INT. ALLIANCE WRECK – BRIDGE – CONTINUOUS

Dobson’s MEN, a half-dozen in all, bristling with armament and anger, surround Mal, Zoe, and Jayne, who have their hands up.

JAYNE

Uh, Mal, didn’t you shoot this guy in the head—

DOBSON

No, you moron. This pound of metal grafted to my face, it’s purely cosmetic.

MAL

What is it you want, Dobson?

DOBSON

You. Dead.

Beat.

JAYNE

Gorrammit, Mal. Why’s everybody hate you so much?

INT. SERENITY – CARGO BAY – SAME TIME

Kaylee tries to crawl away from Blue Hand#1. Her nose begins to bleed. She realizes, touches her hand to it, looks at the blood, and panics.

Blue Hand#1 looms over her.

Blue Hand#1 is quite startled when Simon, armed with a meter-long FREE WEIGHT from the exercise bench, smashes it down on his hand and his rodlike device. The device shatters.

Before Blue Hand#1 can recover, Simon brings the weight up again, slamming the man in the face and knocking him back. Simon rushes him, hitting him twice more, and driving him back until he stumbles through the cargo bay doors.

Simon, in his rush to push Blue Hand#1 back, almost follows him, teetering for a beat on the edge. Then he recovers and looks across the room to Book.

The Shepherd has made it downstairs and rushes for the control panel, hitting the button that closes the cargo bay doors, cutting off Blue Hand#1.

Simon turns to Kaylee.

SIMON

Are you all right?

She nods, but looks as if she’s in shock. Then—

KAYLEE

SIMON!

Blue Hand#2 rushes him from a corner of the cargo bay.

INT. ALLIANCE WRECK – BRIDGE – SAME TIME

Dobson confronts Mal as they float among the decaying bodies. As he speaks, Dobson becomes increasingly intense and agitated.

DOBSON

You tried to kill me—You shot my freaking eye out—and dumped me to die. I might as well have. Law marked me as dead without so much as a search, and so I decided to stay that way. You made me a freak, and the only thing I’ve wanted since is to return the favor… An eye for an eye.