Director Harrison was getting anxious. He had only gotten the call ten minutes ago, but he had practically sprinted from the meeting room to his shuttle. It had been extremely promising. He had felt the strain of months draining away. It didn't matter that his agent production rate was too low. It didn't matter that he'd been unable to reclaim Agent Tam, even with the support of the Blue Hand agents. It didn't even matter that the high council had given him a deadline for the recreation of another super-agent. It didn't matter, because they'd found one. He had rejoiced, but his glee slowly turned to anxiety as he began to worry. I hope they haven't damaged him, He thought. They can be too rough with those clamps. I wouldn't want to lose my prime specimen.

He put aside his worries as the shuttle pulled in front of the docking umbilicus. He stepped out, accompanied by two guards. He walked briskly to the door. It was all he could do to not break out into a run.

After what seemed like an eternity of walking, they finally made it to the door. The guard reached for the access pad in what seemed like slow motion. The Director almost burst with anticipation as the guard typed in the numbers, and…

"Sir, it won't open."

"WHAT!" Harrison yelled, a lot louder than he'd meant to. Re-addressing the alarmed guard, he started; "I mean…" He took a deep breath. "Why?"

"I don't know, sir. It just won't open."

"Then open it."

"Sir?"

"BREAK THE GORRAM DOOR DOWN!" The director roared.

"Yes sir!" The alarmed guard kicked at the door like his life depended on it, which it probably did. After five minutes of pounding, the door finally broke down. The exhausted guard fell back, his chest heaving. Finally, thought Harrison, I can stop worrying. When the Director looked into the door, however, his anxiety exponentially increased.

The room beyond would've looked like it had recently been hit by a tornado. That is, if it was a tornado that was packing serious heat. The room was riddled with bullet holes, the desks and chairs were in pieces, and papers were fluttering around the room.

After a moment of shock, Harrison muttered:

"Secure the area."

The guards stood still for a moment longer before they lethargically started walking into the room. They began to go faster and faster until they were practically sprinting through the room. One guard stumbled over something, and then yelled "Sir! There's a body over here!"

Harrison rushed over. He sighed in relief. It was only a lab worker. Still, it was disconcerting, seeing a body covered in so much blood.

"Keep moving," Harrison said. "We need to secure the subject."

They went on carefully, passing many bodies. Whoever did this hadn't taken any casualties in the attack, even though they had had over fifty guards in this building.

Thank god the agents were out on missions, or we might've lost them too. Harrison thought. They reached the holding chambers shortly. The door was busted open. They quickly rushed inside. The Cells and interrogation chair were empty, and the bodies of his chief analysts were littered across the floor.

"Search this room!" Harrison ordered loudly. "Find anything, and I mean anything, that would help us identify who did this!"

The guards searched frantically for several seconds, before a guard yelled out "Sir, there's a survivor over here!"

Harrison sprinted over to the place. A boy in a lab coat was cowering behind the interrogation chair.

"Come out of there, son," The guard crooned, "We won't hurt you."

The boy crawled out. They could see he was in his late teens, almost a man, but something about him seemed boyish. He stared at the room in shock.

"Who are you, boy? What are you doing here?" Harrison asked.

"I…I'm an intern here…I've only been here for a week or two." The boy replied, in a rugged accent.

"What happened here?"

The boy's lip started to tremble, tears beginning to appear at the edges of his yellow eyes.

"W-w-well, I… I got to come see the new subject. It was my first time… they decided I was ready…"

"What happened? Tell me!"

"I… I don't know!" The boy's head hung down, his shaggy black hair fell over his eyes. "It all happened so fast… I remember that we were in the lab, and the new subject came in… and then there was gunfire outside, and some men blasted open the door… then…they…they killed everyone, but I got behind the chair before they saw me… I heard them take away the subject…"

"Damn! I can't believe this! After all my hard work!" Harrison moaned.

The boy glanced up sharply. "Your-"

"Director, there's something you might want to see here!" A guard shouted from the door. Harrison walked away from the boy, but he had a strange feeling that the boy was still watching him.

"What is it, what is so urgent?" Harrison had never felt so depressed.

"Uh, sir, I don't really know how to say this…" The guard whispered.

"Spit it out, man." Harrison said, a bit louder than he'd meant to.

"Well… this door opened into the room… but the doors are on the outside…"

"So?"

"These doors were bashed open from the inside." The guard said. " Also, the gunshots on the walls looked like the bullets guards' guns had. Their clips were empty."

With a sinking feeling, Harrison slowly turned to look at the boy. He was staring back.

"What's your name, boy?" Harrison said slowly.

In a suave, cool, Londinium voice completely different from his previous voice, the boy replied, "Why, I don't really have one. I used to have one, but that doesn't really matter." The boy seemed to transform from a scared, shifty-eyed youth to an intimidating adult, from prey to predator.

"The real question is," It continued, "Who do you work for? Are you the proprietor of this fine establishment?" He said, sarcastically gesturing to the room around them.

"You… you're…the…" Harrison couldn't seem to complete the sentence.

"Yes, I'm your gorram subject, and you just told me all I need to know." He broke out in a gleeful grin, let out a cackle that sent shivers down their backs. Then he glanced at a pocket-watch. "Well, this has been fun, but unfortunately, I'm out of time." He looked up at them. "I'm afraid I must go. I might as well I'll go out with a bang. By the way, thanks for opening the door." Then he pulled out a detonator, pressed the button, and sprinted out the door.

River was waiting above the entrance. She'd been waiting for a while, but they would come soon. Mal had told her to read the passengers as they boarded the ship, just to make sure.

"I still don't like it." Jayne had been griping to Kaylee ever since they'd begun preparations. River was unsure too, but she trusted Mal.

"We've had bad luck every time a new person boards this ship. What if one of the passengers is an Alliance Operative, or somthin'?"

Kaylee was quick to reply. "That's why River's here. She won't let anythin' past unless it's s'posed to be here. Besides, Alliance ain't worried about us anymore."

River was beginning to dose off when she felt something. It was alien. it was so vast that she could barely take it. She fell to the ground. A moment later the world shook. A column of fire spewed out of sewer drains all around across the town.

"What in hell was that?" Mal shouted down.

"There was some earthquake or somethin'," Replied Kaylee. "Its stopped now."

"Either way, get down to the engine room, we're flying away at the exact minute we said and no later." Mal Ordered.

"Yes sir!" Kaylee sprinted off towards the engine room.

River got up, and shook her head clear. She hoped the passengers arrived soon, because whatever she'd felt had been evil.

The Doctor had been looking around for a day and was very confused. He had absolutely no idea where he was. He had just been making his way back to the TARDIS when the ground exploded. As the shaking began to stop he heard a scream.

"Molly, no! Get away from there!" A woman was frantically pulling at a teenage girl, screeching in a high-pitched voice. "You don't even know those men!"

The girl tugged back fiercely. "Let go, Aunt Gertrude! They need help! Let me go!"

The Doctor glanced at the men they were talking about. The fire had burned them, and just from the glance he could tell that they wouldn't make it. He jogged over to them and put an arm on the girl's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do for them."

"Let go of my niece! Who are you?" The woman named Gertrude asked.

"I'm the Doctor. Listen," He said, turning to the girl. "You are very brave to try to help them, but they're beyond anyone's help. You should leave them alone."

"Yes, Molly dear, we need to catch our ride off this godforsaken dirtball. You, Doctor…"

"Just Doctor, thanks."

"Leave us alone. We have very important family, and you may be in court just for talking to us." The large woman promptly turned on her heel and marched away. The girl scurried off after her, occasionally glancing back at him.

Weeeeell, that was odd. The Doctor thought. What did that woman say again… oh yes, transport… off this dust ball? So they have space travel… I simply must see that.

The Doctor went back to the TARDIS. He went to the console, set in some information, and stopped for a moment. Please, just let me have this one jump. Just a really, really short jump. Then he hit the space-time displacer.

When the explosion happened again, The Doctor had already determined which ship the girl was taking and packed up the TARDIS. He used his psychic paper to get a very good amount of money. Something about this place was off, and his investigation had turned up nothing. He decided to follow the only other lead he had.

There was only a minute left when the passengers finally showed up. "They're here!" River yelled. As the passengers began to board, she did a quick scan of heir thoughts. The first person up was a con man on the run. Next up was a businesswoman who had just been promoted. Behind her was an old blind carpenter, who was going to live with family. Behind him were a strict chaperone and her niece, who obviously didn't want to be there. Behind them walked a pale young man who happened to be the best accountant in the world. Behind him…

"Hallo! I'm John Smith. I was wondering if I could get a ride. I can pay." The man ended, looking warily at Jayne's shotgun. Mal walked over to him, checked the money, and blinked in surprise. River noticed that the man had over four times the other passenger's price. River tried to scan him, but for some strange reason she couldn't get in.

"I guess that's enough. Welcome aboard, every- Jayne!" Mal spotted he firearm. "Put that thing away, we don't need guns! Kaylee, start up the engine!" Turning back to the group, he continued; "Welcome aboard, everyone. We'll be flying for about a week, so get comfortable. We have rooms for each of you, excepting Mr. Smith. We have what passes for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the dining room, which only fits six at a time. You can ask any of the crew for help if you need it. This woman here is Zoe, my first mate. That's Jayne, our… security… person…" Mal struggled with the words. "Kaylee, that girl who just left, is our engineer. That man over there is Simon, our doctor. I'm Mal, the captain. Dinner is in five hours. We… hope that you enjoy your trip." Mal turned and walked back up to the cockpit.

Everyone stood still for a moment, and then the crew went to work settling the passengers. River sneaked up the stairs and followed Mal. When she found him, Mal was guiding the Serenity out of the atmosphere.

"Mal."

Mal jumped, like he always did when River walked into the cockpit. He never heard her.

"River! Got anything for me?"

River reported most of what she'd found… with the exception of the man she couldn't read. That was something she needed to investigate.

As the Doctor finished setting up his makeshift home, he remembered the strange person attacking his mental barrier. This place just gets weirder and weirder. He thought. Then a man in a brown duster and a cowboy hat fell from the catwalks and landed on Mrs. Gertrude.