Ch.49

We met Nandi at her whore house on the backwater moon she lived on. Jayne went off to get serviced while Simon and River checked out the pregnant woman. Nandi told us the problem and Inara agreed to go with Mal to check out Rance and look him in the eye. When Mal returned he told me to break out the weapons and I suggested Wash get the pregnant girl and those that can't fight in the air in orbit while the Doc sees to the baby because I could smell she was going to be in labor soon.

Inara translated and Mal agreed before I signed that he should have everyone go up so I can kill them myself alone so no one gets hurt. Mal asked if I was sure and I nodded while Nandi asked how I'd do that. Claws grew from between my knuckles and a suit covered me before going invisible. I appeared with my claws at her throat and she agreed to my plan before Jayne asked if he was still getting laid.

I shrugged as I put everything away and signed that it wasn't up to me because I was doing this for my wife. Inara kissed me before translating while Nandi said she didn't see no harm since they had no other way to pay us. Maria grabbed a boy whore and scampered off outside where they loaded up soon after. Inara and I shared a long kiss before she left with Nandi and Mal.

Mal got him some action with Nandi while I waited cloaked inside. Come morning Rance's men entered the house and went silent, causing him to send more men in until he went in with the last of his men and found the dead not far from the doorway. They died without getting a single shot off and I took Rance's laser pistol because it was all fancy and illegal as fuck.

The whore that'd have warned Rance hadn't had a chance to do so which meant after I looted their bodies, I dumped them in a shallow grave and signaled for Serenity to land. I kept the hover craft and all the weapons as well as the money the dead had while the crew had their fun. The blood that spilled was easily cleaned up and I heard Nandi tell Inara her husband was one scary man.

I appeared and held Inara in my arms while the suit fell away. Nandi saw how I held Inara and Inara sighed. "Scary he may be to others, but Oz is a gentle giant who'd never hurt me or those we care about. He simply doesn't have it in him."

I kissed her neck and told her I remembered some things, mostly fighting and monsters, darkness and blood, but some good things as well, feelings, peace and more. We spent a few days there before they were paid up and we left. A few weeks out a bounty hunter named Early came onto the ship and when he came to the shuttle with Simon, I broke his hand and took his gun before breaking his neck.

I took his gun, his suit and his ship after I freed the others. I sold the ship on Persephone the next time we hit planet side and used the cash to fix up Serenity, getting Serenity up to code and putting back a lot more money. I ended up selling the hover car as well with a good portion of weapons to Badger. Three months later the Shepherd left and stayed on Haven while the rest of us went on for another few months before Fanty and Mingo got us a job robbing a private security firm payroll.

We did the job and when River started yelling about Reavers, Mal said my name. I uncloaked and he told me to kill the Reavers. I nodded and signed for him to leave it to me. I cloaked and the guard asked how I did that.

Mal told him to mind his business while I slaughtered the Reavers on the ground killing people. I moved and destroyed the ships next, making sure none of the reavers survived before I followed the Mule back to the ship and appeared flying next to them. Mal asked if all the Reavers were dead and I nodded without a word.

He sighed saying good before we got to the ship. I landed while they loaded up and my suit disappeared into watch form. River had smiled my way while I flew so she was quite happy when we arrived. Inara asked if there was any problems and I grunted. "Reavers, but they're dealt with now."

She nodded and we left just as Simon punched Mal. We headed to Beaumonde to meet with Fanty and Mingo. They didn't want their twenty-five percent, they wanted forty, but River started a scene and I grabbed her.

She grabbed my member and squeezed but I growled and bit her shoulder while my claws out. She tried a lot only she couldn't break free of my hold and she went stiff at my bite, relaxing in my arms. Simon was able to knock her out with a few words. I released her neck and put my claws away, carrying her to the ship.

Inara recognized the wound and as soon as we were in the air, I told Mal to head for Sanctuary. He reluctantly agreed and we headed to my place. It was a ground based installation I'd built into a paradise for Inara and I when I'd regained my memories fully thanks to some heavy psychotropic drugs the doc gave me in extremely large and constant doses when I insisted on remembering everything.

When we landed and put the ship in a hidden hanger. Less than a day later we got a wave from Shepherd and headed to Haven only to find it burned and everyone dead except Shepherd who was barely alive and an alliance officer I shot. Shepherd died and we headed to Miranda, the planet River pointed out when she recovered. We had to pass through Reaver occupied space, but it wasn't hard to fool them on the way in.

We found the beacon message and Mal gave his speech about misbehaving. I grunted. "I'm not from the alliance or this reality so I don't give two shit about misbehaving. If there's fighting to be done and it's a cause worth fighting for I'm game. Just let me borrow some parts from some things here and we'll be on our way, safe as houses."

Mal nodded and I left, getting the parts I needed before we left. I worked on my project and installed it by the time Mal got the travers to chase us. When we reached Kalidasa, Mr.Universe's moon, we came out of the ion cloud and I activated the device I built, causing a blue shimmer to cover Serenity. I told Wash as I sat next to him. "Take it easy on the shield. It's made of scraps and won't hold against more than one direct hit. It's the best I could come up with."

He told everyone to strap in and the reavers came out of the ion cloud behind us before everyone started firing. We dodged and weaved, making it into the atmosphere before a reaver's laser cannon burned out the shield with an EMP pulse and sent us spiraling. Wash managed to land us and I took the blow as a Reaver's spike grappler shit into the cockpit. I shoved him out of his seat and to the floor, yelling for them to get down.

Another spike hit me as I saved Zoë as well before they listened. We got out of there and armed you with all the weapons we could carry. We made it to an intersection joint and I tossed Mal my watch. "Use it. Get the message out and if the assassin shows up, bring me his sword."

He nodded and I turned to the rest of them. "Go into the hallway, seal yourselves in and kill anything that opens the tunnel. The reavers can't kill me, but some may try to get around me."

Wash said they could fight and I snorted. "Inara and Zoë are pregnant, River's in no condition and I wouldn't trust the doc with a gun to save my life and I'm immune to bullets. You aren't a good shot either. That leaves Jayne with Kaylee and he ain't about to play with his life to kill a few reavers while Kaylee's brave enough to try so no thanks."

Jayne patted my back. "He's right, good luck."

I smiled lightly as Inara covered her stomach and I covered her hand before kissing her and telling her I'd be alright. I closed them in after I passed Jayne my guns and took the grenades. I covered the entrances with boxes and waited sure enough the reavers came and I pulled the pins, tossing the whole belt into the full hall.

A massive explosion blew them to bits while more and more rushed in, facing my claws that made a massive bloody mess of them all. I fought and fought for nearly an hour until there was a big pile of reavers around me and I was covered in their blood. They were all dead as I stood in the center of a massive pile of limbs and corpses.

The hall doors opened and I looked to them before the back wall collapsed revealing Alliance men with guns telling me to drop my weapons. My claws retracted and I turned to them ready to kill when the coms came on for them to stand down. The others came out and Mal handed me my watch and new sword. I washed off thoroughly before I allowed Inara to touch me and we spent weeks repairing Serenity to tip top shape.

In between that we had a funeral for Book and Mr.Universe. It didn't hurt that Simon and Kaylee finally got together while Maria and Mal were hooking up. As for Inara, she enjoyed the peaceful and dotting time we had until River showed up wanting sex and saying Jayne was the only one without a partner but he wasn't me nor did he have the skills of a companion.

Inara allowed it and River lost her virginity now that she wasn't as crazy. Being that she was eighteen now, she pushed the boundaries of pleasure because she could feel so much thanks to what the alliance did to her. It was awkward when she told Simon she found it pleasurable to be with a man and a woman. The night before we were to set off, I told Inara and River my story.

I showed them magic, chi and so much more. We lay in bed and I literally showed them holograms of superheroes and things of beauty, wonder and timeless peace. They learned of my lovers, my children, my true age, everything. I stroked Inara's belly and River stroked her own saying she would soon be a mother as well.

I raised an eyebrow and she snorted. "You know it's yours. That big thing is the only one I've had and you're not exactly the contraceptive type."

I sighed and asked if that's what she wanted because I could stop it if she wasn't ready. She shook her head saying it was something new, beautiful and natural and she hadn't felt any of that since they played with her brain so she wanted this as her first real choice after so long without choices. I relaxed and River went below the sheets while Inara kissed me, telling me I was more than she'd ever dreamed.

I asked her to be immortal with me, to come with in my travels beside me through time and space. She agreed and River bobbed before using a bit of teeth as she stopped gently so she didn't hurt herself. I sighed. "You as well River. Though you should know I can't offer it to everyone. They have their own lives to live and I'm not as strong as I once was."

River stopped, said it was fine and went back to getting a mouth full. She gagged as I poured it into her throat and she swallowed on reflex before coming up. She slid atop me and the rest as a companion would say, would be kissing and telling and that wasn't something we do. The next day the assassin showed up right before we were to take off and he told Mal that he was no longer the alliance's man but they may send more people after us, particularly after they've seen what I can do.

He turned to me telling me to keep the sword because I'll need it when they come for me. I shrugged and we left, heading off world first another job hopefully. Unfortunately everyone up to and including Badger was dead, but Saffron was alive and well having taken over Badger's turf on Persephone. I ended up building portals for the rim worlds and outer ring worlds while the center and mid ring worlds were left out of the loop.

It increased trade and with Serenity not just cloaked, shielded and repaired, but upgraded, we practically ran the black market. Ten years later I dumped all the alliance's dirty secrets on the net and it started another war for independence, one that we won. Every planet now had the right to rule themselves and together they formed a republic confederacy. Business was booming in the smugglers market so Jayne retired to the whore house Nandi ran with his profits.

Mal and Maria ran the crew after they got hitched while I built Wash and Zoë a space station over a tropical planet they called home with their twins. Simon and River were no longer hunted and his accounts were no longer frozen so he and Kaylee married, popped out three kids and moved off to Persephone. I built a bigger ship and raised Nike and Kratos, my daughter and son by Inara and River respectively.

Our ship was about three times bigger than Serenity but it wasn't as compact so there weren't that many places to hide in it. We lived in Sanctuary most of the time and everyone came there for holidays. Another ten years passed semi peacefully while River and Inara wore immortality rings. Nike and Kratos had their own but didn't want to wear them.

Kratos was a doctor like his uncle Simon and Nike was a crazy good pilot like uncle Wash. Nike and Jesse, Wash's son, had a thing and they ran their own crew on the old ship called the Titan. I didn't much pry deeply, but I had offered the crew immortality. They took the rings, but said they weren't coming with us when we do leave cause they had their own lives here.

Jayne had died of syphilis several years before and Gregory, Nandi's child with Mal, had told us about it. Nandi herself had an immortality ring though she wasn't with Mal. I gave Sanctuary to Nike since she'd need a safe place to rest her head. The new ship, Athena, broke atmo that day before a portal opened and we left the verse.