La Escorpiona- The Scorpion

Author: Tinadoll (aka Tina- That’s me!) Setting: After BDM Rating: PG-13- NC-17. This chapter is PG-14 Spoilers: probably-But who cares? We have all seen the episodes? Author’s note: I have written fan-fic before. But this is my first Fireflyfic and my first serious (kind of) one. Scorpion is mine. All Spanish, Latin or any other language will be in parenthesis. This could get messy folks. My spelling and grammar is horrible. And my humor is odd. And I’m a fan girl. LOL ENJOY Disclaimer: Firefly et al. Are properties of Joss Whedon- Those who don’t like that will get punched in the Kidneys

Prologue: Gloria in te domine (Glory in your name)

She lies in the grass and she checks out the target in her scope, adjusting the measurements accordingly. It was a hot day and she is wearing all black. She wore her brown hair up. Her boots and pants were showing off her slim legs and round butt. That wasn’t her fault-that was just good jeans. Ahem-genes. Good jeans would only go so far. On her back was a samurai sword she had gotten as a present from her master on a birthday. Her work brought her lots of work and lots of presents. Lots of pretty, shiny, silky things. You would almost suspect her to be a companion…

She lay in wake in the grass, like a snake and she took a sip of water and brushed some dirt out of her silk blouse. She was considering lighting a small clove cigarette-very expensive but she hated smoking on the job. Her target wasn’t back yet so she took her time even to day dream.

She remembers where she came from. The world was called Oceanus. Well before the war it was called that. Who knows what the Alliance did to it. There is this fishing port called Orleans where she and her father are from. Her mother- Gloria, was born on the nearby world of Andalusia in the large city of New Barcelona. She was a nurse in the hospital when Jean came in to visit a sick cousin and they hit it off. Jean was of Creole French decent who lived in Orleans as a fisherman. She moved with him and proceeded to put her passion for cooking to good use. She opened up a restaurant called simply “Mariscos” (Seafood) and proceeded to win the community over with her paella. Her father was a pillar in the community and worked as a fisherman (as did everyone who had able hands). She had three brothers- Pierre, Juan, and Julian. All who teased her ferociously because she was the youngest and she was a girl. She got them back with her quick wit and her stealthy speed (She chuckles as she remembers the time she hid their socks. You can’t go to work with no socks. Other times she would break her own leg or arm to tell her parents and to see them punish her brothers. She had a high tolerance for pain) .Maria Thérèse did not want to be a fisherman. She just knew she wanted to be free, rid of her brothers. So she joined her mother in the kitchen. She didn’t feel passionate about cooking as she would have liked to, but she occupied her time by it. She also learned how to do beadwork and embroider like a good girl should. And just a little nursing on the side.Her only means of escape where during the summer months when she took a job a couple of miles out of town on a ranch. They had horses. She loved horses and found another thing she was good at-training and riding. One day one of the ranch hands showed her how to shoot. She was a natural. It would come in handy one day.

And that one day came. She was 16. The Alliance landed and produced a “treaty”. The people of Oceanus thought it was more of a “Paper that gave the Alliance total dominance and total right to tax local businessman”. The local governors refused to sign. So all hell broke loose. The Alliance started fires , riots and hung random people.

That’s how both her parents winded up dead.

Maria came home from the Stables one day and found her house and the adjacent restaurant on fire. She could hear her mother’s screams from inside the house. She was trapped.

She ran up to as close as she could get and yelled. “ MAMA! MAMA!. Dios estara contigo.Voy para ayuda” (Mother! Mother. God is with you. I’m going for help) Someone was grabbing her from behind. It was an Alliance soldier.

“Don’t worry Missy, We already apprehended who set the blaze!” he said as he pointed to a makeshift gallows by a tree. Her father was hanging from a noose. Swinging in the breeze. The only mind numbing though she had was she was glad his neck had snapped.

A couple of other soldiers watching laughed and she whirled around and cracked one of them in the face with her fists.

“Demonios!” she said (Devils) “Assesinos” she added (Assassins). As luck would have it as she was about to be shot- a crowd came and swallowed her whole. The townsfolk knew she was now a target. But she passed out and woke up in an underground bunker. She recognized several of her neighbors whom told her about the Independence movement. From that day forward she was a browncoat. She was drafted into the fledgling air force. After all she had an eye for wiping out targets.

Eye- She thought. She chuckled and shifted in the grass. I mean she only had one. They eye patch she wore concealed her greatest weapon and her initiation present. She ate her pear and her thoughts drifted off again.

Her Squadron was called the Scorpions and their moniker was “Gloria in te nominee”. Buncha Catholics. But She enjoyed escaping into the black. It was so freeing.

The end to the Independents came at Serenity Valley. She was one of the captured after her small plane was hit and she bailed out.

The next thing she remembered was the drill. A shrill noise. Then the pain. So much pain. But she was stronger then they would have thought. She didn’t scream but only cried silently. And would black out from time to time. She took not of her surroundings. Large dull room. It was a Medial bay of some sort but she couldn’t see that much. One of her eyes was gone and she was strapped to the table she was laying on. Then came the voices.

“This one is powerful...” one said

“ Very. She is very suitable for the experiments” another said

Hands of blue, two by two.

“十分” (Enough-Japanese) yelled a voice in the darkness. This was the only time she saw her master raise his voice, until this point. He approached her. A man in an impeccable suit. He was very handsome but older. He was Asian and he commanded respect. She later came to find out he was of Japanese decent and he had an interest in all things from Old Japan on Earth that was. He stroked her hair.

“You don’t feel much pain.” He said. Maria only nodded. She was trying to get herself loose and one hand was getting free. When it did get free he promptly grabbed it and broke her wrist. She didn’t flinch. She just narrowed her one good brown eye at him.

“This one I will take for my own.” He said. She had no say. But she was glad she didn’t end up in the hands of blue. Experiments did not sound pleasing.

So there she was looking into her scope at the target. A Firefly that landed on this desolate piece of earth. Probably to take some low paying illegal job. It was just to easy to track. Amateurs.

She looked at her scope and she saw the Captain, the one they called Zoe and the mechanic. He was the one wearing the tight pants again, the Amazon princess right beside him and cutie patootie in the pink and smeared face was babbling something. She could almost make out the word “strawberry"

“Come out, come out River the Reaver killer.” she said and she gripped and loaded. Through her scope she saw her target –River Tam emerged from the ship with her brother the Doctor. She smiled a rare smile but un-gripped the handle and un-cocked the weapon. Where was big tall and stupid?

Click.

“Oh there is Mister Sunshine” she turns around, makes no gestures toward the weapon and puts her hands behind her head. “Hello Jayne.”

Jayne Cobb, the Mercenary and hero of Canton stood in front of her- behind Vera, his weapon of choice.

“Now don’t you move an inch or I will have blow your pretty head clean off.” he said

“Okie Dokie” she said

-End of Prologue