Title: self contained

Author: joly

Rating: I'm gonna say, R, but there was no selection for that during the posting process

Genre: Drama-y, Romance-y, Angst-y (very little), Adventure-y, Action-y

Pairing: Mostly Simon/Kaylee, might be some Miver or Ral or whatever the kids are calling the River/Mal pairing.

Spoilers: All the way to ‘Objects in Space’. But no BDM spoilers. In this story that hasn’t happened yet. We can, however, assume that things have gone all canon-like after ‘Ariel’ and up til this point.

Summary: A continuation of ‘Anti Hero‘. Set significantly after ’Objects in Space’. Xiaofan has to make a quick exit after thugs bust into her practice. She assumes it’s just a robbery gone wrong. But is it ever that simple? It’s now her turn to call on the help of her old friend Simon Tam and the crew of Serenity.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Firefly, the crew, the ‘Verse, any of that stuff. I just like to tell stories. Joss and The Man own the stuff. All the OFC’s are mine and I reserve the right to use them any way I please. I make no money, I expect none. Peace and Blessings.

Thanks: To everyone who read ‘Anti Hero’, much thanks. Makes me all squishy inside. And to those reading this who continue to read, yes, more squishiness.

Distribution: Any where, just let me know so’s I can do a little dance.

Feedback: Please and Thank You. Read and review at your leisure.

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They were assembled in the cargo bay, weapons at the ready. Jayne and Zoe up on the catwalk. Mal behind crates in the bay and River perched at the top of the stairs heading to shuttle one. Xiaofan, Kaylee and Simon were armed in the galley, watching the entrance with controlled panic. Mister Fong paced the common air, a weapon dangling from his hand.

The airlock opened and they could see a handful of men.

Guns cocked and swear words were uttered.

“Come out and play, beast,” River whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The battle was short and bloody. The heavily armored men who burst onto Serenity were hard to kill. The sub-plating of their uniforms meant that one would have to get a perfect face shot or be standing practically on top of them with a very high caliber weapon. Or a very sharp one.

For example, Vera.

Or a wiry, elegant dancer with a very long knife.

River instinctually glided through the chaos, avoiding her friend’s bullets, sinking the blade in to her enemies at their weak spots.

Mal didn’t see anything but blue uniforms and long black hair. He would glimpse River amongst the fray. He almost yelled, but then his weapon clicked and he had to pull another. And she was out of sight. So he just fired, taking as much care as he could to avoid the wispy girl.

Jayne aimed carefully, recognizing the armor.

He never stopped firing, yelling to Zoe, “Zo, go for the head til you get to the mule leg rifle. Or if they get closer.”

Zoe heard and began rethinking her plan of attack.

Blue uniforms were going down, but they were quickly running out of ammunition. River had planned for that. And any man that was simply knocked down by a bullet, she made quick work dispatching before he could draw his next breath.

It seemed they were down to the last man, the last blue soldier when the clicking began. Empty cartridges, swearing, shouts and movement to the hatch, all at once.

“Stay back!” River screamed. “He’s coming!”

She stood there, panting, her blade at the ready.

The tall man and his companion entered the bay.

“One extrapolated that there would only be a finite amount of ammunition. We took precautions. But I had hoped to still have men when you ran out.” He raised an eyebrow. “I did not account on her.”

River crouched, ready to spring.

“You just take yer pet and get off my ship!” Mal shouted, drawing down on the two men.

“If I believed that weapon capable of fulfilling it’s purpose I would not be standing here. As it is, I will not be taking commands from you. You will provide the Doctor and we will spare your lives.”

“Now that’s a gorram lie an’ we know it,” Jayne yelled from the catwalk.

The tall man regarded him with a sniff.

“Two, you shall fulfill your purpose now.”

Barely controlled mania glinted in his eyes.

“Ready to play, dumpling?” he called to River, unsheathing his blade. “You know me, pet? You feel it, don’t you? What‘s to come.”

“I will never be you!” she screamed and lunged at the beast.

Their combat was agile and animal-like. River moved like a bird of prey, flowing through the air at every possible moment. The beast crouched and pounced, blocking her thrust and lunge.

Soon, they were locked weapon to weapon, Two screaming, straining to break free. River jammed her weapon forward, disarming the creature. He fell to the floor, rolling towards the wayward knife.

River moved like water, enveloping the space around him. To the crew and the tall man, it was a blur of motion.

In one moment, Two was in the act of retrieving his weapon, and the next, he was laying on the floor of the cargo bay, ‘Sophia’ protruding from his rib cage.

River picked the beast’s blade up from the floor and advanced on the tall man.

He shrank back, but before he could move to escape he was on the floor with the weapon at his throat.

The crew joined her, standing over and peering at the man.

“Zoe?” A voice came through the comm. “Honey, are you alive?”

Zoe answered her husband and called for the rest of the crew.

“Why have you cut a bloody swathe through the sector looking for this woman?” Mal questioned, a hair’s breadth from screaming.

“I don’t answer to you,” he snarled, and then gasped as the blade was pressed further into his skin. A ribbon of blood ran down the side of his neck.

“Looks like you answer to her,” Xiaofan put in, moving to the front. “Or, to me. What do you want me for? What have I done?”

“Oh, they did a good job on you. I would have enjoyed breaking that wall down, making you beg…”

The knife moved from blade to tip, just under his chin, in the fleshy area of skin below the tongue.

“Answer her!”

“Kill me, little assassin, if you-”

His words were cut off by River, jamming the knife through his throat.

There were gasps and sounds of horror all around.

“River,” Simon coaxed, seeing the feral gleam in her eye, “Please let go of the knife.”

Jayne moved ever so slightly forward.

“Yeah, ya done good girl, let it go.”

The young woman let go of the knife, still embedded to the hilt in the tall man’s neck. She looked at the beast as he lay, cooling quickly on the cargo bay floor. Then she looked at her family.

“This is why I’ll never be him.”

The crew sighed collectively and the work of clearing the cargo bay began. Everyone but River and Kaylee. The mechanic took her friend to her room, to wash off the remnants of the battle.

The work was sweaty and long. The soldiers had to be removed, along with the tall man and Two. Once back on board the fighter, someone had to suit up, disconnect them, and come back through the airlock.

Jayne was volunteered for that job. He went along with out argument. He, as everyone else, realized how very close they came to being on the other side of this particular equation.

After the tasks were completed, exhausted crew members fell into their bunks, all talk suspended for a time when they weren’t fatigued beyond belief.

River sat in her room, staring into the dark. She could feel the souls around her, the living, breathing, heart-beating essence of Serenity. Kaylee and her brother locked in embrace, Wash and Zoe the same. Mal, Jayne and Xiaofan in their respective beds, dozing and pretending to doze. She could feel them surround her, filling her with their fundamental nature.

“Never like the creature,” she whispered, finally able to lay her head on her pillow and close her eyes.