TITLE: " AN EYE FOR AN EYE"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

FANDOM: "FIREFLY"

PAIRING: M/I. S/K. W/Z.

RATING: PG-13.

STATUS: SEQUEL to "THE DEVIL INCARNATE".

ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.

FEEDBACK: Welcomed.

EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com

WEBSITE: http://unilelu.net/Alison/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "Zoe and Book rescue Wash and Jayne.

Meanwhile the Captain has a promise to keep."

The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Firefly'

are the property and gift of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

No infringement of copyright is intended.

"AN EYE FOR AN EYE"

"Firefly" story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

* * * * *

It was weird. He should have been frightened, shaking in his gorram boots, but he wasn't. With only one course of action open to him the Captain felt an odd kind of peace. A lifting of a burden that he had not known he was carrying. It was not that he wasn't afraid for he was, it was the simplicity of letting it all go that lent him a curious sense of calm. No more juggling options, each one more hair raising than the last. No more ducking and diving to avoid everything from Alliance Operatives, bounty hunters and feds to twisted and evil *tamade hundans* who treated people like sub-human lifeforms, only there to further the sick machinations of the Devil's most devoted disciple.

Malcolm Reynolds had always known he would never make old bones but *wode ma* he had expected to go out fighting. This though was a surrender even more profound than Serenity Valley and a hundred times more personal. But still. He was the Captain and if this was the only way to get his crew out of that madman's clutches he would do it.

The hangar appeared empty. Deserted. But Mal knew differently. There was a subtle difference in the echo, the ambience of a truly empty space as opposed to one that was simply waiting to be filled. Gut instinct told him that he would not be waiting long and he wasn't. Fig