capeandcowllogs | And in some cases, cage squishes donkey.

And in some cases, cage squishes donkey.

WHO: Bakura, Toph, Kolira and Iron Fist
WHERE: Somewhere in the city where shit's going down.
WHEN: Early Wednesday morning.
SUMMARY: Bakura and Toph are doing rounds when it starts becoming clear that Bakura is in no shape to be out and about in this sort of chaos.
FORMAT: Paragraph to start, whatever after.

Bakura had a near death grip on his dice as he and Toph walked through the wreckage of one of Joker's many explosions, looking for survivors.

It was fine. He could do this. He was fine. It was all...

He froze, mid step when a light, alto voice gave a soft, but demented giggle from behind him. "Found you...."

He turned, breath catching in his throat as his eyes widened. No.. it-- it couldn't...

The woman had the sickening grin of the Joker virus, a bloodied knife in her hand, splattered with a red that stained her dress that was a familiar--

No. No it couldn't be...

He shook his head, trying to clear it, fingers tightening even more around his dice.

Pale hair half hidden in a scarf that was half wrapped around her head to keep out the cold that looked--

No! It wasn't-- it wasn't--

I found you, my Ryou---

He stood, frozen utterly in place as the woman lurched forward, knife raised as she laughed again.

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Toph finished off trapping some gas-affected people with the remains of a light pole, then spun around as the woman advanced on Bakura.

"Bakura!"

She didn't have time to think - merely to act. Her hand snapped forward hard, the force of the movement flinging the pavement under the woman up and back quite a bit harder than she would've done otherwise. Anything to get the attacker away from her friend. It was... it was almost like fighting the Dai Li in the palace at Ba Sing Se, but more violent. There, they hadn't been fighting to kill. Since then, she'd realized the need for it sometimes.

The poor woman made a mess on the wall of a nearby building, but Toph didn't care. She ran to Bakura and grabbed his shoulders.

Bakura startled back to reality a the touch, eyes going huge. "Mother-- where did she--" he stammered in Japanese a moment before shaking his head. Wasn't her. Couldn't have been her. His mother was-- was---

"S-sorry," he apologized, putting a hand to his forehead a moment, taking a deep breath as best he could through the gas mask.

"Bakura, what's going on?"

She shook his shoulders a little, careful of his bum arm, and frowned in concern. Not that he'd be able to see her expression through the gas mask, but she was worried about him, dangit.

"Aah, it's nothing!" he assured, putting on his best face, despite the mask in the way. "Just was a little startled, that's all! Thought I saw something!"

What ever it had been was gone now. He wasn't going to think about it. He wasn't--

He was gonna look to see what had happened to the lady, she knew it. Well, there wasn't anything either of them could do for her anymore, so she grabbed his good arm and turned him away. Just in case.

"You don't sound good and we've been at this for too long. Let's go back to the base where you can rest."

"Aah, I'm fine, I'm fine! I still have MP, I'm fine!" Bakura assured with a small laugh that sounded strange under the mask.

"You don't look fine to me," Koltira said, rounding the corner and coming upon the two children. His runeblade's edge glistened with blood, and his usually somber expression was more grim than ever. "You look like you're about to lose consciousness, in fact."

"He's not fine, I can tell," Toph replied, then turned to tilt her head at Koltira.

"C'mon, Bakura. We're going home."

"Eh? I--" Bakura faltered a moment, eyes drawn to Koltira's sword a moment before he shook it off and looked back over at Toph. "But I still have MP! I'm fine, really!" he protested. "I won't pass out, not even if I cast from HP!"

"Clearly you're going mad," Koltira said. "As you're speaking gibberish. Come. We'll find a place to rest."

"It's part of the way his spells work," Toph grumbled to Koltira, and practically dragged the taller boy over to the death knight.

"We're going home, Bakura. That's final."

Bakura nodded at Toph. "Not jibberish at all!" he added, a little defensive. He startled slightly at the pull. "H-- hey! I said I was fine!"

Danny had been doing the rounds of the City. Protecting the normal civilians from the infected ones. He had just so happened to be doing this when he saw a crowd of three people standing fairly close to one another. He picked up his pace, breaking into a sprint towards the three people.

"Hey! What are you three doing?"

Koltira didn't recognize the man who shouted at them, but nonetheless replied, "Getting this one to accept that he needs to retreat to safety and rest. Who are you?"

She turned her head towards the newcomer, then promptly ignored him in favor of scanning the area to make sure there weren't any other crazy people headed their way.

This was almost as bad as the zombies, really, and she had to wear this stupid mask. Hmph.

Once sure there was nobody else coming, she sighed.

"Trying to go home, what of it?"

Bakura did his best to scowl. Which was about as effective as a nerf gun, really. "I'm fine! There are too many people who need help for me to go in when I still have magic left!" he protested.

Danny blinked. He recognized at least one voice. He slowed his sprint to a walk as he neared the trio, waving as he approaches.

"I'm Danny Rand. A friend." He would have smiled at the elf-thing-person-he-wasn't-quite-sure, if not for the gas mask covering his face. He turned to Bakura.

"Still working yourself to the bone, huh?"

"Then you can give us a hand," Koltira said brisky, as he took hold of Bakura's wrist. "He's pushing himself beyond his limit." To Bakura, he said, "As I have told you before, it's unwise to persist in battle when you are fatigued, lest you risk insanity, or worse. Stop your protesting."

"Bakura, do I have to punch you to get you to go home? Because I will if I have to. You. Need. To. Rest." She scowled up at him through the mask. Scowly scowl scowl. Hopefully it was intimidating enough to work.

To Danny, she nodded.

"I'm Toph, this is Koltira. You seem to know Bakura already, yeah?"

Bakura gave a very small smile at Danny before he tensed, looking down. "I'm not working myself to the bone, I'm fine, really!" he protested, voice suddenly much softer. "I'm not even burning HP yet! And there's so much that needs to be done!" He sounded genuinely upset at this, shoulders hunched a little. "I can't just go in and rest... what if--"

His eyes darted over to where ~~his mother~~ that woman had been, his left hand trembling just a little at Koltira's grip on his wrist. "Just a little more. Then I'll rest and recharge."

"Yeah. Well, sort of. He helped me out before. When I was in a similar situation."

Danny rested what he hoped would be a comforting hand on Bakura's shoulder. "No. You'll rest now. I'll take care of the healing while you're gone." He paused, patting the boy's arm. "Just think of it as shifts, alright? We'll switch places once you're done resting."

"A sound plan," Koltira said, nodding to Danny in approval. To Bakura, he said, "I won't brook your resistance much longer."

"Neither will I. I might not be your team leader anymore, Bakura, but I'm still your friend, and I'm telling you that you're going to go home with me right now. Or I'll drag you there."

She crossed her arms over her chest, the tone brooking no argument.

Bakura fell silent, looking down unhappily before giving a small nod. "All right..." He looked over at Danny with a faint smile. "Thank you."

"No need for thanks. Just do me a favor and get some rest, alright? No need to worry your friends over this."

A crash sounded in the distance, closely followed by a mad cackle. Danny swore under his breath, his head snapping in the direction of the sounds. He turned back to the trio.

"Look. I have to go." He said, already jogging off. He turned around, points to Koltira and Toph. "You two make sure he gets some rest!"

And then he's off.

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