TITLE: "EVERYBODY LIES"

SERIES: THE DEVIL'S CRADLE

CHAPTER: 63. Sequel to "TWO STEPS BACK"

FANDOM: "FIREFLY"

AUTHOR: Alison M. DOBELL

PAIRING: ZoeWash Kaylee/Simon Inara/Mal

SUMMARY: "River and the children become distressed.

Badger seeks information while afraid of what he may

discover and an evil thought vanquished stirs again."

"EVERYBODY LIES"

A "Firefly" Story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

* * * * *

It felt strange, the atmosphere aboard the ship was subtly different. Badger didn't know whether it was just his imagination but it put him on edge. That and the continued presence of Jerrod Perkins. All the while he had been incarcerated along with his men in the airlock Badger had felt confident they would stay there until Serenity dropped them off on Lilac. Now that ground had shifted under him and he had to wonder why. What was Malcolm Reynolds really looking for? He had overheard Zoe saying it was because of the gorram bomb they had been injected with but that didn't make any sense to his mind. After all his had been removed. Even had the shiny vanishing scar to prove it. A nasty little smile settled with smug satisfaction on the little King Pin's lips as he remembered how that good deed had literally blown up Reynolds' face. Oh, life was good. The fact that Serenity's second in command had isolated Jerrod by removing his crew, allowing that bunch of fools and misfits to wander about the bloody ship, was a puzzle that niggled away at his backbrain like a deadly parasite. Zoe never did anything that wasn't the express wish of Malcolm Reynolds so once again he had to wonder what the *diyu* was the *shenjingbing baichi* up to?

Badger sat up slowly on his narrow bunk. He was still sore but getting stronger by the gorram hour. Whatever else he might complain about Serenity's doc did good work. He paused to liste