Author's Note: I just wanted to thank everyone for reading and commenting on my stories! I'm always thrilled to get a response, and I hope you enjoy the last chapter of Moonbrains 3.

~ Isis

Chapter Thirteen

The music stopped. River didn't like it when the music stopped.

"Libra!" River yelled across the room. Their group had spread themselves wide to cover the west doors.

The young woman lowered her weapon slightly and looked over at her, studying her. Lately River had been getting a strange reading from Libra. That was, there was actually a reading. The girl was starting to think for herself again. River reminded herself to tell Simon later. If there was a later.

"Get the other students and get out of here!" River yelled.

"What's goin' on?" Jayne asked over the radio. He was up in the rafters. So she could point and he could shoot.

"They're coming," River said into her communicator. River could almost see Jayne roll his eyes. He wanted to know why she could never just say who was coming. Why did she always have to go slightly helpless when they needed her most? "I'm not going helpless," River breathed, annoyed. And this was the man who wanted to marry her. Fantastic. "It's the Graces," she said sharply.

"Then you'll need our help!" Libra yelled. Her grey eyes were darting back and forth from River to the door. Her loyalties were beginning to split. Who needed her more? The students or River Tam?

"First and last time that gorram Alpha's gonna offer her help," Jayne whispered through the radio.

"They don't have radios, Jayne," River muttered patiently. Ish.

"Yeah, but where's that Aquarius kid? He don't need no radio."

"He's over with the others. Hiding in a closet, probably," River answered.

"Your orders, Liibra?" Taurus asked.

"Yooo-whooo! Oh yooo-whooo!" an eerie set of voices called. "We're coming for our friends. Send them back to us now, and we'll let you live," they sang out loudly.

"Is it me, or are they really creepy?" Aries asked. Aries still had trouble with words like creepy. And shiny. And basically everything Jayne said. But he was getting better.

"They are very creepy," Taurus agreed.

"Libra, please, if you just listen to me once in your life, listen to me now and – "

"No. We will help you, River Tam," Libra said, standing up straighter. Every instinct of the girl's was telling her to run, but the girl was just too stubborn to give into it. "Like you helped us. Zodiacs at the ready! Be prepared to fire!"

Virgo and Aries stood side by side, assault rifles already at the ready. They liked shooting things. Virgo was especially good at it.

Taurus stood by Libra's side. There was a lot of static in Taurus's mind, but surprisingly, there was actually something beneath. Whatever it was gave River hope.

Scorpio and Leo were still fiddling with different pieces of weapons. They had a nice pyramid of devices. River had no idea what any of them did. Knowing those two, they'd come in handy.

"You ready to cover us, sweetie?" River asked into the radio.

"Just think of me as your guardian angel," Jayne answered.

"Captain, we're about to have a party on our side of the warehouse. Care to join?" River asked through her com.

"Gee, River, it's mighty fine of you to ask us, but me, Sagittarius, and the twins are a little busy with our own little shindig on this side," Mal answered. There was an angry twinge in his voice. Wrath.

River tried to take deep breaths as she processed what had happened while she wasn't there.

"River?"

"I'm all right, Jayne," she muttered. "Get ready to fire," she said to the others. "And don't let them get to you."

"We've been freakin' programmed," Libra muttered. "Pretty sure we can't be gotten to."

River looked at her. And blinked. She would have said something to her, maybe about how she was surprised that Libra could admit it. None of the students had ever let on before that they really understood what had been done to them. But before River could have her moment with Libra, the doors exploded.

Heat and light flew into the room, followed by thick smoke. As it cleared, the Graces emerged, like ghosts. They had no weapons. But then, River supposed, they didn't need weapons to kill you.

"We will be taking back what is ours," the Graces said together. This time, their lips did, in fact, move.

"What are you?" Scorpio asked in awe. He looked like a kid who'd just seen an ice planet for the first time.

"We are the Graces. You will come with us now. "

"You are from the Alliance?" Taurus asked.

"Yes," the Graces answered.

"Then shut the hell up," Taurus said, firing.

It was just like before. The Graces dodged every bullet. They sprang out of the way like they were made of nothing. River tried to study them more closely, but she still couldn't get a read on them. They weren't like the students. It was like they weren't even human.

While River was contemplating this, Virgo was caught by a stray bullet. It caught her in the shoulder, sending her to the ground.

"Stop firing!" River yelled. "It's pointless!"

"That it is, River Tam, because you cannot defeat us," the Graces said.

"Hey, Graces?" Leo asked.

The girls turned to him. Probably a mistake on their part. A mistake a human would have seen a mile away.

"Catch."

Leo threw one of the devices at them. Instead of dodging it, one of the Graces caught it in her hand. Electricity charged through the device and into her body. She convulsed and fell to her knees.

Then something really creepy happened.

The Grace's skin started to melt off, revealing a metal skeleton. Finally, she fell into the ground face-first. The two remaining Graces watched their sister perish with cold, unfeeling faces.

Of course.

"I told you!" Jayne yelled, and River almost jumped out of her skin. "Bat shit crazy freakin' robots!" He yelled triumphantly.

River rolled her eyes. There'd be no living with him after this.

"Now you've made us angry," the two Graces said.

"Can't make a robot angry," Virgo muttered through clenched teeth.

"That's why they can dodge bullets, they calculate the trajectory and move faster than any human being could to get out of the way," Scorpio said, mouth dropping open.

The Graces narrowed their eyes at them. As one, they both raised their right hands. Their palms opened up to reveal some of the mechanics underneath. There was a strange squealing sound, like a …

Like a laser cannon warming up.

Scorpio's eyes grew even wider in delight. "Oh, wow!" he said. One didn't have to be a mind-reading genius to know that he would have loved to tinker with the Graces.

"Get down!" Libra yelled.

Leo slammed Scorpio into the ground as the Graces began firing.

"That's a nice trick they've got up their sleeves."

"Just shoot them, Jayne. They're preoccupied."

"They're freakin' robots. I don't think they can get preoccupied," Jayne muttered back, but he started firing.

A bullet caught one Grace in the head, the other in the chest. But they didn't go down. Instead, they raised their hands and shot at the rafters.

"Jayne!" River screamed as a blast hit where Jayne had been seconds before. She closed her eyes and listened. Yes. He was okay. Winded. Stupid bat shit crazy robot women. He'd always hated fembots.

"How do we stop them?" Libra yelled.

"I don't know!" River yelled back.

"I wasn't talking to you, River Tam!" Libra retorted.

River was taken aback. The Graces turned to her. She glared at them. No way was she being taken down by a couple of robots. She raised her laser pistol as they raised their hands. "Oh, sisters, are you messing with the wrong Moonbrain."

Before the Graces could fire, there was another charging sound. Then a sort of whoosh. Then the Graces collapsed to the floor. River blinked at them.

"What was that?" Virgo asked, getting up. Aries helped her.

"That was wicked," Leo said, nodding decisively.

"Electromagnetic pulse," Scorpio said proudly, holding up an odd, pyramid-shaped contraption.

River blinked at him.

Scorpio looked sheepishly from the device and back to River. "I would have used it sooner, but, well, who knew they were robots?"

"I did!" Jayne yelled, coming forward. He limped slightly, but he would be okay. River ran towards him and threw her arms around him. He was wondering about that answer now.

"Come on," River said, backing away quickly. "We have to go help Mal."

They found Mal trying, and kind of failing, to defend the East side door. "'Bout gorram time you showed up!"

River decided to ignore him.

Gem and Eye made a good team, shooting Browncoats left and right. River was sure they weren't even really thinking about what they were doing. They just saw a bad person trying to hurt them, and they reacted.

Jordan and Zoe were also there, thinking hard about Sonja Gellar, and shooting for their lives.

Sagittarius, of course, was holding her own, though there was a gash in her leg that River didn't like, and another one on her face.

A grenade went off by the doorway, throwing them all back a few feet. River blinked rapidly, trying to regain control. Mal was screaming at her. She didn't hear him. Not properly. He wanted her to get the kids out of here.

Jayne pushed at her, nodding towards the stairs. The rest of the crew were running towards them. Smoke followed them down the stairs, and River knew that part of the building was gone. River chanced a look at Libra.

She'd done a headcount. The explosion has taken Aquarius. And it had taken Capricorn.

Libra's eyes were doing the darting thing again. The Alpha female couldn't decide whether to cut and run or stay and fight. Libra would be taking a page out of the Captain's book. The page marked "wrath."

The smoke began to clear from the room. There was a gaping hole in the wall where the doorway used to be. Smith stood in the center of this new doorway with a rocket launcher in his hands.

"Weapons down, or I'll fire this thing again. This time, right at the rest of you."

He was surrounded by fifty more men. What, had he cleaned out the Khonsu City base just to get a chance at these kids? Why, yes. Yes, he did.

"You really are a bastard, you know that?" River asked Smith.

"Of course I know that," Smith answered, smiling.

River tried to think clearly. What would happen if she just shot him? Laser pistol. Laser. Electronic. EMP. Gorramit. The damn thing wouldn't work.

"One last chance, River. Give up and give me back my weapons," Smith ordered.

River could feel Libra's grey eyes on her. "No," River said, shaking her head. She'd worked too hard getting them to trust her, getting them this far, to give up now.

Smith sighed. "Oh, well, I'd been wanting to use this anyway." He pulled out a small electronic device.

Scorpio muttered some choice Chinese. River's heart started beating more rapidly as she realized what he was planning.

"This is the Fail Safe. My friend Dr. Williams gave it to me."

"No, he didn't," Cancer said, her voice shaking.

"Do you know the point of the Fail Safe, River?" Smith asked, ignoring the child.

"You give them an order that they have to follow, or all the Alliance programming is erased," River pulled from inside his head.

Smith pressed the button on the side of the device, emitting a noise much like the device the Blue-Hands had used. But this wasn't meant to kill them. It was just meant to get the Zodiacs' attention.

"Students, kill River Tam," Smith said clearly and calmly, smiling wide.

There was silence. River tried to breathe. The students, the eleven that were left, surrounded her, guns raised. But there they stopped.

No, there Libra stopped. River spun to face the girl with the grey eyes. She was crying. River blinked, back her own tears. Libra's hand was shaking.

"No," Libra growled. And it was a like a switch was flipped in the girl's head.

"What?" Smith asked angrily.

"No!" Libra yelled back. She swept her gun towards Smith and fired. The Colonel went down. His men looked around them in shock, a couple of them covered in pieces of Smith's skull.

The other students slowly lowered their weapons, shaking their heads.

"What was that?" Mal asked.

"The Alliance got it all wrong," Cancer explained, smiling. "Again."

River looked around her at the students. Was the programming all gone, or dormant, or was there something else at work here? She couldn't tell yet.

"That's shiny," Mal muttered. He looked at the Browncoats. "You idiots ready to surrender?"

Smith's men nodded and dropped their guns.

River listened for a few moments as the others began to regroup, then laughed.

"I'm not the only one with a severe head injury, am I?" Sam asked, leaning heavily between Simon and Meg.

River knew she should explain, but she just couldn't stop laughing.

"River what are you laughing at?" Inara asked.

"The music started again," River said. "The Alliance is gone. Ran away after we destroyed their bat shit crazy freakin' robots."

Libra started laughing with her. "We're free!" she exclaimed throwing her arms out wide. She looked around her at the other students and repeated, this time in a whisper, "We're free."

Two days later, Libra and River sat in the kitchen, safely back on Serenity. They were still parked on Isis, getting their bearings. Burying their dead. Patching up their wounded. Keeping Scorpio away from all the left-over explosives.

"You're sure you want to do this?" River asked her for the third time.

Libra nodded. "I want to help. I want to help end this." She paused, looked away, then back at River, her grey eyes determined. "I want to make sure they can never do it again."

"What about the others?" River asked.

"I think Aries and Taurus will want to fight. And Virgo and Sagittarius, too." She nodded. "They'll join the real Browncoats against the Alliance."

River shook her head. "This isn't what I wanted for you."

"I'm choosing this. You wanted me to have a choice, right?"

River smiled. "I did." She sighed. "Okay, I'll tell the Captain." She rose.

Libra jumped up from her seat beside River and embraced her. It was odd being hugged by Libra. Surprisingly warm and affectionate. "Thank you, River."

"You're welcome, Libra," River said, squeezing her back.

"You are not going to believe this one," Jayne said, sliding down into the room later that night. River sat on his bed and smiled. She already believed it, but she waited for him to say it. It would be so much funnier when he actually said it. "Cancer wants me to teach her how to be a mercenary."

River laughed. "What did you say?" she asked.

"Well, I taught her some Chinese," Jayne answered, like this was the natural first step in any career path in Cancer's future. Which, it actually was.

River watched as Jayne pulled off his dirty shirt. "Serenity back to normal?" she asked.

"No more guns on this boat," Jayne said. "Cannon woulda come in handy, though." He sat down next to River. "Everything can go back to the way it was."

"We got clear," River whispered, leaning into him. "I didn't think we would."

"That why you didn't answer me?" Jayne asked.

River listened to his heart beating for a few moments, thinking to herself that it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

"I didn't want us to be like Mal and Inara. Only making progress when in peril."

"They're making more 'n progress now," Jayne commented dryly. "And, look, no peril."

River didn't care at the moment what Mal and Inara were making right now.

"Ask me again, Jayne," she said, taking a deep breath. She couldn't say what Jayne smelled like. It was just Jayne. Eau de Jayne. Wouldn't sell a bottle, but River loved it.

"River, will you – "

River snapped upright and jumped on his lap, kissing him.

"Marry me?" Jayne finished between kisses.

"Yes," River answered, smiling. Jayne let out a whoop. He hadn't really known what she was going to say. Really? River laughed. What else was she going to say?

And everyone thought she was the moonbrain in this relationship.

"This," Jayne whispered, pulling River close to him. "Is about to get interesting."

"Shiny," River whispered back.