This was written for a Livejournal community last year. Plotline loosely based on the movies Sneakers. All canon couples plus Rayne development. Post BDM, and my verse, Wash lives. R&R appreciated.

Rating: PG for language

Disclaimer: 1) a renunciation of any claim to or connection with; 2) disavowal; 3) a statement made to save one's own ass.

Logline (adopted from the movie Sneakers): Two ex-soldiers, a fugitive doctor and psychic, a mercenary, a mechanic, a fly-boy, and a high class whore...and these are the good guys.

Series: The Key

Ch. The Prologues

River's Prologue

Nine-year-old River Tam sat at a table in the kitchen, perched over what appeared to be a small board with numerous configurations of metal attached to it, oblivious to the hustle and bustle around her. Her parent's house servants were engaged in last minute preparations for yet another dinner party. River couldn't have cared less. She had successfully managed to get out of an appearance at this one, a parental decision spurred on by her behavior the last time she been required to make an appearance. The Tam children were still considered too young to attend a formal engagement through its entirety- but they were 'allowed' to make a short appearance at the beginning of the evening to enlighten everyone as to their latest progress, i.e., a recital of sorts. Simon would invariably be asked to recite the latest in medical progress, while River would be asked to dance a short, quiet, piece. Nothing that required speaking, as the Tam parents had learned very early on that River spoke far beyond her years, disconcerting their guests.

At the last dinner party, an entire month ago as the Tams had required some recovery time, River had been asked by a guest, jokingly of course, what her thoughts were on the upcoming election. Big mistake. By the time she had gotten partway through a thoughtful analysis of campaign sponsorship and why it didn't matter who won as both parties had been bought off by the same financial and legal institutions, her parents had lost half their party guests and were furious. Which River couldn't understand, as she had been asked the question in the first place, she had not spoken out first as her parents had instructed. She had been sent to her room and had cried until Simon had come up to check on her, telling her that she wasn't going to be asked to put in any more appearances. That thought had caused an immediate cessation of crying- no more dog and pony shows? Well, how was that bad?

So tonight, instead of pacing in an upstairs foyer until she was called, she simply ignored everyone and everything as she worked on her latest project. She often came to the kitchen to work when she wanted peace and quiet; despite the hustle around her tonight, she knew that here she would not be bothered by her parents passing by, pausing only to tell her that whatever she was doing was inappropiate for little girls to be doing. The kitchen staff never told her no; she kept out of their way, and they thought she was cute and made sure she always had enough milk and cookies to keep her going through whatever 'project' she was currently working on. They thought her harmless and a bit more 'normal' than whatever it was her parents expected her to be. This is what kids did- explored the world around them. So, when young River showed up that afternoon with her pile of metallic odds and ends, no one thought anything of it. She spent the afternoon quietly sticking various pieces into a hole filled board, then just before the appetizers were about to be served, she slipped out unnoticed into the back hallway.

She quietly made her way up the back servant staircase, around the corner, and paused at the top. Simon was down the hall, where he would be pacing in his room, nervously waiting to be called and grilled for the amusement of the guests, and the defense of his father's pride. It was nerve wracking to the young man. True, he was smarter than most his age, but being made to grandstand as yet another net accomplishment by his father was not good for a teenaged boy's nerves. River felt that since she had been let off the hook for these performances, she needed to help Simon get out of them as well. She knew he would never willingly defy their father, so she decided it was incumbent upon her to assist her brother in his time of need.

She crouched down in the shadows near the turn at the top of stairs and listened. She noted the noise level drifting up from downstairs seemed to be about equal to all guests being present and accounted. She quietly reached over to the access panel in the wall next to her and pried the cover off with a butter knife she had swiped from the kitchen. Leaning it up against the wall, she pulled her little afternoon project out of a large pocket in the front of her dress. She raised the small contraption towards the circuit boards inside the wall.

The kitchen help had thought River was making a collage on a little board, a collage made up of bits of metal, wires, and what looked like miniature ceramic beads. One of the cooks had even offered her a bigger piece of cardboard for her 'art', she had smiled and politely declined. What River had actually been making, however, was a sort of jimmy-rigged multiple-frequency transmitter, a kind of remote control. Or rather, THE remote control. For everything. In the house. On the house. On the estate grounds. EVERYTHING.

Not two minutes later, a servant came scurrying up the stairs to fetch Simon. He appeared slowly, obviously reluctant to perform as the circus poodle his parents expected. As he stepped into the hallway, the lights suddenly dimmed down low, then rose up again. The conversation level downstairs rose and fell as well. Simon took another step forward, the lights went out. Conversation levels rose again. River could hear her father's voice rising as he tried to re-assure the guests.

Events started to speed up. The floodlights started flickering. The house alarms went off, although it was weird the way the pitch seemed to randomly rise and fall like some weird techno-band creation. The emergency floor runner lights started blinking randomly as if celebrating Christmas in July.

By now the guests were definitely leaving, in a rush. River's and Simon's parents were in an uproar, their mother trying to calm people and convince them to stay. Their father was alternately yelling at a running, hapless staff, and then turning to yell at his guests to not leave; which just served to convince them to leave, as no one wanted to be near Gabriel Tam when he was upset. Just as the majority of the guests were halfway down the walk to their limos, the sprinklers went off. Chaos moved in and took up residence. Women screamed as priceless gowns and hairdos were instantly soaked, their husbands yelling back threats of dry cleaning bills at the Tams. River watched the outdoors high jinks through a small window at the top of the stair landing.

"You'll be grounded for life for this one," Simon said, close behind her.

River didn't jump; she had known Simon was behind her without looking. "I was trying to help you. The least you can do is enjoy the show they're putting on for you this time," she returned petulantly. Simon sighed.

"Yes, I suppose we should while we can," he sighed. He wrapped his arm around his little sister, already coming to a decision.

"You're so fatalistic, Simon. Just for once, try to have a little fun at someone else's expense- tonight, for a few minutes, you are not their puppet." She turned to face him. "And, you are not taking the blame for this, so don't even try," she said firmly, knowing that Simon was already planning on taking the fall for her.

"No, mei mei, you can't, they are going to be over the top mad about this one. You can't, let me…" Simon's voice trailed off as he heard their father stomping back into the downstairs hall, hollering at the top of his lungs.

"You wait until I get a hold of that xi xie gui salesman from SelectTech that convinced me to re-route the entire system through their mainframe- I'll have him for breakfast!!" Gabriel continued on, stomping on through into the living room to rant and pace in front of their mother, in despair and slogging back leftover drinks on the couch. He continued to rant for several minutes, then voices faded as they seemed to retire back to their private wing. One by one, as servants scurried around, things began shutting off. The sprinklers, the blinking runway lights, the main lights holding steady once again. Simon sighed and looked at River.

"Well, I had better…" he started.

"No! Silly, father already has a 'fall'guy!" River whispered loudly. "Just go with it!"

"A 'fall' guy?" questioned Simon.

"You know, a stooge, a patsy, a scapegoat, a cement-shoed bottom sucker," River rattled the terms off her tongue with ease.

Simon sighed again. Seemed he was doing a lot of that tonight. "Okay," he agreed. "but I seriously think you should cut back on the amount of television you watch."

River stuck her tongue out at him, hugged him quickly, and ran off to bed. Simon watched her go, once again grateful that he was on her good side. He shuddered at the thought of ever being on the bad side of a genius.

Jayne's Prologue

Jayne sighed and stared longingly out the window again. He still couldn't believe that he'd gotten away with it at school, only to come home and be given detention by his own mother! How had she known?

"It's for your own good, Jayne." His older sister stood in the kitchen doorway.

Of course. Tattler. Well, he'd just have to make sure that she got hers…

"It weren't right, Jayne. You can't keep thinking you can get out of schoolwork by playing the class clown." So superior. He wanted to wipe that smug look off her face…

"It's okay that it's hard, but you have to try." That stopped him in his revenge planning. His own sister calling him dumb. Nice.

He turned away to look back out the window at the perfect hunting and fishing afternoon. Not a big one, mind you, big fish and big animals needed to be tracked down in the early dawn hours, right before they settled down in their daytime hiding places away from people looking to eat. But you could still make a decent light snack, or even dinner, out of the few dumber fish or stupid rodents too addled-pated to hide from a young boy's afternoon of practicing-to-be-a-man time.

The worst thing was, she was right. Jayne did have a hard time in math class. All year he had struggled, except for that one section on monetary calculations and percentages. He'd spent enough time around his Dad at market to know a deal.

So when algebra had rolled around, Jayne decided he'd had enough. He knew small farming, hunting, fishing, how to fix a roof- well, wasn't that all a man needed to know to get along in life? His father had seemed to think so, but he lost the argument when Jayne had requested to quit school. His mother had scolded his father royally, seemingly convinced that Jayne should stay in school and learn even more than he already knew. And his sister had backed her up, even as they eavesdropped by the back door. Jayne hadn't stopped glaring at her for a week.

"What is your problem?! I gots all I need, whyfore you and Ma gotta make a huge deal 'bout this?!" Jayne yelled at her.

She sighed. "Because Mom wants more for you than what they have, this life."

Jayne squinted. "What's wrong with this? We gots everything we need, don't we?"

And that afternoon, Jayne got his first lesson in reality. His sister explained to him, in great detail, just how hard his parents worked to keep them fed, clothed, and that roof over their heads. That even though basic survival skills were important, they wanted more for their kids, they wanted them to not have to struggle so hard, to have a little bit better. Jayne had promised her that he would try harder.

And he did. Bright and early the next morning, he set off for school. He set himself up a nice waiting place about a quarter mile from the school, and proceeded to exact a dime toll from every first year student that passed that way. He knew, despite what his sister had said, that he weren't ever gonna get anywhere with that algebra stuff, but he could bring home his Ma some nice cloth to maybe make herself a pretty new dress.

The 'Other Man's' Prologue

Young David waited until he heard the closing click of the front door as his mother finally left for her charity planning committee meeting. He slid out of bed, pulled the thermometer further away from its proximity to the light bulb, and headed over to his desk. His computer fired up, David proceeded to hack his way into the school's grade files, where he gave himself five A's and an A-, and he then gave cute little Sally Stratton a couple of A's too. He reset the backdoor passwords, then cut the connection. They couldn't backtrack me if I drew the map myself and handed it to them, he smiled, serenely pleased with himself.

Translation:

xi xie gui: bloodsucking