‘em swat me into th’ kid’s ball. Shazza steps up, though, rolls hers over t’ share before Jack hangs there for more’n a couple seconds.

(Eileen)

Riddick got up and threw himself at the pair of creatures that attacked him. But instead of joining its fellows going after the big guy, or the one that was tracking me, the fourth one targeted the holy man. He was with it, grabbing the rope above his head and kicking his sphere at it. Knowing he could only hold himself up for so long, I used the temporarily flattened thing as a springboard. My leap took me high enough to slice through the rope with one dagger as I flew past the Muslim. We both hit the floor in heaps, probably bruised, but otherwise all right.

The creature rose on its stalk again, now focused on me. I smoothly dodged three lashing tentacles before the tail rose. A quick movement just so, and instead of hitting me, the quite solid stinger severed the links between my manacles. Grinning fiercely, I cut off two of its limbs before one of the uninjured beasts moved to protect it.

“Beautiful, beautiful creatures.”

“Shrill are an exquisite species.”

“I’m talking about the Furyans.” Another mental click as the bitch’s label for us settled into my brain. I’d examine it later.

A sphere rocketed past me, the near miss steamrolling my opponents. Hearing Riddick leap for Shazza and Jack, I pounced on the shrill that I’d reduced to two tentacles, jabbing the spinning orb at its center. Shattering like glass, it spilled glowing fluid as the beast went limp and still. I barely got time to process the results of my blow before diving to one side to avoid the wrath of the whole creature that had tried to protect it.

Despite being next to blind in the available light, Abu shoved a ball toward my assailant with a grunt. It was only clipped, but that gave me the opening I needed to dispatch it. Then I prodded him closer to where the others stood in a hurry.

“Get her on her feet.” Jack must have landed harder, as she still struggled to stand. The heiress groped in her general direction, their hands meeting through pure luck.

“I cannot see!”

“You don’t want to.” I’d seen how the cannibalism of the grues had disgusted the holy man. This would be no better for him. Then I moved to stand next to the convict. “Center.” The single word made him nod.

Both of the remaining shrill abruptly went dark to the point where I couldn’t see them. My shoulders tightened. I didn’t like this at all.

The girl’s gasp spurred us into action. I dove forward, rolling up to the now-visible stalk of a shrill that was short one tentacle. Sinistra cut as far into the column of flesh— whatever it was formed of— as I could shove her. Riddick punched at the sphere, his swingblade easily piercing the globe. With a frown on his face, he stood there, watching the liquid flow onto the floor.

“No!” I saw the movement a split second before his wrist was snared, forcing him to drop a blade. I had no idea how Jack had known, but I would think about it later. Right now, my mate needed my help.

The beast seized his other wrist with a second tentacle, stretching his arms out to either side. I tried hacking at its lower body, only to be flicked away almost casually. The kid got hold of a severed limb and swung it like a whip, wrapping the other end around the barbed tail. Even that only held the creature back for a moment while it flipped her halfway across the arena. She got right back up, at least, scooping up the fallen swingblade.

With a mighty jerk, the big guy dodged the tail, and it sliced through the shrill’s own tentacle, freeing his empty hand.

“Riddick?” Jack looked around frantically.

“Here!” At his shout, she threw the swingblade overhanded, and it sailed across the intervening space, the hilt smacking solidly against his palm. A single stroke cut off the other sinuous limb, which he then flipped to wind around the creature’s core. Involuntarily, the beast reeled in its own death.

“Bravo!” Lights came on in the normal visible spectrum, and we both quickly returned our sunglasses to our faces as the woman applauded. “The grace, the expression, the sheer violence of it. Exquisite!” I sidled closer to my battle-mate and passed Dextra to him at a small gesture. The bitch carried on, either ignoring our actions or just not seeing them. “Such a complete and thorough performance. It leaves only one question.”

“I got a feelin’ you’re not gonna like it.” The girl seemed to have a smart-aleck reply for everything. But she kept her voice down, where it wouldn’t carry to the balcony.

“How will I ever have you mounted to do it justice?” The lavender-haired merc paused thoughtfully. “Then again, a breeding program might be even better. After all, your people were the known universe’s most skilled warriors, before the massacre.” I liked that idea about as much as the living statue plan.

With a grimace, Riddick raised my blade to the small mark left on his neck by the injector dart. He drew a short incision in the skin, passed the dagger back to me, and fished around inside the opening with two fingers. Someone behind us gagged.

“What are you— No!!” Her Royal Bitchiness scrambled for her remote as the small, octopus-like device came out. The ends of the cut seemed to knit at such a pace that I could see the healing.

“You gonna keep that?” I glanced over my shoulder at Jack. She stared wide-eyed at the explosive, a little green around the gills.

“Looks like you’ll have to be an abstract piece.” As the merc growled, I moved, putting a hand on the kid’s shoulder.

“Down! Now!” I hit the deck, bringing the girl with me. The other adults went prone, too, covering their ears. My partner threw the implant moments before the merc queen hit the detonator. The shock wave flattened him momentarily, but he got right back up. With only a little fumbling, we formed a living chain and escaped through the huge hole we’d made in the bulkhead.

Balcony

“We’ll need to rouse a substantial pursuit force.” Junner heaved an internal sigh at his employer’s snarl. They had vastly underestimated the two Furyans; now all of the captive shrill were dead, as were twenty-nine bounty hunters. Lady Antonia’s arena was in ruins, and five prisoners were loose on the ship. Would they try to free the other six who had been on the skiff with them?

“Who?” He traded a look with Beryl.

“All of them!” He’d never seen Chillingsworth so angry. “Even the ‘Golls! Any man or thing that can hold a weapon! Every last one! Now!” She ground the pointed toe of her shoe into his boot, though Junner barely felt the pressure. He nodded obediently, and she stepped back.

Once he was well out of Antonia Chillingsworth’s sight, he broke into a jog, headed straight for the cryo section. This would take time; he’d send whoever was already awake.
- 4
- 5
- 6
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

A Matter of Instinct