AN: Winding down, with only a few more chapters left. The BDR is finally getting started. The next chapter is probably gonna be the longest, as it is the fight scene/climax. Expect that, as well as another chappie with the aftermath :) I just want to take this time to thank everybody who has stayed through my random posting habbits and so forth, and to thank you all for you support!

Disclaimer: not mine

“Well?”

“Come on.” Simon wheeled around to match Mal’s stride, his hands jammed in his pockets.

“What happened,” Simon pressed. Zoe spoke up from Mal’s right.

“We got screams, blood and an answer.”

“Bastard ain’t even that far away,” Jayne spat. “He’s got his space station just far enough out atmo that the blast won’t hurt him.”

“Blast?” Mal’s lips tightened.

“He’s plannin’ on blowing about seven planets to smithereens, Doc.” Simon’s lips parted, and his expression hardened. He’d not participated in the ‘questioning’ of Mr. Tremain, but now he was beginning to wish he had. Anyone who could participate in a plot to kill so many millions… well, they deserved anything that happened to them.

Jayne, Zoe, Mal and Simon strode down the streets of Persephone to where they’d left the mule, ignoring the venders and streetwalkers that prowled the late-afternoon city. All around them, men and women walked, talked, shouted, cajoled, spat, cursed and laughed. Children milled around, staying out of the center of the streets, keeping to the edges. Big-eyed street urchins, hunched over poorly-lettered signs reading things like ‘Plees Feed Me’ or other, similar messages in Chinese, watched the four as they passed. They were evaluated, and found wanting. The big-eyed urchins turned their heads and let the grim-looking quatrain slip from memory. Women dressed in bright faux-silk, their lips stained with berry-juice if they couldn’t afford lipstick, eyed Mal, Simon and Jayne hungrily. Their eyes, tired and older than their bodies, narrowed. Their mouths curved in sultry smiles and their long, thin fingers twit