"What went wrong, Mal? I thought you were a dedicated man."
"And I thought you were an honest one." Xiao's radio voice crackled when he chuckled.
"Mal, I did it because I don't trust any business man with my well-earned cash."
"Then maybe you'd like to explain to us why there was a room full of Alliance Feds waitin for us just to say a "howdy do" and riddle us with holes."
"What?" Xiao's face wrinkled in confusion, "What door did you enter?"
"B-6, like you said." Xiao sighed.
"Mal, I had said E-6, not B." Mal's face became impassive.
"No you didn't."
"I most certainly did. Now you go find her, and do it quick because you have two days left. You know what'll happen if I don't get her back in two days." Mal flicked off the com, sullen-faced.
"Lil' punk tryin' tah push us 'round." Mal sighed.
"Jayne, he's tall enough to make you piss in your pants."
"C'mon, River, it's time for bed." He coaxed his little sister into bed, trying to tuck her in.
"No, I wanna see the kitty." She fumbled with his grip, trying to get out of bed with an infantile smile.
"Kitty? River, there's no cats on board." She looked at Simon with a childish expression of confusion.
"But I saw one. A red kitty. She's hurt and all alone." Simon sighed and tucked her in, hushing her.
"We'll see the red kitty tomorrow, ok?" She frowned.
"Kitty might be dead by then."
Lai overturned a box of medical supplies, hooking her clawed fingers around the latch of a drawer. Inside lay long needles filled with pure adrenaline. Her eyes lit up.
"Jackpot." She peeled off the covering, noting the length of the needle.
Swallowing, she turned the hypodermic towards her chest, aiming for her aorta as she closed her eyes. She breathed deeply, calming herself before plunging the three-inch long needle into her chest. She quickly pushed the contents into her bloodstream, pulling the needle back out as a tiny spurt of blood dripped on the floor.
She pressed a bandage pad against her bullet wound, gritting her teeth as she wound gauze around it tightly. She searched the shelves, finding a few clean hypodermics and a small supply of morphine.
"This'll do for now." She grabbed a lazy handful of both, rubbing some alcohol into the inside of her elbow before injecting a small amount into her bloodstream.
She left the infirmary with a dazed smirk on her face, crawling up to the dining area on all fours. Everyone was asleep save for Mal, Zoë, Wash and Jayne, who were all in the cockpit. Lai cautiously stepped in with the ball of her foot first, eyes wide and alert for signs of movement. She opened a cabinet door, finding a few lonesome buns and a jar of strawberry jam. She felt her mouth mournfully water at the thought of food. Scooping all four of the buns out and gripping the jar with both hands, Lai searched the drawers for a knife.
She made sure not to make too much noise, tossing chopsticks aside and across the floor. She found a knife, placing it next to the buns and jam. She opened each cabinet, unraveling the organization of the contents as she searched for something to drink. Tea would be nice, but heat would carry the aroma. She found a few bottles of water and walked back to the other side of the room, yearning for orange juice instead. It had been months since she had a decent meal.
She fumbled with the knife, slitting her finger as she cut into the buns halfway. She sloppily placed a dollop of jam into the wedges and folded them over, stuffing one in her mouth as she carried the other three in her hand. The jam fell to the floor, smashing into pieces.
"What the hell?" Mal walked out of the cockpit, rushing into the dining room to see the place torn apart.
"Holy," Mal ran back to the cockpit, turning on the com.
"This is the captain speaking. Would all personnel please report to the dining area." He flicked it off.
"Mal, what the hell's going on?" They heard Kaylee cry out in surprise.
The four of them rushed out and back into the dining area, Kaylee's hands covering her mouth as Inara, Book and Simon stared in shock.
"Ok, would someone tell me who set the bear off?" Kaylee was still staring at the jar of jam.
"It's a jar of jam, Kaylee. I know you like strawberries, but"
"It's not that." Mal looked over her shoulder.
A bloody knife lay on the table, handprints smeared on the counter. Mal cursed in Chinese, his eyes wide. Simon went back down, following the smears of blood before they led to the infirmary.
"Oh god, NO!" He wrenched open the doors, the rest of the crew filing down to see what he had meant.
Surgical tools, bandages, medicine bottles and gloves littered the floor, mingled with the artistic curves of blood.
"What the hell did this?"
"I ain't waitin tah find out." Jayne left for the cargo bay, skidding down the scaffolding stairs and kneeling before the secret compartment.
He pulled off the grate, leaning in to pull out his new stash of guns before he stopped. A mangled hand rested over the canvas thread, a silhouetted head lying on top of the case. She stank of blood and sweat, her body shaking even though she was unconscious. Jayne swallowed hard, seeing each of her fingers wrapped in a sharp steel talon.
He slowly picked the grate back up, about to place it back when he saw the gleam of eyes.
"MAL!" The grate slammed against his face, the creature scrambling out like some psychotic gecko.
A red scarf was tied around her face, eyes burning with the primal drive to survive as she backhanded Jayne in the face. Jayne blindly took out his gun, Lai kicking it out of his hand. He couldn't reach it fast enough and instead went to draw his bowie knife but despite Lai's injuries, she slashed into his hand. Gracefully stepping in-between his footing, Lai slashed off his utility belt and back fisted him in the face. He staggered back, his belt and pants dropping.
Lai laughed, a deep, darkly charismatic laugh before coughing. Her pupils were dilated, her wounds seemingly non-existent in the heat of battle. She kneed him in the gut when he charged for her, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt and throwing him against the wall, smashing into the intercom button.
"GAH! Gorrammit, guh!" They heard an inhuman snarl and froze.
"Wash, cockpit. The rest of you, get to the shuttles if you can."
Simon left to get river, coming back with his arms protectively around her shoulders.
"Kitty's mad."
"What the hell is that(?)!" Simon held River closer as he heard a garble of Jayne's grunts of pain and insane, high-pitched laughter.
"Seems to me," Mal pulled out his revolver, stepping towards the cargo bay, "we have a Reaver on board."
Jayne flicked his head, gathering his senses as Lai kneed him in the face. He staggered, holding a sidekick and punching her in the jaw. He gripped Lai's side wound tightly, making her shriek and claw madly at Jayne's face.
"GYAH!" Ducking down below his grip, she rose back up and sharply elbowed him in the nose, dropping to the floor and sweep-kicking Jayne off his feet.
He grabbed her scarf to save his balance, pulling it off to reveal bloodstained fangs snarling at him.
"Holy," She gave another battle cry, her claws erect.
A bullet went through her shoulder, making her howl as she whirled around and stare up at Malcom, his revolver raised.
Mal froze, remembering the sandstone fire of Lai's eyes. He lowered his gun.
Jayne scrambled for his gun, cocking it and aiming it at her head. Lai swung around automatically, kicking it back out of his hand and performing a roundhouse windmill kick to his face. Mal started to run down the stairs, but he seemed to be running through molasses compared to how fast Lai's reactions were. Jayne snatched up his knife, trying to stab her. She slapped him in the face, leaving four bleeding claw marks on his face. He gripped her by the hair, punching her three consecutive times in the face. Blood splattered out of her mouth, staggering back as the boundaries of her world swayed out of proportion.
She collapsed on her knees, coughing up blood. She fumbled with the pillbox in her hip pouch. Lai popped open the container, trying to tip it into her mouth before Mal smacked it out of her grip. The floor raced up to catch her, not hearing Mal's faded voice shout at Jayne and then scream for Simon. She blinked halfway, Mal leaning down towards her face. She could make out the sky blue irises, his brows furrowed in concern. She coughed a delirious giggle, her body falling into convulsions.
Mal lifted her torso into his arms, Simon kneeling beside her and taking her pulse.
"Jayne, mind tellin' me what in the hell happened? And why you're running around without your gorram pants." Kaylee had trouble stifling a giggle.
"She's a Reaver, dammit! She 'ttacked me outta nowhere's!" Mal's brows lowered in frustration.
"Ever seen a female Reaver, Jayne?"
"Uh."
"I thought so." She was shivering in Mal's arms, her lower face smeared in her own blood. Blood flooded one of her eyes, spreading out from her iris.
"Amazing, she's lost so much blood she should have died from shock but apparently her adrenaline is the deciding factor of her fate, why she's still conscious and alert," He heard the clink of a bottle, looking to see an empty morphine case, "and why my drugs went missing."
Lai muttered phrases in Chinese, her eyes still locked on Mal's as she lost more color in her skin.
"Get her to the infirmary." Mal scooped up Lai's beaten legs, cradling her head against his shoulder as a few of her neko-te slipped off her fingers.
Mal and Simon placed her on the infirmary table, turning on the surgical lights as the rest of the crew sat in the common area. Simon closed the doors, Zoë, Mal and Simon hovering over a fading Lai.
"Can we dope her?" Simon shook his head.
"No, it's too risky. With the huge loss of blood, she could die if I drugged her." He swallowed, "Strap her down. Zoë, I know we don't have any oxygen tanks, but do you think you can reroute an O2 pack from one of our suits? Her hemoglobin count is, as I suspect, very low and she's not breathing too well as it is." She spat out more blood, her face and limbs swollen.
"Do you have any attachments?"
"I snatched a couple of things when we were on Ariel, there should be a breathing apparatus in my red bag. Quickly, she's fading fast." He slipped on gloves, cutting through what little clothing she had left with a pair of dissecting scissors, "Oh god, she's a walking disaster."
He peeled off her prison rags, whimpers of pain struggling past her lips as salty tears ran into facial cuts. Mal pulled out the leather shackles that attached to the gurney, clipping her wrists and ankles. Her eyes started to roll back, her breathing sharp and irregular. Zoë came back with the O2 pack, rerouted with the breathing apparatus. She placed it on Lai's lower face, holding it as the ringing in Lai's ears grew worse.
"Pass me a scalpel," Her eyes widened and she began to freak.
Memories of torture swam back into her head, her movements erratic as Mal pulled out a hypodermic. He sharply tapped it into her skin, injecting the contents as she relaxed.
"What did you give her?"
"Something to kickstart her endorphins. Natural painkillers." He tossed the used hypodermic into the basin, his gloved hands already smeared in Lai's blood.
Mal passed Simon a scalpel, turning the light to focus on her side. He peeled off the gauze, making her body jerk violently once before stiffening and relaxing. He cut into her wound, sending a fresh spill of blood down his hand as Lai's slurred screams rang out in the room. Using a retractor, he peeled back her flesh to expose three shattered bullets.
"Crap, she's in trouble." He began to extract the bullets slowly, making sure not to rupture any organs or blood vessels.
Mal held Lai down as best he could, sensing Lai's agony as his brows furrowed. Her muffled, raspy wails of pain soon died down as she passed out.
"Who the hell is that girl anyhow?" Jayne came back into the common area, hopping up a new pair of pants.
Wash looked up, his hands red from wringing them.
"That's Lai Jankins, our cargo. Looks like we got her after all."