The usual rule of disclaimer apply.

Eater (of Boomerangs)

The two of us walked along the street, eyes peeled for trouble. Gar was pretty quiet, his dark eyes darting. He had a soft, well-rounded face that made him seem almost vulnerable, but underneath, I think perhaps I can see a glimmer of quiet confidence, the kind that breaks out when damsels need saving or some fool needs his ass picking up off the ground. My lips curled into a half-assed smile when my eyes found his palm, squeezed tightly around the golden-rod. The one that had apparently stabbed some chick's shoulder or something.

"Planning to use that, then?"

"If it comes down to it."

"Hmm. Cool." I sounded slightly disbelieving, and it's not because I was (because trust me, I know in the worst situations people are forced to grow a pair and get on with it) but more because of my tone. It can be slightly flat and dismissive without meaning to be. If Gar was offended, he didn't bring it up.

A piercing caw echoed way above us, making us both eye the sky a little warily. I know I'd feel a lot better to just be back inside at this point. After all. Giant Harpy Ladies weren't as likely to squeeze themselves into a cramped little building when all they really had to do was wait.

We heard footfalls ahead and both of us gave up other glances and slipped into the building's shadows, pressing against the brick walls. Joey Wheeler... huh. My lips almost turned up into a grin. One thing that was certain was that I could beat him easily if we were coerced into it. I'd done so countless times on Duel Links and this was hardly any different.

"I kinda want to duel him," I said, just loud enough for Gar to hear. He gave me a look, but it was ruined by his soft disposition. I turned to watch Wheeler wander off, doubtless to get his ass handed to him by Kaiba.

"Come on," Gar muttered, trudging off. His shoulders were slightly hunched, but he seemed determined if nothing else. We saw two silhouettes creeping slowly from a back-alley, one tall and one small. Gar squinted, pulling me into the corner.

"Hey," I hissed, rubbing my shoulder, "knock it off."

The couple ahead of us had also frozen, listening intently for us. AI or human?

"Are they still there?" A soft yet harshly accented (British, I think) voice said, after a pause. It was distinctly female. Given there were soft breaks and bubbles in her voice, where the words lilted and changed, grew sharp on certain letters, I could hazard a guess that she was human. It was too individual not to be.

It seemed as though her partner was about to speak, so I abruptly began to move, despite Gar's expression.

"Okay, so don't freak out," I cut in, stepping out of the shadows, "we're not AIs. We've not long actually got here. We're looking for the first group that did, trying to get everyone together."

The girl licked her lips, pulled her hair behind her ear with a shaking hand.

"I'm Rabbit," she said. She nodded towards a tall male, "this is Boxer."

"Eater," I introduced easily, grinning, "and-"

"I'm Gar," Gar jumped in. His voice was soft. Rabbit stepped forward, squinting to try to get a better look at him.

"I'm a guy," he said flatly, at her look.

"I wasn't trying to guess," Rabbit spluttered, her cheeks flushing, "I was just trying to get a look at you!"

Boxer hid a smile, turning his head away slightly.

"Look, is that Marik's rod you have there?" she pressed.

He nodded, "Manda had picked it up when we got her, and then I borrowed it in case we needed to use defensive measures."

She nodded back, picking at her nails as though she was nervous. She's a nervous little bun. I nearly grinned.

Gar sighed under his breath and licked his lips, "we should get you two back. I think that's almost all of us, and we could use the time to get a little energy back."

Rabbit nodded, leaning against Boxer. Her red hair flicked awkwardly behind her ears, drifting forward. She tucked it back again absently. I glanced around. They were all pretty chunky, compared to my very skinny frame. Well... chunky, curvy. You name it. They certainly had a broad range of height.

"Come on then," I said, nudging him. The four of us grouped together, Boxer and Rabbit still side by side. She gave Gar a scan that lasted all too long, and I recognised all too well. He noticed her gaze and gave her a smile, tight smile. She returned it, pushing her glasses up her nose.

"There's always a silver lining," she said under her breath to Boxer, who chuckled. Gar, impervious to the flirtations of the female, wandered on, dense as a brick wall.

"Can't wait to get inside," Boxer muttered. She nodded.

"Jesus, I feel like we're gonna get PTSD from this shit," she said. The walk wasn't too far, not really, and we managed to evade the view of any wandering AIs by temporarily splitting up and hiding where we could.

"I feel like we're in a stealth game at the highest difficulty," Rabbit moaned, "this feels like some Persona 5 shit."

Boxer shrugged. I didn't know if it was just because he was unfamiliar with the game, if he didn't care, or if it was his default reaction to the things life threw at him, and I didn't really care either way.

We reached the apartment allotments. There were a lot more AIs here, at least a dozen. I slunk back, gesturing for the rest of the group to stay put.

"Gar," I hissed, "can you see which door is the one?"

His dark eyes scanned and he shook his head, "there's one other there, the only one with a plant next to it, but there's so many AIs... we may have to duel some of them to get in."

Boxer nodded, "if we take 'em tag duel style, we should be able to take a mass amount of them down."

"We'd have to move after anyway," Gar said, "because too many of them would be attracted to the area that a load of them just disappeared from."

"Maybe if we have someone duel, the rest of us could escape inside," Rabbit began, "and lay low. The only problem is, the person dueling would have to be able to run, and... well. I'm not so sure they're even open to dueling so much as ripping us apart."

"Nah, Verm said they definitely will want to duel," I said.

"Verm?" Both Rabbit and Boxer chorused.

"Another one of yours?"

I shook my head, "Nah. Kaiba corp sent him in to try to get everyone safely together and away from trouble until Kaiba gets here. I'm not sure how it's gonna happen, but apparently, Kaiba's working on a back door out of this place for us."

The relief radiating off the two of them was all but palpable. Rabbit's shoulders relaxed from their tense state and she leaned back against Boxer with a low sigh.

"Thank God," she whispered. She shook her head, clearing her thoughts, and started again, "when we got here, there were only two legendary duelists. The numbers seem to be going up. We've seen Bakura, Marik, Yugi and even Mai. Have you guys seen anyone else?"

"We've seen Joey," I said.

"Well, nice as it is to have a headcount, I suggest we get a plan on the go," Gar said,"we're going to wind up in trouble if we stay here much longer."

I saw a flash in one of the windows nearby the apartment, a tuft of golden hair.

"I don't remember anyone of us with gold hair," I said softly, "and unfortunately... that implies that the Legendaries are searching the apartments anyway like we thought."

"It's like Watership Down," Rabbit sighed, "we all go in the tunnels, and they send the dirt and evil bunnies after us."

She glanced at Boxer, "and the irony of my nickname and reference are not lost on me."

He shook his head, "never said it was, Rabbit."

There was a flash at our window, Manda's pale face. She squinted out, caught sight of us. Rabbit gave her a nervous wave. Manda mouthed something. I shook my head. She was too far away. I couldn't make it out. Her fingers darted into her pockets, pulling out a lipstick. Backward, so we could all read it, she wrote: SURPRISE RUN.

Gar frowned, looking puzzled.

"I don't think she means us run there," Boxer said grimly, "I think they all want to try running from the house at the same time."

Rabbit looked up at Manda and shook her head, "There's too many of us. If we all huddle up together, it's too easy to find us."

"Hey, she's gesturing again," I said, following her pointed finger. More than a few windows along, there was another window, another face in it.

"They already split into groups," Rabbit realised, "I bloody hope that means they already have a plan."

"So, if they're running into different directions, or if we all are, then that must mean they have a location in mind to get to," Gar said hopefully.

"Or different locations."

One of the doors swung open, and Yami Marik stalked out, his fluffy mane a clear indication of which Marik we were facing. We shuffled back further, outside of his view.

"Now this is a nice view," a smooth baritone voice said. We twisted around so quickly I'm surprised spines didn't snap in the process.

"Kaiba," Boxer said, "I hope you know I've been waiting to beat your ass."

"Too busy watching the front to watch the back," I grumbled under my breath. Rabbit moved away from Boxer, sidling to Gar. If there was shit about to go down, she obviously wasn't interested in going for it. But then, her top was covered in blood. She was a mess. It was easy to understand why she was moving from the confrontation.

"I'll have your ass too, mate," I said, moving forward besides Boxer, "if you have a friend you want to invite, that just makes it all the better."

"Surprisingly, I'm not interested in some low rate duelists-"

"with fourth-rate decks," Rabbit finished.

"And yet here we are," Boxer replied, "because dueling is what you are here for. Better us than nothing, huh?"

"Hn," Kaiba grunted.

I caught Gar gently moving Rabbit behind him, as though she was too delicate to see such terrors as a children's card game. Suddenly, there were two simultaneous crashing noises, the noise of doors bouncing on their hinges. I caught two groups racing in opposite directions, with Manda splitting from her group to arrive next to us.

She all but screeched to a halt when she caught sight of Kaiba.

"Take care of him," she said, "and then I can tell you the next location."

I caught sight of the AIs running in several directions, some of them glitching out. We were far enough away that they didn't seem to be coming for us.

"I think we're in the clear," Manda said quietly. "I'm glad you guys got here before we all legged it. There were just too many. We couldn't risk it. Ever seen Attack on Titan? We're the humans, they're the Titans."

Rabbit slipped out from behind Gar and grabbed the smaller girl into a hug, nestling into her, "Okay, I love you, but please don't stab me again."

Her bubbling laughter was enough to break a little of the tension.

Thanks so much for reading! Sorry for the wait, I've got a lot going on with deadlines. I hope you liked the chapter, and pretty please R&R!