The Resistance
Firefly Crossover
Summary: Follows my other fic, Spinning In The Dark. Posits a large conspiracy against mankind, the lampshading of demons and other monsters into the series, and ignores shared actors between the shows (as that would just be squicky). Spinning In The Dark gives away the twist.
Chapter 5
1.
River was now thoroughly freaked out.
She wandered through the ship like a ghost. Jayne was lifting weights alone in the cargo deck, and he didn't see her. The captain was still on the bridge, watching carefully. He didn't see her. Zoe was keeping guard over Blood's quarters. She did see River, and gave her a small smile.
Kaylee and Simon were in the engine room. River didn't go too close; she could feel what they were doing from a distance, and while at other times she might have been fascinated, right now it was a little too close to her own current feelings to be comfortable.
Liam and Blood's crew were in the medical room. She hated it in there, so she stayed away from there.
She found Liam in the kitchen still. He was cooking up a small meal, whistling quietly while he worked. "There you are," he said. "Do you know, I'm honestly a little bit worried about this whole plan now. Originally this was just a test of loyalty for your good captain, but now it seems we've burned this connection. I don't suppose you have any helpful insights?"
She thought about it. "I don't think I like you," she informed him.
He sighed. "Here I am, trying to good in this 'Verse, and she doesn't like me. You know, between me and William, I'm not sure who's the more conflicted, strange, morally unknowable monster. I mean, sure, I might be an insane double agent… or, worse, I might just be the biggest villain in this verse… but on the other hand, you know what? William's done way worse than that. He killed a whole solar system once. I'm pretty sure he started the last intergalactic war, although he denies it. What do you think of that?"
River frowned. "I'm not on his side; why are you trying to turn me against him?"
"I'm just saying. See, me, I'm a simple kind of guy. There's a bad guy out there, and I'm going to knock him on his tail. He's made a fool of me, and I'm going to make a fool of him. This is all easy math, right? William? Who can understand him. He's some kind of crusader who wants to kill everybody. More complicated, huh?"
River still didn't understand the purpose of this patter, this gnawing at her brain. He was trying to talk her into something, or out of something, but she couldn't tell what. She wasn't used to flying blind like this.
He gathered the food together, letting out a sigh and nodding to her. "You can try to sort us out as much as you please, I guess, but don't forget that at the end of the day William and I will kill anybody who gets in our way, or tries to break us apart. Here, could you take these to William?"
River stared at him. "You're making him food?"
"Well, he won't come out. And somebody has to do it," said Liam, shrugging uncomfortably. "He has special dietary needs that I'm just trying… look, just take it, okay?"
2.
Jayne didn't like it. True, they were down to two 'guests' who had weapons, and it was true enough they were mostly playing by the captain's rules.
But on the other hand… they seemed crazier than River, and he had a very low opinion of her sanity.
So he kept an eye on what was going on, staying alert. He wasn't a clever person—he knew that. He had no big words, no cunning strategies.
But in this, the business of staying alive? He knew the ways a man might doublecross you. He knew the ins and outs of getting behind a person, out of their sight, and putting a knife in them. He knew how to keep a man in your peripheral vision, shoot him without looking at him.
In short, he knew how to survive. In that business, he was without peer. Mal might laugh, but Jayne could almost smell it when somebody planned to turn on him.
So he was paying very close attention when River went to Blood's room.
Zoe was the one watching Blood, making sure he didn't come out. How she missed this development, Jayne wasn't entirely sure. Probably River was using some head mojo thing against her, walking through other people's brains without permission.
Jayne would cheerfully go through somebody's room or possessions without their permission, but was dead-set against them going through his head without permission. That seemed entirely wrong.
Now he saw with very clear vision the progression. First, there was hitting and swearing. Then, there was confrontations. Now there was dewy-eyed visits in the middle of the night.
He felt a terrible panic coming onto him. This was a dangerous and foreign territory, but he knew what was in the air.It was romance, the worst possible outcome. His heart hammered in his chest, and he knew he had to intervene somehow.
He began plotting. He knew strategizing was a weak spot, but he couldn't go to anybody else for help except the doc, and in this case the doc would think he was crazy. Just plain out of his mind.
3.
For a second River was distracted as she entered the tiny room. Distracted by Jayne, and his sudden plans to lure her into one of the shuttles, knock her out, lock her there, and keep her there until he'd had a chance to kill Blood.
Plainly, he was suffering some sort of delusion if he thought that plan would work.
He was working on other strategies too, and River made a mental note to try to beat some sense into him later. "I brought you food," she said.
Blood was hanging upside down from the ceiling, his legs wrapped around the metal girder that held the light up. He gazed at her with an unsettlingly calm look, glancing down to Eva, who had cleaned herself up and was calmly cleaning her fingernails with another knife. "I suppose she might be hungry," he said, just a bit skeptically.
"Liam made it," said River.
Blood's face lit up. "I thought he'd forgotten," he said, swinging himself over and landing gracefully on his feet, like a giant panther in the middle of a hunt. She had forgotten how he moved, how much danger was there.
"You two are so awfully fast to come to each other's aid," she murmured, watching the way his hips moved as he grabbed the knife out of Eva's hand.
Blood snorted. "I suppose. Family, you know. Anyway, here's the important part; I think Eva and I have come to some terms."
Eva shook her head. "You talked me out of killing you; that's not the same thing!" she snarled.
He shrugged. "It comes out about the same to me. You're going to go your way, we'll go ours, and I expect you to do great things—mind, I think you're starting out a bit ambitious. Still, as career goals go, it's not bad."
River glanced at Eva, who was thinking dark thoughts about turning the galaxy upside down in her quest, ending an age-old evil and restoring some sort of balance.
It occurred to River that this was exactly the outcome Blood had desired most, and she had no idea why.
"Why do you care so much for the galaxy?" she asked him. "You don't even care for people that much."
He shrugged. "Habit? No love lost between me and the bad people? Of course, that used to be more personal. Some of them had personally killed folks I loved and cared for. Now it's just that they're somewhat like people who once killed somebody who mattered to me. It's all very confusing, and I try not to think too hard about it. The last thing I want to do is talk myself out of being the big hero I never wanted to be in the first place."
4.
He woke up alone and sweating, tied to a chair. The bonds were cold iron, something capable of holding him, and he screamed in pain when the first bits of feeling came back to him.
A light flickered on, his yell having awoken some electronic sensor. A dirty monitor was facing him, blank and blue. After a second a face appeared on it.
A terribly familiar face.
"Good morning, Ian," said the face, so pleasantly it made him want to cry.
"Monster," he whispered.
"Don't struggle or fight too hard. We've found him—the one you want to kill so badly."
He could taste salt on his lips, and wasn't sure if it was tears or blood. "The one who destroyed it all," he hissed.
"Yes, Ian. The one who destroyed your pretty handiwork and ruined the last bits of Miranda. The one who we put a little bit of you into."
He smiled, then. They had never understood him, or the many different parts of him. Trying to use his unique mental gifts to enhance another person—trying to copy the way his brain worked—was a recipe for disaster.
"We have evidence she's working with the Other, Ian."
Ian's face fell. For one terrible second he wasn't sure who he was, and he wasn't sure where he was, or why he was. He wasn't sure of anything at all except on terrible thing.
He hated the Other with a passion unmatched by any passion the Bard had ever spoken of.
"Let me go," he hissed. "I'll burn him from this world."
5.
After that day, Blood and Eva wandered the ship freely. They didn't try to kill anybody, and nobody tried to kill them.
It was worrisome, concluded River. Watching enemies walk side by side like that, always together, was enough unsettle you. Remembering that they did it because the big man who prowled the ship silently might try to kill one of them (or maybe both) was even worse.
That night she caught the three of them together in the galley. It was tense, and Blood wasn't saying much, just watching, while Eva and Liam glared and spat like alley cats.
Well, no actual spitting. But a fair amount of yowling.
"No matter what he says, I'll never trust you," she said.
"He's a fool to trust you," replied Liam.
They stopped when she came into the room and sat down, watching them both closely. Blood smirked at her. "Come like a little anthropologist to see our little monkeys fighting?" he asked, his voice all sarcasm and sharp edges, sharp enough to cut her if she got too close.
She looked at him, into those eyes, and she could feel an edge of emotion. It was more than she normally got from his mind, that empty mirror she couldn't touch. It was happiness. Seeing them both getting on, keeping them both alive, made him happy.
Even though neither would thank him. Even through the hatred that poured off both, the mistrust. He was happiest doing this, keeping them safe and alive.
It amazed her. It was at terrible odds with what he looked like, with the way he liked to kill, to maim. He was no hero; he wanted the world to know he was a monster.
But he acted like a hero.
She shook her head at him. "And you wonder why I can't unravel you all at," she said ruefully.
He shrugged. "Be happier if you didn't."
Liam made a face. "William. Please, please, keep your distance from this little girl."
Eva shook her head. "He's already in her pocket—or didn't you notice that?" There was a sneer there for Liam, but a slight jealous edge too. "He's always had a soft spot for people who're broken a little bit."
Blood shot her a look that was both patient and fatherly. Given their relationship up till this point, it was entirely inappropriate. "You'd know, wouldn't you?" he asked pointedly.
She flushed. "I suppose." She focused on her food.
Liam sighed. "I have had it up to here with crazy girls and ex-military types. I mean, I've known lots of crazy girls—nursed them back to sanity, that sort of thing." Eva gave him a disbelieving look. "I have! Sometimes I'm the big hero who shows up and drags the girl out of a terrible situation and… and into an unwinnable battle where she'll certainly be killed, and her body used for terrible things."
Blood shuddered. He waved his index finger in Eva's face. "See you don't get killed; he isn't the only one who's suckered too many girls into this fight. What kind of man lets a little girl fight for him? Only the very worst." He glared at River. "And don't forget that. For anything."
6.
Later, when they had all gone to bed, River sat there and wondered why she felt so terribly melancholy.
It was Blood, of course. She couldn't get out of his mind. He was remembering, and she knew that every good memory he had was of somebody dead.
She could see a blonde girl in her mind's eye, one so strong, so free, so powerful… dead. Twice.
She could see a brunette, a girl of death and blood and violence, one so terrible and beautiful it took her breath away. Dead; and at his hands.
She could see another girl, this one tiny, and vulnerable, and full of her own special madness. Then she was gone, replaced by a terrible blue woman that he loved dearly, until she too was gone.
The faces continued to fly by, and River wondered how one man could have so much pain hidden within him. So many dead behind him. So many women that he had loved.
Jayne walked in the room, clearing his throat. He had his hands together in front of himself, twisting them together with worry over this latest, most elaborate plan he had put together.
She sighed. "Attempting to seduce me in your clumsy manner won't help keep me away from Blood. Depending which of your few and terrifying techniques you choose, it might make whatever is coming occur faster."
He threw his hands up in there. "It was just a thought!" he muttered, sitting down. He looked completely out of sorts. "I wasn't exactly looking forward to it either," he said, looking anywhere but at her.
It was somewhat endearing that he felt the need to protect her, even if it was frustrating that he was so wrong about Blood and wasn't even bothering to try to correct his misconceptions. River was trying very hard to figure him out properly. She wanted all of them to do the same.
He sighed. "I ain't altogether sure I gotta do anything, but I'll be damned if'n mama Cobb wouldn't yell at me for lettin` you go off with a man like that." He rubbed his eyes. The amount of conflict within him over this matter was more than a little comical to River, and she leaned over and petted his head graciously.
"You need not worry; she can take care of herself," she assured him.
He glowered at her. "And don't think it ain't occurred to me to try telling your brother what you're up to," he growled.
In his mind, she could see, Blood was the very worst possible thing. Worse, Jayne knew he could tell nobody, so he was determined to find some solution.
"Simon would never believe," she says. "Or the captain, or Zoe. None of them. Why so sad? It's not like one being dangerous could stop you from setting out to indulge your animal side."
"Yeah, but… but I know I can handle myself, and I know if'n I can't, the one in trouble is me!" he said, and he was getting angrier. He didn't want to say out loud that he didn't want her hurt, and he didn't want to admit out loud that it would make him very angry to see her cry.
She sighed. "Strange, strange man-beast Jayne. When did I become family to you?"
He scowled at her. "There's a question I'll be asking myself," he muttered. "Be careful, you hear? A man like that… don't turn your back on him for one second, is what I'm saying."
She laughed, bounding to her feet, standing on the table and looking down at him. "Is that almost approval? My Jayne, approving?"
He made a huffing sound. "I suppose I can't control who you take in your bed… but, gorramit, keep your head on!"
7.
Simon retreated to his room. He hadn't heard all the conversation in the galley, just enough to get a picture in his head of what was going on.
River was sleeping with Jayne.
He'd seen them make physical contact, heard her call him 'my Jayne,' and that line about 'one being dangerous never stopped him from'—no! Simon couldn't even think those words. 'Indulge his animal side'? Was that his sweet little sister saying that to the brute?
Simon gagged a little bit, then pulled himself together. She was old enough to sleep with whoever she pleased, of course. He knew that. In the front of his brain, the logical part.
He couldn't make himself feel any better about it, though.
8.
Blood watched Eva sleep, and listened to the little crazy girl sneaking into the room, and wondered how this would end. Not well, he knew from experience.
Never well.
She came in and smiled at him. He'd seen the little gleam in her eyes, and he knew what it meant when a girl stared a bit too long. A bit too hard. He could see, too, that this was a new dance to her, that he could hurt her terribly.
It made him a little bit afraid. He'd been with so many girls, and doomed so many. What right did he have to take a chance with her? What right did he have to make things worse here? None at all.
He smiled back at her, already afraid he was going to destroy her, and even more afraid that she would destroy him. He knew this was all wrong. He knew he needed to keep his distance.
But she had a sweet little smile, and she needed his help, and she had eyes a man could drown in… so when she leaned close and kissed him, lightly and gently and with so much hesitation, he kissed her back, reaching up and putting a hand on her arm.
He kissed her there, in the dark, until she was out of breath and broke free with a little gasp. He held her arm, closing his eyes.
"You know a little bit about me, but there's so much you don't," he whispered. "Terrible things that would horrify even you."
"Doubtful," she whispered. "I've been in the Reavers, touched them where the madness lies…"
"I have more in common with them than you," he whispered, hating that simple truth. "Look at me, love. I'm not a man, not truly. I'm a monster; a thing from the shadows that has always preyed on little girls especially."
And she was looking at him, but she saw so much more deeply than he could ever be comfortable with. She could see the first little girl who had warmed his cold, dead heart. The first little girl who had been his friend when he had been broken-hearted. She saw that he had tried so very hard to change, to be good.
And they kissed again, and she shivered, and he drew her into his arms, and prayed to a God he sometimes thought hated him that he could somehow avoided screwing up; that if he allowed this little girl to warm his heart, to bring some life back into a life that had long been cold, and distant, and all about this fight, that it would not burn the life out of him.
Because he knew that this girl could do that without even trying very hard.