wanted a serious title but i'm wondering which of them is shrek and which is donkey (we know)

[brokeassgoing]

Continued from all this beauty

[He's had a pretty hard time stumbling around after his injury...but that doesn't really stop him. Whiny as he is, Badou had too much to do. Sure, he'd stayed mostly at home these past few days, but he's been very busy. No laying around, no unconsciousness for too long.

He's been developing the film he'd taken during the last job, carefully cultivated in the darkness of his nasty little bathroom, the chemicals would sting his nose if he wasn't used to this already.

So it's no surprise he's been so focused he's forgotten to do some stuff around the place, lately. And will probably not notice a new visitor in the form of his little old man buddy, either.]

Comments

[oldmanfive]

[ He'd been checking in off and on just making sure that Badou was still kicking after everything that happened. Of course, he wasn't too surprised to find Badou holed up in the bathroom developing the film he took. It was about time they discussed that botched job anyway. ]

Hey man, you still alive in there!

[ Five called out as he placed a holder with two cups of coffee on the counter. He picked up and walked over to the chair near the couch and took a seat, waiting to see how long it would take Badou to finish up what he was doing.]

[brokeassgoing]

[perfect timing! he could use the fresh air, anyway. popping out of the bathroom, the stench of the chemicals and cigarette follows him (slowly, slowly) as he joins Five in the living room.

he yoinks the coffee, downs some gratefully, and sighs happily.]

As you can see, yup! Good as new.

[he couldn't outrun some cops right now but good enough to hobble around.]

Thanks for this, dude.

[oldmanfive]

[ Five has to chuckle at that. He's about the same with his own injuries. If he can move, then he calls it a victory. ]

No signs of infection then?

[ He takes a sip of his own coffee as he gives Badou a nod of acknowledgement for the coffee. ]

You're welcome. [ He leans back in the chair, crossing his leg over the other. ]

So you get anything from the film yet?

[brokeassgoing]

[Badou full on cheeses at Five. He could even do a peace sign!! If he were that embarrassing...

as it is, he just presents a stack of photos, all varying action shots of their mark and his cronies in motion.]

I told you he was trying to play two sides, right? He's not really important-- I mean his powers are decent, but it's his bosses who are interesting.

[oldmanfive]

Technically you've been rambling about the aid you were meant to follow. Yes you mentioned he was working with people with powers, but this would be the first time you mentioned that he had powers.

[ He takes another sip of his coffee as starts to look through the photos that Badou hands over. ]

What are the aid's powers? I may be able to do something with that information, since my contact is irritated with my lack of results.

in which badou tattles on Five

[brokeassgoing]

[If Five thinks Badou won't know where he'll end up, he's got something else coming to him. Most of all, some true rage.

Because Badou takes the time to curl into a ball and try not to bawl; in pain, in terror, in guilt. It's mostly that guilt. If he'd just been a little faster, a little quieter, this entire thing wouldn't have gotten so turned upside down! So much for worrying about the future-- to the info broker it's always the immediate chaos that brings him down.

So, he takes a few moments to calm down. Collect himself.




And then he picks up the phone and calls Five's brothers. Does he feel bad about this? ....Eventually. But it's the means to this end, and hopefully not the former assassin's. So who to call first? Luther and Diego would be the most suspicious, so maybe Klaus.]

so npcs are go!

[private_npcs]

[ Badou might regret going with Klaus first while he wouldn't necessarily be the most suspicious, he is also the one that is most willing to let Five handle his business. So hopefully he makes a good case for why Klaus should interfere.

Klaus isn't expecting any phone calls, let alone ones from one of the few friends that Five has. It does make him frown because why is Five's friend calling him? He has to suppress the urge to panic because if the kid is calling to tell him something bad happened to Five, he might lose his mind.

Are you going to answer it? Ben asks, glancing over Klaus's shoulder like the busy body he is.

'Hold your horses, Benjamin! I'm getting there.']

Hello, Klaus speaking.

[ His casual tone not giving away the fact that he is nervous. ]

[brokeassgoing]

[he knows Klaus is A Lot...but still, he might move faster than the other two would. But he answers and there's some hope there.]

Do you have the find friends app on your phone? You need to locate Five's phone immediately.

[no jokes, nothing ha-ha, no ice breaker either. there's no time for that now. he has absolutely no idea when Five'll get to the meat of this problem so time is of the essence.]

[private_npcs]

[ Well fuck, this is exactly the kind of phone call he did not want to be taking. ]

No, Five wouldn't make it that easy to find his phone. What's going on?

[ 'Diego, could probably use his police contacts to track Five's phone.' Ben suggests, already looking worried by the direction of the conversation. ]

[brokeassgoing]

Crap...of course he wouldn't.

[he was really hoping he just, didn't have enough time to check out things like phone tracking but again. former time assassin. old man. of course!!]

The usual, your brother has decided he needs to clean something up without any help. I wouldn't worry normally but this is...

[and that makes him nervous. Five has acted like dealing with the mayor is smalltime, and okay, Badou has too, but...not quite when it comes with powers.]

Something with powers.

A day after Five's disappearance.

[queenofswag]

[ Someone's been watching Badou and the Hargreeves' brothers efforts in trying to find Five. And well she's at that part in her plans where she needs some leverage against Five. The brothers and sisters are important, but this new development in the addition of a friend has her amused. ]

This has been rather endearing. You actually do care about him, don't you?

[brokeassgoing]

[Badou and the Hargreeves have hardly rested much, too involved (and secretly terrified for) in this Five thing. There's still not much on him...they know he went to the aid's place, that the aid is dead...and this is totally unlike what Badou had initially thought.

So when he gets a text from an unknown number at first he thought perhaps it was Five! But the text gives him a heavy feeling in his belly.]

Who is this?

[queenofswag]

[ She just smirks at that response. ]

Let's just say we have a mutual friend. A surly little shit who happens to be older than he looks. You remember him right?

[brokeassgoing]

Cut the shit. Do you know where he is?

[Yeah that bad feeling was right. This has to be one of Five's enemies.]

[queenofswag]

I know exactly where he is. I'm looking straight at him.

r-e-s-c-u-e rescue aid society

[brokeassgoing]

[it seems like years have gone by since Five first asked him for help with the job. The Job. But it's been a matter of days, days since he'd gotten his butt kicked, since he last saw Five's smug little face, since he'd somehow begun working desperately with the former assassin's family to find him.

It's also been a whirlwind. Following leads, leads ending up dead, strange and creepy and infuriating text messages....and finally some light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe Five can make friends-- or at least intimidate office workers of time traveling assassin organizations. So they're ready. The final prep. Badou takes a sip of his lukewarm beer and looks at the blueprints (blueprints!! how professional...) before his gaze travels to the rest of the present Hargreeves.]

So? I take it we're not just gonna go barreling in there.

[private_npcs]

We can't really afford to just go barreling in. We were lucky that anyone stepped up to get us this information.

[ Diego replies, giving Badou a glare before looking over at Luther who in turn frowns at him. He just rolls his eyes. Allison takes the chance to speak up as she looks over the blueprints to the warehouse where her brother is apparently being kept.]

On that point, how reliable is your source Diego? This guy is a Commission grunt right?

It's reliable enough. Herb, doesn't have any loyalty to the Handler and he says she's doing this shit off the books. That's why she's still keeping him in the city. Otherwise the bitch would have took him back to headquarters.

So this guy is basically looking to stick it to the Handler then?

Does it really fucking matter what his motivations are? He's sticking his neck out to help us out here.

I just want to be sure, we aren't walking into a trap here. I want to save Five as much as any of you do, okay? We just need to be smart about this. If we mess this up, then this sick bitch ends up with more leverage to use against our brother.

[ Diego glances away as though, Allison has just slapped him. Luther grimaces as he really doesn't want this to turn into a fight when Five's life is on the line. ]

Guys, we got the location and we got the blueprints. Herb mentioned that the Handler only had two guys working for her. We can do some recon to confirm when we get there. But right now, we got the advantage. She doesn't know we are coming. Otherwise she wouldn't have kept him in the city.

[brokeassgoing]

[Badou just gives a biiiig sigh and decides to sit back and let them fight this out. Okay, if this had been under any other normal circumstances he'd have popcorn ready for any potential fights, but this is Important and besides he feels too cranky (anxious) to enjoy that.

This family dynamic is just...wow.

Regardless, he does wonder about her having two guys working for her. Someone like her, you'd think she'd manipulate more people...then again maybe the consequences for betraying the company scare the workers more. That doesn't really matter.]

Anyway-- I'll check it out. [interrupting Badou who--] Besides that: How many groups of us? There's a back entrance, but one of the goons has to be there if they don't assume a full frontal break in.

[private_npcs]

Like I'd trust you to do recon now. As I recall you are the one who fucked the last recon job that led to this mess in the first place.

[ Diego says quite bluntly. He's not always the most forgiving of individuals. Luther grimaces as that's just a low blow to be making right now.]

Come on, Diego. Now really isn't the time to get into this.

[ Klaus decides to cut in before Diego and Luther get into an argument instead. ]

Ben and I could do it. Being the look out was always our strong suit. Between the two of us, we can check out both the front and back entrances. I can call on a few more ghosts to help out. Those Commission goons always have several of them following them around. Then we can decide who takes what entrance when you guys go in for the rescue.

[brokeassgoing]

[Badou isn't going to try and fight Diego or anything, he isn't stupid. But he does snarl at him and takes a step-- he's right. he knows he is.

but wow, he didn't need to hear it out loud. his blood pounds in his ears, he nearly misses Klaus' idea.]

A day after his rescue

[oldmanfive]

[ He's been in and out of consciousness since his family and Badou managed to find him and bring him home. Things were a little touch and go as Grace treated his wounds, thankfully he didn't need any major surgery but he was still very battered. Thus she managed to get him stabilized and cleaned up. The IV with the pain medication and antibiotics in it had put him out, so that he could actually rest.

A day later and he groggily fades back in to consciousness as he realizes that he is lying in his bed back in the Academy. His memory hazy enough that he doesn't quite remember how he got there. His face is still quite swollen from the beatings he took, thus when he goes to open his eyes only one of them can open, he flinches as he feels some pain but it is more manageable than before.

He takes note of Grace standing over him, checking on the IV drip as glances down at him and notices he's awake. ]

Oh good, you're awake. [ She says kindly, gently brushing his fringe out of his face. She picks up the glass of water on the nightstand and offers him the straw to take a sip as she can easily predict that his throat is still dry. ]

How do you feel?

Exhausted and sore. How did I get here?

Your siblings and Badou found you and brought you home.

[ He frowns but instantly flinches as that is too much of a work out for his swollen face to take. His memories are in bits and pieces right now, but when he turns his head to the opposite side of Grace, he sees Dolores other nightstand looking over him. A feeling of relief washes over him at the sight that he can feel tear stinging at the corner of his eyes, but he manages to hold the tears in. ]

I'll let everyone know you're awake. They have all been keeping vigil since they brought you back last night. I only managed to shoo them out, so they could go eat and get cleaned up themselves.

[ Gently she sits down on the edge of the bed and gives him a motherly expression. ]

You had us all worried for you, dear. [ She reaches out and takes him hand. ] I know you think you have to take care of the others, but you don't have to do things alone anymore. We're all together again. We can take care of things as a family. [ Grace tells him as she squeezes his hand, her words nearly bring him to full tears, but he stubbornly holds them back.]

I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to make you worry.

[ He speaks a bit choked up, but he squeezes her hand back. She smiles reaching out to brush his hair out of his face again.]

I forgive you, now maybe apologize to your brothers and sisters too, hmm? And your friend, poor guy was a bit rough for wear and he pushed through to help look for you.

[ Five weakly nods as she smiles at him. She gets up and heads toward the door to let the others know, Five's awake. ]

[brokeassgoing]

[Badou's convinced this vigil is worse than a wake. Five's alive, he's going to be okay physically-- but they don't know how he'll feel psychologically...and that's no surprise given what they know, the story the former assassin's injuries tell.

He's certain he'll pay the price for pushing through his own injuries for all this, too. But sitting around and waiting has at least helped him keep that together. Hasn't jostled the wound much. It's the waiting that gets you...again, that waiting.

But Grace comes to inform them of the good news, and Five's siblings flitter around to try and see him first. Badou hangs back. He can wait a little longer.

And to be honest he's not sure if he wants to see him yet.]

[oldmanfive]

[ Things are way more emotional with his siblings then he cares for them to be, especially his sisters who don't hold in their emotions at the sight of him awake and more alert. It feels like ages as he endures the hugs and sobbing from his sisters, while Diego and Luther give him their own lectures. Thankfully Klaus is much more subdued, though Ben does have a micro lecture for him, he keeps it briefly short.

It takes some time, but after a while it is just him and Dolores again. She actually apologizes to him for being unable to help him against the Handler and her cronies. However he weakly dismisses her apology, because it was his fault she was drug there at all.

As out of it as he is, it is not lost on him that Badou hasn't peeked his head in yet. He has to wonder if the dumbass is blaming himself for this, but it is not like he has the strength find him and set him straight. ]

[brokeassgoing]

[he can hear it. Five's sisters crying, the murmuring of his brothers, those loving lectures. Once again he feels like a sore thumb-- out of place, out of time. Grace flitters in and out too, fluffing pillows and changing meds out. Making Five comfortable as can be....hydrating him too, now that he's lucid and awake.

Five will be okay. He's got his siblings and his wife. Maybe when he falls asleep again, he'll go and sit with him. For now, because he does just want to see his face, knowing he's been awake, he does sort of stick his head in, just beyond the doorway.

Just the bit of his red hair sticking out.]

[oldmanfive]

I'm not blind, Badou. You going to keep hovering out there or are you going to come in?

[ He's definitely awake enough to see that familiar red hair poking out in the doorway. He was beginning to wonder when he would show up considering everyone kept mentioning Badou to him. From Mom, to Klaus, to Luther and Vanya.

It's not lost on him that they all seem to be hinting at him that Badou's somehow become a honorary Hargreeves whether he and Badou like it or not. ]