No one ever accused a Cobb of being soft. Well, no one that didn't mind spitting out their own teeth after having their words knocked straight back down their gorram throats, called a Cobb soft. It was a truth that was carved in the very marrow of Jayne's bones. Cobbs weren't weak. Cobbs weren't soft. Cobbs did not cry; not the women, not the men. No, sir, a Cobb did not cry.

Which was why Jayne Cobb was not going to cry. The suspicious burning behind his eyeballs was more likely the long-term effect of River poking around in his head. The damn girl had probably stuck her brain toe in some important bits of mush inside his skull and made him squiggly. That had to be it. He was sure of it because Jayne Cobb did not cry. Not even when his curvy, little wrench-wench went and did something like build a retractable weapons mod-station inside the largest of the hidey-holes in the bay; starboard side and camouflaged between the airlock leading to the infirmary and the gravity amplifier's hard works.

No, sir. Jayne Cobb was not going to cry. It was just so damn beautiful and shiny and that was it. It was the glare from the new metal stinging and making his eyes water. It took a couple of blinks but his cheeks stayed dry and he risked a glance down at his girlfriend. She was nothing but big brown eyes lit up by her signature megawatt smile and Jayne couldn't help but think that she really was straight sunshine. And that he was the luckiest, most undeserving sumabitch there ever was.

The hidey-hole hadn't been tall enough for him to stand inside and was just barely his arm span but it went deeper than most the others and Kaylee had used that to her advantage. The whole kit folded out and down by a clever bit of metal work that might as well have been his girl's signature as distinctive as her smile. Once opened, the bench top slid out on a roller and then a set of legs could be dropped down to stabilize the entire setup. The twin tool cabinets moved on swivels to swing out and open up on either side and then from there a lighted back board could be lifted and snapped into place. The final touch, the cherry on his sundae, was the adjacent ammo station which swiveled out from beneath the bench top.

"What fer?"

Kaylee just shrugged, "'Cause I could."

Cobbs didn't cry but, good gorramit, if she kept beaming at him like she was Jayne just knew he was gonna. To avoid turning into a blubbering pansy in front of the crew, he snatched her up off her feet and laid a good one smack on her lips. Her delighted squeal as he spun her was just about the best thing he'd ever heard and he did it once more for good measure before he dropped her back on her feet. He didn't let her go though, he just flipped Riddick and Wash off over her head when their mouths started running.

"I take it ya like it then?" She giggled.

"Like it? Bǎobèi, ain't a húndàn this or any side the 'Verse luckier than me. When the Hell didja've time ta do this?"

Her face scrunched adorably, and for the first time Jayne didn't mentally call himself a pussy for thinking the word adorable. "Well, got the parts for it all the last time we were on Persephone and ain't got nothin' but time usually when ya'll runnin' a job. Built most of it in water storage actually, damn near under your nose, too."

"The septic leak?"
"Knew ya wouldn't get ten meters near it," Kaylee giggled.

"Ya'll were in on it then?" He asked, looking around at the rest of the crew who he'd thought had all been gathered just to see the ground team back from their last drop.

"If you kiss me, I'll hit you," Riddick pre-empted.

"Hard," River assured the merc as she wound herself around the convict's arm.

"I was promised cake," Wash qualified. "Like actual real cake, made from real food, which we can afford now."

Different variations of, 'me too', echoed the pilot's admission.

"Wait, what was it made of before?" Inara thought to inquire after the laughter died down.

Kaylee rolled her lower lip between her teeth, "Best just ta enjoy the memory of the old stuff, right? Tasted like chocolate, didn't it? And anyways, don't ya listen to any of 'em, Jayne. Cap picked the spot and River helped me with the design. Then Wash helped me get it welded and Zo and Riddick with the stock."

"I don-," Jayne cleared his throat and dropped his eyes to his boots as he swallowed back hard against the lump that had suddenly gotten lodged in his throat. "It's better than a riot on my account. Hand ta God."

"And significantly less unnerving than the statue," Simon offered.

"But not the folk song," Zoe countered.

"Aw, fuck ya'll," Jayne grinned. "Jus' jealous."

"Damn straight," Wash admitted.

"Ya'll done now?" Kaylee teased. "I wanna she how she looks!" She turned back to Jayne and made grabby hands for Vera who'd Jayne had worn unapologetically to the drop they'd just completed.

The merc didn't resist the efforts of his best girl to get ahold of his second best simply because Jayne didn't think there was anything sexier than Kaylee and Vera together. Except maybe a naked Kaylee wearing nothing but Vera. He didn't let himself get tangled up in that line of thinking though because, well, cake.

"Hey, do I get cake, too?"

Kaylee threw a wink over her shoulder as she rested Vera in the bench's mount. "Always got somethin' sweet for ya. Now ain't that just pretty?" She added as she stepped back to admire her handiwork.

Jayne couldn't have agreed more but it was Book that spoke up first. "It is a magnificent piece of craftsmanship. Both the bench and the gun," he amended, offering Kaylee a small smile. "Is the mod work yours?"

"Some," the merc shrugged as he fiddled a bit with the scope's mount. "Had a fair bit'a work done already when I got her."

"Callahan is the way to go. Expensive, I imagine, how much did she run you?"

"Ain't you heard that story, Preacher-man," Riddick rumbled. "Six men came to kill him this one time and Jayne here killed 'em all with a toothpick and flashlight; meanest sonofabitch carried that gun."

"I heard tell it was with a pair of socks and bootlaces," Zoe threw in.

"Thought it was a whiskey bottle and a stick of C-4," Mal corrected.

"Wrong," River announced. "It was-,"

"Hey now, girl! Ain't yer story ta tell, now is it?"

"Well, are ya then?" Kaylee pressed eagerly.

"Am I what?" The merc grunted.

"Gonna tell it," the strawberry-blonde rolled her eyes.

"Done told it a thousand times already, bǎobèi. Six of these -,"
"-men came to kill you once," Riddick interrupted with a low chuckle. "It's the details that count though, Cobb. Don't get shit for cred if them six boys died cause a gas line blew and you just picked the corpses."

"Man's got a point," Mal conceded. "His little Mikki and Dev story wouldn't have been half as interestin' if he didn't preface it with the jailbreak tale first."

"Context," River chimed in, "-is everything."

Jayne looked around and saw the others nodding in agreement. Knowing when he was outnumbered and outgunned by Kaylee's beaming smile, the merc finally caved.

"Alright, alright, let's head up to the mess," he grumbled reluctantly. "If I'm gonna tell this story, I'mma at least gonna get me a piece a'cake for it."

We'd just hit dirt on Ares, headed back ta HQ after dumpin' this rich little shit playin' drug kingpin. Now, usually there's easier money ta be made than pickin' bounties fer a crew like Walker ran, but this boy'd earned 'imself a coupla headlines and big names like that always hauled in bigger jobs later. 'Sides we was already in-system when the bounty popped anyhow. Snatch wasn't but the work of'va coupla days and Butcher Bay paid out damn near mil-five for the headman and his lieutenants. Was B-ranked then but even still, on a six man and after guild dues and ship take, I only cleared 'bout sixty K of that. Reckon it'da taken the girls a coupla years ta pull that in back home, and it ain't like the guild negotiates none on its due so I wasn't in any kind of mind ta bitch overly much.

Anyways, we was back on Ares and The Executioner? She wasn't nothin' like Serenity. Crew didn't mean much more'n people ya made money with. 'Specially true 'round 'bout this time. Walker'd taken on a pair of fellas that'd made my skin itch and I didn't want no part in what I heard 'em plottin' on fer the girly we'd grabbed to flush out dumb-shit-rich-kid. Figured Walker would sort it and I wasn't bein' paid to babysit. Job hadn't really gone any better or worse than any other like it but didn't mean I wasn't hurtin' fer some real rack time so I shacked up in this rental unit in a hab-block in one of the smaller pleasure districts in Mycenae. Was assed-out and half-ta dead when there was a knock on the door-

Fèihuà (bullshit).

Must be a new record, Jayne. What was that? Three minutes.

Fuck off, Riddick. Girl was coughin'. Wasn't she?

One hundred and thirty-seven cycles prior, the Man-Named-Jayne ate This Girl's last apple…in this cycle, and this particular time and place… she was not coughing.

Aw, Hell, ya left it out! On the counter, it was free food, everybody knows that!

If it's an apple, it's River's. Everybody knows that.

Where's it carved, Flyboy?

On his gravestone, if he forgets again.

And there's another new record. What was it? Four minutes inta story hour 'fore the first death threat? New ship rule, every time one of ya'll threaten ta kill or maim or any variation thereof, a ship round is on ya next bit of dirt we hit.

Sir, might wanna rethink that.

What for? Think it's a fine idea.

And it is, sir, if you're plannin' on spending the next decade drunk.

Point taken. Scratch that.

Anyhow… out with it, Jayne. I wanna hear this story and no fibbin' now. Ya had a shirt special for whorin' when I met'cha. Ya really think I didn't know that there wasn't but a bit'a sleep happenin' when ya said ya needed 'some real rack time'.

Was jus' tryin' ta be a gentleman.

Fèihuà (bullshit).

Girl, I'm gonna-

Cobb, I'd finish that story instead of that sentence.

And a second one, for fuck's sake people, man's barely made it passed 'once upon a time'.

The sound of the shower woke Jayne and the warmth left behind on his sheets, scented by gun oil and sweat, pulled his lips into a slow, syrupy smile. He'd been seeing Soo-jin for months now, on the regular every time they crashed HQ and it was the closest he'd ever toed the old commitment line before. He'd caught up with her at her favorite ramen joint on the commercial floor of the hab-block she lived in after she'd finished her shift at the armory that served Black Dawn. They'd grabbed a bite before holing up for Jayne's favorite recreational activity and, after last night, he was seriously considering taking up the little woman on her offer to leave a stash of his shit at her place. It never ceased to amaze him how the tiny woman had so much energy even after working a twelve-hour shift.

When he gave himself a minute to think on it, Jayne was as content as he could ever remember being away from home. He could feel it settle in as he stretched and rolled across his bed. The only sore spot was the crew that Walker had recently hired. There was no doubt that they were effective at what they did but there was something about the two newest hatchet-faced húndàn that rubbed Jayne the wrong way. He wasn't paid for his opinions though, at least not on Walker's crew choices, and the old man didn't seem to give much of a shit so long as the job got done.

When he'd first arrived on Ares, Jayne had entertained dreams of moving his family to the planet. On the outside, it seemed like a safe place with plenty of opportunities to make better and faster money than most on Beylix. After three years of crewing with Walker, the cracks had begun to show through. Crime on Ares should have been nonexistent but Jayne knew that it thrived; especially the drug and black market tech trades. There were shootings and murders daily but there was no centralized law on Ares. Mercs were responsible for policing their own and bounties went out on Guild Mercs that had been drummed out for killing their own at least five times a week. Usually they were D-ranks and apprehended without much fanfare but, a few days before they had arrived, half of a hab-block had been rendered uninhabitable by a running firefight between a handful of Murdoch's Marauders A-ranks and a Lupus-5 S-ranker. Everyone was supposed to be restricted to a personal sidearm right out of any port on the planet and yet all parties involved had been using assault weapons and hi-explosives.

Gāisǐ de (Damn). Heard plenty of stories about Ares, never thought they were anything but half true. Sounds more like some of the Rim rocks mid-war.

Wasn't half so bad as all that, Cap. Not iffin' ya had a lick of sense and a quick enough hand. But it wasn't no place fer Matty and I'd be a dead and rottin' corpse 'fore my ma or the twins ever even broke atmo. Ares ain't no place fer anyone who got a bit'a a'good left in 'em.

Jayne shook his head as if to clear it of the negative thoughts. Walker had given him the next week off while The Executioner sat in dock for her annual overhaul and guild inspection. He was going to spend it eating good food, drinking good booze, and making love to a beautiful woman. His life was pretty good in the moment and he refused to get hung up on shit that would interfere with any of the above.

"Oh, you're up already!" Soo-jin squeaked and pouted cutely as she stood there, her shoulder-length black hair dripping trails of water down smooth skin he knew would still smell like gun oil even after her shower. She was one of the more petite women Jayne had ever been with. Her breasts were barely a B-cup and her hips were fairly slender but her legs were just the right kind of muscular for him. As she turned to throw her towel in the bin, Jayne couldn't help but admire how tight-

Jayne, a bit of advice, you may not want to go into so much detail about a naked woman's body while your girlfriend is servin' you cake with a sharp knife in her hand.

Well, gorramit, ya'll said ya wanted the details and now yer complainin'!

Soo-jin hopped into bed with a happy little shout and clambered up his body to give him a kiss on the cheek. She made a face when he tried to kiss her mouth, "Ugh. Brush your teeth first, Jayne. I was gonna grab us some breakfast. Why don't you shower and make yourself all pretty for me?" Her dark brown eyes twinkled as he grinned at her.

Jayne rolled them to pin her beneath his body and waggled his eyebrows. "S'good idea; got a better idea on what I want fer breakfast though."

"You're so bad, Jayne," Soo-jin's face stretched in a grin of her own that showed off a set of pristine white teeth in her honey-brown face. "But that sounds like a wonderful idea," she moaned as he worked his way down her body.

A harsh buzzing interrupted the flow of Jayne's hands and stalled his lips. The merc would have been more than happy to ignore the noise but it went off again and, with no little amount of bitching and grumbling on Jayne's part, Soo-jin slipped out from beneath him in a display of athleticism that gave away some of the martial training all employees of Black Dawn underwent no matter their job.

"Zhēn dàoméi (What terrible luck)! Probably my bèn dàn (idiot) brother wanting money again."

Soo-jin's apartment really only had three rooms. The main living space where the bed, vid-screen, and a small dining table with four chairs resided while the other two rooms were a water closet and a shower. Soo-jin called it cozy, Jayne thought it was more a hole with a hatch and a lock. If they were gonna share space, if he was really gonna try and make something with the girl, they'd need something bigger. Someplace with a kitchen and stove at the least, it wouldn't due for Jayne Cobb's girl to live in a crap hole. Maybe someplace on the crust edge of the city overlooking the Silicate Sea. He sure as shit wasn't going to let her keep supporting her deadbeat of a brother though and Jayne suddenly had the brilliant idea of putting the fear of God into her weasel-faced little brother.

"Who the Hell is it!?" His voice boomed just as Soo-jin hit a button that would let her see who was asking for entrance.

His lover turned to him with an outraged expression just as the concussive, repetitive booms of an automatic shotgun obliterated the padded, soundproof door as though it didn't exist. Huge holes were punched into the metal and Soo-jin disappeared beneath the cloud of shrapnel. There was only a moment of shocked incomprehension before Jayne was moving. He only had his LeMat and a couple of spare magazines with him but the gun and holster were hanging from the bedpost. Snatching them up, he rolled behind the paltry cover of the bed, drew his trusted sidearm and waited.

The Black Dawn Merc did not have to wait long as a short, burly figure in dark gray tactical gear kicked in the battered door. Jayne didn't even give him time to do more than take a single step before he drilled him through his right eye. The man dropped like a puppet with his strings cut and the reaction was instant. Someone else began firing at the wall beside the door. The fool didn't realize that the walls were made of solid plasi-crete and nothing short of heavy armor-piercing was going to penetrate fully. Jayne jumped over the bed, sprinted for the doorway, and snap-fired a round at the panicking idiot's kneecap. He went down with a howl and Jayne double-tapped him to end the irritating noise.

Jayne pivoted on his ankle and skidded back inside the apartment. He'd known the moment the door gave that Soo-jin was gone but the truth of it hit him in his gut as her lifeless eyes stared back at him. There wasn't any accusation, not a bit of pain, just confusion, maybe shock, and it took everything he was to keep the stinging burn from spilling out from his behind his eyelids. He hadn't loved Soo-jin but he'd thought maybe one day he could. He didn't dwell over her body though, there wasn't the time, but he did take a moment to cover her with one of the sheets from the bed before digging into the pockets of the first sorry bastard he'd killed.

Oh, baby, I'm so sorry.

It was a long time ago, Kaylee-girl.

Has anyone noticed that all of these stories involve a woman?

Just because you hate your dick, old man, don't mean the rest of us do.

I don't hate my…I don't expect you to understand, Riddick but my vow of celibacy-

Ain't natural.

Jayne.

What? Who gives up sexin'?

A Shepherd.

Not all of 'em. Said so 'imself. Just weird is all.

This vein of conversation is circular and unproductive. Also, the visuals are making this girl ill. She hates you all.

Wait, Mal's story had Zo' in it, does that really count?

Jayne, finish your story before you get yer fool head caved in.

Jayne quickly threw on the light-duty combat gear he had worn from the ship; tac.-vest, cargo pants, and combat boots, and belted on his LeMat before thoroughly looting the dead men. He took their weapons, both top-of-the-line Callahan models, and cursed himself at the lack of ammunition he found. The shotgun held a banana magazine but the asshole only had two spare and he had to use one to reload. For some reason, the one with the assault rifle had two spare also.

Those assholes must'ah thought I was easy meat. Kinda insultin', when you think about it.

Does that sound familiar or is it just me?

Zatknis, khuy (Rus- Shut up, dick).

What did he say, Riv? Oh god, he just promised to shiv me in my liver, didn't he? Didn't he? I can tell by the stink eye you're giving him!

Husband, don't provoke the convict.

Ya know, Riddick, never realized all this interruptin' is why this shit always lasts so long. Yer right, it's fuckin' annoyin' as hell.

Finally, Jayne retrieved the earbud and throat-mic from the dead body in the hallway. It immediately crackled to life in his ear.

"Romano, Yumitzky, come in!" The voice was deep and calm despite the sharpness of his tone. "Gorramnit! Yoshi, Thakur, relocate! We'll take care of Cobb and wait for Walker to show his yellow-belly. Heading to last known."

Jayne's brain, so often called slow by people that hardly knew him, went into overdrive as it always did in crisis situations. He picked up the corpse of the smaller merc in the hallway and started hoofing it to the main bank of lifts. There was no way in Hell heavily armed men were going to make it through all the checkpoints leading into the hab-block. They were definitely using the service lifts. His insight was rewarded when, just as he was setting the body down, the lift doors at the far end of the hall opened. Jayne snapped the assault rifle to his shoulder, eye to the integrated scope, and fired a single burst into the upper torso of the one on the right. The bigger target, slightly behind the one he had just ventilated, raised his own rifle a split second behind Jayne. Jayne spun with an agility not many suspected he had and was rewarded when, instead of having his own chest blown open, there was only a stinging line of pain across his upper back.

"Fuck!" He grunted as the lift doors closed and the bastard hosed it down with auto-fire. Despite the precariousness of his situation, Jayne had a moment at least to think that whatever weapon was trying to kill him sounded sweeter than his momma's pie even as it chewed the shit out of the relatively thin alloy doors.

So, let me get this right. The first time you saw Vera, you almost got killed by Vera.

Why'd ya think I named her after a woman, Flyboy?

Fucking women.

Amen, brother-Ow, Kaylee! What was that fer?!

You know why.

Riddick didn't get kicked.

He didn't get a weapons station custom built inta the ship now either, did he?

No.

Well, now ain't that the matte side of shiny? Go on, finish the story.

The lift rose through darkness, the rounded transparent wall on one side facing a rock face, until it suddenly emerged onto its exterior track as it rose towards the surface part of the hab-block. Overhead, the shield-walls that protected the city from Ares' period razor-wind storms, cast the city into almost unending hazy twilight. Jayne watched the blazing lights down the entire half a kilometer stretch of canyon that housed the pleasure district. A larger canyon awaited at the far end where lay many of the guilds support facilities like the Armory where Soo-jin had worked. Holographic billboards and news monitors dominated the visual experience even from so high up. A mag-lev train rushed out of the rock wall a dozen meters to Jayne's right at two hundred kilometers an hour and the lift barely rocked. There were Border Planets that didn't have this much advanced technology and it was a credit to how much money there was to be made in the mercenary game that most of the construction had been accomplished in the last decade.

All of those ruminations were shattered along with the glass wall of the lift as a sniper shot pierced Jayne's tac-vest. With barely a grunt, Jayne returned fire with the shotgun while remaining on his feet. The sniper fired once more, this time a direct headshot, and could only stare in horror as the body still refused to fall. Then an answering shot, from an assault rifle of all things, stopped all thought forever.

Jayne let the assault rifle dangle from its strap as he nodded to himself in satisfaction at a shot well made. Not everyone could make a pinpoint six hundred meter shot with an assault rifle whose effective range was just under seven. He rolled himself over and slowly began to open the access hatch that would get him back up into the lift's interior.

I'm sorry, excuse me? You're telling me you knew someone would take a shot you and so you dragged the body that entire way just to be a decoy?

Well, duh. Woulda been a fool not ta. Ain't ya been listenin'?

Yes, it's just...

Hard ta believe? You know what, a year ago, I would'ah been right there with ya, 'Nara. But, if there's one thing I've learnt about Jayne, is that he's at his best when it comes to saving his own skin.

All gotta be good at sumthin', Cap.

Jayne made an almost fatal mistake when the lift reached the top of the canyon and let him out onto the maintenance deck for the shield-walls. He was in a parking lot for aircars and relaxed slightly as he thought he had gained enough space to call in some reinforcements. Black Dawn took care of its own and there was going to be Hell to pay for whoever had hired these sons of bitches. It was the subtle rush of air, a strange pressure that was hard to define, that caused him to turn and look upwards. He dove to the ground with a howl of pain and rage as another line of pain arced across his back. The stolen assault rifle and shotgun clattered to the ground as their straps broke free. He spun and barely managed to roll out of the way of a spiked heel that nearly skewered him through the eyeball.

As he rolled to his feet, Jayne had only a fraction of a second to be surprised that his attacker was a disturbingly beautiful dark brown-skinned woman with a shaved head and heavy kohl around her eyes, before she was at him with a pair of short swords.

Swords! I couldn't believe it. Of all the gorram things to try to kill a body with.

In case you forgot, Jayne, your captain's been on the pointy end. Literally.

Thought you said it was six men that came to kill you.

Hell, Zo. It's just more theatrical if I round up ta six. Ain't you never been to tha theater?

The woman was fast but Jayne proved faster. She had a sidearm but had apparently been counting on her stealth, wingsuit, and finesse to win her the day. Jayne drew his LeMat and fired but she was fast like a freak. Unfortunately for her, she turned her back to Jayne and the big merc grabbed her up into his arms and hurled her over the waist-high barrier just behind the lift bank. He watched as she deployed her wingsuit but it was far too close to the wall and it was a simple matter for Jayne to empty a tight grouping into her chest despite her speed.

Did'ja really have ta shoot her, Jayne?

She tried to chop my head off, Kaylee! She had the look of a pro. If I hadn't done her then, she would definitely have come back for me later.

"Hold it right there!" The voice blared from the P.A. System of an Enforcement and Interdiction Vehicle that was even now hovering over him. The blocky, gun-metal gray aerocraft were communal property that was utilized by whichever guild was responsible for policing the city in the current year. This year it was White Dawn and those bastards were sticklers for rules.

Jayne held his arms high in the air, "The name's Jayne Cobb, Black Dawn, B-5678. Some people've taken an interest in puttin' me in the ground today, boys. Think you could give me a hand?"

The chime of the lift opening behind him injected a shard of icy dread in Jayne's chest. Without a word, he began sprinting for the meager cover provided by the parked aircars in the lot.

"Halt! Identity yourself!"

The answer came in the form of that Callahan, it was a full-bore by the sound, firing on full auto once again. Jayne spared one glance back to see that the clever bastard had shredded the left lateral thrusters and the EIV was spinning out of control. He raised his LeMat and fired the rest of his magazine on the run. There was no way in Hell he was going to hit the man but it was as good as any other method to keep himself from being shot in the back as he hightailed it out of there.

Someone was pulling a sleek aircar that seemed way out of reach for a wrench-monkeys pay-grade but Jayne wasn't complaining as he reached into the open-air compartment and dragged the woman out.

"Stop screaming and run!" Jayne bellowed as he hopped in and wrenched on the controls.

The aircar rolled in a high arc over his enemy's head as Jayne sighted with his LeMat. He had the big húndàn dead to rights and the other man knew it. It didn't stop him from raising his own rifle and trying to get a bead on Jayne. Jayne pulled the trigger on his LeMat and his brow rose in disbelief as it released a pitiful whine instead of a supersonic bullet. Then the roll was complete and Jayne was nosediving with the belly of his stolen ride nearly scraping the rock wall. His reaction time, finely honed in circumstances much like that which he found himself in now, allowed him to deftly maneuver the vehicle into the thick stream of traffic heading towards the Olympia Boulevard.

Jayne was in the middle of sending a general distress call to Black Dawn when the tink-tink-tink sounds of bullets striking the rear of his aerocar sent him into a desperate dive to throw off his pursuer.

Ai ya jwai leh(Shit on my head)! Ain't gonna lie, Jayne. That sounds about like what I'd imagine it'd be like having Riddick tryin' ta kill ya.

Nah, not my style, Mal. Too loud. Too messy. See, I got what them guild Mercs lack, finesse. Me? You'd never see coming.

Shit, even fer guild this guy was reckless. Didn't seem to give a shit what he had ta do. Man was all in, minute he got a whiff of my ass. Felt like hours of us playin' cat and mouse, but ya know how those things go, prolly wasn't no more'n five minutes of me tryin' ta lose 'im in the maintenance shafts and tunnels that ran in the canyon walls. My LeMat ran dry and so did he. That's when he got the brilliant idea of ramming me. Both went down hard in the middle of a crowded mall.

"Gorramit! Bèn dài zì jiāo xì ròu (stupid inbred sack of meat)!" Jayne shouted as he scrambled from the crumpled remains of his ride. His chest hurt like hell from where he had hit it against the steering column and his right knee felt as though it would slide out of place if he put it down just a hair too hard. "What the Hell did I ever do ta you!?"

Jayne was mollified to see that his pursuer hadn't escaped unscathed. He growled quietly as he realized the man was taller than he was, which was not something he saw overly much, and probably had thirty pounds of muscle on him too. He took off the tac-vest he was wearing and Jayne could see kanji in twin lines down his abdomen. What they signified, he had no idea, but the man's bronzed skin was covered in blood and sweat. He was just as wrung out as Jayne but the resolve in his hard brown eyes was also clear to see.

"Look, this contract ain't worth yer life!"

"Money," the merc spat, "It's not about the money!" His voice was deep, graveled and Jayne realized it had been the one giving orders. "That little girl you took…the one you strung up and dangled for bait your last job? Girl up and killed herself three days ago."

"Huh? What the fuck's that gotta do with me?"

A cold sort of something was in the tight line of his lips and the man forced a breath out of his nose like he was trying to shove down a fair bit of pain before he offered anything more. "Read your profile and, ya know, I can believe ya didn't lay a hand on her, not like the rest. It was you that took her though, handed her over to that sonofabitch Walker. And, for that-," the man flicked out a folding combat knife. It was only half the size of Jayne's Binky but he was holding it like he knew how to use it.

Jayne bent his knees slightly and slid his right hand around to grip Binky's handle at the small of his back.

I'm surprised you didn't have a back-up piece, Jayne.

Still young and dumb then. Started carryin' one after that. Grenades, too. Can ya blame me, Zoe?

There was no crazed shout as the man charged Jayne. He just started sprinting the scant five meters that divided them. When he was within three, Jayne drew Binky and tossed him in a short, vicious arc that ended with five centimeters of blade being stuck in the man's chest. There was a collision, then something icy hit him in the right side several times before the ground rose up to meet them, and Jayne rolled away from the man as the ice gave way to fire. He looked down at his side and shook his head. Bastard had still managed to stab him in the liver.

"Cobb," the man called weakly as he clutched Binky's handle while lying on his back struggling to breath as his thoracic cavity filled with blood.

"Yeah," Jayne grunted, as he pressed both hands to his stab wounds for all the good it would do him with a perforated liver.

"Knew I should have went with 'em to do ya from the get. Didn't believe your assessment," his laugh was more of a harsh, stunted bark than a chuckle. "Guess I'm paying for it now-," his voice gave way to a cough that settled into a liquid-y sounding rattle. "Name's Corwin. Do me a favor? If you make it, take my gun. She's a real... beaut. Walker... man's a-a poison…fu-uck…this, this life's a poison...do-don't let it make ya…make ya…black-,"

I passed out after that. Woke up three days later in a Black Dawn infirmary. They'd cloned me a new liver and it was already put in. Charged me fer it too, fuckers. Found out later, Corwin and his men were Golden Blade. Corwin was an A and the rest were B's except for the panicky kid in the hall.

Don't do anything by halves do ya, Cobb. Golden Blade? Shit. More like vigilantes than mercs. I've run across one or two in my time and they're better than most. Alotta their D's would qualify as B-rankers anywhere else.

Ate through the rest of my crew like they was nothin', that's fer damn sure. By the time the dust settled, wasn't nobody left but me and Walker. Had ta rebuild that crew from scratch, tell ya what though, old man was a mite pickier after that. Got Vera in the end, and made A-rank on account of the shiny Golden Blade paid out to square themselves with Black Dawn. Bigwigs didn't want an all-out war and, by the time I came to, it was quick headin' that way.

Was it true, Jayne? What they said about the girl?

Asked Walker 'bout it after, never did get a straight answer but, truth be told, I reckon I didn't want one. He just laughed, told me it weren't a concern a'mine. We'd got paid for the job and damn near six times over in reparations. We did track down the one that put the hit out on us a couple weeks later and, well, Walker didn't bring that one in alive.

Well… that's…horrifying.

'Verse ain't as pretty as it looks from that flight chair, Flyboy.

I just mean how niǔqū de héng pán (twisted sideways) is it that Riddick's stories had a happier ending then yours. No offense… I can't tell if that eyebrow means you're amused or thinking about killing me in my sleep and that frightens me.

He is.

He is which, Riv?

Both.

Annnnnnnnnd, on that note, I'm callin' it. Three death threats is the limit for story hour. Four's just bad luck.

Didn't say a damn thing.

Ya really didn't have to, Riddick.