Based on the world of Firefly by Joss Whedon

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Cat closed her eyes for a moment, her hand resting gently on the door she had slammed shut to keep Mal from coming back and trying to save her. What he didn't know was he already had, with the love he showed her no matter what she had become.

Taking her fist, she slammed it hard into the control box, wires spitting and sparking as blood covered them before power was lost. This was something she had to do alone and if her beast should raise its head and prevail, Cat wanted it contained and not free to kill everything in its path. After all, she wasn't sure if she could come back from a fight of this magnitude.

She cast a look to her hand, the long cuts already beginning to heal as the blood stopped flowing and she turned toward Falcon, who smiled despite the fact she knew he was pissed at what she had done. "There goes your audience."

"Already your lover is trying to fix the door to get in. He's got enough balls to do it, too and if he doesn't, that Reaver will kill himself trying to tear into the door."

"Ski's smart. He doesn't think a lot with his heart. He'll make sure River is safe." She believed that between Mal and Ski, her partner was the smartest of the two and the one who would maybe, for a moment, listen to her.

"He might be until he hears you scream." Falcon let fly the knife he had held to River's neck earlier and it embedded itself into her shoulder. Her scream echoed in her ears even as she tried to stop it. Reaching to pull the blade from its resting spot, she tried to send out enough of a message to Ski that she was okay, to continue with rescuing River, and to leave her to her fate. Her mind protested sharply.

* * *

Mal looked to the man, who claimed to be the husband of the woman he was now trying like hell to save. In a way, the captain knew that Cat wanted him and his crew safe, away from what she had become and everything that went along with the Academy's twisted idea