#thrallus

“0 for 2, Agent Kallus,” Thrawn said, looking down at the Agent lying face-down on the mat. "You are good, but... predictable."

Kallus growled from his place on the floor, not bothering with an opening stance before hopping to a crouch and charging at Thrawn. He aimed blow after blow, kick after kick, but each one was blocked by a hand far stronger than he would’ve expected from a Human of Thrawn’s size.

“Your anger has made you sloppy,” Thrawn said in that infuriatingly conversational tone as he ducked out from Kallus’s arm, one of his arms folded behind his back in a self-imposed handicap. “Your need to make this battle personal will be your undoing.” And with that, he used the momentum of Kallus’s next hit to flip the agent onto the ground.

Kallus landed on his stomach by the door. His blaster was just within reach if he could only—

A blue foot slammed down onto his wrist and he gritted his teeth in pain.

“Now, now, Agent Kallus,” Thrawn chided. “You think I did not already have your weapon disabled before summoning you here? If I valued your opinion, I'd be insulted.”

“Fuck you!” Kallus spat and the heel on his wrist pressed harder.

“Fuck you, Grand Admiral,” Thrawn corrected with the faintest hint of amusement.

This must be how Loth-cats look when they claw off a bird’s wings just to watch it struggle, Kallus thought grimly.

With a grunt of effort, Kallus freed his hand and got back to his feet, bending his knees in a defensive crouch. “What did you do to Eli Vanto?” Kallus demanded. “I want to hear you say it!”

“I do not care what you want,” Thrawn said in a low voice, prowling forward to meet him. With one hand, he clawed his fingers into Kallus’s injured thigh, and gripped Kallus’s throat with the other, slamming him against the wall.

“You need to be stopped,” Kallus gasped around the hand at his throat. “And if you kill me, someone else will just—” 

Thrawn clenched his fist on Kallus's throat. His eyes flashed red, his face contorted into a visage of pure rage. He was like a great serpent—a predator—that had finally shed its uniformed scales and when he spoke he hissed.

“You think your rebellion unwilling to compromise with devils?” Thrawn demanded, tightening his grip with each sentence. “You think if they were given the button to light up Coruscant and every Imperial on it like a funeral pyre of their ideals they wouldn’t press it? You're like a child who has learned his father is mortal and has had to craft new gods just to cope with the futility of his own worthless life. There are no more gods, Alexsandr Kallus: there is only me.”