Never Goes Right

Never Goes Right

Never Goes Right 2

The job was supposed to be easy. Pick up the cargo, drag it cross half the 'verse and leave it all nice and pretty with the contacts, hopefully leaving with their skins and the pay they were due.

Funny how things never worked that way where Mal and his crew were concerned.

" We ain't wantin' no trouble here fella's. Just came to do our job." Mal said calmly to the gun staring him in the face. He only got the sound of the hammer cocking for his trouble at reasoning with the hired guns.

They'd been expecting trouble with the shipment to Whitefall, one requested by Patience herself which made it even more of a twitchy sort of job. River must of known something was going to go wrong as well since she jumped onto the mule before Mal or Simon could stop her. And despite the added worry on his shoulders for bringing the still mending woman with him, Mal had to admit he was relieved to have her foresight along for the ride.

Lot of good it did them though. So far the number was ten to four. Two men each trained on Mal and Zoe, one on River and four wisely trained on Jayne who had unloaded the most weaponry into the pile of guns on the ground. The ringleader was strutting up and down the Serenity's lined up crew.

" And that's just what we don't want you to do Captain Reynolds. Cause ya see, if you do your job then I don't get the nice finders fee for getting the cargo to Patience first."

The man was a few heads shorter then Mal with a grisly smile and even nastier garments covering his sorry ass. He made Badger look like he belonged in the same class as Simon. Mal had personally dubbed the man Rat, seemed suiting enough.

" Good, that means you can just pay for the cargo and let us be on our way then." Mal said cheerfully, being rewarded by Zoe's rolled eyes and River's infamous 'your an idiot' look. Mal shot River a cocky grin before Rat was suddenly sneering in his face, too close for comfort.

" No, I don't think so Captain. But maybe you can pay 'us' for the trouble of catching you all with your pants down." The grisly man said, having caught where Mal's eyes had been.

Mal's blood suddenly began to boil when he caught the little scum's drift as Rat moved over to stand in front of River, inspecting her with his eyes. And by the look on the readers face his thoughts were on the far left side of descent. River's steely eyes slid over to Mal's, very clearly telling him without a lick of mind reading involved 'don't do it Mal'.

" I bet you'll make a nice pet, won't ya baby?"

Zoe and Jayne tensed, ready to move even if the mercs didn't give them the chance. Mal was more then willing to take out the go tsao de hwun dan himself, but he made a faint gesture with his hand to stay his crew from doing anything rash. For the time being anyway.

Rat took River's chin in his hand and pulled her face to the side, inspecting what Mal hoped for the man's sake he better inspect no further. River yanked free and glared, it was enough to make the man take a step back without realizing it.

River opened her mouth and Mal felt every muscle in his body tighten as the adrenaline pumped through him.

" Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand. I don't care, I'm still free, you can't take the sky from me......."

Everyone went silent for a moment, all eyes on the woman who had just opened her mouth and started singing for some odd reason. Rat looked rightly spooked because River's gaze had yet to leave him and her voice was sounding like a defiant mantra meant to curse him.

" You keep quiet now lil' one." Rat warned, though there was a fearful waver in his voice. River was obviously peeked when she heard Mal's usual endearment for her used by this man.

"Take me out to the black, tell them I ain't coming back....." She continued, annunciated every word harshly. Managing to get every pair of eyes on her and sending a chill down Mal's back that he hadn't felt in the two years since Miranda. What in the 'verse was this fong luh woman doing?!

Rat was more then a bit jumpy now by River's behavior, and jumpy men do stupid things.

" Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me. There's no place I can be........."

" Bizui!" The man shouted before River could finish the verse and slapped her squarely across the mouth. The action was enough of a distraction for Jayne to sneak closer to their guns and for Mal to clench his fist.

River didn't move for a moment, she had to of seen it coming, she'd practically egged the man into doing it. When she did turn her face back to him, there was a twisted smile there, a line of blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. It was a sight that made everyone in the room's blood run cold.

" ......since I found Serenity."

Jayne took the initiative the moment the words passed River's bloody lips, Serenity was the code word for 'go'. Jayne dove for the pile of guns, barreling straight into the four guns trained on him that had been too busy watching River and her bloody sing along. River disarmed the man guarding her by grabbing the barrel of his pistol and using the heel of her booted foot to send him skidding a few feet across the room without his weapon. There were suddenly guns in both Zoe and Mal's hands, trained on each of their guards.