Based on the world of Firefly by Joss Whedon ----------------------------------------- It was night before she made it back to camp, opting to explore the further reaches to make sure there were no more surprises to be had. Thankfully, besides a rather hungry wolf pack that had just killed a deer, it seemed pretty quiet. A disturbance near her right sent her on high alert, fangs issuing in a display of pure power and aggression as a growl built up in her throat. Cat smelled blood.

Slowly, her sleek body crouched into a hunting position, her feet barely making any sound. The brush moved again, large enough to conceal a body. She was sure that she had counted right, five scouts not six. Still, not that she did it often, Cat could and did make mistakes, just not in judgment.

Something moved again and this time Cat was ready. Claws out, she pounced and wrapped tight around the squirming object in her arms. It cried out, but not in pain....its cry was pure fear. Fur moved in her hands and when she finally was able to secure the creature, Cat realized that in her hands was a baby deer, its moans calling for the mother that was only a few feet away, but afraid to approach.

The darker side of Cat echoed its hunger and its anticipation for blood, but something in her stopped. Her fingers slid from the little one's fur and watched as it ran to its mother, both taking off as the muscles in Cat's legs flinched, ready to follow in a chase. Instead, she continued on her way, scouting, but in her mind, there was something not quite right. The beauty, enhanced and ready to destroy life, had just saved it and it had felt good. ****** "I saw the bullet go in." A voice behind her made Cat turn, long fangs bared in the low light. Zoe stood a few meters off just staring, shotgun held tight in her hands.

"Hit the dirt." She growled and faced the other way, not really wanting to talk with the woman she had saved even though everything in her told her not to.

"It was meant for me. Would have hit me in the head. No way it hit the dirt. Figure even with that high jump of yours, the slug buried itself in your rib cage, maybe even took out a lung. Of course, even if it did, the damage done is gone now, isn't it?"

"I'm a faster healer."

"Why?"

"Built that way." Cat whispered, feeling again where the bullet had gone in and back out.

"No. I mean why save me? Everyone, even Mal knows you don't like me and well, the feeling's mutual. Only one else strong enough to fill in my position is you."

"You're responsible for the entire pack...camp. They look to you for advice and for guidance."

"Yes."

"I'm here because I couldn't obey my orders. I couldn't kill a Browncoat Sargent. Suffice to say, I have no business on anyone's right hand and if I ever did, eventually one day, I'd bite it off." Her eyes glowed, but the darkness masked them, as well as her turned back.

"You seem loyal to Mal. For what I do, that's enough. He makes me want to take care of the rest, breeds in me hope that this war won't end in flames, and I guess has me even believing the impossible." Cat could hear the dark woman moving around, fidgeting with the gun in her hands.

"That you all will win?" She could hear a whispered yes and Cat almost smiled. "Maybe that's why I spared your life. You, like him, have so much faith in something that will break you, tear you to pieces, and rob every good thing from you..." Her voice paused. "And still you fight."

"What are we suppose to do, Cat? Give up? Go under their rule so they can take away our freedoms and make us slaves to their way of life."

"You would rather die?"

"In a word, yes."

"You all confuse me. Make me doubt my programing, make me more..." She swallowed the word at first, but then spit it out like it was a foul taste. "...human."

Her ears caught Zoe shifting in nervousness, but could tell the woman didn't plan on going anywhere. "You saved my life today and I owe you..."

"Wasn't suppose to be. You owe my nothing."

"Let me finish. I'll keep this conversation to myself, what I saw to myself, but you ever attack one of our own and I'll end you....even if I got to cut off that pretty head of yours."

Cat growled at her threat, a natural response. "You can try." It held the air between them before she spoke again. "I don't know why I saved you, bu trust me, if I ever attack you all, the first one I'd go for is you. You're strong and you read through me. Mal had too, but he still wants to believe I'm good, savable, and safe enough to allow free reign over his camp."

"And you're not?"

"I don't know what I am. Being around these people has made me rethink what...who I am. I don't like it." She slid so that her entire being was cloaked in the shadows, hiding the look of confusion on her face.

"You might be surprised how much Mal trusts you, Cat. He sent me to check on you."

"And, yet, if I so desired, I could rip your head from your body before you could even get a shot off."

"Would it even matter if I did?" The warrior woman looked down at the shotgun in her hands.

"I'm not bulletproof. Still goes in, still hurts like hell."

"Just don't kill you and the wound is gone within minutes."

"Yes." "Say that's bulletproof to me." She almost smiled, almost. "You gonna be alright?" It wasn't a question just for the now, but for the while down the road.

"Guess we'll see. Truthfully, this place...these people...Mal...it's new to me. I should be obeying my orders, not protecting the prey."

"You sound more animal than human."

"Maybe I am. Never had much to do with the human side."

"And now?"

"You're not dead." Cat turned, emerging from the shadows, eye calm and fangs inside her mouth.

"Men are hungry and wanted to know if you could....well, do what you do best." Zoe changed the subject, but looked warily at the woman before her.

"I smell rabbit, deer, and a lake nearby. What would they like?"

A shiver ran down her back as she shook her head. "Fish sounds good. Been eating deer and rabbit for awhile."

"Be back shortly. Make sure the fire's ready." Cat turned, but stopped at a clearing of Zoe's throat.

"Thank you. For saving me and for feeding us...protecting your pack."

"What I was made for, Zoe. Just following my instincts."

"And saving me?"

Cat shook her head and without a word, let her long legs carry her away. Honestly, she didn't have an answer for Zoe, in fact, she was still fielding that one herself, but as her eyes cast a look back, the dark woman squinting to see her in the shadows, Cat wondered why she was even here in the first place. A shade joined Zoe and Mal's face caught in the firelight. A lump in Cat's stomach formed and she had the answer to her question.

Advanced to the Nth degree, bulletproof, but one thing the Academy hadn't foreseen was the power of one man and his browncoat.....