Firefly is the property of Joss Whedon, blah blah blah. You know the drill.

Thanks to Jebbypal and Apollo for beta reading. The Magnificent Seven Plus Two don't appear until the next chapter, so don't be concerned by their absence. Feedback will of course be appreciated.

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Perfect, he thought as he crawled out of the Blue Sun facility through an opening that a normal-sized man could barely fit his head in. Still have a couple of minutes before it goes up, and Clarence hasn't shown his unwelcome self the whole time. He decided to stay and watch the show. It was an unmarked facility in a bad part of town, so the law would take a while to arrive.

As he watched the facility perfectly collapse under the explosion, barely affecting the buildings next to it, he got the unnerving feeling that someone was approaching. Looking down the street, he saw two men coming, both wearing the hated purple uniforms. Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze fuh ur-tze, Feds! Gotta put them down before they spot me. Almost instantly, the boosters cut in and a set of crosshairs appeared before his eye. A split second later, he fired two bursts from his sub-machine gun, hitting both Feds between the eyes. Although they were almost certainly ordinary Feds, he figured it would be better not to take a chance. Best hide the bodies, quick! But when he got to where the bodies should have been, they were nowhere to be found. As he stood there dumbly, he heard a familiar voice that explained all.

"You shouldn't have blown up that building, Nitro. I'm afraid that I'll have to punish you most severely."

Then the pain came. He had no idea how it was inflicted, as nothing as crude as whips or knives were involved. All he could be sure of was that Clarence was responsible. Though it felt as though it lasted an eternity, Clarence claimed it had been only nine seconds.

Still angry at having been tricked, he shout