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Chapter 3 - Instincts

Maul clenched his eyes shut, and waited for the killing blow, and then he felt the urge to move. Dive right! Hisbody told him. He obeyed, and forced his springlike, metallic legs to fling him to safety.

Dooku's lightsabre was inches from Maul's neck when the boy suddenly dodged the attack. The burning sabre sliced into the glass of the window like butter, and the window exploded, showering them with glass. Maul saw his chance, he didn't care about the consequences, the window was his only escape. He ordered his metal legs to push, and he found himself sprinting in a straight line directly for the open window.

Dooku furiously fired more waves of lightning in his direction, but Maul was too fast. The lightning hit the far wall, narrowly missing him by inches, and Dooku could only watch as Maul's metal legs crouched, and flung him in a perfect dive out of the window.

He switched off his sabre and approached the window ledge. Looking down, he saw Maul's body fall helplessly into the mist below. There was no way he could survive such a fall. Sith, like Jedi had the ability to slow their descent, but that was advanced training, and Maul had memory loss. Satisfied that the job had been done, Dooku left the room, with little doubt in his mind that the boy was as good as dead.

Maul dove from the window, arms outstretched beside him. He seemed to know the correct position for free falling, but he couldn't remember why. The cool wind pounded against his sore chest as he gained momentum, falling faster and faster toward the abyss. This is it. This is the end. He thought, and closed his eyes, expecting to smash through the mist, into the ground.

He felt the moist mist surround him, and his senses alerted him to the ground below. 200feet, 150, 100feet. He felt himself panic, any second now, he was going to be killed, and he clenched his eyes shut tighter, hoping against hope that he wouldn't feel anything. 50 feet, 40, 30, 25, 20, 17…I'm slowing down! 15…13…10…He opened his eyes to see he had slowed considerably, and with expertly timed skill, he tucked and rolled, landing perfectly on his clawed metal feet. The ground shook with a SLAM, and the tar cracked and split outwards as a crater formed around his feet. Had they been his real legs, they probably would have been crushed under his weight, but they were made of metal stronger than steel, and Maul didn't feel a thing, except the vibration that ran to his fingertips.

He rose from his crouched position and rubbed a hand over his bald, horned head. His heart was pounding from adrenaline andhe gasped for breath.

"Dude that was AWSOME!" came a voice in the mist. Maul turned to see a bedraggled young man, with long blonde dreadlocks, and a short beard, clapping his hands playfully. He breathed on his palms and rubbed them together. He was obviously cold, even with his many layers of what looked like Bantha hide…and he smelled likehe had fallen into a vat of alchohol.

Maul looked at himself, he wasn't wearing anything, not that he had anything to hide now. Everything below his navel was amass of robotic hydraulics, steel and wires, and he felt nothing. He didn't even feel the cold.

The guy hadn't seemed to notice Maul's odd appearance, as he seemed rather intoxicated at the time.The manswayed as he hobbled over to him. Then stared in mild shock and horror as he got a closer look.

"Woah…what the hell are you?" He coughed and stared amazed at the red and black tattoos that covered Maul's entire face and torso. "You look like a map of the city!" he laughed. "A very scary map of the city! Is that a bar?" he pointed toward the centre of Maul's head, and cried out as Maul quickly threw out a fist and grabbed his neck at incredible speed, lifting him two feet into the air.

Maul had this quick and sudden feeling that he did not want to be touched, and before he knew what he was doing the man was writhing in his powerful grip. Both men stared wide-eyed at each other in awe, and Maul immediately released him. "I don't know why I did that!" he held his wrist with his spare hand, and didn't even apologise.

The man coughed, trying to breath again, and found his lungs. "It's okay! My bad! I won't do that again!" he smiled nervously.

Maul clenched and unclenched his fist in front of his eyes, wondering why he had attacked him for no reason. It was almost as if his instincts were controlling him. Showing him how to survive.

"You wanna buy some death sticks?" The intoxicated human asked, swaying uncontrollably.

Maul's memory may have been a little…off, but he certainly knew what death sticks were. "No." He glared. Death sticks were illegal drugs, and blinded the senses.

"That's too bad." The man swayed. "You know anyone who might?"

Maul paused. He tried to think of people he knew, searched for faces in his memory. He couldn't find any. "I don't know…anyone." He muttered. Then looked around to see if he could recognise the area. He saw the foundations of the building he had fallen from. And there were makeshift buildings all around, made of rusted metal and wood, a different world to the one some thousand feet above. This place was dirty, labyrinthine and dark.

"Where am I?" Maul asked him.

The man started to laugh heartily, as if he had asked some sort of joke. He saw Maul's eyes glare at him in annoyance and he suddenly felt uneasy. "Ha ha…you're serious aren't you?" he stopped laughing. "This is the roots of Curascant! The best place in the world for death sticks, booze, brawls and of course Ladies!" he whirled around as if dancing with a partner. "But..er…you don't seem like a guy who's interested in chicks!" he smirked as he eyed Maul's appearance. Not realising he was being incredibly rude. Maul folded his arms and glared inhumanely at his tormenter. The red spots in his eyes seemed to glow, and the man gulped, thinking Maul was going to kick him in the nuts.

"Curascant…I don't know that name." Maul started to growl. "I don't know anything!" he was growing angry, his rage boiling his blood, and he shut his eyes as he felt a wave of energy release from every cell in his body.

The dreadlocked man let out a startled yelp, as the bottle of green booze he was carrying suddenly exploded. "Bugger!" he let go of the broken bottleneck and let it drop to the floor. "My drink!" he started to wave in panic, then pointed accusingly at Maul. "You…YOU…broke my…drink!" he looked disgusted.

"Oh just sober up or die!" Maul hissed, and started to walk away. He had no idea where he was going, but his inside told him that he was heading toward life, toward people, in buildings and alleyways beyond. There were illuminations up ahead, no doubt advertising sleazy bars and cheap hotels.

"NO!" The man waved franticly. "Where are you going!" He sprinted past Maul and stopped him in his tracks. "You can't go that way! Not looking like…"

"Like WHAT?" Maul roared. The man cowered and lifted his hands in pardon. Maul strode past him.

"I meant no offense…" He jogged alongside Maul, still trying to cut in front of him. "…But you cannot just walk around looking like that, this is a dangerous place, and people who live here know its always best…to avoid attention." He smiled, showing some rows of blackened teeth, with the occasional gold cap.

"Does it look like I'm worth mugging?" Maul paused, and pointed at himself. He had no clothes, no money and no memory. As far as he knew, he may already have been mugged. He was just happy that the old man in the building hadn't sliced him to pieces.

"Well I don't know! Good pair a new legs…could be worth…5000 credits on the black market…that's a whole lotta death sticks!" He shrugged.

"…and why do you care what happens to me?" Maul glared, his senses telling him that this man was not to be trusted.

"By all means…go that way! I'm sure you can take care of yourself, its just, seeing as your 'new' to the area, It might be in your best interests, to have a guide!" The man pointed to himself. Maul knew he was hiding something.

"What would you get out of it?" Maul sneered.

"Me? Nothing much…I'm sure you can sort that out." He smiled, flashing his golden teeth once more.

"I don't have anything for you." Maul turned to walk away again, and was grabbed by the arm.

Instinctively he grabbed the man's wrist and bent it back, threatening to break every joint in his arm.

"Steady on!" The man begged, "Ow ow ow!"

Maul released him again and looked at his shaking hands. How did I do that? When did I learn that?

"You seem to be pretty touchy with the personal space, so maybe you could…say…protect my personal space for a short space of time." The man grinned uneasily.

"You want a bodyguard?" Maul smiled, his senses relaxing as he realised the man's true intentions.

"Not specifically a bodyguard, just…well…help me avoid some sticky situations…which may or may not happen whilst we go in that direction." He pointed toward the area in which Maul was heading.

"So…you'll be my guide, as long as I protect you from any spider roaches that decide to chew on your leg?" Maul scoffed. The drunken man made no sound, just nodded.

He thought about his situation. He had no money, no home, he was completely lost. "Fine!" Maul reluctantly agreed, and shook the man's hand tightly.

"This way!" The man shuffled in the opposite direction to the place he was afraid of. "You'll need to blend in to survive down here. You just follow my lead." He motioned for Maul to follow.

Maul rolled his eyes and sneered at himself. Then set off after him.

"By the way, you got a name?" The drunk asked, walking backwards.

"No." Maulsnapped bluntly.

"Mine's Jack!" he laughed. "Junkie, drunk, and a god among women!" He bowed.

"What can I call you then? No-name? Nameless? Mr big shot? Legless?"

"Shut the hell up!" Maul snarled.

The man put his hands together in apology. "Sorry! Sorry! It's just my nature to be a bit of a bastard! You get a lot of it round here!" he bowed low, hoping the metal-legged menace wouldn't try to kill him again. "What would you like to be called?"

Maul wasn't listening. It wasn't the man's words, however cruel, that made him growl. Every atom in his body was warning him of danger. A very close danger.

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