Forward/Awesome


 * The Firefly fanfic Forward has plenty, judging by the responses of the reviewers.

"Mal: You want my gun so bad, you can have your fill of it."
 * The general consensus is that some of the best moments come at the end of the story arc "Mosiac." The crew has been captured by pirates, only to have Jayne and River save the day. Jayne does his part by setting himself on fire and then breaking an opponent across his knee. Meanwhile, River is confronted by the pirates' resident martial arts master, who is approaching her while imagining her to be a Worthy Opponent who he can test himself against. He charges at her, preparing for an epic martial arts duel....and River shoots him in the throat.
 * And then, while standing over all the dead bodies, River demands Mal bring her chocolate.
 * "Last Man" indicates that Jayne got the whole "set myself on fire" trick when
 * Jayne gets a lot these. For example, in the "Condor" arc, Jayne Scope Snipes  from two kilometers away, while on top of Serenity.
 * And in the Third Interlude, Jayne manages to board a gigantic monster truck chasing Mal and the rest of the crew via an ATV (with the scene emphasizing just how insanely difficult that is) and then climb up and kill all the goons inside with just a revolver and brutality.
 * Are we leaving out the part where Jayne  And this is after
 * And shortly afterward, Jayne
 * Chapter Five of the "Adrift" arc. Five words: River Tam, Angel of Death.
 * And the chapter immediately afterward, wherein Shepherd Book pulls a Big Damn Heroes moment when he  Badass Preacher defined.
 * And right after that, Simon
 * Followed by Wash
 * And of course
 * Mal doing what he does best in the final fight in Mosaic  and delivering this editor's new favorite one-liner:
 * Mal doing what he does best in the final fight in Mosaic  and delivering this editor's new favorite one-liner:

"Catalogue of injuries: hairline fracture in shin. Multiple fractured or broken ribs. Lacerations, bruising of back, vertebrae, possibly wrenched shoulder and back muscles. Bullet lodged in gut, precise location unknown. Head trauma, ninety-plus percent probability of concussion (postulate round ricocheting off boulder and bouncing off skull, or maybe shrapnel knocked loose by same) Bruised jaw. Sunburns."
 * Added benefit to that is  So, Mal gives   all the gun he would ever want -   Do not fuck with Mal's crew.
 * The climax of "Silver" has these back-to-back for just about the entire crew. Among the highlights, according to the reviewers:
 * Wash, Zoe, and Book
 * Mal, Jayne, and Kaylee  It Makes Sense in Context.
 * An incident the author refers to simply as
 * For bonus points
 * River ambushes a man by
 * "Tell me, ...."
 * The character of Echo gets one in he "Second Interlude" where he
 * We cannot forget Corporal Ash Frye who manages to put up a heck of a fight against  prior to Echo's arrival. This editor wonders if it's karma playing catch-up...
 * In the "Charity" arc, we have Zoe managing to almost singlehandedly  with just her shotgun and a knife. And this is while she's pregnant.
 * Two chapters later, Zoe
 * In that same chapter, River and Jayne's Back-to-Back Badasses moment.
 * Book kicking three Talons' asses offscreen before giving the leader a Click. "Hello.".
 * River's
 * Mal
 * In "Hunt," Zoe tells Simon he's going to have to stay behind because she's afraid he'll be too emotional while confronting, as she's the reason why River has gone missing. In her own words, Simon will have to be "cold" and control his emotions. He then quietly and calmly lays out how "cold" he's been throughout the series when it comes to saving his sister, particularly when rescuing her from the Academy and when he
 * The one thing the series has really lacked is a definitive moment for Kaylee....at least until the climax of "Hunt," where she  In the same scene, Wash and Inara show their chops too, managing to keep the   busy for an impressive length of time despite not being real fighters.
 * Zoe
 * River
 * In the Fourth Interlude, River has a steady string of awesome moments, generally due to drawing upon the knowledge and memories of her friends to improvise and adapt to changing conditions, and sheer, cussed determination.
 * When a pirate ship picks her up and starts chasing her, she uses Wash's knowledge of spacecraft to disable the pirates' larger and more heavily-armored vessel.
 * After crashing during the aforementioned chase and breaking a few ribs, she kills four of them within the span of a single second with four lethal shots, causing the rest to immediately run. Then she marches overland through the desert on those broken ribs, pushing on through her encroaching dementia with sheer stubborn will, borrowed from memories Mal and Zoe and Jayne.
 * When the pirates come back for another round, she draws them away from the nearby town to keep civilians from getting caught in the crossfire, and in the process  - but she's still able to make the pirates back off when they close in on foot by   Ultimately, it results in   Now that's a Determinator for you.
 * Quote River's own mental analysis:


 * River and Jayne's escape from Niska's ship in "Unfinished Business" is made, on equal parts, of brutality and awesomeness.
 * Mal weaponizing Serenity's exhaust to weaken an Alliance's ship so much that it weakens the glass separating the bridge from the Black and, three armour-piercing rounds later...
 * "Last Man" is pretty much just a continuous stream of reasons why Jayne Cobb is not to be fucked with, at any age.