Firefly Fic: Turnabout is Fair Play - Ch.4/?
Title: Turnabout is Fair Play
Chapter: 4 / ?
Author: caffeinified
Fandom: Firefly/Serenity
Characters/Pairing: Crew, Mal/Inara (eventually)
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I don't own Firefly. It's just for fun.
Summary: A few years post Serenity the movie. Totally AU and made up from there.
Warning: Non-con and torture ahead and probably more to come. I’m evil, what can I say?
Previous Chapters: 1| 2| 3
Pissed off couldn’t even begin to describe Zoe’s current state. The minute River had notified her that Inara had taken one of the shuttles and left, she had tried to get through to the ex-companion on the cortex to no avail. They had logged onto the cortex and River had broken in to Inara’s account almost too easily so that they could witness the entire transaction between Inara and Atherton. And finally, some time later they had received a single message that had mimicked her very words to the stubborn woman when they had first returned to the ship after Mal had been arrested.
I’m going to rescue the Captain.
-Inara
Part of her felt badly. She knew that Inara cared deeply for Mal and she should have included her in their rescue plans. She should have seen this coming. Inara was too proud to sit and do nothing while the rest of them ran in to attempt a rescue. The woman’s intentions were good but now Zoe was left with a decision to make; whether to go after the Captain who was already in the devil’s clutches or Inara who had just made a deal with the devil himself.
She knew that Mal could take care of himself and withstand much darker things than Inara could. She knew that a man like Atherton wouldn’t be easy on a woman who had caused him so much humiliation in the past. And she knew what Mal would want her to do. The later influenced her decision more than anything else because although she and Mal had a relationship of military significance from the past, they also had a friendship that went beyond any friendship either of them had ever had. Much to her own and Jayne’s annoyance, she requested River set a new course for Bellerophon.
Ariel would have to wait.
**
Once she had arrived on Bellerophon, Inara had done as requested and contacted Atherton. He had left her with an address and she took a transport further inland to reach her destination. The home was large and opulent, obviously built to flaunt the money that the Wing family had acquired over the years. Perfectly manicured gardens that mirrored some of the finest gardens she had seen at the Guild House surrounded the home.
After exiting the transport, Inara gathered her skirts as she stepped up the marble steps to the entryway. A butler greeted her with a slow nod and then urged her to follow him. She did follow a few steps behind the man. Even as she took in the splendor of the home, her heart betrayed her outward calm by rattling erratically in her chest. The uncertainties of the situation bothered her. Inara was used to knowing what she was getting into before she went into it. That was part of the control that she so desperately loved. Here in Atherton Wing’s home, she hadn’t the slightest clue of what was in store for her.
She was led into what looked to be a study, books lining two walls from the ceiling to the floor. Along a wall of windows there was an antiquated wood desk. In the center of the room there was a couch and two armchairs along with end tables and a center table that matched the wood grain of the desk.
Atherton stood from the plush armchair he was sitting in and set his reader aside on one of the end tables. “Tell the doctor she’s here and to prepare. We’ll be a few moments.” The butler bowed his way out of the room and Atherton stepped forward and extended one arm. He waggled his fingers, beckoning her closer to him. “Do come in. We both know that you’re far from shy, Inara.”
Inara stepped further into the room and somewhat hesitantly placed her hand in his. She dipped her head in a slight curtsey as he kissed her knuckles. “May I ask what you might need a doctor for?”
Standing upright after brushing his lips over her knuckles, Atherton stepped forward to close the small space between them. “To see what condition you’re in. Why would I want to wed damaged goods? And I know that it’s been years since you’ve gone through the physical that the Guild requires every year. I desire to know what I’m getting and how you deserve to be treated.”
He glided one fingertip along the neckline of her dress, pushing the loose fabric aside and down off her shoulders to bare her chest. He noticed Inara tense and a grin curled over his lips at the reaction. “Well aren’t you out of practice… Relax Inara, this is what you were meant to do. Remember?” He harshly pinched one nipple causing her to gasp. “Just because I may not wed what he’s done to you doesn’t mean I won’t use you. It would be a waste if I didn’t, don’t you think… all that training?”
Everything in her wanted to slap him, turn on her heel and march out of this place. But she knew she couldn’t until she had given him enough to free Mal. “I hope that you don’t mind my asking, but when will we get to the business of freeing Captain Reynolds?”
In answer, Atherton gathered the material of Inara’s dress at the front and ripped it open to her waist. The torn fabric hung there loosely, the skirt of her dress hanging precariously low on her hips. “Don’t worry Bao Bei, I have a closet full of dresses I’ve reserved for you to wear… or not wear, whatever the situation may call for. And the Captain will be seen to when we’re more settled. Now that is all we will speak of him today. Are we understood?”
After a slight nod she forced herself to hold still while his lips smothered her neck up to her chin and lips. Atherton kissed her thoroughly, his hands exploring and touching in anything but an appropriate fashion. She found it ironic. Mal’s hands were so gruff and work-worn, yet when he touched her it was with utmost love and care as if he were afraid he could break her. Atherton’s hands were soft and smooth since he had never had to really work in the world. But his touches were harsh and rough, so far from a true gentleman’s touch.
“I suppose we shouldn’t keep the good doctor waiting.” He whispered, then took a hold of Inara’s arm to escort her through the hallways.
Inara quickly tried to gather the torn material of her dress with her other hand to hold it up against her front. Several of the hired help that they passed gawked and whispered as they passed. It caused a flushed hue to rise into her neck and cheeks. “Atherton, please…”
He paused and looked back to Inara and took a momentary bout of pity. Atherton waited for her to gather herself together and then continued on his way. “You should take pride in how you look, bao bei. Time and that horrid life you’ve been leading have been strangely kind to you. Your appearance is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“When such pride consists of flaunting myself in a public venue, I hope you won’t think less of me for drawing the line.” Inara snapped back, the words a little more harsh than she had intended them to be. “And I do hope that your view of propriety especially in public would coincide with mine.”
Atherton chuckled low and shook his head. He stopped just outside a bedroom where the doctor had set up his things inside and took a moment to look Inara over. “My dear Inara, we shall see how we are to coincide once this examination is completed, hrmm? Now, when the Doctor is finished you may go to the bedroom next door, right there.” He pointed to another door to the left of them. “I will come to you when I am ready and we will discuss our future.”
He leaned in to kiss her cheek and Inara watched as he turned on his heel and walked off. She drew in a deep breath and then entered the room, nodding a greeting to the physician inside. She had never thought much of the physicals the Guild had required. They had been necessary and practical. This one was thoroughly humiliating. It was an inspection to see if she was worthy enough to wed Atherton Wing.
As she disrobed a small grin played over her lips as Mal’s voice sounded in her head. It rallied her otherwise desperate mentality, causing her to square her shoulders and lift her chin in a show of defiance even as she was giving in.
‘I might not show respect to your job but he didn’t respect you. That’s the difference, ‘Nara. He doesn’t even see you.’
The doctor studied her curiously as he caught the change in her, the ghostly smile that curved over her lips. And Inara just nodded her consent to begin the examination. As for the change, memories that floated through her thoughts to remind her that someone did in fact truly see her as more than a commodity, she would never tell.
**
True to their word, Admiral Wetherford walked into his cell in the ‘dungeon’ a half hour later carrying an old leather-bound book in one hand. With him there were two other soldiers and a medic. One soldier he introduced as Lieutenant Ford and the other as Lieutenant Belfast. The medic, he called Doctor Graham. Such social introductions were so odd when Mal was hanging from the ceiling with his wrists bound over his head.
A chair was brought in for the Admiral to sit in while the two Lieutenants moved behind him where he couldn’t see. It didn’t escape Mal’s attention that the wall of torture was back there also. He listened to them moving around behind him.
“Tell me, Malcolm. How are you feeling at the moment?” Case asked. “I am curious.”
Mal shrugged as best he could as he considered the question. “Little cold. They took my shirt and shoes as you can see. Think I’m losin’ the feelin’ in my hands too. Got that little tingle feelin’ goin’ on.” He paused before adding the last. “Oh and don’t mind admittin’ that I’m a little hungry.”
Admiral Case chuckled at Mal’s thorough and yet sarcastically given answer to his question. “The reports of your transportation say that you did not eat the food that was supplied for you.”
Doctor Graham stepped forward to smear antiseptic over the infected scar on his cheek that Atherton had given him. Mal winced and wrinkled his nose. “Yeah well, they wouldn’t uncuff me and I wasn’t too fond of gettin’ on my knees to eat off of the floor without the use of my hands.”
“Your pride will get you nowhere here, Malcolm.” The Admiral crossed one leg over the other and folded his hands over his knees. “Would you have eaten the food off of the floor had you been given the use of your hands?”
“Can’t rightly answer that one way or another. Depends on how hungry I am.” Mal answered, listening more intently to the movement of the Lieutenant’s behind him than he was to the Admiral and the Doctor in front of him.
“Fair enough.” Case waited for the doctor to finish tending to the angry scar on Mal’s cheek and leave the room before he continued. “I think we’ll start with something simple and work up to where I want you to be. What is your name?”
Mal narrowed his eyes as an amused grin played over his lips. “You’ve been sayin’ my name since I got here.” Almost before he had finished the statement he heard the loud snap and the sting across his back as the whip hit him and sliced through skin. “Tah mah duh hwoon dahn!”
“Each time you do not answer me correctly, you will be reprimanded.” Case informed him as he opened his book and looked down. “Now, what is your name?”
“Malcolm Reynolds. Name’s Malcolm Reynolds.” It was harmless enough to give in to the simple questions. Although he found himself wondering how long it would be until they got to questions that he would refuse to answer correctly.
“Are you the Captain of a ship that you call Serenity?”
“Yes.” He heard the snap and braced himself just in time to feel the sharp sting again as the whips broke another long line of skin at his back. He gasped a sharp inhaled breath of air and looked to the Admiral, confused. “Gwai-gwai long duh dong! Told me to answer correctly.”
“And here you are the Captain of nothing.” Case glanced up to Mal, arching one brow pointedly before looking back down to his book. “And as you will not be leaving this place, you will never be the Captain of anything again. Shall we try this one more time? Are you the Captain of a ship that you call Serenity?”
Mal’s heart pounded in his chest as he drew in quick breaths of air. He weighed that question carefully for several long, drawn out moments before answering quietly. “No.” Right now Zoe was Captain of Serenity. It was logical. It was the plan they had always had. Without Mal, Serenity was Zoe’s.
“Very good. You’re a quick study, Malcolm. Now, do you indeed realize that the war is over and has been over for some time?”
“Yes.” The answer was said partly as a question. Mal wasn’t sure that the Admiral would believe his answer. And in truth, Mal had never completely given up on the war. He just knew how to choose his battles.
Admiral Wetherford nodded, his fingertips tapping against the edge of his book. “Do you admit that the Alliance rightfully won that war?”
“Rightfully?” Pressing his lips together, Mal looked down to the floor. He knew he was about to get another lashing over his back. The Admiral wouldn’t like his answers to these questions. “Won because we were outnumbered and you’re real good at brainwashin’ innocent folk.”
As expected the third snap and slice over his back came quickly and Mal grunted with the sharp sting. Every muscle in him went tense and he stubbornly looked back up to the Admiral who was now looking at him and not the book.
“Ahhh there you are. The famous Malcolm Reynolds… fighter to the end.” Case stood up and moved closer to Mal. He leaned in close to study his eyes. “It’s in your eyes… taunting me. I’m going to break that fight in you.”
“Good luck.” Mal answered, not giving in an inch as he stared back at the Admiral. He wouldn’t have let himself waver from that stare down if he could have, not with the line of questions they had moved to. In that moment he was back in the war, staring down an opponent who had everything going for him while he was running on fumes.
“I do believe our prisoner deserves one more lash for lying to us about the state of the war. It seems that he’s still fighting the Alliance.”
Mal shuddered and bit down on his lower lip with the lash that came from the unseen whip behind him. “’Til I die.”
That wicked grin returned to Admiral Case Wetherford’s features. Gone was the older gentleman to be replaced by a maniac on a power trip. “That can be arranged. But it isn’t half as much fun, Malcolm.”
There was a long moment of silence between them until the Admiral turned back to sit in his chair. Case crossed one leg over the other again and set his book in his lap. “What is your name?”
As the Admiral moved away, Mal held onto the glare that had settled in his eyes. He let go of a few labor intensive breaths before answering. “Malcolm Reynolds.”
“Are you the Captain of a-“
“No.” Mal interrupted, rolling his eyes to the ceiling and back down. “Been through this part. Runnin’ out of material already?”
Case leaned forward in his chair, watching Mal closely. “If you aren’t a Captain, then what does that make you? What are you, Malcolm?”
His brow furrowed uncertainly as Mal mulled over that question. He finally shook his head. “Don’t understand.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to, not immediately. A man like you…” A corner of the Admiral’s lips lifted just barely. “You’re nothing. You’ve always been a nothing playing at being something. And for awhile the myth of that something was great storytelling for the masses. But deep down you’ve always known. You’re nothing… a nobody… and somewhat worthless.”
Mal’s jaw tensed as he listened. Case enjoyed seeing that small sign that his words were getting through. It prompted him to repeat his question. “Now that I’ve spelled it out for your simple mind to understand… what are you, Malcolm? Beneath the myth and without your ship… what are you?”
His voice was tight when he answered. The anger and fury inside of him was almost palpable in the air as he spoke. “A better man than you will ever be.” He cried out as he felt the next stinging slice through the skin at his back. The sound echoed off of the walls, ringing in his own ears. He dipped his head and gasped for breath, trying to mentally block out the pain.
“I think we’ll keep trying with this one for awhile.” Smiling, the Admiral settled back in his chair and looked down at his book again. “What are you, Malcolm?”
This time Mal thought to just not answer. But once again he felt the stinging blow of the whip. His cry echoed in his own ears again and he wondered how long he could hold out from answering with the words he knew the Admiral was looking for. He braced himself again as the question was once again repeated.
“What are you, Malcolm?”
Chapter: 4 / ?
Author: caffeinified
Fandom: Firefly/Serenity
Characters/Pairing: Crew, Mal/Inara (eventually)
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I don't own Firefly. It's just for fun.
Summary: A few years post Serenity the movie. Totally AU and made up from there.
Warning: Non-con and torture ahead and probably more to come. I’m evil, what can I say?
Previous Chapters: 1| 2| 3
Pissed off couldn’t even begin to describe Zoe’s current state. The minute River had notified her that Inara had taken one of the shuttles and left, she had tried to get through to the ex-companion on the cortex to no avail. They had logged onto the cortex and River had broken in to Inara’s account almost too easily so that they could witness the entire transaction between Inara and Atherton. And finally, some time later they had received a single message that had mimicked her very words to the stubborn woman when they had first returned to the ship after Mal had been arrested.
I’m going to rescue the Captain.
-Inara
Part of her felt badly. She knew that Inara cared deeply for Mal and she should have included her in their rescue plans. She should have seen this coming. Inara was too proud to sit and do nothing while the rest of them ran in to attempt a rescue. The woman’s intentions were good but now Zoe was left with a decision to make; whether to go after the Captain who was already in the devil’s clutches or Inara who had just made a deal with the devil himself.
She knew that Mal could take care of himself and withstand much darker things than Inara could. She knew that a man like Atherton wouldn’t be easy on a woman who had caused him so much humiliation in the past. And she knew what Mal would want her to do. The later influenced her decision more than anything else because although she and Mal had a relationship of military significance from the past, they also had a friendship that went beyond any friendship either of them had ever had. Much to her own and Jayne’s annoyance, she requested River set a new course for Bellerophon.
Ariel would have to wait.
**
Once she had arrived on Bellerophon, Inara had done as requested and contacted Atherton. He had left her with an address and she took a transport further inland to reach her destination. The home was large and opulent, obviously built to flaunt the money that the Wing family had acquired over the years. Perfectly manicured gardens that mirrored some of the finest gardens she had seen at the Guild House surrounded the home.
After exiting the transport, Inara gathered her skirts as she stepped up the marble steps to the entryway. A butler greeted her with a slow nod and then urged her to follow him. She did follow a few steps behind the man. Even as she took in the splendor of the home, her heart betrayed her outward calm by rattling erratically in her chest. The uncertainties of the situation bothered her. Inara was used to knowing what she was getting into before she went into it. That was part of the control that she so desperately loved. Here in Atherton Wing’s home, she hadn’t the slightest clue of what was in store for her.
She was led into what looked to be a study, books lining two walls from the ceiling to the floor. Along a wall of windows there was an antiquated wood desk. In the center of the room there was a couch and two armchairs along with end tables and a center table that matched the wood grain of the desk.
Atherton stood from the plush armchair he was sitting in and set his reader aside on one of the end tables. “Tell the doctor she’s here and to prepare. We’ll be a few moments.” The butler bowed his way out of the room and Atherton stepped forward and extended one arm. He waggled his fingers, beckoning her closer to him. “Do come in. We both know that you’re far from shy, Inara.”
Inara stepped further into the room and somewhat hesitantly placed her hand in his. She dipped her head in a slight curtsey as he kissed her knuckles. “May I ask what you might need a doctor for?”
Standing upright after brushing his lips over her knuckles, Atherton stepped forward to close the small space between them. “To see what condition you’re in. Why would I want to wed damaged goods? And I know that it’s been years since you’ve gone through the physical that the Guild requires every year. I desire to know what I’m getting and how you deserve to be treated.”
He glided one fingertip along the neckline of her dress, pushing the loose fabric aside and down off her shoulders to bare her chest. He noticed Inara tense and a grin curled over his lips at the reaction. “Well aren’t you out of practice… Relax Inara, this is what you were meant to do. Remember?” He harshly pinched one nipple causing her to gasp. “Just because I may not wed what he’s done to you doesn’t mean I won’t use you. It would be a waste if I didn’t, don’t you think… all that training?”
Everything in her wanted to slap him, turn on her heel and march out of this place. But she knew she couldn’t until she had given him enough to free Mal. “I hope that you don’t mind my asking, but when will we get to the business of freeing Captain Reynolds?”
In answer, Atherton gathered the material of Inara’s dress at the front and ripped it open to her waist. The torn fabric hung there loosely, the skirt of her dress hanging precariously low on her hips. “Don’t worry Bao Bei, I have a closet full of dresses I’ve reserved for you to wear… or not wear, whatever the situation may call for. And the Captain will be seen to when we’re more settled. Now that is all we will speak of him today. Are we understood?”
After a slight nod she forced herself to hold still while his lips smothered her neck up to her chin and lips. Atherton kissed her thoroughly, his hands exploring and touching in anything but an appropriate fashion. She found it ironic. Mal’s hands were so gruff and work-worn, yet when he touched her it was with utmost love and care as if he were afraid he could break her. Atherton’s hands were soft and smooth since he had never had to really work in the world. But his touches were harsh and rough, so far from a true gentleman’s touch.
“I suppose we shouldn’t keep the good doctor waiting.” He whispered, then took a hold of Inara’s arm to escort her through the hallways.
Inara quickly tried to gather the torn material of her dress with her other hand to hold it up against her front. Several of the hired help that they passed gawked and whispered as they passed. It caused a flushed hue to rise into her neck and cheeks. “Atherton, please…”
He paused and looked back to Inara and took a momentary bout of pity. Atherton waited for her to gather herself together and then continued on his way. “You should take pride in how you look, bao bei. Time and that horrid life you’ve been leading have been strangely kind to you. Your appearance is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“When such pride consists of flaunting myself in a public venue, I hope you won’t think less of me for drawing the line.” Inara snapped back, the words a little more harsh than she had intended them to be. “And I do hope that your view of propriety especially in public would coincide with mine.”
Atherton chuckled low and shook his head. He stopped just outside a bedroom where the doctor had set up his things inside and took a moment to look Inara over. “My dear Inara, we shall see how we are to coincide once this examination is completed, hrmm? Now, when the Doctor is finished you may go to the bedroom next door, right there.” He pointed to another door to the left of them. “I will come to you when I am ready and we will discuss our future.”
He leaned in to kiss her cheek and Inara watched as he turned on his heel and walked off. She drew in a deep breath and then entered the room, nodding a greeting to the physician inside. She had never thought much of the physicals the Guild had required. They had been necessary and practical. This one was thoroughly humiliating. It was an inspection to see if she was worthy enough to wed Atherton Wing.
As she disrobed a small grin played over her lips as Mal’s voice sounded in her head. It rallied her otherwise desperate mentality, causing her to square her shoulders and lift her chin in a show of defiance even as she was giving in.
‘I might not show respect to your job but he didn’t respect you. That’s the difference, ‘Nara. He doesn’t even see you.’
The doctor studied her curiously as he caught the change in her, the ghostly smile that curved over her lips. And Inara just nodded her consent to begin the examination. As for the change, memories that floated through her thoughts to remind her that someone did in fact truly see her as more than a commodity, she would never tell.
**
True to their word, Admiral Wetherford walked into his cell in the ‘dungeon’ a half hour later carrying an old leather-bound book in one hand. With him there were two other soldiers and a medic. One soldier he introduced as Lieutenant Ford and the other as Lieutenant Belfast. The medic, he called Doctor Graham. Such social introductions were so odd when Mal was hanging from the ceiling with his wrists bound over his head.
A chair was brought in for the Admiral to sit in while the two Lieutenants moved behind him where he couldn’t see. It didn’t escape Mal’s attention that the wall of torture was back there also. He listened to them moving around behind him.
“Tell me, Malcolm. How are you feeling at the moment?” Case asked. “I am curious.”
Mal shrugged as best he could as he considered the question. “Little cold. They took my shirt and shoes as you can see. Think I’m losin’ the feelin’ in my hands too. Got that little tingle feelin’ goin’ on.” He paused before adding the last. “Oh and don’t mind admittin’ that I’m a little hungry.”
Admiral Case chuckled at Mal’s thorough and yet sarcastically given answer to his question. “The reports of your transportation say that you did not eat the food that was supplied for you.”
Doctor Graham stepped forward to smear antiseptic over the infected scar on his cheek that Atherton had given him. Mal winced and wrinkled his nose. “Yeah well, they wouldn’t uncuff me and I wasn’t too fond of gettin’ on my knees to eat off of the floor without the use of my hands.”
“Your pride will get you nowhere here, Malcolm.” The Admiral crossed one leg over the other and folded his hands over his knees. “Would you have eaten the food off of the floor had you been given the use of your hands?”
“Can’t rightly answer that one way or another. Depends on how hungry I am.” Mal answered, listening more intently to the movement of the Lieutenant’s behind him than he was to the Admiral and the Doctor in front of him.
“Fair enough.” Case waited for the doctor to finish tending to the angry scar on Mal’s cheek and leave the room before he continued. “I think we’ll start with something simple and work up to where I want you to be. What is your name?”
Mal narrowed his eyes as an amused grin played over his lips. “You’ve been sayin’ my name since I got here.” Almost before he had finished the statement he heard the loud snap and the sting across his back as the whip hit him and sliced through skin. “Tah mah duh hwoon dahn!”
“Each time you do not answer me correctly, you will be reprimanded.” Case informed him as he opened his book and looked down. “Now, what is your name?”
“Malcolm Reynolds. Name’s Malcolm Reynolds.” It was harmless enough to give in to the simple questions. Although he found himself wondering how long it would be until they got to questions that he would refuse to answer correctly.
“Are you the Captain of a ship that you call Serenity?”
“Yes.” He heard the snap and braced himself just in time to feel the sharp sting again as the whips broke another long line of skin at his back. He gasped a sharp inhaled breath of air and looked to the Admiral, confused. “Gwai-gwai long duh dong! Told me to answer correctly.”
“And here you are the Captain of nothing.” Case glanced up to Mal, arching one brow pointedly before looking back down to his book. “And as you will not be leaving this place, you will never be the Captain of anything again. Shall we try this one more time? Are you the Captain of a ship that you call Serenity?”
Mal’s heart pounded in his chest as he drew in quick breaths of air. He weighed that question carefully for several long, drawn out moments before answering quietly. “No.” Right now Zoe was Captain of Serenity. It was logical. It was the plan they had always had. Without Mal, Serenity was Zoe’s.
“Very good. You’re a quick study, Malcolm. Now, do you indeed realize that the war is over and has been over for some time?”
“Yes.” The answer was said partly as a question. Mal wasn’t sure that the Admiral would believe his answer. And in truth, Mal had never completely given up on the war. He just knew how to choose his battles.
Admiral Wetherford nodded, his fingertips tapping against the edge of his book. “Do you admit that the Alliance rightfully won that war?”
“Rightfully?” Pressing his lips together, Mal looked down to the floor. He knew he was about to get another lashing over his back. The Admiral wouldn’t like his answers to these questions. “Won because we were outnumbered and you’re real good at brainwashin’ innocent folk.”
As expected the third snap and slice over his back came quickly and Mal grunted with the sharp sting. Every muscle in him went tense and he stubbornly looked back up to the Admiral who was now looking at him and not the book.
“Ahhh there you are. The famous Malcolm Reynolds… fighter to the end.” Case stood up and moved closer to Mal. He leaned in close to study his eyes. “It’s in your eyes… taunting me. I’m going to break that fight in you.”
“Good luck.” Mal answered, not giving in an inch as he stared back at the Admiral. He wouldn’t have let himself waver from that stare down if he could have, not with the line of questions they had moved to. In that moment he was back in the war, staring down an opponent who had everything going for him while he was running on fumes.
“I do believe our prisoner deserves one more lash for lying to us about the state of the war. It seems that he’s still fighting the Alliance.”
Mal shuddered and bit down on his lower lip with the lash that came from the unseen whip behind him. “’Til I die.”
That wicked grin returned to Admiral Case Wetherford’s features. Gone was the older gentleman to be replaced by a maniac on a power trip. “That can be arranged. But it isn’t half as much fun, Malcolm.”
There was a long moment of silence between them until the Admiral turned back to sit in his chair. Case crossed one leg over the other again and set his book in his lap. “What is your name?”
As the Admiral moved away, Mal held onto the glare that had settled in his eyes. He let go of a few labor intensive breaths before answering. “Malcolm Reynolds.”
“Are you the Captain of a-“
“No.” Mal interrupted, rolling his eyes to the ceiling and back down. “Been through this part. Runnin’ out of material already?”
Case leaned forward in his chair, watching Mal closely. “If you aren’t a Captain, then what does that make you? What are you, Malcolm?”
His brow furrowed uncertainly as Mal mulled over that question. He finally shook his head. “Don’t understand.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to, not immediately. A man like you…” A corner of the Admiral’s lips lifted just barely. “You’re nothing. You’ve always been a nothing playing at being something. And for awhile the myth of that something was great storytelling for the masses. But deep down you’ve always known. You’re nothing… a nobody… and somewhat worthless.”
Mal’s jaw tensed as he listened. Case enjoyed seeing that small sign that his words were getting through. It prompted him to repeat his question. “Now that I’ve spelled it out for your simple mind to understand… what are you, Malcolm? Beneath the myth and without your ship… what are you?”
His voice was tight when he answered. The anger and fury inside of him was almost palpable in the air as he spoke. “A better man than you will ever be.” He cried out as he felt the next stinging slice through the skin at his back. The sound echoed off of the walls, ringing in his own ears. He dipped his head and gasped for breath, trying to mentally block out the pain.
“I think we’ll keep trying with this one for awhile.” Smiling, the Admiral settled back in his chair and looked down at his book again. “What are you, Malcolm?”
This time Mal thought to just not answer. But once again he felt the stinging blow of the whip. His cry echoed in his own ears again and he wondered how long he could hold out from answering with the words he knew the Admiral was looking for. He braced himself again as the question was once again repeated.
“What are you, Malcolm?”