“Easy!” Simon carped as Zoë hefted him roughly across her shoulders and adjusted her grip on his wrist. The idea of carrying Simon between their shoulders had been hindered seriously by fact that Mal was a good bit taller than Simon or Zoë, but they were making do. Simon had been going in and out of consciousness for the entire walk from the shuttle and Mal wished like hell he’d just stay passed out. Then he could have his way and just toss Simon over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

“You’re awfully whiny for a hero,” Mal said.

“Stop calling me that.”

Simon killed a man to save Cole. Mal wasn’t soon to forget that or let it go unthanked.

“Aunt Kaylee calls him –”

“Hey!” Simon warned and Zoë bit back a snicker.

“Zo, there are some things men don’t want to know about other men,” Mal said.

He could see the hospital now, and he resisted the urge to speed up. Simon swooned and Mal reached across to catch his weight. They paused long enough to let him wake and catch his breath. Zoë wiped the sweat from her lip and leaned her hands on her knees, looking from Simon to the hospital door. The area was well-lit, considering the time of night, and the neighboring buildings shielded it somewhat from the wind.

“Why did we park so far?” she panted.

“Don’t you get whiny too,” Mal said.

“I’m sixteen, I can’t help it.”

Mal nudged Simon and Zoë took the cue. Once inside, they all gasped gratefully, inhaling lungs full of warm, clean air… and probably more than a few pathogens. Mal checked the directory and nodded to the left.

“Elevators are that way. Burn ward is on sixteen.”

“Don’t we need to check in first?” Zoë asked.

“I don’t like waiting.”

They entered the elevator and Simon swooned again. They were close enough to the destination that Mal didn’t mind throwing Simon over his shoulders. As soon as the elevator opened, Zoë dashed into the hall and found a bed. Mal followed her behind the curtain and laid Simon down carefully. Simon stirred almost immediately and started mumbling a list of supplies he needed for treatment. Mal tried not to laugh at him for being so single-minded.

“What’s going on here?” a blue-coated doctor demanding, yanking back the curtain.

“Third degree burns,” Simon said, his voice gravelly but fervent as he sat up. “I’ve got it handled.

Zoë looked apologetically at the doctor. “Doctors make the worst patients.”

The doctor nodded knowingly, and went into auto-pilot. “Chart?”

“We’re walk-ins,” Mal explained.

The doctor made a disapproving face, and poked Simon in the chest. “Lay back.”

Simon complied, looking simultaneously grateful, indignant, vulnerable, and defensive. The doctor examined Simon’s injured leg, wrapped ankle to thigh in tight plastic to keep out infection. Pulling over a cart, he cut the plastic and gingerly pulled it away, exposing the wound. Mal could see it wasn’t fully cleaned of debris or charred clothing. It had been too dark to see when they were doing it. Simon whimpered, cried out, and then blacked out again.

“How long has this wrap been on?” the doctor asked, not phased in the slightest by Simon’s unconsciousness.

“An hour, give or take,” Mal answered. “Can you fix him?”

The doctor hummed thoughtfully and called for a nurse to assist him. The way the two set to work and ignored Mal was as good a sign as any. Mal nodded to the hall, and he and Zoë left quietly.

-----

Jayne and Sky dragged the prisoners to one side of the cargo bay so they wouldn’t get run over when Kaylee drove in the truck with the ship stunning device. He’d gagged two of them, and the other four took the hint and kept quiet of their own accord. It was dangerous that the prisoners outnumbered the number of competent fighting adults, even unarmed. No sense griping about it now. Sky was sexy as hell, flashing a sub-machine gun at the prisoners, getting them whimpering for mercy. The weapon was too big for the job, but Mal wasn’t around to warn her off, and they got to play with prisoners so rarely. Inara would’ve said something, but she was upstairs prepping the shuttle. Jayne still had to clean the cannon and mount it to the shuttle before he and Inara took off.

Kaylee pulled in with the truck and they all gawked at the ship stunner, debating whether it needed to come off the flatbed. It was a strange contraption, looking like a cross between a cannon and a catapult but with a dizzying array of electronics instead of mechanical springs. Sky tossed the sub-machine gun to Jayne and hopped right into the mix of machinery next to Kaylee. Jayne knew something wasn’t right by the way they started arguing.

“Problem?” Jayne asked.

“System’s locked,” Sky answered.

“I can wire around it,” Kaylee said. “It just might take an hour.”

“We don’t have an hour,” Sky said, a little too harshly. “Do you think Genny –”

“No,” Kaylee cut off sternly, though there was a hidden maybe in there. Jayne knew Kaylee didn’t want to pull her kids into this if at all possible. Thinking toward solutions, Jayne turned to the prisoners, walked up to one of the talkative ones, and ripped the tape off his mouth.

“Show me how it works,” he threatened, tapping the gun against the man’s cheek.

The man quivered fearfully and his jaw flapped a few times before he finally managed to speak. “I don’t know.”

“Show me!” Jayne hollered again, this time burying the muzzle in the guy’s forehead.

“Jayne,” Sky called. She pointed two prisoners down, as calmly as though she were hinting at which pair of shoes she wanted for her birthday. Jayne abandoned the first prisoner, stood over the one she indicated and pointed. Sky nodded eagerly, making a slicing motion in the air.

Trying again, Jayne squatted and pulled this one up by the hair. He nodded back to the first guy. “You don’t like him much do you?”

This one wore a blue-collared shirt and a smug sneer.

“Are you gonna show me?” Jayne asked. When the man stayed silent, Jayne pulled his knife from his boot.

“He doesn’t know,” the man next to him cried. Jayne looked in surprise at the wiry, little imp. “I’ll do it! I’ll show you.”

“Shut-up, Ian!” the blue-collared one carped.

Confused, Jayne looked at Sky and she threw her arms up in frustration.

“I am never going to get his ear!”

Jayne chuckled and shook his head. A girl’s gotta have hobbies.

-----

“Baba,” Zoë whispered, handing him a white jacket as they crossed out of the burn unit and headed for the elevators again. She pressed the button for two and bounced on her feet when the lift moved.

“Do you think one of us should’ve stayed with Uncle Simon?”

Mal looked up, as if he could still see Simon lying here. “You can go back. I won’t stop you.”

She rolled her eyes and pressed her lips together, knowing he was just being protective. He didn’t know where they were going anyway. He wouldn’t have stopped on the second floor if he were searching for an underground rail system, but the elevator didn’t have an option for secret sub-basement. He shivered when they rounded a corner and came to a glass door marked with the symbol of the Ward.

It looked serene enough – just another set of double glass doors and a hallway of rooms. But Simon was right. Mal could feel the tangible presence of demons and soul-sucking darkness as if the evil spirits were leached onto the glass, waiting to pounce on any who crossed the threshold.

Zoë paused and they made fake small talk until someone with a keycard came, and they slid through quickly just before the doors could close. They were intercepted almost immediately by a beefy receptionist that doubled as a bouncer.

“Excuse me, do you have authorization cards?”

There were too many people around for Mal to pull his gun, and he could see the outline of an energy weapon tucked into the man’s scrubs.

“Not yet,” Zoë answered sweetly. “I’m Dr. Wu’s new research assistant and this is my thesis advisor from the university. He’s expecting us.”

The receptionist looked doubtful, but she kept that innocent, eager student look on her face and Mal backed the lie by trying to look distinguished and professor-esque.

Getting no feedback, Zoë started again. “The patient just transferred from the diagnostic ward –”

“Alright,” the man interrupted, looking disgruntled and motioning to a clipboard on the desk. “Sign in.”

Zoë signed two fake names, asked politely to be pointed toward Dr. Wu’s lab, and then led the way down the hall. Mal couldn’t help beaming with fatherly pride.

“You researched this place?”

“No,” Zoë laughed nervously. “Just seems every hospital has a Dr. Wu on the roster. Research would’ve been a good idea.”

They passed Dr. Wu’s lab and kept going, picking up on the trail of a lab tech with tissue samples. The tech went into a freight elevator and Mal and Zoë followed, riding down with him. This lift had an option for the lower basement floors, and set them out, just has Zoë had predicted, at an underground rail station.

“Which way?” Mal asked.

Zoë pulled out the GPS they were using to track River. “No satellite signal down here. Do you have a compass?”

“That would be in my other coat,” Mal said. Closing his eyes, he retraced his steps through the hospital, oriented himself, and pointed. “North is that way.”

“Go ten degrees east,” Zoë instructed. Mal adjusted himself and opened his eyes. He wasn’t facing any of the train tunnels; he was facing a solid wall.

Zoë shrugged. “That’s the general direction.”

Mal surveyed the two choices of train tunnel. “Care to guess?”

The doors to the elevator hissed open and Mal grabbed Zoë’s arm, ducking into the shadows. Two armed guards stepped onto the platform, escorting a heavily drugged patient between them. A few seconds later, a train arrived and the trio stepped on board. Mal and Zoë followed quietly. It was a single car train, and the guards eyes Mal and Zoë suspiciously, but Mal led Zoë to the end of the car and they sat quietly. Zoë was practically bursting from her skin, glaring daggers at the armed guards, hand pressing over her gun so firmly that the outline was visible through her coat. Mal couldn’t touch her. It wouldn’t look right.

Leaning as close as he dared, he whispered, “Zo –”

“Mmm.”

“Look at me.”

Zoë fidgeted anxiously, but finally turned to face him. She had so much of her mother’s fire, and now she was getting that hard edge the momma-Zoë had found in Serenity Valley, and that broke Mal’s heart. One day she would battle the Ward, but today was not the day to start.

“We can only take on one war at a time,” Mal told her. “Keep focus. Distracted means dead.”

Her fists clenched in her lap, but she closed her eyes and found her calm. She needed it. When the train stopped, so did Mal’s heart. The ship that River spoke of was right there in front of them. And so was River.

-----

Jayne checked the bolts on his make-shift wind-shield and make-shift cannon mount. The shuttle wasn’t designed for shooting down space ships and the best Jayne could do was stick his head out the top hatch, point, and shoot. He wasn’t looking forward to doing it at 10,000 feet, going 700 miles per hour, but he’d done worse in his time.

Inara was a good pilot. She had steady hands and a good sense for how ships moved in atmo. Jayne figured the sensitivity was one of those transferable skills from companioning. It always amazed Jayne that Inara had kept up with the companion gig for almost two years after she and Mal got together. She hadn’t stopped until they started talking about kids. It was always a profound mystery to Jayne how they’d made it work in the first place, but he never tired what it was like to see. The whole ‘verse could turn on the strength of their love. Jayne had turned down more than a few lucrative job offers just to stay near it.

Mal expected him and Inara to sacrifice themselves if that’s what it took to take down this ship, but Jayne wouldn’t do it. He would do whatever it took to keep Inara safe, and get them back to Serenity. She needed to be there for Mal and he’d be damned if he left his little Emily without a father. They’d do what they could and get themselves home. The rest would work itself out.

“Stop fiddling, there’s only so much you can do,” Inara said sharply, tapping his leg as she walked by.

Jayne grunted in frustration and climbed down the ladder, closing the top hatch. Didn’t make too much a difference, since he planned to open it again in twenty minutes, but at least they’d be warm until then. Ambient temperature at that altitude was not far above freezing. If they didn’t catch this thing before it broke 15 thousand feet, the cannon wouldn’t have enough air to fire properly, and the emptiness would freeze the mechanics. Jayne was still trying to warm up from before.

Jayne pulled on his gloves again and strapped on his hat. He felt ridiculous, all bundled up while still inside, but he’d do what he needed and he’d kill anyone who laughed at him. He was pulling the airlock door shut when Sky came skipping down the catwalk, all sweet and smiling, holding a long case. Jayne recognized a new gun when he saw one, so he waited by the door and tried to keep from smiling like a goon.

Sky sauntered up close to him, leaning in until her breath tickled his ear, and then she slipped the case into his hands. “This is supposed to be a birthday present. Don’t open it unless you need it.”

Jayne’s skin went tingly with anticipation as Sky left a trail of butterfly kisses on his cheek, and backed away seductively. It was all Jayne could do to close that airlock door and stay focused on the job. And now he had a shiny new gun that he could open in case of an emergency. This was the best worst day ever.

“Oh, she gave it to you,” Inara said cheerfully as Jayne looked for a safe place to stow the black case.

“Just for an emergency.”

“Try not to drool on the console,” Inara teased. “Well we can’t have an emergency, because I forgot to bring a camera, and I want to preserve the look on your face when you see it.”

Jayne looked at the case, both excited and suspicious. “Why? Is it chocolate?”

“What else does Sky want in an emergency?” Inara laughed conspiratorially.

The shuttle took off and Jayne waited for Inara to get a sense of the new aerodynamics with the cannon mounted on top. He wished he had a few rounds to spare so he could do a test shot, but he only had three, and he was saving every one. He’d brought an M2 and a sniper rifle just in case, but there was only so much stability he’d have holding either of those on top of a ladder, poking his head through the top hatch. On that thought, he decided he better bolt the ladder to the floor.

They got the location from Mal and Zoë, so they had the general target area of where the ship would be launching. Inara flew circles, getting the lay of the land, figuring out where the fires were, where the towns were. It was in case they crashed, or as she said, ‘landed with unintentional gusto.’ She wanted to find a reasonably safe landing point.

The night was clear, but the Moon was dim and it was difficult to see. Inara circled again, and swerved sharply, narrowly missing a large ship as it raced out of orbit. Jayne hadn’t been on the bridge at the time, but based on the emblem on the shield, he figured that this was the ship that had shot Serenity down.

-----

Please comment before reading Chapter 10