The Living's In The Way We Die

[Connor Harrison]

Mos Eisley Spaceport
Tatooine, Tatoo System ​

Even in death, she still haunted him.

Leaning on his arm, resting on the metal railings of one of the 362 individual hangars that made up the thriving spaceport, Talos – Kail Ragnar – waited for the transport that would be arriving from Rodia. The planet where it all started, and the planet where it all came crashing down, soon to be the planet where it all ended.

A stone’s throw from Tatooine itself, Rodia was the location of the criminal who had called for a bounty on Kail Ragnar. Iskaayuma City, where Xenia had been killed by the Rodian criminals linked to the corrupt official Kail had taken out over a year ago, was where it would end. Her last words still stuck in his head:

"K-Kail, wha—why…"

Kail had acted out of panic, out of desperation and out of anger. All of which led to the death of a girl he loved, and certainly felt was offering him a chance. But, her motives and actions were always so unclear – was she acting out of greed, or selfishness, or even love? The galaxy had been unfair to them both, throwing them into one long battle to simply stay alive, and that battle had been lost when Xenia died in front of Kail, who fled a broken man.

The sound of the engines ahead roared as the transport hovered over the hangar and began to descend. Nothing grand; a simple brown vessel that would make runs to neighboring planets with great ease.

Talos looked out from behind his mask, a mask that emitted a steady flow of Nullicaine gas to ease the pain of a torn, twisted and broken jaw sustained in another life.

Now, that bounty had reached his cell on Tatooine and graciously handed over to the hulking warrior who stood in Kail’s place. While this was still Kail, it also wasn’t. Tougher, stronger, devoid of that crippling emotion, he wasn’t the same pushover he had been. Taking the bounty back to Rodia, Talos could sever the final link in the chain holding his past together and then move on.

Ignoring a few glances from passers-by, Talos moved fluidly through the hangar and up into the transport, his breathing rasping through the animalistic emitter where he mouth was. He sat at the rear of the transport, resting his hands on his armoured vest and scanning the few people boarding and departing.

He had no enemies and no allies – no one to threaten him. Except…? Matsu Xiangu? Of course – the name was as much a bane to him as Xenia’s, but he knew how the Sith felt about the man she discarded. Even after giving everything for her…one day she would see the err of her ways in throwing away what would have been a warrior who would have broken bone to protect her.

This was going to be a very simple and satisfactory bounty to deliver.

[member="Xenia Nastassia"]

 

[Xenia Nastassia]

Meanwhile...

Outer Rim Territories;
Savareen Sector;
Rodia.

"Hey you--!!"

Her gun was already pointed for the Rodian's back, though as he turned it did too, a pivot of a few inches so as to leave it now staring the green alien in the face. His cowardice was instant, shrinking backwards and raising long fingered hands. Bug like eyes without pupils stared at her in a silent plead, and she glared right back without offering a moment's sympathy. Lipless mouth quivering, he tried to say something only to find there might be nothing to say. What stood before him was a ghost, someone he had never expected to see again.

"Remember me?"

Rhetorical question, obvious answer. Even so, she heard nothing much beyond a low, queasy grumble of anxiety from the Rodian. Bulbous eyes scanned for a solution, a way to escape, anything, but Xenia's remained honed on her victim. With each faltering step he took in a slow retreat, she matched with an advancement of her own, keeping their distance at a constant measure. Never before had she seen a Rodian attempt tears, and she couldn't be entirely sure she was seeing it now, though his eyes grew glassy with liquid until it began leaking down roughly textured cheeks.

"Xenia--!? són vicha lë--!?"

"Mmm, as eloquent as ever I see..."

But he only continued his staggered retreat toward the back wall as if it might offer him the salvation he was unable to find anywhere else. The room they were in was small enough, hardly cluttered and with only small pieces of furniture. A mostly square space with but one desk lopped just ahead of her and turned to a diagonal slant. Across from it, and to Xenia's right, was another set of chairs and a smaller table. Open windows allowed Rodia's humid air, air which stunk of muddy water and body odors, to thoroughly permeate this residential area. The Rodian who stood in shambles of psuedo nobility before her was the very same to escape her grasp nearly a year previous. And he might have lived out the rest of his pathetic life without seeing Xenia's face had he not made the wretched mistake of metaling in her more personal affairs once more.

"Ya bøska-- a vįcha le, aha vinkto, Xeniaaa."

"Oh no, truly, the pleasure is all mine."

Waving her gun towards one of the sparsely used chairs, she made a probably-fake offer to sit. One which the Rodian did not take up, instead remaining rigid and in defense. "You look ill, is anything the matter Tazo?" Her voice was kept low, a harsh whisper which threatened with blades of calm composure. Kiboon Tazo, the shrill voiced Rodian shook his head once more in disbelief, before reality began to grip at him. There was very little he could say or do to escape. For long years he had battled Xenia on the field of governmental affairs. Senatorial chambers and fancy greetings were his weapon, a filthy sum of cash earned through barely legal investments in less legal operations. But those weapons held no power here. Not against Xenia. Not now.

"Puy yā koto, shuÿo ka lincti--"

"I can assure you idle threats mean nothing now, Tazo."

"Bumba ko pum-dâ..."

"Oh, let's be fair about this-- need I really remind why I'm here? This might be easier if we both agree to be honest with one another, mm?"

But the Rodian wasn't having it. His eyes went frantic, even more so than before and he made a sudden dashing movement for the closest exit. Surprisingly, Xenia made no instant attempt to stop him, and remained unnaturally calm in the face of a fleeing enemy, her gun resting in an ever present lock-on to the green filth. With a sssschht the 'escape' hatch opened, and Tazo flung himself toward, well, what he thought might be safety. Instead, he was greeted with more horror, more harsh reality, and the assaulting smell of charred flesh. There, down the long and narrow hallway lay seven or so smoking bodies, killed with an excessive onslaught of what looked like blaster fire. Rodians. Dead. All dressed in the same, uniformed attire of a posted guard, and all laying motionless against the brown colored architecture. Tazo's only viable protection, removed. In the middle of it all, hanging over one of the limp green aliens was a slender mechanical being with pulsating, beady eyes. Eyes which nearly looked to host an intelligence of their own, though clearly only a front of clever programming.

Letting loose a choked shriek, quickly examining the droid not twenty feet ahead of him and then turning back to face Xenia, Kiboon Tazo's eyes had reached a size rare even among that horrid species. A sluethe of terrified chatter triggered the droid's attention-- "Oh, you haven't met," Xenia spoke as she slowly neared, cornering the Rodian between two hostile opponents, "this is Detox. You'll be getting to know each other very well here in a second." Xenia's gun had now raised to more directly hold itself at face level. As Detox rose, one of Xenia's finest infiltration class models, its form began to alter and change. The air rippled around it like heat distortion until numerous holo-projector units completed their task. There, before Tazo, stood his own image. Himself, perfectly defined in every way. That same, fearful face of a low life thug who had earned his way up by stepping on others. Those same brown and purple robes, and those same eyes, lowering to match the formation of a dreadful scowl. Or, at least a Rodian's equivalent of such things.

"Buçta nūūma, buçta nūūma, chespa kö tūūla Xenia--!!"

"I'm sick of your games, Tazo."

Yanking the trigger with perhaps more force than needed, a green bolt of blaster energy hurtled itself from the small Nubian model pistol and burned deep into the Rodian's leg. Another bolt came from the droid, now in his form, sending Kiboon spiraling to the ground half way in and half way out of the hallway. Xenia's movements were quick and economic, covering the distance of the room in what seemed like less than a second and gripping the fabrics around Tazo's collar. "You know why I'm here--!!" But Tazo refused once again, only continuing to plead for some kind of mercy. A mercy which would never come. "Kail," she stammered as if she had wanted to avoid speaking the name. "Kail Ragnar, your bounty-- you have a lot of nerve, filth!" The cold, chrome metal of her pistol slid under Tazo's jaw and pressed against sweating skin. He looked so confused, as well he should. But Xenia feasted on the rushes of adrenaline which warped over her body and only pushed her weapon's barrel in harder.

"You should have just dropped that idea the first time it failed."

And she pulled the trigger again.

[member="Talos"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Iskaayuma City
Rodia, Savareen Sector ​

Leaning forward in his seat, as hard as the rocks that made up his isolated cavern on Tatooine, Talos rubbed the gauntlet and the Nas-Tech datapad as the transport banked to come into the Rodian City.

Iskaayuma was as humid, rancid and busy as he had left it in another life as Kail Ragnar. A couple of sleek skyscrapers erected for business touched the dome as the blend of modern and ancient architecture and terrain blended seamlessly in a mix of plazas, backstreets and walkways.

As the air came in trough the landing ramp that clattered down to the floor of the docking back, it swept over Talos and immediately it swirled in and around his face mask, a different and refreshing smell and feeling to that dry, Tatooine air.

With no bag, just his RX-7 on his thigh, Talos stood up and moved quickly from the rear of the transport and out into the city. Walking away from the ship, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with something other than the Nullicaine gas – a metallic, dry gas that kept the pain he experienced at bay more than it ever had. However, now his voice was tinged with a deeper, almost synthetic rasp; the only drawback of speaking with two small tubes feeding through your torn cheek muscle into your airway.

Ignoring the usual glances from beings confused and fascinated with his brutish appearance, heightened by the mask, Talos moved through the walkways and across the small chasm that bridged the docking bay to the city. He ran his fingers across the steel bridge, and felt the ghost of the past flutter in his brain as this, he felt, was the same bridge that he stumbled across when leaving her body and that of the Rodian gang.

But now he was back to settle a debt that he would have the final say in. Whether it be a crush of bone in his hand or the cold trigger under his finger, the bounty on Kail Ragnar would be paid in full by the man who could then finally be laid to rest. Glancing down with cold eyes to the data pad and the given location for the bounty, Talos expected nothing but resistance; but he was an unknown, a simple mercenary with information on the target and only when the Rodian gazed into the eyes of his killer would he see the man behind the mask.

It took minutes to walk through city to reach the registered estate of one Kiboon Tazo; you couldn’t really miss it as the only estate looking DOWN on the rest of the city. As usual, nothing out of the ordinary, but out of the way as not to appear like he was just one of the average citizens in Iskaayuma. The outer walls were high, guard towers peeped over the top of the deadly looking fencing and burly Rodian heavies meandered around the outside in a circuit. Looking around, there was no sign of trouble. Moving forward slowly, Talos slowly climbed the low set of stone stairs leading to the small outpost building before the main gates.

Pushing the intercom button on the cracked wall of the outpost, seemingly unmanned, Talos leaned in slightly and spoke, aware his voice would appear even more distorted through a com.

”I’m here to see Kiboon Tazo pertaining to the bounty on Kail Ragnar. I can get him for you.”

The CCTV security unit above was trained on him just as expected.

[member="Xenia Nastassia"]

 

[Xenia Nastassia]

Outer Rim Territories;
Savareen Sector;
Rodia.

There was no way to frame death as a pretty picture, it was always ugly. Where a metal slug threw gore and visceral material on collision, a blaster's effects were much more contained. But Kiboon wasn't dead, her shot had never intended to finish the act so quickly. There were still things she needed from the pitiful creature. Cruel fingers still interlocked with the ruffles of bloodied robes only tightened as rodian anatomy began to fall limp in response to overwhelming pain. And the screaming, an awful noise made more fowl by terrible disfigurement. Her gun, at the last second, had turned outward, aiming not to fry the creature's brain but to remove a large, steaming chunk of his jaw. Bits of his neck in frayed displays of smoking skin had been peeled back and tattered as well. The gurgle of a desperate alien, and stretched hands animated by desperation which sought Xenia's face in self defense; flailing in tandem with wide, bugged eyes. Coughing and jerking, adrenaline fueled struggles which Xenia managed to keep at bay even in the face of death itself. Her gaze never changed, always honed into her victim's eyes like a snake before striking. Near hypnotic in her approach.

"Alright," and she really pronounced her words clearly, "maybe now you'll remember?"

The gun, now speckled with an odd colored blood, hadn't left its position. That said, the neck it had been pressed against before was barely there anymore. No matter, there was more neck should she need it. Tick, tick, tick, the count down began, crimson life slipping from her prey in heart assisted spurts. "Pūūta-- ccfftt--!! kótøœ Xen... Xenia--!!" Hardly recognizable words, a simple 'I'll tell you,' as if there was more he had meant to say. Must be hard speaking without most of your mechanics in place, but she couldn't relate. All the while, Detox drew nearer, his eerie presence made ghastly with Tazo's visage. Like its creator, the droid's eyes never left Kiboon. But his stare was blank, without emotion or victory. A slow, silent, curious truant.

<<Auditory diagnostics nearing completion.>>

Though rodian-mimicked lips moved in place of still auditory projection units, Detox's voice took time adjusting to match. And when it finally clicked in, even Xenia's blood chilled for a moment. As if Xenia were more the machine than her counterpart, she pressed her pistol into Tazo's wound, lips forming a snarl. She need not justify this out loud, she knew her reasons. Had already gone over her motives, and already brought some form of sickening justice to her actions. His scream, this time, was weaker. Strained, with pitches she had not yet heard from a rodian in full. Detox's head cocked, apparently just as entertained by this new discovery as the looming female.

<<Pitch confirmation, complete. Uploading movement data fi-->>

”I’m here to see Kiboon Tazo pertaining to the bounty on Kail Ragnar. I can get him for you.”

A crackling, followed by a buzzing, then intercom speakers sizzled to life. The voice, low and twice now distorted, was almost more startling than the scene before her. With the response of reflex, she pushed herself down and closer to the dying body in her arms. Kiboon's eyes tried one last time opening to their full potential, fleeting thoughts of rescue deluding him as light and darkness began to blur together in his vision. Where Tazo's remaining strength had left him drooling bubbles of thick mucus, he sprung to life in one final attempt at survival-- unrecognizable calls for help in something close to the rodian tongue.

"Mænko-- cuuffttggh, wāńg.. wāńga röška--" cRaCK!!

"Shhh--"

And finally he fell into something much more eternal. Xenia's hand covered the alien's face, now turned sideways and pushed at an unpleasant angle. Upward, and to the side, yet abnormally backwards. Like someone had tried to turn a screw beyond where it might naturally stop, and cracked whatever it was entering. Bone, hardly white at all, was now visible in the torn apart opening of Kiboon's left side. It was impossible to say if he'd quite died yet, though if he hadn't yet he would soon choke on his own internal fluids and perish regardless. A rodian's neck, no, Kiboon's neck in particular had been easy to break.

"Is that all you needed?"

<<I do believe so,>> Detox said with an effortless transition between two vocal files, <<yes.>>

"Good."

She pointed towards the ceiling, body language meant to reference the voice they had just heard as if had merely come from 'above.' Whipping her pointer finger in small circles, and rolling her eyes as she arose, Xenia eyed the transformed NN-K as if to search for any missed aesthetics. "I guess he was popular," stepping backwards and over a now limp leg, she motioned for Detox to enter. The droid nodded, an odd thing to see coming from her most recent victim, and entered, bending at the knee once inside to shove Kiboon into the hallway and out of the room.

<<It does certainly appear that way, and Kail as well.>>

"Yeah, that's what worries me."

<<You need not worry, m'lady. Please, allow me to handle the rest.>>

Xenia said nothing more, only tapped her ear and data pad on her wrist, both suggesting that she would be watching. Falling into the shadows, hands now stained with rodian blood, Xenia stepped back over the body she had just broken life from and closed the hatch. Ssscchhttt, leaving Detox to operate by himself. Its systems were linked up with her own technology, endless streams of communication on various fronts feeding through so that she might see what he saw. Analytic evaluations, code sequence flow-- Detox's 'thoughts,' printed in strange symbols on her data pad.

Where Kail was, the gates would open. Guards, two, would point in the direction of the very room Detox hovered in quietly though neither would follow, only eye his descent into this particular web of lies. There were no signs of blood or death there, Rodia's city air quickly squashing and blending all putrid smells together into one barely palatable, humid scent. The kind which stuck to the inner walls of one's nose and threatened never to leave. Kail, now Talos, would be lead to that very same room. Brought before the metal image of Kiboon, and only feet away from the concealed Xenia-- a puppet master who knew not the characters to her own show.

[member="Talos"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Talos didn’t need to say anything else; he’d said his purpose of being here and that was enough. He stood, looping hands in his armoured vest, and waited. Two guards sauntered down to the entry gate beyond the outhouse. With a glance up to the security camera, Talos watched the gates peel back to allow entry into the estate.

It was grand; marble statues, pruned hedges and a water feature surrounded by the white walls of the U shaped building that was a good 3 stories high. All worthless and for show, Talos knew. Material wealth was something used to hide behind; the more materials on show, the more of a coward hid behind it all. It was there to conjure up wealth, power and high standing, when in reality it conveyed nothing but an opportunist who liked to flaunt what he had and let others do the dirty work. Which was exactly why this hulking brute was here, to bring information to Kazo about his most recent dirty work; Kail Ragnar.

His boots thudded over the ground as the guards took him to a side room in the building, going up a flight of stairs. He ignored the décor around him and focused on the small area ahead which seemed to be more militaristic than the rest. Monitors and holo-feeds whirred and buzzed away, with a few shelves of books and ornaments.

A guard nodded to the room behind a metal blast door as he pulled it back. Talos stepped in slowly to see the diminutive figure of the Rodian waiting for him behind a low laying table with two chairs. It looked more like an interrogation room than anything. Blueprints of the estate hung on the walls, and a small artificial plant rested in the corner of the muted cream room.

Talos breathed slowly, the gas drip-feeding through his mouth stabilising all pain and nerve endings. He blinked casually and held his stance. The mercenary towered over the 5ft Rodian and just looked at him. Just as he thought on arrival, he had said his purpose of being here and that was all the Rodian needed to know.

Where Kail would make a quip or comment, and size the room up, Talos didn’t need to do any of that. He simply stared into the eyes of the one responsible for the bounty on his head, satisfied that the prey had no idea the predator was inches away from him and ready to crush his feeble green skull between his hands until the bone reduced to grit under the green scaly skin.

With only 2 guards outside the room and another on the lower ground floor stationary, walking back out again shouldn’t be the most difficult thing Talos had done in his years as a mercenary.

[member="Xenia Nastassia"]

 

[Xenia Nastassia]

Outer Rim Territories;
Savareen Sector;
Rodia.

Droids. Mechanical beings, false identities. Programmed intelligence, and artificial reactions. They always drew the short end of the stick, the red ended lot. No matter the time, nor the place, they were frowned upon. Considered unintelligent, less than, or sub par. Slabs of metal, made to move through circuitry though without any real purpose other than service. Service in violence, service in peace. Service to the rich, or to the poor. Workers, workers without a say or the ability to say. Often underestimated, and always under valued.

Facial Recognition:
> Access Encoding// ? [Enc_holo_file_scan]

Accessing…
Uploading data…

Xenia gave them that voice. Spoke their language, and understood their uses. Their potential was unmatched, undefined, and unfound. Computers, buzzing with an inhuman wealth of knowledge and barred in freedom. When the door opened, and when that hulk of a man came sauntering in, everything was already in place. The eyes of a droid, however, were not so easily fooled as its emotional, illogical, living counter parts. They scanned for hard data, similar curves, similar lines of anatomy. Muscle structure, movement patterns, personality analysis unmatched from the organic standpoint. There was no fooling a droid of this calibre by wearing a mask-- such an attempt would be idiotic at best. Talos, here, before Detox, hid behind nothing.

Entering data input:
> (?) History// Encryption [ _Run]

…

Confirmed Database Information Request:
> (?) File Recovery [ _Run]

Calculations moving at an impossible speed and on a more impossible level whirred through carefully built micro chips. The mechanical brain. Various functions, various duties under orders. Facial recognition scans ravished the entering mercenary from head to toe. Although he was no one directly familiar, no one this droid had ever personally seen, Kail Ragnar had been hard copied thousands of times into his archived data banks. Long hours had been spent carrying over anything and everything Xenia had collected on the man; on Kail Ragnar-- on Talos. Holo feeds, data feeds, public feeds, personal feeds, there was not any one single method Kail Ragnar could use to escape himself and what he had done before all of this. Xenia, the hunter, always caught her prey, and Detox would be the net used to catch him. To draw him in and force surrender.

> Data Recovery [ _Complete]
//: Face file: located.

Kail Ragnar [ _Located]

And she saw it all, Xenia's own wrist mounted data-pad displaying each and every programmed file recovery Detox made with its own photoreceptors. Anything he saw, she saw, though on a broken down level. Through robotic text, streaming down her screen. She saw not a man made huge with months of rigorous training, nor the vested monster looming over Detox-- the Rodian's guise shielding him from danger. She saw only the words, the name, the name she knew. The name she couldn't feel comfortable with anymore.

Kail Ragnar.

Someone who used to be something, someone who had potential, who had a heart, who had a voice dipped in kindness. Someone who had killed her without shooting her himself. Her breaths began to spin out of control, but she shallowed them by force, lips frowning without meaning for them to. At least for a moment, a short moment. Then they dipped upward, a quick curve which stretched into the serpent's smile. Luck, her strongest tool and most powerful ally. The skill to stay ahead, to always be one step further than any adversary. Even she had not predicted such results with this insane speed. Detox had already received explicit order pertaining to dealing with Kail. Orders which Xenia had made after a history with the man. She knew of his composure, his erratic behavior and barely appetizing manners. There was no way to bend him into submission with words alone, a more careful and brutal manipulation was required.

"Hnn, that was quick... always so easy, Kail..."

Detox motioned just as Kiboon would have, swaying backwards and shifting the weight of his body to his heels. A perfect charade, made stronger still by Kail's inability to see it as falsehood. How would he knew the difference? <<Welcome, I've received your message.>> Detox spoke, Kiboon's voice mimicked perfectly. Tones, pitches, there was no way to find a difference. <<I understand you may be of use... mmm...>> A trailing off, volume levels dying so as to suggest Talos at least introduce himself. Giving the brute enough time to muster up his own name, Detox stepped in closer, his own hardly intimidating appearance allowing him a proximity which might not otherwise have been tolerated from the dangerous droid underneath hologram cloaks. Kiboon, when conducting business, had held himself with manners, conduct, respect-- even though he meant none of it.

Detain, immobilize. These were Detox's specific orders when dealing with this man in particular. Death was not an option, nor was it much possible considering the obvious difference in their combative abilities. When Detox raised his hand, it would appear to be out of formal manners-- a shake, the proper lead off to any form of dealings, official business or otherwise. An introduction to start things off. To Kail, Talos, whichever, it would appear as something entirely safe-- if not a method to dispatch his prey quickly. A handshake could lead to a broken arm, Detox was giving himself to easy vulnerability-- or so it would appear. In reality, the moment Kail touched that hand, he would be removed from power. Powerful electrical circuits revved behind the false green image of the alien, a palm mounted shock pad with enough power to cripple anyone without prior built resistances. The hand shake would end for Kail in shattering paralysis-- and not out of pain alone. His numbing gasses could stop as much of that as needed, but this would send surge after surge of electric energy through him, crippling his nervous system and seizing his muscles until he fell to the ground.

To refuse the hand shake would be to refuse business entirely.

And to refuse contact with his target.

She would only appear when he was detained.

On your knees, Kail Ragnar.

Down to the ground.

[member="Talos"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

The Rodian, both confident and nervous in poise and voice, welcomed the mercenary with the usual broken speech and hesitance that signified he was nervous. The thin green hand of Tazo came up. Perfect time to introduce himself.

”My name is Talos.”

Talos looked at the hand, and then blinked slowly to return his gaze back to the Rodian. This was no deal, no partnership, no mutual welcoming. His hands stayed looped in the armoured vest, and he stretched his neck sideways to crack a tense bone. His breathing echoed slightly around the room.

”You want information on Kail Ragnar.” Talos tapped his chest with two heavy fingers. ”I can give him to you.”

He didn't move; just kept his eyes on the Rodian who he didn't know, but had held so much over him since escaping the last time they met. Talos narrowed his eyes slightly.

”You don't remember me, do you.” His words came out slow and almost playfully, as if this was a game. A game where there would be only one winner this time.


[member="Xenia Nastassia"]

 

[Xenia Nastassia]

Outer Rim Territories;
Savareen Sector;
Rodia.

Plans weren't meant to work all of the time. None of them did. After all, human error, personalities not bound by programming were forever unpredictable. It was their nature. That was why "plan B" and the others existed, though it was rare that anything pushed Xenia far beyond "C." Of course there was a back up plan, counter orders, and survival functions. Kail had come here to end a life, after all, and he had never been the type to pass along any fake smiles. Chaos first, objective second with him. Playing by her own rules, she had to give civility a try-- when he refused, she would push to more aggressive measures.

Kiboon's image, Detox's hand, faltered there in place, as if the Rodian had fully expected a hand shake before dealings. Though, as it was, he recoiled neatly and shot Kail an impressive stare, blank for the most part, though heavily clouded with internal dialogue. A whimpering smile, and a few feet of extra distance put between them, Kiboon once again faced the hulking man. And the humorous bit. Kail, Talos, he wasn't fooling anyone, but his demeanor had changed a great deal. His eyes seemed to fall with the weight of metallic lead and never move. Already having sucked in their target, already this close.

<<Should I remember you, bounty hunter? I don't recall ever doing business with a... Talos...>>

Whenever auspicious questions were thrown around, and behind closed doors, it was perhaps obvious what followed. Detox's Rodian tongue sounded identical, if not a bit worn out, odd little movements to display always active signs of nervousness. A Rodian's key feature. <<If you have... information, do tell. The current rate is set for delivery of Kail's body, though I'm sure there might be some credits involved if you're bringing something reliable enough.>> Having trailed backward, peddle stepping under visually heavy-fabric garments, Detox leaned against the edge of Kiboon's desk. As was standard, there were numerous alert points in just about every room, Xenia had seen them upon entering the facility. Alarm triggers, developed to get the guard personnel should they be required, and discreetly placed in just hidden locations.

For now, Xenia could only wait.

Eventually, his weakness would show.

And when it did...

[member="Talos"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Talos stood still and just watched the Rodian. This was the biggest setup he could have walked in on. He wasn’t going to simply be given any credits and passage away; the information he spoke of was to be sucked from him and then twisted to use against him. Talos was here for one thing and one thing only – to silence the past.

His dark eyes looked around as his body turned and slowly he started to walk along the edge of the room, listening to the gangster put his expectations down. Talos nodded, hummed to himself in contemplation.

"I hope I have a good rate, I’d be offended if I was anything less than 6 figures."

The heavy mercenary stopped and looked into the empty eyes of the Rodian now beside him. His voice turned into a metallic hiss, the pipe feeding him the Nullicaine pressing on his throat as he leaned forward.

"I’ve brought you Kail Ragnar. He’s here!"

And then the rage that burnt inside him snapped, and the pain of Kail Ragnar’s past came to the surface to be laid down in this room forever. Dark eyes burnt into that of the Rodian as his thick arms shot forward to grip the lapels of the gangster with intent to forcefully push him back over the table onto the hard floor on the other side.

The tables were turning and Talos wanted to enjoy every moment.

[member="Xenia Nastassia"]