A friend musing that "Zoe could probably kick Mal's butt" made me wonder what circumstances might lead to such an encounter. This is where my thoughts led.

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He didn’t leave her any gorram choice.

Wasn’t what she wanted, and hell knows she was going to pay the price tomorrow, providing they both survived the night. But him bein’ crazy the way he was, set on going the way she knew he wanted, at that moment, to go… He didn’t leave her any gorram choice.

So she hit him.

Hard.

From behind.

He skidded face-first into the muck of the riverbank, but flipped over and had his sidearm trained on her in the time it took her to draw her own weapon.

“Ni zhao si ma?!” he hissed, his widened eyes visible in the darkness. He darted a furtive glance around their perimeter, but she’d been careful to plan her strike beneath the generous cover of the scrub juniper that hugged the water’s edge. “Ni zhao si ma? ‘cause so help me, I’ll give you one!”

She met his glare with an unflinching stare of her own.

“You planning on firing you weapon at me, sir?” Her voice, even at a whisper, carried the cool threat each member of her squad had learned to fear. Wouldn’t scare him, but he’d know she was dead serious.

“I could,” he ground out, shaking with fury, his icy tone matching the warning in hers. He maneuvered into a crouch without lowering his arm. “You just attacked me. I’d be within my rights to shoot you.”

“Reckon you would be,” she replied, voice steady, eyes never wavering from his. “Just like I’d be within my rights to report this unauthorized mission, sir.”

She strained to make out his expression in the dark. Three months ago, hell, three weeks ago she would have staked her life she could’ve predicted his reaction. Tonight she played her card and fairly held her breath, letting it out quietly when he swung his aim away from her and focused instead on the darkness beyond the brush.

“Been through this, corpor