Breakdown (Invite Only)

[Jilak]

"Why don't we just lop his damn hand off, fix all our problems?" Jayne asked, speaking up for the first time. Being Jayne, he managed to say this with a small smirk in Mal's direction. Mal was, to say the least flabbergasted.

"Hey! How do we know THAT'LL fix our problems? Nobody's loppin' off my hand unless we're sure it'll fix anything!" Mal responded, taken aback.

"...what about shootin' it off? Shot from Vera here should do the trick, actually." Jayne responded, another smile forming.

"...what is gorram WRONG with you? First you come in here with Vera, then you wanna chop my hand off? 'sides, we have to worry about Zero and his, uh, certain mortality problem." Mal said, waving his hand in Zero's direction.

"...I'm just saying, it'd-"

"Do you want me to throw you off the edge o' the island?"

[mugenginga]

Zero opened his mouth to point out to Jayne the error in his thought, but Mal spoke first. He closed it and watched the two banter back and forth. Zero pretty much had Jayne figured out by this point. The man had a short fuse that lit at the slightest spark. And he was the type that figured if fire didn't solve your problem, you clearly weren't using enough of it. Or firepower in any case. He gave an irritated expression, and Mal seemed to be losing patience. He held his chest with one hand, took a step forward, and put his arm between the two of them. He looked at Jayne with an unkind look and enunciated each word as he spoke, as if he were speaking to a little child.

"The device isn't in his hand anymore, your method would just make a mess," Zero stated. The next part had a slight growl that became more pronounced by the end, "The majority of its processes are near his brainstem at the moment. And 'lopping' off his head will do none of us any good."

[Jilak]

"...well it'd do me some good..." Jayne mumbled, turning away. I mean, he'd come all this way, and so far he hadn't had a chance to do anything exciting. No bar brawls, no gun fights, no witty banter. Just coming up and watching Zero fuck with reality, and that wasn't exactly something to write to his mother about. He toyed with the strings on his hat a bit before continuing.

"So whatta we do now? You can't get it out of 'im and killin' him won't do a damn thing, so what do you suppose we do? Just pretend it ain't there? Why don't we just walk around with a loaded gun held to our heads, be about the same principle." Jayne responded, articulating perhaps his most intelligent response yet.

"Hotel's obviously been compromised, and Zero here still needs a better fix, so I say we head by that ruined hospital, see what supplies are left. Found an entire medical kit durin' the war, might get lucky again this time." Mal stated.

[mugenginga]

Zero frowned at Jayne's comments. While it wasn't all that eloquent, the man had a point. However it had happened, someone had gotten wind of him and managed to target him when he was weak. Mal was a target of some sort as well, for reasons that one could say related to his past. Zero had no idea how long the men had been there before driving the device into Mal's hand. Long enough to give the man an impressive black eye, in any case.

Zero lowered his arm from between Mal and Jayne. He turned towards Mal, "Answer me something first. I don't like the technology those men have at their disposal. Is there any reason other than getting to me that they might attack you?"

That was an issue. Somehow or another, those men had to have known he was travelling with Mal. The device didn't have any standard anti-virus protection. He was the one whose coding was corrupted, he knew now he'd been the main target all along. Still, they'd used Mal to deliver their coding to him when they could have done it themselves. So there was definently something up.

[Jilak]

Zero asked an interesting question, Mal had to admit. What WERE these fellows he kept mentioning after? Why had they used him? Why not Jayne, or... or, for that matter, why not Susan? Mal had no knowledge of Susan, yes. But it was worth noting that they hadn't used him. Nor delivered it DIRECTLY to Zero. So why target Mal? And the 'impressive black eye'? Sure, Mal had attacked them, but it was in self defense.

"No idea. What'd you say these guys looked like, again?" Mal asked no one in particular. It would be Jayne who answered.

"Says they had some kinda blue gloves on." Jayne responded. And then Mal stopped, cold.

"How many were there? Two? As in two by two?" He asked, turning to face Jayne.

"Yeah, why?"

"River." Mal finished, an almost solemn look on his face.

"But that-she pushed me through here, she mighta come, too!" Jayne stated, shock registering.

"If they're after River, they're probably after the doctor, too. Might be leadin' 'em right to him, but... we still gotta go to that hospital. Dong-ma?" Mal was now facing both Jayne and Zero.

(OOC: Excuse the gratuitous Chinese, but... it's FIREFLY.)

[mugenginga]

Zero had planned on answering Mal. Jayne cut him off, and given the nature of the man Zero had a feeling it hadn't been a total accident. He did note the distinct pause in Mal's movements when Jayne spoke. Jayne hadn't even seen the men and he was talking about the situation like he knew it. He made a motion to cross his arms and stare at the man, but he winced and decided against it. Damn ribs.

He raised an eyebrow at the bit of Chinese Mal used. Bilingual, and apparently Jayne was too if Mal expected him to understand. Zero glanced at Jayne. Sure enough, the other man seemed to. He shook his head and turned to Mal.

"I've got no objection to leaving the building, but there's no need for more trouble to be added to the situation. I'll live," he frowned, "I don't think that data is gonna allow me to die so easily. Who is this River?"

Zero took a pause and then let out a sentence. The sentence is not written in its actual form as this author can't write Chinese romaji or kanji. Which is why the following translation is italicized, "On another note, you two can speak Chinese?"

(OOC: Okay, more wanking in regard to Island powahs. The Island translates, but if a person makes a point of speaking in another language and stressing that other language, it won't. So if two people were to hold a conversation in a language to conceal what was being said, the Island wouldn't translate. It does its thing to allow universes to interact, not to get in the way of things.)

[Jilak]

Mal was about to respond to Zero in a more or less kind way. He was going to say something like 'yeah, everyone does where we come from' or some such. But Jayne obviously wasn't too terrified for jackassery, so...

"What kinda idiot DOESN'T speak Chinese? Everyone in the 'verse is at least partially Chinese, what kinda illiteracy wouldn't speak the language?" Jayne asked, misusing 'illiteracy'. The word he was looking for was 'illiterate'. His response, of course, garnered a slight glare from Mal. It was all the captain could do, with how exhausted he was getting.

"Yeah, well... you might not need the hospital... but I'm gettin' pretty tired, and I'll be damned if I'm sleeping in this place for the rest of the night. Dunno who those guys are with, but I'm bettin' it's the Alliance. Safest place is the hospital. Place messes with time, so if we're lucky, River won't have arrived. And Simon might even be somewhere else..." Mal responded, obviously struggling to stand.

[mugenginga]

Zero frowned at Jayne, "The kind of 'idiot' who thinks we're still in his universe, perhaps? Or that has little grasp on grammar. The word you want is illiterate."

He planned on continuing, clearly showing who among them was by far the calmer, but he noticed Mal sway out of the corner of his eye. He looked towards the captain as he regained his balance and began to speak. The words were a bit forced and low on volume. He was trailing off pretty badly as well. The look of rolled eye amusement he'd had dropped. Was it possible it was happening that fast?

"The hospital is in ruins, there wouldn't be anywhere decent to sleep. Not only that, but I don't think you can make it there," Zero put out a hand to try and steady Mal, "I can't have misread it that bad..."

It wasn't terribly clear what he was talking about. Jayne was having issues with a broken mind, and Mal seemed to be half asleep. He was, of course, talking about the device. He had told the group it would use Mal's body as a battery and make him weaker, but this fast? Only thing he could think of was...

"Get out there and make sure no one's near by!" Zero ordered Jayne.

Yeah, Zero ordered Jayne. Yeaaah.

[Jilak]

"What? I'm not your gorram servant, why don't you go do it?" Jayne asked, eyes ablaze. He refused to go out there and risk his life because some namby pamby... THING commanded him to. Well, until Mal spoke up.

"Jayne... do what he says. It's their game now, and trusting each other... 's the only way we're gonna get outta here." Mal stated. He was still getting exhausted, still struggling a bit to stand even with Zero steadying him, but... he adopted a determined look in his eyes. It was one of those looks that he adopted in certain situations. Certain situations that brought out the Mal Reynolds that prior to the events of Serenity, only Zoe had known. A look that could terrify even the toughest of soldiers as he gunned them down.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds was ready to fight a war.

Jayne did not debate, he simply exited into the hall. He looked around, seeing no one, but it still felt... ominous.

In the room with Mal and Zero the camera continued to run...

[mugenginga]

See, this was why helping humans was problematic. Damn things didn't know their place. As he'd said earlier, he didn't think he'd be allowed to die. Well, unless he let himself. He hadn't said that but the fact remained he'd been able to break down the limited bit of computer data in Mal's gun. Broken ribs weren't life threatening. His expression turned to a snarl and he was about to round on Jayne for his impudence when Mal spoke up.

The sentient virus paused and looked back towards Mal. He smirked at the expression on the man's face. It was a look he knew. Every single one of the PokeChosen had given him it during that last fight. Quite a few of those gods had worn it as well, what with how expressive Pokemon faces were. It was the look that indicated they were going to go down guns blazing. Damned if they didn't, hope if they did. Still, the fact Mal was getting it spoke pretty badly for the situation. He grabbed both of Mal's shoulders, wincing at his own ribs and tried to force the man into a sitting position on the bed.

It was then the light on the camera switched from red to blue. Zero caught something out of the corner of his eye and jerked his head. If Mal hadn't gone down, he'd released the pressure. If he had, his hands were hanging in the air. He narrowed his eyes at the unusual color. He couldn't figure out what else had caught his attention. And more importantly, he'd seen the damn thing get a bullet shot at it before. He smirked straight at the lens just for whoever was watching.

The white haired man grabbed the clock on the bedstand. He gave it an unkind tug and yanked the plug in out of the wall. It was done in a manner that bent one of the two metal plugins. He turned back to the camera and held up a hand in a motion he knew any human would understand, one finger held up straight at the lens. He then chucked the large clock at the camera, smashing it and cutting off any feed. He looked towards Mal. Somehow they had to get out of there.

"Jayne, do you see anything?" he shouted towards the door, which still hung open on its hinges.

[Jilak]

Jayne was about to respond to Zero, tell him that the coast seemed clear, when a device clattered not two inches away from the man, out of view of anyone inside the room, due to how it was located. It clicked twice. And then... and then he heard voices. Voices in his head, voices only HE could hear. He could hear his mother... screaming for him... begging for his help. She sounded like she was being... slaughtered? But no, that couldn't be right. His mother was alive and well the last he saw her, there was no way she could have... but he'd been gone for so long... was the hat he was now wearing on his head the last he would hear of his mother?

Furthermore, underneath her screaming, there was a small... screeching sound? Odd. Furthermore, the more he listened to it... the more...

The more his ears seemed to bleed...
--
Mal had indeed taken a seat and watched as Zero flipped the camera a nice bird before breaking it. Almost instantly he felt a bit of his energy return. It wasn't much... but he would be able to stand on his own, whenever he got off the bed. Zero had succeeded in getting the man to take a seat, at least.

But there was still no response from Jayne...

[mugenginga]

Zero kept the position he'd made after the threw the clock. Said clock was now lying on the floor in two solid pieces. It served a nice accessory to the piece of the camera that had fallen off and was on the floor. His expression of annoyance got quite a bit more severe. He'd had Jayne go out to make sure no one was there, and now he wasn't responding. It wasn't a nice combination. He glanced at Mal, missing only half a beat at the observable change in the man's apparent activity.

"Would he ignore me just to spite me or should we be worried?"

[Jilak]

By the time Zero asked his question, Mal was already rifling through a nearby dresser drawer, pulling free a compact mirror. He slid it a ways out, into the hall. What he saw was Jayne. On his back. Bleeding from his head. With a small circular device near his head. He was mumbling, so he at least still seemed to be alive. But that wouldn't be worth much if he stayed there for much longer, Mal knew.

"We should be worrying." Mal stated, getting to his feet. Had to be him. He knew that. This device was most likely booby trapped against Zero as well, so it had to be Mal. They were most likely expecting the virus to slip up, to try to interface with one of their devices again.

He realized his mistake when he touched it. His skin began to blacken in long, snaking, tendrils. It felt like the torture Niska had done to him TENFOLD. It felt like his entire body was being ripped apart, like he was being turned inside out. He saw flashes of them, the men with the blue gloves, laughing. They looked... familiar. But there was no time to focus about that. His SOUL felt like it was on fire.

Malcolm Reynolds screamed.

[mugenginga]

Zero raised an eyebrow at the mirror until Mal threw it out into the hall. He could tell just from the angle of Mal's head what the man was doing. Rather clever, actually. He headed after the man into the hall, and stopped when he saw Jayne. Bleeding ears, device on the ground... although it was beyond him why Jayne was the only one effected. And Zero couldn't hear any sounds. He considered trying to read the device and had a hand halfway lifted when Mal reached for it.

It looked like something out of a horror movie. The black tendrils shot up Mal's arm in a manner that proved it was following his veins. Zero sprang into action as Mal began to scream. No, it wasn't following his veins, and while Zero wasn't one to run around being grateful for things he was grateful he'd read the data of the device before. It was following the strings of data the device had given off. He brought down the heel of his foot in a solid stomp on the device. Due to its shape and how Mal had it, he'd be able to crush half of it.

There had been the option of grabbing Mal, actually. But with the way Zero was sure it was interacting with whatever technology the men had implanted in the man's hand, he wasn't sure it would have pulled away from Mal. So anyhow, unless the device was made of some pretty damn tough stuff half of it would be crushed, and hopefully that would solve whatever it was doing.

It sucked not being able to safely access his abilities.

[Jilak]

Well, Zero succeeded in stopping the device. The tendrils going up Mal's arm disappeared, his screaming ending. The device fell from his hand with a chink, and Mal struggled to stand. One thing was odd about this, though. Had the Men in Blue honestly not expected Zero to just STOMP the thing? Or had they been simply screwing with everyone? Honestly, it was most likely the latter. Bastards were SADISTS.

Mal stood there for a moment, breathing heavily. That had HURT. Worse than Niska's torture, worse than the injury that led to him having to have a nerve cluster move, worse than ALL OF THAT COMBINED. I mean, really. Who WERE these guys, and what kind of vendetta did they HAVE against the captain? He suspected the device wouldn't have killed him, that probably wasn't its purpose. And if they just wanted to hurt him... WHY?

Truth be told, with the way things were going, they'd probably be able to hold out for a few days before the men finally decided to kill them. Before they decided to end this... game, they seemed to be playing. But honestly?

"Bastards aren't gonna get days." Mal stated, pushing himself to his feet.

"Jayne? You still breathin'?" Mal asked, earning a groan from the man.

"Good enough."