SEPARATE WAYS

Riddick stopped at the first elevator, recognizing the markings on the outer door. As the former Necromonger Lord Marshal, he knew the layout of a Basilica Class Frigate better than most. He pressed the up button. This service elevator led up through the 5-crew decks above ending at the main hangar bays on sublevel seven. He laughed to himself, thinking about how he could find his way to the command deck without his infamous eye shine or any other power. Kearyn had been wrong about him not paying attention; he learned long ago, studying your enemy's strengths and weaknesses meant the difference between life and death.

As the doors opened, he saw Toombs walk out into the corridor, look up at the art project he left tacked to the wall. Good, he thought. At least someone knows I'm done playing with these assholes. Riddick scowled when Toombs gagged at the guard's injures. "Fucker had it coming. They all have it coming." he said, entering the empty lift. He wouldn't wait for them if they didn't have the stomach for what needed to be done. But what did need to be done? How many of the guards were friendlies? He didn't know. Kearyn never said and he couldn't risk taking the time to find out. So he told himself, anyone with a weapon in their hands was his enemy.

Standing alone in the rising box, Riddick thought how he'd never liked elevators; there was only one way on and one way off. "A ready-made ambush if ever there was one." He said to himself, watching the lights on the panel flash from one floor to the next. When the console light flashed 7B, the elevator lurched hard, slamming him against the wall. His knees buckled. A strange weightless sensation coursed through his body as if the floor had suddenly disappeared beneath him. Krone's voice taunted him from the past, "You keep what you kill, Riddick." But he had underestimated him, they had all underestimated him. He survived and now, they would have to pay for their lies and treachery.

Reaching out with an unsteady hand, Riddick propped himself against the wall of the elevator, staring down at his blackening palms. The charred skin covering them looked like thick volcanic rock; and thin blue lines coursed through the cracks. The transformation had returned, and it was worse than before.

The elevator doors opened, Riddick stumbled out, fell face first onto the floor in the corridor writhing in pain and remembering what Kearyn had done to Toombs, he pulled the shroud from his pocket, barely wrapping it around himself before the darkness consumed him. He lay on the floor, eyes rolled back in their sockets, twitching conclusively as the lights in the corridor faded to black. The emergency lighting came on, but they too lost power.

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Eve's eyes were mirrors as she hissed at Toombs like a cornered viper. "What's your problem?" she spat her words, shoving him away.

But this time he didn't back down or back off. He was not afraid of her. "What's my problem?" he snapped, moving within an inch of her face. She bumped clumsily against the wall behind her, pushing him back a full arm's distance. "I'll tell you what my problem is." he said, voice trailing off just before he did the last thing she had expected him to do. He kissed her full on the mouth and then said, "I love you and I'm scared shitless you're going to get killed for real this time."

Her eyes turned back to normal, normal for Eve 2.0, and she said, "I'm going to be fine. I remember my part and if something goes wrong, I'll just have a little meltdown and meet you back in the park later on. It's going to be fine."

Toombs frowned at her. What he wanted to do was exactly what he had accused Riddick of earlier. He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and run to the nearest air lock. And he may have done just that, if it were not for the fact that there was no working ship available to escape in. He stopped suddenly, thinking of her plan and said, "You're not going to go putting your tongue all over a bunch of strange guys, are you?"

Eve shook her head and stuck out her long forked tongue like a brat. "Oh darlin', your mood spit doesn't work on me anymore," he said with a coy wink. "But if you'd like to try, I'm all for it."

She laughed and said, "Think so?"

His right eyebrow lifted. "Darlin', I Just had my tongue six rows of teeth into the back of your throat, so I can tell you, there is no effect."

She seemed puzzled, "Wonder why?"

" Isn't it obvious?" he replied, beaming her a smile "It's because you can't make someone love you if they already do."

She caressed his cheek and smiled. She really did love him.

"Now, let's go." He said, turning to the elevator Riddick had taken and walking away without her. "I think there's an elevator down there."

She frowned, "Why did it work the first time then?"

Toombs turned and said, "I've been alone with nothing to keep me company but my guilt and regret since the day they hurt you. What did you think was going to happen the first time I swapped spit with you? It was never the saliva. I just couldn't believe you still loved me."

They proceeded to the elevator, noticing the floor marker above the doors, "It's up on 7B. So, I guess this is where I go down." she said,stopping when Toombs interrupted her with a coy snicker. She sucker punched him in the right arm hard enough to knock him off kilter and said, "Stay focused."

"Hey, what was that for?" Toombs said, already knowing the answer to the question. He rubbed his shoulder, wishing he had a little more self-control.

She ignored his painful protest and continued, "Then you can get on..." her expression was a threatening promise as she paused, "and go up to the armory."

"God," he said with a droning tone, "I hope these Necros don't have the same shit elevator music as the last one's did."

Eve turned to him as if he were being serious. "Necros have elevator music?"

Toombs stared at her with a grievous expression, "No, Darlin', that was a joke. Necros don't allow music, art or culture; they only know blind faith and obedience. Remember their mantra is service 'til underverse come."

The door to the elevator opened, and Eve half expected to hear a droll tune emanating from inside. When there were no old show tunes blaring out, she shot him a sideways smirk. "No music," she said, sticking her head through the doors to make sure no one was hiding inside. She went in, turned around just in time to see Toombs jam his foot between the closing doors. He forced the doors apart and motioned for her to come closer to him. When she was close enough, he kissed her on the cheek and said, "you watch your ass, darlin'."

She rolled her eyes at him and said, "I thought that was your-."

Toombs placed a finger over her lips, preventing her from finishing and said, "This isn't a dirty joke. These assholes will kill you if they find you here. So, don't take any needless chances. You do whatever it takes to survive. You do what Dr you have to, to come back to me." Then he stepped back, allowing the doors to close between them before adding, "Riddick and I will be alright."

Eve wanted to push open the doors and reassure him she would be all right, but she knew it would be a lie. She realized he was right; the threat was real, and if she dropped her guard for a moment, it could cost her everything. After a moment of silent contemplation she pressed the button marked sub-level 4B and the elevator lurched hard, and began descending into the bowels of the gigantic ship. A moment of fear gripped her stomach when she gazed at her reflection in the doors in front of her. "Let those necro scum try it and I'll give them all something they'll never forget." she said to her reflection. And she meant it with every fiber in her being.

A weathered guard stepped up to the elevator doors on sub-level 4B, reached out to press the call button, and realized the elevator car had just arrived with a ring. When the doors opened, he expected someone to step out, but there was no one there. "Odd," he said, stepping inside the empty car. He heard a sound above him, looked up and noticed someone had painted the ceiling of the car black.

Eve's armor had sensed her desire to hide and spread out across the ceiling in a thin layer, camouflaging her from sight like drop ceiling panels hiding the pipes above. She pushed her face downward, glowering at him through chrome orbs reflecting his surprise and seethed, "You scream like a little girl." But it was already over. Before the guard had the chance to react, her long tail punched through his armor like a jagged sword splitting a sapling in two. His chest exploded out of his mouth, covering the elevator walls in a thick maroon gore pooling on the floor. Then, with unbelievable ease, Eve lifted his body off the floor with her tail and tossed him against the corridor wall like a piece of unwanted trash.

She hung on the ceiling like a spider waiting for another victim. She held on silently, waiting, watching and praying for the arrival of another fly. But when none came to satiate her need for payback, Eve released her grip and nimbly landed on the floor. She poked her head out of the car to make sure her last victim hadn't brought any companions. The corridor was clear; no one was there except a fading guard that stared at her through terrified eyes.

Eve stepped out, squatted down next to him and placed her wet, salivating lips close to his ear. "How did it feel to be the hunted, instead of the hunter?" she asked, peering down the corridor, hoping she would find more Necros between the elevator and her destination.

As the dying guard's eyes closed, she realized she could indeed control the beast within. Eve rolled onto all fours, like a cheetah preparing to pounce, and then took off running down the corridor, using her outstretched tail to help maintain balance as she negotiated the corners at a dizzying speed. She skidded to a stop just before rounding the last corner leading into the sarcophagus bays and peeked around the corner. "Shit," she whispered to herself.

Two heavily armed guards stood in front of the door talking to one another as if they were still unaware their ship was under siege. Too bad for you, she thought, taking in the door behind them. She wondered how she was going to get into the sarcophagus bay with the two of them standing there like oblivious mocking jays, and then she stared up at the ceiling and thought, they'd never expect that.

She stared down at her new suction cup hands coping they would allow her to hang from the ceiling. Eve carefully reached out, placed a hand on the wall and calmed her mind. She focused on a single thought; stick. She tugged at the wall, but even yanking with all her might wouldn't break her hand free from the slippery wall. Release, she thought, and her hand came away with ease. She tried several times until she was sure she could do it with little fear of slipping. Then readying herself for what was to come. Eve walked to the end of the far hall, turned her back on the two men and jumped up, suctioning her hands to the ceiling above. She hung there limp for a moment. Then slowly she pulled her feet up and found, to her amazement, they stuck to the ceiling as easily as her hands.

Eve crouched on the ceiling like an upside down track star, waiting at the starting blocks for the gun to sound. As her tail rose to meet the ceiling, a heat coursed through her rigid body as if she were a sizzling cannon's fuse burning towards the powder charge. Bang, In an instant she was blazing down the ceiling like a speeding bullet hurtling at its intended target. Bounding around the corner at a dizzying speed, she caught the two talking men unaware. Neither got off a shot before she pounced.

A second later, Eve hung from the ceiling with two wriggling men hanging from the bones protruding from her elbows. She smugly dropped from the ceiling, effortlessly landing on her feet, and threw the men towards the corner she rounded. The men jumped to their feet faster than expected, grabbed their weapons from the floor and targeted her just before she reached them.

"Shoot the damn thing," one guard yelled, firing his weapon wildly just as Eve's tail wrapped around his chest like a snake coiling around its helpless prey. The rifle blast sliced a deep troth in Eve's left shoulder and she cried out in pain as the guard's armor shredded like tinfoil beneath her constricting serrated tail.

The other guard's butt stock.slammed against the side of her face, knocking her off balance as he screamed, "Kill it!"

Eve reeled around, baring a hundred razor-sharp teeth in vicious anger, and sank her teeth deep in his shoulder. He raised his weapon to fire, but she grabbed his helmet with an enormous hand and bounced it against the wall. He screamed in disoriented agony and flailed wildly in her grasp. She spit out a chunk of bloodstained armor, pressed his helmet against the wall until it collapsed beneath the ravenous beak that savagely reduced his brain to a bloody pulp.

The other gasping, blood drenched guard came up with a serrated knife, swung it at the back of her head and received a vicious backhand to the face for his effort. Enraged by his attack, Eve squeezed her already constricting tail harder until one man became two. His stifled scream ended in a geyser of hot sticky blood that covered his comrade's corpse. When she was quite certain both men were dead, she discarded their remains like a spoiled child throwing away a set of unwanted rag dolls.

She triumphantly sauntered through the mounds of guts splayed across the corridor and entered 6/1/67 into the keypad next to the bay door. An electronic tone signaled the lock disengaged. She shouldered the door open with a menacing smile and slipped inside.

The sarcophagus bay was cavernous. It was 250' long, 175' wide and 50' feet high all steel construction. On each side of the room there were 25 metal stairs leading down to the 50 drop-ships loaded into the docking collars beneath the metal floor.

Eve knew the sound of a single foot step would echo around the room alerting all to her presence. As she stepped inside the bottoms of her feet became soft and pliable like stealthy slippers meant for wearing in a library.

Eve moved inside, scanning the dimly lit bay for a ladder to climb up onto the gantry. Then she laughed and asked herself, "What are you doing?" She walked to the nearest wall, placed her hands on it and crawled up to the gantry high above with little effort, all the while, unaware of the blood trail dripping from her still oozing shoulder wound.

She perched atop the enormous steel rigging like a gargoyle placed on a ledge, scanning the upper bay for the neural interface Kearyn had installed for her.

A faint voice came from somewhere in the bay far below, "Hey, McCreery."

"What?" a voice on the other side of the bay answered.

Eve quietly moved along the gantry, her obsidian form seamlessly blending into the nearly black ceiling above. In no time at all she had located the interface and sat down preparing to place the helmet on her head. She had never considered, she had no idea how to link with any computer. Let alone, a computer the size she was attempting to hack.

"This is a bad idea," she whispered to herself, preparing to don the helmet. Unfortunately, she was right. The amount of information coursing into her mind immediately overwhelmed her senses. Eve fell back against the gantry support, convulsing as if she were in the grips of a grand mal seizure. The interface had triggered a neural overload, leaving her vulnerable, and the longer she fought to decipher the mass of information streaming through her mind, the more she risked exposure.

After a few tense minutes, she diverted all non-essential information into a loop, reducing the size of data streaming through her brain by seventy-five percent. When she regained her faculties, she realized she no longer knew where the two men in the bay had gone. They vanished during her episode, and now she had no time to search for them.

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The elevator doors opened and Toombs stepped inside, noticing the newly painted blood/red walls, and saw the scratches in the corners of the elevator. He pondered the scratches and said, "That's my crafty girl."

He pressed 2C and waited for the elevator doors to close. The car lurched as it started its descent to the applied sciences level. As the console lights flashed from floor to floor, Toombs whistled show tunes to himself while the car descended. "Damn Necros, I'll bring my own elevator music." He chuckled as the doors opened to a large biohazard marker: LEVEL 2: bio-containment area / authorized personnel only.

After listening for voices in the corridor, he poked his head out to ensure there were no guards lying in wait. As he stepped into the corridor a computerized alert sounded, "Attention: This is a threat level three security lock down. There has been a bio-containment breach on level 2C. All crew members in exposed areas please move to the predesignated quarantine areas until further notice."

He paused long enough to reassure himself that Eve must be all right and then made his way down the corridor towards the armory. Drawing closer to the armory, he heard voices in the distance and stopped at the corner about twenty feet away. He peered around the corner, saw a line of half a dozen men waiting just outside the armory door and heard a voice coming from inside, "You men will each receive your weapons, ammo and incendiaries one at a time. Then you will report to Sergeant Hicks outside the quarantine area on level 2C, where he will assign you from the duty roster?"

"Yes, sergeant!" the grunts hollered in unison.

Toombs thought about his cool but completely out of place armor and said to himself, "What I wouldn't give for a suit of necro armor right now." Then, in an instant, he was suddenly wearing a set of matching necro armor. He held up his hands and watched as his skin tone went a pallid grey like the men around the corner. Oh yeah baby, whose suit is cooler now, he thought walking up behind the last man in line. When he reached the arms room, the armorer stood in the open doorway wearing a puzzled frown. He scrutinized Toombs uniform for an uncomfortably long time and then snapped, "I was told there were 6 men meeting me here. Not 7. Who are you?"

Toombs said,"Transfer from the Persephone."

"New man, huh? Well, I don't like it. There are rules for a reason. A commander should have notified me before a new man steps up to my cage." The armorer pushed a clipboard at him and added, "You'll need to sign for your load out." Toombs stared down at the sign-out roster for an uncomfortably long time and then signed Toombs, Alexander, 481-83-3895, B Company, 2nd platoon.

He'd only taken a few steps away from the door when the armorer yelled, "Hey you, stop!"

Toombs discretely loaded a clip, clicked off the safety on his weapon and turned towards the man ready to open fire if the need arose.

The man regarded him for a moment and said, "I knew an Alan Tomes on the Harbinger, any relation?"

He thought about the absurdity of his current situation and then answered, "Never met the guy." Toombs joined the formation, donned his helmet albeit not like the others, although, no one seemed to notice his sudden wardrobe addition. He followed his newly acquired comrades over to Sergeant Hicks outside 2C, where Hicks seemed to have no idea who he was or why he was there.