Yea, it took me along time to update again, sorry. I tryt to be quicker I really do, but life never lets me. That said, Woohoo! Broke the 30 review mark! and 20 favorites and follows! You guys rock, thank you so much! And now, for review replies.

RC1212: Well, here it is, what happens next, haha, and I'm glad you like the story.

DrakeDarkblade: Yea, work gets on my nerves too, especially when it prevents me from working on this... And dont worry, Badger will get his.

crimsonkatana: I'm glad to hear that you like how I'm handling the crossover.

Penlock: Glad to hear that your enjoying my fic and like my pacing and writing style! As for how I come up with all this, well, work is boring sometimes, and my mind tends to wander to some pretty strange places, haha.

That done, here ya go, Chapter 9 for your reading pleasure!


It had been half a weeks journey to Greenleaf, and the atmosphere in the common room on Serenity is tense to say the least. The information on the job had been pathetically slim even after digging for more for days. Collect as many weapons and as much research material as possible, pay increases past a certain amount, rendezvous at the Li Shen Bazaar. The base was officially abandoned as of 24 hours before Serenity set down on Greanleaf, and the job wasn't exactly a secret... and now River was saying it was going to be bloody. Said reader is sitting at the dinner table in the light blue dress and combat boots she usually wore for jobs, polishing her Reaver axes seemingly oblivious to the other people in the room. Triela is seated opposite the brunette in the fitted red jeans and tan blouse that had the less polite crew-members calling her 'mini Zoe' sliding spare shells for her M1897 into a pair of leather full body bandoliers she was adding to her ensemble for today. Jayne and Rico are both seated at the far side of the table both clad in t-shirts and jeans, the former in his Blue Sun t-shirt, the slash River had opened it stitched shut in blood red, the latter in the same blue red and gold one from the Athens job. Jayne is idly cleaning Veera, Rico loading drum magazines for Bessy, her MG3.

Hillshire is seated next to Triela, calmly looking over the plans to the abandoned fort, the .45 semi-auto handgun he had purchased before leaving the Eavesdown docks sitting off to the side of the blue-prints, freshly polished, plenty of spare magazines strapped to the kevlar vest he is wearing over a plain white button-down shirt. Next to him opposite Triella sit Sandro and Petra, both of them with weapons just as ready as Hillshires on the table; the girl clad in denim short-shorts and a black tank-top, offset by an oversized, albeit form-fitting gun-belt, the man in a dust-colored button down shirt, sleeves rolled up past his elbows, and blue jeans a few shades darker than Hillshires plain gray slacks.

All conversation in the room halts when Henrietta walks in, wearing a gray pleated mini-skirt and white blouse, P90, ammunition, and a cleaning kit weighing her down. She claims the seat next to Rico, and with practiced ease sets about returning her preferred primary weapon to its optimal state. After a few minutes of busy silence, Mal walks in, and, without any preamble announces "Spotted at least five other ships size of our girl or bigger around the target. Probably mercs... though more'n'a few smaller ships probably belonging to bandits are all spread out past the range us professionals landed at. Got yer grenades Jayne?"

The merc grins, dangling a bandolier laden with aforementioned explosives and a few cigars "Soon as Riv said it'd be bloody I grabbed'em."

Rico looks up, a wide grin plastered across her face as she reaches over her shoulder and produces a compact grenade launcher, the type that is meant to be attached to a rifle dangling from a camouflaged sling "Jayne said he dindt have a spot for this on Veera so I get to use it!"

The captain cocks an eyebrow at the two, before replying "Good. The two of you'll be guarding the door best possible once we get in, seein' as its likely we arent gonna be the last ones here. The rest are stormin' the fort. Vic, whats the plan for that?"

The black haired man slides the blueprint to the center of the table and produces a laser pointer from his pocket to indicate what section of the fort he is referring to before beginning "We'll enter through the landing pad entrance, which Jayne and Rico will hold."

"Thought we was goin through the front door." Jayne quips, leaning forward and resting his right forearm on the table.

"As will every other pack of looters. 'Sides, how do you intend to get our loot back to Serenity, lug it through the jungle?" Hillshire responds levelly, a red dot still on the landing pad entrance "The rest of us will proceed through the fort up to this point." he indicates a major junction "From here River and Triella will split off to hold the front entrance, and check if anything is left in the forward armory."

"Not that we'll find anything, the security on it is probably gou shi" Triella crossly quips.

"Trusting us to make sure the plan goes smoothly." River reassures her partner in a sing-songy, almost teasing voice.

Victor glares a quick set of daggers at the pair, before continuing "The rest of us will continue on to the vault and main armory, take what we can, then load up Serenity."

"How many times are we roatatin' our guards. I suspect things'll get awfully tiring out front." Mal asks, looking a bit concerned.

Victor shrugs "Thats where Inara comes in. Once we have the fort all to ourselves on the inside, She'll move Serenity to the landing pad so we can fill the cargo bay quickly."

Rico nods mocking understanding, before asking "How are we sure that there is even anything left to take in the fort? Wouldn't the Alliance take all of their gear when they left?"

Sandro glances over to Rico, leans back in his seat and replies "Base's C.O. was going Brown according to rumor. Lots of 10,000 credit hammers and lost weapon shipments." nonchalantly.

"Base staff was probably all split up, so more'n a few folks found out about the stash and want to get hands on it." Mal finishes with the extent of their knowledge of the jobs backstory before glancing over to Victor "Which brings us back to the part where you get to decide where this ship goes Vic." his visage going cold and deadly serious as he does so.

The former handler is unimpressed, and answers "Inara was going to be watching the ship anyways, she'll be safer with us nearby, regardless of any firefights, and it will increase the size of our take."

"And I AM more than capable of lifting off and landing Serenity less than a mile away from where she is right now, Mal." the companion in question cuts in as she sashays into the room in a light, comfortable looking green and brown dress. She leans up against the wall just behind the captain and crosses her arms loosely.

The captain heaves a sigh, shaking his head before interjecting "Plans solid enough, we move out in 10."

"I... um, I'm not sure if my P90 will be ready by then..." Henrietta interjects before the captain can turn to exit.

"Do a quick an' dirty then 'Etta, there's violence to be done." Jayne tosses off as he leans back in his chair with a grin, Rico following suit seconds later.

"Do a... a what?" Henrietta asks, looking up from her work.

"Dont gotta be absolutely perfect'n'shiny Henrietta. Chances are good you'll need to clean it again after this jobs done. Greenleaf isnt precisely the cleanest place in the verse." Mal answers, leaning up next to Inara against the wall.

"Not as bad as, say, Higgins Moon, but still..." Inara interjects, an impish smile on her face.

"How is it you arent already workin yer own job now anyhow?" Jayne asks the companion crossly.

"I choose my clients Jayne, I thought you knew that" Inara shoots back, grin still in place "and apes arent the sort of clients I take, if you haven't noticed yet."

"All pretty boys and stuck up haduns from what I've been told" Triela interjects as she stands and begins fidgeting with her bandoliers to get them to fit properly.

Smirking a bit himself at the banter, Mal adds "Still, its good to hear she has some standards... least to her mind." The humor drains from the companions face almost terrifyingly quickly, and she pushes off from her place against the wall and storms from the room Mal wheels about as he pushes off of the wall moments later, confused and frozen to his spot for a moment before setting off to follow the now irate companion "Hey, 'Nara, wait!"

Petra starts giggling after the duo is out of earshot "I dont think she even gets why he gets her so mad."

"I dont really get it either... but its fun to set them up like that sometimes." Triela responds as Hillshire rises to pull her bandoliers tight before turning for her to double-check the clasps on his vest.

"Isnt it obvious?" Sandro asks as the rest of the table begins to rise, save Henrietta who is still feverishly applying much needed maintenance to her weapon.

"Well, yea... I just dont understand the why is all." Triela defends herself

" 'Is all', Triella?" Hartmann deadpans as the group begins to exit the common room towards the hangar, leaving Henrietta behind to rush against the clock.

"Colloquialisms are contagious, and just catching the bug makes it a lot easier to blend in than fighting it." Triella defends herself "If you didnt spend so much time between missions on the ship..."

****Broken****

Ten minutes after leaving Serenity and fighting through the dense foliage in the humid air the entire crew is sweating, and in a sour mood. Jayne, who had started in the lead with the ships only good machete, is actually dripping sweat as he hacks away at the foliage, clearly pissed and venting his anger on the plants before them. Of course, it isnt exactly the most complete path-clearing, which Henrietta discovers as her foot catches on a hidden root, and she falls flat on her face in a puddle of mud and spores from a nearby bevy of mushrooms "I hate nature." she grumbles to no one in particular as she rises, wipes her gun clean, then does her best to remove the grime from her face, hair and now ruined shirt.

"I'll take it from here." Hillshire offers, catching Jaynes hand on the back-swing as Henrietta catches up "Cant have any of us getting too tired before we get to the fort." The merc allows Victor to take the machete, responding only with an appreciative nod and grunt, followed by wiping his forehead and falling back to the center of the group.

After another ten grueling minutes of hacking through the foliage, the crew can see the fort. "Looks like we arent the only ones had the idea to take the landing pad." Jayne observes, working the action on veera.

Mal shrugs, before replying "Triela, 'Etta Vic an I will rush'em, Jayne an Rico cover us, the rest follow then we'll finish with Vics plan." as he draws and checks his gun one last time before the violence starts.

"Gimme five ta get a good spot." Jayne answers, glancing at the low-lying branches above them."

"I'll cover from behind those rocks with Bessy." Rico adds, moving towards the rocks she had nodded at as speaking.

Henrietta glances at the handful of mercenaries standing guard inside the landing pads defensive barricades "Can I have one of your grenades Jayne?" The merc doesn't reply verbally, simply tossing a pair of them at the cyborg after hoisting himself up into a tree. Moments later, the mercenary is just ahead of Rico at the edge of the treeline and about 10 yards to her right.

"Grenade in 3... 2..." Rico whispers into the small mic for the in-ear radio set every crewmember was wearing, trailing off just before she pulls the trigger on the small launcher she had with her. With a hollow 'thwump', barely audible over the sounds of the rainforest, Serenities assault on the fort begins.

As the grenade detonates just above and in front of the forward most concrete barrier surrounding the pad proper, Henrietta rushes from the treeline, P90 blazing away, just behind her are Victor, Mal and Triella; the the tanned cyborg holding her fire for when the shotgun will have greater effect. The first mercenary to react is felled by a single staccato shot from Veera, and moments later the thunderous rattle of Bessy forces the rest of the other group of looters rearguard to take cover.

Beset by sniper fire from their right, and heavy machinegun fire from their left, the remaining five mercenaries do not notice Sandro River and Petra moving to follow the first four out from the treeline. Nor do they notice Henrietta lobbing the first of her grenades deeper into the shielded landing pad than Rico's launcher could reach from her rearward position. The blast maims at least one of the opposing looters, and smokes two out despite the constant 7.62x51mm rain that was descending upon them. One is felled in a hail of .45 handgun fire, and the second thrown from his feet by 12 gauge buckshot. Another loud crack, and a mercenary falls from a window overlooking the landing pad as Henrietta vaults the low barricade, her left hand planted on the concrete, her right spraying fire from her P90. "Petra, the window!" Sandro shouts over the now constant rattle of gunfire as the remaining guards attempt to deal with not only Henrietta, but now Triella, Mal and Victor in their midst.

One of the looters has the distinct pleasure of having his mind boggled by the absurdity of an ax wheeling through the air towards his forehead for a moment, hot on the equally confounding tail of the baffling experience of barely escaping a gun-toting pre-teen girl mercilessly slaughtering his crewmates; before the ax mercifully connects, and the dress-clad source of the absurdity continues past him to begin vaulting up the side of the fort behind the red-headed cyborg, the sound of gunfire preceding, and silence following them as they move deeper into the building. "Petra, River, that level is mostly offices, clear the hallway your in then move down to rendezvous with us." Hillshire orders over the radio.

With a final crack, the firefight outside the fort is ended "Pads clear." Henrietta announces as she steps over the body she had maimed with her initial grenade and reloads her weapon.

"Jayne, Rico?" Mal asks over the radio before reloading his own weapon, and suppresses a shudder at the contrast between the brutality the tiny girl before him had unleashed upon nearly half a dozen men, and the nice, if depressed girl he had grown to know over the past few weeks. Rico's detached uncaring coldness on Whitefall had been one thing, but this reminded the former sergeant far to much of the actions of a soldier looking to die in a firefight rather than a seasoned, sane veteran in a childs body. And that, was something he had already seen more of than he ever wanted too.

"Already behind you." Rico answers, not using the radio and breaking off Mal's dark reminiscing and worried planning for a conversation he would have to have after the job was done as he spins around to address the young blonde.

"Well, get some good cover, I expect significant heat ta be bearin down on this pad again before long." He orders the cyborg, a crooked, thin half-grin gracing her now smudged face.

"Real soon to be precise cap'n. I just spotted four men break onto the trail we blazed." Jayne amends as he takes up a position next to Rico behind one of the barriers and reloads his own weapon.

"Weapons?" the cyborg prompts.

"Hand cannons and a hunting rifle... cheap thugs looking to make it big, but I suspect more like'em to be hot on their heels. Job's got a lucrative 'nuff payoff to attract plenty like them." Jayne answers, disgust in his voice.

Mal shakes his head "Case you hadn't noticed, we aint precisely bigtime ourselves. Them that fit that title are already inside."

"And times wasting Cap, lets move before they get all of our goods!" Triella barks over the radio, garnering a shrug from the captain, and snickers from Jayne and Rico as the man turns to follow his crew into the building.

"Still smaller fish than us..." Rico mumbles as she works the action on her own weapon, and turns her attention downrange. For a few minutes, there is silence. Eventually a single crack signifies the next groups play on the fort. With a sharp, equally loud retort, Jayne replies and ends the small band of thieves marksman.

However, before the rest of the group can reach Rico's effective range, or make the mistake of giving Jayne a shot, a brief cacophony of gunshots accented by the lightshow of a firefight in the dark signals their demise "Ruttin hell, that didnt take long. See anything?"

"Gout of flame, probably a flamethrower." Rico answers levelly and calmly.

Jaynes face faults as he attempts to clarify "Yer jokin', right?"

"We're on a mission, why would I do that?" Is Rico's calm, almost absent minded reply.

"Gao yang zhong de gu yang" Jayne curses, looking back downrange, his face now drawn in concentration "How the ruttin hell did a pack of thieves get one of them?"

Rico shrugs in dismissal "Stole it. I'll blast the tank before they get it in range anyhow, so it doesnt matter really." Jayne shrugs in reply, and settles back into his cover, ready for the next group of looters to break the treeline.

****Broken****

Henrietta continues to work her way down the emergency lit hallway briskly, purposefully and almost silently. Able to simply ignore her current situation outside of the mission and just preform as she had been trained to, grateful for the escape. Door to door, flashlight at the front of her P90's forward grip illuminating where the dull lights do not reach, drawing habitual reassurance from the group of cyborgs and adults following behind her she presses on. The door behind her slams into the wall of the room beyond, and moments later Trielas even, calm voice announces "Clear."

Henrietta turns, plants her sore, cramped foot in the door now before her, and steps into the room as the door slaps into the wall. She glances right, then left, light illuminating the poorly lit, abandoned lab as Triela moves up to the next door, covered by the two adults, River and Petra watching down the hallway "Clear" the chestnut haired cyborg announces before backing out of the room and turning to advance towards the second to last door before the intersection that Triela and River would be splitting off at.

"Six others headed back to us. Indignant and angry... all violence and greed." River quips, her eyes worryingly far away and removed as the readers loose grip on her bloody reaver ax, and freshly acquired boxy micro SMG, a clear, albeit distant descendant of the micro uzi to Henriettas mind; tightens.

Treilas stride remains steady, even as the odd, airy statement breaks Henrietta and Hillshires strides for a moment until the eldest remaining cyborg announces in a whisper over the radio "Bandits spotted, assault rifles and body armor, looks freshly looted." before ducking back inside the clearly clear room she had just checked moments before.

"Try ta keep the armor in tact then, its our pay-off." Mal orders stepping into the room Henrietta had just cleared, stacking the wall behind her, Sandro just behind him.

"Wheres River?" Henrietta asks worriedly, knowing the reader had been closer to the empty lab she was in than the room Triela just cleared.

"Not with us." Victor replies over the radio.

With an airy giggle the reader interjects "Theres a sprinkler system."

"Didnt they see you jump... how does that help even?" Triela replies, confusion lacing her voice through the radio.

"Was standing behind Hillshire, they didn't see me." River replies plainly.

Henrietta can almost hear the frustrated huff that must have come before her reply of "That still doesnt explain how-"

"Some things better left unanswered Tri. Riv, how much longer we got?" Mal cuts in, his voice still all business, unlike the rest of his crew... and the add-on's that seem to be being negatively affected by them.

"Stopped advancing when we did, being cautions... their going to hide in the abandoned labs like we are soon." River answers. "Going to take all day."

"Gorramit we cant be dealing with this kind of gou-shi, not on a job like this. Anyone have any grenades? Wheres Jayne when I need him..." Mal all but barks out over the radio.

Henrietta tilts her body and head to look behind her and up at Mal "Jayne did give me two Captain..."

Mal nods, before replying "Then here's the plan, your gonna throw it behind them, if it gets'em that's shiny, if not River opens fire and the rest of us step out to finish the job and keep moving. Vics plans still good, split-off isn't that far off from here."

Henrietta nods, before turning back to the door and quietly counting down "Three... Two... One..." before peeking around the door to hurl the live grenade. The tiny, matte black sphere arcs towards its target just behind where the rival looters would be in two steps in silence, punctuated at the last moment by a loud curse and the sound of men scrambling. Then, the staccato stutter of Rivers new weapon silences all other sound for a moment, before the grenades detonating drowns out all other sound with a deafening roar. Not even a moment later, as Henrietta is finally getting her back pressed against the wall she had started at, Mal is leaning over her, gun leveled already, and barking out its own addition to the demented tune of battle that had just been initiated. As Mal steps past the cyborg, his gun and Hillshires roaring in chorus Rivers smaller weapons rolling argument again issues forth as unanswered as the handguns for a moment before the low thrumming rumble of the few remaining assault rifles finally begin to return fire.

In a low crouch Henrietta steps around the corner as Sandro confidently steps out into the hallway beside her, the blonde man flanking Mal to his left and stepping to the center of the hallway. With a swift, controlled burst Henrietta all but obliterates a diving looters head before he can reach the safety of a side room as River drops down from the ceiling. "Two made it to the left room" she announces as Triela and Petra follow Victor out of their own temporary hiding place.

"Princess, cover me." Petra calls out as she moves ahead to the last door on that side of the hallway before the team would again split. The pair of cyborgs clears the penultimate room before the marker with a thunderous roar preceded and followed by the even coughing of a machine pistol Henrietta ensures the status of the other three fallen looters she had not felled herself with twitches of her trigger finger at point blank range.

Again, silence reigns for a moment before Triela, and then Henrietta announce "Clear"

"Tri, Riv, stick to the plan, and keep in radio contact, cant afford any mistakes this point out." Mal orders, striding confidently past the two empty rooms, handgun pointed to the ceiling as he moves beyond the last major intersection before the primary storeroom.

Hillshire catches up to the captain, his weapon held low, stance rigid her whispers into the captains ear "Keeping an eye on Henrietta? She seems a bit more... brutal, than I remember her." as the cyborg in question reloads, oblivious to the conversation taking place ahead of her.

"Yea, gorram creepifyin, but that's what we need right this moment to be honest, in over our heads Vic." the captain replies just as quietly.

Victor tilts his head almost imperceptibly as Petra and Henrietta move ahead to continue checking rooms before answering "I assumed that we weren't going any deeper than we could break the surface from when you took the job Captain."

Mal almost falters as he glances over to the other man before replying "A few more group nouns than I expected from a transient hire. Take it that means you plan on stayin on then?"

"Me and Triela, yes." is Hartmans curt reply.

Mal nods, once as Hillshire continues scanning the shadows, before replying "Work out the issue of pay after this jobs up then?"

"Seeing as we don't even know how much we make, and I haven't spent the time to ask the others what their makin', that's more than fine for me." Victor replies, not even pausing as Petra's Spectre M4 again makes its presence known.

"Then shut up an get back to paying attention to the job, we ain't done yet." Mal replies easily, stepping up to usher Henrietta back behind him, taking point effortlessly and definitively.

****Broken****

Triela and River stalk the halls of the still abandoned fort, now over halfway to the entrance by the blueprint. Both are tense, observant, and confident as they approach the last major junction "Going to be fighting soon." River quips just moments before the harsh retorts of gunshots, and the flashes that accompany them begin to illuminate the path before them.

"Still a bit freaky when you do things like that River." Triela replies nervously, as she flicks the safety off her shotgun, before tapping the talk button on her radio and announcing "Contacts at the last junction, three sided fight from the look of it, dont ask how they didnt notice each other yet." as the pair ducks into a side room.

"Didnt have blueprints, entered at different times, and now all found their way back here at once." River explains in an absent minded voice as a few stray rounds ping off the wall near the pairs hiding spot.

"Jobs the same for you two, clear it and get to the main entrance. Cant have any others getting' at us while we move the goods." Mal answers calmly, the sound of gunfire audible on his end of the radio as well.

Triela heaves a sigh "Easier said than done, there's only two of us, and each of the other crews have at least four."

"Going to notice us soon." River warns in a hushed voice, easily keeping pace with the rapid, clipped nature of the conversation taking place on the radio.

Victors calm voice cuts off what was swiftly escalating to an argument between Triela and Mal filling the gap on the radio channel with "Triela, I considered this eventuality when I chose you and River for your part in the job. You can handle it, so do it. We don't have time for hesitating, and I trust you to preform."

Triela simply double-clicks the talk button on her radio, before turning to River and ordering "Take the group that's straight across from us first, then you go right and I'll clean up to the left."

River nods in agreement as she asks "On three?" Triela nods, River delivers the three count, and the duo springs into action. A spray of fire from Rivers smg downs the remaining two combatants directly baring the path for the girls to advance, though, the pained groans tell that at least one is still alive, or at least dying slowly. Triela , exiting the room directly behind River sprints for the hallway she had volunteered to clear, firing off a trio of blasts from her M1897. The first spray of buckshot tears into the only man outside cover, shredding most of the upper left quadrant of his torso. The second and third blasts tear the door that the two surviving teammates of the now dead looter had been using as cover from its hinges. In the brief silence following Trielas shotgun blasts, the meaty thwack of an ax impacting flesh followed by pained gurgling cut short by a burst of 9x19mm fire.

The debris from Trielas destruction of the door her targets had been hiding behind clears to reveal one man dazed and clutching his face, and the second moaning, trapped under the remains of the door, his leg at an impossible angle from his body. Without breaking stride or turning to check on River, she advances on the two stunned bandits. A hip-fired blast from her shotgun finishes off the stunned man, before she shifts the grip to the barrel of her gun, then slamming the butt of it into the top of the ruined door, further pinning the trapped man down. She then proceeds to kick the handgun he had been reaching for away from his free arm, then plants her foot into the side of his jaw, and pushing until his neck breaks. "Clear" River announces from behind the blond cyborg.

"Same." Triela answers, before turning around to look at her partner. Triela cocks an eyebrow and deadpans "Wow, you really went all out." As she looks over the now disheveled River, blood dripping from her axe, and spattered on her smg, the three broken bodies of her targets laying about her feet.

"Only way to be sure we would both survive." River answers plainly, as she moves to make her way back to the main hallway.

Triela just shrugs, before raising a hand to her mic "Junctions clear, holding here."

Hartmann can be heard sighing over the radio "No Triela, you have to go all the way to the entrance. Have to check the forward armory, and thats the only choke-point two can hold reliably."

"So you want us to get flanked then?" Triela crossly shoots back crossly.

"Bi-zu!" Mal barks over the radio "Riv, any other looters split off down the side hallways?"

"Others may, but none have." She replies, twirling her ax in her hand idly.

"Then keep to the plan, Reader says your clear, dong-ma?" Mal finishes.

Triela just double-clicks her radios talk button and advances, still grumbling and casting glances at the two hallways. After a few minutes of silent walking, Mal again interjects "Jayne, Rico, status?"

The radio goes live, but at first, only gunfire can be heard, before Jaynes voice, sounding a bit distant exclaims "Whadaya mean jammed? Thought you said it was a reliable gun!" there is a brief pause before he adds "Then unjam the ruttin thing or switch to the launcher!" Then, his voice gets louder, as he is speaking into the mic "Gettin hairy out here Mal. Could use another gunhand."

"We're almost to the storeroom, once we have it secured, I'll move to help out." Victor answers calmly, the sound of gunshots audible over his line as well. Triela is about to add her own opinion to the conversation, but a flash of movement grabs her attention, and with the roar of her shotgun, she fells the source of it, and invites a hail of return fire from the downed looters companions.

As Triela and River dive for cover in the cluttered hallway, Jaynes voice replies "Real nice ta know help is comin eventually. Might still be kickin by the time then rolls 'round."

In the background, Rico's voice can be heard exclaiming "Got it!" before the sound of her MG3 overpowers almost all other background noises.

"Not to sound needy or anything, but mind sharin why you two of all folk need help with violence?" Mal asks over the radio as River launches herself over the upturned steel crate she had been hiding behind, vaults off the wall, and crashes into the group the pair headed towards the main entrance had just encountered.

Rivers antics not only half the forces now arrayed before Treila, but allows the cyborg to rise from her own cover. As the tan cyborg does so, River vaults up to the ceiling mounted sprinkler, Jayne replies "More'n a few of the petty thiefs tryin fer this job decided to team up. Aint a issue a skill, its numbers." as Triela empties the last few shots in her shotguns magazine into the remaining looters trying to push deeper into the supposedly abandoned fort.

River drops back down from the ceiling, her ax silencing the only live opposing looter remaining as Triela reloads her shotgun and announces "Forward armory and main entrance in sight. Doesnt look promising." getting only a double click of someones radio for a response... most likely from the captain.

The pair advances warily into the aforementioned armory uncontested. The room is a mess of blast marks and bullet holes, corpses scattered liberally throughout the decent sized room, blood staining the empty shelves, gunracks and bins to match the plethora of fallen criminals. "Forward armories been hit, nothing to take left." River announces almost boredly over the radio.

Triela moves off to the main entrance, more a blasted, twisted crater than a door now, and barely is able to hear "Hadun's are getting our loot! Aint not lettin them backbirths steal our coin, git'em boys!" from another advancing mob of streetdwelling scum that had managed to steal outright, or steal enough cash to buy a crap shuttle to get here charges the blasted entrance.

Triela rolls her eyes and pulls an assault rifle from the clammy hands of one of their dead rivals "Dumb bastards dont know they've been beat to the punch" she mutters before shouting "Riv! We got company headed this way promptly!"

"Hold tight girls, we're only a small span from the firefight to get to the big prize." Victor replies a bit too quickly over the radio.

"Oh, they should hold tight? What about us over here on the ragedy?" Rico shoots over the radio.

Petra jumps on the radio long enough to sigh and reply "Hillshire will be on his way with plenty of new toys and that extra body you need so bad soon enough Rico."

"Should I get Serenity moving then?" Inara asks almost as soon as Petra falls silent.

Shortly after, Kaylees voice cuts in "An take my girl over to get shot all to pieces? Absolutely not!" the thrum of Serenities engine loud in the background.

"Aint gonna have a choice Kaylee." Mal replies evenly "Pad aint gonna be clear till tomorrow afternoon most probably. 'Sides, payoff'll be good 'nuff to patch any holes up. None of these petty thiefs can afford anything big enough to hurt our girl serious."

Kaylee simply huffs over the radio for in response.

****Broken****

"Half a dozen outside the main armory and storage room." Petra announces, ducking back behind the last corner before the crews target.

Mal turns back to face the group to ask "Anything we should be feeling particularly worried about on'em?"

Petra shrugs "Guns a gun? All of'em are armed and armored better than we are currently. Mostly loading up pallets of crates. Have a decent hover-jack to move the goods on."

Victor grins a bit "French Benefits are a beautiful thing."

Mal shakes his head, grinning some himself "I'll ask what that means later. 'Etta-" The groups youngest cyborg takes the mention of her name as a command, and launches herself into the corridor, P90 blazing away "Ah gorramit, everyone move! Cover Henrietta!" before stepping around the corner himself, and firing into the now four strong guard detail. Felling another of them as the chestnut haired cyborg storms past the confused trio.

The two tear-marks on Henriettas arm begin to bleed, as a third appears on her calf, shredding the tights she had been wearing as it does so, and Victor reduces the remaining guards number to two. "She's really lost it this time" Petra deadpans as she takes down the second to last guard.

"She has a purpose behind it at least. Not like when she got over-protective of Jose and just killed everything in sight." Sandro chimes in as he steps around the corner to fell the last of the rearguard.

Stepping into the storeroom proper behind the berserk cyborg before him, Mal barks out "Bi-Zu!" as he fells the few men that had been loading crates that Henrietta missed. "Vic, check on 'Etta, Petra, Sandro, make sure we're clear."

Hillshire finds Henrietta in a sorry state to say the least, hunched over, hyperventilating, shaking, eyes moist, though bereft of tears. "Are... are you okay Henrietta?" he struggles out as the others mill about starting to secure the loot in a manner that makes more sense to them.

"I... I'm, yes... no." she replies as she shakily steadies herself. She lurches a few times, coming within a hairsbredth of dry-heaving "This is just the first time since I woke up that I did something like this and..."

"Simon has been working on counteracting your conditioning; part of which makes you accepting of going out and killing." Victor finishes as the cyborg trails off to actually begin dry-heaving.

She shakes her head "No, I... I just never really went out on missions for Italy, it was for Jose, to protect him is what made it worth it, to kill."

Victor, for his part, is fully and completely aware of what the cyborg slowly pulling herself back into something resembling normal on a terrible day needs to hear, he simply does not know how to express it. "Simon will need to look at you, make sure its nothing serious." He eventually forces out after a drawn out, awkward silence, kicking himself at every word, knowing he was botching it horribly. Triela would have been able to read in his body language and tone just how concerned he was. Triela would be able to accept that as more than enough, and not hold his mild social ineptitude against him beyond some light teasing down the line. Triela, for all of her strong points that Victor felt only he was privy to, and the rest thrown in to boot, was not the cyborg on the verge of a catastrophic psychological breakdown, or even in the same room right now, let alone the cyborg he is speaking with.

Henriettas face goes through a strange series of contortions, all of them subtle expressions of different emotions, all unknown by sight to the former SWA handler, before it sets into a facade of calm, replies with a simple nod and a "Mmm"

Mal approaches Victor as he walks away from the brunette, now busying herself by helping to load the hover-jack "She's good?"

"As much as can be expected, doc will need to look at her though." the German replies levelly "She's in a bad way."

The captian nods "Figured as much, aint my first rodeo."

"You still have those?" victor asks, mind boggling a bit.

The captain shrugs "More than most border worlds rely on livestock fer economy, Hell, I grew up on a ranch. Pro circuit cowboys pride'mselves mighty big on the age of their sport." before he pauses to turn to look at Victor "Arent you supposed to be on your way to bail out our most violent duo? 'Nara's gonna need at least a halfway calm pad to set Serenity down on."

Victor shrugs, before grabbing an assault rifle that bears more than a passing resemblance to Veera off of a rack, and a quartet of loaded magazines to go with it and replying "On my way captain." with a nod.

****Broken****

Rico's focus is solely downrange as she picks out actual threats among what is now a seething mass of belligerents to the untrained eye. To Rico, however, it is a simple puzzle; two groups shouting back and forth, negotiating terms of alliance... nothing to worry about yet. A different group, these men already telegraphing their betrayal now that they are within striking distance of the landing pad, having cut through the veritable horde of gutter-dwelling scum looking to cash in; not a threat. The group immediately to their right however, the ones that had cut through three other impromptu alliances or larger gangs, they warranted a long burst from Bessy, that chained over to the first group she had checked after unjamming her MG3 as they move from cover in an attempt to take the pad.

At first, the only other noise save her weapon firing near her are small arms pinging off the concrete barrier she is hiding behind are the reassuring cracks of Veera picking off the survivors of her own gunfire. Then, a second weapons baas chatter drowns out Jaynes favorites' staccato emissions. A tiny, fatalistic voice in the back of her head resignedly sighs out 'so this is it then'. Then Hillshires voice cuts in "Sorry about the delay, issues with the plan."

"Bout ruttin time!" Jayne shouts over his shoulder as Victor slams into the concrete barrier to Rico's left, making her the center of their defensive position. "an whadaya mean by 'problem' Vic?"

The German shrugs as he returns to pouring fire into the smaller groups Rico was letting be to conserve ammunition as he replies "Nothing that will slow down our getting out of here. Just personal issues."

Jayne growls as he rolls fully behind cover to reload Veera "Whose?" he asks glancing over and lighting up "Callahan Automatic... same base Veera came from." he shifts back up to open fire, mentally ticking down how many more seconds Rico can fire before having to reload as he adds "Veera's the DMR variant of course."

Rico slides back down behind her cover, avoiding a concentrated burst of fire from beyond the blackened, shredded treeline as Mal's voice cuts in over the radio "First loads ready, 'Nara, you on your way?"

"Pad aint clear yet." Rico quips as she works to reload her weapon.

"Get. It. Clear." Mal shoots back all business.

"Liftoff... should be at the fort by the time you get to the landing pad exit." Inara interjects, her nerves clearly and audibly frayed over the radio.

Rico grunts, sets Bessy down and orders "cover me." as she stands up to her full height and fires the grenade launcher Jayne had given her, not ducking back down below the barricade as she slides another grenade in and fires it, shifting her aim slightly to the right. Victor and Jayne scramble to obey as Rico continues repeating the action, standing tall above her cover firing again and again. "Pads clear." she radios, firing her last grenade, its impact not splintering wood, but felling a tree as she turns and begins to sink back down into cover, a bullet rips into her right shoulder, and the cyborg screams out "Da xiang bao zha shi de la du zi!"

"Gorramit Rico! Why in the san hell did you go an do that!?" Jayne demands, slinking back down to reload again as Hillshire keeps the suppressing fire on the now considerably quieter forest up as small fires begin to start near the three-quarter-dozen blast marks.

"No exit wound... that really hurts though." Rico muses as she struggles to reload Bessy, the empty drum magazine already ejected, but affixing a new one one-armed proving difficult.

"Cyborg conditioning. Job, mission, same thing. Simon is trying his best, but its deep in her head." Hillshire replies for the wincing cyborg, Jaynes gaze still locked on her "Now would you please support me here Cobb, she'll probably heal up better than us even without replacing the arm like the SWA doctors would. Bullet didnt even go through and through." Hillshire barks, chips of concrete scraping and cutting up his face as he braces against the barrier and returns fire from the now recovered opposing looters.

"Making my final approach" Inara announces over the radio, as the reassuring thrumm of Serenitys engine becomes audible over the roar of gunfire playing the demented symphony of battle around the trio of crewmembers holding the landing pad.

"He's right, I'm fine... bullet just feels weird in my shoulder... how did the others live with this so often?" Rico replies as the solid 'clack' of Bessy being reloaded joins the din for a brief moment.

Grunting, Jayne slams his chest into his chewed up piece of cover and begins picking away at stragglers and high priority targets as his home sets down behind him "Conditioning or not, Crew or not, getting a hole shot in ya for a stupid reason aint' acceptable Tiny. Coulda cleared the pad in time fer 'Nara ta land in much better ways."

"It worked, and its what I know" Rico answers calmly, grimacing more than a little bit as she adds her own gunfire to the suppression salvo. Wincing with every kick of her light machine gun.

****Broken****

Four trips, fifteen minutes for each trip both ways, and Triela and River were still valiantly struggling to hold the main entrance. The assault rifle Triela had picked up was discarded on the ground, all of the ammunition she had been able to scrounge for the gun spent half an hour ago. River still held her micro smg, but it was just as dry, much like the bandoliers Triela was wearing. "Almost done out there, we're getting overrun here!" she shouts over the radio as she finishes reloading, leaving a paltry 12 shells on her belt, 5 in her primary weapons magazine, and one chambered.

"Last load just left for the ship, I'm on my way to help you girls out." Mal answers tersely.

Triela nods across the hallway at River, and the reader springs from the room she had been waiting in and burys her ax in the chest of the point man of the next group to brave the hallway the two girls were still holding, despite having been forced back from the entrance when the assault rifle and smg had run dry. Triela steps out and with a pair of well placed shots, downs three more looters. River tears her ax out from the chest of the dying man before her, and leaps ahead to decapitate the one that had only been hit in the leg. "Wont last much longer at this rate." River warns as she plants her foot into the shoulder of a man about to shoot Triela. The man is smart enough to roll with the hit, but does not realize the repercussions of his choice until after the second to last man in his group is felled by the bullet that had been meant for Triela.

"Small wonder." Triela deadpans, working the pump on her shotgun "Send the crew with the shortest range weapons we have to watch a door, and we get overrun. Never would have guessed in a million years that that would have happened."

River shrugs and returs to the room she had been using as cover as Triela smashes the butt of her shotgun into the now kneeling, mortified mans face "Stow it Tri, dont have time for complaining." Mal orders as he joins the tan cyborg in the room she was once again using as cover.

"Next group just got through the hole actually." River shouts across the hallway.

"Hole?" Mal asks, confused.

Triela shrugs "Some idiots brought a rocket launcher with them... main entrance's gone.

As Mal's mind tries to work out the logic to bringing a rocket launcher to a heist, Sandro's voice crackles over the radio "Landing pad in sight, less than five until we're ready for liftoff."

The captain nods, before announcing "Clear this group then we get out, dong ma?" the two girls nod an affirmative.

"Still fighting outside, even though there's nothing left inside." River quips airily.

"Their problem, not ours." Mal replies tersely, before stepping out from cover and unloading his handgun into the oncoming looters. Triela is just behind him, and follows suit, the pair making short work of the tired, inattentive and ill-prepared looters. After he and Triela reload, he glances over to River "Any bullets left for that piece Riv?" she shakes her head negative "Then go, Triela and I will keep us covered in case the next group catches up."

As the reader runs back down the hallway towards Serenity, Mal and Triela begin falling back at a more measured pace, waiting for the next group to either catch them or not. The muffled crackling of a radio being accidentally switched to 'talk' mode gives them both cause to pause. Doubly so when the mic pics up Rico shouting "Grenade!" followed by the sounds of running.

After too long of a pause, Mal goes to ask what the status of the rest of the crew is, but Jaynes voice beats him too it "Vics down! Doc get your ass out here!"


Da xiang bao zha shi de la du zi: Explosive elephant diarrhea