Mal-Inara-Operative at the Training House.

[badinlatin]

There had been no sight of the Alliance when Serenity descended into atmo about 70 miles or so away from the Training House. The hairs on the back of Mal's neck were still standing up though. He's always felt that prickling at times when others are watching.

As soon as Serenity is hidden away, Mal flies off to the Training House in Inara's old shuttle.

---

Getting in was easier than expected. This did not cheer Mal at all, even if he did smile to himself at seeing Inara in the flesh again.

Still in the oversized red shawl that Inara had left in her shuttle, Mal kneels beside her, head still covered.

"Dear Buddha, please send me a pony, and a plastic rocket, and ---"

Comments

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"Mal!" Inara turns to him in a hushed voice. "What are you doing here?"

Mal can only smirk back with, "Well, you invited me."

"I never thought for a second you'd be stupid enough to come!"

"Well that makes you kind of a tease, doesn't it?" Mal loves it when Inara gets flustered, no matter what the situation.

"You knew my invitation wasn't on the level," she returns, standing from the Buddha altar.

"Which led me to the conclusion that you must be in some trouble." Still kneeling, Mal pushes off the shawl from his head.

"I'm fine! I'm...giddy!"

"Y'know," Mal presses, not seeing any problem with it, "For a woman schooled in telling a man what he wants to hear, you ain't much of a liar."

"Mal, you cannot handle this man--"

The door is heard to open before Mal can see who is entering.

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Mal's first look at the Operative does not intimidate him overmuch, nor does the Operative's calm tone do much to frighten when he starts, "I have to say, I'm impressed that you would come for her yourself. And that you would make it this far...in that outfit."

A smile, reading politely in the range of You look ridiculous.

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Standing, Mal counters, "I can be very graceful when I need to."

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"I've no doubt." Still smiling in that way where Mal wants to hit him square in the jaw.

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Mal peels off his shawl slowly, keeping an eye on Inara.

What is she--

"What are you doing?"

Pulling a seperate incense stick out of a lower tube at the altar, Inara returns, "I'm praying for you, Mal." Mal only gives himself a second to wonder at why she needed different incense for that.

"That's very thoughtful," The Operative adds. "But I mean it when I say you're not in any danger."

Mal counters the stranger; step for step, quietly, subtly. "Speak your piece."

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"I think you're beginning to understand how dangerous River Tam is."

Ain't that the truth. "She is unpredictable," Mal concedes. "Mood swings, of a sort."

"It's worse than you know."

"It usually is." That's what makes us special.

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"That girl will rain destruction down on you and your ship. She's an albatross, Captain."
Ooh! I know this one!
"Way I remember it," Mal counters, "albatross was a ship's good luck, til some idiot killed it."

Before Inara can say anything, he shoots, "Yes, I've read a poem; try not to faint."

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The Operative smirks faintly at this, continuing to circle around the room, adding, "I've seen your war record. I know how you must feel about the Alliance."

Mal loses all sense of humor when he utters, "You really don't."

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"Fair to say. But I have to hope you understand you can't beat us."

"I got no need to beat you; I just wanna go my way."

"And you can do that," the Operative mentions, thinking he is getting somewhere, "Once you let me take River Tam back home."

A pause, then Mal's grin he normally uses for business. Because this is business, oh aye. "No, no, you're working this deal all crabbed - you gotta open with payment."

"That is a trap." Mal thinks, Gorramit. "I offer money you'll play the man of honor and take umbrage. I ask you to do what's right, you'll play the brigand. I've no stomach for games; I already know you'll not see reason."

Mal stares at the man, hands very close to his holster. "Alliance wanted to show me reason, they shouldn't have sent an assassin."

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The Operative finally stops circling.

"I have a warship in deep orbit, Captain. We locked onto Serenity's pulse beacon the moment you hit atmo. I can speak a word and send a missile to that exact location inside of three minutes."

I love my job. Mal reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small metal box with wires protruding, informing, "You do that, best make peace with your dear and fluffy lord."

Expertly catching the box as Mal tosses it to him, the Operative examines it with a grimace. "Pulse...beacon."

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"Advice from an old tracker: you wanna find someone, use your eyes."

The Operative sounds exasperated. "How long do you think you can really run from us?"

"Oh, a jack-rabbit, me. 'Sides, I never really credited the Alliance with an overabundance of brains, and if you're the best they've got..."

"Captain Reynolds, I should tell you so that you don't waste your time, you can't make me angry."

Inara cuts in for the first time, stating "Oh please, spend an hour with him."

A smile creeps on Mal's face until he gets it, then shoots a glare at Inara.

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"I need her, Captain. River is...my purpose. I will gather her to me. The brother as well. Whatever else happens is incidental, in the greater scheme."

Mal sneers at the Operative. "Why is it that the greater scheme always makes everything not that great?"

Simply tired of this conversation, the Operative moves to find a chair on one side of the room. "I wante to resolve this like civilized me. I'm not threatening you. I'm unarmed---"

"Good!" Mal unholsters his pistol and shoots the man straight at the chest, the force knocking him backward. With a yank of the arm, Mal reholsters his gun while leading Inara to the door---

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--just in time to be put in a choke hold.

"I am of course wearing full body armor; I am not a moron."

After being tossed into a wall, the fight he pretty valiantly puts up against the Operative is a blur. He's sure he was valiant, though. I promise. He just wishes Inara would stay the hell on the ground.

"No backup?" Mal taunts, blood dripping from his nose. "We're makin' an awful ruckus."

"They'll come when they're needed."

"I'd start whistlin'." Owww.

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"Captain, what do you think is going to happen here?"

Mal has no idea. But he's gonna try anyway. He was doing pretty well too, what with wrapping the curtain around the Operative's head and getting a couple pock shots in before the Operative flips him onto the teatable in the middle of the room.

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Pleased with his work, the Operative moves to the door behind Mal in order to retrieve his sword. All Mal can focus on however is his gun under the altar.

Why do I never remember to shoot them in the head...

"Nothing here is what it seems." Mal can hear the Operative's footsteps coming to his side. "He's not the plucky hero. The Alliance isn't some evil empire, this isn't the grand arena."

Inara chimes in, "...and that's not incense."

Good girl.

The flash bomb goes off, and with Mal on the floor and Inara against the wall, it has just enough force to knock the Operative out across the room.

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Inara is the first to stand, handing Mal back his pistol quickly and helping him gain his feet.

Inara doesn't speak until halfway down the stairs leaving the Training House.

"Where's my shuttle?"