AN: Okay people, this is it! This is the last update for A Firefly Among Monsters! Thank you for everyone who has been following this story and who have reviewed. Shout outs go out to Play4ever, Guin, Irishbrneyes, and BooklvrAnnie for the recent reviews. I am truly humbled by all the continued support. Now on with the show before I start crying.
Chapter 51: Somewhere a Clock is Ticking...The End
XXX
A panel is kicked in from the ceiling and the Operative drops down, having clearly entered from a different location. He looks around, carrying a laser-pistol. He moves past Mr. Universe and Lenore...
"River."
The Operative turns.
XXX
Riddick's POV
I turn down the last corridor and come across a door marked generator. I open it, walk in, and survey the situation.
"taikong suoyou de xingqiu saijin wo de pigu!" Before me the generator...suspended in the middle of the fucking room. It's miles deep, with machines rotating and grinding, and arcs of electricity ricochetting around it. On the other side is a platform, with the broadwave console sitting behind a clear plastic partition. Cables and chains run along the ceiling, around a series of ladder rungs.
"Hard to get to. That's a fuckin' fact."
XXX
...Back with the Crew...
The door is pried partially open...enough for one Reaver to squeeze through and charge. Mal stands up and shoots him in the head. He arcs back hard as the second comes, Mal shoots him, calmly walking toward the door.
"Mal... Gorramnit..." Jayne yells from his place behind the boxes.
But he is in a trance, there is a bubbling magma of rage beneath the calm. All he can think about is Inara...and River.
He's so lost in his trance of killing that he doesn't see the other Reavers start to pile in. But Jayne totes an automatic, sprays killing fire on the lot, moving forward himself...
XXX
Riddick's POV
I'm on appraising the situation when I hear someone behind me...I pull my gun and turn to face the door.
"Was wondering when you would show up." I say with a sneer.
"Truth be told you are not who I was expecting." The Operative says as he walks into the room.
"Sorry to disappoint."
"There's a lot of innocent people in the air being killed right now...all for than feng-lei little girl."
"You lot are hardly innocent."
Neither of us moves...we just stand there, facing off at ten paces.
"We know the secret now. The truth that burned up River Tam's brain and set you after her. And the rest of the 'verse is gonna know it too. 'Cause they need to."
"You're more surprising than that half-wit Captain...Richard B. Riddick. You really believe that...the verse needs to know this?"
"I do."
"You willing to die for that belief?"
"Who says I am going to be the one dying?"
The Operative raises his gun...but I'm faster. I shoot the gun out of his hand and gets two hits to the chest (armored) before he makes it to cover.
I holster my gun and jumps for the rung above me, and start going hand over hand to the island, moving as fast as I can. I know it is only a matter of time before he gets to his feet.
I make it to the platform in the center of the room and hear a thud behind me. I turn and see the Operative readying an attack.
"Mother fucker you have no idea who you are dealing with." I snarl as I charge him.
XXX
...Serenity's crew...
They are all taking heavy fire now. Jayne is still firing continuously as he drags a now wounded Mal back to the barricades. Simon moves to help...Kaylee firing now, squinting with effort...Simon checks the wound in Mal's leg.
"They didn't hit the bone."
"Just gimme a bandage." Mal says as Simon pulls a spraycan from his bag, sprays the wound with a foam that hardens instantly into an elastic covering.
Jayne turns around and starts firing. He takes a hit to the shoulder...which just pisses him off. "Oh, now you're likin' guns, huh? Cheaters!" He yells as he switches guns and proceeds to spray the Reavers with a rain of bullets.
Out of the corner of her eye Kaylee sees River start to come to and sit up. She turns to say something and is peppered with dart-like projectiles. She screams and drops the weapon, pulling the projectiles from her.
Zoe rushes to help her up, pulls her back as she shouts to the others. "Everybody fall back! Fall back!" Zoe takes a bullet to the leg in the process as she drags Kaylee and still somewhat dazed River by the arm.
Everyone stumbles or is dragged into the inner corridor. Book hits the controls and the doors start to close, from each side and above and below. Then, when the hole is maybe four by four, they stop.
"Jayne! Grenade!" Mal yells.
"Very last one..." He tosses it through the hole.
Wash doesn't even flinch from the blast. "They're gonna get in."
Kaylee mutters as Simon checks her neck. "Can close it... from outside..."
"No one's coming back from that..." Zoe tries to stand, and fails. She starts putting pressure on her leg.
"How much ammo do we have?" Mal asks as he checks his gun.
"We got three full cartridges and my swingin' cod. That's all."
Book is by the elevator, pounding for it to come. "Lift isn't moving..."
"When they come, try to plug the hole with 'em..." Mal commands.
Kaylee cries out and Simon moves to her. "I'm starting to lose some feeling here... I think there's something in them darts they throwed at me."
"Lie still. I'm gonna give you something to counteract the..." He stands, looking around him. His bag is outside the door just this side of the crates.
"My bag." Simon says. But that is all he says as a bullet slices through the air and into his stomach.
XXX
River's POV
"My bag."
That's all she hears and then everything goes into slow motion for her...she hears and sees nothing else but Simon falling to the floor...clutching his stomach. He's gasping for air as Book runs to him and puts pressure on the wound, then puts Simon's hand on it. She moves as fast as she can to her brother's side...tears welling in her eyes...
"My bag. Need... adrenaline... and a shot of calaphar for Kaylee... I can't... River...?"
The girl takes his hand. Tears falling down her cheeks.
"River... I'm sorry..."
"No. No." She says as the tears fall freely.
The lights go out. Everyone looks about them. Jayne fires again, but all the sound in the room has bled out save for her brother's voice...
"I hate to... leave..."
"You won't. You have to take care of them Simon. You have to take care of them when I'm gone..." There is no other way... she knows this now. Determination and adrenaline begin filling her veins, while music begins to fill her mind. The emergency lights flicker on, giving everything an unearthly glow as she looks at him.
...I've got this feeling that there's something that I missed
(I could do most anything to you...) Don't you breathe
Something happened, that I never understood
You can't leave...
"Once more into the fray...Into the last good fight I'll ever know. Live and die on this day... Live and die on this day." She says to herself as she stands.
...Every second, dripping off my fingertips
Wage your war...
"My turn."
...Another soldier, says he's not afraid to die
Well I am scared...
The music fills her ears and drowns out everyone's screams...she is vaguely aware that they are all screaming at her as she dives through the hole into the doors. She lands in a perfect roll, comes up in a room full of Reavers. Without a moment's hesitation she grabs Simon's bag and makes it to the panel, and engages the doors closing. She dodges a blade in the process.
...In slow motion, the blast is beautiful
Doors slam shut...
She throws the bag as hard and as far as she can...She smiles as she sees the bag sail through the closing doors before they shut...she feels hands on her now...pulling her back...
...A clock is ticking, but it's hidden far away
Safe and sound...
XXX
Riddick's POV
"You know...I'm going to enjoy gutting you." I say as the man squares off to come at me again.
"That is highly unlikely Richard."
It's a flurry of fists and limbs now. The fucker is good... every move I make he counters...but he never gets the upper hand.
However, he somehow manages to get an arm around my neck...in a somewhat messy chokehold from behind.
"You know what your sin is, Richard?" He says as he tries to strangle me.
"Aw hell...I'm a fan of all seven." I say as I slam my head back into the man's face...I hear a satisfying crunch of bone and the man's nose is oozing blood by the time I turn around.
He rebounds quickly though...and responds with a spin kick.. I grab the nearest thing to me...a screwdriver and hold it up so the Operative swings his foot right into it. He gasps in shock.
I throw another punch into the man's face, and he goes down hard, dazed.
"But right now..." I say as I kind of stagger towards him. "I'm gonna have to go with Wrath."
XXX
...Meanwhile...
Every one of them is subdued. No one wants to think about the possibility of what is happening on the other side of those blast doors. Book had managed to stabilize Simon enough that he could tell Book what to do about Kaylee. Kaylee had been given a smoother so the drugs could be counteracted in her system without her in pain.
Wash was tending to Zoe's leg, and Mal and Jayne were slumped against some boxes in the front.
Jayne turns to Mal now. "You suppose he got through? Think he got the word out?"
"He got through. I know he got through." Mal says...almost convincingly.
XXX
Riddick's POV
"I'm sorry." The Operative spins him and digs his bunched fingers right into my back. I grimace in pain..but I don't move. I know this trick all too well. I watch as the man goes near the railing and retrieves his sword. I know what the fucker has planned...but he has another thing coming...
"You should know there's no shame in this. You've done remarkable things. But you're fighting a war you've already lost."
The man lunges at me now and I quickly twist and spin out of the way. I jam a shiv into the sweet spot in his back.
"Well, I'm known for that." I say as I elbow him in his throat.
He drops the blade, mouth open, stumbling back, unable to make a sound...and clutching at the wound gushing blood on his back. He slumps down against the railing.
"Piece a shrapnel tore up that nerve cluster my first tour. Had it moved." I slip his sword through the straps on his back and around the railing so that he is pinned in place. I squat down and look into his face.
"Sorry 'bout the throat. Expect you'd wanna say your famous last words now. Just one trouble. I ain't gonna kill you quickly...I'm going to let you bleed out."
I move to the console now, and start prepping the broadwave. I chuckle as I turn back towards him. "But Hell, I'm gonna grant your greatest wish." I insert the cylinder, turns it slightly. It hums to life.
"I'm gonna show you a world without sin." I hit "send all". The cylinder lights up and the broadcast begins. It's projected on the screens about the console. I turn and activate the bridge back towards the exit as the message goes out.
XXX
...A few minutes later...
The gang is still trying to patch themselves together when the elevator doors open. Riddick staggers out, holding his ribs.
"Well?" Mal asks half hopeful.
"It's done." Riddick says as he takes in the state of the crew. He notices almost immediately she isn't there.
"Where the fuck is River?"
"She..." but Mal cannot say it...and he doesn't get a chance to try and say anymore as the blast doors slowly begin to open.
Everyone turns to look, those who can feebly raising weapons, as the square iris of the opening blast doors widens to reveal River, standing alone. She is holding a Reaver axe and sword, and is bloody but unbowed. And the only one alive. There is a moment of silence as everyone looks at her in mixes of awe, bewilderment, and relief...before the wall behind her is ripped completely away.
XXX
River's POV
She cannot help but appreciate the tragic irony of this moment. Here she is reborn..baptized in Reaver blood...and she's about to be ripped away from them again.
...Now come one come all to this tragic affair
Wipe off that makeup, what's in is despair...
She feels the wind whipping around her as the wall behind her collapses. She knows that through the smoke come some fifteen Alliance soldiers, all ready for a kill order that won't come...but it won't stop them.
...So throw on the black dress, mix in with the lot
You might wake up and notice you're someone you're not...
She can hear all of their thoughts rush in now... but all she sees in that moment are his eyes...behind the goggles...looking at her like she's the last woman alive...
...If you look in the mirror and don't like what you see
You can find out firsthand what it's like to be me...
She smiles weakly at him. Her hand tightening on the axe in her right hand. She notices the change in his eyes...he knows what she's about to do.
...So gather 'round piggies and kiss this goodbye
I'd encourage your smiles I'll expect you won't cry...
"Drop your weapons! Drop 'em now!" A soldier screams behind her.
Another speaks into his com unit. "Do we engage? Do we engage?"
...Another contusion, my funeral jag
Here's my resignation, I'll serve it in drag...
"Targets are acquired! Do we have a kill order? Do we have an order?"
...You've got front row seats to the penitence ball
When I grow up I want to be nothing at all!...
"I love you." She says as she throws the axe into the door panel. It slams shut in front of her and the last thing she sees is his face before it closes.
She drops the sword in her other hand and slowly turns around... hands raised in surrender.
...(Save me!) Get me the hell out of here
(Save me!) Too young to die and my dear
(You can't!) If you can hear me just walk away and
(Take me!)...
XXX
Riddick's POV
"I love you." She says as the doors slam shut.
I feel as if all the air has been sucked out of the room. A second goes by before my vision turns red. I storm over to where Mal sits and yank him to his feet by the collar of his shirt.
"You were supposed to watch her!" I scream.
"In case you ain't noticed we are all bleedin' or injured here. I couldn't of stopped her if I tried."
I pull my shiv and put it to the Captain's throat now. "I needed you to keep her safe."
"Riddick there was nothing any of us could have done." Book says from behind me. I can feel him walking up behind me now, and he puts a hand on my shoulder.
"We will get her back." The Shepherd says.
I turn and glare at the man. "How? How do you know she ain't dead already? How would we ever find her if she ain't dead?"
"I am not sure...but we will."
"He's right...she's crew...she's family. We have to."
I feel my anger give a little, I can feel the sadness start to seep in. I grit my teeth. There isn't time for that...we got work to do before we can get off this rock... The only thing I can think about though is getting her back. We have to... I got things I need to say to her.
XXX
...Epilogue...
It's raining as Riddick stands in the cargo bay of Serenity. It had taken them a few weeks...but the repair work on Serenity was finally finished.
Mal walks up from behind him and stands next to him.
"There's been broadwaves...cries for a recall of the entire Parliament."
Riddick doesn't say anything yet...just continues to look out into the rain. Another minute goes by before he says anything. "Serenity. You lost everything in that battle. Everything you had, everything you were... how did you go on?"
"I didn't...I never left that Valley...I don't expect that you'll ever really leave this place..."
Riddick is silent again. Mal goes to leave but is stopped by the convicts voice. "She wanted me to promise...to look after you all...if anything happened to her."
"Seems like something she would do." Mal waits a moment before he says anything else. "We'll get her back Riddick..." And with that he turns back and walks towards the bridge.
Riddick hears the whir of the engines start and he moves to close up the cargo bay doors. "Storm's getting worse." He says to no one but himself.
XXX
AN: I cannot believe I am done. After close to 3 years...this labor of love is done. Thank you all for the continued support, the reviews, and the words of encouragement. Up next we will have the Chronicles of Riddick and maybe Dead Man Stalking. I will probably break those up into two separate stories, but please be on the look out for the next part of A Firefly Among Monsters...tentatively titled Monsters Hunting a Firefly. Till then everyone. ;)