Serenity, NV, part 6
A quieter bit; might get shuffled around.
Part 5 here.
Part 4 here.
Part 3 here.
Parts 1 & 2 here.
6.
I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher
And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire
None of that rock-thrash-crap was playing in the Swingin' Door B&G. Hell, no. Johnny Cash all the way. No-name posers, stealin' Johnny's best song ever and turnin' it into speedmetal junk. Maybe they oughta hunt them losers down, suck 'em dry, leave their bodies on some L.A. highway to show what happened to song thieves and punk-ass ar-tistes who didn't show respect to the Man in Black. Yeah, that was a plan. For later, when they got back to L.A. Lyle bet his baby would go for that, if he promised her a new leather jacket for helpin'.
"Lyle, man, the new ones are startin' to wake up." Mitch loped over to the bar and leaned over to snag himself another bottle of Jim Beam, hitching a thumb to the bodies laid out on the pool table and beginning to twitch. "The tall one's thinkin' he's got the fangs to take on Yates. Twenty bucks says Yates dusts him if'n he don't shut up soon."
Well, that wouldn't do.
"Damnit, I *tole* him we need them truckers if we're gonna take on a town in the next day or so, what's he goin' messing with the plan for?" Lyle put down his V-8 & O-neg, and slid off his barstool, irked. Bad enough three of the new vamps they'd made on the way from Beattie had struck out on their own. Now he had this shit to deal with. Ever since Tector got dusted, gettin' good help was a real pain in the vein. Jaysus. You'd think Yates was raised yesterday, 'stead of two years ago. No sense of priorities. It was damn depressin', that was the word. Took the shine right out of the slaughter, having to discipline these pups every hour on the hour.
Some days, if it hadn't been for his sweetie, he'd have chucked the whole damn Master Vampire scenario and taken off for Rio, just gone native like Butch Cassidy. No responsibilities, no plans, no problems. But she didn't like South America, so no go on that.
'Sides, they had a plan, and no would-be jumped-up hired hand was gonna screw this up for Lyle Gorch.
Lyle grabbed Yates's arm on the backswing as he was aiming a pool cue at the heart of the newest bit of cannon fodder, and squished all the bones in his hand together, hard. This made Yates yell, as anyone would expect, and gave Lyle time to whap him over the head with his own hat.
"The hell are you thinkin'? Did I say you could kill any of the new boys?"
"He ain't showin' respect!" Yates snarled in full vamp-face, as the new vamp in front of him smirked, now that he weren't in any danger of dusting.
"An' why the hell should he? You ain't respectable. No, goddamnit, you just shut. Your. Mouth." Lyle twisted Yates arm with each word, until he heard a satisfying 'snap' somewhere down the line. Yates howled, Lyle grinned, and the rest of the old hands just shook their heads at ol' Yates's cussedness. The new hands looked half-scared, half-pleased. Yates always did have a way with people, and no mistake.
"Right then. You hush, and sit yourself down by the bar. And don't go straightenin' out that arm 'til I say so, Yates. I ain't happy with you, boy." Lyle waited until Yates had sulked off into a corner before turning to the six newly risen vampires in front of him, idly twirling the pool cue in one hand.
"Evenin', boys. My name is Lyle Gorch. I'm your new boss. Welcome to your afterlife."
"This isn't Heaven," a shrimpy guy on the end said, more as if he were hopin' it were true than like he was sure about it.
"Well, no, it ain't. Y'all are vampires now. Members of the livin' dead. We killed you last night - along with everyone else in this bar - and now you're workin' for us. And a vamp goin' to Heaven would be kinda -- what's that word? Oh, yeah. Un-preservation-al." Lyle grinned at them big, and some of them laughed at the joke; he sobered up real fast, soon as they did that. Trick was to keep 'em off balance, wonderin' what the hell he was gonna do next.
"So. Y'all are gonna need to start earnin' your keep. We didn't make you part of the gang so's you could slack off. We're lookin' to go into a little town fifty miles up the highway from here, visit the local waterin' holes tonight, maybe find some smart new recruits, and find out who's in charge in that pueblo. If you do what I tell you, we're gonna have a lot of fun, women, fightin' and blood. If you don't do what I tell you---" He stabbed out with the pool cue, catching Shrimpy in the chest, fast. The guy's face just had time to look surprised before it crumpled into dust.
"You ain't gonna be enjoyin' your afterlife for very dam' long. Comprende?"
Vehement nods all around. Lyle smiled in satisfaction.
"That's fine. Real fine. Now, which one of you boys wants to go drinkin' at the Silverheels out on the highway, and who wants to be goin' to Helen Wheels' in Serenity proper tonight?"
~*~
"Thanks for the burger, man." Oz chewed contentedly on a double-bacon cheeseburger with BBQ sauce, and helped himself to the very tasty onion rings in the table's basket. "I appreciate it. You didn't have to, but I appreciate it."
"Hey, it was the least we could do," Wash said, settling back in his chair and taking a slurp of his milkshake. "Besides, it's tradition. Anyone who survives a River incident without getting physically damaged or permanently traumatized gets a burger. Right, Troy?"
The other ESO officer grinned, nodded and dipped an onion ring in a cup of ranch dressing. Oz admired Troy's economy of language, composed as it entirely seemed to be of head jerks, smiles, and "uh-hunh." Zoe kept nudging him and telling him to speak up, but the hulking, silent paramedic just grinned shyly at his boss's wife and ducked his head in response. Kaylee seemed to be content to watch the guy eat, in between bouts of enthusiasm about the rescue.
"This was even worse than that time when she was missing for a day and a half, and turned up in the bell tower of the First Baptist Church. She couldn't figure out how to get down, 'cause the ladder had broke and nobody realized she was asleep up there. Least that time, she wasn't wanting to jump, she was just cranky about bein' stuck." Kaylee popped another onion ring in her mouth and shook her head.
"Took us the better part of an afternoon to get the fire department ladders up there. And the church had to overhaul its bell tower entry to comply with the fire codes after that," Wash reminisced. "The deacon wasn't real happy with River."
"Not passing any judgments," Oz said slowly, "but what, exactly, is the deal with her?"
"How do you mean?" Zoe asked, in what should have been a mild voice, but which somehow conveyed a warning of 'halt! Dangerous ground!' as well as the sound of a gun being concked.
He really wanted to let it go, but the questions the girl had asked him had been unsettling, as well as the general vibe he'd got off her, and Oz felt like he had to ask. "She said something to me-- about me knowing an almost-wicked witch."
"Mmm?" Zoe raised an eyebrow as she bit into her burger. Wash and Kaylee were exchanging meaningful looks, but Oz couldn't quite decrypt them. Troy was just looking very uncomfortable.
"So. Is she psychic?"
Wash spluttered for a second, Troy blinked, and Kaylee's eyes got very wide. "What'd make you think of that?" she asked, her voice high and overly casual.
"So she is." Interesting.
Zoe dabbed at her mouth with a napkin, her eyes narrowing. "You know, most people don't believe in that kind of stuff."
"Most people don't have Wiccans for ex-girlfriends." Ones who'd almost destroyed the world, according to their last phone conversation. He had to wonder if River had gotten a glimpse of that, and sincerely hope that she'd just seen Willow turning Xander into a demon-magnet or accidentally setting fire to her bed. Near-apocalypses couldn't be fun viewing.
"Ohh, boy," Kaylee muttered, then steeled herself. "Here's the thing, Oz. River isn't-- she isn't what you'd call reliable, and most of the time, you shouldn't pay attention to what she says, 'cause it'll only upset you. She just has to say things, and most often, she don't even know what she means, you know? So it isn't like she's a phone psychic or a channeler or --"
"I'm not going to bug her about it," Oz said calmly, breaking into the flow of Kaylee's babble with the ease of long (albeit dis-used) practice with Willow. "I just wanted to know if I should take her seriously about the other thing she said."
"And what would that be?" Wash asked, sounding wary.
"She said my witch knew her monster. And that it didn't matter any more."
Zoe sat up straight, looking disturbed. "Did she now."
"Yup." He met Zoe's gaze, and tilted his head inquiringly. "Any idea what that meant?"
Wash looked troubled, fiddling with his straw. "It could mean a lot of things, babe."
"It could," Zoe agreed. Kaylee was biting her lip, obviously upset, and Troy was looking back and forth, from Wash to Zoe to Kaylee, like he wanted to say something, but didn't know how. "But I'm thinking it means what we think it means." She drew a slow breath, then met Oz's eyes, then apparently made a decision to trust him enough to explain as she spoke, her voice grim. "She wasn't always like this, you see. River, I mean." Oz nodded slowly, and Zoe went on.
"According to Simon, River was perfectly normal when they were growing up. A genius, maybe. Very bright, interested in everything, science, art, music; a dancer." Zoe's lips quirked. "Well, she's still that, I guess."
"Something bad happened to her. Something made her different, kinda off-center, like she is now," Kaylee blurted out, her expression stormy. "She was on a school trip to Los Angeles a few years ago, and she got separated from the group. She was missing for three whole days, nobody knew where she was...." Kaylee's voice grew strained, and she shrugged, looking away, her shoulders hunching.
"And when they found her, she was-- changed," Zoe finished. She sighed. "She's actually much better than she used to be. When Simon first moved here with her, she'd talk in nonsense nearly all the time, attack people when she was scared, then go wandering off down the middle of the highway, dodging traffic for fun. This is the first time this summer that she's acted up."
"Thing is, nobody knows why she's like this," Wash said seriously. "She couldn't tell anyone what happened to her. And there wasn't any physical damage, but it's not like she's got any kind of easily diagnosed, treatable mental illness, either. There were no symptoms before she disappeared; so they kind of think it was trauma that did it." Wash's good-humored face was shadowed with grim worry at the idea.
"She used to scream a lot, first month or two." Troy looked deeply disturbed. Oz could see the reluctance to speak on his face, and realized it had to be pretty memorable for the taciturn Viking to be mentioning it. "About people in her head. Hurting her."
"Sounds pretty ugly."
"It was that," Zoe said quietly.
Wash put his glass down, looking weary. "So you see, if she says your friend knew her monster-- we have to wonder."
"I could check with Willow. She might know who or what River's talking about, if I tell her what happened. Could be that if she knows anything, it would help her brother treatment for River." Although, Willow had helped Buffy with so many monsters over the last seven years, she might not be able to be any help at all. Recognizing one monster out of thousands was a lot to hope for; and it might be that the truth was too weird to share with River's brother. Still, it couldn't hurt to ask.
"That would be so cool!" Kaylee bounced in her seat, then looked confused when Zoe shot her a glare. "Wouldn't it?"
"It would be kind of your friend, but it's not necessary," Zoe said in a quelling voice, looking away from the mechanic. "We wouldn't want to put you to any trouble."
"No trouble," Oz said calmly. "Just tell me when and where River got hurt, and I'll pass it along to Will. Maybe she can figure it out."
"No." Zoe shot quick warning glances at her husband, Kaylee, and Troy that left all three squirming, then turned back to Oz with a sweet and gentle smile that had way too many teeth on it for a non-werewolf. "Seriously. If River says it doesn't matter now, I don't think we should upset her any more. There's no good reason to be stirring up the past."
Hmmmmmmm. Zoe didn't want Oz having specific information about River's past. Secrets and weird things here. Business as usual. He shrugged, unwilling to push the point when Zoe was so committed to concealing - or protecting - whatever it was she didn't want him finding out. But he had to wonder what could be bad enough to keep Zoe from letting him ask. "Your call. Offer's still open."
"We'll keep it in mind." Zoe nodded firmly to him, then pushed the onion rings closer to his side of the table. "Try the barbeque rings, they're really good."
*yawn* More later, I already know the next bit...
Part 5 here.
Part 4 here.
Part 3 here.
Parts 1 & 2 here.
6.
I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher
And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire
None of that rock-thrash-crap was playing in the Swingin' Door B&G. Hell, no. Johnny Cash all the way. No-name posers, stealin' Johnny's best song ever and turnin' it into speedmetal junk. Maybe they oughta hunt them losers down, suck 'em dry, leave their bodies on some L.A. highway to show what happened to song thieves and punk-ass ar-tistes who didn't show respect to the Man in Black. Yeah, that was a plan. For later, when they got back to L.A. Lyle bet his baby would go for that, if he promised her a new leather jacket for helpin'.
"Lyle, man, the new ones are startin' to wake up." Mitch loped over to the bar and leaned over to snag himself another bottle of Jim Beam, hitching a thumb to the bodies laid out on the pool table and beginning to twitch. "The tall one's thinkin' he's got the fangs to take on Yates. Twenty bucks says Yates dusts him if'n he don't shut up soon."
Well, that wouldn't do.
"Damnit, I *tole* him we need them truckers if we're gonna take on a town in the next day or so, what's he goin' messing with the plan for?" Lyle put down his V-8 & O-neg, and slid off his barstool, irked. Bad enough three of the new vamps they'd made on the way from Beattie had struck out on their own. Now he had this shit to deal with. Ever since Tector got dusted, gettin' good help was a real pain in the vein. Jaysus. You'd think Yates was raised yesterday, 'stead of two years ago. No sense of priorities. It was damn depressin', that was the word. Took the shine right out of the slaughter, having to discipline these pups every hour on the hour.
Some days, if it hadn't been for his sweetie, he'd have chucked the whole damn Master Vampire scenario and taken off for Rio, just gone native like Butch Cassidy. No responsibilities, no plans, no problems. But she didn't like South America, so no go on that.
'Sides, they had a plan, and no would-be jumped-up hired hand was gonna screw this up for Lyle Gorch.
Lyle grabbed Yates's arm on the backswing as he was aiming a pool cue at the heart of the newest bit of cannon fodder, and squished all the bones in his hand together, hard. This made Yates yell, as anyone would expect, and gave Lyle time to whap him over the head with his own hat.
"The hell are you thinkin'? Did I say you could kill any of the new boys?"
"He ain't showin' respect!" Yates snarled in full vamp-face, as the new vamp in front of him smirked, now that he weren't in any danger of dusting.
"An' why the hell should he? You ain't respectable. No, goddamnit, you just shut. Your. Mouth." Lyle twisted Yates arm with each word, until he heard a satisfying 'snap' somewhere down the line. Yates howled, Lyle grinned, and the rest of the old hands just shook their heads at ol' Yates's cussedness. The new hands looked half-scared, half-pleased. Yates always did have a way with people, and no mistake.
"Right then. You hush, and sit yourself down by the bar. And don't go straightenin' out that arm 'til I say so, Yates. I ain't happy with you, boy." Lyle waited until Yates had sulked off into a corner before turning to the six newly risen vampires in front of him, idly twirling the pool cue in one hand.
"Evenin', boys. My name is Lyle Gorch. I'm your new boss. Welcome to your afterlife."
"This isn't Heaven," a shrimpy guy on the end said, more as if he were hopin' it were true than like he was sure about it.
"Well, no, it ain't. Y'all are vampires now. Members of the livin' dead. We killed you last night - along with everyone else in this bar - and now you're workin' for us. And a vamp goin' to Heaven would be kinda -- what's that word? Oh, yeah. Un-preservation-al." Lyle grinned at them big, and some of them laughed at the joke; he sobered up real fast, soon as they did that. Trick was to keep 'em off balance, wonderin' what the hell he was gonna do next.
"So. Y'all are gonna need to start earnin' your keep. We didn't make you part of the gang so's you could slack off. We're lookin' to go into a little town fifty miles up the highway from here, visit the local waterin' holes tonight, maybe find some smart new recruits, and find out who's in charge in that pueblo. If you do what I tell you, we're gonna have a lot of fun, women, fightin' and blood. If you don't do what I tell you---" He stabbed out with the pool cue, catching Shrimpy in the chest, fast. The guy's face just had time to look surprised before it crumpled into dust.
"You ain't gonna be enjoyin' your afterlife for very dam' long. Comprende?"
Vehement nods all around. Lyle smiled in satisfaction.
"That's fine. Real fine. Now, which one of you boys wants to go drinkin' at the Silverheels out on the highway, and who wants to be goin' to Helen Wheels' in Serenity proper tonight?"
~*~
"Thanks for the burger, man." Oz chewed contentedly on a double-bacon cheeseburger with BBQ sauce, and helped himself to the very tasty onion rings in the table's basket. "I appreciate it. You didn't have to, but I appreciate it."
"Hey, it was the least we could do," Wash said, settling back in his chair and taking a slurp of his milkshake. "Besides, it's tradition. Anyone who survives a River incident without getting physically damaged or permanently traumatized gets a burger. Right, Troy?"
The other ESO officer grinned, nodded and dipped an onion ring in a cup of ranch dressing. Oz admired Troy's economy of language, composed as it entirely seemed to be of head jerks, smiles, and "uh-hunh." Zoe kept nudging him and telling him to speak up, but the hulking, silent paramedic just grinned shyly at his boss's wife and ducked his head in response. Kaylee seemed to be content to watch the guy eat, in between bouts of enthusiasm about the rescue.
"This was even worse than that time when she was missing for a day and a half, and turned up in the bell tower of the First Baptist Church. She couldn't figure out how to get down, 'cause the ladder had broke and nobody realized she was asleep up there. Least that time, she wasn't wanting to jump, she was just cranky about bein' stuck." Kaylee popped another onion ring in her mouth and shook her head.
"Took us the better part of an afternoon to get the fire department ladders up there. And the church had to overhaul its bell tower entry to comply with the fire codes after that," Wash reminisced. "The deacon wasn't real happy with River."
"Not passing any judgments," Oz said slowly, "but what, exactly, is the deal with her?"
"How do you mean?" Zoe asked, in what should have been a mild voice, but which somehow conveyed a warning of 'halt! Dangerous ground!' as well as the sound of a gun being concked.
He really wanted to let it go, but the questions the girl had asked him had been unsettling, as well as the general vibe he'd got off her, and Oz felt like he had to ask. "She said something to me-- about me knowing an almost-wicked witch."
"Mmm?" Zoe raised an eyebrow as she bit into her burger. Wash and Kaylee were exchanging meaningful looks, but Oz couldn't quite decrypt them. Troy was just looking very uncomfortable.
"So. Is she psychic?"
Wash spluttered for a second, Troy blinked, and Kaylee's eyes got very wide. "What'd make you think of that?" she asked, her voice high and overly casual.
"So she is." Interesting.
Zoe dabbed at her mouth with a napkin, her eyes narrowing. "You know, most people don't believe in that kind of stuff."
"Most people don't have Wiccans for ex-girlfriends." Ones who'd almost destroyed the world, according to their last phone conversation. He had to wonder if River had gotten a glimpse of that, and sincerely hope that she'd just seen Willow turning Xander into a demon-magnet or accidentally setting fire to her bed. Near-apocalypses couldn't be fun viewing.
"Ohh, boy," Kaylee muttered, then steeled herself. "Here's the thing, Oz. River isn't-- she isn't what you'd call reliable, and most of the time, you shouldn't pay attention to what she says, 'cause it'll only upset you. She just has to say things, and most often, she don't even know what she means, you know? So it isn't like she's a phone psychic or a channeler or --"
"I'm not going to bug her about it," Oz said calmly, breaking into the flow of Kaylee's babble with the ease of long (albeit dis-used) practice with Willow. "I just wanted to know if I should take her seriously about the other thing she said."
"And what would that be?" Wash asked, sounding wary.
"She said my witch knew her monster. And that it didn't matter any more."
Zoe sat up straight, looking disturbed. "Did she now."
"Yup." He met Zoe's gaze, and tilted his head inquiringly. "Any idea what that meant?"
Wash looked troubled, fiddling with his straw. "It could mean a lot of things, babe."
"It could," Zoe agreed. Kaylee was biting her lip, obviously upset, and Troy was looking back and forth, from Wash to Zoe to Kaylee, like he wanted to say something, but didn't know how. "But I'm thinking it means what we think it means." She drew a slow breath, then met Oz's eyes, then apparently made a decision to trust him enough to explain as she spoke, her voice grim. "She wasn't always like this, you see. River, I mean." Oz nodded slowly, and Zoe went on.
"According to Simon, River was perfectly normal when they were growing up. A genius, maybe. Very bright, interested in everything, science, art, music; a dancer." Zoe's lips quirked. "Well, she's still that, I guess."
"Something bad happened to her. Something made her different, kinda off-center, like she is now," Kaylee blurted out, her expression stormy. "She was on a school trip to Los Angeles a few years ago, and she got separated from the group. She was missing for three whole days, nobody knew where she was...." Kaylee's voice grew strained, and she shrugged, looking away, her shoulders hunching.
"And when they found her, she was-- changed," Zoe finished. She sighed. "She's actually much better than she used to be. When Simon first moved here with her, she'd talk in nonsense nearly all the time, attack people when she was scared, then go wandering off down the middle of the highway, dodging traffic for fun. This is the first time this summer that she's acted up."
"Thing is, nobody knows why she's like this," Wash said seriously. "She couldn't tell anyone what happened to her. And there wasn't any physical damage, but it's not like she's got any kind of easily diagnosed, treatable mental illness, either. There were no symptoms before she disappeared; so they kind of think it was trauma that did it." Wash's good-humored face was shadowed with grim worry at the idea.
"She used to scream a lot, first month or two." Troy looked deeply disturbed. Oz could see the reluctance to speak on his face, and realized it had to be pretty memorable for the taciturn Viking to be mentioning it. "About people in her head. Hurting her."
"Sounds pretty ugly."
"It was that," Zoe said quietly.
Wash put his glass down, looking weary. "So you see, if she says your friend knew her monster-- we have to wonder."
"I could check with Willow. She might know who or what River's talking about, if I tell her what happened. Could be that if she knows anything, it would help her brother treatment for River." Although, Willow had helped Buffy with so many monsters over the last seven years, she might not be able to be any help at all. Recognizing one monster out of thousands was a lot to hope for; and it might be that the truth was too weird to share with River's brother. Still, it couldn't hurt to ask.
"That would be so cool!" Kaylee bounced in her seat, then looked confused when Zoe shot her a glare. "Wouldn't it?"
"It would be kind of your friend, but it's not necessary," Zoe said in a quelling voice, looking away from the mechanic. "We wouldn't want to put you to any trouble."
"No trouble," Oz said calmly. "Just tell me when and where River got hurt, and I'll pass it along to Will. Maybe she can figure it out."
"No." Zoe shot quick warning glances at her husband, Kaylee, and Troy that left all three squirming, then turned back to Oz with a sweet and gentle smile that had way too many teeth on it for a non-werewolf. "Seriously. If River says it doesn't matter now, I don't think we should upset her any more. There's no good reason to be stirring up the past."
Hmmmmmmm. Zoe didn't want Oz having specific information about River's past. Secrets and weird things here. Business as usual. He shrugged, unwilling to push the point when Zoe was so committed to concealing - or protecting - whatever it was she didn't want him finding out. But he had to wonder what could be bad enough to keep Zoe from letting him ask. "Your call. Offer's still open."
"We'll keep it in mind." Zoe nodded firmly to him, then pushed the onion rings closer to his side of the table. "Try the barbeque rings, they're really good."
*yawn* More later, I already know the next bit...