3: Narrow Escape

Malik had spent the better part of five minutes contemplating whether he would kill the bounty hunter or not. There was something familiar about her, but Malik honestly could care less. Nothing was more annoying than a bounty hunter, especially one with an ego. They were good for finding targets that Imperials just weren't great with, but that's where their usefulness ended. He felt a hint of aspiration about her, however, and so was curious why he didn't have the urge to plunge his saber into her gut.

"I'm here to kill the ones who stole my ship," she shouted down at him, "I have no quarrel with you, Sith."

"The ones you refer to are the Jedi I have spent the past five years hunting," he bellowed back, "Your quarrel is with me through them. They are mine, so I suggest you leave immediately."

"That won't be happening," she said as she dropped down to face him, "Out of my way!"

"You don't want to do this," he growled, gathering the force around him, "Do not force my hand."

"Eat it," she shouted as she fired her blaster pistols point blank.

At first, Malik had seen it coming in slow motion, and had ducked the shots swiftly. Taking her arms and twisting, he pulled them out of socked with a sudden yank; a blood curdling series of pops echoed through the air. As she shouted in pain, he kicked her forward making her roll.

"You are a fool to oppose me," he growled lifting some small crates from behind a nearby shop.

"Oh really," she replied as she revealed two saber blades in her wrist cup links, "how do you mean?"

Jumping forward, she slashed the crates in half easily, and rolled to try her luck at striking him. Malik had once again viewed the events in slow motion, using the force to speed himself up in the process. Malik had grown more and more powerful over the past few years, and it was beginning to show, even to himself. As he swiftly deflected and redirected her strikes, he found he was simply studying her style, and improving his own.

"You fight well, for a bounty hunter," he growled in a low voice, "but now you will witness the full might of the dark side!"

Before she could react, a thick stream of crimson lightning came flying out from his hands, enveloping her body from head to toe. In two seconds she was screaming in agonizing pain and by four or five seconds, she was on her knees begging for it to stop. The feeling it gave Malik was invigorating, and the more she screamed, the more he liked it. Her fear and suffering was fueling him with the dark side, intoxicating his mind. It had finally stopped when she no longer had the energy to scream, and he was standing and panting while she struggled to crawl away.

xxxxxxx

Athaliah had covered most of the city in just a few short hours, but with no luck. She had been using the force to reach out, suspecting that her and her master's presence had already been detected. Finally, she could feel something, a few small energy signatures just meters away, but where? Looking around frantically, she finally spotted them.

"Quickly," Dakriel was shouting at the boy, "Pick up the pace we don't have much time!"
"Apologies," the boy replied with a scowl, "I'm going as fast as I can."
"Quiet, both of you," Xenos said quietly, sensing the presence of the dark side nearby, "We're not alone anymore…"

As they drew closer and closer to the space port, Athaliah followed closely behind, and yet had managed to remain unnoticed, or so she thought. Suddenly, they rounded a corner, and were in a full sprint towards the docking bay. Busted, she thought to herself as she ran at full speed catching up to her targets. Finally, they all came to a halt, noticing Malik and Willow in the heat of battle.

"Must be a rainy day," Dakriel said dryly, but Xenos wasn't in a joking mood.
"Take the boy and leave," Xenos told Dakriel, "I'll deal with him…"

Looking over, Malik finally noticed Xenos and Dakriel, as well as the boy. Smirking, he turned to face Willow once more and, after recalling his red lightning, lifted her by the neck and hovered her in front of Dakriel and Xenos.

"Behold, Jedi, the true might of the Sith," he bellowed as Willow gasped for air in front of them.

"You don't scare us," Xenos said as Dakriel locked eyes with Athaliah, who was simply smiling and mimicking his movements, "what do you want, Sith?"

"Oh, nothing really," Malik replied with an evil grin, "Just all you filthy Jedi scum destroyed and bleeding to death…"

He had wasted no more time talking, and Xenos barely managed to defend himself against Malik's series of strikes and slashes from both sabers. Dakriel would've jumped in to help him, but Athaliah was already on him in seconds, forcing them to split up. Feeling somewhat helpless, Keith ran over next to a few crates, and one of them held something most convenient for their situation.

"Surrender, Jedi scum," Malik yelled as Xenos began to counter back with slashes, "You will never defeat me, you are too weak!"

"True weakness is in the killing of others in order to make you seem stronger," Xenos replied with a smirk.

"Try not to upset them master," Dakriel added, "After all they've put in so much effort to scare us."

Athaliah had remained silent, and although Dakriel's skills weren't terrible, he was nothing compared to Athaliah, and she could tell. She hadn't even begun to use any advanced fighting and he was already having trouble keeping up. She almost bisected him out of pity, but alas, she enjoyed playing with her victims. Finally, she'd grown bored of this fight, and blasted him back with a dark wave of force energy. The jolt hadn't been deadly, but that hadn't stopped him from denting a metallic wall a few feet from where he was standing.

"Master, shall we end the Jedi here," Athaliah asked, swirling her sabers to point at Dakriel's neck.

"Yes, apprentice," Malik struggled to say as he and Xenos locked sabers in a tense jolt.

"I'm impressed," Xenos said suddenly, "You're a lot stronger than I anticipated."

"More than you know," Malik growled, and then sent Xenos spinning in the air with a jolt of crimson lightning.

Xenos had been caught completely off guard, and that's when Dakriel lost it. Sending Athaliah flying back with a massive push, he made a bee-line for Malik, gathering as much force as he could muster, but Malik was already standing with both hands up, shielding himself in a red orb. The orb had finished forming mere seconds before Dakriel had unleashed his push to Malik.

"Come on, master, we need to leave," Dakriel shouted over the chain of explosions going off from his push.

"Don't let them escape," Malik shouted over the noise, but couldn't see the Jedi through the smoke, "Athaliah?"

"I'm here master," she said in a weak voice, "Please…don't be angry…"

The blood had taken a moment to sink in, but Malik's first instincts were to run to her side. She'd been impaled, all the way through, by the edge of a star fighter's wing. A simple parked aircraft had ripped through her as if she were made of paper. He was in shock, but more importantly, he wanted to save her.

"Athaliah," his voice was surprisingly soft, or at least that's what she thought.

"Master, I-" she was cut off by his crying and shaking his head.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," he cried as the dark side began to build in his chest, "This WON'T happen!"

Suddenly, she and the ship were lifted into the air. The force began to swirl around Athaliah, streaming from Malik's arms, and her flesh was sealed and healed seamlessly. She couldn't believe what was happening, and yet he was healing her with the force. Gently, she touched the ground with her feet as he finished, and then fell to his knees.

"Master, why," she said as she ran to help him up, "The Jedi will get away, why did you do that?"

"Because, my apprentice," he said softly as he slowly stood up, "I need you," and his lips pressed against hers for the first time.

Tears ran down both of their faces, both out of rage and joy. Though master and apprentice for the Sith meant certain death for one of them, neither of them planned on killing the other. Malik could feel the force swell inside him, and now that he had nothing distracting him, he could focus much easier than ever before.
xxxxxxx

Xenos had led the group to the far end on the western side of the space port. Luckily, they had managed to find an already-stolen ship, and were already firing the engines up. Just as the Sith Lords had managed to watch them lift off, they were gone. Malik felt his rage intensify, but could do little more than watch them fly off.

"You'd think they would've learned their lesson by now," Keith said sarcastically.

"Don't ever underestimate them," Xenos said in a deep voice, "I get the feeling we've only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to them…"

"Still," Dakriel added, "We did manage to find another force sensitive. So kid, you ready to become a Jedi?"