Hostage Crisis

## Premise

To free crime lord Ziro Lynx, bounty hunters seize control of the Senate Building and take hostages—completely unaware at first that Kung fu master Daniel is still inside.

## Synopsis

Cad Bane and his crew of bounty hunters, along with a few droid enforcers, arrived at the Senate landing zone, where they meet a host of Senate Commandos, who were not happy with their unauthorized arrival and tried to arrest him. However, three commandos are sniped by Aurra Sing from long-range and the rest of the bounty hunters overwhelm the members of the squad. A commando droid fools security into thinking that the Senate Commando squad had taken care of a group of protesters against the war before promptly taking their uniforms. Aurra Sing and the rest of the bounty hunters then meet the group on the landing platform.

A few levels above, in master Leopard's office, her husband, Daniel offers to take her to somewhere in the Kung fu Panda Wall for a few weeks, where no one will recognize them, but Leopard is too focused on her work. Daniel then gave his sword of fire to Leopard to show that he trusts her with his life. However, he has to hide, as Green Car and senator Organa are about to enter. Leopard quickly took the sword of fire off of her desk and hid it in her sleeve. Organa informs Leopard that they must meet in the lobby to discuss the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill. Meanwhile Bane and his crew take out the rest of the senate commandos and then go down to the control panel room and subdue the droids there, leaving Robonino to get the power down. The bounty hunters then leave to talk to some senators. Suddenly, once all the senators are gathered, the bounty hunters surround and take them hostage. Senator Philo attempts to leave only to be shot by Bane in the back. He then communicates with master Shifu, demanding the release of Ziro the Lynx from captivity. Shifu refuses to do so. Unfortunately, Bane proves his point by locking down the entire building, severing all communication with the outside. He then took every person's comlinks, but before he could search Leopard, who is holding Daniel's element weapon in her sleeve, Bane noticed Daniel in the upper levels. Bane shot at him and then orders an IG-86 sentinel droid and Shahan Alama to get him.

Daniel manages to elude his pursuers and hot-wires a terminal to communicate with Shifu. Shifu advises Daniel to get to the central power core to contact for help. Daniel managed to disconnect and hide before the bounty hunters find him, and then used a mind trick to convince Alama to check the other two floors. As the hunters split up, Daniel followed the IG-86 sentinel droid and managed to bash it into submission. Alama came back down to check and found the droid's mangled remains. Noticing no weapon slashes, he quickly figured out that Daniel wasn't armed. He reported this to Bane, who then sent Sing to assist Alama in the search.

Daniel managed to locate the power core, but a panicked Robonino shut the door behind him. Alama then come up behind Daniel. Though Daniel grabbed his gun, Sing then attacked Daniel, and Robonino shocked him into unconsciousness.

Bane then gave Shifu instructions to give a pardon chip to Orn Free Taa to be transported to the prison where Ziro was being held. HELIOS-3D then came in to take the master. They arrived at the prison and shipped Ziro away.

An unconscious Daniel was dragged into the lobby, where the bounty hunters started to plant bombs that will go off if their laser detectors are triggered. This enabled the hunters to leave the Senate unhindered, despite an attempt by Orn Free Taa, Shifu and Clone Commander Fox's detachment of the Coruscant Guard to have them arrested. Daniel woke up and Leopard gave him back his sword of fire, playing it off as that Daniel had dropped it. He then managed to save everyone by cutting a hole in the floor and dropping everyone one floor down, just before Bane triggered the bombs anyway for the clone troopers' interference. Leopard thanked Daniel for his daring escape.

Cad Bane had liberated Ziro from prison, and the group escaped successfully. Ziro congratulated Bane on a job well done—but Bane stated that it was time to pay, pointing out that he doesn't work for free.