River trailed the enemy, using every sense she possessed to stay out of their sight. Knowing when one of them was going to look back gave her a bit of an edge, even if it was only a fraction of a second.
Since the Immortals' existence had been revealed, she'd been thinking far too much. Discovering that Ben — or Methos as he had been known — used to be a slaver was a shock. She knew that slavers still existed, after all. Inara had told her and Kaylee about the captain's bar fight with some of them, and surely what the Institute did to her counted as slavery?
But the Immortals were all so… nice. They had secrets and all, those things they thought of in the dead languages that only they knew, but they were amiable and friendly and even (perhaps especially in the case of Duncan Macleod) noble. Duncan was the center, she knew. It was obvious when she observed them together. He'd touched every one of their lives, despite being younger than most of them. Duncan had never met Nick Wolfe — she'd asked him during the trip – but despite being in love with Amanda, he was willing to rescue Nick. His life was full of sadness. He fought back with sense of integrity. He was much like the captain. He built families around him, created out of very different people.
She was tempted to ask to stay behind with him when the ship left. She loved being on Serenity, and she loved her brother, and she was afraid of what trouble he might get into without her, but she was tempted.
"I suppose if I didn't really want it, it wouldn't be temptation," she muttered to herself, then ran behind another parked car. She was in time to see the last of the group go around the corner.
Her enemy was wary, but it would do them no good. Between her, her crew, and the immortals, they didn't stand a chance.
"They're coming," whispered Michelle. She pointed one way, then another. "Nick is that way, and close. The rest are in that direction, and getting closer."
"Right," said Jayne, lying prone under a large truck. "This is the best spot we've found yet. Those gorram zen fan immortals better get here soon so I can shoot someone." He looked over at the Immortal lying next to him. "Present company excepted."
Zoe said, "I'm going to get in position. Wait for the signal." She ran off before Jayne could take offense at being reminded again.
"The others have stopped moving closer," said Michelle.
"Probably about time then," said Jayne. He adjusted his position, steadied his breathing, and looked through Vera's scope. "Here they come."
Five, six, seven of Niska's men came around the corner. Jayne had a lead on the third one, because he know that Mal was likely to pick the front.
From beyond the group, three shots rang out. Jayne shot, and his man fell backwards with a hole through his skull. The man next to him fell face first. Jayne knew that the moon-crazy girl was in position. He smiled a wide, wicked smile. With a squeeze on the trigger another bad guy fell.
The enemy who hadn't been hit were diving for cover, so Jayne pulled himself from under the truck and ran towards the enemy.
He saw Niska hiding behind a pile of rubble. He was wearing an earpiece, and Jayne saw him tap it. Right at that moment, a bullet skimmed the side of the old man's head, taking off two of his fingers while simultaneously destroying the radio in his ear. Niska fell over screaming.
Jayne put two more bullets in another two of the men. A strangled scream of rage interrupted him. He turned to see Nick running toward him with a club. Before he could fire, two shots hit Nick in his thighs and he fell on to the ground.
River came out from hiding. He nodded at her, and grunted, "Thanks."
She ejected a spent shell. "Anytime," she told him.
Amanda appeared and grabbed Nick.
"Nick!" she said, pinning his arms behind him. "Don't struggle, Nick, it's going to be okay. Please, it's me, Amanda! Please, Nick, be okay!"
Nick roared at her. She looked into his eyes but saw nothing but pain and fury.
Amanda's own eyes were brimming with tears.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, still weeping.
Nick roared, and twisted. He broke her hold and knocked her down.
Zoe didn't hesitate. She raised her gun and shot Nick through the heart. Nick stopped short, and Zoe shot him twice more. Nick fell backward with an expression of surprise on his face.
Amanda crawled over to him. "Nick, I'm so sorry," she choked out between sobs.
Zoe stood over her. "Amanda, I…"
The ancient thief grabbed her hand. "Thank you, Zoe," she said. "I could never have done it again. Thank you." Zoe just nodded.
Jayne looked around and saw that everyone else holding the surviving henchmen at gunpoint. Mal was confronting Niska.
"You would not let a man bleed to death!" said Niska, clenching his wounded hand with the other one.
"Not without good cause, at least," said Mal, "and I reckon you've provided everyone here with enough cause to stake you out and leave you to the Reavers."
Father Riley knelt down and wrapped a cloth around Niska's bleeding hand, pulling it tight.
Niska yelped in pain. Father Riley looked at him dispassionately.
"Don't press your luck," he said, and stood up.
"We need to hurry!" said Duncan. "Help me with him, Captain. We need to get back to Serenity before any of his crew decide to take action."
Mal helped Duncan lift Niska and said, "Let's go then!" They dragged him towards the ship.
Jayne and Zoe lifted Nick's currently lifeless body. They and Amanda followed behind Mal. Ben Adams and River kept their guns pointed at the surviving henchmen as the others left the street.
"If you want to get paid," said Ben, "you'd better get back to your ship. Your boss lives as long as we get off the planet safely."
River added, "if it were up to him, you'd be dead where you lie. Now go, before I start agreeing with him."
The lead henchman looked and around, and took off running the way they had been going. The others quickly followed.
River looked at Ben. "It wouldn't be good if you and I started agreeing," she said.
The ancient immortal shrugged as they jogged away. "Might be an interesting change of pace."