While events were transpiring in the rest of the clinic, Doc Valentine's world was narrowed down to little more than the operating table that Noki was laid out on, his surgical instruments, and Nurse Lillianne. Lillianne was completely silent as Valentine worked, his normal demeanour being replaced with complete and total seriousness. He worked and worked, and while it wasn't an easy surgery it was a successful one. After he had finished closing up everything he'd opened during the course of the surgery, he stepped away from the table and smiled.

"Hell of a wound," Doc Valentine said to nobody in particular, chuckling.

"Um, Doctor?" Nurse Lillianne said, a bit confused.

"Aw, it's nothin'," Valentine said, shrugging, "Now watch over th' patient here while I go tell 'er friends she's gonna be alright."

Nurse Lillianne nodded, "Of course."

Doc Valentine nodded at his nurse, before pushing back the curtain and walking back into the open clinic once again. He did notice that there were a couple more people than there was before, but since Nina hadn't let him know and they were standing near the ones who'd brought Noki in. He didn't see Jericho, so he assumed the boy was off doing something. He made his way over to the group, smiling beneath his surgical mask.

"Alright folks, it looks like your friend's gonna be al-" he began, before trailing off. He'd just noticed a couple of new people entering the clinic, and they didn't look like they were here for medical treatment. Nina realized it too, and her eyes narrowed; one hand slowly crept to the assault rifle at her back and the other made its way to the knife she kept strapped to her thigh.

The slightly balding man with a pig-like nose smiled as he entered the waiting room. "Evenin' Doc." He happily called out, a thick accent that resembled the ancient language of "British" (discovered in the films on a dead planet somewhere outside the galaxy) resonating through his voice. "So... You got our fuckin' money?" The thug asked while his associates, a Raximotophali, an alligator Animamity (renamed species from Beastman), and a couple of Klomites, all dressed in high tech armours, pulled out various weapons. The Porkeian with the accent pulled out a high caliber blaster pistol that was no bigger than a thimble and said "Doc.. You haven't paid up for eight fucking cycles. The Boss doesn't like it when you're not paying your dues.. He said if you don't give us the Fifty Thousand Credits, then we'll just have to bring him a new piggy bank in the form of your decapitated and hollowed out head."

The Porkeian looked ape hand the room as he as his partners got settled in. Once his eyes found a lovely young nurse with the name 'Nina' scrawled out on a name tag, he winked in a disgusting and suggestive manner. Watching her roll her eyes in disgust at his actions made him chuckle slightly. They believed he was repulsive, but he decided that they were just playing hard to get. With a sly smile, the Porkeian pulled out a small blaster the size of two thumbs stacked up ontop of each other, recognized as the "Cricket" from the Cassius "Instant Desolation Line". Grinning wickedly, the Porkeian aimed the gun at Valentine's head and whispered "Its a shame.. You always have such beautiful assistants.. Rectja hates when we kill your beauties, so they won't be harmed if you do what we want.. After all, they're supposed to be included in the package you offered us. They are the payment for me and my boys.. But I digress. Now then... Either you've got the credits, or you don't get a head. Which one's it gonna be, Doc?"

"All right, all right, now let's not be hasty here and make any rash decisions we might regret," Doc Valentine said, holding his hands up to show that he was unarmed, "Now, if y'all would be so kind as to put th' guns away, we can start talkin' business. I reckon that's what your boss would prefer, am I right?"

While Valentine was outwardly acting as though he was going along with the thugs, it was in reality all an act. You didn't operate a clinic like this without some kind of protection, especially against those who wanted 'protection' money. And for Doc Valentine's clinic that was Nurse Nina. She wasn't actually a nurse, and had never even touched a patient except to hold them down if Jericho and Lillianne were busy and they had a lot of patients. All the scars that crossed Nina's face and body weren't just for show; they were from real wounds she'd suffered during her life. Before arriving on Norrux Mirugal she'd served in a mercenary company, and had been damn good at what she did. Nina had been silently surveying the thugs from the minute they had walked in, and while she didn't doubt that she'd be able to kill them all Valentine wasn't so optimistic. Nina had a habit of being too sure of herself since most of the people who carried a gun on this planet were just untrained thugs. She had on form-fitting armour underneath her uniform, a souvenir from her time as a mercenary, but it didn't cover her limbs or face. All Valentine had was his revolver, and while he wasn't anywhere near Nina's level he was a fairly good shot. All in all, it didn't look like good odds for them.

And then there were the friends of the injured alien he had in the back. He didn't want any of them to get caught in the crossfire and injured, but he sure as hell wasn't going to pay Rectja. He knew some of the things that scumbag alien did and Valentine was having no part in financing that.

"Don't get coy with us, Valentine." The thug said with a menacing look as he loaded his blaster and aimed to at the man's head. "I'll blow you up like a fucking over inflated balloon." Looking around angrily, the man nodded to his compadres, who began to move around the room, looking around for anything of value. "That's right, Rectja would like us to speak buisness... But he's got other things to worry about, like that fucking twerp with the cat-ears. But I've got insurance just in case you decide anything funny..." He said as he lowered the gun and nodded towards a chunkier looking man. The fatter alien man smiled and pointed to his palm, revealing a small red button that resembled a detonator.

"So... Where's the money you owe Rectja? And don't for us that 'I'm using it to rebuild my shop, I'll pay you back next time when I get more customers' bullshit. Rectja wants his fuckin money, and he wants it now. Its that, or you can try better on that Pod race thing he's holdin.. But, seeing as how Rectja always wins betting on those races, I would say your chances of paying him back that way are slim." By now, the man was a bit too close for comfort to Valentine, getting right up in his personal space. "Shall we talk, or would you prefer to squawk instead?"

I wasn't sure how much it was okay for me to say, so if you want me to change anything I'd be more than willing to do so. But I did purposely leave it ambiguous as to whether or not Valentine managed to kill the Porkeian, so you get to decide that. But I think this is enough to post; let everyone react to the thugs and the 'sneak attack' on them by Valentine and his Nurse. Also, still waiting for you to edit the part of your one post where you killed a nurse. :P

As soon as the fat alien revealed the detonator in his hand, Valentine's demeanour immediately changed. He had hoped there'd be some way out of this, but if they were willing to blow themselves up it was a different story. After all, it'd endanger his patient and her friends and there was no way he'd get the change to tell them to leave. Hell, knowing Rectja's thugs they'd probably try and keep them as hostages. Valentine had the money, but he wasn't about to pay up to Rectja so it seemed to Valentine like there was only a single course of action left. At least Noki's friends looked like they could handle themselves; most of them at least.

"Y'all think you can come into my clinic, and then try and demand my money?" Valentine said, calmly but angrily, "Not once have I ever paid money t' thugs like you, and I don't plan on startin' any time soon."

And with those words, they struck, hopefully taking the thugs by surprise. The Porkeian's mistake was lowering his weapon and then moving in close to the Doc. It gave him time to draw his revolver and fire it point blank at the alien's face, hopefully quick enough that he wasn't able to move out of the way. Almost simultaneously Nurse Nina hopped over the counter, taking one of the aliens rummaging around the room by surprise. He may have been wearing armour, but Nina had drawn her knife and grinned maniacally as it found purchase in the man's relatively unprotected neck. She laughed as she tore the bloody knife from his neck, quite obviously enjoying the fact that she was finally seeing some action. Valentine had hoped he would've been able to at least keep his customers safe, but it looked like they'd have to fend for himself.

---

While all this was occurring Zuzen had been watching and paying attention intently from the first mention of Rectja. It seemed like quite a fortuitous event that the thugs of the man they needed to kill just happened to stroll into the same clinic they'd taken Noki to. However, he hadn't wanted to inconvenience the Doctor to much, so he'd planned on following them out and not making a scene inside the clinic. However, things took a turn for the worst when the alien revealed the detonator in his hand. This could turn out bad, even if Valentine decided to pay.

He was taken a bit by surprise when Valentine changed from appearing compliant to pulling a gun on the Porkeian's face. He didn't stop to see if the Doctor had actually killed, or even hit, the alien and instead leaped straight into the fray. And his first target was the alien with the detonator. Zuzen didn't bother to pay attention to the alien's reaction to Zuzen barreling down on him, and grabbed the wrist of the hand that held the detonator; and he grabbed it hard. He heard it audibly snap as he twisted it around to swing the man sideways off his feet, and slam him face-first into the wall of the clinic. He slammed his metal-shod foot on the poor alien's hand before turning to the rest of Rectja's thugs and yelling in his booming voice, "Repent for thy sins, for death waits you!"