i'mma gonna getcha (hadley)

Yuri sat in a tall tree, looking down on Theodore Lane as he waited for some guy to arrive. He was apparently really important, because Kole was really intense about making sure Yuri beat the crap out of him.

Yuri dangled his feet in the wind, sipping from a flask as he and Vera waited.

What's his name again? he asked Vera, licking the alcohol remnants from his lips.

Henry? Hank? Harold? Vera kept her eyes on the dirt road below them. She didn't pester Yuri about his drinking before a fight anymore -- it seemed to work in his favor at this point.

He won't even remember his name once I'm done with him, Yuri joked.

Hadley was on his way back from a meeting he had been requested to attend that had ended up being a complete bore and a waste of time. It took effort to not just fall asleep. He was so annoyed about it he just wanted to get home, and since he couldn't get a hot air balloon due to predicted bad weather, he decided just to walk until he came across an inn he could grab a room in, and then take a balloon the next morning.

Now he was regretting that because sure enough, it was pouring down rain. He had a small fire with him that he was shielding from the rain with his hands, which was necessary because it was getting dark. Fuck, he thought he'd remembered an inn being a lot closer. Where the hell was it?

Think that's him? Vera asked, nodding in the direction of a guy walking alone.

Yuri saw him trying to protect some fire, and saw the dark brown hair and height to match. He nodded before taking his last swig of his flask before balancing it on the branch. Don't let me forget this.

Yuri, I think we have more important things to keep in mind right now.

Yuri lept from the branch, grabbing onto a lower one with his hands on the way down. He swung a bit, watching the guy move closer to him, before letting go and crashing into some leaves. Vera climbed down on her own.

"Nng," Yuri mumbled, stumbling out of the woods toward the dirt path and the guy. "'Scuse me, sir," he said after he almost bumped right into him and before a light belch. He reeked of alcohol and his eyes were bloodshot -- but Yuri knew exactly what he was doing.

What is it with me and running into incredibly drunk people lately? Hadley wondered, rolling his eyes, when some young guy who was obviously shitfaced stumbled out of the woods and almost ran into him. At least this was just some random guy and not someone he knew personally like Arizona, so he didn't have any kind of annoying social obligation to help him out.

"You're fine," Hadley said, moving to go around the person. He didn't want this trip to take much longer than it already had. Plus there was something a little off about this guy, like he was putting on some kind of act. He was obviously drunk for real, but something about his presence seemed somehow forced.

Yuri smiled at the man. "Thank you."

As he said this, his shadow knocked the back of the guy's knees in and gave him a hard push from the back of his thighs and a pull from his knees to bring him down.

"What's your name?" he inquired as he put his foot on the guy to push him down to the ground. Now that he had him here, he might as well know for sure.

Despite his bad feeling, Hadley was still caught off guard by suddenly being forced to the ground by an unseen force that turned out to be the guy's shadow. Well...fuck...that's where that bad feeling came from, he thought, grimacing as he looked up at the man holding him down. His fire was quickly extinguished by the rain. Fucking wonderful.

Yuri wrote:"What's your name?"

"Why? Looking for someone in particular?" Hadley asked, keeping his voice deliberately calm while his mind raced. Was this a random attack? Or was it planned? He had a lot of enemies, but he didn't think any of them would be bold enough to actually attack him. If he could get this guy talking, get some information, he might be able to get out of this situation.

"Yeah I am," he replied, "but god I just can't remember..." He looked over his shoulder at his daemon. "What name did you say? Hamilton?"

"Henry, Hank and Harold are what I said," Vera replied.

"Right! Yeah. Are any of those your names?" He looked back to the guy, his foot still on him.

This is a waste of time, Vera told him. Get on with it.

But it was on the tip of his tongue...

"You think my name is Hamilton?" Hadley asked, offended.

That's the issue you're worried about right now? Nila demanded, cowering from their assailant's daemon. The giant goddamned lizard looked like it could devour her in one bite.

"But no, none of those names are mine," he went on, knowing that the man probably was in fact searching for the name 'Hadley.' Just gotta keep him talking, keep him distracted. Find out more. "Did someone send you? Are they paying you?"

"Damn!" he said, snapping his fingers. "Really thought we had it. Oh well. I'll just call you Harry."

He took his foot off of him, slamming it suddenly on the ground and jerking it in a circular motion, Yuri's shadow jerking up from the ground to kick Harry on his side.

"I'm not sure you're in a position to be askin' the questions," he said, a bit more aggressive now.

Hadley gasped when the solid shadow foot collided with his side. "Shit," he hissed. This was getting bad. There had to be some way out of this. Since he couldn't move, all he could do was try to keep talking. Besides, this guy was drunk, which on one hand made him unpredictable, but maybe he could be distractable as well.

"Can't blame me for wanting to know why you're attacking me," he said in the same forced calm (though it was quite a bit more strained) voice, once the pain had subsided. He had a feeling that reacting strongly would only egg his attacker on further. "It's Hadley by the way."

Okay, so obviously the guy was Deilig. One of Kole's, maybe?

"Hadley!" Yuri exclaimed. "Yes! That was it, definitely. For sure. Got it."

He kicked him in the stomach -- this time real hard. He was done playing around. It was time to actually do his job.

"I'm not sure I really give a shit what you want at this point."

Hadley tried to yell, but the kick to his stomach was so hard it knocked the wind out of him, so all that came out was a gasping cough. He rolled over onto his side and tried to get up, as if he were going to somehow be able to get away from a man, his two shadows, and his gigantic daemon. If only he could make a fire, not even to fight back, but just to throw up some kind of signal to call for help. The heavy rain made that impossible.

"Can you even fight?" he taunted, stumbling to the other side of Hadley. He brought an elbow down on his back, a short laugh along with it.

"Too easy, man. I was really expectin' more of a battle here, ya know?"

I'm getting paid way too much money for this, he joked with his daemon.

Before Hadley could make it to his feet, he was knocked back down by a blow to the back. The man's taunts didn't bother him as much as the physical attacks. He'd fully admit he didn't fight if he thought it would make any difference, but at this point he had realized that nothing he could say would have any difference. There wouldn't be any talking his way out of this one.

He made a second attempt to get to his feet, this time quicker. He stumbled up, breathing heavily, taking several steps backwards. He glanced around quickly, didn't see any solid shadows, and without any more hesitation began to make a run for it.

Yuri watched Hadley get up and run. And he laughed, loudly so Hadley could hear.

"D'you think you could actually get away?" he yelled after him.

He sent his shadow after him, wrapping it around his ankles to bring him back down.

He made his way over to Hadley, kneeling down next to him. "I'm supposed to beat the bloody crap outta you. And yeah, I was sent here. I dunno if that makes you feel any better. Probly not." He shrugged, slamming Hadley's face into the ground.

Hadley felt a chill run down his spine as he heard his attacker laugh. A moment later he felt the ropelike shadow wrap around his legs and he was yanked back to the ground. His heart was hammering in his chest as he heard the man's footsteps slowly approaching. He had never been afraid like this before in his life. This wasn't supposed to happen to him.

He was so afraid he could barely even focus on what the man was saying to him. He had been hired, after all--but what did knowing that matter now? Nothing. It didn't matter who had sent him or what he was being paid. He was going to do his job regardless. His only comfort was that he hadn't been hired to kill him.

Nila, what do I do? he thought frantically, even though he knew his daemon would have no answer for him.

The next thing he knew there was a hand on the back of his head and he was being slammed face first into the ground. The pain was so intense he saw little lights dancing in front of his eyes, and any shred of rational thought remaining in his head was gone. He groaned and spat out the blood in his mouth.

Yuri brought both his shadow and Vera's shadow to gang up on Hadley's practically lifeless body. As they continued to do so, Yuri casually walked back to the tree he'd left his flask on, quickly climbed up it, took a swig, and hopped back down.

As he approached Hadley's body, bruised and beaten to a pulp, he dripped some of his alcohol on his face.

"For the pain," he said with a laugh. He took another sip, kicked him one last time in the head, and left him there for someone else to deal with.

There was nothing Hadley could do but lie there and take the brutal beating. He was completely helpless as the shadows struck him again and again and again, bruising his flesh and cracking his bones. He didn't even realize the attacker himself had walked off until he came back with one final taunt, before finally knocking him out cold with a kick to the head and leaving him lying on the road like a wounded animal.