R&R if ya can, please. Otherwise I'll think the crew of Firefly is a bunch of Neanderthals XD Helps to hear what veiwers say so I can improve. Enjoys!

Most of Lai's body was soon covered in bandages, her body still shaking.

"She's undergone severe trauma to her nerves. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder would be the case." Simon slipped his stethoscope off his ears to hang around his neck, pulling off his smock and resting it in the basin.

Seeing her shake reminded Mal, with nauseous detail, of when Niska tortured him with that "new weapon". He could remember the burning cold veins spreading through his flesh. He twitched, his hair standing on end as he looked away.

"Will she pull through?"

"Dunno, we'll have to see if she stabilizes. But it's odd; her human physiology is unlike any I've witnessed. There were traces of euadrenaline in her blood, as well as a high endorphin count. " Mal blinked.

"And that doc jarble means?"

"In other words, her body was holding more pure adrenaline and endorphin count than her homeostasis could take. She persisted to fight rather than hide and heal. Not to mention she was surgically built for it."

"How so? Is she some sort of genome?" Simon shook his head.

"No, but," He gently pried her mouth open, his thumb pushing against her palette, "You see here? These fangs were surgically constructed, as well as the position of her molars. I also noticed that her vocal cords are shaped differently when I took a scan of her."

"How are they shaped?"

"Well, when she speaks I would imagine it's a bit huskier for a female of her timbre, but she has the ability to roar, no doubt a good close combat strategy technique." Mal's face slipped into shock with each detail, "She also has an extra joint in her foot, allowing her to walk on all fours gracefully…like a cat."

"Are you saying the Alliance-" Simon shook his head in frustration.

"The Alliance did this to her." He pulled down the blankets, revealing all the bandages and stitchwork Simon had done in the past five hours.

"Electrocution, severe burn marks were found on her chest and inner thighs, not to mention countless lacerations all over her body. There were bullet wounds in her side and hip, shattering some of her bone. Dehydration, traces of narcotics; the Alliance were doing all they could to completely smash her." Mal swallowed, his Adam's apple trembling.

"Does this mean we have two Rivers on board?" Simon sighed and shrugged.

"As far as I can see, she has no cranial scars, but then again, her hair is rather long. I don't know how long they kept her in captivity." Mal nodded and stepped out of the room, Simon taping a blood transfusion to Lai's elbow before following Mal.

"No one enters without my order, got it?" Simon nodded, Mal locking the infirmary doors as Wash came to join with the others.

"Wash, contact Xiao when you can. Tell him we've got his operative, but she's badly hurt so we're keeping her on my vessel to make sure she doesn't get sick with the rest of the Exodus passengers. Simon, you have my permission to periodically check up on Lai when necessary. The rest of you, I would ask not for utter chaos and destruction."

"Dun we have that anywayz?" Jayne was polishing his knife, a bandage over the bridge of his nose.

"Less than the norm, then, if you please. We have a torture victim here and I don't know how well she'll respond to us strangers."

"I can see she already got friendly with Jayne here." Inara furtively smirked, Kaylee and Wash covering their mouths.

"Kitty's lost in the woods." Simon knelt beside her on the couch as River looked at her hands, "Her owner didn't love her, and let the bad men keep her. They skinned her and called her beautiful. Bullets do nothing for the coat she misses." She smiled, giving Mal the creeps as he blinked and forced a smile.

"So then, we got jobs to do so get to it."

Lai opened her eyes slowly, objects fringed with color in her line of vision. Sounds gave her a headache, the mere clatter of a surgical tool dropping into the basin making her stiffen and whine softly. Something moved in the corner of her left eye, reaching down and pushing up an eyelid. A penlight glared in her left pupil, making her eyes water. She snapped her jaws at Simon's hand, growling.

"Yup, she's aware." Simon drew back his hand sharply to avoid Lai's fangs, putting the penlight back into the drawer.

He turned to see her flexing her fingers and padded toes, her breathing raspy as though she smoked her whole life.

"Can I trust you?" Simon's brows rose in surprise.

"Why ask that?"

"You reek of Alliance." He blinked, confused.

"No, you can trust me." Lai spaced out for a moment, her breathing slowing down and her body going limp, "Lai? Lai!"

She jerked, blinking before she looked to him with a soft, sympathetic smile.

"So then, you're a fugitive. Not to worry, though," She saw him back away towards the intercom, "We're all fugitives in the end."

"How…how did you-?" She shook her head slowly, trying to cope with the pain.

"You have such tacit colors. Beautiful, yet sorrowful blues." She lazily smirked towards the ceiling, her teeth still stained with dry blood.

She coughed weakly, Simon pulling out a vial and a needle.

"Yet, a thorn of green shines through those colors…you have devotion." She smiled, not looking to Simon as he injected the medication into her IV stream, "Drugs are not my problem, Simon…though, I will admit…you have a…unique…sister." She passed out, her mouth slightly hung open.

He swallowed hard, throwing the needle out and replacing the vial. He closed the cabinet door to find Mal staring at him.

"Gah!"

"Whoa, there. Didn't mean to shock ya, doc." He silently nodded and tended to Lai's readings, "How is she?"

Mal walked up beside Lai, looking over her face and closing her mouth. He tried to ignore the fact that she was being swallowed up by bandages, wires and tubes.

"Stable, for the moment, but still phasing between levels of consciousness." Lai shivered from exposure to the air, Mal pulling out a spare blanket from underneath the counter and resting it on her.

"You ok, doc? You look jumped up." He shook his head.

"Just tired." Mal nodded in understanding.

"Best get some shut eye then." Simon tipped his head up slightly to agree with Mal, walking out of the infirmary to leave Mal alone with Lai.

He pulled up a chair, sitting and folding his hands under his chin as he stared at Lai.

Serenity

He looked up, a brow raising in curiosity.

A valley of shadows, with the Roman gods defying the will of man…

He got up and looked outside the infirmary doors.

"Lo? Anyone 'wake?"

Hades' men brought you under, letting your soul rot

Mal's eyes widened, turning to look at a slumbering Lai.

You picked up the pieces to start a new life…it is the only revenge you have against the gods…false gods…

"What the hell is this?" Lai's eyes opened, a film glazed over them as she stared into the surgical light.

Lance the poison, you have too much red and brown to see white." Her eyes locked onto Mal, the memories of Serenity Valley firing in his mind like bullets.

Mal woke in a frenzy, pulling sheets off as he fell out of bed. Gathering his wits, he noticed he was in his bunk. He rubbed his eyes, still trying to compute the fact that he wasn't in the infirmary anymore before the proximity alarm sounded.

"Oh no." Mal threw on a white shirt, strapping on his suspenders and climbing up the ladder.

"What is it?" he shouted, racing up the cockpit stairs.

"Gunships! Again! Geez, I thought we'd lost 'em!" Wash rapidly flicked on a few switches, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"What(?)! Lose them!"

"I can't, Mal. There's nothing to divert them with!"

"Wash, you're the best I got for a pilot. Pull another Crazy Ivan if you must, but lose them!"

Lai gracefully sat up, looking at the tray of instruments that Simon had left. The drugs had worn off, the film around her eyes fading away as she winced. The lights were always too bright in an infirmary.

She looked down at her wrist, looking back at the tray with an apprehensive look. The intercom flicked on.

"This is the captain speakin'. We currently have some outside trouble so if you'd please confine yourselves to your bunks, I'd appreciate it. Zoë, get to the bridge now." Lai's eyes widened.

"They found me again…" She picked up a scalpel, swallowing hard as she placed it against her left wrist.

She closed her eyes, calmly breathing before she cut into her skin.

"You know, an Ivan might not be such a bad idea. Kaylee, you in the engine room?"

"Aye, sir. Whatcha got for me?"

"Ready to pull another Ivan?" He heard Kaylee give a mischievous giggle.

"Anytime." A laser blast just avoided the left thruster.

"Aight, cap'n, where we headed?"

"Go for Green Leaf, we can recuperate there for a while if they lose the scent." Wash gave a wolf's howl, laughing as he turned his ship in the opposite direction of Green Leaf.

"Everybody buckle in!" Mal and Zoë strapped themselves into chairs, the rest of the crew gripping the walls of their bunks.

Wash flipped thrusters, turning him around to face a hoard of gunships charging for them. Repositioning the thrusters, he soared under the nest and revved up the main engine.

"Now, Kaylee!" The core lit up, fuming with golden tendrils before an explosion of fire rocketed them out of harm's way.

Half the gunships were incinerated, the other half limping back to the Cruiser.

Serenity kept shaking, the fire lowering to smoke before they were miles away from Alliance. Wash slowly exhaled, letting go of the controls.

"Congratulations on Ivan number two, everyone." Kaylee gave a whoop over her intercom.

"Right then, Wash, set a course for Green Leaf. Hopefully with the boost we'll make it with 8 less hours to go." Mal casually walked down the steps, smiling to himself before Simon hurtled into him.

"Whoa, doc, you've been a might twitchy today." Simon breathlessly tried to talk, "C'mon, breathe. What's got you in a tit?"

"Lai's…blood's everywhere…" He didn't need to say anything else as Mal swiftly navigated through the dining area, slid down the stairs and skidded into the infirmary.

It was like walking into a nightmare; most of the floor swimming in blood as Lai's body limply rested on the gurney as though tossed on. Simon's face was white as Mal stepped in, not caring about the blood.

"What did she do(?)!" He tried to find a pulse on Lai.

"She cut her wrist…right into her artery."

"Why the hell did she-?" His eyes caught something on the floor.

A small white light was blinking in the puddle of blood, Mal kneeling down and picking it up. Everything fell into place, Mal's fist tightening around the chip as Wash, Jayne, Zoë and Inara ran in.

"What is i-" Wash swore in Chinese, Inara gasping and covering her mouth.

Zoë ran in, grabbing a gauze roll and tossing it to Mal as he bound Lai's wrist tightly. Jayne swallowed tightly, looking at the blood and shaking his head.

"Don't make no sense…" Kaylee came down from the engine room, a curious look on her face.

"Hey, what's goin'-?" Inara put an arm around Kaylee's shoulder.

"Maybe you shouldn't be here right now, Kaylee."

"Whaddaya talkin' bout? I just wanted to know wha-" She saw the blood on the floor and screamed.

"Get her out of here! NOW!" Mal gripped Lai's wrist tightly to hold back the blood flow, Simon putting a tourniquet on her bicep.

"Why did she cut her wrist, sir? It doesn't add up."

"Yes it does." Simon and Zoë looked to Mal, holding his hand up, "She had a tracker."