“Let’s get this over with,” Zoe suggested, “so we can get some sleep in before the fight.” “Or,” Jayne countered, “we could say nuts to the plan an’ go into town an’ kick some butt.” “Ever heard it said that simple is usually best?” Zoe inquired as she brought her horse to a halt before the farmhouse. Jayne stopped his own horse along-side and dismounted with his companion. “The more movin’ parts ya put into a gun, the more can go wrong with it,” he conceded. Zoe strolled to the stairs and ascended to the front porch. “I honestly think River has the best possible plan to solve our problem,” she admitted. “And where the hell did her an’ Gab run off to, anyway?” Jayne arched an eyebrow. “Ya really need ta ask that question? They been actin’ akin to rabbits ever since we got here.” Zoe sighed as she turned to gaze into the horizon. “I just don’t get how they can go through with it at a time like this. Don’t you think that’s a bit selfish?” Jayne shrugged. “They’re kids. What more can ya ask from ‘em? Time like this, I might be tempted to get some trim myself, were there suitable company.” *************************************************************************

“No, no!” River insisted. “You’re going about it all wrong!” Sweat dripping from his nose, Gabriel heaved a breath. “Whaddaya mean? This is all I got!” Sighing in exasperation, River straightened her clothing. “You’re stronger than me, Gabriel. You’re *much* stronger, but you’re also slow.” Her hand sliced out to cuff him sternly in the abs. “Do you really want to admit that your girlfriend can beat you up?” Gabriel dodged the next blow, which was aimed for a nerve cluster in his leg. “Ya ain’t jus’ my girlfriend, Hon,” he joked, “ yer also my bodyguard!” He dropped to the forest floor, spinning and sweeping his leg out to trip River. The girl leapt over the sweep with ease, descending on her victim and sitting on his stomach. Her nose touching Gabriel’s, River whispered, “*They didn’t train you at *all* at the Academy, did they?*” “Nope,” Gabriel replied calmly. “An’ I suppose that’s why yer *playin’* with me, now.” He slid a hand beneath her stomach and lifted her into the air above him, the muscles of his arm showing little strain at all. “Feel like yer flyin’?” he quipped as River hung, suspended, above him. In some strange manner, River flexed her stomach in such a way as to spin her off of Gabriel’s palm. She twisted around to axe-chop Gabriel’s abs with her foot, but somehow, he was already standing. His hand grasped her ankle, bringing the leg to a sudden stop. “How was that?” he queried. Flashing her lover a playful grin, River twirled in the air, breaking Gabriel’s grip on her foot and, at the same time, forcing his head down with the other foot until he hit the dirt face-first. “Not bad at all,” she replied as she finally landed. “That’s a block. One that put you in an even *worse* position, but a block nonetheless.” “You’re holding back,” Gabriel announced as he sprang to his feet. River nodded. “Don’t want to hurt you, Sweetie.” Gabriel grinned. “Remember who yer fightin’. Don’t hold back.” Flying through the air, River’s foot slammed into Gabriel’s gut with every ounce of strength and amount of force-focusing skill that she possessed. So caught in the moment was she, that somehow, impossibly, she missed the fact that he had planted his hind foot. She bounced off the man as if she had hit a brick wall, hitting the dirt and rolling. Gabriel glanced down briefly at his shirtless form, studying the red bootmark that now marred the skin stretched across his stomach muscles. “You said it before,” he taunted. “I may be slow, but I’m still stronger than you.” Gabriel’s grin disappeared the instant he realized that he was on the ground again. River knelt, kissed him on the nose, and darted away before Gabriel could even blink. “Mock me,” he demanded, still staring at the sky. “Do it again, please. I can’t stand the anticipation.” Giggling, River crouched ten meters away. “Come and catch me... if you can catch your breath first!” *************************************************************************

“I found Mal,” a strangely familiar voice cut through into Zoe’s dreams. “I take it that means you are the person with whom I should be speaking.” Zoe rolled instinctively from her cot and reached for her rifle. It wasn’t there. It was always there. “I didn’t want you to shoot me before you were fully awake,” the Operative explained, “so I moved it.” He held a hand out to direct her gaze. Immediately, Zoe walked over, grabbed the weapon, spun, and pointed it at the intruder. “How the hell did you get in here?” the woman demanded. The Operative gave her a small smile. “With my feet, young lady. Before that, it was a ship. Do you want my help, or are you planning to shoot me with that rifle, which I conveniently unloaded prior to waking you?” Zoe narrowed her eyes at the man down the barrel of her gun. “I don’t think you did.” Heavy boots slammed into the deck behind the Operative. “I checked this one ‘fore comin’ down here,” Jayne growled, “so hers don’t matter, anyhow.” Zoe lowered her rifle. “Let’s go upstairs to the common room. Jayne, go get Simon, Kaylee, and Inara. I believe this man has a few things he’d like to tell us.” *************************************************************************

“Whatever you do,” the Operative began as he paced the deck at the end of the table, “do not release Agent Hayze from your custody. Keep her imprisoned here or kill her. That choice now lands in the lap of Captain Alleyne.” “Captain Alleyne-Washburne,” Zoe corrected. “How many times am I gonna have to make that distinction?” The Operative gave a small nod. “I apologize. Continuing, that choice is yours, but as long as she is not released, the woman no longer poses a threat.” “Unless she escapes,” Jayne suggested. The Operative eyed the mercenary for a moment. “Then, that is not my problem, is it?” “What else can you tell us?” Simon prompted. The Operative laced his hands behind his back as he continued his slow pace. “Damian Ritter’s team is descending upon this planet in the next forty eight hours. He is looking for his missing team member.” Zoe nodded her thanks. “Okay, so we give her back to them. Dead.” “No!” Jayne insisted. All eyes were suddenly upon him. “Um... What I mean, is... she’d be a lot more useful to *us* as a hostage, is what I’m thinkin’.” “The man may have a point,” the Operative conceded. “Again, an issue that I am not here to address. The problems are doubled when I mention, also, that Dante and the woman now going by Emily are also on their way.” “Yolanda, you mean?” Kaylee clarified. “No, it’s Saffron,” Jayne corrected. “Whatever!” Zoe growled. “Let the man speak!” “Dante’s ship is still a distance away,” the Operative continued, pretending that the inter-crew banter had never occurred. “They’ll be three or four days, so they are not as much of a concern. I have been in contact with Dante, and he does not know that I am here.” The man’s expression suddenly grew very serious. “And that is how I would like it.” “Tryin’ ta cover yer ass?” Jayne commented. The Operative sighed. “You people all think that I am trying to hide my association with Foster’s unit from you. The opposite, in point of fact, is the strong truth. The majority of my cover-up involves hiding my association with *you* from *them*.” “So who is this Dante?” Jayne inquired, “an’ what’s his connection with the kid?” The Operative regarded the man coldly. “That is *none* of your concern.” “No,” Gabriel’s voice spoke from the door, “but *what* Dante is, is most definitely *my* concern.” All eyes turned to the doorway, where Gabriel and River stood. Gabriel had his shirt off again, and his shirt was draped over one shoulder. Bruises under dried sweat suggested some sort of a conflict. “Yes,” the Operative agreed. “It is your concern.” He looked to River. “Perhaps you would care to explain it to him now, my little psychic.” River stared at the Operative in horror. “*You wanted me,*” she whispered. “*You hurt people to get to me.*” “Perhaps I should just explain it myself, then,” the Operative decided. “You shouldn’t be here,” River continued. The Operative gave a pause to collect his thoughts. “Do you know what your sin is, River?” “Oh, no,” Zoe spoke. “Here he goes again...” “You don’t have one. Of everyone in this room, myself included, you are the only individual who does not have a single one of the seven deadly sins.” The Operative flashed a small, friendly smile. “You have nothing to fear from me now, Little Girl.” “You’re wrong,” River argued, her hand finding Gabriel’s. “Lust.” The Operative shook his head. “I won’t get into this moral debate right now, if ever.” Turning away, he began his pace once more. “Ray Foster has been working in the field of biological mutation enhancement for thirty years now. He continues the work of his father, which lasted for sixty years. The culmination of these enterprises lies in Dante. Dante is an example of the finest in current mutation weaponry, but one thing the Fosters could never quite master is behavioral modification. They lacked the resources and equipment that the Alliance’s Academy had at their disposal.” He shot another glance in the direction of River and Gabriel. “All of Foster’s attempts at subliminal programming and behavioral modification ended in disaster. This was usually death, but in the rare circumstances where the subject lived, he or she was a vegetable.” “Unlike the Academy,” Simon finished. The Operative nodded. “Gabriel Davin and River Tam were in two separate branches of the Academy’s project listings. What they did to River, they began on Gabriel. However, unlike River, Gabriel was... mentally unbalanced *prior* to his incarceration.” “Ya gonna let ‘im talk boutcha like that, Gab?” Jayne wondered. Gabriel shrugged. “Why not? It’s true.” “Gabriel was, therefore, not a suitable test subject for River’s line of development,” the Operative continued. “His mind would have shattered, and he would have been useless.” “Either that,” Simon added, “or he would have been their biggest success. Certain studies have pointed to mentally unstable individuals sustaining far more resilience under psychological strain, whereas other studies have shown them less likely to maintain coherence.” The doctor shrugged. “It all depends on whose research you’re reading.” “Point taken,” the Operative conceded. “Regardless of how it would have worked, the Academy opted for Gabriel to be placed in a secondary line of research. Some slight mutation, of course, was required in order for the body to sustain its new form without rejection, but most of the procedures that were performed upon Gabriel were of the surgical variety. Dante, on the other hand, is a twisted semblance of a human being as a result of cruder and less well-funded procedures in mutation.” “Trust me, Jim,” Gabriel interjected, “he was a twisted bastard, mentally, before Foster went anywhere near him.” “All of this brings me to a final point,” the Operative concluded. “Because Gabriel was initially undergoing the same treatment as River, the initial behavioral and programming links are, indeed, in place.” Simon’s eyes widened. “You mean...” The Operative nodded. “Just as River can be triggered into weapon mode, it is possible, however unlikely, that the same could be done with Gabriel.” “So he could go ape an’ fly off the handle at the wrong word?” Jayne questioned. “Doubtful, but yes. What I am really trying to get at is the reason for Foster wanting Gabriel alive. With those initial programming links in Gabriel’s brain, it would be extremely easy for Foster to not only duplicate the procedure, but in Gabriel, he could finish the programming as well as the combat training.” “So he’d have a River that eats tanks for breakfast?” Kaylee inquired. “Exactly,” Simon answered in the Operative’s stead. “He’d be the ultimate weapon. Incredible strength, speed, combat skill... and absolutely no will of his own.” “In Foster’s eyes...” the Operative concluded, adopting the persona of Ray Foster. “River Tam? Ha! We want Gabriel. We want to make a remote-control superman.” *************************************************************************

There was silence in the room for a moment as everyone took the time to soak in this information. “Father, son, and holy ghost,” Gabriel breathed. “An’ I thought they were after me jus’ cuz I’m so damn pretty.” “Nah,” Jayne argued. “If that’s what they were after, they’d be comin’ after Yers Truly.” “Do you have anything else for us?” Zoe asked of the Operative. “Miranda.” The roomful of heads suddenly focused on the speaker, who was River. Jayne leapt to his feet, his hands shielding his nether regions protectively. “What’d she say?” he exclaimed. “Why’d she say that?” River looked positively at the Operative. “That’s why the Reavers want us. *Us*, in particular.” The Operative nodded. “They know what happened to them on Miranda, they know that the Alliance is responsible for it, and they know that you are their only ally.” “Wait a minute!” Kaylee cut in. “If they think we’re their ally, then why’d they storm the ship an’ try an’ kill us all?” “They *did* try to contact us right before the attack,” Zoe reminded. “They are insane with rage,” the Operative explained. “They have no idea what they are doing, but they do know what they want. They sought you out, they found you, and, at that point, they didn’t know what else to do. They attacked.” “We have to be off this planet tomorrow,” Zoe stated. “We’ve got some unfinished business to take care of first, and then we’re gone. I take it we can expect more Reaver attacks in the future.” The Operative nodded. “Yes. And now, I must be going.” “You have a lot to answer for,” Zoe said. “Haven, Shepherd Book... My husband. The other outposts you wiped. Not to mention all of the things you did in the past.” The Operative nodded. “I know,” he replied sorrowfully. He turned and went to the door, moving past Gabriel and River. “And if you want to know something about Derrial Book...” he called back. He paused, and a sad smile played across his lips. “The man used to be very much like me.” *************************************************************************

After the Operative’s departure, Inara stood silently and began walking for the door. “Inara,” Zoe spoke to halt the woman. Inara stopped and turned. “I have to tell Mal about all of this.” “Mal’s unconscious, Mei mei. He can’t hear you.” Inara nodded. “I know. I have to tell him anyway.” With that, she swiftly made her exit. “This ain’t good,” Jayne commented. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen ‘Nara this bent outta shape before.” “She’s hurtin’,” Gabriel added, tightening his grip on River’s hand. “She’s hurtin’ bad.” “She was even worse than this,” River explained, “once. That’s why she’s here today.” “What do you mean?” Kaylee asked. “Nothin’,” Gabriel answered for River. “Some of us have things that we need to explain ourselves, someday. An’ that’s if we select to explain them at all, ever.” “So does any of this new information affect our plans for the Cornell Gang?” Simon questioned, changing the subject. “Don’t see how it does,” Zoe replied, “unless they don’t come after us tomorrow or the day after. We leave the day after tomorrow, regardless of anything else. Ritter does *not* need to find us here.”