capeandcowllogs | But you can't keep running away from what you're trying to find

WHO: Yuugi Mutou, Jaime and anyone else who wants to join?
WHERE: Some seedy alleyway in the city
WHEN: Early-mid evening, 3/5/09
WARNINGS: Mild language?
SUMMARY: Yuugi ran away, now he's in some alleyway god-knows-where.
FORMAT: Whatever!

Yuugi was tired, numb, and nauseated again. He barely got any sleep the previous two nights, and reckoned he looked like shit because of it too. He was just too rattled up, not because of the guys, but because of what he did. He inflicted penalty games on them and while he was justified in doing so, seemed… a bit too far. He could’ve escaped through other means.

It was too late now. He couldn’t change what happened.

Besides, he had to focus on what was going on now. Right now, he was crouched in some dirty alleyway in the bad part of the City.

Hell, was there even a good part? To him, it was all crap.

He was the target of some psycho who left riddles on the Network, and his left hand was made out of electricity- apparently the fault of that Iron Man’s fucking porter.

And it was freezing. It was a good thing he bought a real jacket; his school one wasn’t going to cut it, not in this weather.

Yuugi bit his lower lip, closing his eyes tightly. He reached into his shirt with his good hand, pulling out the chain his cartouche was latched on to. Rubbing his thumb over the blank plate, he thought about other things in an attempt to distract himself.

His friends, what were they doing right now? Did they think he was regaining his memories? Certainly not that he was trapped in some stupid alternate universe "City" doing some other guy's dirty work.

He finally put his cartouche back under his shirt.

He thought about the riddles again. “There is no cure.” Why did that one in particular bother him so much?

There is no curae. He recalled that “and yet” didn’t add to the poem. Was it to throw others off? Or…

He started tracing his finger into his bandaged hand.

‘The reason…’

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The City was always a whole lot bigger when you were in a hurry to find someone. Especially when that someone could be in danger, or could be a liability to other people. Three-mile scanner radius or not, it was taking the Blue Beetle a while to find the guy named Yuugi.

He wasn't going to fly back empty-handed, though. If this guy was in the City, Jaime would find him. After that, well...that was the tricky part. He wasn't Doctor Mid-Nite--he couldn't just find him, diagnose him, and think up some super cure to whatever his problem was. He could only hope that whatever it was, Scarab had a way to help. Or, at least, this Yuugi-guy would be complient enough to get help from someone more...qualified.

It still got dark fairly early, despite it being so close to spring. It helped, flying lower and not drawing much attention to himself. As time wore on and he flew closer to the East side, faint traces of Yuugi's energy signature began to light up his sensors. Great.

Of course it's the hero-hating section of town. Why wouldn't it be?

The color grew and grew until he spotted the source--Yuugi. He was in one of the alleys.

Okay. Objective One is done.

...Now I gotta talk to the guy.

He flew past the buildings to land, disengaging his wings and walking down the empty road and into the alley, slow and as...non-thretaning as a guy in blue and black armor could attempt to be. Hands up and everything.

Clearing his throat--boy, this was gonna be awkward--he called out, "Yuugi?"

It was getting dark out and Courage still hadn't found what he'd been looking for in the City. Worse yet he had become lost in the turns of the streets and could not see where he'd even been five minutes ago, let alone where he was now. It didn't help that this part of the city made him feel nervous, like something could go horribly wrong here without a second's notice.

He hated these kinds of places and wasn't even sure why he'd gone out in the first place. It wasn't like finding a job was that important anyway. Well, at least he found an area of the City he knew to avoid now. If he ever got out of here.

He was about to turn on his communicator and ask for help when he heard something down an alleyway not too far off. Had someone said Yuugi? Wasn't that the name of the guy the girl had been looking for earlier?

Oh no, how much trouble was this guy in anyway? He'd been missing and if you were an alley in this neighborhood - "Oh no."

Nervously Courage made his way over to the alley, taking a peek around the corner to see what was going on. Well, yeah, that guy certainly looked like the Yuugi that was described to him. He also wasn't alone.

In the dark he couldn't tell who was getting near Yuugi. He didn't seem threatening or mean yet at least. Courage would wait a few seconds before doing anything, to see what was up. And he'd wait since he was scared too and wasn't sure how creepy this would get.

‘I cure…’

But that didn’t make any sense—

Before Yuugi could think any more about the riddles, he heard someone call his name. Glancing back at the bag where he kept his communicator, he knew that was turned off. Someone else had to be there.

He moved his head up, looking around. There was a guy in armor. He didn't even notice Courage yet.

“Who you are?”

Yuugi kept his good hand pressed on the ground, in case he had to get up fast.

"A friend!" Jaime assured quickly, stopping where he was when Yuugi spoke up. "Well--kind of? I mean...your friend told me to find you. Ruka. She's worried, so..."

His head started tilting as he squinted down the alley at the face peeking over. Who the...? He shook his head, snapping back to attention. More important things at hand.

"Yuugi, I heard about the electricity problems, and...And I wanna try to help, if I can? No guarantees, but, if I can't do it, we can find someone..."

This guy knew about the girl missing Yuugi too and seemed familiar now. That was a relief to say the least. Heck, he even seemed to know more about what was going on than Courage did.

He got a little more nervous when he realized the guy had spotted him though. He didn't seem too worried about Courage, at least he wasn't going to pay attention to him for now. Then again, he might need his help soon. Maybe he should get out there.

Really, he didn't know what could happen at any second and if something bad happened he'd hate to have to explain to Yuugi's friend why he was worse off when he could have done something. That was sure to make him feel guilty for the rest of his time here.

Time to come out of hiding.

"Y-Yuugi. This guy's trying to help. That girl was really worried about you. I don't think either of us would feel any better if she lost her friend."

Ruka? The guy in the armor was here because of Ruka? That's right, Yuugi remembered: he didn't leave a note... She must’ve been worried about him, dammit.

Then he heard some more sound, another person talking. Why were they both here?

Yuugi stopped listening, and immediately began to look for a way out discreetly. He didn’t like being cornered like this. He could try the nearby fire escape? Dodge underneath them? He was short enough.

He could send an email to Ruka later.

Yuugi didn’t bother hiding his electricity-inflicted hand, as one of them seemed to know about it anyway.

He turned his attention back to them, to prevent them from suspecting him of trying anything. He only caught the last bit of what Courage said.

…

He really was hurting Ruka doing this, wasn’t he?

Jaime took a couple steps backward; Scarab was noting the buildup of electrical energy from Yuugi's hand. Whether that was intended for retaliation or due to the whole faceplanting-into-walls-powers-problem thing was not something Jaime felt like guessing at. Because getting electrocuted stings.

The other guy at the other end? Voice recog had it. Courage? What was he doing out this way? Maybe he'd ask later, if it was appropriate to. First thing's first.

"Look, uh," he started again, trying to sound as casual as he could without being obnoxious, "this is a pretty rough neighborhood, too. Some people here see you flashing powers, and they'll go all torch-and-pitchforks on you. At the least, I could get you somewhere a little less shady?"

But you can't keep running away from what you're trying to find

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ohgodguysi'msosorrysolate./dfs