053 ☣ never meant to lie

[fridgetothefire]

[Spam for Ben]

[They were together in the arena, and they end up together on the barge too, in between their cabins, sprawled a few steps apart on staircase by the fourth floor. As the depthless darkness recedes from her vision and her counterpart's sharp, bright, selfish mind gingerly extracts itself from her own, she glimpses him, and thinks for a dazed moment, with relief and quiet love, and when you wake up, I will still be here. Except - except - he is looking at her, and his expression is all wrong.]


[Public Video (actual immediate response reserved for Peter)]

[She switches to video, with an awkward view of her chin and collarbone as she holds it close to her mouth and speaks as clearly as she can, teeth gritted.]

Help. Stairs, fourth deck, high powered. Fast, please. Ben's mirrored.

[Then she just holds it, turns the view to face Ben and Riddick's fight.]

Comments

[fridgetothefire]

[She's crying too now, enough to blur his face, and she isn't even sure if it's the pain or the sound of his voice, the raw wild pleading. You were perfect, she thinks, and the memory of the other Anya's vicious adoration is sharp and shining in her chest. You're always perfect, and she doesn't know whose thought it is. She gasps, tries to speak through the sobs in her throat. His hand is warmer-than-human and impossibly strong as ever on her neck, and the worst part is that she wants to sag against it, that the touch feels comforting against the blaring pain from from her arm in spite of everything.]

You were good, you were, this isn't punishment, she loves you, you know that -

[She shouldn't, maybe, shouldn't reinforce it, but she knows damn well she can't break it, but can't quite bring herself to say have faith, can't stomach that either.]

[with_my_teacup]

Ben, she wouldn't ask you to do this.

[He's clued in now, jarring, furious with this new situation but unruffled calm on the outside. He keeps the knife in his hand, casual, no attention one way or another.]

There's no purpose to it. The contest is over and there's no point. The Admiral doesn't want you to do this. She wouldn't.

[He'll go there if Anya won't. Treading carefully but he'll strike deeper and crueller to protect her.]

[warisart]

[The unruffled calm is jarring to Ben, too, not because his Riddick is excitable but because he wouldn't push back, he wouldn't counter, he wouldn't be a threat. Would he? Would he?

Wouldn't she? Didn't she?

Anya is crying, and he knows the Lady loves him, he knows that, which is why he would do this at all, why he would keep her from being turned, keep her from being a nomlie, but she couldn't, could she, she's stronger than that, she's so strong and she loves him so much...

He doesn't reply, not with words; there is a sound ripped from his throat, fractured between frustration, denial, and despair, but he lets go. He lets go of Anya completely and turns on Riddick instead, on the doubt his words wedge into Ben's already unsteady thoughts.

As always - always - he reaches for his opponent's wrist first, blurring to him but wild, out of control, barely held within the constraint of his training.]

[fridgetothefire]

[She bites her lip bloody as her arm falls, fumbles with her other hand for her comm, switches to video, with an awkward view of her chin and collarbone as she holds it close to her mouth and speaks as clearly as she can, teeth gritted.]

Help. Stairs, fourth deck, high powered. Fast, please. Ben's mirrored.

[Then she just holds it, turns the view to face Ben and Riddick's fight.]

[with_my_teacup]

[Riddick's wrist is right there to grab, convenient and level. And then as soon as his hands close on it that wrist is jerked towards Riddick's body, dragging Ben with all his speed and momentum into Riddick's own turning inertia as he spins in to slam his other elbow into Ben's chin. Ben's got his empty hand, but he doesn't turn the knife down yet. Not yet.]

Stop this.

[warisart]

[Ben isn't armed. He isn't ever armed. He doesn't have to be.

Riddick pulls him off balance, orders him to stop, but the X5 is past the point of reason if ever he was capable of it: a hurt sound is punched out of him at the point of impact but he doesn't even stop, doesn't hesitate, but scrambles to get his feet under him to reverse his momentum and lash out with his hand not holding onto Riddick's wrist still, steadying to get centered enough to kick, too, though he's not there yet.

He twists with his grip, and the punch is a simple, straightforward one for Riddick's ribs, which he has come to rely on being strong enough to crack outright with most opponents.]

[with_my_teacup]

[Ribs crunch, bruised but (mostly) not broken. Riddick grunts, pained but not stopping. He never stops. It's not a particularly bright move, yanking Ben to the side so that he can get a shot at his back, but it's the fastest guaranteed way to put him down-- but fuck, what that motion does to his ribs isn't good. He falters, just for a second.]

[warisart]

[It's just a second, but when an opponent can move as fast as Ben can move, it can be fatal. Would be fatal, if he were remotely calm, if he were obeying his training. But he's a shrieking mess, too angry and too desperate to think straight, and when he's swung around out of reach he responds by doubling back, twisting in Riddick's grip.

They're too close for a full range kick so Ben brings his knee up, his grip shifted up to Riddick's shoulder to steady them both for it, fingers closing vice tight.]

[myresponsibility]

Hey!

[He's out of practice. This doesn't feel like it comes as naturally to him anymore, and for a horrible second, he's not sure what to do. There's no witticism on his tongue, no instant reflexes telling him to make what move-

Until he sees that knee come up, and then he just... acts. Like it's simple. Because he's not letting this messed up version of Ben hurt anyone if he has anything to say about it.

So it's childish and stupid, and probably not necessarily going to get the reaction he wants (hopes for?), but once it seems like he's got his attention, Ben's got a bunch of web headed straight for his face, either to blind or distract him for long enough for Riddick to break free, or get Ben's attention on Peter and off everyone else.

Enjoy...?]