Londinium, June 2520

"Lord Calbert," Lacey addressed the Master of Parliament.

Heads snapped her direction as her form appeared in the midst of the Parliament session. She chuckled silently at how out of place her leather and weapons looked in the very heart of the Alliance.

Lord Calbert, a tall, rail thin, dignified looking man with slicked back salt and pepper hair peered down at her from his dais even as his guards surrounded him.

Lacey laughed derisively, "If I can walk into the innermost of the Parliament grounds without being detected, what makes you think you could stop me if I chose to ascend that dais?"

The guards tightened their circle, but Calbert waved them off. They backed off reluctantly as he stood. Lacey walked forward until she was at the foot of the dais. Calbert paused at the edge of it.

He spoke down to her, "Then why not ascend?"

"Because I have no intention of harming you, so long as you choose to be reasonable, and I wish to leave you at ease."

"As you said yourself, you walked into the very heart of my palace undetected, forgive me if you gesture of peace feels somewhat cheapened."

Lacey grinned up at him, "As you wish."

"And what is it I'm expected to be reasonable about?"

"How is your investigation into the Academy's destruction progressing?" Lacey asked instead of answering.

Something snapped behind the man's eyes, and his face became guarded, "It was a tragedy. I've many families still enquiring as to the whereabouts or fate of their children."

"That wasn't an answer."

Calbert's jaw set, and Lacey saw the moment he decided to tell the truth, "I'm afraid we've hit a dead end… not that we had many leads initially."

Lacey's grin grew, "As a token of good will, I'd like to solve that mystery for you."

"I do believe we'd appreciate some light shed on that particular situation." Silence fell over the room.

"I plead guilty."

A collective gasp echoed across the room.

"And what become of the students?" Calbert asked, strained, "Their families would like closure, you see… to lose so many exceptionally gifted beings…"

Lacey's grin vanished and rage snapped behind her eyes and her voice held a deadly edge, "Do not presume to play coy with me, Calbert."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

Lacey ascended a few steps, sending the guards scrambling again. She stopped halfway up and rose her eyes to Calbert's, "The Academy 'students' are safely beyond your reach. Closure is necessary for no one but the scientists and guards I left in the Academy when I blew it up."

Calbert paled, "No one… no one knew that."

"It wasn't released to the public, that doesn't mean no one knew."

Fury suddenly contorted Calbert's features and he pushed past his guards, descending the steps until he stood right in front of Lacey, "Where are my students?"

Lacey disregarded the question, "Do you remember when I suggested you be reasonable? Now is the time for that."

Calbert clamped his mouth shut.

"You sought out exceptional beings. Vampires, werewolves, and Slayers. I'm here to warn you not to restart the Academy. We do not take kindly to others meddling in our affairs or manipulating such powers to their own purposes."

"Or what? Why should I be cowed by one little girl?"

Lacey's grin returned ferally. She waved a hand and a shimmering window appeared, displaying her battle with D'Hoffryn. She waved a hand again and the window vanished.

Calbert stared at her wide-eyed.

Lacey stepped closer to him, "Would you like to know a secret about the Slayers? The ones you imprisoned were watered down with only a portion of the true power of a Slayer. The true Slayers can be counted on one hand. And I'm one of them. You think the war against the Independents was bad? Only a few Slayers had a hand in that. If you continue seeking out Slayers and other creatures of power, you will be at war with all Slayers. And you will not win. We are beyond your reach. We are beyond your capability to defeat. We are more powerful than you could ever imagine. And we will no longer stand for power-greedy governments manipulating us.

"If the Academy is reestablished, I will release wave after wave of the experiment vids I found when we raided the Academy. It will be a hundred times worse than Miranda, and you will be able to do nothing to stop me. And that's only the very beginning of the damage I will cause. I will reign hellfire down on the Alliance if you step one toe out of line. Do we have an understanding?"

Trying to cover the look of shocked panic on his face, Calbert nodded, "Shōudào."

Lacey nodded, "We'll be watching." Then she vanished.

Verbena, June 2520

"Projection was genius, Will!" Laegacy exclaimed as she sat up after coming back into her own body.

Willow shrugged modestly, "It was the safest option."

Xander nodded enthusiastically as he pulled Lacey to her feet, "No way in hell I was letting my girl waltz into the heart of the enemy camp. Especially after that yúbèn stunt with the enjoining spell!"

Lacey grinned, noticing his use of language, "Awh! You're getting it! Told you you'd catch on, shuài!"

She stood on tip toe and kissed him on the cheek before sauntering out of the room before he could lecture her again over what the consequences of using the enjoining spell could have been.

"Must you go?" River knew she was pouting, but she couldn't quite bring herself to care.

Vera laughed and pulled the little slip of a girl into a tight embrace, "Shì, little one."

River had grown rather attached to the Cobb clan and was remiss to see them leave, "The girl will be lonely."

Vera tilted River's face up toward her, "Girl, you listen good, you still got your crew, and now you've got all these Slayer girls. They're good folk and good company. They'll take care 'a ya."

River nodded solemnly, "Wǒ zhīdào."

Ver grinned, "I'd take ya with me if I didn't need to know someone was keepin' an eye on Jayne."

River grinned back, "He takes so much looking after."

Vera laughed heartily as the topic of their conversation approached.

"What're ya jackin' yer jaws 'bout?" Jayne asked.

Vera shook her head slyly, "Bùyàojǐn. Girl was just sayin' she's gonna miss us is all."

Jayne turned to River, "That all, Crazy?"

River nodded.

"Awh, hell, girl, if that's all, don't you worry. I'll take ya ta visit the whole lot 'a 'em. Even them húndàns I call brothers." Jayne winked even as Vera swatted his arm.

River beamed up at him, "Zhen?"

"'Course."

River leaped up and threw her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his cheek, "Xièxie!" And then she skipped off to find Mattie, leaving Jayne blushing and Vera laughing.

The Black, July 2520

Mal leaned back in the pilot's chair.

"What's on your mind, Cap?"

Mal jumped at Lacey's voice. He hadn't even heard the woman join him on the bridge, "Gāisǐ de, woman! I'm gonna start makin' you and River both wear bells!"

Lacey laughed, "Duìbùqǐ, Cap."

Mal shook his head.

"You sure you're okay with this new arrangement?"

Mal looked at her incredulously, "Why in the 'Verse wouldn't I be?"

Lacey shrugged. After the Academy, the Council recruiting Serenity had been a no-brainer. The Firefly-class transport was now officially tasked with tracking and retrieving minis, in addition to the occasional supply run and monster hunt.

Mal's face softened a bit, "Me and my crew get steady pay, we're actually doin' the 'Verse some good, and we still get to stick it to the Alliance. I'm a happy man, little one."

Lacey laughed, "Not to mention the Alliance can't touch you, even if you emptied the septic over Parliament on Londinium."

Mal laughed with her, "Now there's an idea."

Translations:

Shōudào – message received

yúbèn – stupid/foolish

shuài – handsome

Shì – yes

Wǒ zhīdào – I know

Bùyàojǐn – doesn't matter

húndàns – bastards

Zhen – Really/truly

Xièxie – thank you

Gāisǐ de – damn it

Duìbùqǐ – I'm sorry