IC: SIDE: Tell Us About Your Homeworld!
Danny starts awake from his nap, having drifted off at some point in the conversation. One might never have known he was asleep, given both his silence and the way his yellow mask covers his face. A hand reaches reflexively toward the butt of his pistol as he stands, scanning his surroundings. Then-- seeing he is among friends-- he relaxes, sits down, and draws his trench coat around him again.
Friends. Is that what they've become? Sure, they were no Luke, Misty, and Colleen, but they'd fought alongside Danny enough times by now to earn his friendship. They might not know every intimate detail of each other's lives, but to a warrior like the Iron Fist, knowing they had his back in a fight was all he needed from them. It was time to let his guard down and tell these friends a little bit about his past. And just a little bit.
"Sorry, it's a habit," he shrugs. "Had to catch those power naps whenever I could, back in my old life. Never knew when K'un-Lun's assassins might get the drop on me. One wrong move-- one sloppy mistake-- and it would have been my last. I can't remember the last time I had a full night's sleep." He draws the bandages tighter around his fists, searching for the right words as he continues.
"Don't know if any of you saw what happened back there, with me and that ugly cyborg brute," he says, holding up his fist. "The Chi was there, but it was like I couldn't..." He chambers his fist and pantomimes a punch. "Y'know."
He shakes his head, staring off into the distance. "It all started when I discovered the corruption in K'un-Lun-- my home-- and exposed the people behind it. The Yu-Ti-- he's K'un-Lun's ruler-- had, for years, been banishing his political opponents into a hell dimension that only the Iron Fist could free them from." He looks around at each of his companions with a grave expression.
"And I did free them... but it cost me everything. The gate to Earth was destroyed, and I was trapped in K'un-Lun, never to see Luke Cage, Misty Knight, Colleen Wing, or any of my other friends, ever again. And every night, the Yu-Ti sent his assassins after me, to kill me and take back the Chi they believed was rightfully theirs. I knew how dangerous it would be to let them have it... and so I ran."
He clears his throat and goes on. "The Iron Fist is, above all else, a living weapon. But when I discovered my true purpose-- that I was expected to be a puppet of the Yu-Ti, used to strike down his enemies-- that part of me died. I became a pacifist. Tried to elude my pursuers, or to defeat them non-lethally. But as the days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years, I got tired. Sloppy. Until one day..."
His voice cracks. "His most elite assassin chased me into a cave. It was pitch-black inside. And I was tired... so tired. My back was against the wall. He had me outmatched in every way. It was kill or be killed. And so I lit my fist up and hit him with every ounce of Chi in my body. The glow was blinding. He screamed. And I knew I'd punched my fist straight through his heart."
His expression darkens. "That assassin had a name. Lei-Kung. The Thunderer. Or as I knew him... "Shifu." The man who taught me everything. In many ways, my own father. With his dying breath, he begged me to forgive him. The Yu-Ti had his family, and would only release them upon my death. He had no other choice. I tried to heal him... begged him to live... but he died in my arms. I found out later his family had been dead for years. The Yu-Ti was only ever manipulating him."
Danny draws a deep breath, clearly shaken but determined to finish his story.
"I kept running. Tired. Broken. I don't even remember how I died, in the end. Bastards couldn't beat me man-to-man, but they had all kinds of dirty tricks. Maybe they poisoned my tea... or Khal Drogo'd me in my sleep... or maybe my heart finally just gave out. Who knows? All that matters is I'm here now. And though I've sworn to never use the Iron Fist again..."
He suddenly whips both pistols out and shoots a nearby boulder with glowing bullets. The Chi-enhanced rounds carve away solid rock, whittling it away until all that remains is a pile of loose, smoking gravel.
"... I'm still a Living Weapon."