Disclaimer: These characters and places are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy... Sadly, neither of those are me.

For those of you that missed Part 1: http://www.fireflyfans.net/bluesun.aspx?bid=14987

His head was splitting in two. It seemed like it would fall into two pieces at any moment, and it came as a great surprise to him that it didn't.

He opened one eye and had to work to get the other one open, it was caked with blood and slightly swollen. Sweat beads rolled down into his freshly opened eyes, stirred into falling at his sudden motions, stinging like no other.

The pain felt in his eyes was nothing like the pain emanating the feeling that his head should be on the ground in two pieces. It came from the side of his head, and that whole section of hair and face felt stiff and sticky with blood.

His hands were above his head, and wiggling them, he felt a chafing that told him he was bound to the wall behind him. The room was dark with only the glow of the red floorlights. The floor had a woven metal pattern and the wall behind him felt that way as well. Beyond that, the room was a mystery to him.

The first thing that came to his mind after taking in his surroundings was: This was not in the job description. He tried to recall what had happened to get him into this situation.

All he could remember was fighting along with the rest of the crew... To do what? It was so fuzzy, he swore he felt texture on it. They had been fighting to... get rid of something... no... someone... someones plural...

They had been fighting to get the intruders off of Serenity! He couldn't quite remember why there had been intruders. For some reason, the words: "Are you a junk collector? Does junk hold a special place in your heart?" stood out in his mind, Mal's voice dictating them with sarcasm.

That still didn't explain how he had ended up chained to a wall. If only he could remember why there were intruders on Serenity, maybe then he would remember.

Words drifted across his memory in Zoe's voice: