More Zoe n Wash ... just fer yous!
BUCKY AND BOB - Judge & Jury....................

Year 2512 Fall New Cannan (Written by Blake and Jena)

~~cont. from http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=5714 ~~

As the fire continued over his head, Wash popped open one eye and looked around his surroundings. "Rung Tse Song Di Ching Dai Wuo Tzo..."

He flipped over the top of the table so the legs were sprawled out on their sides towards the men firing behind him. Wash was on the leg side, as if he was protecting himself from Zoe's fire. Not wasting a perfect opportunity, one of the big guys came out and dove down thanks to the table cover to grab Wash. Zoe shook her head, leveling the shot gun and firing again as she moved towards Wash. The man going after Wash continued to fall, but what had been a dive for the pilot became a falling death, blood seeping through several holes in his hide. "That's three." She looked towards the final combatant, who had found a pile of rubbish to duck behind. "Gonna make it four?" The room had become quiet, almost too quiet, as fire flood ceased. All but jumping into Zoe, as sudden movement exploded from behind the boxes, Wash sighed in relief, hearing running fading away into the back part. Having been running on nothing short of much adrenaline and a little wit, he looked over his shoulder at her. "You just saved my life." The statement was sort of a thank you, a creeped out statement at what occurred and most, it was with impressed astonishment that she just took out those men whom smelled, drank and were playing cards with him moments ago. The Amazon woman ejected the spent cartridge from the shotgun, looking over the room with a faint sense of disgust. It really was a waste, but the rules of war were that you were still standing at the end and your enemy was not. She looked over at Wash, checking to make sure he was whole. "Guess I did." She turned towards the door, then glanced at him over her shoulder. "You comin?" With a slow movement, Wash got on top his legs once more and brushed himself off. "So does this mean I owe you some strange debt of some sorts?" In doing a once over, he appeared in tact, minus a few rips in his pants from when he threw himself down on top of the table leg. "Don' keep debt counts between shipmates. It's..." She paused, considering the words and checking for a clear path all at once. "Tacky." Zoe put out an arm, flattening Wash to the wall as she peered around the next corner. "How'd they get you down here, anyway?" "Ooofh!" Not expecting that, he gargled, "Wasn't expectin' to be a pancake." It was hard to hold any sense of his manlyhood when she just.... did that stuff. Wash understood, for he knew Amazon was a soldier and he wasn't much more than a dinosaur wrangler. "And they asked." "They asked." Zoe paused, turning and meeting his eyes. There was a moment, almost something soft there before her hand shot out, slapping him full across the cheek. "Don' do it 'gain." Then the soft was gone and the warrior woman moved forward, clearing the next hallway. "Few more turns, an' we're out." His jaw dropped as his hand instantly came up to rub at the sting in his face. Not bothering to protest or grouch at her, for she did save his life, Wash did mutter a small and futile defense, "It was just cards." A shake of his head and he was stepping around the wall while hoping they would get out soon. He wanted to be aboard Serenity in a bad way thanks to this little shoot out. "It could've got ya killed." Her voice was quiet an' she took a step back. "Back...back around the corner, and get down. Reinforcements." The exhale was loud and irritated, but Wash did as he was told. "Can't they just let me go in peace? I'm not all that pretty to fight over like this." "Ain't jus' about you at this point. Their pride's been hit cause we came in and took ya back." She shook her head, pulling him into a dark recess and pushing him behind her, as men went by shouting questions at each other. She could feel him at her back, his presence different from Mal's, but yet not disturbing in the way she thought it would be. "We." Wash stumbled back but put his hands on her back, using her as a human shield might make another man feel like a coward but he'd seen her in action before while he sat safe in the pilot's seat. Life held more stock right now than pride. "How is there a 'we' here?" Fire blast happened just behind them and Wash found himself looking back to where they came. "You could have at least managed to pick 'we' up an extra gun. Give 'we' a sporting chance." They were going to both get killed out here. "You're with me. You have a sportin' chance, and you could have picked up any of the guns back in the card room." She pointed the facts out to him in a whisper, the logic matter of fact. It felt strange and yet comfortable all at once when he touched her, and Zoe firmly pushed that thought from her mind. She couldn't afford to be distracted now. "The Captn an' team are holdin' the exits back ta Serenity. We jus' have ta get there." "I didn't exactly think about that 'we' for 'us' back there." Of course, he thought about useful it would have been to take a gun off a dead mean, but now, a little too late. "Get us there. Come on. You can do it." "I'm plannin' on it. Be patient." Zoe pushed back slightly further against him, letting two more men go by. "We're gonna go out fast when we go. Head for the door on the far end 'f the corridor and don't stop. No matter what."

"Go. Door. Far. Stop." A nod, he found himself peeking over her shoulder to see who or what was still around creating the fire fly. "Got it." Satisfied that he had his orders down Zoe swung into the corridor, putting herself between him and the most threat, back pedaling quickly towards the right corridor. They entered the area and she laid down coverfire, sending a few bodies scrambling for cover. "Now, Wash...go!" There was a door at the end of the corridor just as she'd promised, and light from outside crept in through the cracked opening, the sound of Mal coming from beyond. He almost hesitated, not feeling right leaving her out here, but that pause merged into a run once the gun fire resumed. Darting across the open way like a track star, Wash spit out to nobody, "Remind me next time to pick up a gun!" As he ran, he repeated, "GoDoorFarStop! GoDoorFarStop!!" Once he made it safe inside, he exhaled and whooshed to collapse into the stack of boxes. "Oh thank you." He thanked the ship. "Thank you, you beautiful," Wash went down on his knees, running his hands along the ground, "Beautiful babe." From behind him a shout went up as Zoe exited the building and both she and the men remaining made a dash for the open hold. There was a blast from behind them and Zoe clamped down on a curse as pain ran up her leg and she faltered, half stumbling and spinning to return fire. "Gorram it! Get the door closed!" Pushing off from the ground, leaping up, Wash slapped the dock console main and the bay doors began to close. Additional gun fire flew in but soon it was heard hitting Serenity. He stood there, looking at them all. Unsure what to say due to a card game gone sour. Zoe leaned against a box, breathing hard, pressing the heel of her hand against her thigh where blood welled, running down her leg. "Get us back to the black." She gave Wash the order before Mal could, seeing the fact the Captain was going to yell at the pilot. Wash likely deserved it, but not right now. The room swam and she pushed harder against the wound. "Go on."

The knowledge and understanding was clear as space, so Wash turned and headed up to the bridge. Into the black and into the safety of being away from this place. Pushing Serenity up and away, he sequenced her steady and looked down to Bucky and Bob. "It was just a card game," he pleaded, sighing as he leaned back in the chair and rubbed his hands over his eyes. They were looking at him rather pointed as well.

~~~tbc~~~
http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=5716

Zoë Warren-(Written for by ZoeIWarren) First Mate
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