Disclaimer: All characters of Firefly are the sole property of Joss Whedon and his crew, yo!

All Grown Up: Part II

Screaming. River was screaming in her head, and running. Scrambling up the steps of the ship, her footsteps beating on the metal grate of the floor. Her breaths in sobs now, she fell on the door of Jayne’s room, pushing it and climbing to the floor.

“What in the hell?” Jayne skillfully reached in his stock of guns and for his knife hidden underneath his pillow.

“I knew you were up to something, girl. You ain’t gettin’ near me with your knives and claws.” Still confused from his dreams of cats tearing at his shirt, Jayne held his weapons in front of him as a shield to the desperate girl who just showed up in his room in the middle of the night. “How’d you get in here? I spent me some money on that lock.”

“Lock, stock and barrels. Lots of barrels. Give me one,” River said in a calm manner as if she were asking for asking for a glass of water. She was staring at the hoard of weapons, each one gleaming of care and maintenance.

“One what? A gun? You’re crazier than I thought if you think I am going to give you somethin’ that’s mine and, oh yeah, somethin’ to kill me with.”

River was bleeding; her heart pounding in her ears and tears threatened in the back of her throat but something was taking control of her. Some voice was telling her to exterminate the danger in front of her, arm herself with his weapon, and take over the ship to save her brother. She tried to quiet the voice. “I need a weapon,” she said in her most convincing tone. Jayne did not feel threatened by her but she had to convince him to give her a weapon. Everything depended on her being armed. Instinct was taking over and everything was turning into black and white, good and evil, allies and enemies.

“You ain’t gettin’ a weapon, you’re gettin’ a scoldin’. Now, they’re gonna be mad ‘bout the hour but let’s go see the captain and that brother of yours.” He put the gun on the bed and made to take her arm and found his behind his back and in a great deal of pain. His knife fell to the floor and River pushed him against the wall using the position of his arm.

“Bend your knees and lay facedown on the floor.” After his face was pressed against the floorgrate, his arm still bent backwards behind him, and River’s knee in his back, River picked up the gun on the bed and pointed it at his head. “I am sorry to do this but you need to be my hostage.”

“Girl, I’m gonna smack you back to stupid, you best let me go, “ Jayne screamed in pain as his arm was bent even further up his back.

“I have a Hong-Xiang 326 Semiautomatic Pro with Electronic Pulse Backup pointed at your head. The EPB gives it 3.6 nanoseconds faster withdraw from the barrel and thus a 10.7 percent increase in speed before it blows into your brain with 358 pounds per square inch of force, given the thickness of your skull. I know how to use it better than you and I do not miss. You are going to be my hostage.”

No words could describe the sinking feeling Jayne was getting. She knew how to use a gun alright. He remembered that knife slashing his chest and found it looked worse with a gun pointed at his head. Fear was a strange feeling to him but the first licks of it were creeping up his spine. “Okay, I’ll be your hostage but it don’t mean nothin’ cause Mal could care less I was hurt or dead.”

“I am going to release your arm and you are going to go out your door and move toward the cargo hold. You reach for the gun stall or try to escape my control and I will shoot a limb. If the captain does not follow my orders, I will shoot a limb. If anyone tries to overpower me, I will shoot a limb. You only have four limbs before I start moving to center mass and headshots. Do you understand?”

Jayne nodded his assent and finally said, “I understand,” when his arm pulsed with so much pain, he thought he would pass out.

The cargo hold was lit only by the emergency lights at the far left and far right corners of the room. The light bounced off the silver crates of cargo the captain was carrying for Jayne’s no-good friend. It just happened to be another bargaining tool River could use. She turned on the rest of the lights and pressed the comm button to announce her captive situation to the ship.

“Attention, crewmembers. Please make your way to the cargo hold in a mannerly fashion. I have taken Jayne Cobb as hostage.” She knew they would only coming to quench their interest but it worked just as well. Soon enough they would understand the levity.

Inara was first out of her shuttle, smelling of incense. Her red robe draped over her elegant bedclothes accented all the right places. A look of concern was on her face as she saw River standing behind Jayne at the far end of the cargo pointing a very large gun at his head. She stopped at the top of the stairs, her hands resting on the railing, her dark hair falling over her shoulders as she stopped. “River, honey, what are you doing?”

No answer came as the rest of the gang entered one by one through the main door of the room. A determined Zoe followed by Wash pulling on his bright Hawaiian shirt, a huge smile on his face just eager to watch the play unfold. A scared and young looking Kaylee followed hanging onto a tired Book with his bible in hand, skepticism on both their faces. And last but not least, Captain Malcolm Reynolds stalked through the door with a smirk on his face and anger in his eyes.

“Well, ain’t this fun? Nothing I like more than late night antics where one of my crewmembers is taken hostage by another. You havin’ fun, girl? Waking us up in the middle of the night playing at grownup games?” Mal came as close to Jayne as he could to see him unharmed but a hint of fear in his eyes. “You two playin’ some kinda game, Jayne?”

“Ah, no Cap, she’s as serious as a banker.”

“Jayne, the girl is skinny as a beanpole and just as sane. How’d she get your gun? How’d she get you down here?” Mal looked toward River who was a scary kind of calm and had not moved since he walked through the door.

“I’d rather not say, “ Jayne said, his eyes on the floor. Wash gave a snicker.

“You’d better say. Somebody’d better tell me what’s goin’ on cause I’m missin’ lots of beauty sleep and you won’t like me when I’m ugly.”

Wash gave an all out laugh but coughed it off when Mal looked over at him and his wife whispered next to him, “Careful, husband.”

River never let her eyes off the captain while the tirade was taking place. She knew who the leader was and she knew what had to be done. Before anyone else could blink and without faltering, she shot Jayne in the left thigh, just above the knee where, at this distance, it would go straight through and cause the least damage. Jayne grabbed his leg and fell to the floor screaming.

“Gorramit. Good gorramit, girl. I did everything you said, no fightin’, no reachin’ for guns. Why’d you do that?”

“The captain did not do as I said. I did not say to ask questions and I did not say to answer, Jayne Cobb. You have three limbs left.” By this time, everyone had backed off and were staring with their mouths open at a bleeding Jayne and a steady River with her gun now pointed at Mal’s chest.

“Kaylee, please get something to act as a compress for Mr. Cobb.” River knew that Kaylee was the weakest of the group. She would do as she was told. She had already taken out the most hostile group member and the others would do whatever the captain wished as long as he was held under the gun. Such was the order of taking control.

“Where’s Simon?” Kaylee asked in a meek voice, looking around for a clean rag and a tie.

“Yes, where is your brother? Seems he might be just the voice of reason at a time where you have absolutely no reason to be taking hostages and playin’ with guns.”

“Mal, might be a good idea you stop talkin’ or I lose another limb. And I kind of like them whole an’ on my body ‘stead of shot full of holes. I got a feelin’ she keeps her word on that.” Jayne’s hand was putting pressure on his leg and Kaylee came over to help stop the bleeding. He was lucid and the blood was already clotting.

Kaylee gave a sigh of relief, “It was a clean shot, he’ll be okay.”

“Simon has been taken off the ship by the man with whom you made a deal. He sold him to the Alliance,” River said, still pointing the gun at Mal’s chest. She never wavered when talking of her only brother stolen away and taken to the people who were after her. Feeling the gun in her hand, she now knew why they were after her and what had to be done to get Simon back.

“I see. You gonna force me and my ship take you to where he is and get him back, is that it? Haven’t we been here before? Does anyone else feel like the Tams are real good at holding shot people over my head?”

River pointed the gun toward Jayne and Kaylee and shot it between the two, onlu just missing both of their heads then pointed it back again at Mal’s chest. “I do not miss, Captain Reynolds. The only reason I did not shoot another of Mr. Cobb’s limbs is because at this angle the bullet would pass through to Kaylee and I did not say I would hurt her.”

“That’s real generous of you,” Mal said, slowly turning his head to Kaylee who had fallen back and was sitting against one of the cargo crates, her arms around her legs pulled up to her chest. Book had come to make sure she was okay and put a hand on her shoulder. Mal looked back at the girl holding the gun and wondered just what in the hell he had gotten them all into when he opened that frozen box. “You’re just a little girl,” he said in a disbelieving voice.

“As you can see, I’m all grown up now. Here are my demands: Tell your pilot to steer the ship to the coordinates that I will designate. Everyone else is to stay in my sight in this cargo hold. When we reach the destination, you will take Simon into custody and leave. Ask no questions and leave only when you have Simon on board and I am gone.”

“You ain’t gracin’ us with your eerified presence anymore?” Mal asked.

River, steady and calm, answered, “No. I will be trading my body for my brother’s.”

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Notes: Let the gun comments come. Like Sissy said, I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout shootin’ no guns. Heck, I don’t know anything at all about guns. I could have done some research on the web but that wouldn’t have made my technical tirade any fun. I just used the name of a guy I work with from China (won’t he like that) and added some physics technical jargon. Also, it does seem a bit much that River could overpower Jayne but it is sort of the fun part of the story so far fetched or no, it makes you laugh. This is just where I imagined the River character going. All comments welcome.