The tranquilizer in Mal's system made him feel like he was attempting to walk through quicksand. So, the former time traveler had to hold him upright. She had to juggle shooting her gun and Mal's wide frame, and soon she ran out of bullets. She had some in a pouch on her belt, yet there was no possible way to reach them and reload with the Captain dangling on her like a five year old clinging to his mum's pant leg.
Well, when in doubt, ask the question: What would the Doctor do? The answer was usually the same. Get clever, or if that wouldn't work, RUN.
And, they did. Sort of. As much as they could. The rough bunch of slavers were gaining on them, as they were impressed with Mal and Rose's persistence. They'd make excellent inventory with such resilience and strength. Besides, they were both easy on the eyes. That always helped at an auction.
"Captain Suspenders, you got an idea where we should go?"
"Try one of those buildings down there," he was more than willing to work with Rose in this instant. He didn't much care for the idea of being sold to anybody. "They might have a vault or something of the like."
They dodged darts and used a large barn as cover. As quickly as they could, they went for a shop and found that nobody was home. It was a disaster, so the owners and customers were probably taken. She left Mal leaning on the front counter and started looking for the vault.
"Hey. Whatcha doing?" Mal asked in a conversational tone.
"I'm looking for a vault or something. Why would there be a vault in here?"
"Thieves love these little towns. Try hitting that button."
"The one that says: Activates water valves in case of fire?"
"That's the one," he saw the look on her face and they heard the men still rummaging through town. "Look on the bright side. If I'm wrong, at least we'll get a nice shower before we're took."
She hit the button and sure enough the floor opened. He had a cocky sort of grin, so she muttered to herself about big egos and guided him down the steps. Voices were getting closer. Rose quickly pulled a lever and the door above them shut. Mal slid down the wall to sit on the floor while she paced.
"What's with this, then?" Rose asked. "Slavers."
"You know. Taking people and selling them off to rich folk that are too lazy to lift a finger."
"That's horrible. It has to be illegal."
"Of course it is. When did that ever stop us?"
Rose huffed and moved closer to the door. She could hear faint sounds of men outside, but it seemed to be getting farther away. "How long do you think we'll be here?"
"I don't know. Hopefully we'll get to leave before we suffocate."
"Don't worry about that. You're full of enough hot air to keep us breathing for a lifetime," she deadpanned as he mocked amusement. "Is there a way for me to take a peek up there without being too obvious? Get us some air in here?"
"Not really. You'd have to crack the door, and that'd kind of mess up the point of hiding."
Rose went to open the door a tad anyway. It wouldn't open. She tried everything and it wouldn't budge. "How do you open this thing from our side?"
"You push the lever the other way."
She checked it. "It looks like it might have gotten stuck."
"Might have?"
"It's sort of wedged in there…I might have pulled too hard."
Mal took in the surroundings and his companion. "Just shiny. Of all the people in the Verse, I'm stuck here with you."
"It's not my fault that I've got strong muscles. You can't even stand up on your own."
"Don't go insulting my muscles. I'm very sensitive."
"Whatever. I came back to save you and look where that got me," she shakily replayed the moment that she lost the Doctor. That couldn't happen with River. "Think. How can we get out?"
"We either have to fix that thing or hope somebody finds us."
"How can they do that? This vault is hidden really well and there are loads of places we could be."
"Maybe I can get that thing unstuck."
"Give it a go, then."
He managed to stagger towards the lever and gave it all that he had. Even if he hadn't been semi-sedated, the lever was a mess. It looked like it hadn't been used since long before the war. That would explain why all of the money around them was severely out-of-date and coated with dust.
How fantastic.
… … … … …
Serenity was preoccupied. The slavers had another ship circling the planet to catch stragglers from the planet. They spotted Serenity and began to pursue. Thus, the crew was involved in an intense race among the stars.
"You gotta go faster," Jayne grunted at River.
She glared and hit the intercom. "Hold on."
Jayne flew into the doorway at the dramatic increase in speed. "Not that fast, moonbrain!"
"Didn't qualify the preferred speed, girl's name."
"How we doing up there?" Zoe's voice came from the engine room where she was assisting Kaylee.
"Present status is critically beneath an acceptable range and will not yield the desired result if the situation does not improve at a substantial rate."
There was a pause. "First mate-dummy speak?"
"We're in trouble."
… … … … … …
In the vault, Rose was attempting to formulate a plan. There had to be a way to let Serenity know where they were. It was mostly quiet now, from what they could tell, but they were underground. They wouldn't be able to know for certain until a decent amount of time had passed.
Rose sighed and anxiously rung her hands. She had to get home, and River was right. Serenity was always meant to be home. Surely, there was a way to reach that ship…
No. But, there was a way to reach River. She was a reader and Rose knew that they had a powerful connection. If psychic paper worked, a psychic girl had to work too. So, she shut her eyes and tried to remember what the surface looked like. Then, she mentally sent the message.
Rivy, we're underground. In a vault. General store. Near a big barn. Had a big red sign. Trapped.
Mal stared at her until her eyes opened. "You prayin' over there?"
"I'm tryingto send River a message. I know that I can reach her."
"Because you're ruttin' her?"
"I'm whating her?"
"You know what I mean."
"You mean shagging?"
"Whating?"
"Yes, I'm with her. What of it?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Way I see it, you're some pretty thing that'll get bored real quick and break her heart."
"I'm not going to do that."
"It happened before. Girl came on my boat and ripped her up. That ain't going to happen again."
"You're right. It's not. It's not even your concern to—"
"Like hell. She's my crew. My family. You showed up out of nowhere and come out with this nutso story about some other world. I've heard what they say. You ran off from your life, your family, to follow what you wanted. Didn't think of them or anybody else. How's a self-service girl like that supposed to be good enough for my crew? For River?"
Rose invaded his personal space with a look more powerful than the Bad Wolf herself. "You should really watch what you say. I'm not whoever was on that shuttle."
"You wanna know? Frida Koh. We treated her like our own. Then, she went and turned on every-damn-body on my boat, particularly my pilot. She ain't the first person to get on my ship and tear everything apart. River hardly made it through and there's no way that she'll get broke again. Not if I can help it. I ain't the warm and fuzzy type, and I don't say things that make me lose my captainy image, but I'll say it 'cause something has to get through that stubborn head of yours. She's like a daughter to me. To most of us. We'll all turn on you in a second if you turn on her. And, if we live through this, don't tell nobody that I said anything 'bout my feelings. Zoe and Jayne would never let me forget it."
"Look, I know that you don't trust people, but I give my word that I won't hurt her. I won't—"
"Somebody's word doesn't mean much in this Verse. You should at least know that by now."
Slowly, Rose pieced together everything that she had learned and heard about him and the crew. She was starting to understand why he was being so hard on her, or at least she had a theory. "You sure that this is about River and not about Inara?"
"Don't say that name."
"I know that she's gone and it completely broke you. So, every time that somebody new gets on your ship, you get scared that you'll lose them too. Like you lost Wash and Book. This Frida Koh in the shuttle. That's it, isn't it? You can't trust me or get close to me in case I rush off somehow. It'd hurt you and everybody. And, it just makes it worse that I'm in love with your pilot because it makes the stakes that much higher. It'd hurt everybody even more if I go."
Stop. Everything stop. Did she really admit her love for River? She. Did. It actually felt good to say it aloud to someone, as it was a relief to finally get it out. She didn't exactly like the fact that Mal was the first to hear it, but it only made her more determined to get home. Mal couldn't be the only one to know. She had to tell River. It just had to happen…
Mal studied Rose carefully and was in absolute shock. "You're in love with River?"
"More than you could ever know."
"You're not just messing around with her?"
"It's been way more than that from the start," she looked at him and they inspected each other to see if something had changed. It had. The bad blood between them wasn't bad any longer, but it certainly wasn't good either. "So, now that we've had a chat, can we please stop fighting and figure out how to get back home to our crew?"
His arms folded and his stubbornness showed. "Fine. A truce. For now. I won't ever trust you."
"That goes both ways. Can we think up a plan?"
There was a long pause. "Sit here and wait until one of us is strong enough to bust out?"
"Might take a bit."
"Better than wasting breath."
"True," she hummed. Well, she couldn't think of anything else to do, and she didn't mind taking a rest for a moment. So, they sat in stillness. Rose would go crazy without saying something, so she tried to start a conversation. "How'd you find Serenity and the crew?"
"It's a long story."
"What else do we have to do right now?"
"It's a very long story. Take up a lot of air."
"I can't sit here in silence. I'll do the talking, then. Let's talk about girly things like makeup—"
"When I found Serenity…"