A/N: First, let me apologize to everyone for the wait. I was cursed with the dreaded Swine Flu over the weekend, and it really hampered my ability and will to write. Then yesterday, my hard drive crashed, and I lost everything. Luckily, I'd already sent this to be beta read, so it was salvaged. Speaking of the beat work, big thanks to Verkisto for all the hard work she put into this chapter. Without her, let's just say this was a wreck. And if you still think it's a wreck, I assure you, it's my fault. She did what she could. Any additional errors you find are just proof of my idiocy. Now without further ado, I hope you enjoy the final chapter, and please review. Thanks!

Chapter 3: When Reavers Attack

Aboard Serenity
Just above Earth's atmosphere
October 31, 2009

"I don' like it," Jayne said gruffly.

"Somehow, that don't shock me," Mal answered.

"I hate to agree with the Neanderthal," Simon began, drawing a heated look from Jayne. "No offense," he added, to which Jayne merely grunted. "But as I was saying, I don't support this course of action, either."

"Still not shocked," Mal said, irritated. "Lucky you two have a place on my crew which don't exactly allow for order-makin' and the like. Fact is, I seem to recall havin' this same talk with both of you in the past."

The crew of Serenity had gathered in the galley to hear the details of the coming rescue. Despite the general uneasiness in the room, all of those gathered around the captain had remained silent, except for Jayne and Simon. It was no surprise to the captain that the only two being vocal about their reservations were River's brother and her ex-boyfriend. Simon was always trying to get River out of having to do Mal's bidding, and although their romantic relationship hadn't exactly worked, Jayne remained very protective of the young woman. Even after the captain's decree of "that's how it is," he could tell that the two dissenters were still not on board with his plan.

"Listen here. Little River says she can take care of them Reavers, and we all seen with our own eyes she can take care of 'em. Now, Doc, I respect you wantin' to keep your sister safe, I do, but are you tellin' me that whoever them folks are down on the ground waitin' on us to help ain't worth helpin'? Didn't you take some kind of oath or somethin'?" Mal asked.

Simon sighed. He knew River could take care of herself against a few Reavers. Hell, she could take care of herself against a lot of Reavers. Their confrontation on Mr. Universe's moon the previous year had proven that.

"Are you sure, mei-mei? You don't think this is some sort of Alliance trick?" the doctor asked, his gaze now completely focused on the youngest of Serenity's crew.

River stared off into space for a few moments, seemingly deep in thought. Of course, no one could ever be sure what it was she was thinking about when she got that particular look in her eye.

"Silly Simon," she said. "Trix are for kids." With that, the co-pilot of the ship then got up from her seat, ruffled her brother's hair affectionately, and left the room.

"An' that's the one yer takin' at her word?" Jayne asked gruffly.

Mal's eyes narrowed slightly, and his forehead creased as he seemed to think about the question. "She's got a point," he offered weakly.

"Which is…?"

Mal opened his mouth to answer but quickly shut it. He racked his brain for some sort of witty comeback to throw at the muscle of the crew. He had nothing. "I ain't rightly sure," Mal admitted, wearing a bemused expression. Then he went to join River on the bridge.

NSA Complex
Roswell, New Mexico
October 31, 2009

Casey and Sarah had already wasted two mags apiece firing at the intruding creatures, but every time one dropped, two more seemed to take its place. Ammo was running low, and with the Reavers between Team Bartowski, who had taken cover behind an overturned console, and the door, time seemed to be running out too.

Casey fired four more shots, managing to take down two additional attackers. He ejected the cartridge and took a look at what he had left: three rounds. Just enough to keep him and his partners from having to suffer whatever horrors the Reavers meant to inflict on them. The time to make the big decision had come all too soon.

"Walker, you got anything left?" he asked, worried.

"I got—" she began to answer, but her words were suddenly cut off and replaced by a scream.

The Reavers had managed during the invasion to completely surround the team's position. The two agents from their position in the center of the room were so engrossed in trying to fight off the monsters in front of them that they failed to realize a few had gotten around their defenses and managed to get behind them, and now two of them had grabbed Sarah. Her eyes widened and began to dart around trying to get a look at her captors, but they held her firmly in place despite her desperate, fear-filled thrashing. Casey had never seen his partner so scared, but he knew she was scared for good reason. The things that would likely be done to her in to coming moments were too horrible to even think about. He couldn't let those things happen, and he only hoped Chuck would understand in his last moments what had to be done. Casey extended his arm and locked the elbow so it wouldn't shake, sighted as carefully as he could, and aimed at the blonde right between her desperate and pleading eyes. His lips tightened into a straight line as his finger began to tighten into a squeeze on the trigger.

But before he could complete the grisly but necessary task that would save Sarah the horror and torment of mutilation at the hands of those beasts, Chuck bolted from his position behind the console with a speed Casey knew the nerd didn't usually possess. The moron had no doubt flashed up some kind of special skill and was going to try to fight the monsters.

Casey then mentally prepared himself to take two kill shots, as he was sure it was just a matter of moments until both of his partners were being held by the Reavers. But then something happened that surprised the veteran NSA agent. Chuck was holding his own.

Chuck delivered a pair of quick punches to the monsters that were holding Sarah, freeing her from their grasp. The blonde was stunned, but only for a second, and she then quickly scurried back to their cover, taking a seat on the floor beside Casey.

Both agents watched as Chuck continued to land a flurry of kicks and punches on the creatures. None of the shots he delivered disabled them completely, but each strike knocked them back a couple of feet at a time. Sarah and Casey were both frighteningly low on ammunition and needed to save what they had if the time to fall on their swords came in spite of Chuck's efforts, so helping The Intersect in any way was out of the question. Their only hope was that Chuck could continue to fight the Reavers off until help arrived.

A Reaver charged at Chuck with a battleaxe. The rabid creature swung wildly, but Chuck easily ducked under the attempt, grabbing the axe just below the blade and twisting it from the hand of the monster. Now with a weapon at his disposal, Chuck began to mow down the Reavers. He buried the axe into the head of one beast and kicked another away as he wrenched the weapon from the skull of his kill.

After removing the axe, he swung it again, striking another Reaver in the chest. One came from behind Chuck, swinging a long blade at the nerd. Sidestepping the attack, he redirected the strike so it sliced into the head of yet another Reaver. He then swung his axe, killing the creature brandishing the sword giving Chuck now two weapons.

Sarah and Casey looked on with astonishment. They'd both seen on a number of occasions just what Chuck was capable of with Intersect 2.0, but even those performances had been weak in comparison to the masterful display of fighting the man who was sometimes known as Agent Carmichael was putting on now.

The Reavers' numbers were still great, but they were falling by the second. All their attention had been drawn to the lone human who could stand up to them, and all their effort was now focused on defeating him. Those efforts were quickly turning into a miserable failure.

Just as the noise of Chuck's battle against the beasts was decreasing, a new sound arose from the corridor outside. Sarah and Casey whipped their heads around to stare at the back of the door, their attention diverted by the loud ruckus that seemed to be taking place on the other side of the stout metal. Reavers had stopped pouring in, and some of the monsters already in the room were beginning to leave, though Casey and Sarah couldn't figure out why they would abandon their comrades.

They soon received their answer when a small girl, who by her looks couldn't have been older than twenty, came slicing her way through the Reavers from their rear in much the same fashion Chuck was still doing just in front of them.

Watching Chuck and this mystery girl carve up the Reavers with graceful precision was like watching poetry in motion. There seemed to be no wasted motion as every punch, every kick, and every swing of his weapons struck down an enemy and sometimes two. And there was no awkward stumbling as there sometimes was with Chuck's fighting. It was like watching a dance. A very lethal dance. Sarah had long ago come to the conclusion that she was in love with Chuck Bartowski, but she'd never been more attracted to him than she was in that moment as she watched him gracefully mow down their attackers.

Casey, for his part, couldn't take his eyes from their female rescuer. The girl's clothes were not typical dress for a young American female. They were robe-like in nature and, he noticed fleetingly, tattered and dirty. How much of that was from the battle she'd obviously already faced and how much of that was just the clothes she wore he wasn't sure, but there was something oddly alluring about a woman that could fight like that.

The two warriors continued their assault on the beasts. Soon, only one Reaver remained standing. Chuck swung his sword low, and the girl swung her axe high. Chuck's blow neatly sliced the creature's legs from its body as the girl's strike decapitated the monster, its head spinning in the air like a basketball.

Finally, there was nothing left standing between Chuck and the girl. They faced off, staring at one another, each daring the other to make a move.

"Chuck!" Sarah shouted.

"River!" came a shout from behind the girl.

Both warriors dropped their weapons and looked around themselves as if suddenly waking from a trance.

The End.
Happy Halloween! =)

A/N: You guys are awesome. Peace.