Location: Haly's Circus Fair
Interactions: Bex @psych0pomp
Mentions: Alisa @canaryrose and Daphne @dreamingflowers

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Viktor was handing the smiling High Striker operator five dollars when he heard Bex pipe up. The word "babe" stuck out most, actually making him turn to look at Bex again. He wondered what she was doing for a second until it clicked. Inconspicuous. She's clever. So not just talk and brawn. He gave her a quick nod before facing the operator again. Bex's mention of not having the ability to beat the game before them only helped confirm Viktor's thoughts of her aiding him in being inconspicuous. This only meant he had to work just as hard to keep up the act.

"Sure babe." It didn't even sound right. There was just too much emphasis on the pet name. The man handed Viktor the mallet, to which he swung a bit in his right hand to get a feel for it. "Just hit it?" He asked for confirmation.

"Uh yeah... just the-" With one hand, Viktor struck the lever that shot the puck into the bell with a loud dull ring. "Shit… I mean- Wow look at this strapping young man. He rang the bell, so surely it isn't an impossibility! Come, all who wish to test their strength!" The man shouted out to those in the immediate area. His eyes met the bored-faced Viktor. "Sheesh, you must be the real-life Gaston or somethin'." The operator commented with a quieter voice. He cleared his throat and pointed his hand towards the prizes. "Since you rang the bell, claim your reward!" Viktor eyed the prizes for less than a second before grabbing a two-and-a-half-foot stuffed pink and white panda by the ear.

"Thanks." Viktor turned from the man and walked towards Bex, presenting the stuffed animal to her. "Here, Bex… Good improvising. I was once Daphne's boyfriend at the mall, so I picked up on your idea." He said quietly, mistaking Bex's antics as a smart play. So far, she appeared to be adequate. He'd have to tell Alisa later.

Kassy, pleased to be included in Daphne’s plans, joined her quickly. She ordered a cheeseburger, funnel cake with chocolate, and something called “fried ice cream” which intrigued her. The whole fair so far had been one wonder after another. Sure, Atlantis had festivals with games. But not these strange contraptions that one of the others had called “rides”. The screaming joy of the humans caught her by surprise, and she wanted to join them.

Wearing a different “human disguise” with a few tweaks to not reveal her own face, she stood by Daphne’s side, illusion-green eyes alight with happiness.

“This place is great! There’s just so much to do and see! I feel like I’ll never run out of things.”

She had a backpack on, and there was a massive blue stuffed unicorn sticking out of it. “This is for Zach! I won it from a man who said I couldn’t catch goldfish. Ha! I caught thirteen goldfish like a proper hunter. And he gave me the doll and said not to come back. Isn’t that strange?” She giggled softly. Obviously she was having a wonderful time.

“I can’t wait to try one of the rides. Perhaps after we get what we came for.” Of course she remembered they were on a mission, but with so many fun and new things around her, it was impossible not to be distracted.

---

Aleen'a was quite surprised and a bit overwhelmed by everything that's happening. Music of all kinds kept playing through the speakers, the air was filled with laughter and the smells of several foods from stands, and humans of all shapes and sizes milled around and enjoyed the day. How could one simply know what to do first amidst a sea of randomness? It was chaotic indeed but for some reason, for Aleen'a, everything made sense when they're together. Seeing a little girl holding both her parents' hands made her homesick for Tamaran. They did have their own festivities on their planet. She wondered if her parents missed her now just as much as she was to them everyday.

She couldn't even explain it herself as she couldn't hear her own thoughts from the screams of fright coming from, what their briefing told her, was a horror house. It looked scary as it had a huge terrifying demon at its entrance that looked down on any passersby with its large artificial red eyes. She almost barged into the place if she didn't remember that they were all just animantrontics dressed as monsters that scare off people. It was all in good fun and they were told to make the best of it, but she didn't know if she could focus on enjoying the fair when their target was right in the open.

The circus was not far from where she was. It was still being set up but she could tell several workers were working on the inside too, judging from the people that kept going in and out of its entrance while handling supplies. Their mission tonight was just like their previous one only this time they would have to hide in plain sight, which was something Aleen'a didn't get until now. No one would suspect a group of teenagers of anything as long as they didn't do anything out of the ordinary. That meant no flying for Aleen'a as she already stood out a little for having an inhuman skin complexion. No one would notice, would they?

She looked around and noticed everyone on her team was already going on their own way. She couldn't see them anywhere as she was too trapped in her own thoughts to notice where everyone had gone. She remembered that they would have to act inconpsi... Er, incopnsi... Ink on spee... She remembered that they would have to act non-suspiciously to avoid any unwanted attention from the enemies. So, remembering all the movies she had binge-watched with her cousin about modern American teenagers, Aleen'a smiled and skipped along like an excited little kid.

Aleen'a wondered what to try first. Will it be the sweet-smelling candy that was made out of cotton? A dog in the shape of corn? This weird bread shaped in a weird demonic symbol they call pretzel? While thinking about what to eat, something caught Aleen'a's eyes. In the distance, way at the back was a stall with violet velvet cloth. A sign above it said it could foretell your future and she marveled in awe at it. She looked around for a bit before deciding to walk through the heavy cloth.

Inside the deceptively small tent was a spacious room. It was stuffed from wall to wall with all kinds of odds and ends. Stacks of books in multiple languages, spilling out of their intended cases. Jars and bottles, some labeled while some remained mysterious. Questionable items floated in even more dubiously colored liquids. Heavy draping concealed parts of the room, making it impossible to see its true size. A woman was standing with her back to the entrance, a table behind her with a deck, a set of candles, and a deck of playing cards.

“Please sit, put your money on the table and we will begin.”

At the sound of coins hitting the surface of the table, the woman turned around. She looked to be somewhere in her thirties with long dark hair and a piercing gaze. She studied the girl standing in front of her.

“Welcome, I’m Madame Xanadu.”

She offered for Aleen’a to take a seat. Madame Xanadu picked up a match and held it in the candle flame until it sparked, she drew it through the air in a mysterious fashion.

“Cards can illuminate your past, clarify the present and show you the future”

Taking a seat her eyes never left Aleena’s, her focus was intense.

“If you have a specific question hold it in your mind.”

She began to shuffle the frayed deck cards.

Aleen’a remained staring dumbfounded at Madame Xanadu with her mouth agape before she remembered she could speak. Something about this woman seemed so strange but in a good way. “Oh, uh… Well, I have seen from your signage that you can tell the future, yes? It has always been fascinating that humans can be such magical be- I mean, we humans are such fascinating magical beings. We humans, because I am human and so are you. Indeed. Wonderful, magical humans…”. She trailed off and chuckled nervously before clearing her throat.

“Oh right, I was to hold my question within my mind. Please give me a moment…” Aleen’a said and thought for a bit. So many questions popped into her head at once. Why was it hard to be friends with the people she admired? Is it still good for her to stay on Earth? Anxiety filled her but she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. As she did, one question stood out from the rest, a question she needed answered the most.

As Aleen’a continued to walk the path of heroism, what would her fate be?

Madame Xanadu stopped shuffling and fanned out her cards on the table, taking a few seemingly at random. She laid them out in a pattern and took her time in studying them.
She tapped one of the cards with her finger.

“You are very far from your home..” The woman was stating it as a fact as that wasn’t really a prediction yet, she was getting a sense of where this girl came from. The cards told her what she already expected.

“I see something dark in your career as a hero, it will cause you much pain. Someone is out for revenge, be careful around the ones you know. Trust your own kind.”

“In the darkness of space, stars burn brighter when they are together.”

Aleen’a’s breath caught in her throat when Madame Xanadu mentioned she was far from home. Did she already blow her cover or did she discover it through her mystic magic? The more the fortune teller continued, the more Aleen’a didn't like where things were headed. According to the mysterious woman, the only thing certain in her future was pain. Also, who wanted to exact revenge on her? She had made no enemies among the star systems as far as she knew.

At least she gave Aleen’a an inkling of hope in the end. Pain, revenge, and stars. She took a deep breath. Whatever’s waiting for her, she’ll meet it with strengthened resolve and willful spirit, just how her kin would face challenges in life.

“Thank you, Madame Xanadu. Your thoughtful words have enlightened me truly. If I may ask… How does it feel like, knowing what will happen in the future? It is all so fascinating!” She asked in utter fascination.

“It's both a blessing and a curse.”

“Now time is up, I have other clients”. The fortune teller dismissed the enthusiasm of the young Tamaranian and pointed her swiftly to the door.

“Oh… Oh, of course!” Aleen’a nodded in gratitude as she got up from her seat. Before going out, her attention got piqued by one of the jars holding mysterious liquids nearest to the exit. As she approached it, she could feel such dark and negative vibes emanating from it, enough to send chills down her spine. “I-I’ll go! T-Thank you!” Aleen’a said as she quickly got out of the fortune teller’s stall with her destiny now in her own hands.

Once the team arrived at the fairgrounds, Alisa went off by her lonesome. She wandered around and marveled at the spectacles. All sorts of games, food, exhibitions, and attractions abounded, and ambiguously safe-looking rollercoasters towered above. She had never been in a place like this before and was constantly being surprised. The colors, the people, the noises… it was all fascinating. An hour into their trip, she had visited an art competition, an animal show (taking care to stay far away from the stables), and had even rode a few rollercoasters.

All the while, she was keeping an eye out for her teammates. While she had purposefully gone off on her own, she did still want to see how her friends were doing. The fairgrounds were so large, however, that she couldn’t really find anyone. She had half a mind to go be useful and scope out the circus, but she was loving this. People-watching was good enough for her. Eventually Alisa bought a giant fried corn dog, a funnel cake, and a milkshake and sat down, a peaceful smile on her face as she watched the fairgoers go about their days. She drummed her fingers on the picnic table, munching on her food.

”You got room over there?”

Maya sauntered over towards the table Alisa was sitting at, a happy look on her face as she made her way over to the table, sitting down next to Alisa before she was given permission to do so. Maya looked a bit like a cowgirl in her current attire, wearing a low-cut cream-colored gypsy top, a pair of jean shorts, and tall cowboy boots that rose up to her knees. On top of her head of wavy brown hair was a comically gigantic cowboy hat that Maya had won at a carnival game, and in her arms were a slew of stuffed animals that Maya had won, which she let spill out onto the table.

”Turns out that after you win 10 of these in a row, they send security after you. Fun fact!” Maya said mischievously as she looked at her stuffed pile of loot. ”You want one? Here, take Fluffy.” Maya rested a large stuffed poodle in front of Alisa. ”Alicia, right? Sorry, bad with names.”

Alisa smiled- a bit nervously, perhaps- at Maya’s sudden appearance. She scooted over on the bench for her, making room. She wasn’t yet sure how she felt about Maya. Her arrival had been significantly overshadowed by Bex’s, and she certainly didn’t like Bex. But a stuffed animal certainly did make her like the Maya a little bit more. Sweet! Another to add to her collection. She laughed at Maya’s anecdote and took the poodle graciously, embracing it. “Ooh! I love him. Thanks!”

“Alisa,” she firmly corrected. “It’s alright, though... I know who you are! You’re Maya Kobayashi. Demonslayer… but you prefer Maya,” she supplied, before realizing this might be a strange thing to say and hurriedly followed up with, “I’m Alisa Fields, but my… alias, I guess, is Cybergirl. It’s nice to meet you!”

If Maya was perturbed by Alisa’s strange response, she didn’t show it at all, instead giving a cheery smile. ”Oh! Sorry, names are tough. Alisa. That’s a very nice name,” the Asian girl said as she removed the ginormous cowboy hat from her head, resting it on the table in front of them. ”You want to grab a bite to eat? I heard the cotton candy here is really good.”

“Oh, no, I already did! But you can have most of mine if you want.” Alisa pushed over her giant, barely touched portions of food to Maya. “I don’t like to eat a lot, so have at it.”

”I don’t know how you can have energy to beat up bad guys if you don’t eat,” Maya said with a snicker as she pulled the food in front of her, sticking a fork in.

“Oh, I’ll live without it! Sometimes I’ll even go a week or two without eating… I don’t really need it,” Alisa explained, not understanding that this might be extremely confusing or alarming to someone who didn’t know her well.

”More for me, I guess. Here, though, let me make it up to you.” Maya stuck her hand into her pocket, pulling out a handful of things. ”I got 27 cents...two sticks of gum...you like gum? Ooh!” Maya dropped two slightly-crumpled tickets onto the table in front of Alisa. ”They’re having pony rides here! We should do that. It’d be fun! Where else can you get pony rides, after all? Let’s do that!”

Alisa smiled, and then blanched, realizing what Maya was talking about. If it was possible for her to sweat, she would’ve been- there was no way she was getting on a fucking horse. “Oh, erm… I’m alright! I don’t wanna do that… Why don’t we go ride a rollercoaster instead?”

”Aww, come on! I already rode on a rollercoaster today. The pony thing sounds super fun, though.” Maya casually slid closer to Alisa, the taller girl’s shoulder rubbing up against the android, the smell of orange blossom perfume emanating from Maya’s body. ”I think it would be so cool if we could go together. Pretty please?” Maya batted her eyelashes, a frisky simper forming on her lips as Maya eeked into Alisa’s personal space.

Alisa crossed her arms and leaned back, an uncomfortable look on her face. “I have qualms,” she said, awkwardly, not looking at the girl with the puppy eyes in front of her face. “About… animal abuse. Yeah, um, that. I’ve heard that they really abuse all the animals at these fairs. I don’t want to, uh, contribute to that… Do you?”

”Animal abuse?!” Maya’s eyes widened, and she pulled back sharply. ”Why didn’t you say something, then? We have to go save those poor things! ” Maya quite literally jumped out of her seat. ”Let’s go! Right now! Every second we waste is a second more that those poor animals are stuck in those stables! Ooh, maybe we can convince Red Tornado to keep them in the base for a little while, until we can find them a home!”

Oh God, what have I done. Alisa stood, too, although much more cautiously. A horse rescue mission sounded much worse. “Let’s not get too hasty,” she placated and reached her hands out. “We both care a lot about horses-” A lie, horses were the worst animal- “But we’d be breaking our cover. Jeopardizing the mission and- and our teammates! Plus… Red Tornado is really strict, and he has a no-pets policy. We’d get grounded! Well, you’d get grounded, I’d get more grounded…”

”You kidding? This is important, Alisa! Those poor ponies...poor, poor ponies...” Maya shook her head in sadness at the thought. ”Being a hero is about being a hero, you know? Like, you have to stand up for what you believe in. And also take autographs, hopefully. Come on!”

Alisa shook her head violently. “But Red Tornado said that, um. He said if the new people get in trouble at the fair or breaks a rule on this mission, they’ll get kicked off the team!” That was absolutely not true, but sometimes lies were necessary.

”Come on, Alisa, loosen up!” Maya said playfully. ”We won’t get kicked off the team because we won’t get caught. I mean, I know I won’t get caught. And you probably won’t. You’re in good shape,” Maya said offhandedly. ”You sound awfully robotic right now. We’re superheroes, remember? This’ll be a walk in the park. Literally.”

Alisa blushed at Maya’s compliment, but kept her arms crossed and her eyes to the side. “One, that’s offensive to robots. Two, you don’t think two horses are conspicuous?” Alisa retorted.

”Three, who cares about a bunch of dumb robots? They don’t feel anything. And four, we can just take them out the back when the people in charge are distracted. I’ll make a distraction, and you take the horses out the back. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.” Maya rubbed her hands together. ”This’ll be just like Ocean’s Eight! Except with horses, and not a cash grab.”

Alisa suddenly scowled, looking pissed. She wasn’t sure if Maya knew about her metallic insides quite yet, but that was still… well, maybe true most of the time, but she didn’t like it! “There are robots with feelings,” she snapped. “Asshole.” She then pondered the plan for a moment and sighed. There would be no convincing Maya.

“Fine. But I’m distracting.”
”OK, OK, jeez.” Maya rolled her eyes. ”Whatever you say.” Maya stood from the table, gesturing for Alisa to follow her. ”Let’s go rescue some ponies! Woohoo!”

---

The duo arrived at the horse rides area, which only consisted of a small tent and a grassy area with a number of fences to mark the path of the ride. A few ponies were leashed to a metal fencepost nearby. Maya stretched her arms. ”Remember the plan. You keep the guy working the horses distracted, and I’ll free the ponies. Then, you meet me out there by that big cherry tree over there. Got it?”

Alisa gulped, staring down the equine animals. Their beady eyes… their giant teeth… their horrible faces all gave her goosebumps. If she had a heart, it would’ve been beating in her ears, but her body settled for a light shaking. “Yeah, yeah. Got it.”

Once Maya left, Alisa walked up the counter, smiling broadly. “Hello, sir, can I-” She then practically threw herself into the table, breaking it with the force of her weight and fall, and began to scream. “MY LEG! MY LEG! Oh god, I’ve broken my leg! I’m going to sue all of you!” A more astute watcher would’ve noted the lack of any tears, blood, or a twisted leg, but this seemed enough to distract the employees. They rushed to her side, offering first aid and apologies.

Maya gave a thumbs-up before dramatically ducking down, rolling out of the line of sight of the pony rides operator and stealthily moving towards the place where the ponies were kept in captivity. As Alisa did her task, Maya quietly made her way over to the fencepost, holding out her hand. A small puff of red mist materialized at her palm, and in a split second Blood Moon appeared in her hand. With a single, precise stroke, Maya sliced free all the horses. ”Run free, horses! Run free!” she whispered, as her eyes flitted over towards Alisa. ”This is a bit over-the-top,” she muttered as she quietly made her way towards the cherry tree, the horses running wild into the plains.

Alisa wasn’t dumb enough to just walk away, so she ushered Maya over as she continued to fake-wail. “My friend is going to take me to the hospital, and then we’re going to sue you and your stupid horses! Right, Ma...ria?”

”O-oh, yeah, right!” Maya jogged over, helping lift Alisa off the ground. ”Let’s go, Stacy! I know a great lawyer that’s going to sue the pants off of you guys!”

Alisa hobbled away with Maya. She limped for a good few moments, putting her weight on Maya, before standing up once they were out of sight. “That… was actually easy!” She also hadn’t had to see a horse, which was great.

”Jesus Christ, you’re heavy...yeah, that was great! We did it!”

“It’s rude to call a girl fat,” Alisa teased.

”I didn’t say you were fat,” Maya retorted with a smirk.

“Not true! You totally did. Meanie.” Alisa playfully pinched a piece of skin on Maya’s arm.

”Hey!” Maya giggled, swatting back at Alisa. ”Stop that!”

Alisa swiped at Maya’s shoulder with her fist, laughing. “Oh yeah? Take that!”

Maya laughed again. ”Bully!” She wound up a fist in response, before stopping. ”Oh my God, Daisy came back! She seems to like you!”

Indeed, right behind Alisa was a tall white horse, which promptly breathed down the back of Alisa’s neck.

With a slowly dawning look of horror on her face, Alisa turned around to stare at the horse. The beast was far taller than her, and it breathed down her neck, going as far as to nose her shoulder. Alisa could only stare for a moment, stock-still, before she let out a blood-curdling scream and ran behind Maya.

“Get it away from me! Oh my God oh my God oh my God-” Alisa clutched Maya’s arms, using her as a human shield.

Maya stood in confusion for a few moments. ”Alisa, you realize it’s a...” The realization then dawned on her, and Maya began to start uncontrollably laughing, in dolphin-like spurts of squeals and giggles. In between laughs, Maya managed to choke out, ”You’re...hah...afraid...hah...of...HORSES!” She then continued laughing hysterically, as if this was the funniest thing she had seen in years, while Daisy nuzzled his nose against Maya’s outstretched hand (Maya’s other hand being wrapped around her stomach, as she was belly-laughing quite hard).

Alisa blushed scarlet, backing away in the meantime. “I am not! And it’s not funny. They’re… they’re freakish! Look at it!”

Daisy the horse stared back at Alisa with doleful eyes.

“It would kill you all in your sleep if it could!”

Maya rolled her eyes. ”Ah, yes. How could I not be scared of its intimidating glare, and its ominous neighing.” She laughed again. ”So, is your backstory your parents being killed at the Kentucky Derby? Or were you captured as a child by a gang of palominos?"

“No. My mom took me to a farm once, and had me ride a horse… and it kicked me so hard it dented my abdomen. Dented it! It also ripped out my hair. I had to get a whole new set.” Alisa still huddled behind Maya, watching the horse carefully as it stared at her with scheming eyes.

”Hey, I get it, we all have our phobias. You should've told me sooner and I wouldn't have- holy shit, wait a fucking second, did you just say DENTED?!”

“Yeah, so? It kicked me here-” Alisa knocked on her stomach, and a faintly hollow sound echoed- “and I got a giant dent.”

”Did you just say. Dented.” Maya repeated, more as a surprised statement this time as her eyes widened.

“Yes. Is your hearing alright?”

”...I am speaking to a robot.”

“I mean, I prefer android, but you didn’t realize that? I thought Katana would at least brief you a little.”

”No! I thought you were, like, an energy armor type! Not a fucking robot!”

“So? Do you have a problem with that?”

”Yes,” Maya said bluntly, scratching the back of her head, still looking a bit shell-shocked.

Alisa’s eyes then went wide, looking hurt. She had started to think that her unnatural origins might not have been as big a deal as she thought, but was she wrong? “... You do? Why?”

"I mean.." Maya's eyes twinkled. ”Why didn't anybody tell me? That is, like, so cool! Can you turn into a car like a Transformer or something? I didn't realize robots could be so...normal!" Maya started to check Alisa out. ”So, you're 100% robot? This is all metal?" she asked, gesturing at Alisa's synthetic body.

“... Mostly stainless steel, silicon, and plastic, but with some other alloys too…” Alisa’s hurt look morphed into one of confusion. Such a quick turn-around! “I don’t know what a Transformer is, so no, and yes, I am 100% synthetic.”

”Shit. That's why you weighed so much. I was starting to think you just filled up with Hot Pockets back at the base.” Maya laughed. ”So if you're a robot, can you, like, do my chores too? If you don't run out of energy or something?"

“I’m not that kind of robot, and I’m not doing your chores. I already have extra.” Alisa then raised a brow. “You haven’t told me anything about you, Maya.”

”Fair enough." Maya sat down, withdrawing her hand and signalling for the (very confused) Daisy to run off, which the horse then did. ”What do you want to know, then? It’s not going to be as cool as the whole ‘being a robot’ thing."

“It’s really not that cool. But where are you from? What are your abilities? How did you come to be with Katana? Why are you here? Stuff like that.”

”I’m from a little place called Gotham City and I’m here to carry this team," Maya said with a prolonged stretch of her arms, not a drop of sarcasm on her face. ”Me and Katana both use swords, so it was kind of a natural fit. Here, let me show you. Senshi!"

Maya held up her hand, and the katana phased into existence right in front of Alisa’s eyes

Alisa snorted. “Cool sword, but if you think you’re gonna ‘carry’ the team…” She then put a little thought into it, and smirked. “Tell you what. If you can beat Talon, Rain, and... let’s say, Brightheart in a fight, then you can say that.”

“What’s special about the sword?”

Maya gave a confident smile. ”I could beat both of those Batman wannabe emos with one arm," the girl boasted. ”Brightheart, no way. She is so hot. Jesus. How do you not get self-conscious?" Maya exhaled loudly. ”Damn. Anyway, this is Blood Moon." Maya held up the sword. ”There’s a whole-ass demon in here. Pretty cool, right?"

“You’d be surprised,” Alisa told her. In truth, there was no way that Alisa thought Maya could beat any of the three of them. “Although, I did beat Viktor in our first spar. Also, yes. Aleen’a is pretty, but very nice!” Alisa then shook her head, looking skeptical for a moment, before sighing and letting her shoulders slump. “I guess I’ve seen crazier things. Like everything Zach does…”

”No, it’s actually a cursed sword!" Maya twirled it above her head with expert control. ”A single touch onto a normal person will leave a wound of unbearable pain," Maya said as she brought down the sword, prodding Alisa with it. ”I guess if you’re a robot, you don’t feel pain, though, right? Lucky."

Unfortunately for them, Alisa did feel pain. And the sword happened to hurt like a bitch. Alisa gasped and screamed, again, jumping back from the sword and Maya. “Ow ow ow ow- WHY WOULD YOU TOUCH ME WITH THAT?!” She nursed her still burning hand, knowing there was nothing she could do for it. The sword had gone straight through her “skin” and some of the metal of her hand, leaving a significant slice of her wrist that showed the metal underneath.

”Holy shit I’m so sorry!" Maya said with a start, immediately dropping the sword and reaching to take Alisa’’s hand. ”Fucking Christ, why did they program you to feel pain?!"

“My mom hates me, I guess?!” Alisa closed her eyes tight, biting her cheek and trying not to scream again. She relinquished her hand to Maya, letting her see it. “Ow, god, that hurts…”

”Hang on one second, it’ll be all better in a second. SENSHI, FIX HER!" Maya yelled at the discarded sword next to her. Meanwhile, Alisa’s wound started to grow worse, the metal around the wound starting to corrode and flake away, the unbearable pain only continuing to grow stronger.

Alisa’s eyes widened in panic and pain as the rest of her hand began to corrode. “Make it stop make it stop make it stop-” She barely kept from screaming, only moaning and buckling over. “Seriously, stop it, Maya! It’s not funny, my hand!”

”Stop panicking! The worse you panic, the worse it gets! It’s a demon curse!”

“MAKE IT STOP CUTTING OFF MY FUCKING HAND THEN!”

The pain eventually subsided, and Alisa’s hand slowly stopped evaporating. ”There we go. Sorry, Lis. Didn’t realize that you, err, would notice anything there. My bad.”

Alisa looked substantially pissed as she stared down at the missing portions of her left hand. There was a large hole in the spot where the back of her hand met her arm, extending to just below her thumb. Metal and wiring was exposed, and Alisa scowled as she flexed her hand with a bit of fine dexterity difficulty. “I’m going to have to get that fixed, now that my only left hand doesn’t work. Thanks..” ‘Carry the team’ her ass. Maya couldn’t even control her sword.

”You’re welcome,” Maya shot back sarcastically. ”Why don’t you give it a few seconds?” Maya looked down at her wrist, where her watch would’ve been if she had a watch. Indeed, as if it were magic (which it was), the place that the corrosion had occurred was now repairing itself, wires shifting back to where they were before and fragments of metal growing from where the gap had once been. Soon, the only indication that anything had ever happened was a slight scar where Maya had originally sliced through, and of course, Alisa’s memories of the horrible, agonizing pain.

Alisa flexed her hand again, looking surprised after the sudden healing. “Huh… I’ve never had a scar.” She then shrugged. “Don’t try that again. Seriously. If I were flesh and blood, you’d be in deep trouble.”

Maya nodded intensely. ”Yep. And I owe you a favor. Big-time. Anything you want.”

“Anything?”

”I hate where this is headed, but yeah.”

“Hm. I’ll think about it. I mean, it won’t be crazy, but I’ll think on it.”

Maya sighed. This was gonna come back to bite her. ”Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Alisa! Don't forget to take Fluffy with you,” Maya added as she strolled back towards the fairgrounds.

“Oh, see you!” Alisa waved at Maya’s back, clutching ‘Fluffy’ in her hands. This had been interesting, but she still wasn’t sure how she felt about Maya. Only time would tell. She cast one last suspicious look at Daisy the horse, who was peacefully munching on grass, before walking off herself. Time to go find a rollercoaster… or maybe another of her friends.

Location: Haly's circus fair
Interactions: Mirage, She-devil, Rain

---

Daphne smiled. It was nice to see Kassy enjoyed the fair as much as she did. She looked into Kassy's eyes which were now green. That really was a neat trick she did. That subtle use of her illusions impressed Daphne. She briefly wondered if it would work on her too. It could be fun to change up her eye color for a day. Hers were just a boring brown.

She giggled at Kassy's story on how she won Zach´s unicorn. That was sweet of her to get him something. Daphne looked at the blue unicorn, thinking back on all the stuffed animals her dad and brother got for her over the years. Even though she was older now, they never really lost their appeal. Seeing them made her just as happy as when she was a little kid. She could always win herself one. Try her hand at the games that didn´t require as much dexterity.

"I'm glad you're having a good time"
"You know, that man just didn't expect you to be that good, they make the most money off of people who lose"

Daphne shrugged. If Kassy wanted to go back there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it. There were a bunch of rides Daphne knew Kassy would probably like. The rollercoasters kind of made you feel like you were underwater, flying weightless through the air. There were two corndogs in each hand of her hands. Daphne tried to adjust her grip, but was scared that would make her drop them. She dropped enough food today and she promised these to Bex.

She looked over at Kassy, her arms were stacked with food too. She could ask for a basket at the stall. A second stop at the food stall and she was set. There problem solved.
"Let's go and take these to Bex and the others, we can go on some rides after lunch if you want"

They walked over to Bex and Viktor who were standing beside the High striker. Bex was carrying a huge pink stuffed panda. The combination of her mildly sour expression with the stuffed animal made Daphne laugh and she bit her lip. She reached out with a basket of two corndogs, trying to keep a straight face.
"I got you two, not sure how many you wanted, there's more."
"But you'll have to share them with....Viktor" The identity of sexy Eeyore was confirmed to be Viktor. Daphne could sort of see the resemblance and again had to keep from laughing.

Daphne gestured to the pink panda. She looked behind Bex to see if there was another one. It looked like they won the only one. Too bad, it was really cute.
"I can hold onto it if you want to eat"

She turned to Viktor and handed him the second basket of corndogs.
"I didn't know if you wanted some too, so I got these just in case."

@dreamingflowers@FunnyGuy






Lounge

Ja, Kila, whatever name he was going by these days, was feeling nice today. He asked Zach what kind of performance he could do at the circus. Zach had to think about it for a minute.“Hmm, your thing is with animals right? We could do something with that. But… not all circuses use animals these days… Um… In case they don’t, would you mind channeling a lion, and jumping through flaming hoops yourself? Zach chuckled at that.

—-

Fairground

Eventually, the entire group arrived at the fair. Why Batman gave them so much free time before the show, Zach didn’t know, but for him this was a big advantage. Everyone split up to check out the rest of the fair. However, this was Zach’s big night! He didn’t have time to play around. “Well, while you guys are running around playing games, I have stuff to do. A showman’s work is never done.” He tipped his hat, then made his way towards the circus tent. Zach had to check out the venue before anything else.

Zach pulled out his cell phone, and started to livestream. “Goooood 'afternoon Zatarans! It’s your boy Zatara the Great here! Streaming a behind the scenes look at my new live show!”

Seemingly out of nowhere Zatanna appeared in the frame of Zach’s camera, waving to all his fans enthusiastically.

“Goooood afternoon Zatarans! It's yours truly, Zatanna! And I think my cousin here means to say our live show. Right?” She had announced herself with allure. She continued to wave at the camera with a charming smile.

Zach narrowed his eyes, “Yeah, that…” He knew his cousin would be here. Still, he had been looking forward to headlining his own show for once. Not just being Zatanna’s opening act, or assistant. Meanwhile Zach’s phone screen lit up with excited comments about Zatanna making an appearance on Zach’s channel.

“Omg! It’s Zatanna! :D”

“I was wondering if she would ever show up on this channel!”

“You’re the best Zatanna!”

The young magician sighed and went on with it. He had to give the fans what they wanted. “That’s right folks. Cousin Zee and I are performing at Haly’s Circus. This is a rare opportunity to see both Zataras together live! Don’t miss it. But… let’s be real. I’m the star of this show. After all, I’m the fresh faced new talent!” He grinned, and winked at the camera while Zatanna removed her hat with a bow before leaving the frame.

“I'm really liking your confidence Zach! I mean, you'll definitely need it tomorrow night. But, you'll also need to have great performances too. Do you think your team is ready to work the stage?” Her eyes scanned around him as a way of obviously noticing the absence of the mentioned team.

“Aw yeah. They’ll be great!” Zach tried to be cool about it, but internally Zach was sweating bullets. He knew very well that none of them had ever had to perform in front of an audience in their lives! “We’ll put on a show the likes of which you’ve never seen!” it had to be. If Zach was going to make a name for himself, outside of being Zatanna’s kid cousin, he had to blow whatever she was doing completely out of the water.

As if on cue, a chocolate mass of curls popped up from over Zach’s shoulder, and with it a face. “Hai Zatarans! Hai Zatannans! Hai Zachy!” Ja called happily, waving with powdered sugar around his lips. If the plate of funnel cake wasn’t enough of an indication, the jungle boy had been around the premises, grabbing up whatever food he could find.

“Well, Zach, I have never seen that before, so I guess I can take your word for it.” Zatanna gave a brief smile to Ja. “And what's your act meant to be?”

“I don’t want to spoil the surprise for Zachy’s internet friends. But, I will say that my act is…fire.” Ja explained, waving a jazz hand that eventually went down to the funnel cake and yapped another piece off.

Zach nodded. “Absolutely. Our show will be one to remember.” Whether that was a good thing or not remains to be seen.

Location: Haly's Circus Fair
Interactions: Bex @psych0pomp, Daphne @dreamingflowers, and Kassy @Mistress Dizzy

---

“Zach's... wand?” Viktor questioned aloud while Bex shifted her attention to her phone. He might have been completely lost, but her also stating that he 'got around' gave him some context. Hours of watching bad reality television had surprisingly taught him some relevant interpersonal concepts. So when it clicked, he raised an eyebrow, wondering why Bex would even ask that. “I only pretended to be her boyfriend to ward off someone following her.” He clarified without acknowledging the comment about Zach's "wand".

At the mention of Daphne coming over with food, Viktor spotted just that. Not a surprise. It was hard to deny her nice gestures. He just preferred Daphne brought more to the table than being the team's waitress. Kassy was with her, wearing a backpack with a stuffed unicorn's head poking out the top. It was proof she had claimed victory here at the fair. Not a surprise either. Even now, Viktor was judging his teammates.

“She'll live if I take two for myself…” He grabbed the tray from Daphne. “And what's with that face?” Viktor noticed Daphne making humored expressions at both he and Bex. He started to notice a hint of green on her cheeks and decided to retract his question. “Nevermind. Thanks for the food.”

And then Bex posed her question about everyone's relationship status accompanied by a wink. He was no stranger to the flirty gesture and took the initiative in answering first. “I'm single.” He then took a bite out of one of the corndogs and looked between the others to hear what they'd say. He didn't believe anyone else was in a relationship, but he also knew he was no expert in these matters.

Location: Haly´s circus fair
Interactions: She-devil, Rain, Mirage

---

Relationship status.....
Daphne felt like she'd missed out on part of the conversation. Bex and Viktor were talking about something before Kassy and her arrived, leaving the other girls clueless. Maybe it was Bex being abrasive along with Viktor being his usual stoic self, but seeing them together wasn't funny anymore. It left her with this this sinking feeling in her stomach.

Viktor said he was single. Daphne kind of expected that would be his answer. It would take a particular kind of girl to stand up to a guy like that. On the other hand maybe he was different as a boyfriend, she couldn't imagine it though, but maybe.

Honestly Daphne really didn't feel like sharing her relationship status, not that there was anything to share. Bex just made her painfully aware of that fact. She didn't mind being single, or at least she thought she didn't. Until someone pointed it out. Daphne tried not to compare herself to the blonde girl, but she didn't want to come across as plain as she felt. So she panicked and.....lied.

"I have a boyfriend."
She squeezed the stuffed panda a little tighter, immediately regretting her words.

Kassy nibbled at her burger, wondering how their casual chat had come to this. Bex cut straight to the quick, didn’t she? She still wasn’t sure how well she’d get along with this bright and bold-mouthed girl. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try.

Also, when had Daphne found time for a boyfriend? Although it made sense, she was just so pretty… Boys couldn’t stay away from girls like her.

“I’m alone. No beau's of any kind.” She piped up finally, wondering why it mattered. Having given up even being casually crushed on a long time ago, the reminder stung just a bit. No one would ever like her like that, and that was just the way it had to be.

“By the way, I’m Kassandra. I don’t think I managed to introduce myself earlier. Sorry about that.” She smiled apologetically at Bex.

H A L Y'S C I R C U S F A I R

---

The night started off with a dazzling opening act of Zatanna herself. Amazing the circus goers with illusion upon illusion and a creative repertoire of tricks, accomplished through a secret blend of real magic and showmanship. As far as the mission was concerned things had actually gone pretty smoothly for a change. The Team together with Zatanna had narrowed down the initial list of suspects to six people. Five of them were part of the first half of the show, following up after Zatanna. They’d gathered more in depth information on each of them.

There’s the Bearded Lady. She has been with the circus a long time and has seemed to come across some more money, having purchased a new car and expensive jewelry.

The Firebreather. He's always getting into arguments with the manager and often says he can find better use of his talents elsewhere

The Juggler. A rude guy that doesn't bother socializing with anyone. He's been around a while, but no one really knows him.

The Contortionist. Recently joined the circus. Wasn't the first choice to be hired because of her attitude but somehow managed to "convince" the big boss into giving her the job. Is often mia when she's scheduled for a performance

The Fortune teller. Has been with the circus on and off over the years. She makes good money off her fortune telling but her extensive collection of occult paraphernalia doesn't come cheap.

The Pyrotechnics guy. Has "accidentally" burned circus property multiple times. They say he's just a clumsy guy but what if he's trying to erase his tracks?

It was up to the Team to identify the supplier without tipping him or her off. Depending on their approach they could either question the performers still waiting in the back, or opt to go see them during the second half of the show. That would free the suspects schedule, but they also needed to manage their performances.

Currently the Firebreather was warming up the stage. Lucky for him and the audience he was wearing a mask, so the nasty bruise on his cheek and a left black eye were concealed. The result of a minor disagreement with his colleagues.

The act started out with minor feats such as putting out candles through unconventional methods. The performance flourished into swallowing burning swords, followed by fire breathing and finally walking through a wall of fire.

Location: Haly´s circus, inside the tents
Interactions: The Team

---

Daphne popped some sweet popcorn into her mouth, chewing on it slowly. Some of it spilled onto her lap. She was watching the performance of the firebreather, her warm brown eyes following him across the stage. There were a couple of times where she could feel the heat of the flames on her cheeks. When that happened she inched back into her seat some more. She thought about the mission objective. The firebreather could possibly be the supplier they were looking for. What would be the best way to figure it out?

He was known to be hotheaded. It was part of the reason why he was on the list of suspects. He would probably respond best to someone calm and collected, sending another hothead after him could end up in a fight. She could do it... but. Daphne glanced around trying to spot her team members. She hesitated, maybe she should ask someone first, or maybe she should ask Zach. He was their leader on this mission.

Or.....
Maybe she could do something on her own, be pro active for a change. Daphne wanted to redeem herself after her failure at La Hoya. It would give the Team a reason to keep her around and also prove to herself she did belong here. A small success was going to make her feel better. Like Black Canary said, it wasn't enough to want to stay, you had to fight for it. Not react, but act.

The performance of the fire breather was coming to a close. That was her cue, Daphne got out her phone and typed up a message in the Team's group chat.
"Guys I'm going to chat to the fire breather, see if I can figure out if it's our guy" She pressed send and got up from her seat. She brushed the popcorn from her dress and slowly made her way down to the stage.

That evening, it was time for the performance to start. Zatanna went up first, doing what she usually does. Dazzling the audience with a show using a combination of sorcery and stage magic that Zach knew he couldn’t possibly compete with. Yet, if he wanted to maintain his reputation, he had to. They had also gathered the list of suspects for the mission they were actually supposed to be on, but Zach wasn’t too concerned about that. He had a show to put on. Besides, what were they going to do, interrogate people? Batman specifically said not to do that. It would draw unnecessary attention to them.

First things first, he had to get his lovely assistant ready. “Viktor darling, I do hope you weren’t planning on interrogating those suspects yourself. We have a show to prepare for. First things first.” He handed Viktor a paper with Zach’s introduction on it that he wrote himself. “You’re going to introduce me. Heres the script. Memorize that. You probably also need to work on your inflection… Also… Emutsoc egnahc!” He waved his wand, and changed Viktor’s clothes into a gray and black suit. “If your going to be my assistant, you have to dress the part.”

Then Zach started pacing in circles. “Now the important part… What am I gonna do for an act? These people already saw my cousin. You’ve seen what she can do. She pulled an audience member out of her hat for crying out loud! What am I going to do that doesn’t seem derivative?”

Location: Haly's Circus
Interactions: Daphne @dreamingflowers Zach @crimson flame

---

“Just don’t screw things up”

Viktor sent the text as he considered following Daphne or in the best case, intercepting her. He could not allow her to ruin another mission, and so he got up from his seat so he could get backstage. He had escaped the audience before a familiar voice stopped him.

“Viktor darling, I do hope you weren’t planning on interrogating those suspects yourself. We have a show to prepare for. First things first.” Viktor faced Zach with a somewhat bothered look at first, but remembered he had agreed to assist him in his act. Gathering information was important, but maintaining their cover as performers was just as crucial. He received Zach’s script and listened to his guidance before he heard a familiar spell. He flinched some as his casual clothing changed into something more formal. He favored the colors, but simply said…

“Thanks.” He looked over the script, noticing many exclamation points within it. Inflection… Viktor was finding his responsibility as Zach’s lovely assistant would be much more taxing than he thought. He could have suggested having Daphne or Ja fill his position, but the challenge presented enticed him. When Zach asked about what his act might be, he noticed that he was somewhat stressed. It was whenever he brought Zatanna’s talent up, that Zach’s confidence was shaken. “Change a steak into a rabbit… Your way. Fill in the gaps.” Viktor suggested.

---

Kilamanjaro bounced about on the balls of his feet to the introductory music, being more percussive in origin. It sounded like they were trying to imitate the tones of a Djembe drum, trying to set the tone for his act. The name he had given them, despite the anxious feeling it gave him, was that he was to be called “Ja Zaki, King of Beasts”. Despite the fear that the name gave him personally, it was all he could think of in the spur of the moment. Besides that, very few would actually know that name, much less common American people.

The green and brown colored costume offered was weird in fit. The torso had a full sleeve on only one arm, yet came with a smaller detached sleeve for his uncovered forearm. Then on top of that, it was tight up top, with the pants being the opposite as they were swishy and loose. Ja had also gotten Kassy to tie his hair back into a puffy sort of tail on the back of his head. That way the top could fit under a golden colored bandana that covered the scalp, eyes, and nose. Even for Ja’s liking, he felt a little goofy, but he didn’t mind much.

The surprise about this act was that Ja didn’t know what animal they’d be bringing out. He told them to bring him whoever among the animals they had, and he could tame them to perform actions. In order to do this, he’d have to impose his Spirit of The Wild on them though. He didn’t like to do it, it felt wrong to project his will onto them opposed to asking, but this mission needed to be completed effectively. There could be no room for error, like the last mission.

Before long, two burley men walked out with a cage on wheels, covered in cloth. As they came to the center, Ja felt a foreboding feeling come to him in response. He felt something akin to heartache, rage, and hunger coming from the cage.

“For our next performance, we have Ja Zaki the King of Beasts. He claims to be able to tame any animal he comes into contact with. However, can he navigate 250 pounds of pure muscle and unbridled ferocity?! Allow us to present…”

The fake Djembe drumming picked up. Rings of varying circumference size and heights flicked to life with fire. Then, in a sudden motion, two of the men pulled the cloth from the cage to reveal a young female bengal tiger. The sudden lights and loud sound caused the tigress to flatten her ears and snarl in a defensive position.

“Bhoomi!! And the Flaming Rings of Fury!!” The announcer shouted followed by the guitar riff for Eye of The Tiger, causing the crowd to cheer in astonishment. Ja stared at the tigress and his jaw nearly dropped but he caught himself. To most, she would appear muscular and fearsome, but off the bat, he could tell that she was underweight. If Ja could guess, it appeared that they fed her just enough to keep up appearances. Already, Ja wasn’t happy about the circus anymore.

One of the men from before came to him holding a whip and a bucket of meat, another holding the door to the cage. To the man with the “taming” materials, Ja didn’t even look at him again, waving him off, to which the announcer made commentary to boost crowd reactions.

”Open it.” Ja commanded, to which the attendants hesitated. They looked to the ringmaster, who gave an approving nod, and they complied.

With one metal wall of the cage opened, the attendants all took a step back, clearly on edge. Ja, in the meantime, crouched down and kept his eyes on Bhoomi, who surveyed the opening of the cage. In an instant, Bhoomi zoomed out of her cage, forepaws thrown directly into Ja’s chest. As he crashed on his back with the tiger atop of him, there was an abundance of crowd gasps and concerned murmurs following quickly. A few more attendants started to move in and there was a moment of silence in the crowd, the music turned down. However, they stopped.

From under the tiger, Ja had raised one of his arms, waving them away from Bhoomi, who looked all around her with a growl. Ja put hands to the sides of her head, causing her to abruptly stare down at him. Upon eye contact, Ja felt the flow of the Red surge through him, flowing out to Bhoomi. In a moment’s notice, it could be observed that Ja Zaki started rubbing up and down the tigress’ neck. Then with a small groan, she seemed to playfully roll over and off of him.

Just like that, Ja popped up from the ground, looking around the crowd. Remembering that this was supposed to be a performance, he smiled and raised his hands. The additional attendees backed off and the announcer simply picked up where they left off playing it off as though part of the act. Bhoomi stretched her shoulders and upper body with a much calmer aura.

“And so the Ja Zaki has proven to finesse the feline femme fetale!” Was the remark, to which the crowd built itself back up to cheering. The man from earlier that had the bucket of meat, having relinquished the whip now, tried to approach once again. Ja once again waved him off. Food, even if for a reward for jumping through the rings, would be too much right now. With the tigress in mind, seeing memories through her eyes, Ja now knew that she was long hungry.

It would have to wait until later…for now, he elected to slap the ground instead to get Bhoomi’s attention. Carrying on with the act, the King of Beasts ran towards one of the larger, lower rings of fire, jumping through it with ease. Once through, Ja turned around and beckoned for her to follow, which took no time at all. With the first completed, the music cued back up, and the crowd’s cheers built back up.

With that, Ja continued jumping through rings, and Bhoomi continued to follow through. Each set of rings increased in difficulty, shrinking in size, increasing in number of jumps necessary. This went on for a little while, as they didn’t seem to anticipate “Ja Zaki” to be able to tame the tigress for that long.The crowd seemed to like it, so the attendants started readjusting the rings in new patterns while the act was going on, to which Ja and Bhoomi simply adapted. At this point, they were going beyond what was rehearsed when it was just him earlier.

Ja was starting to break a sweat, but it wasn’t because of the heat. Given how feral in mind she was from the mistreatment by this circus, Ja had to completely focus on tasks and getting her to complete them by copying him. It was a huge mental strain, and he felt his adrenaline level going the wrong way as her fury crept into him. He wasn’t sure how long he could keep this up.

“And now… the final challenge. Ja Zaki and Bhoomi now must jump through not one, not two, but three rings!” Went the announcer’s charismatic voice as they set it up. Ja sighed, bending over with a hand on his knee, but waving with the other hand for the crowd to cheer louder. Looking back at Bhoomi, she seemed to be a bit off, looking around as though bewildered. A small, low rumbling growl caught Ja’s ears. His hold was loosening as he was getting tired. He eyed the three rings in particular, which were setup to be a little taller than he was. Thankfully they were close together.

All he needed was one more push…thus, standing up straighter and jumping a few times in place, he sprinted for the rings. Jumping up, Ja dove through, narrowly avoiding flames, and rolled upon impact with the ground. Taking in a breath, Ja rested on his hand and knee for a second after getting out of Bhoomi’s landing path. Though, there was hesitation from her this time, clear resistance to his compulsion now.

It was an awkward sort of pause in the action, and Ja felt it. With the potential of jeopardizing this mission on his mind, and Bhoomi’s feral drive fueling his disposition, he yelled out to her directly: ”Kurumidza, Bhoomi!”

After which, he felt a pang in his head. The young man’s body started to feel weak, and vision became blurry for a moment as he rode the wave of a sudden headache…

---

By the time his vision was restored, he rubbed the space between his eyes before opening them and looked around him. It was clear that Bhoomi had gotten through the rings, as the audience gave them a round of applause.

The tigress in the meanwhile was pacing about. Going by her body language, and the way her ears started twitching, he somehow realized what had happened. What would follow, wouldn’t be pretty if misexecuted. He quickly got up to his feet and jogged in her direction.

”You! The bucket, give it here! Give it now!” Kila called the same man with the meat bucket from earlier. Clearly irritated, the man started walking over with the item. When Kila got close to Bhoomi, he stopped, as now she was looking right at him. He opened his palm for the man with the bucket to stop. Instead, he opened and closed his hand. As if instinctively understanding the gesture, the man tossed a turkey leg his way.

Bhoomi watched the meat as it crashed to the ground. She growled, then roared at Kila as he was slowly reaching down to pick it up. Rearing back, she pounced for it and the young warrior dodged to head towards the man with the bucket. With her briefly occupied, he took the bucket and made a break for the cage. Following her nose after having only gotten a morsel, the tigress dashed after Kila.

Trying to keep up with the act, “Ja Zaki” waved to the crowd as he was running with the bucket. With some oohs and aahs, the crowd clapped along. Bhoomi, in a feeding frenzy, jumped to pounce on the boy to end the chase.

In a single motion, Kila jumped to the top of the top of the cage and threw the bucket into the cage for the slightly bloody chops of raw meat to spill about inside. Barely missing him, the tigress followed her stomach and went after the dead meat instead. Once inside, Kila pulled the latches to close the cage’s metal door.

Exhausted, Kila remained laid on top of the tiger’s cage, to which attendants came to roll them off.

“Give it up for Ja Zaki and the Flaming Rings of Fury!”

While Ja’s performance was making the crowd go wild, Kassandra was backstage, getting prepared. She was dressed in a sparkling, blue and green costume with golden trim, one designed to catch the light. There were little scale details on the leggings, and half of a skirt. It was a little thin in some places and hugged her like a glove. She wasn’t sure how comfortable she was about it. Her headphones were slipped over her ears, and she was slowly warming her throat, humming under her breath.

She really should have told Ja to keep her singing a secret. Now she was on the spot for a live performance that she wasn’t even sure she could pull off. Her heart wanted to burst from her chest, and her hands were shaking. But there wasn’t time to call it off.

“And now… the mystical stylings of the mysterious mermaid, Lady Velvet!”

It was time.

Kassandra (or Lady Velvet as they were calling her) stepped out from backstage. Already, a large tank had been set up. The crowd was politely applauding. Why were there so many people?! Her illusion-green eyes flicked from face to face. They were going to hate it, they were going to laugh! Trying to smother a fear that made her weak in the knees, she stepped toward a very large tank of water that had been set up previously.

“Ahem.” What to say? She had a little receiver attached to her ear, one that was extremely waterproof. “T-Thank you all for coming out tonight! I… I hope you like my song!”

With that, she ascended the steps and slowly, walked into the water. As soon as her knees hit, she let herself transform. There were soft gasps from the crowd, and one little kid definitely started to cry. Before Kassy could think too much on it, the music started.

The flute intro was soft and inviting. Kassy thought about the first time she had heard this song, a very long time ago, when she was small and her parents had still been alive. She was 8 and had never heard opera before, but when the diva sang, Kassy knew she wanted to be just like that. Something deep within warmed her heart, her mouth opened, and she began to sing.

The crowd was doubtless not going to understand old Atlantean. But it was close enough to Latin that they would probably just think it a human language. The music swelled and rose with Kassy’s voice, as she gestured and sang sweetly.

About a minute passed, and Kass’s voice slipped nearly into silence.

It was funny, what you learned from others. As soon as Zach and Ja had explained to her the concept of a “remix”, she knew she wanted to try it.

The music corresponded with a burst of light, and the beat picked up. Kassy began to weave and dance in the water. Nothing too extra. A few spins and then she was back on the beat, her voice like no classical opera ever performed. She twirled, she rose, she belted. The people at the lights matched her, putting on a dazzling show. Her voice spilled forth from the bottom of her soul.

With a flourish, the song ended. There was the briefest moment of silence as the lights were brought back up.

And then the crowd started cheering uproariously. Kassy opened her eyes to see the arena on it’s feet, clapping and cheering. For her – her! She grinned until her face hurt and bowed, as they wheeled off the tank with her still inside.

---

---

Sword-swallowing, it turned out, was not as easy as Alisa had thought it would be. Although she had no fleshy esophagus to pierce with the razor-sharp blade she was shoving in her mouth, it still hurt when it scraped the back of her throat. It had taken several tries (and several dozen YouTube videos), but Alisa finally figured out how to get it down her throat properly. Now, she stood in her dressing room, laptop open to a YouTube video, practicing lowering the long blade down her throat. It was one of Viktor’s katanas that he had allowed her to borrow for the show. Alisa was being extra careful with them- he wouldn’t be pleased if she scuffed up one of his swords.

After about thirty minutes of practice, Alisa left the tiny dressing room to go do something else. Anything else. Maybe I’ll go watch the performances. Or sort through some of the suspects’ garbage? Both were good ideas, although one of them was much grosser than the other. Alisa adjusted her little plastic mask while she wandered down the hallway, looking for something to do.

Just then, a sequined purple cape entered the corner of her vision. Alisa turned to see the fortune teller… one of their suspects! She grinned and followed the woman down the hallway to her room. “Ma’am! Ma’am!” Alisa rushed to meet her. “Sorry… I just wanted to catch you to tell you what a huge admirer of your work I am. I love… the occult. I’m Ava.” She stuck out her hand. “And, erm, I also wanted to get a fortune? If you have time? I’ll pay once we get our paychecks, if that’s okay.” Of course, it was all a lie- Alisa definitely didn’t want a fortune- but if it got her into the woman’s dressing room, so be it.

The fortune teller, Madame Xanadu stared at Alisa with an intense gaze, taking her time in answering the petite android. She looked to her sides, making sure they were alone before beckoning Alisa to follow her. The woman didn’t acknowledge Alisa’s faked enthusiasm and entered her dressing room. Once Alisa was inside she closed the curtains.

“Please sit, as you don’t have any money, place something of value inside the shell”
On a table there was a silver bowl, shaped like a seashell. It held the earnings of her previous reading. The woman took off her cape and disappeared to the back of the room. It was difficult to make out what she was doing there, a set of drapes concealed her from any clients in the main area of the room.

Alisa drew back, surprised. How had the woman known she didn’t have money? X-ray vision? Creepy. Still, she sat down cross-legged on the pillow in front of the low table, twiddling her thumbs as Madame Xanadu did something in the back. Something of value? Alisa was only wearing her skintight blue performance suit, black performance flats, and her mask. With a sigh, she untied the ribbon on her mask and put it in the shell, revealing her face. What was the harm in it, anyways? She wasn’t recognizable.

“I’m ready!”

There was no reply from the back of the room. No moving of curtains, or any other sound for that matter. It was suspiciously quiet. The only sound came from a set of wind chimes, which was strange because there wasn't any wind. Minutes passed and it seemed more and more likely Alisa was alone in the fortune teller's room. Madame Xanadu had pulled off an impressive disappearing act, almost as if she knew Alisa was coming to see her.

After a minute of sitting in silence, Alisa stood. Something was wrong. “Hello? Miss?” There was silence in return- Alisa couldn’t even hear the sound of breathing.

Perhaps this ‘Madame Xanadu’ was their Kobra operative. The innocent didn’t run. If she was, the team had a much bigger problem than before- Alisa had just totally blown their cover! The girl opened the curtains cautiously, going into the back room.

The back room was full of papers- bank statements, letters, notes- but Alisa didn’t bother with those. Where had she gone? There weren’t doors or windows back here, but the woman certainly hadn’t just walked out the front door. Her being a teleporter was unlikely, so she had to have gotten out some other way.

That was when Alisas eyes fixated on the wind chimes, ringing despite the lack of wind. Her eyes widened. There was a secret entrance! She began to scour the area for any sort of secret opening, upending furniture and putting aside documents for later.

“Xanadu…” A lower male voice hissed from the entrance. He stepped into the room looking for the fortune teller. His eyes shifted from left to right nervously, he didn’t want to linger around too long. On the table he spotted the money shell holding a very strange object… a ribbon?

He walked over to the table and picked up the blue satin ribbon, holding it between his fingers. The man brought it up to his nose and smelled it, it didn’t have any distinguishable scent. There were some sounds coming from the back, but it wasn’t Xanadu, or she would have answered him.

He couldn’t risk it, he had to get out without being spotted. The man quickly scurried out of the room, bringing Alisa’s ribbon with him.

Upon hearing the unfamiliar voice, Alisa stopped looking for the secret door and pressed herself against the wall. She peered out the gauzy purple curtain, not making a sound.

At first, she thought he was just some guy mad at the fortune teller… but then he smelled her mask and ribbon and took them. The guy looked nervous, glancing around, and then left.

Maybe he was the Kobra operative. Alisa glanced around the room, looking at documents. Not for the first time, she wished she had brought a purse… but while she was looking at documents, the guy was getting away! She was briefly agonized between going after the fortune teller or going after the man. One was technically her mission objective, while the other was much more interesting. And he had taken her stuff.

Alisa needed to go after the man- she would come back for the documents later. She discreetly speed-walked out the door, going in roughly the direction she had heard him go out in.

---

After a few minutes spent searching, Alisa saw no sight of the man. Goddamnit. What a waste of time! She then walked back to the fortune teller’s room, to find the door closed and locked. Evidently, Madame Xanadu had come back… and had probably found her things upended, rifled through. Alisa had no mask, had maybe just blown their cover, and had nothing useful to account for all that mess. She scowled and put her face in her hands. She had fucked up.

She still needed to go tell someone, though. Hadn’t Ja just finished his act? He had been in one of his good moods lately. She should go talk to him.

Moments later, she knocked on the door of Ja’s dressing room. “It’s Alisa. Can I come in?”

Once let in, she leaned against the wall. “I hope your act went well! I went to talk to the fortune-teller. I can’t say if she’s the prime suspect or not, but it was weird. She snuck out through some sort of secret opening in the back as soon as I came in, so I started going through her things, but then this guy came in looking for her. He seemed really nervous. He picked up my mask and ribbon and smelled it, and then left. I tried looking for him, but I couldn’t find him, and by the time I went back to her room the door was locked. I didn’t really get enough evidence to confirm anything.

“Anyways, I figured I’d come and tell someone what was up. That’s weird, isn’t it?” She looked a tad bit embarrassed as she said all this, perhaps aware of how dumb this all sounded, but otherwise looked fine.

Zach stopped pacing, scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Oh sure. Turning steak into a rabbit is cute on Youtube. But in front of a live audience, especially after they just saw Zatanna who can do the same thing with actual magic, more powerful than anything I could ever do. It’s just not gonna cut it.”

Zach sighed. “Ever since I decided to be a part of the family business, I’ve always been compared to my cousin. I’ve had a bunch of people subscribe to my channel thinking I was her, and then promptly unsubscribe when they found out I wasn’t. I worked my ass off to get to where I am today, but I’m still called Zatanna Jr. Zatanna’s kid cousin, or whatever nonsense. How is anybody ever going to get to know Zachary Zatara, when all anybody seems to care about is her? Which is why tonight, I have to top whatever she does. I’m going to be the bigger Zatara.”

Location: Backstage, firebreather room
Interactions: Talon

---

“Just don’t screw things up”

Daphne stared at the text, coming to a halt. Even through text she could feel the animosity. It made her stomach turn uncomfortably.
Her fingers hovered over the screen for a while, even typing up half a reply, before deleting it.

I’m not….I’m not going to screw up. Daphne thought. She looked up from her phone an…

“Hey girl, you’re blocking the line” A irritated voice came from behind her. A woman holding a two year old boy by the hand stared at her. Daphne quickly put away her phone and apologized, letting them pass her.

Okay come on Daphne, get your head together. She really needed to not let Viktor get to her this much. She was going to stick to her plan, at least the part of the plan she’d actually thought out.

A couple of minutes later

Daphne walked past several rooms backstage. She’d changed into her costume making her more inconspicuous, blending in with the other performers. Some of the doors were conveniently marked with name tags of acts. It made finding the room of the fire breather much easier.

Found it!
Now all she needed was to find a way ins…

“Drinks and snacks on the house! I’ve got soda’s, popcorn, hot dogs, corn dogs, any dogs”
The vendor laughed at his own joke, slowly passing by each of the rooms. Her mind raced to think of a way she could use this to her advantage.

Daphne walked up to the man not knowing what she was going to say until she opened her mouth. The vendor beat her to it.
“Hi there, what is up, what's cooking good looking? Plant girl right?”

“Yeah…”
“ I uhm… the big boss sent me to help you out, he said you needed a pair of extra hands”

“Needed help?” The vendor looked perplexed for a moment before appearing as if a lightbulb clicked on in his head. “Ohh yeah. You're the relief. Wow, the big boss sure is one hell of a guy!” The vendor smiled as he removed his apron and set it on the concession cart. “The prices are on the side of the cart and no, you cannot snag a bite for free. Anyway, thanks for the relief and seeya later missy!”
Daphne stood next to the cart stunned, she was totally surprised her impromptu plan worked. She put on the apron over her costume and looked at the cart. It was stacked on each side with something sticking out of every nook and cranny. There was no use in trying to organize things, it would be a waste of time. When she approached the room of the firebreather, pushing the cart to the door she started to feel nervous.

A light knock.
“Hi there, snacks on the house!” She said in her most cheerful voice. There was no reply, so Daphne began to list some of the tastiest snacks on the menu. Still nothing. She glanced around. There were still a couple of people in the hallway. Just barging into the room would be suspicious, anyone here could be working for Kobra. Daphne remembered Batman’s briefing.

She pushed at the door, it wasn’t locked. Daphne had an idea.
“Two hot dogs with extra ketchup?” “Coming right up Sir!” She made sure she was loud enough for the other performers to hear her. Daphne prepped the two hotdogs and made her way inside the room. There was no one inside. She set the hotdogs on a side table and looked around.

The room was just a regular room. One corner was used to prepare props the firebreather used for his acts. What was she even looking for? The supplier probably wouldn’t leave evidence just laying around. The room smelled vaguely like sulfur. Daphne made sure not to move things around unless she absolutely had to.

The sound of footsteps approaching the door drew her attention and she glanced over her shoulder. Oh no….
Her heartbeat jumped up and her first thought was to hide. She quickly inched closer to the walls of the room getting out of the immediate line of sight.

Alright, just stay calm. Daphne was considering her options. She briefly considered lying to his face, making up some kind of reason on why she was in the room. Who was she kidding? She couldn’t pull that off, hiding was the next best thing. There was a standing closet a few steps away from her. This needed to be quick. She ran to the closet, pulled open the doors and pushed herself in, squeezing her body between a row of costumes hanging from a rack. Daphne carefully pulled the doors shut and put her hand over her mouth.

“Who the heck left this cart at my door?! And where's Tommy? Sheesh, that dude is gonna get fired quicker than the last guy.” Daphne could easily hear the Firebreather's voice behind the door. In the next instance, the man entered his room as if he expected someone to be waiting there. More specifically, Tommy who manned the cart.

“Huh? What's this?” He sounded like he noticed something off.

Daphne stayed quiet. She looked down at her phone, quickly muting it. That would be the worst way to blow her cover.
I hope the Team is doing a better job than I am.
So far she had nothing on the firebreather and she was stuck in place.

“Hotdogs! My fave! I… you gotta be kidding me! Ketchup?! I fucking hate ketchup!” The Firebreather grunted muttered a few more curses before speaking again. “Now I gotta wipe it all off… Wait a hot minute. Wait a hot minute! This… this stuff was staged! Those losers are trying to butter up to me now that they know I got a new gig in Metropolis! And even then, they screw it up. After this show, I'm leaving this shit show and I'm eating these hotdogs too! Ha!”

Despite being scared Daphne had to muffle a laugh. Who talked to themselves like that? She listened to what he was saying. Did this mean he wasn’t their guy? It seemed pretty difficult to be a secret supplier hiding at a circus if you were no longer part of said circus.

The firebreather finished the hotdogs and left the room, locking the door behind him. She could hear the lock clicking shut and flinched inwardly. Daphne pushed open the closet doors and stretched after being stuck there for a while. She approached the door and checked the handle, yes it was definitely sealed shut. The teen heroine browsed through the room, looking for something to help her pry open the lock. First she tried a letter opener, next a clothes hanger. It wasn’t budging. Probably because of her poor lock picking skills.

That left her with only one solution, something she’d been dreading, but held out as a contingency plan. Ask for help. It would defeat the purpose of her trying to prove herself a worthy member of the Team, hopefully the information she gathered would make up for it. There was one member on the Team she was sure wouldn’t say a word to anyone. She started to type up a text message.

Location: Haly's Circus
Interactions: Zach @crimson flame

---

Viktor gave a slight frown towards Zach’s initial comments as he didn’t seem to grasp what he was alluding to. He was going to interject, but let the troubled magician vent to him. Viktor could understand Zach’s frustration in wanting to get out from under Zatanna’s vast shadow, but he was intrigued by the last thing he said. There’s his confidence. We can work with that. Viktor rested a hand on Zach’s shoulder.

“And I will ensure you are successful. You and I, we don’t accept anything but success.” Viktor glanced at the script, feeling a lot more motivated to deliver it due to the current sense of competition. He dropped his hand from Zach while his face filled with seriousness. “The steak… I was not being literal, Zach. If you can’t transform one thing into another, then just make people believe that you did. If we stash props near the stage, you should be able to change a steak into a rabbit. Also… I will aim to give you one of the greatest introductions of your life.” Viktor said as if he was speaking about a crucial mission objective.