Mari walked from the foreboding brick building, feet carefully taking her through the small grassy area, thick book in hand. The downward tilt of her head belied the curious eyes darting this way and that, taking in her peers and their odd games. She navigated through the knots and cliques, finding a quiet spot at the base of a tree, opening her book on her lap, fingers quickly tracing the words where she had left off.
Alas and alack, her reverie didn't last long, interrupted by a dull thud and whimper from the bushes to her right. Drawing her attention away from the trite literature the institution had provided her, the noise served to lure her into the dark mystery beyond the leaves.
She had always been drawn to danger, to being the hero. She pushed her way through the branches and brambles, the sounds repeating themselves over. Words became distinct as she approached, breaking into a small, dark clearing in time to see a little girl hit the hard packed dirt at the feet of two older boys.
It was the first time she ever laid eyes on Su. Wasn't much to look at, at the time – ill-fitting uniform, messy ponytail, hungry. But something about her determined face and rigid body had made Mari's heart go out to the girl, a sentiment only compounded by the cruel words the boys threw at her.
"Stay down, charity case." one of the boys sneered. "We're just gonna hit you harder if you get up."
Still, the girl rose to her feet, eyes resolute as she balled two fists before her bruised face. She sniffed, trying to restrain her bleeding nose. "Just because you're bigger don't mean you're better, prep school."
"Ha! Looks like the ghetto mutt is ready to fight you, McGinnis!" the other boy cracked, elbowing his friend. "Make her eat dirt."
"Dobson! McGinnis!" Mari called out, charging forward in her sudden bravery, glaring at the boys as they turned to face her. "You leave that girl alone. She's half your age, you fools! What use is there bullying her?"
The boys frowned at each other before Dobson turned, rolling his eyes at the girl before them. "Stay out of this, Mari. Just cause you're the captain's daughter–"
"Means I know how to fight a battle better than either of you!" She sniffed, walking to stand between them and the young girl. "Means that when I talk, folk listen."
Dobson scowled, mulling her words over and finding them true. Bumping McGinnis with his shoulder he said, "Lets go. That street rat isn't worth getting the Princess' Daddy upset."
Mari bristled at the nickname. No matter how good her grades were, how many physical and mental exams she excelled at, her form mates still threw the awful nickname in her face. The Princess.
As the boys left the clearing, voices joining the laughing screams of their peers, a small growl sounded at her back. "Why didn't you bash him in the nose?" Mari turned, shrugging at the girl behind her, watching as she pressed a sleeve to her own nose.
"Wasn't worth it. Gotta think tactically." She shrugged again, pulling a pressed handkerchief from her pocket. "Here, let me do that."
"I can pop him for ya, if ya want." the little girl said in a nasally voice as Mari pinched her nose shut to stop the bleeding. "I'll get 'im good."
"Like you were getting him good just now?"
"There was two of them. Un-sportsmanlike, I think." The girl twisted her lips in something like a smile. "Thank you. Fer helpin'. I'm Su."
"I'm Mari. And of course. It wasn't fair of them to gang up on you."
Long after Su's nose had stopped bleeding, Mari's book forgotten in the grass, they sat talking in the secluded clearing. Two little outcasts, hiding from the world.
Over three hours after Gilliam had first brought up the vids, Su stretched her arms above her head, twisting this way and that, a series of satisfying pops echoing up her back.
"Gilliam, I have an idea."
"Oh, goody."
"Was that sarcasm, Gill?"
"Please, call me Gilliam."
"Right. Gilliam, do you have the ability to perhaps... encourage sleep in some of the crew members aboard the ship?"
"I think that could be possible. Do you wish to sleep?"
"No, no, thank you. Feel free dope Kouji and Gene to the gills, though. And then fire up the sub-ethers for the Sol System." She grinned, reclining in the captain's chair, cozying up to her new found plan. "And see if you can't get the Bebop and the Serenity on the comm, will ya?"
"I shall do my best."
"You're a prize, Gilliam."
"Thank you, I know."
Mari had saved her ass enough for three lifetimes. It was time she paid her back.
The gang was all there, settled at the table, perched on counter-tops, leaning against walls. The combined crews of four ships had crammed into the Serenity's tiny mess, each spacer nervously eyeing the next with one eye, doubtfully peering at Su at the other.
"So, that's the plan. Sound good, Mal? Jet?" She glanced to two of the key players in her little con, before her eyes drifted around the nervous faces in the room. "Okay, c'mon. You all owe Mari this. You all owe her something. She's laughed and cried with y'all, broke bread with you, fought alongside you, helped you up when you were down. Without her, the 'verse'll be a much less interesting space." She took in each face, one by one, praying her point would sink in. "'Sides, if none of you come round, who's gonna grow the food? And one crew's gonna have to take me on. Do any of you really want that?"
"She's right." To her surprise, it was Jet who spoke up first, eyes glued to his feet as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed in front of him. "Girl never would've gotten herself into this mess if not for me. She told me she couldn't do the job. I pushed her into it. I didn't know about...well, things were different then." The room shifted uncomfortably under the weight of Mari's recently aired dirty laundry. Her laughing face forever changed by their newfound knowledge. The ghost of a pistol resting between those smiling lips. A spectre hovering over her left shoulder, holding her hand in his.
"The Bebop is on board." Spike nodded, casting a sharp glance at Faye when the woman made a noise of protest. "All of us."
"You know you got the Star behind ya. And I have a few outstanding favors I can call in." Gene's hand fell to her shoulder, squeezing it gently. Su cast her gaze to Serenity's crew, eyes nervous as they stood assembled there, casting wary glances at each other. Mal had been contemplating his boots angrily since she had boarded, keeping his own counsel in the corner. Kaylee broke from the pack, winding her hands around Su's arm.
"Su's got the right of it. Genrou's always been there for us. So has Miss Mari."
"Kaylee," Mal's voice broke from him finally, low and warning, "I believe the lady prefers to be called 'captain', if I'm not mistaken?" Kaylee face broke into a smile at her captain's words.
"Seems like this is our fight, Captain." Zoe took Wash's hand in her own, squeezing it tightly and imagining a world where he wasn't there beside her, and how far she would go to punish the ones that would dare take him from her side. "No one deserves what that woman's been put through." Wash kissed her softly, his decision made the moment Zoe had made hers.
"Doc, I'm not expecting you and yours. This is too risky. You both stay behind, stitch up them who need stitchin'." Simon nodded quietly, caught somewhere between shame and relief. River only tilted her head, indifferent to the entire situation. Watching quietly and saying nothing. "Same goes to you, Shepherd. Ain't going to force you to go breaking any of those vows you went and took on account of someone you barely know."
"Seems to me you could use all the hands you can get." Book paused, thoughtful. His face taking on the hint of darkness that emerged from time to time. "Besides, someone has to bless those that fall at our feet." There was no mirth in his eyes as he spoke, just a profound sadness.
"Well, Miss Su, looks like Serenity is at your back." Mal nodded in her direction, chuckling softly as Kaylee's arms wound around Su's neck, pulling the girl into an exuberant hug.
"Speak for yourselves." Jayne barked loudly, hands slapping on the table as he leaned forward, staring Su in the eyes as he growled at her. "I ain't doing nothin' until this one here pays up what she owes me." Everyone blinked at the man, holding their breath. "I want my gorram hat back!" His face split into a lopsided grin at her expression, and Su threw her head back, letting the tension break as she laughed into the silent mess.
"You got it, Cobb."
No one could agree on exactly what had happened that day.
The news argued over it for weeks, speculating and debating points in heated arguments as experts flashed across the screen, giving their nasally opinions as they pushed their glasses higher up on their noses. Diagrams and interviews played endlessly, analyzing the pieces in the great machine that was that afternoon until no one wanted to hear it anymore.
One source vehemently carried the story that the Judge had somehow been involved. He hadn't shown that day until well after the proceedings were scheduled to have begun, found asleep in the arms of a Companion, apparently, and late enough that the chaos had already settled. They rolled and re-rolled the footage of him, gaping at the aftermath of the ruined court-house as he shrugged his robes on.
Another followed the strange disappearance of the Genrou from the evidence hangar, the ship digitally misfiled and sold in a police auction after its electronic VIN had been wiped and re-coded. Snapped up by a keen-eyed couple in the market for rare collectibles. The violet haired vixen had apparently whined and pleaded with her beleaguered man until he had acquiesced to her pleading, snapping up the ship for a modest bundle. It was already long off world before anyone had noticed the slip up, the couple unavailable for comment. Most of the reports had come second-hand from jealous collectors, angered that they didn't see the ship for what it was until it was too late.
Yet another covered the strange, supposedly unrelated gate crash in Mars orbit, caused when a off-course Ctarl-Ctarl vessel, nearly unheard of in Sol space, demanded right of way from a local grappler ship, the two engaging in a battle that damaged the outgoing warp gate enough to cripple space traffic for the next week and a half, both making their way out of Sol space before the gate went down. They couldn't find any connection with the courthouse, but it didn't stop the conspiracy theorists from trying.
What happened inside the courthouse was left to speculation, the old Earth tradition of no cameras in the courtroom holding up on Mars as well. The reports were all contradictory. Some had claimed that a group of angry protesters had kicked down the door, opening fire and scattering the occupants. Yet another group reported that the chaos had come from within, the occupants fighting each other to get out before the roof had come crashing down. No one could agree on anything other than the fact that Mari had last been seen sitting quietly, making no effort to move. Chained and forgotten in the chaos.
There were even more rumors, though ones less inclined to be believed, on the less noteworthy networks. Rumors of the beautiful assassin known only as Twilight Suzuka being sent after the outlaw by the Red Dragon. That the firefight that had broken out in the courthouse had been incited by a couple of Browncoats seeking revenge against the Alliance. That the hacker Radical Edward had thrown his lot in with the outlaw, hacking into all the camera frequencies and replacing the feed with the words, 'Genrou Lives' in messy digital scrawl. A joke on the story hungry media. A red herring to keep them snapping at shadows.
There were just too many pieces to connect. Too many little things for them to piece it together. Not that it changed the only fact that really mattered.
The outlaw Mari Herrmann, ex-Alliance officer and Captain of the outlaw vessel Genrou, was dead.
Notes from Mari: Never let your co-author pass the story after she's thrown 12 or so people in a room together.
Notes from Su: Check. Mate.
Music: Born to Die – Lana del Rey
