Whines and apologizes about the lack of updates. If you love me and want me to write faster you will all send me reviews. Please. I really do write faster when I get feedback. BIG EXCITING THING! The fantastic kaibalikeaboss made a fanmix for Welcome to Serenity on 8tracks! I adore it and encourage you guys to listen to it while reading or something! /kaibalikeaboss/welcome-to-serenity

Welcome to Serenity: Chapter Eight

Things Get Really Complicated

Who was Ed looking for? That was a great question. He sighed. "They'll be using an alias for sure. The real way to tell where they are is to look for the signs. A sudden surge of deaths, most likely unexplainable. Or a sudden shift in a gang's hierarchy or movements."

Jo gave him a blank stare. "That's seriously all you've got for me? This is an outlaw planet. Things like that happen all the time here."

"I know that!" He snapped. "But I don't- ugh! I don't know how else to put it!"

Zoe tried to help. "What about a physical description?"

Ed wanted to scream. "That would be great if I knew which one was here!"

"Which… one?" Kaylee looked at him.

Oh hell. "There's uh, kind of more than one person that I'm looking for. Six, actually. Only one of them came here, though. The problem is I don't know which of them did."

Simon was appalled. "What are you involved in?"

"That's not important!"

"You bet your ass it is." Mal glared across the table. "I don't like it none, but we're involved now. So spill it."

It took Ed a moment to gather his thoughts instead of storming out of the room in a huff. He stared at the grain of the wood on the table before resigning himself. "They are part of a dangerous group. Wherever they go destruction follows. I'm talking large-scale death count. They'll take whatever they want from this rock, destroy every possible witness, and move on to the next. My brother and I have been tracking them for some time now."

"Then how do you know one of them is here?"

"I just do, Kaylee! It's complicated."

They were interrupted when a woman appeared with a box overflowing with bits of metal. "You wanted me, Jo?"

"Yeah. This kid here is gonna try to fix some of the stuff in yer box."

The woman, Rita, set the box in front of Ed. It was mostly full of rusty and broken guns or gun parts. This would be even easier than Ed had expected. Fixing firearms was State Alchemist 101. A cursory glance told him he had enough for five, maybe six pistols. "Okay, I can do this. Rita, is it? Is there a room I can work in?"

"Sure, hon. There's a room next door with some tools you can use." She gestured with her thumb to the left.

"Thanks." He hefted the box and left, smirking. Tools. How absurd.

A few mental calculations and several claps later produced six brand new pistols. Ed tried to keep them as close to the originals as he could manage. The less he had to explain away the better. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. He'd panicked when Jo asked about payment. Six perfect guns couldn't be rationalized. Not in this world anyway. But then again a homunculus could find him at any minute and his patience was about exhausted. Ed needed information.

"Screw it," he growled to himself, piling the guns into the box and heading back.

No one expected him to return so soon. It was all over their faces. "Need somethin, shorty?" Jo grinned.

Edward slammed the box onto the table with a crash. As he spoke, he laid the guns out one at a time with more force than was necessary. "First of all," Thunk. "Don't ever mention my height again." Thunk. "Second of all," Thunk. "You guys should care for your weapons better." Thunk. "And thirdly," Thunk. "I'm finished. There was enough parts to fix up six guns."

Their faces were perfect: frozen in utter disbelief. Jo was what Ed would refer to as straight up flabbergasted. Her mouth was even hanging open. He tried not to laugh. He really did. It just didn't last more than a few seconds. The alchemist cackled. "You should see your faces!"

"Ed." Kaylee looked worried. "Is this some kind of joke? I mean- how?"

"Not a joke. They work. Try any one of them." Eyes flickered from the guns to one another and back to the guns. No one wanted to touch them, like they might explode or something. Edward rolled his eyes and picked one up. He pulled it apart and then reassembled it piece by piece manually. Just like any other gun. No magic here.

"But they were rusted!"

"And now they aren't." Hiding things had just made everything more complicated last time. This was a life or death situation and he had lost the last molecule of patience he possessed. "I don't know if I've stressed the time factor enough here but it seems like I haven't because all of you are staring at the guns instead of telling me what I need to know!"

"You just expect us to believe that you fixed those guns in only a couple of minutes?" Jo stood, a tower of anger.

"Well, here they are."

"It ain't possible!"

"Clearly it is."

The moment broke when a man rushed in with a heavy duty rifle on his shoulder. He was out of breath, like he'd been running. Sucking in air, he rasped out, "We have one hell of a problem! Fa's men just took the Serenity. They actually took it. Hooked a big crane to one of her ships and carried the Gorram thing off!"

"Al!" The terror that gripped Ed was mirrored in the face of Dr. Tamm. He felt petrified for a moment, like he'd been transmuted into stone. What if it was the homunculus? What if it was Pride?

"Da Shiong La Se La Ch'wohn Tian! What is she thinking?" Jo raged. "Oh shit. That bitch! She thinks you're on it, Mal! She's gonna give your Firefly to Kalashnikov!"

"River! She's there! If they find her-" Simon choked on his own fear, the words catching in his throat.

"Are you sure it's Fa?" Ed had to know. "It couldn't be a third party?"

"No way. It's Fa's men. One of her nephews was leading the operation."

Everything began to fade over the sound of blood pumping in his ears. He was suddenly sitting, unable to catch his breath. What was happening to him?

"Ed?" It was Kaylee, he thought, who said his name.

They were wrong. It had to be a homunculus. They were after him, after Al. Oh god, Al. They had Al. For all Ed knew he could be dead. Alphonse could be dead. His head spun and he gulped for air. He was scared. So scared, more scared than he had been in a long time. Everything blurred together.

"-panic attack of some kind?"

"-check his pulse-"

"-can you hear us-"

"Edward!"

The voices were so far away. A hand reached out and took his right wrist. He struggled on reflex, but fingers dug underneath his glove and sleeve as he jerked away in vain. Ed's face snapped up to lock eyes with a very disturbed Dr. Tamm. The sudden, immediate danger shattered the episode and brought with it terrified clarity.

"Don't-" But his sleeve was forced up and the glint of metal flashed for everyone to see. Simon had only managed to pull back several inches of the sleeve in his first tug. Another tug brought the fabric above his elbow. Ed meant to pull away, he did, but found himself frozen from far too many conflicting feelings racing around in his head.

For a moment all he could do was watch the horror and pity settle in their eyes. It was almost like losing his arm all over again every time someone else realized it was missing. Almost. He finally managed to shove away the doctor and stood glaring at the crew of the Serenity. "Yup. It's metal. All the way up." He rapped his flesh knuckles against his shoulder hard enough for everyone to hear the metallic clang.

"Ed-"

"Don't, Zoe! Just- just don't." he knew what she wanted to say, what everyone always wanted to say. Kaylee was crying. Shit.

Mal was the one who got the ball rolling again. "Well if ya'll are done gettin emotional-like, we've got a ship and a crew to save."

Zoe was the first to snap out of it. "You're right captain. Sorry."

They all managed to get seated again, but no one said anything. Kaylee was still sniffling and the doctor looked very pale. Jo looked like she had a headache that only a bottle of liquor could cure. Ed pulled his sleeve back down, making steady eye contact with the captain of the Serenity as he did so. The man seemed to be reevaluating him.

"So," Zoe looked between Ed, Mal, and Jo. "We have our ship captured by a crazy lady who may or may not be working with one of the criminals Ed is after. Who may or may not be capable of widespread destruction. And there's an even crazier lady who wants to crush Mal's head between her club and the ground. Am I missing anything?"

"A little vivid on the imagery there but I think that about covers it." Captain Reynolds grimaced, rubbing his head to dispel phantom squashings. "Now. If anybody has any ideas or plans now would be a great time to mention it."

Jo spoke up first. "I've got an idea for re-capturin your ship, Mal. But you ain't gonna like it none."

"Sounds about right, Jo. Lay it on us."