Alas, the end has come. But there will be a sequel, I can promise you that.

Riddick was going through routine launch procedures when the ship buffeted.

"Richard B. Riddick power down your engines now." Came the command over the comms.

"Fuck." He tried to accelerate, but his ship was grabbed by detainment cables that had latched onto the hull. The sensors in the cargo bay showed that the ramp was being lowered mechanically and he armed himself with his shivs, going down and staying in the shadows.

A team of mercs walked onto his ship and drew their guns, scanning. One got close to his position and he wrapped a hand around the guys' mouth, slitting his throat. The body fell soundlessly and there was the occasional drip of blood through the slats of the floor. He moved silently, killing all mercs who crossed his path. He used the cover of shadows while he could, but once he was in the well-lit cargo bay there would be no place to hide.

There was a substantial amount of mercs in the hold, waiting for him to show himself. There was the occasional static of mercs trying to reach their dead buddies and he crept closer. He made himself known by throwing a shiv and imbedding it into the chest of one of the mercs. Riddick walked calmly forward into the light, ignoring the searing pain in his retinas, and drew his other shiv.

"Easy now." A merc said, his gun trained on him. Riddick kept advancing and they backed up with each step. He rushed forward suddenly and in a matter of seconds they were all dead or dying around him. He looked up to the sound of clapping and saw Toombs walk up the hatch, more mercs following him.

"Damn Riddick, you make killing an art form." He said as he took a puff from the cigarette hanging from his lips. "Where's the girl?"

"The father hired you didn't he?" Riddick asked and Toombs nodded, dropping the spent cigarette to the floor and grinding it with the heel of his boot. "Shoulda known you'd take the job Toombs. You always were too dumb for your own good."

"You always did talk too much Riddick." Toombs said and Riddick sighed.

"Lets get this over with. I'm gettin bored." Riddick said and set himself in stance.

"Well fellas, let's not keep the man waitin." Toombs said and the mercs behind him rushed forward. He dispatched quite a few before a noise behind him alerted his attention.

"Jack! Take Claudia and get out of here! Mercs!" he yelled over his shoulder and eviscerated the merc in his clutches, hearing Jack's footsteps running back deeper in the ship. He killed a few more when a high pitched scream caught his ear. "Claudia." He whispered and turned, dropping the body to the floor. He was about to run to her aid when there was a heavy thump on the back of his head making him drop to one knee. Stars danced in front of his eyes but they cleared quickly and he got his wits back in time to feel his hands restrained behind his back.

Two mercs came down the incline leading to the upper levels, one holding a prone Claudia and another dragging a bound, gagged, and unconscious Jack. Blood left a trail down the side of Claudia's face from a wound in the corner of her right eye and he stood, trying to get to her but came up short by the chain attached to his restraints, acting as a kind of leash. He grabbed the chain and turned, looping it around the mercs neck a couple times and pulling, breaking his neck.

The two mercs in front of him stopped as Riddick started forward but he was then shot with something in the back, something that made an electric current run through his body, forcing him to his knees once more.

"Claudia!" he yelled and she pulled herself out of whatever sleep she had been in to look at him. She started to struggle and the merc dropped her, she scrambled to him threw her arms around him.

"Don't let them take me back. Please don't let them take me back." she sobbed into his shirt and he longed to put his arms around her small body. He pulled at the restraints but they wouldn't give. "Please don't let them take me back." The back of her overalls was grabbed by a merc and she was hoisted into the air. "Riddick!" she called out as she was carried away kicking.

"Claudia!"

"Riddick!"

"Claudia!" there was another jolt and this time darkness claimed him, Claudia's voice calling out him chasing him down into the abyss.

Riddick awoke feeling movement. He was in a ship; his arms chained out the sides of him. He shook his head to clear the fog and opened his eyes, taking in his surrounding. Another merc ship heading to drop him off on whatever prison planet would pay the most for him. Toombs was absent from this little group.

"Sleeping Bounty's awake." A merc said. "Welcome back Riddick. You're on your way to Ursa Luna; we get that money while Toombs gets the money when he hands the brat over to her dad. Too bad about the teenager though, couldn't get extra for her, no priors. So we just let her on her merry little way, that is…after we had some fun with her." the five mercs chuckled. Riddick pulled at the chains ever so slightly and found a weak link, he smiled inwardly.

The mercs were asleep when Riddick quietly broke the chains, grabbing a knife and killing the mercs. He jettisoned their bodies and turned the ship around, heading back to Aries IV to pick up Jack and then it's to Claudia.

Jack lay curled on her bed on the ship. She cried silently and her breath caught as she heard heavy footsteps outside her room.

"Jack?" she heard from the doorway and saw Riddick standing there, looking at her with a painfully concerned expression. She jumped off her bed and flung herself at him, crying violently into his shirt.

"I'm so sorry Riddick! I'm sorry I couldn't stop them from taking her!" she sobbed and he stroked her hair.

"Hey its okay, we're gonna go get her back. Are you okay?" he asked and she pulled away from him, limping back to her bed. He winced, seeing just how not 'okay' she was. "Jackie?" she looked at him.

"They hurt me Riddick. They…" she suddenly found herself in a fierce hug. She cried more into his shirt and then she pulled away again. "We really gonna got get her back?"

"Yeah, we're gonna get our Claudia back."

"I bring you live coverage of the safe return of Claudia McKane, the five-year-old who was kidnapped by Riddick himself five days ago." The newswoman said looking into the video camera. Several other local news programs were there to witness the reunion, the lights were blinding and the reporters asked Claudia questions.

"What did that monster do to you?" one asked, shoving a microphone into her face and she glared at him.

"He wasn't a monster! He was my friend!" she snapped and attempted to run back but Toombs' hand on her shoulder kept her from bolting.

Riddick and Jack watched this from the shadows of the night.

"You can't take her again Riddick. They'll be all over you." Jack said and he was silent a long time.

"I know. You know that Last Resort Plan I told you about?"

"Yeah."

"Just let me say goodbye first."

"Right now?"

"No time like the present." Riddick said and growled seeing Claudia get embraced by her father.

"But Riddick…" Jack started but he was already moving forward.

A reporter screamed as a large black mass dashed its way through the crowd and pulled Alex McKane back, kneeling in front of Claudia. The reporters were silent as lights illuminated the face of the infamous Richard B. Riddick. He was darkness personified with his black goggles, tan skin and black clothing with a long black duster coat.

"Hey kid." He said and they all watched as she threw her arms around him. He put his arms around her as well and cameras flashed as pictures were taken. Toombs moved forward and she turned around, guarding him.

"Leave him alone!" she yelled and turned back to Riddick. "Are you going to take me again?"

"I'm afraid not Claudia." He said touching her cheek. "In fact, I'll be leaving for a long time."

"How long?"

"Until its safe."

"Will you come and visit me?"

"I can't. Not where I'm going." He said and her head hung, tears dripping onto the ground. He tilted her head up with the tip of a finger under her chin and brushed her tears away with the pad of his thumb. "Don't cry Claudia."

"But I'm never going to see you again."

"I never said that. You'll see me again someday."

"Promise?"

"I promise." He wrapped his arms around her and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"I love you Riddick." She said and he paused, feeling the words come up from deep inside him.

"I love you Claudia." He pulled away and touched her curls. "Claudia, just out of curiosity. What's your middle name?"

"Marie." She said and he smiled softly, bringing her into another hug.

"Goodbye Claudia Marie." He whispered into her ear and then he was gone. The reporters saw nothing, and later examination of the tapes showed but a dark blur.

Deep in Riddick's ship, he was climbing, shirtless, into what looked like a cryo-tube.

"Are you sure about this Riddick?" Jack asked for the thousandths time.

"Yeah Jack I'm sure, it's the only way to keep you and Claudia safe. Remember how I told you how to do this?"

"Yeah. You sure this'll work?"

"I designed it myself Jack, of course it'll work. Now remember my instructions."

"Okay."

"Wake me up only after all the buzz about me has died completely, after everyone has forgotten about Richard B. Riddick. I don't care if your great grandkids have to do it, but do not wake me up before. Understood?"

"Yes Riddick." Jack said as she prepared the syringe, flicking it to get the air bubbles out.

"And watch after Claudia for me."

"Yes Riddick." Jack injected the clear fluid into the bulging vein in Riddick's forearm and he relaxed.

"See ya when I wake up Kid." He said and his eyelids dropped as a deep sleep came over him. Jack closed the door of the tube and activated it; gases filled the small chamber at the push of a button. New kinds of cryo gases (created by Riddick) filled the chamber and Riddick inhaled them into his lungs, the liquid form of the drugs already running through his system and the gases being absorbed by his pores. His brainwaves slowed, his heartbeat slowed down more than just normal sleep, beating once every two minutes. His breathing slowed down so much that it looked like he wasn't breathing at all.

For how many years it took, he wouldn't age; he would simply exist half-alive until he was woken.