"Jao Gao."
Malcolm Reynolds looked at the distance between himself and the infirmary and sighed. Ten yards. Maybe twenty. But there were at least five of those gorram black-suited mercenaries between his people (aside from Mattie0 and safety now. And the captain himself was the only fighter he felt he could count on to take those five hostiles out.
The captain of Serenity looked behind him, taking stock of his assets once again, desperately attempting to find anyone else that could help clear a path to safety right now. Inara had a gun in her right hand, a firearm which had been pried out of the cold, dead hand of one of Niska's hired guns, who had died defending the Tam family and the crew of Serenity. However, Malcolm knew that, despite his lover's bravery, the ex-companion did not know how to use a gun as well as Jayne, River, Zoe, or himself. Furthermore, although Inara was standing up straight, with her usual, impeccable posture, the hand made wig on Inara's head, as well as the large beads of sweat on the woman's brow, made it clear that the elegant woman in front of Mal wasn't in the best shape she had ever been. Although Malcolm was grateful for the rapid progress that had been made by the doctors Tam in treating Inara's condition, which had shown signs of great improvement over the past few days, the captain knew those treatments had been rough on Inara's body. And the fact that Inara was already gasping for breath after the short run away from the mansion, and the mercenaries inside it, indicated that she was in no shape to fight. Even so, Inara's eyes had a fiery determination in them as she looked at Malcolm now. "What do you think, Mal? Can we fight our way through? Or make a run for it?"
"Go se! I don't know. There are five of those black armored Hwen Dans between us and that infirmary. I'm still conjuring a plan to take them out."
"Well, I don't mean to rush you, sir, but you might want to gorram hurry up with that planning and get us to that infirmary!" Zoe groaned from her position leaning against a nearby wall, even as she attempted to hold her right ring finger, which was bleeding profusely, to keep it from bleeding to much.
Simon Tam, now back in the clinical, emotionless "doctor mode" that the rest of the crew both loved (because it greatly increased Simon's performance treating people's injuries) and hated (because it made the young doctor seem like a sociopath at times) turned away from examining Zoe's injury just long enough to look at the captain. "I concur with Zoe's conclusion, Captain. That finger that one of our adversaries clipped with a bullet isn't long for the 'Verse if we don't get her to a medical facility immediately! If we don't get her to that infirmary very soon, I will be forced to amputate. Otherwise, Zoe's entire hand could become infected, which could cause her to experience blood poisoning and..."
Malcolm shook his head, chasing away old memories of men dying on cots as their wounds oozed blood, pus, and other unsanitary liquids as nurses in a woefully under-supplied med bay were helpless to save soldiers from ailments that had known treatments since before the great exodus from Earth-that was.. "Spare me the unpleasant details, Doc. Zoe and I have seen firsthand what blood poisoning looks like. And we both know that ain't no way for a person to die."
Malcolm and Zoe shared a look of understanding, and the first mate nodded before looking at Simon Tam. "If you have to amputate the finger, or even my whole gorram hand, to keep me from dying like that, you do it. Dohn-ma?"
Simon nodded. "Dohn. But it won't come to that if we can get to the infirmary on time." The young doctor looked pointedly at Mal. "Captain?"
Mal sighed as he mentally screened out the sounds of gunfire coming from all over the compound and tried not to worry about how Jayne and River were faring. The captain also tried to ignore the looks of his entire party (sans Gabriel Tam, who was too busy tending to his own patient) were giving him as he formulated a plan. "Well, those mercs are clustered too closely together for all of us to sneak past, so we're going to have to attack. I conjure I can take out two of them, but beyond that...I don't know. Zoe?"
Zoe flexed her non-dominant hand while Simon tended to the wounded finger on her other hand. "Can't shot straight with this hand, sir. But I can still use my knife. If I'm sneaky enough, I should be good for one hostile, two if I'm lucky."
Reagan Tam, who had been silent during most of the events since the initial shoot out at the mansion, finally spoke as she shook her head wildly. "So..that still leaves...what? One or two mercenaries that can kill the rest of us? Just like they they have probably already killed my daughter? I should never have let you talk us into leaving her alone with that brute, just so we can all go on some Yu Bun Duh death defying dash to the infirmary!"
Mal opened his mouth to argue with the Tam matriarch, but several other people beat him to it. Kaylee frowned at Reagan as she said. "Jayne ain't a brute, he's just...not the best conversationalist sometimes. And I'm sure he's taking real good care of River right now until we all meet up with Mattie at the infirmary. Besides, River's pretty good at handling herself..."
Zoe chuckled, even as her face grimaced in pain from her wound. "Pretty good, my pi gu. Your daughter saved all of us from an army of Reavers, ma'am If anything, it's probably Jayne that needs her protecting, Besides, I didn't hear you complaining about leaving the mansion when we were running for the door."
Gabriel Tam looked up from treating his patient for a moment. "That's because I told her to follow the captain's lead in the event an emergency arises, since my wife and I have absolutely no experience in dealing with people trying to kill us. That, and I threatened to chloroform her and drag her out of the mansion if she didn't leave with us. I was afraid that our broadcasts might anger the Alliance, and something like this might happen, but Reagan and I decided it was worth the risk, as long as you and your crew were around to help protect us. That was one of the reasons that I insisted that all of Serenity's crew should be part of the show, not just our children."
Mal shook his head then pointed right at Gabriel while speaking in a dangerous tone of voice. "You and I are going to have words later about you willfully putting my crew in harm's way. But right now, we need to get to that infirmary, or Zoe's going to lose a gorram finger, and this..."
Mal's forehead wrinkled in confusion as he pointed towards Gabriel Tam's patient. "Other guy is going to die. You know, I just realized that we've spent well over a week around him, and I don't even know his name."
The tall, dark-haired and gray-eyed man, who had a scar over his right eye, and whose facial features seemed oddly familiar to Mal and Zoe glared at the captain. "Chwee Ni Duh! I'm not dead yet, so don't go talking 'bout me like I'm not here. And the name is Vulture, by the way. I'm the head of security 'round here. At least I was, but from the state of things, I would guess that none of my men are still breathing, and I ain't long for this 'Verse myself."
Gabriel Tam sighed as his patient coughed out blood into a handkerchief, and the eldest Tam looked at the captain and said. "I'm afraid he's right, Captain. I've done all that I can for this man, but a bullet has punctured his lung, and he's already lost too much blood for me to save him, even if we're inside the infirmary right this moment. The best I could do for him there is use morphine to ease the pain of his passing."
The tall man growled. "So I could die in my sleep like an ailing pet?! No thank you! I would rather go out in a blaze of glory, doing what I have been promised payment to do, which is saving your sorry Pi Gus!"
Gabriel shook his head. "Mr...Vulture. You are in no condition to fight..."
But the captain cut the elder Tam off and spoke to Vulture. "Let me see your hands."
Vulture held up both of his hands, which he was able to hold as still and steady as a rock, despite his injuries, which had leaked blood all over his shirt. The captain nodded. "Steady. That's good. You won't be much good to us if you can't shoot straight. If you want to die helping us, I'm happy to oblige you, but I don't see how you can get paid if you're dead."
Vulture smiled, showing blood on his teeth. "In the event of my death, Mr. Niska has promised to pay my sister, Raven, a princely sum, provided all of the cast members survive. So I will die helping you, captain Reynolds, and I will give you the security codes so that your ship can leave this moon without being blown apart from Mr. Niska's rocket turrets..." Vulture handed Mal a small circular computer chip. "If you promise to make sure my sister gets that money. Please. She's the only family I have left, and the only person in my family I ever liked anyhow."
Malcolm nodded. "I promise that your sister will be paid for your service, even if it has to come from my own share."
Vulture nodded, and got his gun out of his holster, but Zoe had one last concern she wanted to clear up. "I couldn't help but notice you and your sister are named after birds of prey. You wouldn't happen to be related to a man named Crow, would you?"
Vulture laughed, an action which, again, made him cough up blood before he answered. "He's was my older brother. He and I signed on with Niska at the same time."
Malcolm frowned. "Vulture...there's something that you should know about your brother..."
Zoe frowned. "Sir. I really don't think it's the time to discuss."
Vulture grinned again. "Don't trouble yourself, Captain Reynolds. I don't care that you killed my brother. He was a Pi Gu. You knew it. I knew it. Half the 'Verse knew it. In fact, he was the one that gave me this..." Vulture pointed to the large scar on his face. "The only regret that I have concerning Crow's death, other than not killing him myself, was that I wasn't there to witness you kicking that Hwen Dan into your ship's engine."
Mal nodded. "Alright then. Zoe, do you think you can execute the same maneuver that you did during the battle for Boros?"
Zoe raised her eyebrow, even as she grunted in pain after Simon bound her broken finger as best he could.. "The first or second battle, sir?"
Mal shook his head. "First. You know as well as I do that second conflict wasn't a battle, it was a massacre."
Zoe nodded with a frown on her face. "I suppose it was, sir. I'll do my best."
Mal nodded, and Zoe departed without another word. Everyone else in the party watched the dark skinned woman walk quickly and quietly towards a nearby building, before Zoe rounded a corner and dissapeared from view. However, Malcolm couldn't help but notice that Vulture was still looking at the spot Zoe had been several seconds after she dissipated. Shortly thereafter, after Gabriel Tam had patched up as much of Vulture's wound as he could, the mercenary turned to Mal. "Your first mate is very beautiful. Mr. Niska specifically warned us not to fraternize with any of the cast members. But I can't help but wonder...If I had tried to...woo her, how far would I have gotten?"
The captain glared at Vulture. "That's my first officer you're talking about. And recently widowed, I might add. You would do well to keep a civil tongue in your head when it comes to her."
Vulture chuckled again, coughing up blood yet again. "Or what? You'll kill me? I meant no disrespect. Zoe is clearly a capable fighter and person. I admire her somewhat. But still, humor a dying man. Call it a last request. Tell me. If I had approached Zoe, what would my chances have been?"
Mal's eyes nearly rolled to the back of his head, but, after checking to make sure that Zoe hadn't started fighting the black armored mercenaries between his people and the infirmary yet, Mal turned back to Vulture and said. "Honestly? Not so shiny. You would have been lucky if she hadn't cut your Fey wu off for trying."
Vulture sighed. "I thought as much."
Malcolm nodded. "Great, so now that that essential matter is settled..." Inara and Kaylee, who had been watching the verbal exchange between the captain and Vulture with some interest, both smiled in amusement at Mal's tone, which was dripping with sarcasm. "Can we get out there and finish this fight while we're all still young?"
"There's no need for that, captain Reynolds." A voice came from behind a nearby building, and everyone but Mal and Vulture flinched before the owner of the voice revealed himself.
A sharply dressed man, dressed in an outfit that was no doubt the very height of core-world fashion stepped out from behind the building. The man's smile was pleasant enough, and his facial features would be considered pleasant to look at by most people,. But his eyes were the color of blue steel, and just as cold.
Atherton Wing's smile widened as more than a dozen black armored men ran out from behind several nearby buildings, and took position, with their guns aimed at Malcolm and his party, behind, and to both sides of, Atherton. The blue eyed man smirked. "As you can see, Captain, the battle has come to you..."
Just a block away, River Tam stared down the barrel off a gun, and glared at the blonde woman holding said firearm. After checking to make sure that Jayne wasn't going to bleed to death anytime soon, using some of the medical knowledge that she had picked up from Simon, and some Alliance doctors, over the past several years, the reader stood up to face the woman who was currently calling herself "Saffron." "She should lower her weapon before she gets killed. You aren't going to shoot me."
Saffron smirked. "Gorram, girl. They told me that you were a feng le, but I never expected that you were unhinged enough to threaten someone pointing a gun at your head. Now, cut the go se, put your weapons down, and get down on the ground. Nobody is going to hurt you if come along real quite like, Dohn-ma?
River ignored Saffron's words and slowly walked several steps towards her adversary. "She doesn't think so. She thinks she is worth more to the Alliance alive then dead."
Saffron cocked her gun for dramatic effect. "True. But you're still worth a shiny credit in a body bag now, feng le. You and all your friends. I guess the Alliance got tired of your lot giving them go se. But that ain't my worry. I'm just in it for the payday. Within the next ten seconds, your body is going to kiss the dirt. It's up to you whether you're going to still be breathing when that happens."
River smirked, but stopped walking forward. "I don't think so. YoSaffBridge doesn't kill any of them. She just leaves her victims in a place that it would be easy for them to die."
River had fire in her eyes as she stared at Saffron, and the smirk still hadn't left River's face. "She has never looked anybody in the eye when she kills them, and I don't think she will start now."
Saffron gave River a toothy, predatory grin, but the reader saw the fear in the con artist eyes as the latter spoke. "Five seconds. And I shot the gorilla easily enough. Now be a good girl and get on the ground before the same thing happens to you."
Jayne, still on the ground, gritted his teeth and shouted through his pain. "Do what the woman says, crazy girl. You can find a way to escape later!"
River's smirk faltered, but only for a moment, as she looked at Jayne in concern, but her confidence was back before the brunette turned her gaze back towards Saffron. "Time's up. If you were going to shoot me, you would have done it by now. The man they call Jayne's wound is serious, but not immediately life threatening..."
River looked back at Jayne again and gave the mercenary a half-smile. "He should still make a full recovery if he gets to a medical facility soon."
The reader had a murderous look in her eyes as she turned back to Saffron, whose hand was now trembling, ever so slightly, as she shouted at River. "On the ground now! I'm not going to ask again!"
River's shook her head. "No."
The reader drew her small knife out from underneath her sleeve and pointed the blade at Saffron before the con-artist could blink. "Turn around and run away. She will not be asked again."
The blonde and brunette just stared at each other for several seconds until, suddenly, River drew her hand back and threw her blade towards Saffron, and, half a second later, the blonde drew her gun and fired.
A moment later, with a loud BANG and a low, sick, THUD sound Saffron's bullet and River's knife both made contact with their intended targets. And both woman's bodies fell to the ground only a moment later.
"RIVER!" Jayne's scream was a primal thing. A loud, almost inhuman wail that greatly disturbed everyone in the villa who heard it. Even Atherton Wing was somewhat unnerved by the scream, as his usual smug look fled away from his face. But the moment soon passed, and the core-worlder smirked again he watched the reactions of Serenity's crew to Jayne's scream, which ran the spectrum from anguish over losing yet another friend on Mal and Vulture's, part, to panic, on Simon and Kaylee's end, and, in Reagan Tam's case outright baling. "No! Not my baby! Not my River! I told you we shouldn't have left her with that Hwen dan! I told you!"
Gabriel Tam held onto his wife in a tight embrace, but he could think of no words of comfort to offer her as tears fell from his own eyes. As Simon held Kaylee, who was on the edge of tears herself, he watched his father cry, and for the first time since their last fateful confrontation on Osiris, before Simon had ran away from home to look for River, the son saw in the father what the daughter had seen long ago. Not as unfeeling monster, but as a somewhat aloof, occasionally overprotective, flawed husband and father who still deeply cared for his wife and children. In that moment, even as he grieved for his sister Simon finally forgave his father for not believing him about the Academy, and as Simon and Gabriel made eye contact while holding their respective mates, both of which were openly sobbing now, the father and son reached a silent understanding with each other.
Atherton mock sighed. "Well, it sounds like one of you hwen dans is no longer among us. A shame too. River Tam was the only one of you that had any chance of getting out of this alive. I told my people not to shoot her unless she resisted capture. She's worth more to the Alliance alive, you see. The rest of you...not so much. But I can be gracious in victory, so I'll make you a deal. Submit your weapons to my men and put your hands behind your head, and I will personally insure that all of your deaths well be as quick and painless as possible."
Gabriel Tam glared at Atherton in hate. "How gracious and magnanimous of you, sir."
Atherton ignored the sarcasm in the older man's voice. "Yes. I think so to. Now please, hand over your weapons so we can get this over with and you can all die like the Ung Jeong Jia Ching Jien Soh that you are, so that me and my men can hunt your ape and his brother down, then go home."
Malcolm glared at Atherton. "Like hell we will..."
But Inara put her hand on Mal's arm to silence her lover, then looked at Atherton with wide eyes as she tried a more diplomatic tactic. "Atherton, there is no need for this. You and I have known each other for years. Surely we can come to some sort of arrangement that doesn't involve violence. If it's money you want, I still have some credits stowed away from my days as a Companion, and this show's benefactor would surely offer you a princely sum in exchange for safe passage..."
Atherton spat towards Inara's feet, missing the woman's left foot by inches. "Save it, whore! You had your chance for a happy life, filled with opulence, riches, and all the comforts you could ever want, when I offered you a place by my side, but you spurned me in favor of this..." Atherton pointed at Mal. "Hwen Dan instead! This isn't about money. Well...not just about money. The two of you humiliated me. Now you're going to pay with your lives..."
After Atherton had finished his rant and drawn a fencing blade out of the scabbard mounted on his hilt, all of his men pointed their guns at the elder Tams and the members of Serenity's crew which were present. However, just before they could all fire, Vulture right eye twitched as he spotted something in his peripheral vision, and the man raised his hand and grunted through the pain of his wound "Can I ask just one gorram question before we die?."
Mal and Atherton both looked at the mercenary with surprise evident on their face, but Malcolm allowed himself a small smile when he saw what Vulture had seen, just as Atherton replied to Niska's dying henchman. The core-world man sighed and motioned his men to lower their weapons as he did the same. "Very well. What is it you just have to know before my men blow all of your yu bun duh brains out?"
Vulture shrugged. "How did you manage to land anywhere on this moon without your ships getting blown up? Mr. Niska's missile defense system should have taken care of you before you ever reached us. And, how the gorram hell did you manage to find where this gorram show was even being filmed? Mr. Niska assured me that the broadcast was scrambled enough that it would be impossible to find the source."
Atherton allowed himself a wide smirk. "Finding you all was simplicity itself. After watching an episode of your thinly veiled piece of go se anti-Alliance propaganda, out of sheer morbid curiosity, I quickly recognized the style of the architecture that the builders of this villa uses. My family vacationed on this moon when I was a child, you see. From there, it was a simple matter of finding a decent tracker/bounty hunter to narrow down your location to this particular villa, and hiring enough mercenaries to kill you all."
"As far as getting through this moon's newly installed defenses..." Atherton shrugged. "That was a bit harder. I had to hire someone with a bit less...orthodox talents to steal the clearance codes from Niska's skyplex so that we could land here. She called herself Bridgette when I hired her."
Malcolm, Inara, Kaylee, and Simon's eyes all widened in surprise, causing Atherton's smirk to widen even further. "Yes. She said that you might remember her. Anyway, apart from her cut of all of your Alliance bounties, which are considerable, Bridgette demanded only one thing. That she be allowed to come here in order to help me bring River Tam in and take all of you hwen dans down. Now..."
"You talk too much." One of Atherton's "henchmen" who had been inching closer and closer to the core-world man as he spoke, pointed a gun at Mr Wing. And it was only at that moment that most of the people present noticed that the black clad individual, who was holding a weapon in her non-dominant hand, was of a slightly smaller build than the other black-armored individuals, and that the glove on this person's dominant hand had blood all over it, spreading out from one of the finger sockets.
Atherton smiled, but there was fear in his gaze now, even as his men pointed their guns at the pretender. "Mrs. Washburne, I presume? I was wondering where you were skulking about. Calmly lower your weapon please. Killing me would be a waste. You are out-manned and outgunned. You can't possibly kill all of my men by yourself."
Vulture grimaced as he and Mal pulled their guns out quickly and simultaneously, pointing their weapons at the mercenaries threatening Zoe. "She won't have to."
Some of the black clad mercenaries then proceeded to aim their guns at Malcolm and Vulture, while the others kept their sights firmly on Zoe, who still had her gun inches in front of Atherton's head. Malcolm sighed. "Shiny execution of that Boros maneuver, Zoe. But I think we might have all reached an impasse here."
"Yes." Atherton gulped, even as he silently hoped that nobody noticed the small amount of moisture that had just come out of his crotch. "I believe on Earth-that-was, they would have called this a Mexican stand-off."
A block away, Jayne was quietly sobbing out of great physical and emotional pain, even as he continued to apply pressure to his stomach wound "River..."
"Shh. She is...shiny. And he will be okay soon."
Jayne had to wipe away unshod tears to make out the face of the individual who was currently holding his head up, inches above the ground, with one hand, while stroking the mercenary's facial hair with the other. "River."
The brunette holding Jayne's head smiled. "The river is still flowing. Yes. But the albatross' wing is injured."
"Wha..." Jayne stopped verbalizing his confusion when he saw a bloody streak of torn skin on the side of River's forehead, where Saffron's bullet had grazed her, as well as the bump on the back of River's skull, which was slightly obscured by the hazel-eyed young woman's hair. Jayne frowned. "You're hurt."
River giggled, but there was a nervous look in her eyes as she tore away the segments of Jayne's shirt which had blood on them, then tore off just enough of her own shirt to reveal her slim stomach before fashioning a make-shift bandage out of the ripped segment of her garment. River then proceeded to bandage up Jayne's wounded, muscular stomach as best as she could as she replied. "Says the man with the bullet in his stomach She will heal. And so will he...you, as soon as Simon can get that bullet out. The woman with many names was not so lucky."
Jayne just nodded, grunting in pain whenever River had to tighten the bandage over his wound. But when River was finished, the big man spoke. "I can't believe that jien huo came back again and managed to get me hurt a third gorram time! And this time, she hurt you as well! I can't believe I ever offered to trade Vera for that guay toh guay nown!
River frowned for a long second, then nodded. "Yes. That would have been a very bad trade for you. Vera's a good gun. A very special lady."
Jayne nodded as he stared at River's body, including her exposed midriff for a long moment, then looked at her beautiful hazel eyes and smirked. "Yeah. But I can think of one that I'm starting to like even more."
River smirked, even as she covered his exposed midsection, the silently mouthed 'later' as the brunette slowly rose to her feet. The reader sighed. "YoSaffBridge is dead, but another is coming. Someone worse."
Jayne grunted. "There's no chance you could maybe drag me to the infirmary and hide before he gets here, is there?"
River just shook her head, but Jayne saw the fear in her hazel eyes. The mercenary sighed. "Figures. Get your pi gu out of here then, crazy! Run, hide, get to the rendezvous point to meet up with Mattie! Do something so that you don't gorram die!"
River shook her head again, harder this time, as she continued to look at something straight ahead. "No. Man they call Jayne is her mate, and she will not leave him."
"Aw, ain't that sweet. Beauty protecting the beast." A mocking voice came from a man who jumped off a nearby two-story building with little apparent effort, other than bending his legs just before he hit the ground. Jayne noted that, although he had never seen the black man with the conspicuous looking red suit in his life, the voice of the person before him seemed oddly familiar.
River's hand shook as she picked up Saffron's old gun and pointed it at the man in front of her. A threatening gesture made somewhat less intimidating by the fact that River's hand was still shaking, and that the brunette was having difficulty tracking the dark-skinned man's movements with her gun. "Not another step, Mr. Early!"
The bounty hunter chuckled maniacally, even as Jayne figured out who the psychopath, who had just stopped walking several feet behind the spot where the big man was lying, was. "Now, now. There's no need for that. I'm a bounty hunter. Not a killer. Unless I have to be. My associates have their own plans for your friends, little one, but I am only here to take you in...alive. So things will be just shiny if you come with me quietly this time, like a good little pet. Otherwise..."
Jubal Early flashed River a grin that was all teeth, and no mirth, as he pulled out his gun and pointed it, not at the brunette young woman in front of him, but the bounty hunter at her feet. "Your little Kai Tze is going to be eating a lead sandwich today. Dohn-ma? So..." River's arm continued to tremble slightly, but she did not lower here weapon as the bounty hunter added with a sudden frown. "What's it going to be?"
AN: So, first of all, I would like to apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out. All I can say is, my life has been hectic lately, leaving me less time for writing. But I will try to get the next chapter out a little quicker. As always, I would like to thank all of my readers for their support and input for this story. A special thanks goes out to everyone who has reviewed my last chapter so far, including bjq, Wicked, Onna, and galwidanatitud!
And again, an extra-special thanks goes out to my beta-reader, who helps me make my stories as shiny as possible. Thank you so much for all your help!
Until next time, I am...
-supercode
P.S. For those of you that celebrate it, have a Happy Thanksgiving!
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