Out the 'Verse [Firefly Fanfiction]

Jiātíng (Family)

The young man adjusted his uniform, watching himself in the mirror. Making sure that his hair was perfectly coiffed and his clothes were straight and without wrinkles, Simon Tam was confident that he at least looked the part of an Alliance official. At least he better damn should. There was so much at stake and he had to succeed.

The most important thing being that he had to save his sister.

The codes she'd been sending him in their letters more than worried him, and it infuriated him that no one believed him —not even their parents. The fact that River was in pain and, according to what he deciphered, was being tortured in that so-called Academy...he had to do something. He couldn't sit by, twiddling his thumbs and brushing it off as nonsense and wallow in ignorance, and he still wouldn't sit by now that he was with people who could help him get her out.

He would do anything for River. She was his little sister, someone he swore to protect and be the best brother to. He wouldn't fail her, so he was going to do everything in his power to rescue her from whatever hell she was in.

"Ready, Tam?" one of the others asked him, suiting up for the job.

He took a deep breath and straightened his posture. He arranged his face into a cold, even a bit disdainful look.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" he sneered.

Hammond, the man asking after him, grinned widely. "Nice. You'll fool them right away."

Simon didn't lose his look, nodding slightly and keeping in character. He took center stage, heading to the front to lead his entourage, and they settled themselves into the Alliance-issued private vehicle.

Within the facility, Simon tried not to shudder in disgust. It was sterile-looking and practically all-white, which made the lights blaring against everything and nearly blinding him. He made sure to not slip in his facade though, listening to the man next to him intently. Dr. Mathias was apparently the one in charge in here and Simon was hoping to hear something important about this place, though he was even more hopeful about something on River.

"Now down this way is our prize subject. We've had multiple breakthroughs for her and I can say we're almost close to having her ready for use on the field," Dr. Mathias was saying.

Simon inwardly frowned, but nodded to show some sort of acknowledgment for the doctor. But then his breath caught in his throat as they entered the room and he saw River strapped to some sort of chair, needles stuck into seemingly everywhere. Her face was contorted in pain and she was screaming and crying and-and-and —

Simon's blood was boiling and he wanted to kill everyone in this room.

He wasn't sure how he got through the next few minutes letting this man talk, touting River as some kind of special project and sounding so goddamn proud. All he knew was that one moment he was a government official and then one little question from Dr. Mathias on who he was had him deciding enough was enough (and it was, because he was this close to bashing Dr. Mathias over the head).

It wasn't long until he'd freed River from her bindings and was leading her away. He was sure that they both had more than enough of this place.

Once they were out of the facility and back with the others, who hightailed it out of there and grouped back with their ship, Simon was just in the middle of helping his sister get settled onto the ship when he was approached by Hammond.

"We're going to have to put her in cryo," Hammond told him, looking exhausted in his worn trousers and wrinkled shirt.

"What? Why?" Simon was alarmed. Why would they need to do that? River was fine by his side!