Chapter 12: Damage
“Clear the way!” Zoe hauled the unconscious body of her captain onto the hold of the ship, aided by a shell-shocked Buffy, Jayne following behind, covering their getaway in a hail of bullets and smoke.
“Kaylee!” the second in command yelled at the mechanic, “Are Simon and Book back yet?”
“We’re here.” Simon stepped forward, stopping short when he saw Mal and the mess that had once been his shoulder. “What happened?”
“No time, let’s get him up to the infirmary,” Zoë said commandingly. “Kaylee, run and tell my husband we need to get the hell out of here, now if not sooner. Buffy,” the blonde girl had stopped and looked as though she might object, “Buffy we have to go, I need your help.”
Buffy nodded in acquiescence and helped Zoë to carry the injured captain up to the infirmary. Zoë departed for the bridge, leaving Buffy to explain to the doctor exactly what had gone wrong.
“Someone shot him?” Simon asked as he lay the patient on the operating table.
“I think. I just heard him cry out then I saw him go down.”
“This…” Simon gestured to Mal’s wounded shoulder, “I’ve never seen damage like this from a gunshot. Was there a fire, or…”
“Lightning. Lightning shot out of their hands,” Buffy explained.
“Out of their hands? No, surely, some kind of weapon, or-“
“I said, it shot out of their hands. Believe me, Doctor Tam, I have seen far crazier stuff than that. But whatever those guys were, they weren’t ordinary human beings like you or…”
Buffy paused, aware that to classify herself as an ‘ordinary human being’, given her special ‘Chosen’ status might confuse the issue. After all, it was Slayer origins she looked to find when she opened the box and jumped through the portal. It wouldn’t be the first time she had faced the possibility that she wasn’t fully human. She flinched as she remembered the time Spike had attacked her and discovered his chip didn’t work on her after she’d come back from the dead, taunted her about coming back ‘wrong’…she bit her lip, thinking about Spike now caused a fiery pain in her chest and a stomach churning sense of guilt and loss that she just wasn’t ready to deal with.
They would think of a way to get Spike back. Right now, the crew needed her.
She had wondered before if her ability to put slaying before love was a problem, her losing her humanity, losing touch with the people she loved. Now she wondered if her detachment was what would help her to save the people she loved.
“Not human?” Simon’s astounded echo brought Buffy back to the here and now. She shook her head. How it was that people here could travel the ‘verse without encountering any non-human life, she didn’t know. Perhaps it was a dimension thing. A world without vampires. A bit like Anya’s world without shrimp. But, with the blue handed guys being here and everything, obviously not entirely.
“They came,” she said, “the men River talks about. Two by two, hands of blue.”
Simon paled. That River’s crazy ramblings were not so crazy, might actually have some basis in fact was even more chilling than thinking her mind damaged. He hadn’t thought in too much detail before about exactly who or what might have done that to his little sister.
A groan from Mal on the table startled Simon back into action.
“I need to give him a sedative, so I can operate. Buffy, would you hold him down for me so I can administer the injection?” Buffy held down the well built, six foot-plus captain with just one hand, earning a nervous smile of gratitude from Simon as he was able to inject the sedative. The captain relaxed immediately.
“Do you need me here? I wanted to go up and report to Zoë.” The lack of spark in the girl’s green eyes troubled Simon.
“Sure, we’re done. But, Buffy-“
She stopped in the doorway and turned.
“Yeah?”
“I know Mal looks pretty rough, but it was a risk he accepted. Besides, you wouldn’t believe the number of times people have come back from the brink of death on this ship. You mustn’t blame yourself. At least everyone else came back in one piece.”
“No,” Buffy said, flatly, “Not everyone.”
And she was gone, leaving Simon to absorb the significance of her words.
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“Where are we?” Zoë, Jayne and Wash spun round at Buffy’s quiet question. They hadn’t heard her approach.
“As far away as we can get and counting.” Wash supplied, “The more distance we can put between us and the scene of crime, the better.”
“Something tells me that isn’t the first time you’ve had to use that phrase.”
“Nope, and it probably won’t be the last, either.” Wash grinned wryly.
“So do we have a plan?” Buffy wanted to know.
“Er…what he just said, about distance? That kind of is the plan!” Jayne said, crossing his arms.
“It really is necessary, Buffy,” Zoë interjected before Buffy could protest, “We have to find some place to hide out. They will hunt us down.”
“What with Mal leaving a trail of blood and Jayne shooting everything in sight, I shouldn’t wonder we were an easy target to follow!” Buffy said, exasperated, “It isn’t exactly what I’d call a stealthy escape!”
“We got out alive, didn’t we?” Jayne retorted.
“No, Jayne, we didn’t all get out alive!” Buffy lost her temper. “Mal is barely alive, and Spike didn’t make it out at all!”
“Buffy, I’m sorry about Spike,” Zoë said soothingly, placing one hand on the younger girl’s arm. Buffy looked up into her eyes.
“They took him,” she whispered, “They took him and it is all my fault.”
“It’s a real shame, baobei, but it ain’t our problem,” Jayne said.
Buffy walked over and punched him in the nose. It made her feel better for a millisecond.
“Ow!” Jayne moaned, “Zoë?”
“I’m sorry Buffy,” Zoë repeated, ignoring Jayne, “I really am, but there’s just no way we can go back. I have to think of the crew’s safety first.”
“I understand.” Buffy said, and walked out without another word.
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“That is such a neat recipe! I never made noodles using those roots before….but then they don’t grow in my dimension. I’m sure I could find a spell that…although on second thoughts maybe not…”
Willow and Inara were cooking in preparation for the crew’s return. Something to keep their minds from worrying about their friends. River had been helping but had become disturbed and gone to hide in the engine room. Kaylee had said it was best to let her alone, so they had.
“They’re always hungry after a fight,” Inara said, her tone equal parts disdain and affection.
The noodles had just about simmered to taste when the commotion downstairs began. The two women had looked at each other, unsure whether their presence in the hold would be a help or a hindrance. Kaylee had darted through with a ‘don’t ask’ look on her face, and Serenity had lurched into motion.
“Does this mean it went well and we’re making a quick getaway, or that it went badly and we’re making a quick getaway?” Willow asked.
“Difficult to tell,” Inara replied.
Kaylee came back into the galley, ashen faced and out of breath. Inara knew at once something was wrong.
“What is it?” she asked urgently.
“’Nara, it’s…oh god…it’s Mal. He’s hurt, really badly hurt. He…he’s in the infirmary right now.”
Inara felt a wave of dizziness sweep over her and clutched the table for support.
“I’d better…I’d better go see if he’s ok.”
Inara arrived at the infirmary shortly after Buffy left, to see Mal lying unconscious and sedated on the table, Simon preparing to extract a bullet lodged in his chest. Inara steeled herself, willing herself not to be sick. She had seen sights far worse than this before on board Serenity. There wasn’t a single member of the crew or passenger who hadn’t been shot at some point during their travels.
But this was different. This was Mal. She recalled the time she had found Mal knocked out on the floor of his room. Any other time she would have blushed to recall how she acted, running to his side and kissing him without thinking. But fear ate up any embarrassment she might have felt as she crossed to where Mal lay and tenderly swept the hair back from his forehead.
“How is he, doctor? Or is that a silly question?”
“It’s touch and go, I’m afraid. If I can extract this bullet, he has a good chance, but I haven’t even begun to assess the damage caused by the lightning strike.”
“Lightning?”
“It’s…ask Buffy. She was there when it happened.”
“Buffy.” Inara couldn’t keep the hint of irritation out of her voice. Ever since Buffy had arrived, there had been nothing but trouble. Of course, there had been nothing but trouble for a long time before that as well, but she conveniently chose to ignore that.
“Inara…” Simon called. She stopped where she was, poised to find Buffy and unreasonably demand an explanation for why the man who was definitely not her lover in anyway was so badly injured after the kind of dangerous mission he attempted all the time. She knew, deep down, that she was in the wrong to blame Buffy, but the burning sensation in her chest when she looked at Mal’s bruised and twisted body before her stopped her from thinking straight.
“Go easy on Buffy,” Simon continued, “Mal wasn’t…wasn’t the only one to get hurt. Buffy’s friend…”
“Spike?” Inara asked incredulously.
“Didn’t make it back.” Simon shook his head sadly as Inara digested the news. This wasn’t good, wasn’t good at all. Leaning down, she planted a swift kiss on Mal’s forehead while Simon’s back was turn and then stumbled out back towards the galley, still dazed. Buffy entered from the other side at almost the same moment.
“Buffy…” Inara began, “Spike…?”
“We’re going to get him back,” Buffy announced with steely determination. She locked her gaze with Inara’s. “And I’m going to need your help.”
TBC
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