Snake Eyes

[Bambi Maddox]

The door banged loudly against the wall as Maddox kicked it open and strode inside.

The dining room was empty at this time, and just as well.

She placed the wired cage on one of the glossy table tops and gingerly pulled off the cloth cover.

Hunching forward, her hands on her knees propping herself at a 90 degree angle, the Black Sun Assassin studied her deadly aquisition.

[Xel-Naga]

What was he doing in the dining room? Pilfering a drink of course. His own personal stash had expired long ago, and he was dying for a drink, literally. It would seem that alcohol was the only thing that kept him going. After drawing breath for over a hundred years, most of which he spent in cryo and the rest he spent getting knifed and shot up, he was sure that he had run out of blood a long time ago. If you cut him, it was likely he'd bleed rum and ale.

Hearing footsteps approaching, he grabbed his acquisition, a bottle of some unfamiliar ale. It ain't Corellian, but it'd do for now. He headed for the door and then stood against the wall that it was hinged on. The problem with posh old fashion doors was that, when opened, they allowed for the perfect hiding place.

The door swung open, separating him from whoever just barged into the room. The door hit his boot, but he slammed his free arm into the wall to make it sound like the door had, in fact, slammed into the wall rather then his boot.

He waited a few moments, but whoever just entered was not leaving, not yet. All he could hear was the sound of tinkering, which meant something foul was either taking place or about to happen. He would prefer to get out of this place before something exploded, but then again, it could be fun. He was always up for some fun.

Resting his hand on the door, he slowly applied pressure until it began swinging, and then continued pushing until the door clicked shut. "You wouldn't happen to have a cap opener on you, would you?" He asked casually, looking down at the bottle in his hand while running the other hand over his shaved head. The hand finished it's rub and then fell to his side, to rest casually on top of the heavy blaster pistol strapped to his hip.

[Bambi Maddox]

Maddox became very still, her posture pulling together in that way a person does when suddenly every nerve-ending is on alert, yet they appear to not move a muscle.

The voice behind her had been unexpected.

"There'll be one behind the bar.." she answered, then casually lifted a hand to unclasp the cage's door.

"..You might try there" she suggested.

In the subdued light of the room, black lidless eyes gleamed dully as the creature lifted its reptillian head.
Maddox smiled wickedly to herself as it slowly uncoiled its body in a silent slither.

[Xel-Naga]

"Aye, that might be a good place t'look," He concluded before moving toward the bar, which he silently slipped behind and disappeared as he ducked down to rummage through various cupboards.

"Whatcha got there?" His voice came, somewhat muffled by the obstructions that separated them. "I saw scales, so a reptilian beasty, and your being awfully secretive about it. This compels me to think it's a Ysalamir, but..." He paused as he stood up, bottle opening in one hand, bottle in the other. "...Perhaps it's something far more sinister in nature. Cheers!" He finished speaking as he popped the cap off the bottle and lifted it to his lips, so that he could drink heavily.

[Bambi Maddox]

"Sinister?" Maddox watched the snake slide itself out of its cage and coil its way down the table leg, "Depends on your point of view, I suppose." She lifted her gaze to look directly at Xel-Naga, "..On whether youre the predator or the prey"

The thin nub-tail disappeared behind a chair.

"Careful now, one nip and you're a gonner"

[Xel-Naga]

He took another heavy hit from the bottle. "Well, I can say that I personally prefer to be the hunter. That's why I carry this around around instead of wearing a skirt," He slipped the heavy blaster from it's place at his side and hefted it up for her to see. "It makes all my problems go away, clickety-zing." He flashed her a lopsided smile and then drank from the bottle again.

"Got a name for the ugly little bastard?"

[Bambi Maddox]

"Not much of a finesse' guy, I take it" she remarked as he brandished his blaster.

"The idea of the snake is to develop the skill of silent assassination. Its a quiet killer - I can learn alot from him." Maddox stepped carefully around the table, scanning the floor infront of her.

".....Rowdy is all good" she continued, stalking forward slowly, "Im a big fan of rowdy." She lost sight of the viper and stood still a moment, canting her head to one side listening for movement. Naga's gurgling was not helping.

"..But every now and then, effective also means invisible"

A bottle clinked, it was in the shelving.

"He dont got a name though. You got any suggestions?"

[Xel-Naga]

Xel burped loudly. "Sure, if you could find the silly bugger, but right now I'd sooner expect it to be crawling up my shorts then dancing to some flute in the corner. I've always taken my cues from the avalanche. Brutal and crushing, and sometimes slow, but I pick up speed as I go. Stealth has never been a priority. But I really do wish that snake of yours would stop being so damn sneaky. I'd hate to mess the place up with a thermal detonator."

He glanced around timidly, waiting for the little bastard to show itself. "How 'bout 'Frank'? It's not as bland as Bob and more pretentious then Carl."

[Bambi Maddox]

"--------Frank------"

Maddox hunched forward, peering into the rows of amber whiskeys and mollasses-colored rums.

"------I-----like------it--EEP!"

She jumped back suddenly as Frank snapped his diamond head at her to strike.

"This is gonna be tricky" she said to Xel-Naga, whom she noted had distanced himself with incredible alacrity for a big man. "You go round and come at him from the other end. We'll trap him"

[Xel-Naga]

He would going to need a very, very expensive cigar after all this. Like five packs worth. This was more trouble then he liked to associate himself with without a dozen or so armed sentients in the room. Sometimes you have to take them lemons and throw them in the other guy's eyes.

Bottle laid aside, Nate began siddling along on the opposite side of the reptile's guessed location as the woman with the eyepatch. He was bent closer to the ground and moving quite deftly for a man of his size. His blaster was still in hand, raised up and ready to vaporize anything that moved. The woman was attractive, he'd give her that, but he wasn't going to throw his life away to catch her "pet". There were just some pants not worth going through the trouble of getting into.

"I'm comin'atcha Frankie."

[Bambi Maddox]

Bambi's tactic of coming at Frankie was different to Naga's, and a lot sounder given what happened next.

She picked up an empty box that had once comfortably packaged 6 bottles of Nar Shadda Gold and crept forward. Naga, stealthy and watchful moved foward too, a blaster in his hand.

When it happened, it was very fast. Lightening fast.

The snake spat forward, fangs bared and struck at Xel-Naga. He shot off a laser bolt in almost the same split-second, and it careened destructively into the back wall of the bar. Maddox, a second behind that, sprang foward, trapping Frankie in the down-turned box, the snake's angry strikes against confinement audible in the dark.

"That was close" Maddox said, more shook up than she conveyed. Naga's breath was ragged and he was perspiring heavily. She took a closer look at him and a sudden cold crept up her spine.

"He didn't get ya........right? The snake missed....right?"

[Xel-Naga]

A flash of movement. Instinctively he brought his free arm out and placed it directly in front of the attack, while his blaster hand swiveled into position to fire at a trajectory that would intercept the attack. But it was faster then he expected. Pain gripped his arm, right above the wrist, and his blaster went off, missing completely and putting a smoldering hole in the back of the room.

Maybe it was done already, or maybe the weapon going off scared it, but at that moment the little bastard let go of his arm and dropped back to the floor, only to be pounced on top of by the basket wielding Patchy.

"Son of a bitc..." He started as he stood up, and then his tongue suddenly felt like it was growing in size and growing fur, chocking him and forcing him to fight for what little breath he could. In his right hand he cradled his injured left hand. With his jacket sleeve pulled up he could see the twin dots on his arm, silvery and slimy. They looked back at him and scoffed.

Then his body felt equally furry and disproportionate, heavy and leaden. He didn't know when it happened, it was so sudden, but one moment he was standing, and the next he was on his back, sprawled out and unable to move anything. Even his eyes were heavy and unwilling to move.

And then the pain started. It was like liquid fire had been dumped into his bloodstream. It raced up his arm and into his shoulder, and spread out into his chest, upon which it felt like a rancor was standing on his chest. So heavy...

[Bambi Maddox]

Frack...frack...frack.

How did the idiot let that happen?

Maddox was mortified and darted her hands into and out of each of her pockets looking for the compressor syringe. Funny that the word <i>mortified</i> kept richocheting around her mind, for thats what was quickly happening to ol' tough guy on the floor. With in seconds, the snakes venom had wreaked its deadly duty on Naga and with every beat of his heart and pulse of his blood, the rigors of the lethal toxin took firmer hold.

"Just hang in there buddy, Im gonna fix ya up" Bambi chirped at him. She couldn't tell if he could hear her or not. There was no sign that he had. Naga's body was completely immobile. His eyes didn't even blink. It was the freakiest thing....<i>Frack! Where is that syringe?</i> She tried to keep the panic from her voice.

Maddox had not really expected to ever have to use it. Sure...she was gonna train with the snake, but heck, she knew enough not to get bit by the dang thing. The antivenom was just a precaution..Sorsha would flay her alive for killing of one of her men without being told to.

"Aha!"

She'd located it in her inner side holster pocket.

"Knew Id find it eventually" she grinned.

Maddox leaned forward, bending close in order to feel Naga's breath on her cheek - should he still be breathing, that is. Didn't want to waste the antidote if there was no point.

Ehh, cant tell. "Better err on the side of caution, eh, Naga?"

Pressing the syring to Xel-Naga's throat, Maddox thumbed the other end forcefully and the compressor shot the life-saving solution straight into Naga's jugular.

Looming over Naga and moving her head to peer into one eye, then the other, Maddox watched eagerly for a response.

[Xel-Naga]

Everyone got so quiet. He could hear someone talking, but it sounded like it was coming from a mile away, on the other side of a wall of pillows. He tried to move his head to look at whatever was making the noise, but the muscles in his neck refused to respond, and then his vision began to die. At first it was just a darkness at the edges of his vision, and then his eyes stopped moving all together. The darkness increased, until he could only see small pinpoints of light insufficient to be considered sight. Breathing became more labored as the invisible weight on his chest increased. He wanted to fight it, to jump up and run screaming through the corridors, but he was so tired. Maybe just a little sleep...

Sound, it began flooding back into his ears, as did feeling, which started at the tips of his fingers and began moving back. It all tingled, in that uncomfortable way. His eyes opened wider and he began to look around. There was Patchy, leaning right over him. The little bisnitch. He reached up and grabbed her by the throat and slowly chocked her to death for her injustice to the existence of Xel-Naga. Or so he would have, but all he managed to do was flop his arm around without even coming close to grabbing her throat.

When he could finally move his neck muscles, he began looking around for his gun, which had fallen from his hand when he got bit. He found it off to the side, and began flopping his hand over, trying to get his hands on the weapon so he could blow this woman to oblivion. Sadly, his arm muscles were still something akin to Nubian pasta, and the weapon was out of arm's reach anyways.

Schutta...

[Bambi Maddox]

The antidote was working, as revealed by Naga's flapping arm, and Maddox smiled broadly. "Now, thats cool" she said appreciatively. She'd pretty much brought the big guy back from the brink of death and felt quite a sense of accomplishment.

She scooched around behind Xel-Naga's prone frame and slid her arms beneath his shoulders and wrenched him upwards into a sitting position, herself crouched behind and about him. Naga's head lolled around involuntarily, and Bambi noticed that no matter its position, he had her fixed with his glaring eyes. It was a little unnerving and she managed a nervous laugh.

"You'll be right as rain in a minute or two, big guy. Just gotta wait for the feeling to come back into your legs" The glare intensified. "Nothing that wont be back good as before" she added with an optimistic pat on his thigh.

[Xel-Naga]

"...jbluck gue," He responded, his tongue still numb from the poison, and his jaw and mouth were the same. She hefted him up and dragged him against the wall so he could sit up. He was amazed should could even lift his heavy body, but that amazement only lasted a moment before the rage returned. He wanted to knock her down, climb on top of her, pin her limbs down with his superior weight, and then humbly choke her to death. Oh, he wanted to do worse. He wanted to carve her up with a knife or beat her face with his fist, but he preferred to be well crude with women. Might as well kill them in a way that didn't damage their pretty faces, that way the mourning family had something to look at in the casket.

Regardless, he wanted to kill her, and only the aftereffects of the poison stopped him from exacting his revenge. He did not care who she worked for or who she was in this organization. He was just a dog, and killing her would either turn Black Sun against him or allow him usurp her position. He had no idea what Black Sun's policy on the matter is.

[Bambi Maddox]

"Whoops," she said lifting his arm to draw his sleeve accross his lips, "You're droolin' some. Dont try to talk"


Dabbing his arm roughly against his mouth - Maddox was not exactly a ministering angel - she then let it fall with a plop into his lap.

"Now, who are you anyway" she queried, suddenly not liking too much the look he was giving her. Perhaps she had just almost killed, and then saved, an assassin come after Sorsha..? Or a spy...that Sasseerri was not beyond something like that.

Bambi took the liberty of trying to find out and began rifling Xel-Naga's pockets. She darted her hands deftly inside his jacket, retrieving a small blaster hidden there. "Hmph, handy" she remarked drily. Continuing on, she was rewarded with the soft touch of leather against her fingertips.

She withdrew his wallet.

[Xel-Naga]

First she gets him bit and poisoned and then has the tenacity to bring him back and then she starts treating him like a baby. It wasn't his fault his motor functions were in the pits because of her reptile friend. He would quite like to throw the thing on her face and see how she liked it. Of course, he wouldn't bring her back, except maybe just so that he could put a blaster bolt between her eyes.

Finally his tongue came unglued just about the time she began rifling through his pockets. She took his wallet, but it was nothing alarming about it. All she would find in there is a few crumpled Tatooine bills and a fake ID with the name Yun Rok'oa on it, which was who he masqueraded as when on the Imperial Center; Coruscant. If he went around proclaiming he was Xel-Naga, well, he was likely to get shot first and not asked any questions at all. He had built up quite an infamous legacy in the days before he was frozen and left for dead. Cryo is a bisnitch.

"I work for Kasajian. People call me Xel-Naga," He replied, quite relieved that he could finally speak without drooling or mispronouncing words. "If you must know I've been working closely with Yurga the Hutt on behalf of Kasajian. I was just back on a little R'n'R when I ran into you and your little bastard friend with the fangs." He was trying to be nice now, his more rational side coming forward now that he was extremely pissed off and ready to let the "bad" side take over. He quite enjoyed the bad side, it was fun. Hurting, killing, and raping people always had a strange amusement to it.

[Bambi Maddox]

"So you're Xel-Naga" she said, as if the name meant something to her.

She looked once more at the ID and tucked it back into the wallet. "The photo doesn't do you justice" she offered.

"Well, no harm done then. Looks to me like you're startin to thaw out with the antivenom. You are quite a bit slower than your reputation'd have people believe, though. That viper shouldn'a got anywhere near the Xel-Naga I've heard of.."

"You're lucky Im a friend" she added with her typical tactlessness.

[Xel-Naga]

His eyes narrowed. She was not just insulting him, she was insulting the name. Xel-Naga was written up to be the scoundrel of scoundrels. The son of a family of peace keepers on Nar Shaddaa. His parents accomplished the impossible, which was quelling the dark side of the planet. They help people get over their vices, helped murderers turn themselves in, and generally helped the entire population. They broke the Nar Shaddaa mold and were good people. So it was a shock when their son grew up into a murderous psychopath with schizophrenic multiple personalities. He cut his way into the history books, only to disappear when he was finally apprehended. He pleaded insanity across the board and was taken in as a medical subject so that his unique mental "disabilities" could be assessed. They threw him in the freezer to be studied another day, and left.

That was a long time ago...

"What can I say? I'm getting old, and slow. You think I would have retired after hitting a hundred, eh? Not me. I live for the job. Couldn't retire if I wanted to. Now, could you be a pal and help me up?"

That's right... Get close enough so I can strange you!

[Bambi Maddox]

"Ah, so you're an old guy then.." she remarked as she squeezed her shoulder under his armpit and push-pulled him upwards. "That explains the dome. Ugh, you're heavy." The pair shambled to a dubious standstill and Maddox continued, "Dont get me wrong, the look is a good one for you. Probly helps not having hair during fights and such, make it harder to grab onto ya, huh"

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: Sorsha entered the dining hall, having returned from a personal holiday on Faleen. Greeting the pair with a grin, she made her presence known ::

"I'm not interrupting anything ... Intimate ... am I?" ;)

[Xel-Naga]

Her insolence knew no end. He just wanted to grab his weapon and burn a few holes through her. Perhaps he'd even leave her alive with only critical injury, the kind that bacta can't heal completely. That would make his day. Pity his blaster was still sprawled out on the floor out of reach.

She critiqued his appearance as she picked him up and pulled him up to a standing position. He got his feet under him and felt confident enough to stand on his own, only he didn't let that slip. He pretended to still be weak legged so that she would remain holding him like that.

"I'm not interrupting anything ... Intimate ... am I?"

The voice interrupted their "moment" and caused Xel to look across the room, to where Kasajian stood framed in the doorway, watching them with a smirk of humor in her face. "No. We were just getting through the foreplay. Now for the main event," He said with a lazy wink, damn poison, right before he stood up on his legs and brought his hand around to wrap around Patchy's slender throat.

He squeezed. Hard. Forcing her against the wall while his other arm came up to bar her chest and further push her against the wall.

[Bambi Maddox]

Sorsha's arrival was a surprise and Maddox felt quite happy to see her boss back and in obvious good spirits.

Even more surprising, though, was Naga's hand tightening around her throat (she thought he could barely stand) and that murderous look he had in his eye.

Bambi was a little slow though to register her offence.

She strained a look over to Sorsha and strangled out the gist of the evening's events, "He almost--died of snakebite" she croaked out, "And--I brought him back to life--It was really cool"

Bambi's voice, though breathy, could not hide the kick she got out of what had happened and Sorsha knew if it was at all physically possible - which it wasn't given the chokingness - Maddox would be grinning absurdly.

Bambi rolled her gaze back to the infuriated Naga and lost the humor, grouting, "You--wanna--let go now--"

[Sorsha Kasajian]

"NAGA!!!"

:: Her shout was punctuated by the clicking of a target pistol. Her gaze was steady as she squeezed the trigger. The shot went cleanly into his ankle ::

[Xel-Naga]

He felt it, the sensation of something connecting with his ankle. There was some discomfort and pain, and a numbing feeling. But the years in cryo had more then damaged the nerve endings in his body, especially in his limbs. Pain was something that happened to other people. He just felt a tenth of what was really happening. It was part of his new reputation now. A man who didn't go down no matter how much damage you inflicted on him.

Superhuman or stubborn. Your pick.

Regardless, he felt himself begin to tip over as his leg refused to respond. Rather then let himself fall, he used his free hand, the one previous baring Patchy's chest, to punch a hole in the cheap wood paneling that lined the walls and hold on to the hole to keep himself erect.

He ignored Kasajian, and instead focused entirely on the target of his rage. The woman slowly choking to death between his fingers. But her complete lack of dying or at least acting like she was dying was taking the entire point out of the choking. She just stood there, like this was just some little prank, that he would let go at any moment. Part of him wanted to squeeze harder, to force his fingers right through her throat and kill her, but the more dominant part of his mind was disgusted.

His hand released, skin peeling away from skin. And then he fell, his grip slipping from his handhold and his entire bulk collapsing to the floor. But he aimed his fall so that he fell alongside his dropped blaster. He hit the ground and rolled sideways along the floor, picking up the blaster as he did so. As he came out of his roll he brought the blaster up to point at Kasajian.

"Want t'put that away? I dislike having things pointed at me."

[Bambi Maddox]

Maddox had taken the throat throttling and the threatening glare as a bit of a lark -- you know, a bit of the old tough and tumble of getting to know one's boundaries and limits with a new face. She liked a rough game. But Naga drawing on Sorsha was a whole new scenario, and one the burly lad should have had the good sense not to throw down to.

"Want t'put that away? I dislike having things pointed at me."

He got that last word out just before Maddox landed bodily onto him, having launched herself at him from where she'd been standing. Her crocked arm served to clothesline him around the throat and the triple combo of her weight and momentum, and Naga's wounded ankle, she pulled him backwards and over with her onto the floor, the pair of them landing together in a thudding heap.

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: In the next instant, Sorsha clipped Naga across the jaw with a boot as her guards filled the room ::

"I believe we have a traitor in our midst."

[Xel-Naga]

Holy shizite! The world had suddenly gone quite strange. One moment he was looking down the barrel of his gun at Kazajian, his finger resting calmly on the side, when he got hit with the heaviest feather in the world. Once on the ground, his superior strength did nothing against the superior grapple that had him pinned to the floor, but only because he couldn't get his hands and feet under his body enough to push himself up.

And then his face hurt.

He looked to the side, gray-blue eyes wide and wild. Kasajian was beside him now, her boot tip looking a little smeared. Damn. She kicked him! Little bisnitch.

"You shot first..." He humphed, his voice coming out quite exasperated due to the weight pressing against his back.

[Bambi Maddox]

Maddox moved to extricate herself from under Naga's weight as the guards flanked them left and right, blasters levelled.

She gave Naga a look one might give a dog that had just snapped at its master, though Bambi knew it was usually only the daffy ones that did that..

[Sorsha Kasajian]

"You attack my Sister, and you threaten me in my own domain."

:: She slipped another bullet into the pistol and sighed ::

"What am I to do with you, Naga?"

[Xel-Naga]

His eyes narrowed as he glared up at her. Those wild, gray-blue eyes, the ones he kept hidden behind smoked lenses. So unique, yet too unique. It was his trademark, the mark of the Naga. Now those famous little eyes would be watering with the intensity of his glare, if not for the unbridled rage that made it evaporate before it could show.

His head twisted sideway and he spat, "You can go to hell, Kasajian," He remarked through grit teeth before suddenly heaving his body toward Kasajian, pulling himself closer, closer and closer. If she was going to shoot him then he wanted it to be close and personal. "Go ahead..." He said, his rageful expression twisting into one of pale amusement, his tongue flicking across his front teeth, "...Shoot. The Gods knows I deserve better then this. Besides..." His eyes became more wild, his smile more manic, "... With my track record I'm likely to come back again anyways. I didn't stay dead on Nar Shaddaa, I didn't stay dead on Coruscant either, and I'm sure as hell not going to stay dead with only a little sissy hole in my head. The other deaths were far better. You disappoint me, Kasajian. Haha."

[Bambi Maddox]

"It'll be kinda hard to come back to life if I got your head pickling in a jar" Maddox interjected. She'd pulled the Akai sword from its sheath strapped on her back and had lowered it deftly between Naga and the Vigo, right at Xel's neck level.

"One more step Naga, and your new home is on a shelf in my pantry"

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: Sorsha looked away from him in disgust ::

"This one, I think I'll let you dispose of. Sister."

:: She watched, to see what would happen next ::

[Xel-Naga]

His mad grin softened, and sanity reached back from within his eyes. "Do you worst," He said, his pearly white teeth now clenched together. His eyes burned with intense rage. One would almost expect them to turn red, become set on fire, or explode. Possibly all three. His own words echoed in his mind, over and over again.

Do you worst... I've died so many times before. This is nothing. The great Xel-Naga always rises again. Physical death... mental death... emotional death... neither or any can keep me down. So many kingdoms and governments, matriarchs and tyrants have passed in my lifespan. How can they hope to keep my down this time? I have Xel-Naga, the conqueror of Darkholme, the survivor of Hoth, the Shockboxing champion. I have more titles then scars. I am stoic, vigilante, and eternal. None can stand against me or hope to kill me.

They waste their time... can't they see it? Why can't they see it?

[Bambi Maddox]

Bambi's face reflected her disbelief at Naga's willful resignation to loosing his head and the way he'd steeled himself for the blow, as if daring her to just do it.

She arched a questioning brow to the Vigo, "Is this guy for real?"

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: Sorsha was bored, and she snapped her fingers as she issued a command ::

"Get him out."

[Rodian Enforcers]

:: Sorsha's thugs were vicious in their expulsion of Xel Naga, pistol whipping him repeatedly before seizing him by the wrists and ankles. The next moment was surreal as he was hurled through one of the windows, to plummet down to the street below ::

[Xel-Naga]

He locked eyes with Kasajin as the thugs grabbed him and began pulling him away. She did not have the balls to kill him there and now. He wanted a round to the forehead, to give greater glory to his return. They could not put him down forever, they had to know that. Maybe they were going to lock him up instead, torturing him for eternity. He could take that. Torture was easier then reincarnating yourself.

Then blows rained down upon him. He felt the flesh of his face and shoulders split open from the impact force of so many weapons and fists. He was blinded in the furry of their wrath, right up to the point that he felt freedom for a split second, free of the hands and blows. He floated there in peace for a moment before his head impacted something hard, which broke free with a crash and allowed him passage.

He flew out the window, collecting his wits as he dropped. He twisted his limbs, righting himself so that he was standing in the air. The ground was rushing up quickly. There was nothing to grab on to, nothing to break his fall. He hit the ground. Toes, foot, leg, and hip bones shattered in the impact, but he still managed to roll his body forward, turning death into incredible pain and agony. He skidded to a stop, His legs splayed out about him in unnatural contortions that should have never been possible.

He screamed. Not in pain, but in a hate fueled by pain.

[Bambi Maddox]

Maddox sheathed her sword and ran over to the window and looked down.

"Whoa" she said, incredulous at what she saw below, "I think he's still moving." She leaned further out to improve her view, "Yep - his hand's twitchin'"

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: Sorsha looked down in curiosity ::

"Good. It gives him time to think about his future. He owes you an apology, my Sister."

:: She gave Maddox a brief hug, then left the room to retire ::

[Xel-Naga]

It wasn't over yet, he told himself as he began inching across the durocrete walkway. The blood from his legs made his lower body slick, so that he could pull himself along with his intact arms. His fingers would find a crack or simply pull at the texture of the durocrete, and slowly, inch by inch, he moved. He could not quite understand it himself, but he was heading back toward the building entrance. This wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot. There would be blood. And by that he meant someone else's blood.

[Sorsha Kasajian]

:: A white hovercar glides up to the scene, and a pair of med droids disembark to collect Xel-Naga, followed by a street sweeper to clean up the mess. Just as swiftly as they appeared, they took off, heading towards the nearest hospital ::

[Xel-Naga]

He resisted them at first, the droids that came up behind him. But he had no strength left. It was all drained fighting the pain, and the rest had been stolen away by the venom. He hated this feeling, the sense of no power or ability to do anything. He wanted to crawl in there and just shoot everything that moved. But he had no blaster or weapons other then the knife he always kept in his boot. There as nothing he could do. So he let them take him away, into the white speeder. He felt them sticking things into him. Needles, wires, and whatever else they could medically justify to insert into his flesh. He was done fighting, so he gave up trying. Unconsciousness seized him...

[Bambi Maddox]

Maddox was revelling in the affection shown her by the Vigo.

She felt her place was becoming more and more secure in the organization. And when she compared a hug for her and the rude, crushing embrace of the pavement below for Naga, she felt herself quite smug.

"Frank.." she said with a smile, collecting up the cage with the snake inside it, "That's your name, you like it?" The reptile lay still, coiled neatly, its black eyes gleaming dully.

"Me too, Franky. Me too"

[Xel-Naga]

Continued... (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17573)