Archive of Our Own

"...an honest man in a den of thieves..." - Badger

Mal doesn't lower his gun, the short guy turning Jayne into a pretzel doesn't let go, and the crazy blond and Zoe look as like they might start circling round each other again any moment now. Figures. Get their first day off, first honest day off no less with honest pay and everything, and they run into bounty hunters.

"You can't have her," Simon says, his heat doing nothing to cover the desperation in his voice. But hey, Mal really can't blame the kid. Not that their own personal bucket o'crazy was anywhere present.

"We don't want her," says the man Mal's been aiming the gun at for a good five minutes. He ain't looking at Simon when he says it, he looks Mal in the eye good and steady and Mal can tell from the look in his eyes he ain't lying. Man's a liar, through and through, but he ain't lying now.

"I've seen you --" Simon starts.

"Why," Mal asks. The rest of it doesn't matter, who's done what when. Men like this, men like Mal himself, have done things for the wrong people at one point or another. The past don't matter a mite's breadth if it carries no bearing on this present moment.

"Who do you think got her out?" the stranger says evenly. "You'd need someone on the inside of Blue Sun to smooth things over. To move without being seen."

Simon frowns. "You? But... You're not who..."

"And now?" Mal asks.

"They bring dreaming back to reach," River says. She's bent nearly double over the railing above despite Kaylee trying to pull her back. "Even when all's they got is nightmares for their own." She hums a little as she looks over his men a moment. "Broken toys that the grown ups throw away, fixed up with scotch tape and make the kiddies smile anyways. Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday..."

The blond frowns, trying to watch Zoe and River as one and the same. The short guy twitches for a brief moment, but keeps Jayne pinned. Both of them glance at their boss, waiting. And the stranger himself, well. Pain sinks through his eyes, deep and hard and all cold fire, but it barely flickers across his features.

"We were working a scam on the good Lord Pennington," the stranger says, voice harsh. "We've got done what needs to be done, and now we're leaving." He presses a button on his headset. "Hardison, we ready to move?"

"Soph was in thirty minutes ago," a voice crackles through his headset just as a ship comes to hover over head. "Ready when you are, boss-man."

Mal lowers his gun and nods to Zoe, and the stranger gives his two a glance. The blond steps back, toward her boss and the short guy, who waits til she's close before he releases Jayne with a hard shove and sends him sprawling toward Zoe.

"We're good," the stranger says. A rope ladder falls from the ship, and then they're up and away.

"Leverage," he says to himself, reading off the name of the ship. "Now, why do I get the feeling we're gonna bump into them again..."