Midnight's escape

[Lilith Xandir]

"~your attempt at independence is idiotic." Eyes fluttered as if trapped inside the black of silken fibers. Surrounded by dozens yet the girl caught within her own web sat alone, still, at a bar tended by the Galaxy's cast aways. "-if you do, I will slaughter you both myself." A crimson ghost boomed a voice of memory. This was her own mind and her own demon making itself known with only one option to drown it away. "Hell is real, Zafina,-" a pair of yellow eyes lingered on the departure of one not long for this realm. He was there, he was always there, "I won't make you beg, so just-" Breath began to turn in on itself, her heart ached, gut taut enough to rend yet still she survived to see the memory haunter her more. A heart sounding distant closed in seizing every rasp of breath more and more until the universe whispered to her one word, "...Never"

Spilt liquor, "Damn..."

Lilith was unceremoniously drawn from her date with daydreams when the crowd around her in the bar nuzzled a little too close. The Lizard like hybrid of a bipedal didn't even realize his over stuffed shoulder rammed the girl but then again it didn't matter. Yellow eyes drifted down into a vibrant pool of spirit within her slender fingers. One then two breaths escaped to couple a sigh before the substance graced her lips down into the belly of her turmoil. A cup of good medicine for a needed distraction.

"Hey slender, how bout yo slide over." Speaking of distractions, the toad faced human barking up the wrong scaffolding? Was not counted in the list of well needed. "How about no..." Was all she offered.

However he was drunk, stupid, and looking for something he was not going to receive so naturally those crooked flaps kept offering Lilith an invitation to himself of all things. Just as sudden as he came to ruin her night another round of her drink hit the bar so she rushed it to the sky and past her lips quicker then before. The very instant that glass his the bar she turned in on the man and wrapped her hands around his shoulders embracing him in a kiss the like of which he did not expect yet wouldn't turn away.

Cheers and ugly grunts passed them both by. Lilith's body glided over the masses with this sod in tow gripped in a mess she would recount as mildly nauseating. His taste was of cheap booze and pour wit. A stature affirmed as her back hit the black steel wall of the alley away from all the eyes of the vagabonds. The grunting began to rise as the looming lust filled the air but the girl didn't share this man's enthusiasm which found a cool moment of summertime spring water just before glee mutated to horror.

He was choking, gripping her hands, fading from life. Lilith's fingers began to bath in blood as her yellow eyes simply stared into his own departing in agony. A fate not wished for many was to drown in your blood yet here he was wishing, only now, that he had listened to her the first time when she uttered the command, "No."

The body fell dead and Lilith stood above its fall without a sound. After a few moments she finally bent down to clean her blade of this man's remainder before checking his pockets for something cheap to fence for more intoxicating spirit.


((IDK planets too well so I chose a bar. simple right?))

[Slade Xandir]

[OOC: Yeh. I didn't really do all that good at the School of Star Wars Planets, but I know Nar Shaddaa is one of the crim syndicate known planets other than Tattooine, so that's a thing. We'll just say it was on Nar Shaddaa, because yeh. We'll study other planets as we go along. :3 Also helps if you put your OOC (out of Character Text) up here, but it doesn't matter, it's whatevz, bunny.]



Blood was most certainly irritated at this point. He had spent the last couple of moons passing through the galaxy looking for his Daughter, and she hadn't even remotely notified him nor the rest of the pack that she was planning on disappearing. This mess gave him flashbacks, triggers that wanted to break his entire façade of a calm demeanor. This night was something of havoc, not only in his judgement, but in his heart. On one side, a side that he knew well enough wasn't his, wanted to track her down and make sure the rose was alright. The other and most defined familiar other side of him wanted to track down the weed and pluck her roots from the essence of Life, itself. It was a tumblestorm or morals and madness.
And it proved to be much more pressure on his mind than he originally expected it to be.

The Infiltrator scanned through different pieces of planets, through several galaxies, but the Universe saved no scramble of trail for him to follow other than silence.
But one ping snatched his ear from the deafening crowd of Nothing, and strained eyes glared almost animalistically at the radar. S-12. He knew that planet...And Slade knew it even more.
Nar Shaddaa.

With nothing more than a furious shove of controls, Blood put the coordinantes in and launched the hidden vessel into the grips of a hyperjump, the velocity throwing him through the stars in a blend of motion almost as wrathful as he was. The ship threw itself to a halt as it slowed to drift near the brightly lit planet. Without pause, The Sith Lord nosed the vessel down and soared through the highly polluted atmosphere of the city planet.
Across a mile no more of the ping, he tuned his holowatch to the dot and shut down the ship the second it landed onto the pad and into the crowded bay.

A normal man would have been distressed as much he pushed himself in this circumstance. He did; he did not think. But he did, and it did not stop. Nothing stopped, but it all did. Nothing was here to make sense, but in the end, he was not the confused one. A broken mind could not be more shambled, but he was utterly focus.
Only he wasn't.

Blood pushed and shoved through the crowd, his cape spilling through the air like a wave of darkness. His bracers, made of viper leather, held behind his forearms flat underside each a pair of fanged sabers, sabers who's crescent activation button glared a burgundy light beneath the shade cast by the shadow of his hanging cape. Almost as though a voracious and hateful beast loomed and lurked under and behind him. Nightsole calf boots kept his hurried and furious gait silent. Dressed simply, he was a walking void of barely simmering rage.
Flashing behind those intoxicating golden irises of his were nothing but visions of betrayal, Mercy and her sly ease away from the pack. Her immediate siding with the Agent, and how it killed so swiftly the endless possibilities he had waiting for her. Had her trash actions infected his Daughter?

We were supposed to be together...
forever...

He realized he was no longer wandering aimlessly. The Dragon Master's feet moved precisely; in one single direction. There n the near distance he saw a parking lot, and from that half filled lane of speeders and other parked ships sat a bar.
His Force pulled him through this lot, through that landing bay, to this very place. He could taste the unpredictability in this direction. There was that familiar scent in the currents of the Force.
Lilith, his spawned hellion.

She was near.
And he was quite unhappy about that.

[Lilith Xandir]

((OC: okeh I understand! ))


There should be more to it then this. Lilith stood over the corpse in witless awe dwelling on the deed itself and not the life lost. Curiously her grip on the blade was firm but not overbearing as a child caught in an act of great misconduct. This by technical accounts was her first kill and it came and went in the blink of an eye. Emotionless save for the annoyance that lead her to this act.

Remembering how easy it was to manipulate him as if tranced, with nothing more then a touch, out past his would be friends into Death's embrace was the mark of evil. Then again as Lilith remembered the her Father's words, forever hovering over head, what was evil in the absence of good? Was an echo of the meaning still an act to pursue or was it simply out of reach and just as dead as the man that lay before her now? The chill of the air returned to Lilith as did her wits to press back into the folds of chaos. Return to temporary escape as it were. Both feet glided with fluidity towards the door taking hold of the keypads with only a touch. Still in her pause to open the door Lilith found herself instinctual pulled back to the body around the corner. Damn her thoughts of return and damn her father. For that's all this was right? A subconscious hat tip to her abandonment of Slade and Raph.

That managed to fuel emotion after all... however that emotion was hate.

A hate that drove her through the doors and back to her place at the bar. The glass she had left behind soon returned full by the barkeep android unit easily repaired when things got ugly around these parts. Its intuition hadn't found the obvious clues to a customers disappearance but one Lizardman's nose knew the iron aroma of human matter all to intimately. He, of course, noticed chips of flaking blood on Lilith's dominant hand and pressed attention to its disturbance in kind. Lilith lazily floated over his gaze with the influence of the poison within her body only now taking full effect. "He had it coming."

Words for the departed not easily received. Rather then make trouble he and his friends slide over a few feet granting the space Lilith desired. For what could she desire more then to be alone right now... or forever? Placed within the shadow of a murderer who demanded loyalty through fear. "Want me as an animal? So be it."

Those words were not meant for the Lizard but for someone thought to be far from this world and far from this escape though internally even Lilith knew this was but a reprieve.

[Slade Xandir]

Running through the parking lot,
He chased me, and he wouldn't stop-
Tag, you're it.

It was almost more than enough to bleed something more vile than venom in his mind, his honey gems locking onto a figure who retreated back into the hole of a wasteland bar. A bar that was no fit for any spawn of a Sith Lord. This was beneath them.
But did that make her beneath him?
Of course it did.

His strides were strong and unstoppable, his feet no longer hiding his presence of silence as he stomped with such a hearty pressure that he became noticeable to any who heard. But as he made his way through the parking lot, something nauseating whispered raunchily to his nares. Blood....but not of the innocent. Blood of the intoxicated.
His nose tracked the disgusting scent to a body that was laying not too far. It seemed almost Transdoshan, but he couldn't be sure what it was. He did see the gleaming puddle beneath the motionless form, and he knew well enough without the Force that this being was gone from this plane.

Regardless, he turned his attention back to the doors of the loud establishment. A gloved hand gripped the lowhung durasteel handle and pulled the door almost from his hinges as he swung it open so violently. His hand released the handle as he snaked his way inside, and began slithering through the floor, gaze burning through all the faces, forms, shapes, sounds of the crowd. Some were loud, others were unconscious, some were babbling, others played betting nonsense at tables cast on the side. But as he made his way forward, the Sith Lord noticed a still figure, almost unnoticeable if you weren't trained to look for the bland appearances of someone who was trying to not be found. And that throbbing muscle in his chest whispered to hug that immobile vixen, while the organ in his skull screamed to kill the traitorous wench.

But he did neither. He walked up and stood behind her, slightly to the left, putting her within easy reach of his dominant hand if he needed to choke slam this secret of his.

Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead...

"Why."

It was a question, a simple one, but the lack of high pitch in those merciless baritones led to believe there was no room to not answer it.

[Lilith Xandir]

This was an all too familiar feeling. As memory served it always began like this when a disturbance shifted the air that other creatures, not in tune with their lives, couldn't possibly understand. No sudden drop in temperature of toxic taste of gas mixing within a dance of air. It instead was all about presence. Everyone didn't care about him at first. Instead they continued on as if nothing changed until their gaze met that doomed figure itself.

One man cowering in the bottom of his glass, another twisting his back away as if in discomfort from a chilled wind, or even the female hired help stopping dead in a stare before pulled to service again by angry boasts. Lilith was unmoved but also knocked over the very moment that door opened. Not a matter of if but when and he had found her too soon. Each step thundered louder in her brain driving a nail into her lungs to seize fear as if he were a sage that mastered it, fear itself. Then again Lilith knew of the horrors this Galaxy sheltered and the beings of Nightmare known as the Sith.

Yet who could come to fear one of their own blood?

Everything turned in on itself freezing time so that his words echoed and rend its authority through her meager wall of defense. A Father scolding a Child. However she was no longer a Child and the wall was laid bare. For Lilith simply didn't care enough to fear anymore.

The girl almost rolled her eyes when she snapped back to reality and was expected to provide an answer. It seemed, however, reason had not completely crumbled when she took control of her body and did not defy Lord Blood. Instead she drank yet another still glass, perhaps the last, and let out a raspy sigh fanning the sting of the alcohols bite. "Why." Again his voice echoed in her mind.

Those mirror image eyes met with his own in a stern look that defied him, dared him to strike, because Lilith knew he could destroy her where she stood but instead welcomed the release to an extent only the poison she drank could rope to the surface. One word was given so one answer demanded a short explanation in returned, "Because I dared."

The shot glass found the crust of the bar with a soft clang and the air rang out with its chime for only the pair to hear.

[Slade Xandir]

Lilith from day 2 had been the trouble child. Raphael seemed near complete contrast to his twin, a female who refused to acknowledge her place beneath him as her brother did his. Lilith was often banned from so many different missions through her incessant disobedience, and it seemed she was left on the edenous planet more than taken from it. Raphael had seen more of the galaxy, earned his own armor, and was even smithing the wondrous piece now. He was following brilliantly in his Father's footsteps, the absolute Prodigy, his true Heir. But Lilith strayed from the path, and her negligence to his will, to his rules, to their customs, made her grow swift into a hazard and a hindrance more than even Mercy, at this point. Blood couldn't fault her as it was his own unnatural blood and Force that scorned her mind into something he himself couldn't understand well, but he recognized her as his, and that was what mattered.

"Either you bite with those fangs of yours, or you tuck your tail and get on the damn ship, j'us zarake dridonera. You do not belong amongst this filth, and I will not have you drag my name down with your own lack of discipline."

He held in as much of the growl he could, but the words inevitably came with them His own level of control was being tried, and the Sithian couldn't see himself walking out of this bar with her being compliant. It seemed time came to mock him, once more. The trial of patience had passed, and soon the time if Violence would brew within this shoddy bar.

Blood clenched his fists, both shaking deeply in his ire. Smoke began to wisp from between gloved fingers, inking out of the palm with serpentine shapes between the pair. Gold met gold, both eyes melting in a viscous muddle of volcanic searing mutuality of hatred.
But whose would pour, first?

[Lilith Xandir]

Balled fists emulated the darkness within Slade's soul except for all the rage he still stayed his hand which worked to Lilith's favor. Honestly as her eyes drew heavy to the counter top of the bar she caught herself listening to the words of doubt, of submission. One finger tracing the edges of the empty glass as the mind idled on what he might do when they departed. Punishment was a given but what would Slade take in this particular demand for compliance?

All the emotions of the past streamed into a mix of hate, fear, and longing.
Most would give anything for a family but Lilith would give everything to escape it in this moment.

At the very least he gave a choice, "Bite or tuck your tail."

Those yellow irises of hers that mirrored her father, Slade Xandir the Blood Lord, darted to the corner of her eyes molding the the center piece of a glare. Though powerful in the realm of bazaar that Slade was Lilith was not. No dancing darkness, no unnatural glow, not even a wisp of the air. This thing called the force? She hated it... Hated him, hated her mother, hated the beings scraping by in this world. Right now Slade was no more a better to these scum then a cat to a mouse. Both sacks of meat and water able to be ground to dust with the passage of time. Not a god nor godly.

Instead with the gift he held Slade clung to mortality with a child's unyielding grip of fear for his own selfish, undefinable, emotions.

That realization alone would fuel Lilith to be free by her hands no matter how many times he chained them down and scolded her lack of ability, lack of potential, strength, or rather her lack of willingness for him to brandish another tool like her dear brother. "R... Raph." Her mind shook off that clinging attachment in light of her situation.

Just as a hand came and gripped the shoulder of Slade did Lilith act. A round belly human was too dumb for his charity when he opened his mouth, "Is there a problem he-?"

Lilith waited for a second so Slade would act grabbing a newly filled glass then chunking her head back with the glass rim kissing her lips. On the way down her head lined up and her lungs pushed. Strong liquor sprayed in the direction of Slade's eyes and her right leg came up to boot an impressing in his chest so as to spread distance between them... this was the second act of defiance and perhaps the last.

[Slade Xandir]

There was a moment of time speeding so swiftly that he was unprepared for the combo that followed suit. He felt someone approach him seconds before they approached him. Drunken bastards, everywhere. A disgusting slaw of idiots. And one of them approached him.

His hand flew out from him, but not at his withering rotten rose, but at the approaching interloper. Just on the hairs reach of distance from gripping the human's throat, his gloved hand cupped air, but the human reacted as if he was within that vile hand. Confused and robbed of air, the drunk reached for his own throat, unable to rid whatever obstruction was blocking is airways. But as Blood's attention was diverted, it was also stolen from him as Lilith spewed something bitter and spicy into his sight. He was blinded, and immediately made to accidentally overreach his aggression in the Force, His grip tightened in the Force and he felt bone shift within the throat of the man, but the boot that came to his chest shoving him back was ultimately what snapped the human's neck as they both were pushed back.
The gurgle and hiccup of crimson running up in a splash met Blood's face, almost decorative as it trickled past forehead and down to his now telling snarl.

Lilith was challenging him. Her hidden attack was something else Blood had instilled into her, distraction and wit. But it was clear she craved more than just a little spar. There was something writhing in her bosom, and it was beckoning him to take a shot.
The smoke that curled through his gloves now were ignited. Flames ran wild and bright serpentine ribbons up his arms as his fury peaked at her challenge. He had expected her to put up a fight, but somewhere in him the Sith Lord wished she would simply come peacefully. But in the end, Tormentous was right...
There was no peace.
And wherever it might have been, it was most certainly not within this heinous little hellion of a Daughter.

His muscles contorted as the Dark Side bled him of reason. Voracious urges came forth, rearing whispers across his auds, passing lively thoughts into feasible feats. The inky spread of power leaped from foot to crown as the Force corrupted his leniency into the lack of. It broke his civil way of thinking, rusted the edges of iron rigid sanity, and drowned Slade out, completely for now. The Dark Side swallowed Blood whole, and spit out a Nightmare made real. A gorgeous garnet slid from abyssmal pupils as the gold of born irises tarnished into a sickening yellow. The Dark Side pulled him from logic, and in his boots stood a ghoul. He felt the effects of the Dark Side, but instead of fighting them for his sanity, a luxury he no longer had, he welcomed the feast of ferocious feelings. Blood gorged on the aftermath, the decadent surplus of hatred the voices whispered of, the wicked intent he should simply turn to happening right then, right there. The Dark Side embraced him in an infectious coil, a wrapping of disease he wanted to spread and willingly, he committed to this madness.

Blood flung himself forward within radius of Lilith, gloved hands curling into claws. And withing the grasp of those flaming maws an entire onslaught of fiery wrath poured from them. The wave of fire blazed a slaughter-path where Lilith had been. Whether she was still there or not was something he hadn't properly taken time to consider, but the slippery girl more than likely was not. If she had been, she woas more than likely burnt to something less than ash.

Blood hadn't poured all of his power into the attack, but he was far too focused on obliterating the youth more than power consumption. He felt the rest of the cesspoil of heat in him, his bared fangs leaking the smoke that was coming from such a concentrated heat level that resided deep in his bosom. It rested, smoke passing over his tongue and traveling out to intertwine with the air that wisped out the corners of spread lips.

The Dragon Master ceased his inferno, morbid sight looking for a burnt pile of clothes, or even charred limbs, and that was being generous.

[Raphael Xandir]

Emerging from the cargo hold of his father’s Sith Infiltrator, Raphael finally was able to stand after such a long and tireless trip. It seemed the ship had finally been settled for some time now, safe for the acolyte to investigate. His spine finally straightened and bones cracked as they adjusted to the sudden ability to move. His father more than likely had an idea that the prodigal son was following him in his attempts to unearth the missing Lilith, yet Raphael chose to remain hidden. Slade wouldn’t bother him much if he just stayed out of the way. Raphael stayed far away up until this point, monitoring transmissions of failed searches on different planets.

Boots clunked around the Infiltrator as he began to depart from the ship. Raphael wore chose not to bring his armor along for this ride, just typical dark colored garments covered by a hooded cloak. Raphael rationalized his lack of armor in his head to the fact that there wouldn’t be any trouble on this mission. Simply put, it should just be his father finding Lilith and dragging her back to Sojourn with or without her permission. The young man had to make sure he was there for their encounter when he finally did find her. Blood tended to come out in times of resentment from Lilith. As her twin, Raphael felt a fundamental need to protect his more passionate sister.

Nearing the exit ramp, Raphael got a glimpse of where they were on the NavComputer; the “Smugglers Moon” of Nar Shaddaa. He had read about this place before, a giant city filled with all the wrong types of people. “What could she want with this vile moon?” he thought to himself. Slade had failed a few times before in his efforts to find her on different moons, Raphael hoped this wouldn’t be the one she desired.

Appearing from the ramp, his boots finally hit the platform of the moon. A quick swing of his arm brought the robe on his arm closer to his nose. “What a revolting smell… Who would dare trade a live on the eloquent Sojourn over this sad excuse for a domain?”

Raphael’s senses began to heighten as he felt something strange throughout the city. Constant noise and a fowl stench had to be blocked out to fully understand this feeling he was starting to get. It was faint, yet he recognized the bond he had with both Lilith and Slade. The acolyte shared a strong bond with both of them, but his bond with his twin sister was much more intense. It was usually a calm feeling when the two were together. Typically it felt as if two pieces of the puzzle were fitting together and working as one, but there was more this time.

She was here; he knew that for a fact and Slade obviously did as well. Tiny greyish-black hairs began to stick up on the back of the young man’s neck. Something felt off, he felt weak and unnerved. His sister was in trouble; he could sense it as if the puzzle piece was connected yet it was rotting. Dark boots quickly moved throughout the crowd of the city, feeling his way closer to his sister.

Pushing through crowds of people he naturally came to a stop upon an alley. Blinking neon lights painted the street ahead, revealing a drunk passed out. This drunk didn’t seem to be breathing though. Raphael hesitantly made strides towards the man, revealing a pool of blood surrounding him. He crouched down but didn’t have much time to investigate the matter as crowds of people came rushing out of the bar. Raphael figured on of the two lunatic’s did this and they were probably just conveniently inside the bar causing more trouble.

Once the swarm of drunks finally escaped the bar that seemed to be turning into a madhouse, Raphael quickly made his way inside. He already knew what to expect, he knew the two too well at this point. Ever since he could remember, Lilith had always been the problem child. She always seemed to want to break free from the pack and Slade met this want with brute force. The two constantly clashed, leaving the son to protect his sister whenever he needed to. Sometimes Raphael just wished she had the ambition that he did, to grow and become stronger within the force and the pack. Yet, she had no real interest in it; falling behind in her studies and training.

Automatic doors slid open revealing the chaos the crowds of people were trying to escape. Another body sat unnaturally on the floor, another casualty of the constant bickering. The two would obviously soon recognize that he had arrived, Raphael wouldn’t get in the way though. In an odd way the two always had to fight it out for her to concede and come back to their home. These natural events happened every so often, Raphael no longer cared to get in between.

Reaching over the bar, the acolyte quickly found a glass and a drink to which he poured. He took a sip and sat down starring at the countertop as they continued to fight. Cupping the glass with both gloved hands, his thumbs traced the circular outline of the glass. Raphael swirled the drink around in the glass, focused entirely on that. He was only there to stop Slade, or Lord Blood as it seems has come out, from going to far with the fight if he did. The young man had no need to get on the bad side of either Slade or Blood.

“You two have already cleared the place and caused unnecessary commotion, when is enough truly enough?” Raphael whispered to himself, still staring down at the drink.

[Lilith Xandir]

It happened in the blink of an eye. A mad Sith Lord enacting his rage against any and all who would be so bold to stand in his way. What created such an animal? Lilith froze time around her with the power of racing thought. This was her father, flesh and blood, through and through. Against everything she was Lilith hated herself and that man yet bound herself to him and all his so called kin all the same.

Why? He asked her "why?"

That was simple and it made itself relevant in the weight of her reply. She could because she had a choice.

Lilith wasn't given the choice to be born, wasn't given the right to decide if she wanted her mother gone, to receive a vile father, a power hungry mob calling themselves the Galaxy's betters. This wasn't a child acting out but a point to be made. For if only Blood and Lilith's brother could see that the meaning of defiance wasn't the consequence that followed the action but the ability to take one's own fate into their hands with a simple decision, a choice.

That was why she dared to defy him more as her aim was true. The alcohol stinging the Dark Master's eyes and her boot leaving an imprint on that pretty, damned, clothing.

Lilith's breath was ravaged by the ground and she had little time to complain or even cough before her body instinctively rolled away from the bar. Bystanders panicked and reacted as all the sheep were expected to do so. Making for first light and exit away from the carnage Lord Blood wrought.

In the crowds hurried flight Lilith coughed and choked as feet danced up then down her body. Toes jabbing in their running fumble against the girl's ribs to better assist in her lungs suffering. One or two dings to the face and Lilith finally had enough strength to react against them all. Climbing to her feet to dodge away behind a monster ball holo table.

Instinct kicked in and her hand reached beneath her rough leathered jacket brandishing a blaster aiming down the sights at Blood, at Slade, who by Lilith's account was dead to rights. One pull of the trigger after his sights were where she was and not now but all the while the blood dripped from her busted lip the girl did not dare pull the trigger.

Instead the weapon shifted unsteadily in her hand from raw emotions conflicting with her desire to be free from being the tool her existence was meant to be. Only then did her ear sync with her eyes to find Raph...

Mumbling to himself at the bar and detached as if on some moral high ground. Lilith didn't know what he said but knew the man enough to interpret his being here in this stink hole. As if Raph were talking to her she replied, "Because I am meat to him!"

A wind stole a whistle against the open door frame, "You think your better then them, -dujikri j'us, abid! Then everyone!" The power Slade and Raph held were undeniable and that alone forced Lilith to relent to nod affirmatively, "Maybe you are..."

Lilith chose this world as a means to mask herself from Slade. Too many people, too many minds, might have muffled the connection she had with Slade still in the end here they all were now at the end of a blaster.

"...b... -but what gives 'you' the right to determine 'everything'?" Lilith eyed Raph, "Born in a dish to be a waddled definition of perfection." Her eyes darted back to Slade with raw anger, "Your perfect tool."