"Thank God you're safe." Book rushed out as the shuttle door opened.
"Are you okay? What happened?"
"Let me take a look," Simon pushed past the others. "How bad is it?"
"I'm fine." Wash pushed his way past them to where Jayne, Riddick, and River stood waiting at the other end of the walkway.
"Where's Mal?" Inara asked fearfully.
"Niska wouldn't let him go." Zoe replied evenly.
"Is he alive?" The Companion pressed.
"For now." She shouldered her way past to follow her husband. "Take that," she told Simon as she reached into her front breast pocket. "Put it on ice in the infirmary."
"What is it?" Kaylee asked.
"An ear." Simon swallowed hard.
"He chu-sheng za-jiao de zang-huo! (filthy fornicators of livestock)" Book swore angrily as Inara and Kaylee recoiled.
River's head jerked up at the spike of emotion; something was brewing in the mind of the Shepherd. An old spark, an ember which had slowly been dying, suddenly roared to life with a fierce intensity. She found herself taking a step backwards from the heat of it and into a solid wall of muscle. Riddick gave her a questioning look and followed the line of her gaze to Book. The old soldier was clenching and unclenching his fists. His heart rate spiked and resolve set his features.
Welcome back, commander. The ex-Ranger thought smugly and, though it was not directed at River, she nodded in agreement.
"We're getting him back." Wash stopped in front of them.
Riddick merely nodded.
"Step ahead of you." Jayne grunted. "All depends on whether or not you got it in you to fly."
"Oh, I can fly." Wash assured them.
"Good." Riddick grunted.
"River?" Zoe questioned.
River shook her head. "She did not know. She calculated. The odds were never in their favor. Purpose drove clarity. She is functional."
Zoe nodded slowly. Her eyes taking in the scene in the bay below her. The entire arsenal available to Serenity was laid out on the bay floor, the ATV had been rigged with explosives, and a mini-barricade had been constructed around the airlock.
"Ya'll been busy." She said appreciatively.
"Cap'n would come after any one of us." Kaylee said as she came up behind them.
"Got a good look at the layout on my way in. Let me lead." Zoe ordered as she headed down towards the bay.
"Got something even better." Riddick informed her as he caught a handheld Jayne tossed him and passed it to her.
"What how in-?" Zoe's step faltered slightly on the stairs as she realized she was looking at an incredibly detailed map of the path she had walked from the docking level down to Niska's office and the torture room.
"Turns out Riv's got more than a few interestin' tricks." Jayne grunted.
"She pulled it all out of my head from when I had dealings with Niska." Riddick clarified; there was a bit of smug pride in his voice as he added, "Whole plan was her idea. ATV's loaded to blow once your man lands us. There's a power station here." He pointed out on the handheld. "We smoke out the bay and give Riv and Kaylee the cover to get to the power station; the four of us will move in for Mal. They'll kill cameras, alarms and door locks once they patch in."
"'Course, blowing up an ATV will draw a considerable amount of attention itself." Jayne snorted.
Riddick ignored him and continued. "Book, Simon, and Inara will hold the ship; River and Kaylee rejoining once they hit the power supply."
Zoe looked at the faces of each member of the crew and saw resolve and determination. "Doesn't the Bible have something to say about killin' folk, Preacher?"
Book was sliding was a clip into a handgun she knew didn't come from the armory. "Inara, what did the Councilor tell you when you went to her for help?" The preacher questioned.
"She said it was beyond their jurisdiction." The Companion replied bitterly.
"For the wages of sin is death." The Shepherd turned back to Zoe. "Romans, six, twenty-three. The Bible speaks very clearly on the punishment of the wicked."
"I'm not going to talk you out of it." Zoe held his gaze.
"I wasn't asking to be."
"Six." River said suddenly; jerking the room's focus towards her unintentionally. Her eyes glazed briefly for a moment. "Six; add two and add three. Eleven. Important number. Prime number." She realized the others were staring at her intently. "It is of no consequence now." She shook her head. She was unaware of where the words had come from. Now was not the time to go searching for answers. Eleven was important. She would deal with the why later.
*T*F*C*
"Tell me, do you know the writings of Shan Yu?" Niska asked curiously.
Mal gritted his teeth against the pain. The old man was less than six inches from his face and he forced himself to imagine leaning forward and biting off the man's gorram nose rather than give in to the scream. The blade buried into the fleshy meat of his torso was being twisted ever so slowly. He could feel his skin catch and twirl on the tip of the blade.
"Starting a book club?" The captain defiantly spat out. "What? You tryin' to... to torture me?"
"Yes " Niska answered, "Today we meet you and you are quite a man." He smiled as his underling pushed the blade in deeper. "An extraordinary man. Yes. But these are not times for extraordinary men." He chided. "Business is not war. Heroics, they are unseemly. They complicate." He turned away from Mal to walk towards a cart.
The captain didn't know whether to be grateful or terrified as the knife was removed from his innards. The slow creaking wheels of the cart thundered into his brain.
"For you, I have a special machine. Very special. Very precious."
Mal watched as his torturer reached inside the machine to hand Niska a thick mechanical hose with a flat edged face. He eyed it warily as Niska waved it before his face. It was a rather nasty looking device. The flat faced end was riddled with what looked like small teeth and Niska was practically purring as he stroked it.
"And they say people don't look like their pets." Mal managed to retort.
Niska smiled cruelly as he handed the hose back to his comrade, who moved to place it on the center of Mal's chest. "Let's see if we can meet the real you." The man sneered as the machine whirred to life; a metallic screeching filled Mal's ears as the teeth clamped onto his skin. Metallic tendrils snaked out from its head and burrowed themselves beneath his skin in every direction.
From the captain's lips a scream of pure and unadulterated pain ripped forth.
*T*F*C*
"He's dead." Niska frowned as watched his comrade poke the captain several times. "Revive him."
"Yes, sir."
*T*F*C*
"River, take the gorram gun." Riddick growled out from behind a clenched jaw as he tried to shove the gun into her hands.
"No." She shook her head viciously as she stepped away. "No. Guns."
Another low growl rumbled in Riddick's chest. "You'll slit a man's throat, but you won't pull a trigger? Tell me, River; tell me how that makes any kind of fucked up sense."
"No. Guns." River repeated. "Blood does not wash away."
"Get a hell of a lot more of it on you when you fight with a knife."
River growled slightly herself. "She has been through this. Repetition is irksome. The price of a soul is cheapened by the gun. A blade requires skill, execution, conscious choice to take a life."
"Shoot a fucking kneecap and you won't have to make the fucking choice." Riddick spat out, frustrated. They were about to go on a suicide mission. A frontal assault on Niska's Skyplex couldn't be called anything else and the girl wouldn't even take a fucking gun. She couldn't be that good. No one was that good. Hell, he agreed with her; he preferred blades. But going in with just a handful of shivs wasn't just crazy; it was fucking stupid.
"It shouldn't be easy." River said quietly. "Your anger is rooted in fear. Fear for the girl. She will forgive it."
Riddick bit down hard on his lip while his fist clenched and unclenched. He wasn't sure right now if he wanted to strangle her or not but the urge itched at his finger tips nonetheless. He would have bitten off a retort but before the words could leave his lips River stiffened. He felt a jagged and abrupt shift in his mind; the sensation nearly painful.
"No." River breathed the word out in a whisper as she collapsed forward. Riddick caught her before she could hit the grating and he eased them both gently to the ground. Her body was lifeless; deadweight in his hands, but he could still hear the steady beat of her heart and see the rapid movement of her eyes.
"Talk to me, girl." Riddick growled low against her ear. She made no verbal response. Her fingers dug into the skin of his arms and she bit down on her lip to stop her scream from pealing out into the bay. He listened to her heart rate pick up as her breathing accelerated.
The world faded out of focus and, in that moment, the universe seemed to collapse in on itself as she felt the fragile cord be severed. She could no longer feel the captain. His screaming tore through her mind; he had joined The Flow.
"No."
Riddick tore off his goggles. Feeling no pain in his darkened bunk, his fingers roughly jerked River's chin up to look at him.
/Focus./ He pushed the single word into her mind with a fierce intensity; lacing it with emotion. Strength, concentration, calm; underlying it with anger and resolve, he wove it through her mind. His response was instinctual. He could feel the overflow of her mind and knew what she needed. It was not a request or suggestion but a command.
River felt the surge. She breathed it in. She pushed it through her mind and into her nervous system; entwining the threads of their minds together. She forced her mind to reach out further. She fell into the memories of the captain's mind creating a scent-like trail as she crossed the distance through planes unseen. Her body jerked involuntarily as the captain's did. Electricity; it coursed once more through her veins.
*T*F*C*
"Ah, Mr. Reynolds, welcome back." Niska greeted the captain's return to life cheerfully. Mal managed only a slight groan in response. "You died, Mr. Reynolds." He informed him.
"Seemed like the thing to do." Mal groaned weakly.
Niska shook his head slowly. "When you die, I can't hurt you anymore." He chided in an almost sing-song voice and shook his head at his man who held up a new, vicious-looking implement for his approval. "And I want two days at least. Minimum." He shook his head a second time at his comrade's next selection as well. "I think many people know the name Malcolm Reynolds. They know he crossed Niska. They must be reminded now what happens when you cross Niska." The corners of his lips twitched. "Yes, Ivan, I believe that is the one." He nodded pleased.
Mal managed to turn his head to take in the wicked looking blade. His eyes glazed over as they closed again. He couldn't bring himself to scream.
*T*F*C*
River sucked in a large gasp of air as her body jerked forward. Riddick did not relax his grip; grateful beyond belief that they were in his dorm and away from prying eyes. He felt her mind settle as resolve hardened it and solidify her presence.
"You with me, River?" He rumbled cautiously.
"I am." Her voice was steady but she made no move to disentangle herself from his arms.
"I?" He questioned with the slightest hint of a smirk edged around his lips.
"I." River affirmed as she reached out for the gun which had clattered to the ground when Riddick had reached for her. Tentatively, her fingers grazed the gleaming metal. It was everything she hated and feared. It was cold, mechanical; built on an assembly line and created to function as an instrument of death. Unlike a blade, a gun served one purpose. A gun was created to terminate. A blade, while lethal, was not only so. A blade could cut free restraints, slice through skin to perform surgery, slice food to nourish the body; a blade was life and death. A gun was only death; mindless and unforgiving.
"You want to explain?" Riddick asked, breaking her free from her reverie.
"He asked her once-," River began as she disentangled herself slowly from Riddick's arms, "-where was her line? She was reborn in the womb of Mother; set free by the Father's hand. She can hear him screaming now. She can feel it ripple across The Flow." Her voice reverted back to a dreamy tone. There was no emotion, only a quiet fascination, as she ran her fingers over the metal of the gun. Slowly, she wrapped her hand around it. If Riddick noticed the slight tremble of her hand, he did not remark on it. "She is what they made her."
Riddick rose to his feet and slid behind her. Wrapping his hand around hers, the one which trembled as it gripped the gun; he guided her arm up and leveled it on the doorway to his dorm. He leaned down close to her ear; his lips brushing against it.
"Us against them, River." His voice rumbled down her spine. "They didn't break you. They made you strong." The safety was still on and he pressed his finger down over top of hers and clicked the trigger. "Bang." He guided her hand an inch to the right. "Bang." He clicked the trigger down again. "Bang. It's just a pull of the trigger, River."
"Just a pull of the trigger." She breathed out.
*T*F*C*
"This gonna work?" Jayne asked cautiously as he leaned forward in the darkened bridge. Serenity was in full blackout mode. Every ship light had been shut down and the engine turbine was silent. Wash was coasting on sheer inertia. Ahead of them, the lights of the Skyplex grew ever brighter as the station loomed in the not-so-distance.
"Well, except for the comm. static I'm piping out on all frequencies, we've been completely powered down since I fired the attitude thrusters a half hour ago. We should come up on their screens as a radar glitch." He glanced nervously back out of the windshield. "If they're not looking too close." He added a bit uncomfortably.
"And if they are?" Jayne asked.
"Hell, I'm just glad we're still on course." The pilot shrugged easily.
Jayne made a sort of disgruntled snort.
"It's like throwing a dart, Jayne." Zoe rested her hand on her husband's shoulder. "And hitting a bull's eye six thousand miles away." She looked down at him with pride. "That's my man."
"You guys should get down to the bay; we'll be at their foot door in less than a minute." Wash nodded as he began flicking a series of switches. He paused momentarily to look back at his wife. "I'll be right behind you, baby."
*T*F*C*
"How's that override sequence coming?" Zoe asked Kaylee as she circled the mini-barricade one last time. Serenity's bay was dark and Simon hovered next to the mechanic holding a flashlight.
"Pretty sure this will pop their airlock doors." The mechanic answered briefly before looking back to her handheld which was wired into the airlock controls. "If Wash can make a seal on his first try... shouldn't take more than ten seconds to complete."
"You know I'm smellin' a whole lotta 'If' comin' offa this plan." Jayne grunted as he tucked a second handgun into Kaylee's waistband.
"We operate any other way?" Riddick rumbled as he tightened his thigh holster.
"Coulda stayed in your bunk." Zoe shrugged as she picked up a rifle.
"Yeah, well, shoulda, woulda, coulda." The merc smirked as he cocked Vera's bolt. The sound of his gun cocking was timed in a near perfect unison with the sounds of Serenity locking onto her target. Wash had done it. Less than thirty seconds later, the pilot was sliding down the bridge access ladder.
"We're set." He nodded to his wife as he shouldered a rifle of his own.
Zoe, in turn, nodded to Inara and Simon who were standing off on either side of the airlock door with smoke canisters at the ready. "Ok people." She cocked her gun. "If it moves, shoot it."
"Unless it's the captain." Kaylee interjected.
"Unless it's the captain." Zoe nodded once more. "ATV ready?" She shouted behind her back to Riddick and Jayne, who were firing it up.
"On you, Zo." Jayne yelled back.
"Kaylee, Riv, get ready to run." Zoe spoke without removing her eyes from the airlock door. The first mate slammed her fist down on the airlock controls.
"Do not let go of her hand." River whispered to Kaylee.
"Dontcha worry 'bout that." Kaylee whispered back, she quickly snapped her head around to Jayne, who nodded at her; she steeled herself.
*T*F*C*
Chagall tapped his monitor. An irritated sigh escaped his lips as the radar screen fizzled in and out of resolution. He tossed down the magazine he'd been flicking through and keyed up the outboard cameras; it took him a moment to process what he saw. The resulting thud as the unknown ship sealed onto the airlock shook him out of his stupor and, as the ramp slammed open, he rose and hit the alarms.
*T*F*C*
Niska's head jerked up wildly as a slight vibration rocked his station. A moment later, the alarms began to shriek. Despite his pain, or perhaps in defiance of it, the captain managed a trademark Serenity smirk. It had 'fuck you' written all over it. "You got company " he choked out. "I can come back later."
*T*F*C*
Chagall watched from behind the glass of the security booth as the smoke poured out from the airlock entry concealing the attackers from view. He breathed a sigh of relief as the corridor doors hissed open; reinforcements. His relief was short lived as the sound of a motor roared from behind the billowing smoke. He fumbled for his rifle as an ATV flew out from concealment; he had barely registered the explosives strapped to it when the explosion came; shattering the glass window of the security booth. It was inconsequential really; his next breathe was his last.
Zoe and Wash were flanked on either side by Riddick and Jayne as they stepped down from the ramp. Every step was a shot fired. Nearly every shot fired was a body that hit the ground.
"Clear!" Jayne barked and his voice was echoed by the other three as they took up positions on either side of the corridor doors. Zoe with her husband; Jayne with Riddick.
Kaylee and River were a step behind and had already been moving before the last shot had been fired. River cleared away the remnants of glass before easily vaulting over the wall and into the booth.
"Jayne, grenades." Zoe barked and she and the merc both tossed an explosive; each in the opposite direction, effectively clearing the hall.
"Third team!" Zoe ordered. The remaining three members of Serenity trotted down the ramp and took up places near the doors; weapons out. "You hold these doors. We lose this ground we lose everything." She yelled over the screeching alarms. "Hold these doors. Understand me?"
Book fired suddenly, dropping the first man in another wave which was sweeping in. "Understood."
Riddick stepped from cover, firing rapidly at the on-coming wave; Jayne yanked the pin form a grenade and lobbed it as the convict spun back into cover. "Time to move, Zoe." Riddick growled as sound of the explosion died.
*T*F*C*
"Viktor. Viktor!" Niska barked into the comm. again when no response came. "Viktor, what is the meaning of all this? Viktor!"
Mal's head rolled to the side as he listened to the gunshots and screeching alarms; something inside of him roared to life as the two men turned their backs on him. He was pushing himself up before his mind caught up with his body. The recently resuscitated man forced his legs off the table as his hand wrapped around the device which had nearly succeeded in killing him and, with what the preacher would have deemed a sinful amount of satisfaction; he slammed the device dead center into the back of his torturer. The man released a guttural scream of pain before dropping to his knees. Mal helped him find his way to the floor.
When Niska turned at the sound of the scream, the first spike of fear he had felt in nearly twenty years coursed through his body. This man before him truly was Malcolm Reynolds. He was sorry he had ever gone looking.
Mal swung; he felt his knuckles break; but the louder crunch of bone was the old man's jaw. The captain was beyond feeling pain now; all he saw was red; all he felt was red. "You want to meet the real me now?" He growled out as the old man cowered on the floor whimpering.
*T*F*C*
"They're good." Kaylee shouted at River over the sound of gunfire coming from the entryway as her fingers flew across the keys. The alarms died and, all across the ship, security cameras shut down and personnel found themselves locked down as Kaylee sealed up as many parts of the Skyplex as she could without blocking the path of the crew. "That's all I can give them." She added once her work was completed.
River did not reply; she merely gave a slight nod of her head as her eyes restless tracked around the airlock entryway. She vaulted back over the low wall and extended a hand to Kaylee. They were less than twenty paces from the others when River's world exploded.
*T*F*C*
Team One moved with military precision; two fired, while two reloaded behind cover. Around them the alarms died but that did little to stop the onslaught of gunfire that seemed to pin them down every time they managed to gain another meter. They were pinned down behind a stack of crating; sharing cover between that and the edge of a wall. It seem as though, for every man they dropped, two more seemed to materialize in his place.
"Gorramit!" Jayne growled as a bullet grazed his bicep. He hardly felt the heated sting. "The hell with this." He gritted out and rolled from cover to throw it.
"Jayne!" Riddick roared as he spun out behind the merc to grab him. He threw his entire body weight down as a spray of automatic fire riddled the crates Wash and Zoe were crouched behind. The first mate swore as she hurled the dropped grenade over their cover.
The quick explosion was practically useless as the projectile exploded midway. It did, however, provide enough of a distraction for Jayne to get back onto his feet and reload. Riddick rolled himself away and back behind full cover. The smear of blood left behind on the grating went unnoticed under the incessant assault of gunfire. Vaguely, Riddick was aware of heat spreading throughout his torso as he pushed himself back up to his knees. The lines of his vision blurred as he fumbled his gun and it clattered to the grating.
Fuck it. He thought to himself. He'd take the gorram hun dans (bastards) with his shiv and one hand tied behind his back. Time seemed to slow as his body moved as though it was underwater. His motions were heavy and lethargic; his senses dulled. He was aware of the others firing; a part of his mind registered Jayne rolling back out from cover to empty a full clip as the merc pressed forward. They were moving. He had to get to his feet.
Riddick inhaled sharply; a snarl moving through his lips as he felt himself stand. Each breath burned like fire through his lungs and it took a severe amount of concentration to raise his left leg to step forward. His foot hit the grating and he felt his knees buckle beneath him. He gripped his shiv tighter; commanding his body to move forward. It did. Forward and down. There was the sensation of falling as he hit the grating hard once more.
"Riddick!" Zoe barked without looking back; her head jerked, motioning him forward to the next line of cover. There was no reply. She turned in time to watch the convict fall forward; shiv clutched tightly in his hand. Shock rippled through her as the man rolled over onto his back and gasped for air. She couldn't see the bloodstain which had blossomed its way across Riddick's tank, he wore black for that particular reason, but she didn't need to. The quickly forming pool of blood around him told her everything she needed to know. "Jayne!"
"A little busy, Zo!" the merc yelled back without turning to look at her. He holstered one handgun and pulled another from his hip; there was no time to reload.
"Jayne, it's Riddick!"
The merc's head did whirl around at that and the sight caused a sharp intake of breath. Why the fuck was Riddick on the ground bleeding? The merc hesitated only a second, waiting for it to happen; waiting for the man he knew was slightly more than a man to stand up glowing all freakishly blue. It didn't happen. Jayne fired as he walked backwards to get to Zoe and Riddick. He tore the last grenade off his belt as he knelt next to Zoe and lobbed it.
Zoe yanked Wash down and Jayne shielded Riddick as the explosion rocked the hall; the gunfire from the opposing side ceased. "Doc!" Jayne roared over his comm.
A low, weak growl rumbled past the convict's lips; a rivulet of blood dribbled its way out as he tried to speak. He couldn't understand why they were crouched over top of him. There was shit to do. His fingers twitched around his shiv; his wrist flicked and the blade was impaled into the grating as if he was using it to try to push himself up. The movement caused a fresh wave of pain to sear through his body. He tried to focus it. He tried to channel it. He tried to roll himself back and use whatever it was that had gotten him up on his feet on Ariel; but even Shirah was silent.
/River./ The thought forced itself out and with it the convict's eyes fluttered closed.
*T*F*C*
River faltered and jerked Kaylee backwards at her abrupt stop. Pain seared through her torso; phantom blood bubbled up from her lips.
"River!" Kaylee yelled, as she tried to tug her forward.
River did not hear her.
"Doc!" Jayne's voice roared through the comm and echoed into the airlock entry. River heard the yell more clearly then her own heartbeat.
Reality shifted.
"I can save him."
River jerked her head back wildly at the sound of her own voice echoing from outside her own lips. As her head moved, her environment shifted. The Skyplex seemed to bleed away and her blood turned to ice in her veins as stark white walls built themselves around her; three walls of white and one a solid mirror. Where the eyes lurked.
"You're pathetic." River's eyes landed on the source of her stolen voice. Despite the colder tone to it, despite the controlled rage which lined every syllable, she knew it was hers; just as she knew the girl who stood before her now. She was taller, only slightly, and leaner. Her musculature was more defined. The silk ribbons braided into her hair were black. She wore leather, worn and, in some places, blood crusted the edges. The girl leaned against the mirrored wall with contempt laced across her features. "Weak." The girl pushed herself off the wall and strode towards River. She circled the Girl; a sneer plastered across her face. "They'll all die. And then where will we be? Cowering in some fucking corner, pulling our eyelashes out."
"This isn't real." River whispered.
The Killer laughed; it was a giggle. It was the sound of blood bubbling from lips laced with the chiming of a thousand bells. It was intoxicating; seductive. "We are what they made us. Let me out to play, Girl."
"You won't give her back." River shrank back; she was afraid of this woman. This woman was the bringer of blood and death. "Lies and deceptions. Blood and secrets. That's what you are. You won't give the Girl the body back. You're a taker. They made you."
"They made us." The Killer hissed. Her arm snapped down and a blade retracted from her sleeve with a hiss which mimicked her tone. "He'll die. We can feel him. We can feel the breath leaving his body. I won't give him up. I'm asking now, Girl. I will take if you make me."
"He doesn't want you!" River shrieked. "Wants the whole; not the parts."
"That's why I'm asking." The Killer growled."Don't make me take."
"You'll give her back." It wasn't a question.
"You give me the body when we need it; I will give it back when we're through."
"You'll stop pushing. You'll stop taking."
/River./ The sound of Riddick's mind broke through their minds. Both woman released a cry, fell to their knees, and gripped the sides of their head as though they were mirror images. They locked eyes.
"I will." The Killer gritted out; the two words were a force of rage unto themselves and The Girl felt it ripple through her spine and strengthen her resolve. "We promised." The Killer reminded her.
/I won't make you kill, River, I won't be a Taker. But if the time comes, I gotta know you're with me. I gotta know you'll come after my ass, just like I do yours./
/She will. This is Dao./
The Girl felt the memory be forced to the forefront of her mind. She looked up; the lethal intensity in her eyes mirrored the Killer's. "Done."
Reality shifted.
"River!" Kaylee tugged on River's wrist again to try and get her moving.
River's head snapped up; her eyes darker, focused; she released Kaylee's hand as if the contact had burned her.
"River?" Kaylee's voice trembled as she took a step back.
River's head snapped back viciously. "Hold this ground." She pulled the gun from the holster on her thigh and crossed the distance that remained between herself and her brother.
"River!" Book and Simon shouted in unison as she stepped past them and spun out across the hall. Her back slammed into the wall as she pressed herself against it and used a thin beam as her only cover. She glanced around the bar.
"Don't look." She spoke seemingly to herself as she closed her eyes and once more spun from cover. Bang. Bang. Bang. It was just a rapid fire of the trigger.
"River " She heard her brother call her cautiously and she opened her eyes. Three new corpses littered the ground.
"Doc, move your ass!" Jayne's voice roared over the comms.
Simon didn't have time to response. River grabbed him by his wrist and yanked him into the hall. She hesitated only long enough to glare at the Shepherd. "Hold this ground." She repeated the order but did not wait for a reply.
*T*F*C*
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Bullet in the brainpan. Squish.
Simon's eyes widen as his sister giggled. At the moment, Dr. Tam and Simon were warring for control. Someone was down and bleeding; River was going to get him there in time, and that was all that mattered. On the other hand, his sister was firing a gun as though it was an extension of her body. Every shot was a lethal one. She moved with fluidity; there was no hesitation or remorse. He was terrified and fascinated at the same time. He didn't have time to argue with himself, however, as River lead him around a blind corner and Riddick's prone form came into view.
He felt his stomach sink for a brief moment as he braced himself for River's breakdown. The sound of her gun firing shook him into reality and he was skidding across the floor swinging his med-kit to his front in the next breath.
"Talk to me, Zoe." He ordered; there was no hesitation left in him.
"What the hell are you doing here, girl?" Jayne snapped as River flanked him and pressed her back up against the wall.
River didn't answer. Objective One had been completed. The job was not finished; getting Simon to Riddick would serve no purpose if they were still overrun. The Killer was not done yet. She glanced around the merc's body; memorizing angles and trajectories; processing information at a speed which would have rivaled the Alliance's greatest super computers.
"I can seal the bullet holes." Simon rushed as he slammed a fresh cartridge into a liquid skin applicator. "It will stop the bleeding and buy me enough time to get him back to the ship." Dr. Tam looked up to hold Zoe's gaze. "I can't carry him myself."
River acknowledged her brother's words. "Get him back to Mother." She gritted out to Jayne. She didn't wait for him to protest; she yanked a spare gun from his thigh holster and spun out from cover.
Bang. Bang.
Spin.
Step.
One. Two. Three.
Wall. Kick off.
Bang. Bang.
Forty-five degrees.
The speed of a bullet.
The force of artificial gravity.
Bang. Bang.
Spin.
Discard weapon.
Blade. Thigh.
Spin. Shoot. Leap.
Slash.
River landed in a defensive crouch; her right hand still clenched a gun in its grip; her left the blade. A single bead of blood dripped from its sharpened tip as she pulled herself upright. The corridor was silent. Zoe, Wash, and Jayne openly gaped; seemingly frozen in time by what they had witnessed. Simon was the only one not focused on her. His attention was centered around stabilizing Riddick as he wrapped pressure bandages around the freshly sealed bullet wounds.
River could feel their shock, touched by awe, and edged by fear. Her hand trembled slightly under the weight of their stares. They were afraid of her.
"Jayne!" It was Simon that brought the trio out of their haze and not a moment too soon. As their attention shifted away from her, River felt herself resettle beneath her skin. She dropped her gun; it was empty and no longer served a purpose. "Jayne, I need you to help me get him back to the ship." Simon urged the merc.
Jayne looked to Zoe who nodded. "Get him back, we'll go after Mal." The first mate's eyes shot towards River and the girl returned the woman's question with a slight nod.
Jayne nodded and shoved Vera to his back as he bent down to throw Riddick over his shoulder.
"River-," Simon called quickly. "Mei-mei-"
"Go." She cut him off and he nodded, turning on his heel to fall into step behind Jayne.
"Ammo check." Zoe barked to her husband.
"You don't want to know. I got less than two clips." The pilot rushed, breaking free of his own trance. River yanked a new gun from one of the guards bodies; choosing a compact handgun rather than the large rifle she knew had too much of a kick for her to fire properly. Force was nonessential if aim and speed were impeccable.
"It will be enough." River informed them. "It is time to move."
"Lead the way River." Zoe popped a fresh clip into her own weapon; River could feel fresh waves of respect and determination rush off the older woman. She didn't want to know how or why. She knew River could shoot, she knew she could kill, and she knew they were getting the captain back. That was all that mattered.
"By all means, psychics first." Wash nodded with a slightly nervous tic to his voice. He would process this all later; now was not the time.
*T*F*C*
Mal was staggering; it didn't stop him from throwing a right cross which sent Niska flying through the door of the torture room and into his office. The old man crawled his way desperately along the grating only to be ripped off the floor by the back of his collar.
"How do you like the real me?" Mal growled out as he sent Niska flying into his desk. The stained glass lamp, Niska's treasured Earth-that-was artifact smashed onto the ground, shattering into dozens of pieces. He didn't have the time to mourn its loss as he felt the captain's hands wrap around his throat. "I paid you back." Mal gritted out. "We were square." He slammed Niska's head into the desktop; cracking the built-in computer screen. "People gotta know what happens when they cross my crew." Mal cocked back his right arm, ready to deliver another blow to the old man's face, and he heard the footstep behind him too late. A length of barbed metal wire tightened around his throat and Mal was ripped off of Niska.
"Kill him, Ivan!" Niska choked, forcing air into his lungs. He did not wait for his order to be executed. He fumbled for a button beneath his desk; the bookshelf behind him hissed open and he ducked into the hidden passage.
Mal latched his hands onto the arms which held the barbed wire whip around his neck and struggled furiously. Every breath burned and darkness began to creep around the edges of his vision. Ivan was too strong; he wasn't going to be able to break his grip. Mal threw all of his weight back in an attempt to knock the man off balance; he was unaware they were struggling in front of one of the large glass windows which overlooked the core shaft. Glass shattered as they fell through it; neither man giving notice to the large gashes the broken shards had torn into their bodies.
Mal was thrown over Ivan's head as they fell; breaking the man's grip, he struggled to his feet, taking a blow to the jaw for the effort. The captain attempted to counter but was knocked back again and found himself precariously teetering over the ledge of the core shaft.
"Haven't you killed me enough for one day? !" Mal spat out as he fought to tear the man's hands off his throat.
*T*F*C*
"Get him on the table!" Simon barked as he tore through the infirmary doors. "Book, can you hook up an IV?"
"I can manage." The preacher's voice was steady and he moved for the equipment without a moment's hesitation. He was no medic, but he'd been in enough firefights to know the basics of triage.
"Get it done!" Simon ordered.
"Doc-," Jayne started as he shifted nervously. Riddick had taken those bullets for him but he was useless in the infirmary and outside the ship the fight was still raging.
"Go, Jayne!" Simon didn't even bother to look up as he began ripping away the first of the pressure bandages.
"The girls won't be able to hold the doors themselves." Book affirmed.
Jayne didn't need any further reason, he turned on his heel and headed for the bay at a full on run.
"He's lost a lot of blood." Simon was speaking but Book knew he wasn't addressing him. "I'm going to need to do a transfusion. There's a blood typing kit in the right cabinet."
*T*F*C*
River was the first through the door; Zoe and Wash fanned out on either side of her, their eyes and guns landing immediately on the smashed window. River, however, was more focused on the passage way beside the bookcase. She was not needed here; but nothing escaped The Flow of The River.
"This is something the Captain has to do himself." Zoe stopped her husband from pulling the trigger. River thought it was a particularly idiotic thing for anyone to say or think; she did not voice her opinion. Instead, she took a step back and towards the passageway behind Niska's desk. The Killer had business to attend to.
Wash lowered his gun slightly.
"No! No, he doesn't!" Mal yelled as he planted his boot into Ivan's kneecap, breaking the hold on his neck.
"Oh." Zoe smirked and fired. She and Wash didn't stop until they had emptied what remained of their clips.
"Help!" Mal cried out as Ivan's massive body crumpled on top of him.
"Sorry about that, sir." Zoe grinned as she and Wash pulled the corpse off of a floundering Mal.
"'Bout time ya'll showed up." The captain grumbled. "Where's everybody else?"
"The others are holding the ship. Riddick took a bad hit." Zoe grunted as she and Wash pulled Mal up between them and helped him back over the window ledge.
"Less talkie, more walkie." Wash joked; his feeble grin faded completely as he looked around the room. "Where's River?"
"Whaddya mean where's River?" Mal's voice rose. "You let her off the ship?"
*T*F*C*
River slid down the elevator cables; landing with a near inaudibly thud. She cracked the ventilation grate open using a blade from her boot and dropped into the car. It was a maintenance tunnel; the corridor outside the elevator was dimly lit. She did not require light. The careless beat of her quarry's footsteps gave away his position. He was moving slowly; nearly blind in the semi-darkness. She closed her eyes and focused her mind; her awareness narrowed. She raised her gun and fired a single shot.
A scream of pain ripped down the corridor; a dark smirk curled around River's lips as she allowed her footfalls to echo. She ran the butt of the gun along the metal walls; it shrieked a warning as she walked. He was panicking now; trying to claw his way forward on the floor; the shattered kneecap prevented him from standing. His fear permeated her skin; she drank it in.
*T*F*C*
"It's wrong." Simon risked a glance up at the test card only long enough to frown and go back to work. Riddick shouldn't have still been breathing; the amount of blood that he had lost so far should have killed him long before they made it back to the ship.
"It's the third test." The preacher deadpanned.
The implications whirled through Simon's head but he forced them into a distant part of his mind. "In the freezer." He jerked his head slightly to the left as she plucked another shard of metal from Riddick's stomach. "River's O neg. I took a liter from her before Ariel just in case."
"Is that going to even work?" Book asked, though he didn't hesitate to do as Simon had ordered.
"We don't have any choice; O neg's universal. It doesn't matter what his blood type is. Hook up the line."
*T*F*C*
"Are you familiar with the writings of Shan Yu?" River questioned; her head cocked slightly to the left; the tone of her voice foreign and heavily accented.
Niska could only gape at the slender young woman standing over him.
"Sadistic crap legitimized by florid prose." She raised her gun. "You are neither a scholar nor a philosopher. You are neither warrior nor poet."
Niska swallowed hard, "What am I?" He didn't know why he asked the question; in the final moments of his life it seemed appropriate to ask.
River fired. "Dead." The gun fell from her hand. "Nothing in the 'Verse." She whispered.
Reality shifted.
"Nothing in the 'Verse." The Girl's head jerked up at the sound of the voice that was hers but wasn't. She raised her eyes to see the Killer once more causally leaned against the wall. A bloodied handprint was left behind as she pushed herself off.
"You ain't broken, girl. You're better; we're better. We're stronger and smarter and faster than all the other fucks out there. Universe is ours, River-girl, ain't nothing or nobody capable of standing in our way. You proved that tonight, girl."
Their eyes did not break contact as The Killer forced the memory of the night on Canton to the forefront of her mind. Riddick's graveled voice rolled over her skin as though his arms were around her and his head lowered to her ear.
"That's my girl." He smirked wickedly at her before forcing her head to turn once more by guiding it with his own. He inhaled deeply and his words dripped like honey from his mouth. "Nothing in the 'Verse, River. Let them try and come, girl. This is what happens when somebody tries to cross us."
Reality shifted.
River threw up. The stench of piss and blood in the poorly ventilated maintenance passage was nearly overwhelming. It clotted in her nostrils and clung to her skin; she choked it up. Tears burned in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. She pushed herself back onto her feet. She closed her eyes against the sight of death and her mind against the sound of it. She pushed herself outward. Her feet followed the trail her mind located and, as she passed by the elevator shaft, her pace picked up until she was sprinting.
