[i]Ah, so now I've got the Lizard-Man's attention[/i], thought Polo dryly.

Polo couldn't help but smirk slightly, all throughout Hannibal's display. The blood, the teacup, even the explanation - It all just seemed like such a juvenile show. So unnecessary, and distracting.

Of course the KSP had been corroded. Polo had explained to the surgeons initially that such a device would be little but a temporary restraint, flushed from the creature's bloodstream within six months. He'd very quickly determined that even their control collar would be little but a minor deterrent.

Polo suspected there was little coincidence between the time it took for Hannibal's immunities to catch up to the physio-shock collar, and the sudden rebellion of Obsidian operatives.

As anyone knew, Hannibal was a rather potent wrecking ball, and now he was without a chain.

Polo said nothing in response to Hannibal's taunts. Better that the creature thought the bespectacled man was enthralled by Laraxis' plans - If the self-proclaimed "leader" was convinced, then all the better - It would keep attention firmly where Polo needed it to be.

"You want me and the rest of my family," said Hannibal, indicating the makeshift cadre.

Polo couldn't help but snarl a little at the association.

"To deliver you a weapon," continued Hannibal. "Of which has a potential to malfunction and create an event horizon capable of decimating our entire world, and later our solar system and the nearby surrounding planetary systems before stabilization."

[i]Unlikely[/i], thought Polo. [i]The energy quantity needed for such a black hole would be astronomical. Even causing Sol to supernova wouldn't create such an event. A device like that would be small-scale. Single planetary body at most, and even then, of a temporary decay. A few thousand years at most.[/i]

Sometimes Polo wished he could shut off his brain.

"So you need this weapon," said Hannibal finally. "And you need us alive."

"That would certainly up our odds," said Polo dryly. He couldn't help himself.

"Of which I concur," replied Hannibal. "Living will make things much less complicated, but it brings me to my next question," he said.

[i]Someone is on a tirade today[/i], thought Polo.

"They struck bargains with me before the collapse to get me to do what they like," said Hannibal, with the gentleness of a pit viper. "I lived like a king among the operatives. Luxury was mine in everything I did. I could've had fools kiss the ground I walked on if I wanted, and then had them for dinner that night."

[i]An exaggeration. But then again, Laraxis probably doesn't know that.[/i]

"I am not bound by the same strings that the others are. You need this weapon. I need a reason to aid in delivering such a formidable weapon to your hands, and I'll consider what you have to say."

"No more threats. No more protocols. No more operatives. Just you, and me in our sense of who has higher morality. Poetic isn't it, that I would be the one to ask?"

"You always were one to push against the order of things," said Polo flatly.

"A government should fear it's people," said Hannibal, turning to stare pointedly at Polo, before turning back to Laraxis. "If I am to take commands from you, I want to see how you react when you can no longer threaten me."

"Seemed more like a request to me," said Polo. "And who knows? Maybe our host is feeling generous."

Hannibal seemed unphased.

"I'm sure there are others out there who have managed to escape your confines," he continued. "And didn't bother coming because of it. What happens then, should they try and oppose you? How will you threaten them?"

[i]I'm honestly not sure Laraxis has thought it out that far. You're giving him far too much credit, Hannibal.[/i]

"I am not the only one. Consider this my gift to you, Laraxis. You'll need it."

Polo would have liked to respond. But this wasn't his show. He had to play the delicate dance of willing 'second-in-command,' but not looking to usurp. This was a tango that could turn deadly with just one wrong step.

Luckily, Polo was pretty good on his feet.

"I'm also curious," Polo said to Laraxis, lifting and examining the teacup that Hannibal had ruined - a clear hole burned right through the base. "What other forms of [i]persuasion[/i] might we be expecting? Surely you're not planning to leave us empty-handed at the end of this, eh?"