“Gorramit! MOVE!” Jayne told the mechanic and doctor as he got to his feet and whipped out his semi-automatic.

Except ten other guns were muzzled on him.

Simon grabbed Kaylee by the shoulders and directed her out of the circle of men that had them trapped. Except, no one was letting them out as the doctor tried to push through. “We’re not apart of this..” He began telling a man.

One of the barrels pressed against the side of his head as the gun’s pin clicked into place.

“Simon.” Kaylee gasped, eyes round in fear, as she pulled him back away from the weapon trained on him. They ended up back to back with Jayne, staring at all of the men surrounding them.

The doctor dropped the bag and pulled the gun Ru had given him, taking a deep breath as his mind swirled with horrific thoughts of dying or worse, like the men were looking for River. “Um… Kaylee, get behind me.” He watched her out of the corner of his eye get behind him so she was sandwiched between his body and Jayne’s, making her as safe as possible. Letting out a shuddered breath as his nerves were wracked because he was a standoff, Simon told himself to be strong.

Jayne talked to the two over his shoulder. “What‘re ya two doin’ here?! ‘N why does the doc look all normal like?”

“Well we were havin’ fun.” Kaylee murmured with a mixture of fear and sourness that their date was ruined. Why were their moments always ruined? Why couldn’t they just have a perfect day without anything happening?

“Still, why’s he look like regular folk instead uva dandy?”

“I’ll just take that as a compliment.” Simon hissed, his muscles taunt as his hand slowly panned his firearm around to the four men who were aiming at him. “Would you mind telling us what the rutting hell is going on?!”

“I dunno.” The merc rumbled with anger. “Some feller hit me, then all these hun-dans jumped in like theys all gotta grudge or some’um. Except I dunno them, so I couldn’t have dun some’um ta them… least I don’t think…”

“And what do we do?” the doctor asked in a harsh whisper.

Jayne charged the circle.

And the bullets started flying.

“SIMON!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ru gathered River up as she hid in a corner in the kitchen. “Wash, send Inara a wave, tell her what’s goin’ on and to wrap it up. Mal’s orders.”

“On it.” He hollered from the bridge. “Where you going?”

“I’m gonna pretend ta be Kaylee and warm the engine up.” Getting to her feet with River huddled in her arms she took off to go get the ship ready. Setting River in the hammock she went over and hit the com. “I’m in, lighting the burners.” She went over and flipped some switches, then manually wound up the crank and pulled the burner switch.

“Just told “Inara.” Wash announced. “She’s on her way. I need you to switch the coordinate settings.”

“Ok, she didn’t teach me that, I need ya to walk me through it.”

“Sure thing.”

“Simon.” River whispered, her entire body trembling. “Bang.” Eyes widening she bolted up as the words computed with her mind. “SIMON! NOOO!.... no.” She choked, covering her ears like she didn’t want to listen anymore. “It’s happening…. It’s happening…. Serenity turns black.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jayne pummeled two men, and shot one up close in the chest as the guns went off and it was a brawl all over again. Grabbing a stool someone had in their arms he wrenched it away and swung it by the leg, clipping the man in the head. Tossing it to the side he head butted someone and threw one small man off of him as Kaylee dropped down to Simon who had been shot.

“Simon.” She said tearfully as he lay in the middle of the icy road amidst the tussle. Shaking him, touching his chest she thanked God for Zoe making them wear an armor jacket under their clothes as she pulled the hot slug out of the hole in his sweater, tossing it aside. “Honey come on.” She heard him cough hoarsely, then let out a gasp as his eyes opened and his body compensated for the wind being knocked out of him.

“I’m ok.” He gasped while sucking in a lungful of shockingly cold air, grabbing the pistol on the ground, taking hold of her he looked around and got to his feet. Stumbling over to a vending cart they dove behind it and took cover. Pushing Kaylee behind him, Simon fired from their barrier, hitting one man as three others turned and unloaded their guns on them.

Suddenly the three all went down with arrows in their chests.

With a roar Gambit dropped from the roof he had been on and landed on one of the remaining goons. Jayne tossed him a thug and the blonde caught him and broke his neck, dropping the body. The merc slammed a man into the ground and punched him in the mouth. Seeing the knife that was coming at him, he broke the wrist and the knife went flying. Gambit effortlessly caught it with the hilt facing down and slashed sideways across a throat while Jayne grabbed the remaining adversary and shoved his head into the wooden door of the casino.

Walking over to the blonde who was standing in a defensive, open stance position in the middle of the road as a crowd was gathered around them, he grunted out. “Wo xi-huan ti shi, ye-shou.”

“It’s not over yet.” Gambit whipped out his retractable bow and knocked an arrow. Spinning around he pulled back and aimed at a large man who had Simon unconscious on the ground and Kaylee with a knife to her throat. Baring his teeth and let out a snarl as Jayne pulled his gun and aimed at him as well.

Mal jumped out of the hovercraft while it was still braking. With Zoe next to him they rushed over and formed a circle around the man with Gambit and Jayne. “Let them go.”

The man snickered.

Zoe cocked her mare's leg, her face emotionless as she was ready for a battle. “If ya want it ta git bloody then it will. Wo bi hui zhe cheng hong yi tai.”

“How’d this happen?” The captain whispered over his shoulder to Jayne with accusation in his tone.

“I didn’t do nothin’ Cap’n. I swears. Was jus minin’ my business ‘n all these fellers came over and attacked me.”

"Well apparently they want somethin', Sir." Zoe tried to get herself a clean shot on the foe, but he held Kaylee as a human shield.

Gambit's growl escalated as he ready for more bloodshed. With his ponytail's strap having been pulled out during the fighting, his mane was down and gave him a more fiercesome appearence as his breath came out in quick chuffs.

"Gam, control yourself." Mal ordered, not wanting his crew member to go ballistic. His gaze never left the knife at Kaylee's throat, as her skin was pale and she was sweating regardless it was twenty-degrees with snow. His ears picked up the faint up steady sounds of a sheriff's horse coming towards them. If something didn't happen soon, they'd either be dead or in jail.

“Put the weapons down.” The man ordered with a booming voice, giving a smile riddled with gold teeth. Seeing that no one was listening, he pressed the blade into the mechanic’s skin enough for a thin line of blood to trickle out.

Mal saw the fear in his mei-mei’s eyes as a whimper escaped her mouth and he set his jaw with a scowl. Tossing his gun he watched everyone else do the same. “What do you want?” He quizzed gruffly while turning his palms up.

Gambit whipped his head around just as there was the sound of a blast of air as a gun fired two darts that hit him in the neck. The blonde roared, but weaved and hit the ground with a solid thud, unconscious.

“He doesn’t want anything, I do.” Saffron stepped into the makeshift arena with the dart gun in her hand. Wearing a cloak with a corset and skirt, smiling with a perfect mixture of deviousness and sweetness as she went over to Mal. “Miss me Honey?”

"O, zhe zhen shi ge kuai-le de jin-zhan "His eyes widened. “Don’t tell me ya married all these fellas.”

Mrs. Reynolds giggled as she holstered the gun at the belt hanging from her hips. “No Baby, they’re my hubby’s men. He just let me borrow them so I could pick you and your plucky crew up.” Giving him a kiss on the cheek she handcuffed him without any warning. Afterwards Saffron leaned in, delighting in Malcolm's vulnerability as she whispered into his ear. “Did you think I’d forget that you left me out to dry? I tell ya… Revenge is a bitch.”

“Oh you have no idea.” Mal told her dryly as two three other men from the crowd took Zoe and Jayne and had them cuffed as well as patted down for weapons while Gambit was put in shackles and a metal collar. All of them, Kaylee and Simon included, were dragged to a deliver truck and put in the back.

The woman with the fiery hair patted him down. “No Honey, YOU have no idea.” She pocketed the com, not knowing it was on and broadcasting her every word to Wash.

"Gonna touch me like that without sayin' hello first?" He said through clenched teeth as she tucked the knife from the inside of his boot into her corset.

"I'm gonna do a lot to you." She pushed him towards the truck.

They left before the sheriff caught them.

*****

*****

***** TRANSLATION

*Hun-dans: Bastards

*Wo xi-huan ti shi, ye-shou: I like your style, beast

*Wo bi hui zhe cheng hong yi tai: I will paint the town red with yours

*O, zhe zhen shi ge kuai-le de jin-zhan: Oh, this is a happy development