"We're all just folks now, trying to get by."- often repeated expression by Malcolm Reynolds.

"Everything that makes people different makes us all the same."- Victor Prince (age 16) to a reporter; when asked why he bore no ill will to his mother's surviving murderer.

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Parliament was in a closed session in New Cardiff, Londinium. All of the highest members of the Core worlds were sitting in a large, square room with white walls. There were tables, functional if not visually impressive, all over the room, arranged so each member could more or less see every other. There was a smell of exhaustion in the air. It smelled faintly like a room that had been scrubbed perfectly clean and then crammed with too many people and stale coffee. One would think such an important meeting would take place somewhere besides a large office, but practicality tends to win out when matters of surveillance, secrecy, and old fashioned convenience were at stake.

The only person present who wasn't wearing the Parliamentary Seal around his neck was a black man, sitting in a corner, being as innocuous as possible. Making his presence small wasn't hard for this man. Of a perfectly medium height, build, and age, the man was dressed in a sturdy, old Italian style suit. The only "fashion" the man was displaying was his eyeglasses. Vision problems were almost completely unheard of in the Verse thanks to modern medicine. Only the elderly ever needed vision correction. Not particularly fashionable, the man looked like he would be right at home as the manager of a department store. In a way, that was partly what he was.

Of course, being unobtrusive wasn't working very well for the man, giving as how he was currently the center of attention.

"What's he doing here?" a heavyset Chinese man demanded, pointing at the man without a Seal. Saffron would have recognized the speaker, Blake QuanLi, as her new employer. "This session was supposed to be closed to the public. Or was there a change I wasn't informed about?"

The black man spoke, with a crisp, clear voice, devoid of any discernable accents that might give away information about where he came from (the significance of which was lost to him). Among the wealthy, family prestige was considered as important as life or freedom. As a businessman for a major corporation (or more accurately the major corporation), the man considered the bottom line to be more important than petty concerns of social standing. "Gentlemen," he said pleasantly. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Geoff Richmond and I represent the Blue Sun corporation-"

"We know who you are," QuanLi spat. Interrupting him had been a deliberate ploy to try and get a rise out of him. "We know who you represent. Maybe you can explain to us why a liason from a private company is in attendance to a closed session?"

Richmond cleared his throat, looking completely unruffled. "I'll cut right to the chase then," he said, straightening his already perfect tie. "These terrorist attacks are starting to hurt our business. I came here today in the hopes I would be able to tell my superiors what the Union of the Allied Planets plans to do to make them stop."

"You dare bring ultimatums?!" another representative demanded in a less than pleasant voice. Were he not a dignified Parliamentary Representative of the Union of Allied Planets, one would say he was screaming. "You must be a moon brained-"

Richmond raised his hands, palms outward, in a passive gesture. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure you understand the seriousness of our situation. I didn't want to imply otherwise," he looked around the room to make sure he had everyone's attention. "But the nature of these attacks is troubling. Blue Sun is a trusted brand in pretty much every part of every consumer's daily life. As such, we seem to have garnered more than our fair share of attention from the terrorist groups. Not to mention, the bizarre correlation between these cells..."

A blond, female representative spoke up with a post-British accent. "I'm not sure what correlation your talking about," she said. "The terrorist groups that we manage to catch tend to be middle aged men, college students, street toughs, mothers..." she checked her tablet as she spoke, to make sure any new information hadn't been added recently. "The only 'correlation' I can find is that the terrorists are usually male, and even that is only by a small margin. Is that what you're referring to?"

"Not at all," Richmond said. "The correlation I was referring to was the seeming lack of any similarities between the groups. It seems burning down buildings is the next big trend. And since it's my company's buildings... And since Allied Governments Banking System has chosen to refuse to cover acts of terrorism in our insurance-"

"So that's what this is about? Money?!" QuanLi demanded. It was always money with the whites and the blacks. QuanLi noticed Richmond didn't mention all the government buildings that had been hit. Granted, there weren't as many, but that was due to their difficulty as targets. "We're facing a direct threat to peace and stability for billions of people, and you're worried about your profit margins?"

"Business is where you find it. My company will have no problem keeping its profit margins in tact, I assure you. I'm simply wondering what the Union plans to do to make this stop. Have you given any consideration to capturing Malcolm Reynolds? He seems to be at the heart of the matter," Richmond's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"We're working on it," QuanLi said, giving nothing away. He'd already dispatched Miss Reynolds and was waiting to hear back from a bounty hunter. "Police raids into blackout zones have increased by three hundred percent in the past month alone-"

Richmond grimaced. He was starting to get a headache, listening to QuanLi drone on about increased "action" and proposals for newer laws which would (hopefully) force people to feel safer. If they didn't notice increased security checks and the like as useless gestures when the threat was coming from ordinary people.

Richmond thought to himself, Typical. The government uses fear as an excuse to flex it's collective muscles, but when it comes to actually getting results...

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New Corona

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River's group finally caught up to Jayne and Kaylee on one random street or another. Simon immediately rushed to Kaylee and threw his arms around her. "Are you alright?"

"She's fine," Jayne grunted. "I didn't let nothin happen to her." He looked Simon over. "You look ridiculous." Simon was wearing plastic track pants and a blue hoodie which clashed with his submachine gun and giant med bag.

"Where's the Captain?" Zoe asked.

"The hell should I know?" Jayne replied. His eyes narrowed at River. "Did you go through my stuff?"

River looked down at herself. "Maybe," she said, smirking. She handed the rifle over to Jayne. It was probably better off in his hands anyway. Passing him the magazines on her belt, she kept the pistol and butterfly swords. "Should we go get the Captain before he gets himself into trouble?"

"Let's," Zoe agreed.

"I need a minute," Victor announced, standing up straight, his hands on his hips. Everyone turned to face him

"You don't look so good," Simon told him, noticing how pale he seemed, even in the rain.

Victor replied by projectile vomiting into the mud. His stomach had finally lost its battle with dinner and the tequila that he and Jayne had drank the majority of. He'd also never smoked a whole cigar in one sitting before. The nose powder couldn't have helped, either. Standing up straight again and looking as though nothing had happened, he said. "Okay, I'm good."

Jayne spoke. "Waste of perfectly good liquor," he said shaking his head. "What'd you even eat and drink for if you can't hold it down?"

Victor opened his mouth to say something witty and scathing. Instead, he doubled over and threw up the rest of his stomachs contents. This time, it hurt. "Aagh," he moaned, standing back up. "Tequila..."

"Are you quite finished?" River demanded.

"Never," Victor groaned. Snow leaned against his leg to try and make him feel better. "Thanks, pup."

While the crew was distracted, a lone figure ambled up the street between the adobe buildings. From a distance the figure appeared to be a woman, but was swaying with a drunken walk.

"Friend of yours?" Victor asked, drawing everyone's attention back to the woman, who'd stopped about twenty feet away.

"Watch out," was all River was able to say before the woman attacked.

The woman (presumably a fresh Reaver) was shrieking in a high, ear splitting screech, instead of the standard growl of her male counterparts. She was fast. Victor was standing closest to her and she dove at him. Forgetting about the shape of his sword blade, Victor drew and struck.

He struck empty air.

"Huh?" he grunted, blankly. He was so stunned, he didn't notice the banshee going after his friends. He's chopped the head off a rattlesnake once, mid-strike. Nothing could move that fast.

Jayne opened fire with his rifle. He couldn't even bring the sights to bear on his target, who was smart as well. The banshee kept striking with clawed fingers at Zoe, Simon, and Kaylee, keeping River from getting close and keeping Jayne from firing even when he could hold a bead. Simon and Zoe both took shots at the thing as well, with no more luck than Jayne or Victor. Snowball the Ferocious did his part by barking nonstop at the thing. At least Snow was smart enough to stay out of the way. Several bullets from Jayne, Zoe, and Simon found their mark, mostly by luck, but the banshee kept attacking. She seemed to have a preference for clawing at faces.

River whistled in a loud, high pitch, drawing the banshee's attention. The banshee turned, her once human face twisted into a freakish snarl, all teeth and red eyes.

Now River went on the attack, swinging out with her blades, keeping the banshee at bay. Still, she wasn't fast enough. She stabbed out, the banshee skipped to the side. She swung wide, the banshee ducked. As River kept trying to land a blow, both her and the banshee kept moving faster and faster until their motions were practically a blur. River started to get desperate. She'd had a long day, but this thing was showing no signs of slowing down.

River gave a start as Victor's sword blade appeared through the belly of the banshee. Victor had waited until the thing's attention was on River. The banshee looked down with a look of rage and disbelief. Turning, she launched herself at Victor, intent on ripping his flesh from his bones. Victor waited until her body weight was committed to the attack and drew his blunderbuss. While nowhere near as fast as Mal, he was plenty quick enough to hit his target, which was moving towards him in a straight line. Victor pulled both triggers as soon as the weapon was clear of the holster. He kept the angle as high as possible to keep from hitting River as well. A quarter-pound of buckshot ripped out most of the banshees upper chest causing blood, flesh, and bone to mix with the rain pouring down on River.

Victor almost lost bladder control when the banshee smiled wickedly at him. The smile promised pain. Thankfully, the banshee caught on to the fact that she was dead now and collapsed in a bloody heap.

Victor broke the top of his sawn off shotgun with shaking hands. Everyone was staring at the banshee in blank, dumbfounded silence. Taking the spent shells out and placing them in the cargo pocket on his black fatigue pants, he placed two more shells from his belt into the breech. He closed the shotgun, and reholstered. He'd been scared before, but not like this. In Victor's experience, a double shot of 8 gauges loaded with buckshot killed everything. Dead. Now he knew why people were so scared of Reavers. The male versions were slower and more brutal, but that thing...

Victor drew the sword back out of the fresh carcass and didn't bother trying to get it in the scabbard yet. His hands were shaking in earnest now. Had anyone been able to take their eyes off of the banshee's body, they would have seen it clearly.

"I had her," River said finally, trying to lighten the mood.

Victor's joking nature failed him. He looked at River wide eyed and asked, "What if there had been two or three of those things?"

"All this standin around ain't doin nobody any favors," Jayne said finally. "We should get moving."

Five tan skinned men in green fatigues and wide brimmed hats carrying matching AR style rifles came marching around the same corner the banshee had approached by. The only non-uniform thing about them was their blades. Each one of the men had either a kukri or a machete on their back, belt, or leg. "Excuse me," one of them called out.

"Yeah, we got her," Victor said, still a little dazed. Stupid thing wouldn't even die right, making me damn near piss myself. "Crazy ass, banshee she-River thing..." he muttered.

"Are you the crew of Serenity?" the leader asked. He spoke with a heavy latin accent.

"What's this about?" Zoe asked.

"I need you to come with me," the leader said. It was clear he wasn't asking.

"What now?" Simon asked, exasperated. Over the past few years, he'd grown tired of constantly being concerned about being arrested or kidnapped.

The men took flanking positions around Serenity's crew the leader took a small radio off of his belt and said some things in Spanish. "Now we wait for the truck," he said.

"What's going on?" Zoe asked politely.

"The Don Agricola wishes to speak with you," the leader said. He made no threatening gestures or attempts to disarm the crew. In fact, he had the demeanor of an abnormally well armed driver. Nothing to see here, just picking some people up.

"I didn't do it," Victor said immediately. He looked around. "It was all his idea," he said in mock desperation, pointing at Snow. Snow cocked his head sideways at Victor's outstretched finger.

Something about the quick response and conviction Victor was speaking with caused everyone to instantly look at Snow, out of reflex. Victor congratulated himself on being able to keep a straight face.

"There's nothing to be concerned about," the (soldier?) donsman said, smiling. "The Don just likes to get his information straight from la boca del caballo, so to speak."

Another banshee shrieked from a nearby rooftop, cutting the conversation short. It opened fire with a shotgun onto the crowd below. Serenty's crew dove for cover behind the corner of the closest building while the donsmen opened fire with their ARs. The banshee took out one of the donsmen before running out of shells. This banshee was smart enough to work a shotgun, but not smart enough to find ammo. Once the shotgun ran dry, she hurled the weapon into the street and ducked out of sight, shrieking again. This time, the shriek was taunting, a challenge.

"I've got this biao zi," River snarled. She was getting sick of these Reavers trying to kill her and her friends. She took off down the road and around the building the banshee was on, trying to cut off any chance of escape.

"Gitcher ass back here, girl!" Jayne shouted after her. The cavalry had already arrived. She was just risking herself for no reason.

"Watch, Snow, I'll get her!" Victor said, remembering what the Captain had said about not going anywhere alone. Besides, the last banshee had been way too hard to kill. River was going to need back up and he was more accustomed to working alone than Jayne.

Not waiting for anyone to talk him out of it, he took off after River.

.

Where are you, you chou whore bitch? River thought. The banshee was leading her on a merry chase down the back alleys of the town. The lack of streetlights and mud everywhere made just running a hazard, but River wasn't concerned. She knew where she was going and moved like she'd run this trail a hundred times before. She considered the possibility the banshee was leading her into an ambush, but she could also sense she was closing in fast. The last banshee had made her look like a fool and she wanted some pay back.

"There you are," she panted, sliding to a stop in the mud.

The banshee had run herself into a dead end alley. The neighboring buildings were higher than average and she/it was frantically jumping up, trying to grab onto a drain or roof tile to maker her escape. She looked like a lizard trying to scramble up the inside of a plastic bucket. Realizing escape wasn't an option, she turned to face her hunter. River was standing perfectly still, rain dripping off of her like a statue. The banshee attacked, two inhumanly large bounds carrying her the twenty feet to River. River snapped into motion, drawing her pistol and firing at her mid air target.

She got off three rounds, all of which hit the banshee in the torso, before the thing slapped the pistol away, scratching shallow cuts across the back of her hand in the process. River drew her butterfly swords instantly and went on the attack. The banshee ducked away from the first swing and clawed River across the face, causing her to scream a normal human scream of pain and anger. River swung again, deliberately advertising her move. When the banshee dodged it found itself on the receiving end of a powerful switch kick. The banshee went down and River didn't hesitate, jumping through the air in the shortest route to bringing her boot down on the thing's throat.

The banshee's inhuman speed and strength served it well. It slapped River's boot out of the air causing her to fall onto her side, which she smoothly turned into a roll as the banshee lurched to its feet. Both fighters took a split second to breath, staring each other down, both covered in mud. The banshee's red eyes were filled with rage. River looked on calmly, determined. She wasn't letting this one go.

Victor finally caught up to River, panting worse than Snow had been. He drew his shotgun, cocking back both hammers with his left hand, and aimed. He was just about to fire when River moved to stab the banshee.

"River, get clear!" Victor shouted, annoyed. What the hell was she doing? Trying to save him the shotshell? "I've got this thing!"

River either didn't hear or wasn't in the move to listen. She and the banshee danced around each other, neither able to score a real blow. Finally, River let out a scream of frustration, swallowed up by the banshee's rival shriek, and dove at the thing, shoving both of the wide blades into either of the banshee's lungs and toppling it over with the momentum of her jump. Sitting on top of the thing, she drew both blades out as the banshee continued trying to scream. In a fluid motion, River flipped both blades around so the points were facing down. Screaming again, this time a bloodthirsty scream of triumph, she drove both blades directly into the things chest.

Finally, the banshee stopped screaming.

"Good job," Victor said, replacing his coach gun and walking over. "You could have just let me shoot her."

River came back to her senses and tried to pull her swords back out of the banshee. They wouldn't budge. They must have been lodged in bone.

"Why didn't I let you?" she asked herself out loud. That would have been the smart thing for her to do.

"You wanted the kill for yourself," Victor said, nonchalantly. He walked around to the banshee's head as River climbed off of it. Placing one massive boot on each of the things biceps, he bent over and wrenched the butterfly swords out, pulling gory chunks with them.

"I don't like killing," River said, frowning. "I'm not like you."

"Whatever," Victor said, shaking the blades clean. He handed them back to River, hilts first.

Victor's indifference irritated River, but she didn't know why. She was about to say something scathing and put the jerk in his place when she noticed his hand. Sheathing her swords she asked, "Are you bleeding?"

Victor looked down. There was, in fact, blood leaking out of his right sleeve. "Well...poop." He popped the chest buttons on his fireman's coat and slid his right arm out of it. "I think I'm fucked up." No wonder he'd been feeling so sick.

River looked close. Victor had a hole in the meaty part where his shoulder met his neck. It was bleeding freely, if not profusely. "You seem to have suffered a puncture wound to your right trapezius," she said in a flat, sterile voice. She sounded like Simon.

"Yeah, well, dude was aiming for my throat, so I call it a win," Victor said. He took his coat off and handed it to River. "Can you hold that while we find someplace dry for a second?" He clutched his left hand over the wound to stop the bleeding. It was always something.

The two made their way to a better location (the restaurant Mal, Jayne, Kaylee, and Victor had eaten dinner at) and took a seat at a table that had an umbrella sticking up in the middle. There was no one around, which wasn't surprising given the storm and subsequent Reaver outbreak in the town.

River placed Victor's coat on the table and removed his duct tape and a roll of white, cotton gauze in a vacuum sealed pack. "Sit," she ordered Victor.

Victor sat down. Because he was tired and wanted to, not because he was inclined to follow orders from River. Even if she was pretty. "You could say please," he said. He realized something. "We've got to stop meeting like this. Tongues will wag. Oh, the scandal! "

"You're not funny," River said, taking a long, tanto out of Victor's coat. Without a further word, she cut Victor's black T-shirt from the neck to the outside of the right sleeve.

"You just couldn't wait to get my clothes off, again, could you?" Victor asked, winking. He jumped in sudden pain as River squeezed her thumb down on his wound.

"Oh, I'm sorry," River said insincerely. "Did I hurt you?" she asked, placing just a little too much emphasis on the last three words.

"Nope," Victor wheezed in a strained voice, blinking tears from his eyes. "I'm good."

"Now sit still," River said, sternly. She set to work dressing his wound.

"You really don't like me, do you?" Victor asked, looking up at River's face to gauge her reaction.

"Why should I?" River asked, focused on her work.

"I like you," Victor said. He felt River's hands pause for a second, but her face was a statue.

River felt her face heating up and was grateful it was dark. She realized she could still feel the pervasive gnawing in then pit of Victor's stomach. It slowly dawned on her, that feeling was probably sexual desire. "Well stop it," River snapped.

"Yes ma'am," Victor said as River finished up. "Have you ever had a boyfriend?"

"What?" River asked, startled. "That's an inappropriate question."

"Yes ma'am," Victor said, again, making River want to slap him.

"Besides, you wouldn't tell me about your wife," River said.

"Good point," Victor said. River was grateful that Victor shut himself down on the inside. It was easier to be around him when he wasn't projecting his thoughts and feelings out so strongly. He was almost as good at it as Inara. "You were-"

beautiful

"-impressive, back there," Victor said, standing up and replacing his coat. "How come you didn't freak out, like before?"

"My hallucinations are usually triggered by something," River said. She could feel Victor's mind turning to thoughts of trying to kiss her, despite the unrelated conversation. She could also tell Victor was aware of her looking at his thoughts and didn't care. He was standing too close to her, as well. "Last time, it was because the speeder we were in was a similar model to one my 'teacher' used to drive me around in."

"That was genius, you know," Victor said. "Diving at the banshee, face first? Brilliant and stupid at the same time. I like it."
Any attraction River may have felt toward Victor was suddenly doused in cold water. "We should go," River said.

Victor sat back down. "I hate to break it to you, but I need to rest a little. Big muscles are impressive, but I'm done. Like a steak, done. Not all of us are uber baddass super spy power babes."

"You say it like it's a good thing," River said bitterly, sitting down. She could still sense where Kaylee and the others were.

"Isn't it?" Victor asked.

"No!" River snapped. "I don't like killing!"

"Yeah, you said that before," Victor said resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "That's not what I saw, though."

In response, River picked her leg up and kicked the edge of the table, causing the whole thing to tilt. Victor caught it and let it back down.

"Temper much?" Victor asked frowning. River could sense he was actually confused about why she was angry. Which made her more angry. "Listen, I'm trying to pay you a compliment."

"Well, you suck at it!"

"Why are you so upset about me acknowledging that you're the best at something?" Victor asked.

"Because, it's not normal," River said. "The only reason I can do these things is because of what those zazhongs at the Academy did to me."

Victor finally lost out to his impulse and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right."

River raised her leg to kick the table again and Victor countered by stretching his longer leg out and pressing the bottom of his boot to the bottom of hers. "Will you chill and hear me out for a second?"

River said, nothing but put her foot back on the ground.

Victor took a deep breath and chose his words. "You're brother's like a superhero, right?"

River blinked, stunned. Victor was speaking his thoughts out loud and she'd never have expected him to say that. "What?" River asked. She felt a flash of irritation at herself for how dumb she probably sounded.

"Yeah," Victor continued. "I was talking to Kaylee. Apparently, he waltzed into a highly secret government facility with nothing but a costume and an attitude and just... took you out of there."

That wasn't quite right, River thought as Victor continued.

"He once took a flying leap off of a fifteen foot high catwalk onto a federal agent who was trying to retrieve you. He held said agent at gunpoint so Captain Reynolds could shoot him. He refused to leave your side when you were going to be burned at the stake. He orchestrated a massive heist of an Alliance hospital where he got you treatment, saved a dying man, and even knocked out a fed while being handcuffed. He even dove onto a badassed bounty hunter, taking a bullet in the leg trying to save you again."

When he put it like that, Simon did sound kind of awesome. River made a mental note to talk to Kaylee about her storytelling. It would seem she had a selective memory where Simon was concerned. "What's your point?"

Victor sighed. "I'm just saying you should stop attributing everything you don't like about yourself to the Academy. It's possible you came by some of your badassedness naturally."

River thought about it for a second. She remembered how good it felt to get the better of the banshee. She thought about how she'd had it completely beat, but still delivered the deathblow, so strong Victor had to retrieve her swords for her. She considered how good it had felt when the ball of rage and torment that was the banshee's mind had ceased to be, leaving her own mind in momentary peace. She didn't like those thoughts. All she'd ever wanted was to be a normal girl. All anyone had ever wanted for her was for her to go back to being a normal girl.

"I just want to be normal," River said in a small voice, staring at the ground.

"You were born an infinitely talented super genius," Victor said, not able to keep all of the scoffing tone out of his voice. "Whoever said that was a possibility for you, lied to you."

"You've rested enough," River said, standing. "Let's go."

"Yes ma'am."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

So... I realize the scene with Parliament probably should have been the opening scene to the whole show. I'm going to pretend I put it here instead for intelligent, artistic reasons and not because I didn't think of it at the time.