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"You can handle this one, right Badger?" Tiny Toad mocked and laughed followed by his lackeys, Rat Racer and Moledozer.
"Uh. Yeah…" Badgerclops held a measly tone, he knows he can handle this guy easy. Hell, this little black cat in red rags looks like he'd be blown over by the wind.
Large rocks hid the thieves from view, a blue eye peeked from behind. Not too far away, walking down the dirt road, was the black cat in red rags mentioned before. Feet looking roughed up, he had to been walking for miles on end, every step he took shook his entire body. Walking looked more like falling and catching himself. Bright red… whatever that was flowed in the dry, hot wind. It's color was becoming duller from what Badgerclops assumed was years of muck and dirt building up.
"Bao Bao…" the cat weakly uttered the same words over and over, coughing in between each time. "Bao Baooo, ACK-" his shoulders hunched as his fist caught whatever germs were flying out of his shark-like mouth.
"Oh, gross." The badger shuttered. Taking a step back he flexed and readied his robotic arm before peeking from behind the rock formation once more.
The cat was groaning and looked ready to collapse.
Badgerclops pulled back again, turning to his teammates with the most obvious face of disgust one could bare, "Maybe we could just wait for him to fall over or something. Like, I really don't want to get near him."
Tiny Toad lifted a brow. Badgerclops sighed.
"The old chap looks ready to collapse, right he does." The accent he pulled was a poor attempt to mimic his bosses.
Tiny Toad crossed his arms and shook his head. "Get out there and mug 'im already!"
With a simple nod the buff bionic badger was ready to make his move, not before rolling his eye out of view of his boss. Once the cat was close he prepared to jump out but something stopped him. He couldn't. Badgerclops felt bad?
"Yeah, I can't. Sorry." He didn't turn around to see the faces of his colleagues.
Tiny Toad's face turned bright read for a moment before exhaling an exaggerated, rage filled, sigh. "Whatevah. I knew you were really weak all along."
The three other Thicket Thieves left the badger behind. Badgerclops hated those guys anyway, he didn't fit in with them no matter how hard he tried. In front of him was a different future, one filled with helping people.. or something. Oh, and a smelly little cat guy who looks like he's more dehydrated than a twig.
This wasn't his problem, was it?
"Aw, he looks so lonely though." Gears turned in his scientifically advanced mind.
Below were small pebbles, no bigger than a marble. The poor little guy slowly trudging along looks so pathetic, he could probably use a pick me up. Two claws plucked the a small pebble from the dusty sand and easily placed them on the cyborgs foot. He cried for help, loud enough for the cat to hear him. It worked.
The little cat, clearly disoriented, dragged himself over to the badger. When he bent over his back looked like it could snap in half if he put too much effort into anything but this pebble shouldn't be too hard, starting small is always the first step!
"HAAAAA!!! HYAAAAAAA!!!" The cat was struggling. An embarrassing amount of effort was bring put into this, two gloved paws wrapped around the same pebble and nothing was happening.
Badgerclops kept smiling, he almost gave into the cringe tugging at his facial features but before he knew it the pebble went flying and so did the cat. The little guy landed on his bottom and just kind of fell over the rest of the way. He looked worn out but hey, he accomplished something today!
"Oh, thank goodness, I'm saved!" Badgerclops acted as though it was the toughest thing he's seen a guy do all year.
"All…. In a days work… hoooogh." The cat huffed out.
There's no way he's going to be able to get up by himself. Badgerclops offered a hand, the confused and dehydrated cat took it and was very quickly pulled onto his feet. Immediately the claws that touched his glove were wiped in the dirt. Standing, wobbling but standing, the cat tried pulling a heroic stance. It almost punched a laugh out of Badgerclops gut but he stayed strong.
"Thanks, hero. Bet you feel accomplished." His tone was anything but sincere.
"All in a days work. Now. Excuse me I've got a mountain to cash in." The cats fists were brought to his hips before he turned around and marched.
"Uh. Wh-"
BadgercIops confusion remains on his tongue as the cat he was about to question fell face first into the hot sand. Worry popped the cyborgs previous confused face and wrinkled his brows. Getting down to his level, the badger hesitated to touch him.
"Oh god, did I kill him?!" Claws, robotic and fleshy, continued to hesitate over the felines disgustingly dry body. "Ohhhh c'mon, man." This cat was going to owe him later but the buff badger flipped him over and listened for a heart beat.
Thankfully a thumping was present, the little guy just fainted. That's not to say he didn't seem close to death, of course. Up close you could tell just how parched the little guy was. Who knows how long it's been since he's eaten say kind of food. With an exaggerated sigh Badgerclops realized this was his new path, getting this guy back on his feet was going to be his project for the next month or two. After that? That's for future Badgerclops to decide, current Badgerclops was more worried about getting this feline watered and fed… and washing his hands.