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The Missing Chapters (4/4) - Firiefly
The Missing Chapters (4/4)
author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jebbypal
Rated: Teen -- some swearing.
Characters: Simon, crew, OCs.
Summary: Everyone's curious, but Kaylee finally asks. Exactly how did Simon rescue River?
written forles342
1,2,3
ETA -- I apologize for neglecting to realize the errors in formatting. Should be fixed w/out too many snafus I hope.
It isn’t easy, but Simon manages to obtain vacation time starting the next day. He outright begs Caldwell to switch time with him. Liu and Prashnar extort opera and play tickets respectively in exchange for covering his on-duty days. Morovitz, as always, agrees only because it suits him to force Simon to work the next four holiday shifts. Ordinarily, the lie would bother him, but it is overruled by simply thinking of River. And the thought of the look on Morovitz’s face when Simon doesn’t return to work after his “vacation” ends doesn’t hurt either.
He spends the rest of his time cataloging everything about the hospital that he’ll never see again – state of the art equipment, sterile rooms, and educated personnel, there’s nothing too small to say a mental goodbye to. Meg would be surprised; she used to like to say that the only thing he was sentimental about was River.
A hand on his arm wakes him from his reverie. “Simon,” Meg greets him coldly. “Rebecca, from scheduling, told me that you’re taking a vacation.”
Simon glances around the nurses’ station desperately looking for a distraction. He’s no good at deception. Worse, experience has taught him that he’s completely inept at it with Meg. “I just need to get away for a bit.”
Meg’s expression remains carefully blank, the one she’s cultivated over the years when delivering unpleasant news to a patient’s family. “You hate taking vacations alone. What’s going on?”
She’s right: the only time he likes to be alone is when he’s reading journals or preparing to do a complicated surgery. He hears the worry in her voice even as she manages to keep it off of her face.
“Doctor, the chart?” a nurse asks. Simon nods and takes a few seconds to finish updating the chart pad he holds in his hands before handing it over.
He turns to fully face Meg. It takes all of his strength not to reach out and caress her face. River, remember River and stay strong. “Who said I was going alone?” Even though it’s been months since they’ve talked about anything other than the odd few patients they’ve shared, her forehead crinkles in surprise and hurt. He wishes he could say goodbye to her in the way that she deserves and the way that his heart longs to. He doesn’t know what he did wrong that she couldn’t trust his instincts about River, but they’ve each made their choice.
Still, it’s as hard to say goodbye to Meg forever as it is to leave the hospital, the only home he’s ever really known.
“Oh,” Meg answers in a clinical voice. “Well, have fun. Try to get some sun, will you? The scrub nurses have had a hard time distinguishing you from the lab coats lately.”
He smiles as expected at the joke and watches the woman that he’d thought he’d always have in his life walk away from him.
An hour later, every bureaucratic detail involved in a last minute vacation and every patient chart has been dealt with. Simon’s dressed again in street clothes and his gym bag contains another change of clothes, a pair of scrubs, and one very expensively packed doctor’s bag, including several high end pieces of surgical equipment appropriated from the hospital. It should take a couple of days for the theft to be discovered since he logged the equipment as broken.
The previous night, Red had said that a car would be waiting to pick Simon up. It isn’t until midday that Simon realizes that Red didn’t say where the car would be waiting. After racking his brain, he decides that it would have to be outside the entrance by which he generally leaves every night. Not for the first time, Simon has to quash annoyance and paranoia at the fact that Red’s group has been watching every move he makes. Worse, if he doesn’t even know when he’s being watched, how can he be sure that the government or the people who have River haven’t been doing the same?
Deep breaths and a clear mind, just like surgery. Calm once more, Simon steps out the side hospital entrance that leads to the cab stands and tube entrance and into the rainy night. It’s dark, but the hospital grounds are so well lit that it’s about as bright as sunrise. In fact, one can only observe sunrise from the top of the hospital tower.
Simon pauses to look around when he reaches the sidewalk. Several cabs pull in and out of the taxi station to his right. The loading zone where patients are dropped off before their families leave to park their cars is empty. Pulling his rain coat tighter on his body and wishing he’d remembered to pack an umbrella (normally he just works through the designated precipitation times before catching the tube home), Simon struggles to remain calm.
Looking further down the street, he finally sees a small black car parked in front of the fire hydrant. When he turns to face it, the headlights blink once in acknowledgement. Relief courses through his body as Simon walks toward the car.
“Hurry up, the drones already marked me the last pass. Towing will be here if we’re not gone pronto,” a feminine voice says when he opens the door. Simon does a double take once he’s in the car. It’s the skinny, black pierced girl who led him out of the Blackout Zone the first night. Granted, she’s dry and in suitable clothing, but he can see all the holes where she removed many of her excessive ornaments on her face and arms. Plus, he remembers the dangly ear chains with ruby and jade stone settings at each of the three entry points of the ear – mostly because he remembers how heartbroken River was when he wouldn’t let her get her ears pierced with a similar pair on her tenth birthday.
He winces when he slams into the seat as the girl pulls the car abruptly into traffic. “We’ve met before, haven’t we?” he asks.
“Dunno. All you purplebellies blend together to me,” she answers as she weaves in and out of traffic lanes while keeping a close eye on the viewscreen showing the cars behind, beside, and above them.
“I’m not in the military.”
“You live in the Core and you ain’t working against them. That tells me enough about your color.”
“The war’s been over for six years,” Simon says. Looking at her, he’d guess that the pierced girl might have been all of fifteen when the war ended…might. If pressed, Simon would estimate she’s quite a bit younger than that. Probably the same age as River when she left for school.
“Hard to remember that when it took everything from you. Get out,” Pierced Girl tells him as she pulls the car into a storage lot and parks.
He does so and follows her to another car. Sliding in, he’s surprised to see Omar in the front seat.
“Know where we’re going?” Omar asks as Pierced Girl starts the engine.
“You’ll both see,” she answers as she pulls out and proceeds to repeat her erratic driving from before.
“What are you doing here?” Simon asks.
Omar shrugs. “Red decided the only way he could trust me was to watch me. So he “arranged” for a vacation for me as well. I always did want to go to Sihnon – I just wish I was actually getting to.”
After that, they both fall silent. Pierced Girl doesn’t encourage conversation and Simon is too nervous, worried, and tired to think of anything to discuss. About an hour later, the car exits the main traffic just outside the city and pulls into an underground parking garage. Pierced Girl leaves the car running when they get out and leads them away. Simon looks back when he hears the car pull away.
“Where are we?” Omar asks. Pierced Girl just ignores them and leads them through a door. The stairwell inside is poorly lit, but Simon can make out the faint blue stenciling on the wall, “Medical Technologies Incorporated, Helping Medicine to the Next Level”.
“Didn’t this place go out of business last year?” Simon asks, fully not expecting an answer.
“Two points for the brainiac,” Pierced girl says as she looks back with raised eyebrows. “So you do keep up with what’s going on in the world after all. MTI got bought out by Blue Sun. They’re still trying to sell off this warehouse as part of the downsizing. It’s empty and clean for now.”
Three flights later, Simon and Omar see that she’s right when they exit the stairwell into a wide, empty room lit only by several flashlights. “I see they are putting your money to good use,” Omar says dryly.
“The price was right and I know the people hired to provide security,” Red’s voice says from an unlit corner. “It’s big enough to give us room to run the Doc through his paces. Who knows, we might even prepare him well enough that he succeeds.”
“With confidence like that, how could I fail?” Simon replies. His previous hope from the morning has evaporated. Suddenly it seems like his father was right and he’s thrown everything he worked for away. Worse, how could this possibly help River?
“Tell me there’s going to be some action at some point. So far my dreams are more entertaining than this,” Jayne says.
“Jayne!” Kaylee, River and Inara all protest at the same time. Mal covers his mouth. Best not to let the womenfolk know how entertaining this is.
“What? He missed the chance to kiss his ex, and he’s too uptight to get it on with the pierced one. If there’s no fistfights or explosions, I got better things to do,” Jayne explains.
“You’re right. Septic needs clearing, best have a look at that,” Mal orders as he stands to get a refill. Though he agrees with Jayne. Simon just has no sense of the romantic. He winks at Kaylee when she shoots him a grateful smile before turning her attentions back to Simon only to see that he’s leaving the galley.
“Now see what you’ve done!” she yells at Jayne before hurrying after Simon.
Mal keeps a very straight face and leans against the wall of storage lockers watching the scene play out. After watching Kaylee pursue her brother, River returns her gaze to Jayne. Mal’s pretty glad he generally manages to stay in her good graces. Her glare has every bit as much heat as Kaylee or Inara’s. Not to mention the craziness.
“Better lock your bunk tonight, Jayne,” Zoe advises as she puts her plate in the sink.
“Why? Worried you can’t resist a real man anymore?” Jayne asks. Zoe just rolls her eyes and leaves the galley.
Mal chuckles. “What’s so funny?” Jayne demands.
Looking between his pilot and his mercenary, Mal can’t keep a straight face as he answers. “Zoe’s right. Not every night that we remember to lock up the silverware.” When Jayne looks back at River, she smiles sweetly before jumping up and skipping to the bridge. Mal quickly follows her just so Jayne won’t see him laughing at his expense.
Simon’s quiet for the next few days. At night, River hears Kaylee cajoling Simon for more of the story, but he always refuses. Only when he puts his mouth to work on hers does Kaylee give up entirely. River still listens, hopeful that somehow she’ll learn the missing pieces to the story that led her to the now. Inara and Kaylee both encourage her to ask Simon on her own. She hears Zoe’s silent agreement when Zoe overhears them talking in the kitchen. Yet River stays silent. All this time, he’s never told her the how. She wants him to tell her without her asking. And she’s always afraid that if she does ask, the smallest part of her will take over and demand to know why it took so long. So very long.
When the days turn into weeks, River decides to take matters into her own hands. Every free moment that she has, River shadows Simon. It’s easy to do; no one gets more involved in their own headspace than her brother. He never was particularly good at multitasking thought with diligence to his surroundings. As she watches, she listens not to what he says and does, but to all the things going on in the space between. Occasionally – but not often - his thoughts drift to Meg when he’s doing inventory in the infirmary. Stolen moments together in pharmaceutical storage or the linen rooms during their internships. Memories of making their bed and preparing for their days together.
But those thoughts don’t get River what she wants. She almost gives up, but then Mal gets a new job. A job that requires Simon’s expertise to plan. As soon as he’s alone with the details, Simon’s memories open up and River sees Omar, Red, and the Pierced Girl as clear as vid. She hurries to find Kaylee and sends her to Simon. Then she settles in next to the comm she’s hacked open on the bridge and listens. It’s not long before Mal and Zoe join her.
“How’s the learning going?” Simon hears Red ask Omar.
“Let me put it this way, he’ll never eat again if he takes up politics.”
Simon grits his teeth as he hears them both laugh, but he diligently returns his focus to the assessment of his last performance that Pierced Girl gave him. Low marks for believability, lower marks for forgetting details about the intelligence structure of Alliance government, and lowest for getting knocked out by the other players in the scenario. Plus his pronunciation of the safe words that Omar hacked out the “school’s” databases is atrocious.
“Go get some rest. I’ll talk to him,” Red says. Silence follows, but eventually the sound of a plasticeel chair scraping on the concrete floor and footsteps indicate that Omar has followed orders.
Sleep. A full night’s sleep would be nice. Better would be any sleep that occurred on a real bed in a warm apartment instead of cloth covered wooden pallets in a drafty, damp warehouse. A voice that sounds like his sister provides sarcastic commentary of his stay so far: “Worst. Vacation. Ever.” Instead of laughing, he chokes back the sound as he hears Red approaching.
Simon lays the assessment on the makeshift wooden table in front of him and looks up as Red leans against the nearby wall. “Here to tell me that bad dress rehearsals mean successful operations?” Simon asks. That’s all he’s heard from Omar as he’s messed up every simulation they’ve done for the past week.
Red shakes his head.
“What then? Practice makes perfect? Don’t worry, if you fail, you won’t survive long enough to feel guilty? What?”
Red waits out his ranting and shakes his head.
“So that’s it? We give up?” Simon asks quietly.
Red stands and Simon flashes back to their first meeting when the tattooed giant towered over him. Then Simon had been equally terrified and hopeful. Now though, it’s hard to find the energy to feel anything.
“No, Doc. I don’t give up. Are you planning to?” Red asks.
Simon remembers the evidence that Red gave him that first night. The medical reports of the few students to have been discharged from the school. His sister’s fate if he messes up this one chance. “No.”
“Then you better study the Intelligence Branch a little harder and work with Omar on your pronunciation. Two days, and we go.”
Simon stands when Red starts to walk away. “Two days? That’s never going to be enough time.”
“We’ve been here as long as I planned to be. Two days, and you go. Whether it’s back to your life, or off to see your sister, is your choice.”
Two days later, reality goes exactly according to the script that Red wrote. Simon doesn’t ask how they got hold of a perfect copy of a military intelligence uniform. The staff, with its hidden stun bomb, is finally ready and Omar has assures him that it shouldn’t trigger prematurely. “Just make sure you don’t bump it against any walls, eh?” is Omar’s final piece of advice.
A stranger clad in the black uniform of the security service is his chauffeur. The stranger is completely silent as he closes the door and Simon suddenly has images of being driven directly to jail and being bound by the law. He swallows against the lump in his throat and mentally goes through the list of lines he’ll have to recite to get into the underground facility. He firmly keeps from thinking about how easy it would be for their transport to leave with their payment and never show and how helpless he and River will be underground. Years of practice of never thinking about the bad outcomes of a surgery help to focus his mind on his task. First one action, and then another, until the operation is complete. The medical jargon calms him.
His thoughts are interrupted when the car stops and the door opens. Men in black suits stand in front of a small non-descript sandstone building. Simon’s relieved to find that Omar’s hack was successful and his credentials pass easily. The building’s door opens with an audible hiss and a man in suit and tie covered by a static free lab coat greets him. “Sir, this is most unexpected.”
“That would be why they are called surprise inspections,” Simon answers coldly. The doctor nods and bows a proper greeting.
“Of course. Nurse Lycal will give you a full tour.”
“No. I’m not interested in a tour, I can find the layout of the facility from building plans. I want to see one of the subjects. Preferably a successful one,” Simon orders.
The man - Dr. Matthias, according to his name tag - pales at the implication of failure. “You’re in luck. We already have a subject prepped for testing. If you’ll follow me.”
Simon works hard to keep his gaze firmly affixed to Matthias’s back as they navigate the corridors. It’s going to be hard enough to control his emotions when he sees River. He doesn’t need to worry about witnessing other children in similar states.
Matthias finally stops and opens a door. Simon enters first and sees a room whose walls are filled with equipment. In the center is a chair and in the chair –
River.
He hears Matthias speaking, but Simon has eyes only for River as he paces around the room. She’s wearing a blue leotard much like one she might wear to a dance recital. Blue absorbent paper hangs from her neck indicating that these tests are not always easy on her stomach. He realizes the paper is there for other reasons when he sees a tech insert a needle into a device on River’s forehead. Electrodes cover most of her face like a butterfly and it’s obvious that she’s distressed. Whimpers and tremors soon turn to convulsions and Simon freezes for fear of rushing to her aid and giving everything away. The tech is kneeling and out of range of the stun bomb right now.
“River is our star pupil,” Matthias says. The use of River’s name breaks Simon’s trance.
“I’ve heard that.”
Pride enters Matthias’s voice, “She’ll be ideal for defense deployment, even with the side effects.”
Simon finally looks back at the doctor. “Tell me about them,” he asks, projecting dispassionate interest with every fiber of his being.
“Well, obviously, she’s unstable.” Nervousness causes Matthias to hesitate as he walks toward one of the monitors on the wall. “The neural stripping does tend to fragment their own reality matrix. It manifests as borderline schizophrenia-“
Simon interrupts and talks over Matthias’s explanation. “What use do we have for a psychic if she’s insane?”
“She’s not just a psychic,” Matthias protests. “Given the right trigger, this girl is a living weapon.” Simon walks closer to River as Matthias continues. “She has her lucid periods, and we’re hoping to improve upon the - I’m sorry, sir, but I have to ask.” Simon turns and regards the doctor, careful to hide his cold fury. “Is there a reason for this inspection?”
“Am I making you nervous?” Simon asks.
“Key members of Parliament have personally observed this subject. I was told that the Alliances support for the project was unanimous. The demonstration of her powers-“
Parliament. Was there no end to how far the inhumanity of this project went? Instead, Simon sticks to the script. “How is she physically?”
“Like nothing we’ve seen. All our subjects are conditioned for combat, but River, she’s a creature of extraordinary grace.” Simon can see the tech on the opposite side of River. Matthias’s voice is behind him, to the side. Perfect placement of both to get maximum time from the shock wave.
“Yes, she always did love to dance,” Simon says right before he kneels and slams his staff into the floor to activate the stun bomb.
Immediately, he’s in front of River even as the bodies of the tech and the doctor are still dropping to the floor. “River, it’s Simon.” He carefully removes the needle as he struggles not to think about what he’ll do if she doesn’t come to. “Please, it’s Simon,” he tries again as he peels the electrodes from her face. “It’s your brother.” He caresses her face as he checks her pulse and she seems to calm somewhat.
Quickly, he goes to the door to check if the coast is clear. It looks like he’ll have to carry her, he thinks as he removes his uniform jacket to reveal the scrubs of a nurse tech. He gasps when he sees River standing in front of him.
“Simon,” River says. “They know you’ve come.”
She knows who I am. Exhaling the breath he didn’t know he was holding, Simon throws his jacket to the side of the room and opens the door to the corridor. They have to get to the ventilation shaft. He escorts River out as if she’s just another patient and he’s just another conscience-less employee. “We can’t make it to the surface from the inside,” he explains as they go. Suddenly, he hears the sounds of people approaching. “Find a-“ River scampers up the wall before he can even complete his thought. He tries not to ponder the implications.
He walks past the approaching doctors and down the hall toward their escape. It takes all his strength to not keep looking back for River. She’s waiting at the shaft when he gets there. He finds the lever that Red’s mole had stashed for him and immediately sets to work prying open the glass doors.
Wind howls and whips River’s hair into Simon’s face as they both climb onto the ledge. Below them, he can see red lights where the security lasers are being brought online. He unfolds the lever to reveal a suction cup and pincers that seal the glass shaft door closed. As soon as it’s secure, two men in black suits with guns enter the maintenance room. One shoots at them while the other speaks into a communicator. Balancing on the ledge, Simon looks upward in search of any sign of their rescue. He winces and almost loses his balance when the suit bashes on the glass.
Finally, the sound of the wind is disrupted and he sees the sled descending toward them. River doesn’t even wait for it to fully stop before getting on and grabbing a cord for dear life. Simon follows and spares one last glance for the security goons hammering away at the ventilation door. Then he looks up.
He did it. Whatever happened to River in that place, it will never happen again. And now that they’re together, he can work towards fixing the damage that’s been done.
The sound of Kaylee congratulating Simon and telling him how brave he was brings River back to Serenity. Looking behind her, she sees that she’s once again alone on the bridge. No doubt the soldiers realized she’d rather be alone with her thoughts. River’s grateful for the empty space in which to hear her own thoughts.
As she turns off the comms, she remembers the confusion she felt when the sled returned to the ship that transported them off of Osirus. She never saw the people in it, but she heard them. Felt them.
Simon held her for an eternity it seemed like before he told her what was going to happen. She didn’t really listen to it. Just soaked Simon up like the sun that she’d not seen for so long. She remembers falling asleep. And then the cold. And the dreams. And the people talking and yelling at her and then
Simon.
She’d wondered how he’d found her. Now she knows.
River knows that she doesn’t need to thank Simon for what he did for her. But there is one person that deserves their thanks. And she doubts that her brother ever took the risk required to thank him.
River turns on the Cortex and composes her message. She does it in the same code she used to send Simon her plea for help all those years ago, just for fun and also to prove that it’s her.
The End
author:
jebbypalRated: Teen -- some swearing.
Characters: Simon, crew, OCs.
Summary: Everyone's curious, but Kaylee finally asks. Exactly how did Simon rescue River?
written for
les3421,2,3
ETA -- I apologize for neglecting to realize the errors in formatting. Should be fixed w/out too many snafus I hope.
It isn’t easy, but Simon manages to obtain vacation time starting the next day. He outright begs Caldwell to switch time with him. Liu and Prashnar extort opera and play tickets respectively in exchange for covering his on-duty days. Morovitz, as always, agrees only because it suits him to force Simon to work the next four holiday shifts. Ordinarily, the lie would bother him, but it is overruled by simply thinking of River. And the thought of the look on Morovitz’s face when Simon doesn’t return to work after his “vacation” ends doesn’t hurt either.
He spends the rest of his time cataloging everything about the hospital that he’ll never see again – state of the art equipment, sterile rooms, and educated personnel, there’s nothing too small to say a mental goodbye to. Meg would be surprised; she used to like to say that the only thing he was sentimental about was River.
A hand on his arm wakes him from his reverie. “Simon,” Meg greets him coldly. “Rebecca, from scheduling, told me that you’re taking a vacation.”
Simon glances around the nurses’ station desperately looking for a distraction. He’s no good at deception. Worse, experience has taught him that he’s completely inept at it with Meg. “I just need to get away for a bit.”
Meg’s expression remains carefully blank, the one she’s cultivated over the years when delivering unpleasant news to a patient’s family. “You hate taking vacations alone. What’s going on?”
She’s right: the only time he likes to be alone is when he’s reading journals or preparing to do a complicated surgery. He hears the worry in her voice even as she manages to keep it off of her face.
“Doctor, the chart?” a nurse asks. Simon nods and takes a few seconds to finish updating the chart pad he holds in his hands before handing it over.
He turns to fully face Meg. It takes all of his strength not to reach out and caress her face. River, remember River and stay strong. “Who said I was going alone?” Even though it’s been months since they’ve talked about anything other than the odd few patients they’ve shared, her forehead crinkles in surprise and hurt. He wishes he could say goodbye to her in the way that she deserves and the way that his heart longs to. He doesn’t know what he did wrong that she couldn’t trust his instincts about River, but they’ve each made their choice.
Still, it’s as hard to say goodbye to Meg forever as it is to leave the hospital, the only home he’s ever really known.
“Oh,” Meg answers in a clinical voice. “Well, have fun. Try to get some sun, will you? The scrub nurses have had a hard time distinguishing you from the lab coats lately.”
He smiles as expected at the joke and watches the woman that he’d thought he’d always have in his life walk away from him.
An hour later, every bureaucratic detail involved in a last minute vacation and every patient chart has been dealt with. Simon’s dressed again in street clothes and his gym bag contains another change of clothes, a pair of scrubs, and one very expensively packed doctor’s bag, including several high end pieces of surgical equipment appropriated from the hospital. It should take a couple of days for the theft to be discovered since he logged the equipment as broken.
The previous night, Red had said that a car would be waiting to pick Simon up. It isn’t until midday that Simon realizes that Red didn’t say where the car would be waiting. After racking his brain, he decides that it would have to be outside the entrance by which he generally leaves every night. Not for the first time, Simon has to quash annoyance and paranoia at the fact that Red’s group has been watching every move he makes. Worse, if he doesn’t even know when he’s being watched, how can he be sure that the government or the people who have River haven’t been doing the same?
Deep breaths and a clear mind, just like surgery. Calm once more, Simon steps out the side hospital entrance that leads to the cab stands and tube entrance and into the rainy night. It’s dark, but the hospital grounds are so well lit that it’s about as bright as sunrise. In fact, one can only observe sunrise from the top of the hospital tower.
Simon pauses to look around when he reaches the sidewalk. Several cabs pull in and out of the taxi station to his right. The loading zone where patients are dropped off before their families leave to park their cars is empty. Pulling his rain coat tighter on his body and wishing he’d remembered to pack an umbrella (normally he just works through the designated precipitation times before catching the tube home), Simon struggles to remain calm.
Looking further down the street, he finally sees a small black car parked in front of the fire hydrant. When he turns to face it, the headlights blink once in acknowledgement. Relief courses through his body as Simon walks toward the car.
“Hurry up, the drones already marked me the last pass. Towing will be here if we’re not gone pronto,” a feminine voice says when he opens the door. Simon does a double take once he’s in the car. It’s the skinny, black pierced girl who led him out of the Blackout Zone the first night. Granted, she’s dry and in suitable clothing, but he can see all the holes where she removed many of her excessive ornaments on her face and arms. Plus, he remembers the dangly ear chains with ruby and jade stone settings at each of the three entry points of the ear – mostly because he remembers how heartbroken River was when he wouldn’t let her get her ears pierced with a similar pair on her tenth birthday.
He winces when he slams into the seat as the girl pulls the car abruptly into traffic. “We’ve met before, haven’t we?” he asks.
“Dunno. All you purplebellies blend together to me,” she answers as she weaves in and out of traffic lanes while keeping a close eye on the viewscreen showing the cars behind, beside, and above them.
“I’m not in the military.”
“You live in the Core and you ain’t working against them. That tells me enough about your color.”
“The war’s been over for six years,” Simon says. Looking at her, he’d guess that the pierced girl might have been all of fifteen when the war ended…might. If pressed, Simon would estimate she’s quite a bit younger than that. Probably the same age as River when she left for school.
“Hard to remember that when it took everything from you. Get out,” Pierced Girl tells him as she pulls the car into a storage lot and parks.
He does so and follows her to another car. Sliding in, he’s surprised to see Omar in the front seat.
“Know where we’re going?” Omar asks as Pierced Girl starts the engine.
“You’ll both see,” she answers as she pulls out and proceeds to repeat her erratic driving from before.
“What are you doing here?” Simon asks.
Omar shrugs. “Red decided the only way he could trust me was to watch me. So he “arranged” for a vacation for me as well. I always did want to go to Sihnon – I just wish I was actually getting to.”
After that, they both fall silent. Pierced Girl doesn’t encourage conversation and Simon is too nervous, worried, and tired to think of anything to discuss. About an hour later, the car exits the main traffic just outside the city and pulls into an underground parking garage. Pierced Girl leaves the car running when they get out and leads them away. Simon looks back when he hears the car pull away.
“Where are we?” Omar asks. Pierced Girl just ignores them and leads them through a door. The stairwell inside is poorly lit, but Simon can make out the faint blue stenciling on the wall, “Medical Technologies Incorporated, Helping Medicine to the Next Level”.
“Didn’t this place go out of business last year?” Simon asks, fully not expecting an answer.
“Two points for the brainiac,” Pierced girl says as she looks back with raised eyebrows. “So you do keep up with what’s going on in the world after all. MTI got bought out by Blue Sun. They’re still trying to sell off this warehouse as part of the downsizing. It’s empty and clean for now.”
Three flights later, Simon and Omar see that she’s right when they exit the stairwell into a wide, empty room lit only by several flashlights. “I see they are putting your money to good use,” Omar says dryly.
“The price was right and I know the people hired to provide security,” Red’s voice says from an unlit corner. “It’s big enough to give us room to run the Doc through his paces. Who knows, we might even prepare him well enough that he succeeds.”
“With confidence like that, how could I fail?” Simon replies. His previous hope from the morning has evaporated. Suddenly it seems like his father was right and he’s thrown everything he worked for away. Worse, how could this possibly help River?
“Tell me there’s going to be some action at some point. So far my dreams are more entertaining than this,” Jayne says.
“Jayne!” Kaylee, River and Inara all protest at the same time. Mal covers his mouth. Best not to let the womenfolk know how entertaining this is.
“What? He missed the chance to kiss his ex, and he’s too uptight to get it on with the pierced one. If there’s no fistfights or explosions, I got better things to do,” Jayne explains.
“You’re right. Septic needs clearing, best have a look at that,” Mal orders as he stands to get a refill. Though he agrees with Jayne. Simon just has no sense of the romantic. He winks at Kaylee when she shoots him a grateful smile before turning her attentions back to Simon only to see that he’s leaving the galley.
“Now see what you’ve done!” she yells at Jayne before hurrying after Simon.
Mal keeps a very straight face and leans against the wall of storage lockers watching the scene play out. After watching Kaylee pursue her brother, River returns her gaze to Jayne. Mal’s pretty glad he generally manages to stay in her good graces. Her glare has every bit as much heat as Kaylee or Inara’s. Not to mention the craziness.
“Better lock your bunk tonight, Jayne,” Zoe advises as she puts her plate in the sink.
“Why? Worried you can’t resist a real man anymore?” Jayne asks. Zoe just rolls her eyes and leaves the galley.
Mal chuckles. “What’s so funny?” Jayne demands.
Looking between his pilot and his mercenary, Mal can’t keep a straight face as he answers. “Zoe’s right. Not every night that we remember to lock up the silverware.” When Jayne looks back at River, she smiles sweetly before jumping up and skipping to the bridge. Mal quickly follows her just so Jayne won’t see him laughing at his expense.
Simon’s quiet for the next few days. At night, River hears Kaylee cajoling Simon for more of the story, but he always refuses. Only when he puts his mouth to work on hers does Kaylee give up entirely. River still listens, hopeful that somehow she’ll learn the missing pieces to the story that led her to the now. Inara and Kaylee both encourage her to ask Simon on her own. She hears Zoe’s silent agreement when Zoe overhears them talking in the kitchen. Yet River stays silent. All this time, he’s never told her the how. She wants him to tell her without her asking. And she’s always afraid that if she does ask, the smallest part of her will take over and demand to know why it took so long. So very long.
When the days turn into weeks, River decides to take matters into her own hands. Every free moment that she has, River shadows Simon. It’s easy to do; no one gets more involved in their own headspace than her brother. He never was particularly good at multitasking thought with diligence to his surroundings. As she watches, she listens not to what he says and does, but to all the things going on in the space between. Occasionally – but not often - his thoughts drift to Meg when he’s doing inventory in the infirmary. Stolen moments together in pharmaceutical storage or the linen rooms during their internships. Memories of making their bed and preparing for their days together.
But those thoughts don’t get River what she wants. She almost gives up, but then Mal gets a new job. A job that requires Simon’s expertise to plan. As soon as he’s alone with the details, Simon’s memories open up and River sees Omar, Red, and the Pierced Girl as clear as vid. She hurries to find Kaylee and sends her to Simon. Then she settles in next to the comm she’s hacked open on the bridge and listens. It’s not long before Mal and Zoe join her.
“How’s the learning going?” Simon hears Red ask Omar.
“Let me put it this way, he’ll never eat again if he takes up politics.”
Simon grits his teeth as he hears them both laugh, but he diligently returns his focus to the assessment of his last performance that Pierced Girl gave him. Low marks for believability, lower marks for forgetting details about the intelligence structure of Alliance government, and lowest for getting knocked out by the other players in the scenario. Plus his pronunciation of the safe words that Omar hacked out the “school’s” databases is atrocious.
“Go get some rest. I’ll talk to him,” Red says. Silence follows, but eventually the sound of a plasticeel chair scraping on the concrete floor and footsteps indicate that Omar has followed orders.
Sleep. A full night’s sleep would be nice. Better would be any sleep that occurred on a real bed in a warm apartment instead of cloth covered wooden pallets in a drafty, damp warehouse. A voice that sounds like his sister provides sarcastic commentary of his stay so far: “Worst. Vacation. Ever.” Instead of laughing, he chokes back the sound as he hears Red approaching.
Simon lays the assessment on the makeshift wooden table in front of him and looks up as Red leans against the nearby wall. “Here to tell me that bad dress rehearsals mean successful operations?” Simon asks. That’s all he’s heard from Omar as he’s messed up every simulation they’ve done for the past week.
Red shakes his head.
“What then? Practice makes perfect? Don’t worry, if you fail, you won’t survive long enough to feel guilty? What?”
Red waits out his ranting and shakes his head.
“So that’s it? We give up?” Simon asks quietly.
Red stands and Simon flashes back to their first meeting when the tattooed giant towered over him. Then Simon had been equally terrified and hopeful. Now though, it’s hard to find the energy to feel anything.
“No, Doc. I don’t give up. Are you planning to?” Red asks.
Simon remembers the evidence that Red gave him that first night. The medical reports of the few students to have been discharged from the school. His sister’s fate if he messes up this one chance. “No.”
“Then you better study the Intelligence Branch a little harder and work with Omar on your pronunciation. Two days, and we go.”
Simon stands when Red starts to walk away. “Two days? That’s never going to be enough time.”
“We’ve been here as long as I planned to be. Two days, and you go. Whether it’s back to your life, or off to see your sister, is your choice.”
Two days later, reality goes exactly according to the script that Red wrote. Simon doesn’t ask how they got hold of a perfect copy of a military intelligence uniform. The staff, with its hidden stun bomb, is finally ready and Omar has assures him that it shouldn’t trigger prematurely. “Just make sure you don’t bump it against any walls, eh?” is Omar’s final piece of advice.
A stranger clad in the black uniform of the security service is his chauffeur. The stranger is completely silent as he closes the door and Simon suddenly has images of being driven directly to jail and being bound by the law. He swallows against the lump in his throat and mentally goes through the list of lines he’ll have to recite to get into the underground facility. He firmly keeps from thinking about how easy it would be for their transport to leave with their payment and never show and how helpless he and River will be underground. Years of practice of never thinking about the bad outcomes of a surgery help to focus his mind on his task. First one action, and then another, until the operation is complete. The medical jargon calms him.
His thoughts are interrupted when the car stops and the door opens. Men in black suits stand in front of a small non-descript sandstone building. Simon’s relieved to find that Omar’s hack was successful and his credentials pass easily. The building’s door opens with an audible hiss and a man in suit and tie covered by a static free lab coat greets him. “Sir, this is most unexpected.”
“That would be why they are called surprise inspections,” Simon answers coldly. The doctor nods and bows a proper greeting.
“Of course. Nurse Lycal will give you a full tour.”
“No. I’m not interested in a tour, I can find the layout of the facility from building plans. I want to see one of the subjects. Preferably a successful one,” Simon orders.
The man - Dr. Matthias, according to his name tag - pales at the implication of failure. “You’re in luck. We already have a subject prepped for testing. If you’ll follow me.”
Simon works hard to keep his gaze firmly affixed to Matthias’s back as they navigate the corridors. It’s going to be hard enough to control his emotions when he sees River. He doesn’t need to worry about witnessing other children in similar states.
Matthias finally stops and opens a door. Simon enters first and sees a room whose walls are filled with equipment. In the center is a chair and in the chair –
River.
He hears Matthias speaking, but Simon has eyes only for River as he paces around the room. She’s wearing a blue leotard much like one she might wear to a dance recital. Blue absorbent paper hangs from her neck indicating that these tests are not always easy on her stomach. He realizes the paper is there for other reasons when he sees a tech insert a needle into a device on River’s forehead. Electrodes cover most of her face like a butterfly and it’s obvious that she’s distressed. Whimpers and tremors soon turn to convulsions and Simon freezes for fear of rushing to her aid and giving everything away. The tech is kneeling and out of range of the stun bomb right now.
“River is our star pupil,” Matthias says. The use of River’s name breaks Simon’s trance.
“I’ve heard that.”
Pride enters Matthias’s voice, “She’ll be ideal for defense deployment, even with the side effects.”
Simon finally looks back at the doctor. “Tell me about them,” he asks, projecting dispassionate interest with every fiber of his being.
“Well, obviously, she’s unstable.” Nervousness causes Matthias to hesitate as he walks toward one of the monitors on the wall. “The neural stripping does tend to fragment their own reality matrix. It manifests as borderline schizophrenia-“
Simon interrupts and talks over Matthias’s explanation. “What use do we have for a psychic if she’s insane?”
“She’s not just a psychic,” Matthias protests. “Given the right trigger, this girl is a living weapon.” Simon walks closer to River as Matthias continues. “She has her lucid periods, and we’re hoping to improve upon the - I’m sorry, sir, but I have to ask.” Simon turns and regards the doctor, careful to hide his cold fury. “Is there a reason for this inspection?”
“Am I making you nervous?” Simon asks.
“Key members of Parliament have personally observed this subject. I was told that the Alliances support for the project was unanimous. The demonstration of her powers-“
Parliament. Was there no end to how far the inhumanity of this project went? Instead, Simon sticks to the script. “How is she physically?”
“Like nothing we’ve seen. All our subjects are conditioned for combat, but River, she’s a creature of extraordinary grace.” Simon can see the tech on the opposite side of River. Matthias’s voice is behind him, to the side. Perfect placement of both to get maximum time from the shock wave.
“Yes, she always did love to dance,” Simon says right before he kneels and slams his staff into the floor to activate the stun bomb.
Immediately, he’s in front of River even as the bodies of the tech and the doctor are still dropping to the floor. “River, it’s Simon.” He carefully removes the needle as he struggles not to think about what he’ll do if she doesn’t come to. “Please, it’s Simon,” he tries again as he peels the electrodes from her face. “It’s your brother.” He caresses her face as he checks her pulse and she seems to calm somewhat.
Quickly, he goes to the door to check if the coast is clear. It looks like he’ll have to carry her, he thinks as he removes his uniform jacket to reveal the scrubs of a nurse tech. He gasps when he sees River standing in front of him.
“Simon,” River says. “They know you’ve come.”
She knows who I am. Exhaling the breath he didn’t know he was holding, Simon throws his jacket to the side of the room and opens the door to the corridor. They have to get to the ventilation shaft. He escorts River out as if she’s just another patient and he’s just another conscience-less employee. “We can’t make it to the surface from the inside,” he explains as they go. Suddenly, he hears the sounds of people approaching. “Find a-“ River scampers up the wall before he can even complete his thought. He tries not to ponder the implications.
He walks past the approaching doctors and down the hall toward their escape. It takes all his strength to not keep looking back for River. She’s waiting at the shaft when he gets there. He finds the lever that Red’s mole had stashed for him and immediately sets to work prying open the glass doors.
Wind howls and whips River’s hair into Simon’s face as they both climb onto the ledge. Below them, he can see red lights where the security lasers are being brought online. He unfolds the lever to reveal a suction cup and pincers that seal the glass shaft door closed. As soon as it’s secure, two men in black suits with guns enter the maintenance room. One shoots at them while the other speaks into a communicator. Balancing on the ledge, Simon looks upward in search of any sign of their rescue. He winces and almost loses his balance when the suit bashes on the glass.
Finally, the sound of the wind is disrupted and he sees the sled descending toward them. River doesn’t even wait for it to fully stop before getting on and grabbing a cord for dear life. Simon follows and spares one last glance for the security goons hammering away at the ventilation door. Then he looks up.
He did it. Whatever happened to River in that place, it will never happen again. And now that they’re together, he can work towards fixing the damage that’s been done.
The sound of Kaylee congratulating Simon and telling him how brave he was brings River back to Serenity. Looking behind her, she sees that she’s once again alone on the bridge. No doubt the soldiers realized she’d rather be alone with her thoughts. River’s grateful for the empty space in which to hear her own thoughts.
As she turns off the comms, she remembers the confusion she felt when the sled returned to the ship that transported them off of Osirus. She never saw the people in it, but she heard them. Felt them.
Simon held her for an eternity it seemed like before he told her what was going to happen. She didn’t really listen to it. Just soaked Simon up like the sun that she’d not seen for so long. She remembers falling asleep. And then the cold. And the dreams. And the people talking and yelling at her and then
Simon.
She’d wondered how he’d found her. Now she knows.
River knows that she doesn’t need to thank Simon for what he did for her. But there is one person that deserves their thanks. And she doubts that her brother ever took the risk required to thank him.
River turns on the Cortex and composes her message. She does it in the same code she used to send Simon her plea for help all those years ago, just for fun and also to prove that it’s her.
To: Omar Ojala@climate.os.net
From: LGL@station5.r.net
Subject: package
The package lifted off safe and in one piece, even if it’s a little broken. Though he forgets to write himself, the Sake King sends his thanks. He takes so much looking after.
The End
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I love how you didn't have Simon tell his tale all at once, but spread it out over a period of time. I would imagine that, after it was over, he had never stopped to think about how he'd managed to pull off River's rescue, so it would take him that long to process everything and be able to talk about it. Also particularly enjoyed the part where he talked about the 'R. Tam Sessions' just with Mal. It just seemed so appropriate that he wouldn't want to talk about them with anyone, but Mal would know something was bothering him and try to get him to talk about it.
Again, very nicely done! *claps*
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*hugs*
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wonderful!
(Anonymous) 2006-11-12 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
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