DISCLAIMER: All belongs to Joss and Fox …….I´m just taking them out for a walk

NOTES: THANKS AGAIN …for all the kind feedback. Gee this was rather long and how the hell did I arrive at chapter 42????????????

Gorrammit!!!!!! I also found I have to ask forgiveness for the apparent mistakes that occasionally escape my corrections …as I said in Chapter 1 …..I am not a native speaker. Sometimes I just miss things by accident…Sorry!!!

The Song " My mind is dangerous" belongs to " Life of Agony" I only changed one word.

TORRENT

To River and Kaylee´s relief, not one person turned their head in surprise or suspicion when they entered the main room of the brothel. A shiny, illuminated sign advertised " girls" under the place's name " The red ribbon". They had slipped in through a side door which Jayne had forced open for them.

The room was wide, filled with smoke, the smell of hard liqueur and probably more than just one unwashed body. All around them men were busy drinking, gambling, yelling at each other and laughing. There were too many girls scattered around the crammed room to overlook, even in their varying states of undress. Malcolm Reynolds had been right, nobody was going to notice another two working girls on the floor.

" Wow …..this is ….nice I guess. I mean it´s good ….isn't it?" Kaylee whispered huskily, trying to look like she belonged at the same time. A gigantic bear of a man in a shaggy fur coat leaned at the bar, just a few feet away, ogling at them.

Kaylee mustered up a not entirely delightful smile, winking at him. His smile grew wider, baring a row of blackened, rotting teeth. Kaylee felt her own  smile falter and turned to River with a suppressed shudder.

" How´re we ever gonna find Niska´s men in this mess?" she hissed.

The other girl creased up her nose, trying to lean as far away from the man who was passing them without raising suspicion.

" I guess we´ll just look for the guys who are clean and don´t reek." She really could not imagine Niska tolerating thugs who stank. It would not go with his style.

River looked around, scanning the room. Kaylee was right there were so many people.

" Let´s take a turn around the room, slowly …as though we were looking for …you know…"

" Customers, right." The pretty mechanic took a hold of River´s hand, moving to lead her through the crowd as they both tried to smile left and right without trying to encourage anyone.

" How does she like it….the ..the thing?" River heard Kaylee ask under her breath while they scanned the crowd.

A mental image flashed through River´s mind. The other thing …looking like the Cheshire -cat again…. Rolling around on her back, in the middle of what looked like a flower patch, purring contently. If River had not known better, she would have sworn that the purr sounded almost like laughter.

" Oh …she´s having a field day with this!" She answered just as her eyes fixed on a man at  the roulette- table. The other thing turned back into the perfect replica of River, nodding very slowly.

" There….." she whispered, leaning close to Kaylee in a playful manner the exact moment the man looked up. She snaked an arm around Kaylee´s waist, resting her head on the taller girls shoulder with a sultry smile.

Kaylee´s eyes wandered from River to the man´s face the minute it took her to understand what her friend was doing. Behind her back, River squeezed her hand.

" Hook ….Line …." River whispered to her so that only she could here. Kaylee bit her lower lip, still staring at the man.

 Fine ….if this was what it took to get this men into a room with only the two of them and Simon´s hydro- spray…..she could play along. She took a deep breath that made her chest rise and fall nicely under the tight black satin. She was not a child, even if the captain sometimes liked to treat her like one. The effect  her breathing deeply had had on Malcolm Reynolds and even Wash in addition to her outfit, had not gone unnoticed by her.

" ..and sinker." Kaylee added, watching him come towards them out of the corner of her eye, while she played with River´s hair.

Later River told herself over and over, that she should have known better. She should not have turned her back on him. They were in the small, dingy room…just the three of them,  it should have been so easy. But once Niska´s ruffian had realized that events would go the opposite way from what he had had in mind, he had tried to get his way no matter what. Mumbling something too obscene for River to mull over, he had backhanded her across the face.

The moment the impact of his strike threw her onto the bed, River could feel the other thing uncoiling inside of her like a deadly snake. She could taste blood on her lip, ears still ringing from the hit.

" I´m gonna teach you a lesson you little …"

" Oh, no you don´t…" Kaylee rasped, fishing the hydro- spray out of her cleavage, but he was already coming towards her. For a split second River contemplated going for the gun……but they needed him alive! She let the other thing take over, jumping from the bed in one fluent motion and kicking him in the head. He yelped in surprise, giving Kaylee time to drench his face with  a generous amount of Simon´s spray. He dropped to the ground with a little thud right where he stood.

" Oh ..honey, are you ok?"

" Fine ….he caught me by surprise."

River wiped the blood from her lips, using the back of her hand while Kaylee gave his unconscious body a sound kick in the gut.

" What ? He sure deserved that!" She breathed deep, all the tension falling off of her.

" I can´t believe we really just did that!"

" You were great."

" Really? Oh, did you see the looks all those guys down there gave us? Like we were the last piece of chocolate-cake in the whole ´verse!"

River smiled at her friend, trying to suppress a shudder….

" We´re not done yet."

" Right, lemme signal the captain and Jayne…"

"Hello, lover …." River said with an ironic smirk as Jayne hauled his massive body through the open window and into the room.

" You better ruddin´ stop that now!" he growled at her, looking over to Kaylee who was busy tying the thug´s hands behind his back.

Gorrammit , those girls had really worked fast!

 His eyes returned to River once he stood, narrowing slightly. He put one hand under her chin, inspecting the split lip.

" How´d that happen?" He asked her, his voice dangerously low.

" It´s nothing !"

" The hell it is!" he ground out, inspecting her face from every angle.

" He do that?"

" Not now….where´s the captain?"

" Outback, waiting for us to dump this guy out the gorram´ window."

" Now …see, here´s how it is, you´re in a bit of trouble here, my friend!"

Malcolm Reynolds said with a fake cheery tone of voice, leaning down to the man who was sitting strapped to a chair in Simon´s lab. Simon had injected him with just enough adrenaline to counter the effect of the sedative he had used for the hydro-spray.

The man had jolted awake after a few minutes and was now eyeing the people standing around him suspiciously.

" I know who you are!" he spat out with a condescending smirk, staring at River and Kaylee for a moment, who had changed back into their usual clothing.

" Shiny …that makes things a whole lot easier for us."

" You wanna know where we keep that whore until…."

The man´s head snapped back from the massive punch Mal threw at his face. He took it like a man, he´d give him that. On the other hand, Mal had seen some of Niska´s thugs up close before…probably the best money could buy.

" Just so we understand each other…" he hissed, bringing his face very close  while the other man moved his jaw carefully as if to assess if anything was broken.

"You don´t get to call her that ….ever again."

Deep inside, the thought made Malcolm Reynolds cringe. He´d called her that too many times. Now that he´d heard it out of this man´s mouth……it made him feel angry. Certain people might be wealthy and distinguished enough to acquire Inara´s services…..but nobody could ever buy her. He knew that now, even if it had taken him some time to figure that out.

" Her name´s Inara." Kaylee said quietly.

She had winced in surprise and horror at the sudden burst of violence. But the memory of looking at her captain´s  severed ear a few months back, reminding herself that Niska had done that, that this man had helped abduct Inara……made it easier to bear.

Niska´s thug spit the blood that was running from his lips onto the floor. Simon gave a disgusted sound.

" I´m not gonna tell you anything!" The man laughed, it sounded bitter and malignant.

" No matter what you do to me, if you have it in you……"

Mal lifted an eyebrow, giving the man an impatient glare.

" Oh …you´ll talk, in fact I wager you´ll sing like a little bird…." Serenity´s captain turned to Zoë, whose steady, neutral gaze had not wavered from their prisoner.

" Tell Wash to start the engine, I want us to take off the second we know where to go."

His first officer nodded, leaving with one last look at the man.

Mal turned back to their captive with an unpleasant smile.

" What´s your name?"

" None of your gorram´ business!"

" He said his name was Henry." Kaylee provided softly, hugging herself as though she felt cold. " Least that´s what he told me and River."

" Henry? Now …I´m not gonna hurt you, Henry."  Mal said seriously, walking around the chair in close proximity.

" But him …." Mal pointed back over his shoulder with his thumb to where Jayne was leaning against the wall, cleaning his fingernails with his biggest knife. The mercenary's  facial expression was grim.

" Him …now that´s a whole other story, Henry. See, it seems as though you split his girlfriend´s lip and he doesn´t take kindly to that."

The man´s eyes flew to River whose face was now sporting a small violet bruise underneath a slightly swollen lower lip.

" Captain, can I talk to you for a second?" Book interrupted gravely, motioning the captain to step out into the corridor.

"You think about that for a second with him watching you here, while I talk to our Shepard. Why don´t ya?" Clapping the man on the shoulder a few times, Mal walked past him to follow the preacher.

" We really don´t have time for this now, Shepard."

" I understand the gravity of our situation captain, but do you really want to resort to something as gruesome as torture?"

Mal lifted an eyebrow. He´d been on the receiving end of torture before. He didn´t think he´d need a sermon about this particular subject now.

" Well …if you can´t make peace with your conscience on this one I suggest you retire to your bunk, ´cause right now we don´t seem to have too many options."

" There has to be another way, drugs maybe?"

" Doctor?" Mal turned towards Simon who was close by since the others had miraculously flocked around them.

"Sodium-penthanol?" River whispered to her brother but Simon shook his head. He had a lot of drugs at his disposal, most of them leftovers from treating his sister. The truth serum Ruver mentioned was not among them.

" We don´t have any."

" Is there anything you could whip up for us in say the next five minutes?"

The young doctor thought about it for a second, then shook his head again.

" As much as I would love to forego the idea of torture, nothing I could provide would be  failsafe." 

" Well so much for that then!" Mal alleged with a severe expression on his handsome face. H

" You might not wanna be here for this lil´Kayle ….in fact I think you should both go now." He added with a look at River, his voice soft.

" I could …..try." she answered thoughtfully, her eyes drifting over to their hostage.

" What?"

" If you don´t want to use force I …I guess I could try to scare it out of him. One´s imagination can be far more …dreadful than the event itself." River explained softly, trying to avoid her brother´s inquisitive stare.

" How´r you gonna ….."

" Not me …..her, she´s been bored. I think she´d like to come out and ..play….for a while."

" You think that might work?" Simon enquired carefully with a glance at the captain.

Mal looked at River, remembering the moment he had seen the thing looking out through her eyes for the first time.

" You have ten minutes, after that I´ll have Jayne give it a try."

River walked back into the lab, breathing deep. She could feel the others, their eyes boring into the back of her neck, the swirl of their emotions like  faint whispers in her mind. Concentrating on herself for a moment she blocked them all out.

Jayne looked at her curiously, but didn´t say a word. He just watched her silently as she leaned down to their prisoner. He was a tall man, a little taller than Jayne even. She did not have to lean down very far to be on eyelevel with him.

" Tell me …." She said quietly, looking into his eyes.

" Tell me where Niska is, tell me where the ship is and we will not hurt you."

The man´s lips curled up into a malicious smile. He laughed under his breath.

" Is that a joke?" he asked with a malicious sneer.

" Nothing you lot can do to me could even compare to what Niska´d do to me if he found out I ratted him out!"

" I wasn´t talking about them." River whispered, motioning blindly to the corridor where the rest of the crew was standing.

" I was talking about me ….of what is inside of me."

I look in the mirror and guess what I see

A dark eyed spirit who seeks your everything

His eyes fixed on her again, a confused but amused look washing over his face.

" What could you do to me that could compare to Niska, ha? Lil´girl like you."

River smiled at him, a sweet, serene smile.

" Let me tell you a secret Henry…" she said, pulling a chair towards her. She sat down opposite to him, close enough for him to feel her breath on his cheek. He frowned in confusion.

" I am a really nice girl most of the time. A little peculiar maybe, but they´ll all tell you that I can be really sweet. I was brought up the right way, you know? Good teachers, the best schools promising the very best education and manners…..a lot of things came easy to me. I was gifted they said, but somewhere along the line things went wrong ….horribly wrong."

River slowly tilted her head to the side, closing her eyes as though she was listening to something only she could hear.

My mind is chaotic unless I choose to be free

Sometimes I just can´t help myself

Sometimes I just can´t help myself

She reached out with  a part of her mind, feeling the connection like a key gliding into a lock.

Inside her mind, the other thing suddenly materialized next to her, standing in the grey room.

Its cold, smooth fingers found her hand, interweaving with hers. It looked at her with those dark eyes and it´s usual detached expression.

" Go on, I´m here."

My mind is dangerous, that´s who I´ll always be

My mind is dangerous, that´s who I´ll always be

River opened her eyes again, looking at their prisoner. Up close she knew he could see the subtle change in her facial expression. She felt his puzzlement. If he could have, he would have tried to slide the chair backwards, away from her.

He was not scared, not yet……but he didn´t like what was going on. She had caught him unaware.

" The government got a hold of me." she continued in her soft, even voice.

" Their scientists messed around with my head, my brain….they cut me open and did experiments on me. Now I´ve got this thing in my head, inside of me. They put it there. This thing is not like you or me or my captain or the man standing behind me, watching us."

She shook her head very slowly.

" This thing …she is not human. She has no conscience, no restraint, no morals and from time to time she gets bored …I have to let her put to play….."

River leaned forward until their faces were only inches apart, looking straight into his eyes she let it peer out through her eyes like a hungry tiger. She let its predator gaze seep into her eyes, let it fill her face.

Hideous devastation, lifeless serenity

My abstract emotions , somehow get the best of me

Lord take away my sorrow, lord take away my pain

Erasing life tomorrow ain´t the motive to the game

She could her his strangled groan  as he was trying to stifle a surprised scream that was about to escape him. He gaped at her in uncomprehending horror.

River was not quite sure how she felt about that, but she had no time to ponder this question.

She had known what he would see, she had watched silently as the dread began to fill his expression now, like water being pored into a glass.

"That´s her …looking at you right now." River said quietly, not taking her eyes off him. She could hear his laboured breaths, feel him struggle for control. There was a part of him, a part desperately clinging to logic and reason telling him that  what he was seeing could not possibly be true. But there was sweat on his face know, the sneer was gone and it would not return.

"She doesn´t know pain or sorrow or compassion. If I let her out, she´ll do anything….anything to obtain the information we want from you. She won´t care if you beg, or cry …..she´ll just keep going until you break, no matter to what lengths she´ll have to go."

My mind is dangerous, that´s who I´ll always be

My mind is dangerous , that´s who I´ll always be.

 River leaned back very, very slowly, letting the thing´s gaze slowly seep from her eyes.

It was still watching, but she had carefully pushed it back a little.

"As I said before….." She smiled at him again.

" I am a really well behaved little girl, but this thing….she´s a real bitch. It´s your decision, really. So who would you rather deal with?"