History of the Future.

here is the next chapter in my work of combining Xmen and Firefly. As always, all characters thoughts and ideas belong to those that created them. I own only the idea of mixing them together.

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53. Fifty damn three times. More then 40 holes in his best shirt, a half dozen in his slacks. 53 new bullets slammed into him. More then 2 dozen knife wounds. 3rd degree burns from lasers and incendiary charges. Bit and claw marks from the she-demon. 'Damn, this was a great going away party. Too bad the food was ruined.'

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Several hours earlier:

"I ain't much for pretty speeches, but I do gotta say I'm mighty grateful to ya, Reynolds. Ye brought 2 of my kids home for the first time in a long while. I'm not a man who forgets my debts. You ever need help, me and mine will be there." The two gruff men looked out towards the city.

"Just doing my job. Paid damn well too. Not jess in coin either. Real thankful to you lot for all your help, though I hate that we had to get that help. Never wanted to be no damn target. After loosing the war, thought my fighting days were long over. Now, lost 2 crew and a bunch of friends no finagling with time and clones can bring back. Your friends do what they saying they can and we're even. Don't hold to being beholden to or from no one."

"You got a fine crew, Reynolds. Reminds me of the old days on Earth when Marie and I ran around in spandex and leather trying to save people from their own ignorance. One way of defining a hero, is that they are people who are strong enough to know what needs to be done and does it even when they don't want to be the one doing it. Even if all it means is picking up weapon to protect what's his. And that's what you're doing now."

Mal nodded knowing the other man had made his point. He didn't consider himself a hero for it, but he was damn tired of not being able to defend his crew. They stood in silence for a while, each recalling times of their pasts where they'd been unable to defend what was theirs as full as they might have wished.

Their brooding was brought to an end as the sound of approaching giggles indicated the return of Kaylee and the others from their shopping trip. Kaylee had talked River, Inarra and Marie into taking a visit to pick up some items that Mal really didn't want to think about. Well, maybe Inarra's purchases held a bit of interest but he really didn't need to be thinking of Lil' Kaylee or River that way.

Not able to resist, he spoke up. "Hello ladies. Glad yer back. Bit surprised though, ya only been gone 6 hrs. Didn't think we'd see ya 'til the morning, way ya'll were chattering when ya left."

"Ah Captn, think it's mighty sweet of ya to track how long we was gone. M'Sure'Narra will find a way to repay your kindness." Kaylee fired back joyfully, well used to the older man's teasing.

"Hope ya ain't spent all yer money."

"Nah, not even close, Captn. Just a few pretties and finery we women folk like to have. Even if we hardly ever any where near places fancy enough for out finery. Most places ya bring us look at you odd if'n you ain't caked in 3 months of grease and dirt."

"Hey now, we're smugglers and thieves. Don't get much call for the likes of us at on of the fancy tadoos. 'Xcepting Inarra." The lack of the normal inflection that characterized his reference to Inarra's occupation was blatantly obvious to all who knew him, and caused a small blush and coy smile to cross Inarra's face. Mal grinned as goofilly as a man of his reputation could allow for a moment before reverting to his normal expression. "Well I suppose your fancy Core bred doc and the Lil Tross could fit in, but ain't none of the rest of us acceptable to them fancy shindigs. Though you did look might pretty all gussied up for Harlow's ball. Too bad that Wing Nut ruined the party being such a hung dang."

"Atherton is many things, Malcolm, but he's not a nut. Anyway, we have to put these things away and start getting supper ready. Where are Janus and Zoe?" Inarra asked as she ushered in the others.

"Jayne brought Zoe over to that gym with the special hologram room. Thought she might need to let out some of her pain before we have Wash and Book back. Simon's doing another surgery at the hospital. Now that ships ready, I'm just sitting here, waiting on supper."

"Well, since you're available Captain, why don't you go to the kitchen and start peeling and potatoes. There's some greens that's need to be washed and cut up while you're in there." Marie stated as she passed between him and Logan on the porch. "The others are making the heavier stuff at their places, but I'm going to be making appetizers, and side dishes. Fresh potato and macaroni salads, mashed potatoes and a few other things. Since you aren't busy, you're gonna be helping me."

"And to make sure you don't poison the rest of us, I'll help as well." Inarra stated, a shudder going through the forms of Serenity's crew at the thought of leaving Mal alone in any capacity for food preparation.

"Can't cook?" Logan asked with a smirk.

Mal was saved from replying as Marie swatted her husband. "As if you're any better. Even 500years later and you still can't seem to understand that not everything needs to be grilled, fried, or cooked over an open flame." She looked at the other women. "He set the kitchen on fire more time then I could count. There was this one occasion that was especially bad."

"Hey some of that stuff is tricky." Logan protested in self defense.

"Logan sweetie, you were making pudding. You don't even need to heat the milk and you burned half the kitchen down."

Every one had a good laugh as the grizzled man grumbled, taking the teasing in stride. He'd relaxed a little over the centuries and was less prone to react, especially when the source of the teasing was his beloved wife.

It was a moment of levity and humor they would appreciate all the more in the coming days.

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AFTERMATH:

"Who are these people?" Mal asked, surveying the wreckage and ensuring that his crew was relatively uninjured.

Logan flipped over one of the bodies, using the dead man's clothes to wipe his claws. "Looks like mercs to me. Though the leaders seemed familiar."

Marie nodded as she kicked the corpse of the last attacker to challenge her. "These 4 and that woman seemed to be in charge. Creeds, all five. Notice how much harder it was to put them down? Healing factor near as strong as ours. Savage and cannibalistic, there isn't anything they won't do for money. The rest look like a collection of locals from one of the gangs that are used as hired muscle. Usually for offworlders."

"Should we be worried about legal repercussions?" Simon asked as he fussed over River, who was wiping a large knife clean. He was resolutely not looking in the direction of the two men he'd killed during the battle.

"Nah, this is clearly self defense. Though the constables might ask ya to move on in case Creed's try something else." Logan replied. "The security should have activated when the windows and the door blew, so the recording should have most of the fight. We were lucky none of us were badly hurt."

"Lucky hell! They shot up my favorite shirt! Took me month's to get it to sit just right and not damn thing has more'n 40 holes and a dozen tears. Not to mention the blood stains that ain't never gonna come out. Now it's not even fit to be used as a rag." Jayne stated angrily.

"Well nobody but Janus' shirt was hurt." Logan amended. "Let's contact the cops. Once they're done, we can clean up. Got a big day tomorrow."

The police were swift and efficient. Lean Inspector Johan Brecht was a mutant, like the rest of the population. His particular gift was a form of touch empathy. He could 'see' the past of any object or person he touched as clear as watching something on the Cortex. Luckily for him he had to activate the ability and could only see the last few hours. He could fast forward and rewind and even pause the replay. This ability was perfect for his profession as it allow him to watch crimes as they had been done. All he needed was to be on scene and have contact with something that was there at the time.

"Well everything looks clear here, Mr. Howlett." Brecht stated as he entered some info into his Cortex pad. "As per SOP, we'll have to ask you to vacate the location for a few days. The lab boys will need access and we can't have the scene contaminated. As for you Captain Reynolds, the docking lists show you scheduled to leave tomorrow. Before you do, I'll need statements and preferably a psychic scan from 3 of out staff psychs. As long as that is done, you can leave on schedule. This is also SOP for a crew in any criminal investigation."

"We'll need to talk about it some. Ain't sure I like the idea of having strangers poke in my head. Or my crews."

"We have strict guidelines for these investigations, Captain. The scans would be done during your statements and are used only as confirmation. Anything not relating to the direct crimes involved can not be used or pursued without physical evidence to confirm information obtained through a scan nor is anything that occurred outside of our jurisdictional boundaries able to be used or considered."

Mal blinked and turned to Zoe, who was wiping down the shotgun she'd used during the battle. "Huh?"

"Means even if the reader sees you committed a crime, can't do nothing unless they got other proof and only here."

"Let's be honest Captain. Crew like yours, obviously been living around the edges of what is considered crime. But all we care about is what you've done here. And all I've gathered shows you to be hard working folk only trying to do your jobs. This here, well the why is a bit of a mystery, but the who, what, where and when is quite clear. Let my crew take a quick peek into what happened tonight, and as far as I'm concerned your part is done. Sad as it is to say, I doubt we'll find much more then this. The Creed's are very good at covering their tracks so unless one of the dead has a recorder filled with statements direct from a top tier member of the clan, this will be swept under a rug like any other job they pull."

"Well can't speak for the others, but guess I'm willing' to lend a hand by answering your questions."

The rest of the crew and Howlett's agreed. Each was taken in to the ground floor parlor and questioned. Everything went along smoothly until Janye was left. River's gifts had been helpful for the other telepaths and she was rightfully proud of herself for not turning into a gibbering wreck after the gentle probing by the 3 experienced mental investigators.

"Janus Howlett a.k.a Jayne Cobb, looks like your turn." Brecht said as he read from the transcript of the interviews. "If you'll follow Constable Bennett."

Jayne frowned but didn't move. "Can save ya some time, Brecht. This is Caterina Creed. Those 4 are clan mates, don't recall all their names, but the big one is Tyson Creed. I ran with them a bit way back before I left. Never told Ma or Pa, because Howlett's and Creed's been enemies since Earth. Catarina and I had the same taste in women. One in particular, Ariana, who picked me over her. I wanted out. Couldn't stomach some of the jobs they take. But Creed's don't just let you walk away. They sent Catarina to teach me a lesson. What she did to that girl.... Reavers don't do that to their victims. I tracked her and the group down. Thought I killed 'em. Got on the next transport bound for out system I could find. Ain't been back since." Jayne paused. "Wasn't exactly discriminating about it . No few bystanders taken out when I blew the bar they was using as meets for jobs."

Brecht frowned. "How long ago was this?" Due to the nature of their extended life spans, the statute of limitations laws on Greymalkin and Genosha were vastly differnet then the time frames their ancestors had used on Earth. With some residents having nearly limitless life expectancy, they had to extend the limits. Small crimes with no assaults such as theft, robbery and things of that nature had a 25 year limit. More serious crimes like rape, murder and arson had a 50 year limit. The truly heinous crimes such as serial murder or mass crimes that could be classified as terrorism had a 75 years. There was a clause added that those were the minimums and required that the perpetrator of the crime be able to prove that they did not commit another for the length of the statute. This included telepathic scans to provide evidence of the nature of the original crime.

Brecht had been an officer for nearly 20 years now and could not recall any large scale unsolved crimes involving a bar explosion that resulted in large scale deaths. The last such event he could remember was a fire at a chemical processing plant during his 2nd year on the job, but this man only looked to be about 30 if that. Of course with Healers that wasn't always a true measure of their age. Janus could be anywhere from 20 to 200 or more.

"Little over 40 years or so." Jayne stated. "A little dive on Genosha called Snakepit. Might of been 20 people or so."

With a policy along the lines of the punishment fitting the crime, a murderer would face a life sentence. In this case, a life sentence is determined as the difference in the expected life of the victim and his age at the time of death. Since the average life expectancy of 120-150, this would mean that a sentence of a murderer convicted of killing a 40 year old would be 80-110 years. Multiple murders were always consecutive and never congruent so killing 2 40 years olds would be 160-220 years.

Brecht frowned as he considered the situation he'd found. 20 dead, killed in an explosion could be considered an act of terrorism. A sentence as individual deaths for 20 people could be over 1000 years. Add in the additional 75 yeas as an act of terrorism and the additional 20 years for each death in a terrorist act, and a crime like this could even top 2000years. Of course, the prisoner would have the choice of real time or could select for the dream time sentence which was followed by execution.

"That could cause some trouble, Mr. Howlett. The Statute wouldn't have expired yet and even with the extenuating circumstances you are technically guilty of those peoples deaths. Might not be murder, only manslaughter, but you would be guilty." Brecht paused. He didn't need to be a telepath to feel the rising tension in the room. Although thanks to his empathic abilities, he could almost see the actions of the last few hours being brushed aside due to the potentially explosive situation. "But this once, considering that you were attacked here and the emotional distress at the time of the event, I will not proceed against you. Besides aside from your confession, we have no proof, ans as you are not in custody but are a witness and victim of this crime, that would not be able to be used as evidence. What I am going to do, is insist that you are on that ship tomorrow and that you don't set foot on Greymalkin or M10 for at least 15 years. I am going to research this event and see about the families of the victims, and provide a list of what i find to your parents. You will find some way to repay those people for their lives. Unless any of them were known criminals or had open warrants, in which case I'll make sure you get the bounties."

Jayne finally relented and gave his statement. It was a better offer then most could claim for his crime. He never consciously noted that the entire time, River had been standing next to him holding his hand in a silent show of support.

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THE ATTACK:

Jayne grunted as the bullet tore into and out of his body. The sound of glass shattering was the only warning but it was enough for him to jump start his healing and move to cover River who had sat next to him as usual. This almost proved to be a mistake as the high powered round went through his arm. If he'd remained seated, it would have torn through his throat and neck. If River had been the target, it would have blown her head of and would not have been slowed in the slightest by his attempt to shield her.

Several dozen more rounds followed, causing everyone to scatter. He saw his parents and sisters get hit, but no one from Serenity other then him and Inarra were struck. The people closest to the windows scrambled for cover while Marie and Logan flipped the heavy table to use as a shield for cover. The table worked surprisingly well as no rounds managed to punch through the two inch thick slab.

"What the hell?" Mal yelled while peeking around one edge. His luck kicked and and a bullet whizzed through the air an inch over his head, "River, why didn't you pick up this attack?"

"I don't know! I can't feel anything!" River cried. She winced every time a round struck the table or chipped away at the wall and other furnishings in the room. Her inability to see and the pounding of thuds of the bullets was causing her to feel real fear for the first time since the Academy. If not for Marie's training, she would be a complete wreck.

The odd nature of the sound of the bullet impacts and River's inability to access her gifts caused Jayne to swear.

"Ceramics!" he called out over the sound of gunfire. "Ceramic bullets and Psy shielders. Damn! They knew we had a magnatech and a Reader. That means they know about all our abilities. Pop, you got any weapons handy?"

Logan stood, ignoring the pain as several rounds struck him. He ducked, not even his eyes able to see into the darkness. "Nothing handy. Got a locker in the den, but we're too pinned down to make it. The shells seem to be coated in a poison that slows healing and is going to be fatal to those with no healing factor."

Simon spoke up. "What is the locker made of?"

Logan grinned as he caught on. "It's a heavy metal locker like you would see in a school. One floor down and maybe 30 feet behind us."

Simon narrowed his eyes and he extended the natural field that surrounded him. He savored the 'pining' of the various bits of metal in the home until he was able to hone in on the large chunk of metal. He concentrated and pulled, having never attempted to use his gift from such a distance or for such a weight. He could feel the locker shuddering as he tried to 'grab' it with the power. It started slowly, scrapping along the wood floor, before shooting up through the ceiling into the room above, then he pulled again and it came slamming through the walls between that room and the dining room where they were eating. It dropped heavily onto the ground and thought tired from his exertion, he managed to rip off the door, displaying a series of fire arms both hi-tech and traditional.

Marie being the closest, reached in and pulled our several guns handing them out. Mal refused the rifle and took a heavy pistol, while Zoe grabbed an Earth based shotgun that had a 8 round chamber. Inarra, Kaylee and Simon were handed identical rifles, models based on the classic M1 Grand from Earth. River grabbed a pair of identical Glocks that fit her hands well. Jayne was passed a Dragonov sniper rifle.

However, just as everyone started to set to return fire, the door was blown and a group of screaming, dark clad attackers streamed in. The rifles became useless, though River and Marie made good use of the pistols and Zoe's Saiga-12 modified did a good job of slowing the incoming rush. Their fire slowed the attackers, but they were too well protected in modern armor for the rounds to penetrate and Jayne and his father leapt over the table to start the up close battle. The attackers also abandoned gunfire and soon there was a battle royale of hand to hand combat with the odd burst or blast as both sides used their various gifts.

At this point, Jayne was too busy to see what the others were doing. This was further complicated when he realized that some of the attackers had healing abilities as he stabbed one in the throat with his forearm spike only to see the wound heal. The split second of distraction was enough and his attacker returned the favor, tearing out Jayne's throat. They stumbled away from each other and while he waited for his throat to heal, Jayne was attacked from behind. He arched as a blade cut into his back, narrowly missing his spine.

Acting on instinct, he spun away from the blade, stabbing back with his forearm blade. He felt the point going into the attacker's stomach, and continued spinning. The tip of the blade scrapped against the man's spine, and as he turned, Jayne effectively sliced the man in two. Only the spine held him in one piece as all the soft connecting tissues were sliced apart. The top half fell backwards, and the force and weight of the man snapped the spine. For a few seconds the legs and waist remained upright, but they collapsed without the control from the brain, they were not balanced to remain upright.

Jayne finished his turn, but staggered back as his first opponent fired into him at point blank range with a burst from a automatic. He ignored the burn of the rounds and the poison entering him and used his forearm blade to block the swing of a knife that could be considered a short sword. He cried out in pain as the knife managed to cut through the bone extension before sliding off to the side. Again ignoring the pain, Jayne grabbed the man's wrist and with a deft turn and twist, slammed his own blade home into his chest. The man gurgled then fell and Jayne was free to look for his next opponent.

He watched as his family and the crew worked seamlessly together, River and his mother fighting back to back, Inarra and Mal protecting Kaylee and Simon. Simon was using his gift to send shrapnel from the locker and the utensils at their enemies, while Kaylee was using the rifle like a club. Zoe was also watching their backs, sending both blast from the shotgun and mini lighting bolts at the attackers. His father was facing off against 3 larger opponents wearing much different outfits that Jayne recognized as the standard op uniform for the Creed clan. Before he could react to that, he was knocked down as a explosion hit the wall behind him.

He looked up and swore as a new attacker entered the room. The fact that this figure was female and also dressed in the Creed colors meant it could only be one person. The fact she was masked meant nothing. 'Catarina' he thought to himself while patting out the flames.

Ignoring everyone else, he leapt to his feet and prepared himself as she pulled twin wicked looking serpentine blades from the sheaths on her thighs. He pulled the knife from the cheat of the dead man at his feet and prepared for what could likely be the most difficult fight of his life. Only one of them was leaving this house alive. And Jayne realized, as he heard River's grunts as she too had taken up a pair of blades and was spinning around the largest of the attackers as she had during the Reaver battle, he had something to look forward to. It was time to put his past behind him and look to the future. And River was going to be a big part of that future.

Roaring in rage, he charged the woman who roared back and rushed for him. 'Goodbye Ariana. Either I avenge you or I die. It's time to end this.'

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AN :

I hope you all enjoy this chap. I think it's good. a mix of everything and some action thrown in.