@knifeman@ProPro@Old Amsterdam
The moment the man’s eyes fell upon Leonard’s weapon, they widened slightly. Thus warned, both overtly and subtly, he removed his hand from the girl and stepped away from the three of them, at least as far as he could with the density of the crowd; though Mieke reassured them that all was well, he remained plainly jarred by the situation in general.

‘Hey, listen, I didn’t mean ta cause any trouble...’ he uttered, a bit faster than he’d been talking before, more to stave off harm than justify himself. ‘Just wanted ta get her attention in the crowd, was all. Er, anyway, thanks fer the tip, miss.’ Waving farewell, he made a quick exit out of the theatre, apparently more concerned with keeping himself safe than getting the value of his ticket. Other than this, no other interruptions occurred as the trio made their way to their seats.

@Lugubrious@LemonZest1337@knifeman@ProPro@Old Amsterdam
And a few minutes later, the show began. Abruptly, a loud bang and a cloud of smoke obscured the stage from both the audience and those positioned backstage or elsewhere, and as it cleared, the crowd would see the platform already filled with a variety of stunt equipment, and the men of the hour already in the middle, standing proudly in order from biggest to smallest, all with wide grins. The Crazy Crue Brothers, their first appearance to most of the group, and only the second for Mieke in particular.

‘Ladies and gentlemen... wwwwWWWWWWELCOME TO THE SHOOOOW!’ the eponymous header for the trio crowed, to the great applause of the assorted audience members as his voice echoed out from speakers to the masses. ‘I hope you’re all ready, because THIS is like NOTHING YOU’VE EVER SEEN BEFOOOORE!’

And with little delay, they leapt right into it. The next hour and thirty minutes was, to most present, astounding to witness. High dives, displays of choreographed acrobatics set to music, the occasional group performance, even a car crash despite the implausibility of fitting a car into the theatre, and more sharp objects than one could count, all punctuated by entertaining anecdotes from each brother that could well be turned into a show all by themselves. And at no point were the crowd subjected to anything akin to the gruesome scene that had played out in the park a day earlier.

‘Thank you, ladies and gentlemen!’ the eldest announced after their latest stunt, a ludicrous foray into juggling as many dangerous objects between two men as might be feasibly plausible, including a third man. ‘We hope you’ve enjoyed the evening so far, we have another half an hour before the show ends, and plenty more to cram into that time - BUT FIRST! Our next stunt WILL require a volunteer, and it’s going to be one of YOOUU lucky viewers tonight!’

One of the viewers? “Oooh”, murmured the crowd in response, muttering to itself with mixed glee and concern as they realised what this might mean for them - involvement with the sharp objects and dangerous stunts going on. ‘I hope your fingers are CROSSED for this!’ the elder Crue added, before calling ‘CUE THE LIGHTS!’ At once, the room went dark, not too dark to see, just so that a number of spotlights could visibly be seen raking over the crowd, their beams gradually crossing over every individual in their path as a drumroll played in the background.

Several seconds pass in heated suspense. Not much seems to happen. Quite suddenly, the lights all focus on one person - the shy girl in the seats between Leonard and Laurie. Mieke Choux.

'THE GIRL IN SEAT 2438! COME ON UP, YOUNG LADY!' the announcer crowed, over the sound of the crowd cheering for the lucky young lady. Oh, certainly she was a trained professional, that was how it always worked, but what they wouldn't give to be in her position right now!

---

The show was definitely a good time. Mieke had been quietly clapping and even occasionally letting out a little “Woo,” which was her version of cheering and screaming. Thankfully, nothing horrifying had happened yet. Hopefully it would stay that way. Stunts had never exactly been her thing, but she was genuinely enjoying the show.

Her heart jumped a little at the mention of audience participation. Despite how incredibly unlikely she was to be chosen, she always tried her hardest to disappear into the background so nobody would notice and potentially choose her.

Once the spotlight stopped, it took a moment for Mieke to realize that it had stopped right over her.

“Oh. Ohhh. Oh no. Oh goodness oh no. Oh no uh oh oh no.”

Her soft protests were drowned out by the cheering crowd. Hesitating, she felt tears build up behind her eyes, but she held them back. Crying while so many people’s attention was focused on her was a scenario she had literally had nightmares about.

She shakily stood up and debated between going up to the stage and just fleeing out of the building. Her reluctance to disrupt the show won out, and she made her way to the front of the audience. The people she passed would be able to hear a high-pitched whine that continued until she was face to face with the performers.

“Nnnghh hello,” she squeaked, then covered her mouth in shame. Nice going, Mieke. Not awkward in the slightest.

Leonard watched the show with a mixed interest. He wanted to be fully invested in the goings on of the stage from an audience perspective, but being here on business put a damper on that. Because of this, he was neither as entertained as he would have liked, nor as observant as he would have been. Sloppy, that's what this ordeal had made him. Ah, what the hell. He could afford to relax a minute and enjoy it, couldn't he?

Then they called for Mieke's participation, and a switch flipped in the back of Leonard's mind, bringing him to full attention once again. No way could that have been a coincidence! How many dozens or hundreds of people were seated here, and they just so happened to randomly pick the young girl who had seen them earlier and discovered they were stand users? Leonard didn't buy it for a single solitary nanosecond. Mieke needed to be protected, for the good of the mission, but they couldn't just interrupt proceedings either. In a quick flurry, Leonard tore a piece of paper from his notebook and quickly sketched the first symbol that came to mind. It was sloppy, but it would have to do. The Celtic rune for "guardian angel." Hopefully being done in such a rush didn't hamper its ability, or give Free Bird alternate interpretations. Quickly he shoved the paper in front of Mieke's face before she left her seat, making certain she saw the symbol and took in the power of Free Bird.

Leonard then crumpled the paper and stashed it in his pocket. Only time would tell what happened now.

Having found a backstage cranny to stow himself in, Arthur settled in for the show. Once still, he could feel more acutely the accelerated beat of his heart; he couldn't deny his excitement, not just for what was to come, but for what had happened. Discovered alongside his comrade Hogan by a pair of security guards, he had been called on to trust the nebulous abilities of the mercenary Leonard, who Arthur had yet to see in action. In case the man's little slips of 'authority' failed him, Arthur had steeled himself to make use of his own Stand power--namely, the rather mundane ability of Space Oddity to bop the unsuspecting guardsmen over the head. However, Free Bird worked its magic despite Arthur's doubts, and now the large man and large crocodile lay in wait behind the curtain, ready for the spectacle to begin.

For the longest time, nothing of particular note to a Stand user seemed to happen, but while he couldn't see it, Arthur suspected one heck of a show for the audience. More than once he figured that he'd been too paranoid, perhaps unwittingly trying to flex the muscles of experience he'd built up over the years, and that he'd denied himself and his scaly friend a perfectly harmless entertainment experience. Oh well. Getting stiff after a while, he felt like finding himself a more comfortable hiding spot and nodding off, but the bombastic noise of the Crue brothers' performance made any such respite outright impossible. Instead Arthur toughed it out, waiting patiently and more or less alertly up until the point the magicians called out for a volunteer. "Hmm," he murmured. This could be just what he was waiting for. With such a vast audience, the odds of the brothers picking out another Stand user were slim to none, but there was more to destiny than luck; one could never forget the law of attraction.

Observed throughout his time in the hidden world and confirmed through correspondence with others like him, that phenomena dictated that the fates of Stand users intertwined inseparably, slowly but inevitably their paths into alignment. Sooner or later, Stand users come into contact -and often conflict- with one another. As for why this happened, Arthur couldn't possibly imagine. The phenomenon couldn't be seen, tested, or studied. Yet it could be felt, and the feeling that came with knowing that everything was somehow connected, that one was part of something far bigger than oneself...it was a strong, complicated feeling.

With that in mind, Arthur peered out from his hiding spot between the curtains. The spotlights flitting about the obvious coalesced a moment later on a single person. At this distance making out features proved difficult, but there could be no mistaking that pink hair. "Mieke," he muttered, his face growing taut with focus. What a bizarre coincidence. If anything was going to go wrong, it would be now. Averting his gaze once more, he flexed his muscles and cracked his knuckles in preparation for whatever may come.

Arthur's ability do deal with people was quite a change from what Hogan was used to. Normally Hogan would have to remain out of sight or would get deployed on missions that took place far from the city, so getting himself smuggled into the backstage area of a massive event was quite the change. Not that Hogan was complaining. He got to sit here under a blanket and not move for ages. It wasn't until Hogan heard the brothers asked for a volunteer to partake in their next trick did Hogan's interest get peeked. There was still Leonard, Mieke and Blue in the crowd and while the chances for one of them getting picked it wasn't impossible.

Hogan slowly slid out form under the sheet that had been draped over him and got into a position where he could see. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light, but when it did he wasn't super pleased with what he saw. Mieke had been picked... Out of the three Allies he had in the crowd the light managed to land on the one with the least experience. Though the more Hogan thought about it he wasn't sure this was a coincidence. Mieke was the one who'd seen the brothers performance before, so perhaps this was a tactic to capture her. Hogan's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of cracking knuckles, looking up Hogan saw that Arthur didn't look too pleased about this either. Hogan slinked back out of the light and back behind Arthur. As much as Hogan wanted to run out onto the stage and just take the brothers down, doing so in front of a giant crowd would be terrible. Laws weren't so nice to Crocodiles, if Hogan was caught biting someone in public then people would be calling for his head. If a human bites another human the worst thing that could happen to them is probably a couple years of jail time.

Hogan dropped his body to the floor with a slight thud. All he could do now was wait, as frustrating as that was. It was his only real option.

---

Blue was more interested in the people than the show, if she had to be honest. The show itself was....Well, she guessed it was alright but honestly it was fairly boring.

And she was stuck sitting here.

Doing nothing.

Waiting.

When the lights started was the first time she had any active interest in the show, shifting slightly as she coiled, ready to pounce. If they just landed on her....

She blinked as she turned her head to the little girl next to her, her mouth turning into a thinly pressed line as she fingered her "walking stick," an itch forming inside her. As Mieke stood up, Blue mirrored her. Once Leonard showed her something, Blue gently placed a hand on the young girl's back, leaning in close before she could leave.

"If anything happens, I'll pull you out. Be strong, little bird."