Fragile By Proxii Bleu
XI
"Hold it right there!" said Mal as he pointed the .45 at the figure standing in the darkness of the hallway. The lamp in his room wasn't much for light so the place was bordered with shadows and odd tricks of the eye. The person in the corridor swayed slightly, and then pitched forward suddenly into the room. It happened faster than Mal could fire, but as they rolled down the stairs to where he stood he was glad that he didn't.
Kaylee gasped like a fish out of water, her chest stained with red as she reached up for Mal. Long fingers dried with shades of crimson and brown held onto his leg as she tried to heft herself up from the floor, but there wasn't enough strength left in her body. Rivulets ran down the corners of her mouth, and after being in combat Mal knew that he was looking at a woman who was dead, but too gorram stubborn to give in to reality.
"Captain..." her voice was a dry wheeze, River knelt beside her friend and peered into her eyes. The small girl's hands tightening as she peered into Kaylee's eyes, Mal watched the scene unfold before him, but was unprepared for the unholy shriek that erupted from River's throat. In her mind she saw Niska gun down Kaylee and Jordan who was still alive outside of the cockpit, but wouldn't be for much longer.
She could see her brother lying in the drug-induced slumber on the floor, and feel Wash's anguish as he held Zoe in his arms crying and praying that she and their little one not yet born would be all right. All if this in the blink of an eye, all of the emotions, the pain, and terror that emenated from everyone including the three in the shuttle. River let out another shriek, and then stood. Her face blank as she stared at the door.
Mal pushed around her, and picked Kaylee up off of the floor. Carefully he laid her on the bed, and wrapped her in the blankets.
"Kaylee can you hear me?" The engineer's eyes were starting to glaze over, but they immediately focused when she heard the captain's voice. She had no strength to speak, only writhe as the pain laced through her chest.
"Kaylee I want you to try and hang on okay? I'm going to go get Simon, and I'm going to get rid of Niska. You think you can hold on till then?" Kaylee somehow managed to shake her head. Mal pushed a few strands of red hair out of her face, and grimaced when he realized that it was darker than usual due to the amount of blood in it.
"No, you don't give up okay? You just hang tight, and I'll be right back. Now you just concentrate on staying alive." Mal got up from next to the bed, and turned to see River picking up another one of his guns. He moved to stop her, but paused when he saw her assemble the weapon, load it, and cock it as if she had been doing it all of her life.
"River give me that." The youngest of the Tam siblings easily sidestepped Mal, and ran up the stairs into the hall.
"River get back here."
"She understands, she comprehends, but he doesn't." Mal just gaped at her. River let out a hard sigh. "I will lead you through the darkness into the light, the vulture does not like the light, but you seek it. You must keep the vulture in the darkness until I can lead you to the light."
"You mean safety?" River chewed on the edge of her lip.
"You are like Simon."
"In what way?" asked Mal as he came to stand next to her in the dark corridor. River smiled, and shook her head.
"You are both idiots."
***
"You think Niska is going to kill him slow or fast?" One of the larger and uglier of the two thugs who were accopanying Niska, looked over at his companion as they stood guard outside of the medbay door. Inside Simon was still unconscious on the floor, but he hadn't recieved as large a dose of hyprovaline as Selma. As a result it was likely that he was going to come to at any minute. Now while Niska had said that he personally wasn't going to kill the boy, he hadn't said anything about his men.
"I think Niska is going to kill him slow," said the other. "Make him scream for about three weeks before he puts him out." The other laughed drily, and looked in on Simon.
"You think we should blow his head off while he's out?"
"Naw, let him get up first. I like seeing the look on their faces when they get that first hole blowed in them."
"You gonna do the kneecaps first?"
"Hands, you do the kneecaps, I told you I'd let ya get the next one."
"Shiny." In the medbay Simon lay on the floor staring at the reflection of the overhead lights in the linoleum. He could hear the two mercenaries talking, and decided to concentrate hard on looking like he was unconscious. Earlier they had used him for a punching bag. Kicking him in his ribs, stoping on various parts of his body, and generally abusing him to the point where he had been unable to stop moaning. Fortunately for him that didn't count to the two thugs as being awake, just 'softening up'.
Closing his eyes again lest the pain started getting worse, and he once more cried out Simon tried to think of something other than the two angels of death outside his door. Normally, he didn't care much for the man, but right now Simon really wished that Jayne was there.
"He look awake to you?" Simon mentally cursed, and went limp. The other man peered in at him.
"Wiggly, but not awake. Probably from being all busted up from that beatin' we gave him."
"Want to beat him some more?"
"Sure." The uglier thug made to walk in the medbay when he heard a noice off to his left. Turning around he flicked on the small flashlight he carried with him, and tried to see whatever it was that had caused the disturbance. In the corridor a small mouse ran through the light of his beam, and disappeared. His companion snickered.
"What's wrong? Scared of a little mouse."
"Shaddap." The thugs glared at each other for a few seconds before another noise, this time louder startled the both of them.
"Niska, that you?"
"No." A flash of yellow fire exloded in the darkness, the bang coinciding with the uglier of the two men's knees erupting into a blaze of red. Screaming he went down to the floor, his gun skittering off into the gloom, while his friend fired madly down into the corridor. There was no-one there.
"Oh God! I'm dead." The other merc turned his gun on his partner, and shot him through the side of his head. The last thing he needed was some idiot screaming his head off when he was trying to listen.
"Now you're dead." Walking into the medbay he kicked at Simon until his eyes flew open. Above him the infidel who had broken his ankle by stomping on him glared down at him from behind his gun.
"Get up."
"I can't," Wheezed Simon. "My ankle's broken." The merc kicked him square in the jaw.
"I said get up!" Slowly, Simon got onto all fours, and made an effort to try and stand. He was in more pain than when he had been shot, and he could feel the ends of the bones grinding together as he tried to obey the merc. Looking up, he tried to think of a way to bargain with the man when he let out a sharp cry, and grabbed at the back of his neck. Falling forward, Simon managed to dive out of the way as the large man crashed to the floor. Sticking up in the air was a large syringe, a bottle of hyprovaline rolling about on the floor as it slipped out of River's hands.
"Oh my God, River." Simon tried to get up to reach her, but all he could do was slump uselessly against the cabinets behind him. His sister just stared at him silently, before turning to peer out into the gloom.
"The vulture sends more wolves this way, but they will not enter." River stepped out into the gloom, and then reappeared dragging someone. The breath rushed out of Simon's lungs as Kaylee was dumped into the medbay. While Mal had gone off in search of Niska, River had doubled-back, and retrieved Kaylee from his room. The engineer was barely alive, her pulse beyond faint, and her breathing raspy as her lungs tried to draw in precious air. Crawling across the floor, Simon quickly evaluated her.
"What happened?"
"The vulture shot her." Simon looked up at Selma who was merely sleeping on the bed, and with a strength he didn't know he had the doctor moved her to the floor. Scooping up Kaylee he laid her on the bed, and hastily began looking around for supplies.
"River, hand me that-" River was gone, the door to the medbay shutting behind her. "RIVER!"
"You're safer in there Simon, the vulture can't come in with his wolves."
"RIVER COME BACK!"
"I will when the vulture is gone." Simon watched her go for a second, and then turned back to Kaylee. Her life was in his hands.
***
"What happened?" Niska stared hard at his henchman who had come running to him with news of what had happened to his other goons. It had been three months of hard planning for the day when he caught up the Malcolm Reynolds, and he had no intention of having anything or anyone spoil his plans.
"Joe went apeshit and blew Hal's head off, and now he's locked in the medbay with the doctor."
"What is the doctor doing now?"
"Cuttin' up that girl you pumped a shell in earlier." Niska pursed his lips, and looked up at the ceiling. The good doctor had been beat within the inch of his life the last he'd seen him, which meant that someone had to have distracted Hal and Joe long enough to allow whatever-his-name-was to get the upper hand.
"Is all of the crew accounted for?"
"Yes, guests included." Niska looked down at the floor as he paced. No, that didn't make sense. The guests were accounted for, he knew that Mal was just one deck above him continuing his search, and- Niska paused as he picked up on another player in the game. He thought back to Simon's reaction earlier when Joe had drugged him, he had been trying to escape the merc in order to get to something. A girlfriend? No, she was lying under his knife. A relative, perhaps a sibling? Ah yes, a sister, but where was she. Niska frowned. Never in his life had he been unable to tell where someone was, he always knew, understood how their mind worked, and figure out how to counteract their next move. He could tell that River was somewhere, but just as soon as he had detected her she was gone.
The old man smiled to himself as he turned over the new little piece of data in his mind. This could prove to be a very challenging little interruption to his plan, one that would be hard to remove, but not impossible to dispose of.
"Keep an eye out for anyone that isn't confined. Shoot them on sight, but leave Captain. Reynolds alone. I want to deal with him personally." The man left Niska alone in the cargo bay, the older man muttering to himself as he made plans for destruction.
XII
"We're going to die in here." Book looked over at Inara who was lying on her bed with a dark look on her face. It wasn't often that the Companion was morose, but there was something in her eyes that showed a level of sadness that he hadn't seen in her before.
"I don't see how, the bomb is on the outside of the door, we're in here. At most I don't think whoever installed it is likely to come looking to see if we've set it off." Inara toyed with the edge of the cover on her bed. How many times had she slept in it with someone else? Serviced lonely men who wanted her only for one thing, just like he had when she was young? Inara closed her eyes to the sea of bad memories, and rolled onto her side.
"In the end Shepard, we all die. Even when we are alive we die small deaths until there is nothing left but a shell, and as that shell ages it welcomes an end to emptiness it has always felt."
"You're startin' to sound like the doctor's ruttin's sister." said Jayne who was still trying to figure a way to get at the bomb to deactivate it. He couldn't open the door no more than a quarter-inch crack, and that didn't give him much room to work with.
"If you ever listen to her Jayne like Wash, Mal, and Kaylee have you'll see that her words make sense."
"So what? You really are all sad inside?" Inara smirked.
"We are all sad Jayne, I'd like to be alone now." With that the Companion rose from her seat on her bed, and wandered into the cockpit where she shut herself in. Book stared at her retreating form, but knew that speaking to her was not likely to be productive. He had his suspicions about her, but until something happend to confirm them there was no reason to say anything.
"Women on this ship get stranger by the day. Zoe's knocked up, River's got Mal figurin' out her nonsense, Inara's all messed up in her head, Little Kaylee's got her panties in a bunch over that ruttin doctor, and Wash got all these ideas about manhood." Book raised an eyebrow.
"Wash isn't a woman Jayne." The mercenary looked over his shoulder at the Shepard.
"Preacher, I hate to break it to ya, but there's only one person wearin' pants in that mess, and it ain't Wash."
"Just because Zoe is a strong, dominant woman doesn't mean Wash is feminine. It just means that-"
"What?" Book was saved from having to try and supply an answer by the door to the shuttle sliding open. Outside stood River with the deactivated bomb in one hand, and Jayne's gun Vera in the other. The two men looked at one another for a second, and then at the girl.
"The vulture smells my blood, but he cannot smell yours. It is not what he wants. I need you to kill the vulture." Jayne looked as River dropped Vera at his feet.
"River?" The girl looked over at Book, and narrowed her eyes. Some instinct told the Shepard that she was lucid, but currently she was acting like her abnormal self.
"You need to stop being a Shepard, you need to be a hunter. Those hollow words will not help you in the darkness, but they may help the women in the hole." Book shook his head at Jayne who was looking at him for an explanation.
"River, I don't know what you mean." The girl just glared at him before walking into the room, and searching for something. She picked up a charred incense stick, and scribbled a message on the wall: Wash and Zoe. Book looked at the girl, and then at the second gun lying on the floor.
She knew.
Cautiously he walked over and picked it up. The stony glare disappeared, replaced by a large smile. Jayne headed out into the gloom, leaving Book with River who was already heading back out into the corridor.
"River?" she turned to look at him, her brown eyes dancing as she took in the Shepard.
"I know," she said softly. "But you have light in you, like the light in your words. Not darkness like the blue hands, not emptiness, or hate. You are a Shepard Book, it means more about you than your other name could ever say." With that she disappeared, leaving the older man standing there wondering about what she had said.
Jayne was right. That girl was just ruttin crazy sometimes.
***
Jordan was only vaguely aware of someone dragging him. Their steps were even, unhurried, and strong as they towed him down the hall to somewhere. He had no sense of time anymore, no ability to discern pain from numbness as he was dumped into a white room, and left there comforted only by the hiss of the door closing. He could hear the steady beep of some instrument, and the worried voice of someone who was picking him up off of the floor. For some reason he had a feeling that everything would be all right.
***
"Zoe?" Wash sat on the bed next to his wife who was lying curled up on her side trying to think of something other than the pain that she was feeling. The good news was that Niska's kick had been high, hitting her in the ribs instead of her stomach, but she knew that if any of her injuries worsened she was at risk for losing her baby.
"What honey?"
"Are you bleeding or anything?"
"No, nothing going on down there that shouldn't be."
"Okay." Silence stretched between them. From time to time Wash would look over at the door to their room, at the gun on the floor, and back again. Zoe knew what he was thinking about, but Wash was a pilot not a soldier. He wouldn't last five minutes against one of Niska's men, but she didn't tell him so. It would only cause her husband to want to go out and prove her wrong, and then she would be a widow.
"I'm a little thirsty."
"Huh? Oh." Wash went into the bathroom, and then returned with a little glass of water. Carefully he helped Zoe sit up and take a few sips before helping her lie bck down on the bed.
"What do you think is going on out there?"
"I don't know it's quiet."
"You think Mal got him?"
"If Mal had gotten him, then he would have let us know by now." The couple's heads snapped around as the door to their room opened, and Book walked down the stairs.
"Shepard?" Book looked over at Zoe who was curled up on the bed.
"River let Jayne and myself out of the shuttle after someone had locked us in with a 10-17-A concussion grenade. I haven't seen the rest of the crew, but from what I could gather they're pretty much safe. What about you?"
"Niska kicked me in the ribs, but he missed the baby. I can't breathe hardly." Book shut the door again, and walked over to the bed. Carefully with Wash's help he uncurled her, and poked at the bruised area carefully.
"Yep, they're broken. We need to get you to the medbay."
"You need to stay where you are." All three looked up at the ceiling where River was peering at them through a grate covering part of the air circulation system. "The vulture is hunting, he will strike you down if he sees you. It safer in the hole, the Shepard will protect you."
"River you need to go hide." said Zoe weakly. The girl shook her head adamantly.
"Mal needs me to lead him into the light, or the darkness with consume him." With that she disappeared leaving Zoe, Wash, and Book standing alone in the dark bedroom.
"Wash, do you know what she said?" The pilot looked at the other two and just shrugged.
"Not really, but if you'd like my guess I'd say Niska is humped."
XIII
"PSIOPS, Niska, telepaths, and Zoe's pregnant all in a week." Mal slipped along the darkened corridors of Serenity looking for Niska. Already he had taken out three of the older man's goons, but one could never be sure that there wasn't another hiding somewhere like a hog in a hole. Reynolds knew that his nemesis was taunting him, playing one of his sick litle games before he either pumped a bullet into the back of Mal's head, or spent the next few weeks torturning him until death would be a welcome release.
Either option wasn't acceptable. Mal needed to live for his crew, for the sheer pleasure of being satsified with each rub he gave the Alliance, and strangely enough for Inara. He didn't know why he was even thinking about the Companion, after all if one looked at it she was nothing more than a high-priced whore, but when he took in everything that he had heard about her from River, and the fact that there were times when the younger woman would just seemingly shut down he knew that there was more behind her choice of profession than what she was saying.
Of course there were other possibilities, but Mal hadn't met a Companion yet that had become one out of sheer enchantment with the job. Many came from broken homes, the streets, or in some cases from families that looked good on the outside but were just downright ugly on the in.
For some reason Mal was inclined to believe that it might be something akin to the latter, but unless Inara said something he would never have any real way of knowing. Well, he did, but River was prone to speaking in riddles, and most of the time seemed content to roam around the ship in a daze.
Simon called it 'adjusting', Mal called it 'spacing out'. However, River was unusually lucid for once. Since Jubal Early and Selma Ennes there had been a shift in her personality, one that was significat enough to make Mal wonder whether or not she was better, and just playing the part of the abnormal sister.
At any rate, he knew for a fact that there was damage to whatever part of her brain allowed her to speak. Just watching her he could see the frustration and confusion on her face as her words were mixed up, and transformed into a strange jumble that had to be interpreted before it could be understood. After talking with Ennes, Simon had suggested that when they cut into her brain they had damaged her frontal lobe, but without a scanner he had now way of knowing for sure. He hadn't bothered to check for that when they were on Ariel. Either way she wasn't as frail as she used to be, there was a strength to her now, and Mal wondered just how much stronger she was going to get as the darkness fell from her.
A noise sounded from his left, causing Mal to turn sharply, and peer down into the gloom. He didn't see anything, but instinct told him that there was something there.
"Who's there?"
"Nobody." Mal let out a sigh as River stepped out of the gloom. Her eyes peering into the captain's as she dropped something at his feet. It was a jumbled maze of wires, boards, and relays.
"River what did you do?"
"They are here, the hunters are here, but the vulture will strike them down before they can ever touch me."
"Huh? Wait, what did you do?"
"I broke their ship, I made them come to me, and now the vulture will go to them." Mal opened his mouth to say something else when he heard a commotion coming from the cargo bay. Motioning for River to be quiet, Mal slunk through the corridors, until he came to the catwalk. Standing back in the corner where he couldn't be easily seen, Reynolds peered down over the edge into the wide expanse. Three men stood talking amongst themselves heatedly, their words drifting up to where the two stowaways were hiding.
"Whoever sabotaged us knew what they were doing, our navigation controls are gone, and we have lost our aniti-gravity generators."
"Could it have been one of the crew of this...vessel?" The third man in the black suit appeared to be in charge, his features almost emotionless as he spoke.
"No, it appears they have been neutralized. This level of damage could only have been done by someone who was familiar with our systems, our recon has 761A-367 on this ship with her brother."
"Ensure that the crew is neutralized, I don't want the same nonsense as on Ariel. When you're done retrieve 761A-367 and her brother...alive." Mal turned to go when River pulled from him and walked calmly to the edge of the catwalk. Yelling silently he tried to catch her, but his fingers only snagged on the hem of her dress.
"I am not a number." she said loudly. All three of the men looked up at River, the two lackeys were shocked, while the man in the black suit just smiled at her.
"761A-367, or should I say River Tam? Are you ready to end this foolishness and come back to where you belong? If you do, I promise that no one will be harmed." River shook her head.
"You're lying I can see that. The ocean is calmer now that you no longer control the waters. I am starting to see the forest from the trees, and I prefer to stay here where I can see what you are afraid to look upon." The man walked closer to the catwalk, his head titled on an odd angle as he looked back into the shadows.
"Do you think that Captain Reynolds can protect you? We have known where you are since you left our facility-"
"Then how come you haven't come and gotten her?" asked Mal as he stepped forward. "For a big and powerful program bent on riddin' us of all these seers, you sure take your time in getting around to gatherin' them up." The man didn't say anything. "You see how I see it is you haven't done anything 'cause whatever it is you need this girl here for, you need her sane, and whatever you did to her screwed up all your little plans you had for makin' use of your new prize." Still no anwer from the man.
"Which also means that when she ain't right she's downright dangerous, hell I've seen that first hand. So, I'm thinkin' here that since she ain't no real use to you right now all messed up as she is, you came here for something else. Gettin' the girl and her brother would just be a bonus." The two lackeys looked at each other, and backed away from the catwalk. Only their boss remained close enough to look directly at Mal.
"You're a very intuitive man Captain, I must congratulate you on your perception. You're right, we did come here for another reason, and if you comply with us I might leave with only one item for now."
"What you want?"
"Three days ago 761A-367 purchased stolen government property from a dealer in the XaiXai Market, return it to us, and we will leave without the..." The man's lips curled as he looked at River. "Invalid." Mal looked down at River who was frowning heavily.
"You want me to blow that SOB away, just let me know." River shook her head, a strange smile breaking across her lips.
"The snake speaks with only one tongue, the other cut off by the black knight. Let him take his piece of gold, it will tell him nothing, and give me everything." Mal looked back down at the PSIOPS freaks, their hands were clasped in front of them covered in blue latex. Personally, he wanted to just blow every single one of them away, but River had more experience in this area so he decided to let her play this her way. Besides, he could use them as cannon fodder for any of Niska's remaining men.
"The girl wants to play it your way, keep your hands where I can see 'em, and you'll get your disc." The two lackeys raised their hands, but the man in charge began to ascend the staircase. Mal turned his gun on him, only to have River push it aside.
"It's all right Mal, I do not fear him as I fear the other hands of blue always in two."
"Why not?"
"If nightmares could only speak beyond my screams." The man in the charcoal suit looked at Mal, and then back at River who turned, and walked off into the gloom. Mal kept his gun trained on the Alliance goon, he really reall wanted to shoot him, but Mal wasn't the type of man who killed a person without provocation.
"You have a solid distaste for me don't you captain?"
"Just for men who cut up little girl's brains for their own sick pleasure." The man smiled drily.
"I can assure you Malcolm there was no preverse pleasure involved, merely protocol, and procedure." Mal snorted.
"You know I've done a lot of things in my life, but at least I can look back on them and say I did what was right. You? You don't even care that you've left an innocent girl's mind fucked up for the rest of her life, just so long as you get what you want." Charcoal-suit shrugged.
"One must break eggs to make an omelette. I am glad that you agreed to make this exchange, I am sure that with the Shepard on board you have been made aware of his side of things."
"Excuse me?" A look of surprise spread across the PSIOPS agent's still features.
"Oh, so you don't know? Well I suppose it will all come out in due time." River returned from wherever she had been carrying the gold disc. Mal could see it's polished surface shimmering in the dim light of the cargo bay. Cautiously she handed it over to the man who examined it carefully, and then walked down the stairs of the catwalk.
"Thank you for your cooperation Captain Reynolds." River's eyes widened, and a panicked shriek tore from her lips.
"NO!" Mal drew his gun, the .45 punching three quick holes into the back of the man sending the disc, and a gun with a silencer on the end flying out of his hands. Down below the lackeys fired up at the catwalk, lead ricocheting off of the metal rungs as Mal grabbed River, and ducked down out of the line of fire.
"You gorram sons-of-bitches have to do better than that!" River screamed as part of the catwalk exloded in front of them from the hail of gunfire. Rolling onto his back, Mal reloaded his gun, and fired a few cover shots over the edge. One of the PSIOPS agents was carefully climbing the stairs, his gun drawn as he prepared to fire on Serenity's captain, only to have a large barrel of spare engine grease rolled down the stairs on top of him. Mal looked over at River who was staring over the lip of the stair at the man who was now having to drag himself across the floor as a result of his broken leg.
"Surrender now, and relinquish your firearms."
"Don't," said River. "They will let all of your beautiful rubies out with their steel scalpel."
"Wha-" Mal looked down as a long silver rod landed on the catwalk with a dull 'clang'. As he stared at it he felt an unusal power emenating from the small device, it's thin form vibrating steadily as it began to emit a dull hum that increased in picth as it sat on the metal grilles. Normally, he would have kicked whatever it was away, but Mal had no ability to move or speak. It felt as if his entire body was being shaken hard, his temples throbbing, and pain shooting through his body as the little wand sat there huming. For a second he thought that he was crying, until the fluid ran over his lips, seeping through the cracks between them, and innudating his mouth with the taste of blood.
"The human body can bleed out in 3.5 seconds." Mal had almost forgotten about River, but the sound of her voice somehow managed to break through the hum. In front of him he could see the sweep of her dress, and then her foot as it sent the wand flying out into space. Almost immediately Mal regained his ability to move, and fell over onto his side gasping. Below the men reloaded their guns in preparation for a more agressive assault.
"We're humped!" River looked up at Mal as he backed against the wall, and checked the clip in his gun. Just like he thought, he was down to no more than six bullets, and without a clear shot there was no way he was coming out of the fight in one piece. Down below he could hear the slow methodical steps of the PSIOPS agents as they approached the catwalk, just as sure of their victory as Mal was of defeat. Tensing for a win-or-die situation Mal waited as the men took another step towards the stair, only to stop as something distracted them. Wide-eyed River grabbed Mal as she tried to drag the both of them into the corridor at the rear of the walk.
"Damnit River," hissed Mal. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"The vulture approaches. The blue hands will suffer his wrath, but we must fly!" Mal looked over at the other end of the catwalk, and carefully backed away from it. Down below the PSIOPS agents turned towards a shadowy figure hovering in the rear of the cargo bay, the two men for the first time in their lives feeling nervous as the wraith formed into Niska who smiled evilly at the two.
"Hello, may I help you?" The first agent's neck exploded into an ocean of red as a bullet silently ripped through it. His comrade too shocked to fire as Niska apprached stealthily.
"Don't worry," he purred as he leveled his weapon at the other man's chest. "I didn't forget about you. I just wanted to see the look on your face when I aided your friend." River screamed silently into Mal's hand as another thud sounded from the cargo bay. Carefully, he stood up, and towed the girl into the corridor that led down to the hatch that opened in the hall outside the cockpit.
"Malcolm?" The blood froze in Mal's veins as Niska called his name. "I know you can hear me."
"Don't answer," gasped River. "He wants you to open your ocean to him, so that he may see the River that his eyes cannot lay upon."
"Huh?"
"My blood is not natural to the vulture, it makes him sick, and wary of a prey that he cannot master. If he can look upon me Mal, he will know me, and the hunt will no longer be for you." Mal looked down at River, over at the hall entrance, and back again. He didn't know why that had made sense, but he knew that if his interpretation wa right he was in a world of shit.
"Worlds are made up of either gases or rocky cores, they are not made of feces." Mal shook his head, and then paused.
"I thought Wash said you couldn't see in my head?" River smirked eerily.
"I can't see in it, I can 'feel' it. I don't always have to swim to get wet."
"How long do you plan to stay in silence Mal? Do you really think that I will not find you?" Niska was really starting to get on Mal's nerves. Pulling River aside, he kept his ears open for any of the other man's men.
"River where is Jayne and the others?" Five shots sounded from somewhere on Serenity.
"Jayne is killing wolves, Book is guidng Wash and Zoe through the darkness, Inara is sheltered inside of her hollow walls, and Simon is carving the vulture's talons out of Kaylee and Jordan."
"What about Selma?" River smiled, a new light dancing in her eyes.
"My lady in arms who has given me the channels to the hidden waters of my ocean lies in waiting for the time to strike down the vulture, but her body is still drunken with liquors made foul."
"You're saying she's on our side?"
"I'm not speaking in riddles Mal. Someday you will know all the goodness that lies inside of her, and the beauty that she guards. If only there were more like her, into darkness I never would have tread." Mal moved towards the end of the hall, but River didn't follow.
"River get down here!"
"No, I must lie in wait. The vulture will find me first Mal, you must only know where to look." With that she headed back for the catwalk. Swearing under his breath, Mal took off down the corridor, dropping through the hatch he landed in the sitting room just one deck down from the cockpit. Creeping through the darkness he stepped out into the gloom, only to feel the muzzle of a gun pressed against his spine.
"Jayne?"
"Guess again." Niska pulled the .45 automatic that Mal was carrying out of his hands. "I told you that I would find you, now I would like you to take me to your cockpit."
"Why? You already have a ship, and you got me."
"No, I have you, but not who has helped you. I want you to take me there so that I may talk to them."
"How Niska, there ain't no one up in the cockpit."
"No, but your intercom is."
***
Simon sat staring at Kaylee and Jordan who were now recovering from their surgeries. Kaylee had taken forever, bleeders everywhere around the wound, and to make matters worse she would have an ugly scar probably for the rest of her life.
If she even made it through the night.
Right now she was barely breathing, her skin pale from blood loss, and the only available donor was Simon. Sitting next to her he watched as his life poured through the clear platic tubes into the young woman, his body already feeling the strain, but in his mind she was one patient he could not lose.
"You're no use to her if you're dead." Simon looked over at the floor, and saw Selma Ennes sitting up. Her blue eyes were clear despite the traces of the sedative in her system, her mouth set into a firm line of determination as she hefted herself up off of the cold tile. Tam watched as she scanned the inert body of her son, anger clouding the pale pools of sapphire until they looked almost black.
"Who did this? Never mind, I need to leave this place." Simon looked over at the door. It was still sealed shut, River's handiwork was usually detailed, and almost difficult to undo. Selma walked over to the entrance, pulled off the control panel, and examined the jumble of wires on the other side.
"She rerouted the access codes into a subprocessor that is part of the backup system that opens the doors only when a signal is sent indicating an emergency." Putting the panel on the floor, the archaeologist reached inside, and removed part of the complex circutry. Immediately the door slid open revealing the backside of one of Niska's men. Moving swiftly, Selma kicked the man in the back of the shin, causing him to cry out in agony, and drop his gun. Slamming her hand into his face, she stepped back as he slumped to the floor unconscious. Picking up the .22 handgun that he had dropped, she walked over to Simon, and closed the shunt vavle to the tubes he was using for the transfusion.
"Rest, you'll feel better when this is over." As if on command, Simon slumped forward. His eyes drooping as Ennes carefully eased him into a different reality. Tightening her grip on the weapon, she turned towards the door, and stepped out into the shadows stopping only to look over at her injured son.
The hunter had just become the hunted.
XI
"Hold it right there!" said Mal as he pointed the .45 at the figure standing in the darkness of the hallway. The lamp in his room wasn't much for light so the place was bordered with shadows and odd tricks of the eye. The person in the corridor swayed slightly, and then pitched forward suddenly into the room. It happened faster than Mal could fire, but as they rolled down the stairs to where he stood he was glad that he didn't.
Kaylee gasped like a fish out of water, her chest stained with red as she reached up for Mal. Long fingers dried with shades of crimson and brown held onto his leg as she tried to heft herself up from the floor, but there wasn't enough strength left in her body. Rivulets ran down the corners of her mouth, and after being in combat Mal knew that he was looking at a woman who was dead, but too gorram stubborn to give in to reality.
"Captain..." her voice was a dry wheeze, River knelt beside her friend and peered into her eyes. The small girl's hands tightening as she peered into Kaylee's eyes, Mal watched the scene unfold before him, but was unprepared for the unholy shriek that erupted from River's throat. In her mind she saw Niska gun down Kaylee and Jordan who was still alive outside of the cockpit, but wouldn't be for much longer.
She could see her brother lying in the drug-induced slumber on the floor, and feel Wash's anguish as he held Zoe in his arms crying and praying that she and their little one not yet born would be all right. All if this in the blink of an eye, all of the emotions, the pain, and terror that emenated from everyone including the three in the shuttle. River let out another shriek, and then stood. Her face blank as she stared at the door.
Mal pushed around her, and picked Kaylee up off of the floor. Carefully he laid her on the bed, and wrapped her in the blankets.
"Kaylee can you hear me?" The engineer's eyes were starting to glaze over, but they immediately focused when she heard the captain's voice. She had no strength to speak, only writhe as the pain laced through her chest.
"Kaylee I want you to try and hang on okay? I'm going to go get Simon, and I'm going to get rid of Niska. You think you can hold on till then?" Kaylee somehow managed to shake her head. Mal pushed a few strands of red hair out of her face, and grimaced when he realized that it was darker than usual due to the amount of blood in it.
"No, you don't give up okay? You just hang tight, and I'll be right back. Now you just concentrate on staying alive." Mal got up from next to the bed, and turned to see River picking up another one of his guns. He moved to stop her, but paused when he saw her assemble the weapon, load it, and cock it as if she had been doing it all of her life.
"River give me that." The youngest of the Tam siblings easily sidestepped Mal, and ran up the stairs into the hall.
"River get back here."
"She understands, she comprehends, but he doesn't." Mal just gaped at her. River let out a hard sigh. "I will lead you through the darkness into the light, the vulture does not like the light, but you seek it. You must keep the vulture in the darkness until I can lead you to the light."
"You mean safety?" River chewed on the edge of her lip.
"You are like Simon."
"In what way?" asked Mal as he came to stand next to her in the dark corridor. River smiled, and shook her head.
"You are both idiots."
***
"You think Niska is going to kill him slow or fast?" One of the larger and uglier of the two thugs who were accopanying Niska, looked over at his companion as they stood guard outside of the medbay door. Inside Simon was still unconscious on the floor, but he hadn't recieved as large a dose of hyprovaline as Selma. As a result it was likely that he was going to come to at any minute. Now while Niska had said that he personally wasn't going to kill the boy, he hadn't said anything about his men.
"I think Niska is going to kill him slow," said the other. "Make him scream for about three weeks before he puts him out." The other laughed drily, and looked in on Simon.
"You think we should blow his head off while he's out?"
"Naw, let him get up first. I like seeing the look on their faces when they get that first hole blowed in them."
"You gonna do the kneecaps first?"
"Hands, you do the kneecaps, I told you I'd let ya get the next one."
"Shiny." In the medbay Simon lay on the floor staring at the reflection of the overhead lights in the linoleum. He could hear the two mercenaries talking, and decided to concentrate hard on looking like he was unconscious. Earlier they had used him for a punching bag. Kicking him in his ribs, stoping on various parts of his body, and generally abusing him to the point where he had been unable to stop moaning. Fortunately for him that didn't count to the two thugs as being awake, just 'softening up'.
Closing his eyes again lest the pain started getting worse, and he once more cried out Simon tried to think of something other than the two angels of death outside his door. Normally, he didn't care much for the man, but right now Simon really wished that Jayne was there.
"He look awake to you?" Simon mentally cursed, and went limp. The other man peered in at him.
"Wiggly, but not awake. Probably from being all busted up from that beatin' we gave him."
"Want to beat him some more?"
"Sure." The uglier thug made to walk in the medbay when he heard a noice off to his left. Turning around he flicked on the small flashlight he carried with him, and tried to see whatever it was that had caused the disturbance. In the corridor a small mouse ran through the light of his beam, and disappeared. His companion snickered.
"What's wrong? Scared of a little mouse."
"Shaddap." The thugs glared at each other for a few seconds before another noise, this time louder startled the both of them.
"Niska, that you?"
"No." A flash of yellow fire exloded in the darkness, the bang coinciding with the uglier of the two men's knees erupting into a blaze of red. Screaming he went down to the floor, his gun skittering off into the gloom, while his friend fired madly down into the corridor. There was no-one there.
"Oh God! I'm dead." The other merc turned his gun on his partner, and shot him through the side of his head. The last thing he needed was some idiot screaming his head off when he was trying to listen.
"Now you're dead." Walking into the medbay he kicked at Simon until his eyes flew open. Above him the infidel who had broken his ankle by stomping on him glared down at him from behind his gun.
"Get up."
"I can't," Wheezed Simon. "My ankle's broken." The merc kicked him square in the jaw.
"I said get up!" Slowly, Simon got onto all fours, and made an effort to try and stand. He was in more pain than when he had been shot, and he could feel the ends of the bones grinding together as he tried to obey the merc. Looking up, he tried to think of a way to bargain with the man when he let out a sharp cry, and grabbed at the back of his neck. Falling forward, Simon managed to dive out of the way as the large man crashed to the floor. Sticking up in the air was a large syringe, a bottle of hyprovaline rolling about on the floor as it slipped out of River's hands.
"Oh my God, River." Simon tried to get up to reach her, but all he could do was slump uselessly against the cabinets behind him. His sister just stared at him silently, before turning to peer out into the gloom.
"The vulture sends more wolves this way, but they will not enter." River stepped out into the gloom, and then reappeared dragging someone. The breath rushed out of Simon's lungs as Kaylee was dumped into the medbay. While Mal had gone off in search of Niska, River had doubled-back, and retrieved Kaylee from his room. The engineer was barely alive, her pulse beyond faint, and her breathing raspy as her lungs tried to draw in precious air. Crawling across the floor, Simon quickly evaluated her.
"What happened?"
"The vulture shot her." Simon looked up at Selma who was merely sleeping on the bed, and with a strength he didn't know he had the doctor moved her to the floor. Scooping up Kaylee he laid her on the bed, and hastily began looking around for supplies.
"River, hand me that-" River was gone, the door to the medbay shutting behind her. "RIVER!"
"You're safer in there Simon, the vulture can't come in with his wolves."
"RIVER COME BACK!"
"I will when the vulture is gone." Simon watched her go for a second, and then turned back to Kaylee. Her life was in his hands.
***
"What happened?" Niska stared hard at his henchman who had come running to him with news of what had happened to his other goons. It had been three months of hard planning for the day when he caught up the Malcolm Reynolds, and he had no intention of having anything or anyone spoil his plans.
"Joe went apeshit and blew Hal's head off, and now he's locked in the medbay with the doctor."
"What is the doctor doing now?"
"Cuttin' up that girl you pumped a shell in earlier." Niska pursed his lips, and looked up at the ceiling. The good doctor had been beat within the inch of his life the last he'd seen him, which meant that someone had to have distracted Hal and Joe long enough to allow whatever-his-name-was to get the upper hand.
"Is all of the crew accounted for?"
"Yes, guests included." Niska looked down at the floor as he paced. No, that didn't make sense. The guests were accounted for, he knew that Mal was just one deck above him continuing his search, and- Niska paused as he picked up on another player in the game. He thought back to Simon's reaction earlier when Joe had drugged him, he had been trying to escape the merc in order to get to something. A girlfriend? No, she was lying under his knife. A relative, perhaps a sibling? Ah yes, a sister, but where was she. Niska frowned. Never in his life had he been unable to tell where someone was, he always knew, understood how their mind worked, and figure out how to counteract their next move. He could tell that River was somewhere, but just as soon as he had detected her she was gone.
The old man smiled to himself as he turned over the new little piece of data in his mind. This could prove to be a very challenging little interruption to his plan, one that would be hard to remove, but not impossible to dispose of.
"Keep an eye out for anyone that isn't confined. Shoot them on sight, but leave Captain. Reynolds alone. I want to deal with him personally." The man left Niska alone in the cargo bay, the older man muttering to himself as he made plans for destruction.
XII
"We're going to die in here." Book looked over at Inara who was lying on her bed with a dark look on her face. It wasn't often that the Companion was morose, but there was something in her eyes that showed a level of sadness that he hadn't seen in her before.
"I don't see how, the bomb is on the outside of the door, we're in here. At most I don't think whoever installed it is likely to come looking to see if we've set it off." Inara toyed with the edge of the cover on her bed. How many times had she slept in it with someone else? Serviced lonely men who wanted her only for one thing, just like he had when she was young? Inara closed her eyes to the sea of bad memories, and rolled onto her side.
"In the end Shepard, we all die. Even when we are alive we die small deaths until there is nothing left but a shell, and as that shell ages it welcomes an end to emptiness it has always felt."
"You're startin' to sound like the doctor's ruttin's sister." said Jayne who was still trying to figure a way to get at the bomb to deactivate it. He couldn't open the door no more than a quarter-inch crack, and that didn't give him much room to work with.
"If you ever listen to her Jayne like Wash, Mal, and Kaylee have you'll see that her words make sense."
"So what? You really are all sad inside?" Inara smirked.
"We are all sad Jayne, I'd like to be alone now." With that the Companion rose from her seat on her bed, and wandered into the cockpit where she shut herself in. Book stared at her retreating form, but knew that speaking to her was not likely to be productive. He had his suspicions about her, but until something happend to confirm them there was no reason to say anything.
"Women on this ship get stranger by the day. Zoe's knocked up, River's got Mal figurin' out her nonsense, Inara's all messed up in her head, Little Kaylee's got her panties in a bunch over that ruttin doctor, and Wash got all these ideas about manhood." Book raised an eyebrow.
"Wash isn't a woman Jayne." The mercenary looked over his shoulder at the Shepard.
"Preacher, I hate to break it to ya, but there's only one person wearin' pants in that mess, and it ain't Wash."
"Just because Zoe is a strong, dominant woman doesn't mean Wash is feminine. It just means that-"
"What?" Book was saved from having to try and supply an answer by the door to the shuttle sliding open. Outside stood River with the deactivated bomb in one hand, and Jayne's gun Vera in the other. The two men looked at one another for a second, and then at the girl.
"The vulture smells my blood, but he cannot smell yours. It is not what he wants. I need you to kill the vulture." Jayne looked as River dropped Vera at his feet.
"River?" The girl looked over at Book, and narrowed her eyes. Some instinct told the Shepard that she was lucid, but currently she was acting like her abnormal self.
"You need to stop being a Shepard, you need to be a hunter. Those hollow words will not help you in the darkness, but they may help the women in the hole." Book shook his head at Jayne who was looking at him for an explanation.
"River, I don't know what you mean." The girl just glared at him before walking into the room, and searching for something. She picked up a charred incense stick, and scribbled a message on the wall: Wash and Zoe. Book looked at the girl, and then at the second gun lying on the floor.
She knew.
Cautiously he walked over and picked it up. The stony glare disappeared, replaced by a large smile. Jayne headed out into the gloom, leaving Book with River who was already heading back out into the corridor.
"River?" she turned to look at him, her brown eyes dancing as she took in the Shepard.
"I know," she said softly. "But you have light in you, like the light in your words. Not darkness like the blue hands, not emptiness, or hate. You are a Shepard Book, it means more about you than your other name could ever say." With that she disappeared, leaving the older man standing there wondering about what she had said.
Jayne was right. That girl was just ruttin crazy sometimes.
***
Jordan was only vaguely aware of someone dragging him. Their steps were even, unhurried, and strong as they towed him down the hall to somewhere. He had no sense of time anymore, no ability to discern pain from numbness as he was dumped into a white room, and left there comforted only by the hiss of the door closing. He could hear the steady beep of some instrument, and the worried voice of someone who was picking him up off of the floor. For some reason he had a feeling that everything would be all right.
***
"Zoe?" Wash sat on the bed next to his wife who was lying curled up on her side trying to think of something other than the pain that she was feeling. The good news was that Niska's kick had been high, hitting her in the ribs instead of her stomach, but she knew that if any of her injuries worsened she was at risk for losing her baby.
"What honey?"
"Are you bleeding or anything?"
"No, nothing going on down there that shouldn't be."
"Okay." Silence stretched between them. From time to time Wash would look over at the door to their room, at the gun on the floor, and back again. Zoe knew what he was thinking about, but Wash was a pilot not a soldier. He wouldn't last five minutes against one of Niska's men, but she didn't tell him so. It would only cause her husband to want to go out and prove her wrong, and then she would be a widow.
"I'm a little thirsty."
"Huh? Oh." Wash went into the bathroom, and then returned with a little glass of water. Carefully he helped Zoe sit up and take a few sips before helping her lie bck down on the bed.
"What do you think is going on out there?"
"I don't know it's quiet."
"You think Mal got him?"
"If Mal had gotten him, then he would have let us know by now." The couple's heads snapped around as the door to their room opened, and Book walked down the stairs.
"Shepard?" Book looked over at Zoe who was curled up on the bed.
"River let Jayne and myself out of the shuttle after someone had locked us in with a 10-17-A concussion grenade. I haven't seen the rest of the crew, but from what I could gather they're pretty much safe. What about you?"
"Niska kicked me in the ribs, but he missed the baby. I can't breathe hardly." Book shut the door again, and walked over to the bed. Carefully with Wash's help he uncurled her, and poked at the bruised area carefully.
"Yep, they're broken. We need to get you to the medbay."
"You need to stay where you are." All three looked up at the ceiling where River was peering at them through a grate covering part of the air circulation system. "The vulture is hunting, he will strike you down if he sees you. It safer in the hole, the Shepard will protect you."
"River you need to go hide." said Zoe weakly. The girl shook her head adamantly.
"Mal needs me to lead him into the light, or the darkness with consume him." With that she disappeared leaving Zoe, Wash, and Book standing alone in the dark bedroom.
"Wash, do you know what she said?" The pilot looked at the other two and just shrugged.
"Not really, but if you'd like my guess I'd say Niska is humped."
XIII
"PSIOPS, Niska, telepaths, and Zoe's pregnant all in a week." Mal slipped along the darkened corridors of Serenity looking for Niska. Already he had taken out three of the older man's goons, but one could never be sure that there wasn't another hiding somewhere like a hog in a hole. Reynolds knew that his nemesis was taunting him, playing one of his sick litle games before he either pumped a bullet into the back of Mal's head, or spent the next few weeks torturning him until death would be a welcome release.
Either option wasn't acceptable. Mal needed to live for his crew, for the sheer pleasure of being satsified with each rub he gave the Alliance, and strangely enough for Inara. He didn't know why he was even thinking about the Companion, after all if one looked at it she was nothing more than a high-priced whore, but when he took in everything that he had heard about her from River, and the fact that there were times when the younger woman would just seemingly shut down he knew that there was more behind her choice of profession than what she was saying.
Of course there were other possibilities, but Mal hadn't met a Companion yet that had become one out of sheer enchantment with the job. Many came from broken homes, the streets, or in some cases from families that looked good on the outside but were just downright ugly on the in.
For some reason Mal was inclined to believe that it might be something akin to the latter, but unless Inara said something he would never have any real way of knowing. Well, he did, but River was prone to speaking in riddles, and most of the time seemed content to roam around the ship in a daze.
Simon called it 'adjusting', Mal called it 'spacing out'. However, River was unusually lucid for once. Since Jubal Early and Selma Ennes there had been a shift in her personality, one that was significat enough to make Mal wonder whether or not she was better, and just playing the part of the abnormal sister.
At any rate, he knew for a fact that there was damage to whatever part of her brain allowed her to speak. Just watching her he could see the frustration and confusion on her face as her words were mixed up, and transformed into a strange jumble that had to be interpreted before it could be understood. After talking with Ennes, Simon had suggested that when they cut into her brain they had damaged her frontal lobe, but without a scanner he had now way of knowing for sure. He hadn't bothered to check for that when they were on Ariel. Either way she wasn't as frail as she used to be, there was a strength to her now, and Mal wondered just how much stronger she was going to get as the darkness fell from her.
A noise sounded from his left, causing Mal to turn sharply, and peer down into the gloom. He didn't see anything, but instinct told him that there was something there.
"Who's there?"
"Nobody." Mal let out a sigh as River stepped out of the gloom. Her eyes peering into the captain's as she dropped something at his feet. It was a jumbled maze of wires, boards, and relays.
"River what did you do?"
"They are here, the hunters are here, but the vulture will strike them down before they can ever touch me."
"Huh? Wait, what did you do?"
"I broke their ship, I made them come to me, and now the vulture will go to them." Mal opened his mouth to say something else when he heard a commotion coming from the cargo bay. Motioning for River to be quiet, Mal slunk through the corridors, until he came to the catwalk. Standing back in the corner where he couldn't be easily seen, Reynolds peered down over the edge into the wide expanse. Three men stood talking amongst themselves heatedly, their words drifting up to where the two stowaways were hiding.
"Whoever sabotaged us knew what they were doing, our navigation controls are gone, and we have lost our aniti-gravity generators."
"Could it have been one of the crew of this...vessel?" The third man in the black suit appeared to be in charge, his features almost emotionless as he spoke.
"No, it appears they have been neutralized. This level of damage could only have been done by someone who was familiar with our systems, our recon has 761A-367 on this ship with her brother."
"Ensure that the crew is neutralized, I don't want the same nonsense as on Ariel. When you're done retrieve 761A-367 and her brother...alive." Mal turned to go when River pulled from him and walked calmly to the edge of the catwalk. Yelling silently he tried to catch her, but his fingers only snagged on the hem of her dress.
"I am not a number." she said loudly. All three of the men looked up at River, the two lackeys were shocked, while the man in the black suit just smiled at her.
"761A-367, or should I say River Tam? Are you ready to end this foolishness and come back to where you belong? If you do, I promise that no one will be harmed." River shook her head.
"You're lying I can see that. The ocean is calmer now that you no longer control the waters. I am starting to see the forest from the trees, and I prefer to stay here where I can see what you are afraid to look upon." The man walked closer to the catwalk, his head titled on an odd angle as he looked back into the shadows.
"Do you think that Captain Reynolds can protect you? We have known where you are since you left our facility-"
"Then how come you haven't come and gotten her?" asked Mal as he stepped forward. "For a big and powerful program bent on riddin' us of all these seers, you sure take your time in getting around to gatherin' them up." The man didn't say anything. "You see how I see it is you haven't done anything 'cause whatever it is you need this girl here for, you need her sane, and whatever you did to her screwed up all your little plans you had for makin' use of your new prize." Still no anwer from the man.
"Which also means that when she ain't right she's downright dangerous, hell I've seen that first hand. So, I'm thinkin' here that since she ain't no real use to you right now all messed up as she is, you came here for something else. Gettin' the girl and her brother would just be a bonus." The two lackeys looked at each other, and backed away from the catwalk. Only their boss remained close enough to look directly at Mal.
"You're a very intuitive man Captain, I must congratulate you on your perception. You're right, we did come here for another reason, and if you comply with us I might leave with only one item for now."
"What you want?"
"Three days ago 761A-367 purchased stolen government property from a dealer in the XaiXai Market, return it to us, and we will leave without the..." The man's lips curled as he looked at River. "Invalid." Mal looked down at River who was frowning heavily.
"You want me to blow that SOB away, just let me know." River shook her head, a strange smile breaking across her lips.
"The snake speaks with only one tongue, the other cut off by the black knight. Let him take his piece of gold, it will tell him nothing, and give me everything." Mal looked back down at the PSIOPS freaks, their hands were clasped in front of them covered in blue latex. Personally, he wanted to just blow every single one of them away, but River had more experience in this area so he decided to let her play this her way. Besides, he could use them as cannon fodder for any of Niska's remaining men.
"The girl wants to play it your way, keep your hands where I can see 'em, and you'll get your disc." The two lackeys raised their hands, but the man in charge began to ascend the staircase. Mal turned his gun on him, only to have River push it aside.
"It's all right Mal, I do not fear him as I fear the other hands of blue always in two."
"Why not?"
"If nightmares could only speak beyond my screams." The man in the charcoal suit looked at Mal, and then back at River who turned, and walked off into the gloom. Mal kept his gun trained on the Alliance goon, he really reall wanted to shoot him, but Mal wasn't the type of man who killed a person without provocation.
"You have a solid distaste for me don't you captain?"
"Just for men who cut up little girl's brains for their own sick pleasure." The man smiled drily.
"I can assure you Malcolm there was no preverse pleasure involved, merely protocol, and procedure." Mal snorted.
"You know I've done a lot of things in my life, but at least I can look back on them and say I did what was right. You? You don't even care that you've left an innocent girl's mind fucked up for the rest of her life, just so long as you get what you want." Charcoal-suit shrugged.
"One must break eggs to make an omelette. I am glad that you agreed to make this exchange, I am sure that with the Shepard on board you have been made aware of his side of things."
"Excuse me?" A look of surprise spread across the PSIOPS agent's still features.
"Oh, so you don't know? Well I suppose it will all come out in due time." River returned from wherever she had been carrying the gold disc. Mal could see it's polished surface shimmering in the dim light of the cargo bay. Cautiously she handed it over to the man who examined it carefully, and then walked down the stairs of the catwalk.
"Thank you for your cooperation Captain Reynolds." River's eyes widened, and a panicked shriek tore from her lips.
"NO!" Mal drew his gun, the .45 punching three quick holes into the back of the man sending the disc, and a gun with a silencer on the end flying out of his hands. Down below the lackeys fired up at the catwalk, lead ricocheting off of the metal rungs as Mal grabbed River, and ducked down out of the line of fire.
"You gorram sons-of-bitches have to do better than that!" River screamed as part of the catwalk exloded in front of them from the hail of gunfire. Rolling onto his back, Mal reloaded his gun, and fired a few cover shots over the edge. One of the PSIOPS agents was carefully climbing the stairs, his gun drawn as he prepared to fire on Serenity's captain, only to have a large barrel of spare engine grease rolled down the stairs on top of him. Mal looked over at River who was staring over the lip of the stair at the man who was now having to drag himself across the floor as a result of his broken leg.
"Surrender now, and relinquish your firearms."
"Don't," said River. "They will let all of your beautiful rubies out with their steel scalpel."
"Wha-" Mal looked down as a long silver rod landed on the catwalk with a dull 'clang'. As he stared at it he felt an unusal power emenating from the small device, it's thin form vibrating steadily as it began to emit a dull hum that increased in picth as it sat on the metal grilles. Normally, he would have kicked whatever it was away, but Mal had no ability to move or speak. It felt as if his entire body was being shaken hard, his temples throbbing, and pain shooting through his body as the little wand sat there huming. For a second he thought that he was crying, until the fluid ran over his lips, seeping through the cracks between them, and innudating his mouth with the taste of blood.
"The human body can bleed out in 3.5 seconds." Mal had almost forgotten about River, but the sound of her voice somehow managed to break through the hum. In front of him he could see the sweep of her dress, and then her foot as it sent the wand flying out into space. Almost immediately Mal regained his ability to move, and fell over onto his side gasping. Below the men reloaded their guns in preparation for a more agressive assault.
"We're humped!" River looked up at Mal as he backed against the wall, and checked the clip in his gun. Just like he thought, he was down to no more than six bullets, and without a clear shot there was no way he was coming out of the fight in one piece. Down below he could hear the slow methodical steps of the PSIOPS agents as they approached the catwalk, just as sure of their victory as Mal was of defeat. Tensing for a win-or-die situation Mal waited as the men took another step towards the stair, only to stop as something distracted them. Wide-eyed River grabbed Mal as she tried to drag the both of them into the corridor at the rear of the walk.
"Damnit River," hissed Mal. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"The vulture approaches. The blue hands will suffer his wrath, but we must fly!" Mal looked over at the other end of the catwalk, and carefully backed away from it. Down below the PSIOPS agents turned towards a shadowy figure hovering in the rear of the cargo bay, the two men for the first time in their lives feeling nervous as the wraith formed into Niska who smiled evilly at the two.
"Hello, may I help you?" The first agent's neck exploded into an ocean of red as a bullet silently ripped through it. His comrade too shocked to fire as Niska apprached stealthily.
"Don't worry," he purred as he leveled his weapon at the other man's chest. "I didn't forget about you. I just wanted to see the look on your face when I aided your friend." River screamed silently into Mal's hand as another thud sounded from the cargo bay. Carefully, he stood up, and towed the girl into the corridor that led down to the hatch that opened in the hall outside the cockpit.
"Malcolm?" The blood froze in Mal's veins as Niska called his name. "I know you can hear me."
"Don't answer," gasped River. "He wants you to open your ocean to him, so that he may see the River that his eyes cannot lay upon."
"Huh?"
"My blood is not natural to the vulture, it makes him sick, and wary of a prey that he cannot master. If he can look upon me Mal, he will know me, and the hunt will no longer be for you." Mal looked down at River, over at the hall entrance, and back again. He didn't know why that had made sense, but he knew that if his interpretation wa right he was in a world of shit.
"Worlds are made up of either gases or rocky cores, they are not made of feces." Mal shook his head, and then paused.
"I thought Wash said you couldn't see in my head?" River smirked eerily.
"I can't see in it, I can 'feel' it. I don't always have to swim to get wet."
"How long do you plan to stay in silence Mal? Do you really think that I will not find you?" Niska was really starting to get on Mal's nerves. Pulling River aside, he kept his ears open for any of the other man's men.
"River where is Jayne and the others?" Five shots sounded from somewhere on Serenity.
"Jayne is killing wolves, Book is guidng Wash and Zoe through the darkness, Inara is sheltered inside of her hollow walls, and Simon is carving the vulture's talons out of Kaylee and Jordan."
"What about Selma?" River smiled, a new light dancing in her eyes.
"My lady in arms who has given me the channels to the hidden waters of my ocean lies in waiting for the time to strike down the vulture, but her body is still drunken with liquors made foul."
"You're saying she's on our side?"
"I'm not speaking in riddles Mal. Someday you will know all the goodness that lies inside of her, and the beauty that she guards. If only there were more like her, into darkness I never would have tread." Mal moved towards the end of the hall, but River didn't follow.
"River get down here!"
"No, I must lie in wait. The vulture will find me first Mal, you must only know where to look." With that she headed back for the catwalk. Swearing under his breath, Mal took off down the corridor, dropping through the hatch he landed in the sitting room just one deck down from the cockpit. Creeping through the darkness he stepped out into the gloom, only to feel the muzzle of a gun pressed against his spine.
"Jayne?"
"Guess again." Niska pulled the .45 automatic that Mal was carrying out of his hands. "I told you that I would find you, now I would like you to take me to your cockpit."
"Why? You already have a ship, and you got me."
"No, I have you, but not who has helped you. I want you to take me there so that I may talk to them."
"How Niska, there ain't no one up in the cockpit."
"No, but your intercom is."
***
Simon sat staring at Kaylee and Jordan who were now recovering from their surgeries. Kaylee had taken forever, bleeders everywhere around the wound, and to make matters worse she would have an ugly scar probably for the rest of her life.
If she even made it through the night.
Right now she was barely breathing, her skin pale from blood loss, and the only available donor was Simon. Sitting next to her he watched as his life poured through the clear platic tubes into the young woman, his body already feeling the strain, but in his mind she was one patient he could not lose.
"You're no use to her if you're dead." Simon looked over at the floor, and saw Selma Ennes sitting up. Her blue eyes were clear despite the traces of the sedative in her system, her mouth set into a firm line of determination as she hefted herself up off of the cold tile. Tam watched as she scanned the inert body of her son, anger clouding the pale pools of sapphire until they looked almost black.
"Who did this? Never mind, I need to leave this place." Simon looked over at the door. It was still sealed shut, River's handiwork was usually detailed, and almost difficult to undo. Selma walked over to the entrance, pulled off the control panel, and examined the jumble of wires on the other side.
"She rerouted the access codes into a subprocessor that is part of the backup system that opens the doors only when a signal is sent indicating an emergency." Putting the panel on the floor, the archaeologist reached inside, and removed part of the complex circutry. Immediately the door slid open revealing the backside of one of Niska's men. Moving swiftly, Selma kicked the man in the back of the shin, causing him to cry out in agony, and drop his gun. Slamming her hand into his face, she stepped back as he slumped to the floor unconscious. Picking up the .22 handgun that he had dropped, she walked over to Simon, and closed the shunt vavle to the tubes he was using for the transfusion.
"Rest, you'll feel better when this is over." As if on command, Simon slumped forward. His eyes drooping as Ennes carefully eased him into a different reality. Tightening her grip on the weapon, she turned towards the door, and stepped out into the shadows stopping only to look over at her injured son.
The hunter had just become the hunted.