Firefly is the property of Joss Whedon, blah blah blah. You know the drill.

Thanks to Jebbypal and Apollo for beta reading. The Magnificent Seven Plus Two don't appear until the next chapter, so don't be concerned by their absence. Feedback will of course be appreciated.

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Perfect, he thought as he crawled out of the Blue Sun facility through an opening that a normal-sized man could barely fit his head in. Still have a couple of minutes before it goes up, and Clarence hasn't shown his unwelcome self the whole time. He decided to stay and watch the show. It was an unmarked facility in a bad part of town, so the law would take a while to arrive.

As he watched the facility perfectly collapse under the explosion, barely affecting the buildings next to it, he got the unnerving feeling that someone was approaching. Looking down the street, he saw two men coming, both wearing the hated purple uniforms. Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze fuh ur-tze, Feds! Gotta put them down before they spot me. Almost instantly, the boosters cut in and a set of crosshairs appeared before his eye. A split second later, he fired two bursts from his sub-machine gun, hitting both Feds between the eyes. Although they were almost certainly ordinary Feds, he figured it would be better not to take a chance. Best hide the bodies, quick! But when he got to where the bodies should have been, they were nowhere to be found. As he stood there dumbly, he heard a familiar voice that explained all.

"You shouldn't have blown up that building, Nitro. I'm afraid that I'll have to punish you most severely."

Then the pain came. He had no idea how it was inflicted, as nothing as crude as whips or knives were involved. All he could be sure of was that Clarence was responsible. Though it felt as though it lasted an eternity, Clarence claimed it had been only nine seconds.

Still angry at having been tricked, he shouted, "Only my friends call me Nitro, and you ain't no friend of mine, Clarence!"

"You realize that by doing this sort of thing, it will only worsen your situation when you're captured," Clarence stated as he stepped out of the shadows. If Clarence actually had a name, Nitro didn't know of it. He called him Clarence because he looked like his old gorram coward of a C.O., Lt. Clarence Vitelli, who had his unit surrender at Du-Khang after just barely offering token resistance. Only instead of Independent brown, he wore a black suit and blue surgical gloves.

"Well, I ain't intendin' to get caught."

"Of course. Won't stop it from happening. You know They'll just keep coming and coming. Two by two, hands of blue."

"'Tain't so!"

"It would have been simpler for both of us if you hadn't gotten so worked up about that girl."

"'Tweren't right what they was doin' to her."

"And had you not escaped my supervision, you would still be blissfully ignorant, and neither of us would be stuck in this pesthole. Just remember that no matter how well you evade Them, I'll always be there." And then he was gone.

As Nitro took stock of his situation, the boosters cut off and the shakes returned. Tonight's job would net him a tidy sum. The men who hired him appreciated any efforts to weaken Blue Sun's presence on Boros. Should be enough to get passage to one of the more remote border planets. Boros had too strong an Alliance presence for his liking. If he got out far enough, They might give up on chasing him down, contrary to what Clarence said. Perhaps he would even find out if Reavers really did exist. Too bad he couldn't get rid of Clarence, but the hwoon dahn always found him wherever he was.

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The drunk was awakened from his alcohol-induced stupor by the explosion. As he attempted to gain his bearings, he saw a man shoot his gun at nothing. Then he started screaming like his limbs were being chopped off, then went and started arguing with a wall. Tzao gao, he thought, I'm sharing this street with some crazy sonuvabitch with a gun. Better clear out before he gets the urge to fill me with holes.

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Onward to Chapter 1

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Chinese translations

Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze fuh ur-tze: Son of a drooling whore and a monkey

Hwoon dahn: Son of a bitch

Tzao gao: Oh shit