[As soon as the Rod is back in his hand, Malik looks as if he'd never collapsed as all. He quickly hooks the thing onto his belt and then turns to glower at her. There's a real anger in his eyes...before it fades out. He still needs her for other things, and at the very least it seemed she hadn't been about to just pick-pocket his comatose body and run, so there was that.]

...You know...hitting me like that could easily spark something much worse. You're lucky I'm not the vengeful type.

[As if that weren't the biggest load of bullshit he'd ever said. Even Malik can't say it with a straight face.]

Keh keh...well, okay, you're just lucky I find you interesting.