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Chapter 4 - The Power of Intimidation

"Well, well, well, look who we have here." A harsh voice echoed in the mist. Maul closed his eyes. He could see them somehow, males…of various species…all around, armed with the types of weapons that were practically ancient.

"Jack." The voice spoke again. For some reason they hadn't spotted Maul in the mist. He found this particularly odd. At two meters tall, with metal legs and a tattooed head of horns, he was definitely a sight to behold.

It took him a moment to realise that he had somehow cloaked himself from them. He was using the darkness for cover, the mist was his camouflage, and an energy pulsed through him, keeping them from seeing his hiding place.

Jack couldn't see Maul anywhere as he heard a voice say his name. Bastard…I knew he'd leave me. He thought. Then turned to the source of the voice.

"I'm not Jack, just some lowly beggar…" He smiled, as a tall young man appeared in the darkness. His head was topped with three red Mohawks, and he wore a jacket made of various materials, mostly metal plates, as protective armour. He carried a sharp heavy sword and a blaster.

"You playing me for a fool Jack?" He sneered.

"Pike!" Jack recognised the man. "Oh thank god it's you! I thought you were somebody else…sorry to have trespassed, I'll just take my death sticks and be on my merry way!" Jack tried to walk away and was stopped in his tracks as Pike lifted the sword to his neck.

"The money…Jack…where's the money?" Pike reminded him.

"Ah yes!" Jack placed a finger between his neck and the sword, and pushed it away very gently, stepping around it. "The money…is…well…you see there was this girl…very pretty Twilek…erm…and she…kinda…erm…stole it!" Jack winced as he said it, and waited for Pike to scream.

He did. "What the hell are you saying?" Pike roared.

"I couldn't stop her!" Jack whined, "I was tied to the bed, I thought she was just playing!" he smiled weakly, still wincing.

"Jack you've really disappointed me." Pike nodded his head in disgust.

Maul felt a twinge in his gut. The one named Pike was planning to strike, very soon, and he intended to kill. The other men all around were slowly starting to close in, and Jack had no means of escape, he didn't know that yet though.

Maul's heart seemed to race, the adrenaline urged him to show his face, let them know he was there, let them see his face, and fight them. He had this desire to prove. To win. Even if it meant killing. He started to approach the two men.

Jack was about to say something when he heard the familiar clank clank of Maul's heavy frame walking toward him. Thank you god! Thank you sun! Thank you moons! Thank you the strange Jedi force thing! He wasn't a religious man at heart…but he was right now.

Pike heard it too, and removed his blaster…pointing it at empty space. It could be one of his men, but he hadn't ordered his cronies to do anything yet. The noise grew louder, and his face suddenly twisted in horror as a monster appeared, looming behind Jack. It was about seven feet tall, thanks to a pair of long metal 'S' shaped legs. He looked up at the face and was struck with fright.

"Ah…thought I'd lost you!" Jack smiled smugly. Maul just glared at Pike, enjoying the terror a mere look could inflict. He seemed to get a rush from seeing Pike cower.

"Tell your men to back off." Maul's guttural voice cut the man like a knife.

Jack couldn't see anybody nearby, and seemed rather confused.

"There's nobody else here." Pike lied, bravely.

"Are you playing me for a fool Pike?" Maul smiled as he used Pike's own words against him. This seemed to put him in his place. The horned one was clearly not stupid…like Jack.

Pike hesitated for a minute, then folded before Maul's fierce visage. "Fine…we are leaving…I'll catch ya later Jack. He's not going to be very happy with you!" He pointed the sword angrily at Jack, who grinned uneasily and waved. Then Pike stalked off into the shadows.

"Oh you're good! From now on I'll call you Dread…one look from you…and they all disappear…amazing!" Jack made to pat Maul's arm in thanks, but recoiled as Maul's reflexes made him twitch into a defensive posture. "Woops…personal space…duly noted!" he stepped back, bowing in apology.

"Shall we Jack?" Maul growled and carried on walking, Jack struggling to stay alongside.

"Certainly 'Dread'!" Jack swayed and skipped toward an alleyway between two foundations.

It was a while before Jack led him to what looked like a very old apartment building.

"Is this where you live?" Maul asked, sneering at the rusty old walls, which looked as if they might crumble away to dust if he touched them. He spotted an armoured rat chewing on a dead tramp and kicked it away in disgust. He hadn't realised how strong his new legs were until he saw the rat rebound off the far wall, and smack Jack in the gut, bowling him over.

Maul grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket and picked him up with one hand. Lifting him to his feet. "I'm okay!" Jack swayed as he fumbled around for his swipe key.

"It's in your left jacket pocket." Maul muttered.

"Why thank you…" Jack shoved his hand in his pocket and felt for the key. Then he paused and turned to Maul. "How did you know that?" he raised an eyebrow curiously.

Maul mused for a moment. How did he know? "I don't know…gut feeling." He shrugged.

Jack made a slight noise, as he pondered something. He swiped the key and the main door opened with a squeak. They were met with a small entrance hall. Maul had to crouch ever so slightly, to fit under the doorframe, but seeing as he couldn't feel pain or discomfort in his lower half, crouching was easy. He didn't know how his legs were controlled. It just seemed to be fused to his spinal cord, and whatever his brain told them to do, they reacted accordingly with no delay. He had complete control.

They made their way up flights of steps to the tenth floor. Where a hallway of doors greeted them.

"Home sweet home!" Jack grinned as he opened his door with the key, He stepped aside to let Maul enter. Maul was met with another low ceiling, and reluctantly entered the smelly hovel. There was a small dining area with kitchen, a tatty sofa with boxes for tables and chairs, and what looked like a small science lab full of Death stick producing agents.

"You live here?" Maul asked in disgust. Glaring at Jack.

"Sometimes!" Jack nodded. "I live mostly where the women are, so…hotels, bars, inns, erm…other places!" He started fumbling around in the kitchen area for food, and found some tinned meat. Maul didn't even know if he could eat. He declined the offer, thinking that his body would tell him what he needed, when the time came. "…I only come here to make these." He handed Maul a couple of small glowing neon-like rods…Death Sticks…an expensive and highly illegal drug.

Maul chucked them to one side with a shrug, then sat down on the sofa. Jack went into the bedroom and was still talking nonsense as he looked through various cupboards and wardrobes. He emerged holding an assortment of clothes and threw them onto Maul's lap. "Take your pick!" Jack said as he poured himself a drink. Maul reluctantly had a glance at the clothes. Jack was tall, but not nearly as tall as he was, and he was thinner too. He settled for a fitted long sleeved T-shirt, with leather panels down the sleeves. It was black. I like black. He thought.

There was nothing he could wear to cover his robotic legs, but Jack had provided him with a black Bantha-hide coat, with zips and buckles decorating it and a split up the back.

"I forgot about that!" Jack sighed. "Me and that coat seen some good times." He swigged a glass of green alcohol and hiccupped. Maul put them on and stood up. The shirt was a little tight across the chest, but the coat was roomy, and fitted his broad back perfectly. But something was missing…

"Have you got any gloves?" Maul smiled.

"Dude you look like a gang leader!" Jack coughed and choked on his drink. He had worn the outfit himself, but Maul's red and black tattooed skin and robotic talon legs made him a terrifying spectacle indeed. Not to mention those strange sharp horns crowning his head.

Jack looked at them in wonder. He seemed to be thinking hard about something.

"Zabrak!" Jack clicked his fingers in realisation. "You're a Zabrak!"

Maul looked up at him surprised. He recognised the name, but he wasn't sure what it meant. "…are you sure?"

"The horns…I recognised the horns. Dated a girl once, she was half Zabrak, half human and had these cool horns just here." Jack traced his fingers across his hairline. "I could hitch you guys up if you want, not many of your kind anywhere in the galaxy, save your home planet."

Maul listened intently. He had no home, no memory, and no money. If what Jack said was true, maybe he had come from that planet. "What's the planet called." He enquired.

"I don't know… 'Iri'…something…you'll have to ask her." Jack hiccupped again. "Where are you wanting to go? Where did you come from? And how was it I saw you make a crater in the middle of the road?" Jack seemed rather concerned.

"I woke up in an operating theatre with these" Maul pointed to his legs, "I don't know how I got there, I don't know why I was there, I don't remember my name, my species, family, nothing. Then all of a sudden this man comes in and tries to kill me with a laser sword." Maul confessed everything. He figured Jack had revealed he was a drug-dealing criminal, so it was Maul's turn to share.

Jack dropped his glass in shock. "A laser sword?" he gawped. "Like one o' them…little…metal…tubes…with a big laser coming out of it?" he was motioning swordplay with his hands.

"The very same." Maul raised his tattooed brow. "You know who he is?"

"Are you KIDDING?" Jack laughed excitedly. "Everyone knows the weapon of a Jedi is a lightsabre!"

Maul's gut vibrated with the mention of the word Jedi. He felt a wave of disgust and utter hatred, but again he didn't know why. "What's a Jedi?" he demanded an answer, immediately.

"The guardians of peace and justice etc. they wander around doing good, using these cool powers and fighting with laser swords. You said he tried to kill you?" Jack looked at him, confused.

"He tried to cut off my head…I'd call that an attempted killing." Maul pointed out.

"Man you really must have done something bad to tick him off like that! Jedi's are meant to be defence only." Jack scoffed. Amazed that the man had met a Jedi, never mind survived an attack by one.

"Well I'm no threat to him now. I'm lost, I'm homeless and I have no memory. What the hell am I going to do now?" he sat back and closed his eyes. A tense pain throbbed in his head as a headache formed. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You are welcome to stay at my humble abode." Jack waved drunkenly at the room. "I never sleep here anyway, like I said, I stay where the women are." He laughed, as Maul closed his eyes and went into a deep meditative sleep.

'Stay as long as I you like' Jack smiled to himself, a plan forming in his mind as he watched his horned companion start to drift off to sleep.

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