A little after the halfway point in the show, it came time for Phon Drazah’s performance. “Tonight on the trapeze, joining our world-renowned acrobats in her flying debut is Phon Drazah! Better known as The Vixen, known by all as the most dangerous woman in the world, with the most famous face. Whether you’re terrified of it, think it’s cute, or are just curious what it would look like if she actually smiled for once, you know it’s a face you can’t take your eyes off of. What kind of face will she make tonight as she’s soaring through the air?!”

Spotlights rose to the top of the tent, where Phon Drazah stood elegantly on a tightrope. Her balance was so perfect that it looked like she was on solid ground. Rallie was already fed-up with surprises tonight, but at least this one was at the calmer end. She had expected Drazah to be dangling from the rope rather than standing on it in the beginning, but her having unnaturally good balance wasn’t out of the realm of probability and it shouldn’t affect the performance.

Two acrobats swung in from either side, and did a few flips and tricks around Phon Drazah. After a few passes, Drazah took a step back, and started falling straight down from the rope. The floor had been decorated to look like a pit of lava beneath her. Obviously it was just effects, but it did appear rather convincing. Beneath the fake lava was a safety net for precaution’s sake.

One of the acrobats grabbed Phon Drazah’s hand just before she was out of reach and they kept swinging together. On the swing back, the acrobat tossed her, and she was caught by the other. Dramatic music began playing, as they treated her like a ball, passing her back and forth. This continued for a while, as they got more and more daring with their throws.

Eventually, the two acrobats met in the middle, and using their momentum lifted Drazah up high, then tossed her up even more. They both swung away, leaving her alone in the air. Then, they both spun on their trapeze, so they were dangling by their feet. Both went flying full speed back at her, with their arms held out. It was a contest of who could reach her first, but neither of them did. Phon Drazah fell too fast, slipping between the two of them. Rallie smiled. Finally, something was going as planned, but it didn’t last.

Just before she would have plummeted into the fake lava, Phon Drazah put her hands to her eyes and vanished. She reappeared back up in the air, standing on the soles of one of the acrobat’s feet. The two of them were clearly surprised by this event as well, unsure of how to proceed and just swung back and forth for a moment. Then, they resumed their routine, hoping that everything would work out in the end.

Drazah wrapped her ribbon around her eyes, then jumped off one acrobat and vanished, appearing on the other. She started out teleporting between the two of them, but then focused on just one. She began walking around him, using the arc of his body as he swung to stay upright. Then, she teleported herself underneath him, rapidly re-teleporting in order to stay in place and fight gravity. She walked around him in a full circle, from head to toe and back again.

Next, she started walking between the two. Any time they would pass each other, she would walk from one to the other. When she got more confident, she began hopping a bit to match the music. Rallie would have to give her acrobats a raise, still being able to perform flawlessly with this absurdity weighing them down.

While standing on one of the acrobats, Phon Drazah raised her arms. She then crossed them rapidly. The two acrobats then switched places, swapping to each other's trapeze. She then jumped into the air just before they crossed, swapped them, and landed on the other. After performing a few more similar stunts, she jumped back down onto the tightrope.

Rallie prayed that this meant she was done, hoping Drazah had gotten bored and they could move on with the show. Then, Rallie’s world shifted around her. The next thing she knew, she was up high, standing on the tightrope as well. She was in Phon Drazah’s arms, otherwise she would have immediately lost balance from the transition and fallen. “Just what are you—”

Before Rallie could question what Phon Drazah was planning, she had been thrown into the air. One of the acrobats caught her, making Rallie immediately feel relieved. At least she was out of the hands of that psychopath. Then, the acrobat tossed her, and she was caught by the other. Now, Rallie found herself stuck in the exact same routine Drazah had participated in earlier, being tossed around like a rag doll.

“Just how much did she pay you to do this?! Get me down now and I’ll give you whatever you want!” Rallied tried to coerce the acrobats, but it was to no avail. The routine proceeded, and Rallie just had to accept her fate. Then, the moment came where she’d be tossed up in the air and the two would try to catch her. Surely they wouldn’t actually let me fall, right?!

However, neither of them swung back for her, not even making the attempt. Instead, they stood on their perches as they watched her fall. Drazah grabbed her by her coat when the two were close. It was a rough snag, but better than falling the whole way. Perhaps she’d been wrong about Phon Drazah. No doubt she was certainly still a psychopath, but at least she wasn’t overly cruel. This feeling of hope was immediately dashed when Drazah flashed a diabolic grin at her.

Drazah jumped off the tightrope, dragging Rallie down with her. Drazah positioned them so Rallie was on the bottom, looking like Drazah was trying to kill her. Maybe she was. At this speed… the net… oh no! Rallie went into full panic and helplessness overtook her. She closed her eyes, and prayed to Cosmos and any other deity that would listen. Then, she felt solid ground beneath her. She opened her eyes, finding herself on one of the platforms connecting the tightrope with Phon Drazah standing on the other.

Drazah gestured her head, looking down at the crowd. Rallie stood up, and they both gave a bow as the crowd roared with cheers. A minute later, Rallie was back down on the ground, grateful to no longer be at Drazah’s mercy, but she wouldn’t have minded if the applause went on a while longer. Honestly, Rallie just wanted to lie down and cry, but knew she had to make it through the show.

Drim Drazah was the only Fiend performance left, and Rallie honestly didn’t feel good about it at all. From the get-go, it was the most unpredictable. Since it involved forces she couldn’t fully control, it was a crapshoot as to what the ending would be. Though it was the final act of the night, so it was alright if it went completely off the rails a bit.

Finally, it came, the grand finale. Rallie could only sigh internally with a fake smile plastered on her face as a large cage was rolled into the ring. Everyone immediately cleared out from the floor as roars rumbled from the sealed cage. No one could see what was in it, but to the audience, it was terrifying.

After the entire floor had been cleared, green petals began falling from the sky. Rallie took this as her cue to start the introduction, which was a bit awkward since she too was in the stands. “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you all for sticking with us tonight. It’s been exciting, hasn’t it? Full of twists and surprises even I didn’t expect. I hope you’ve enjoyed your time, and I hope you will remember us in the future.”

“But before we go, we have one final performance. Though to call it a performance is wildly inaccurate. What you’re about to see before you is real. There are no tricks, no illusions, and no safety measures. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten, but there are four Fiends in the Fiends for Hire, well at least those who visited tonight. Drim Drazah, The Slayer, the most publically contested man in recent history.”

“Some see him as a hero. The savior that stopped the world from destruction by killing his own mother, and then went on to save us time and time again by stopping the monsters she created. Then, there are just as many who see him as a villain, no better than his mother, or the monsters he kills. They know he is scheming something, and this is undeniably true. The world waits to see what he’ll do next.”

“But right now he is here before you, at his most vulnerable!” All the petals that had been falling shifted towards the center of the ring. They spun up into a tornado, then all vanished at once. Drim Drazah was left standing in front of the cage, almost completely bare. He was shirtless and wasn’t wearing shoes. All he had on was a pair of shorts and a detached hood to cover his hair. There were quite a few gasps in the stands, as a highly contagious case of the vapors rapidly spread through a good portion of the female audience, along with a few men as they stared at his physique.

“This stage is no longer a circus. Where we are now is an arena, make no mistake. Now, I’d like you all to meet his opponent!” Rallie pulled a remote out of her coat and pressed a button. The sides of the cage collapsed and the monster was now on full display for all to see. It was still chained, so the fight hadn’t begun, but the crowd was losing their minds as if it had. “That’s right, a polar lion, straight from the icy mountains of hell itself! Let’s see if Drim Drazah can avoid getting frostbite!”

It had the head and tail of a lion, with the body and build of a polar bear. Its most noticeable unique factor was its mane. First off, it was surprising that despite being female it had a mane to begin with, but that wasn’t the important part. Instead of fur, it was composed entirely of sharp icicles. This was actually their trained and tamed polar lion that they’d had since the circus began. One of the first Lessers that joined up was a self-proclaimed monster tamer and the polar lion came with him. Her name was Igloo, and she was honestly just a big fluffy sweetheart who wouldn’t hurt a fly.

However, in a bit of a change for tonight, like everyone else here, Igloo was going to perform. She was to play the part of the ferocious beast. They knew she had it in her, having tackled monsters on her own that would get in the way of the troop's caravan. She had never fought a human though, so they hoped she would be alright. They actually hadn’t fed her yet today, to help her get properly motivated. Rallie felt bad, promising her a huge meal after if she did well, though she wasn’t sure if a proper understanding had been made.

On cue, Igloo roared, and her icicle mane flared around her. No matter her disposition, she would make any normal person wet their pants if they got that close. Just as the stories would imply, Drim Drazah stood there, unflinching. “Tonight these two will clash, but there’s a twist! You could see The Slayer fight a monster just about anywhere. Simply search for it online and you’ll find a hundred videos. We want to show you something you can only see here. The Slayer has agreed to our demands, as a chance to prove his valor.”

“Right now, in front of you all, he will fight this raging beast, but he will do so only with what Cosmos gave him. There will be no weapons, and he won’t use his Curse. It will be a pure fight of man versus monster. Which one will come out on top, and reign as the true King of Beasts?!” Rallie pressed another button, and Igloo’s chains were released.

Igloo didn’t waste a moment, and immediately charged at Drim Drazah. She pounced at him, brandishing her claws and fangs. Naturally, Drazah dodged. As skilled as he was, at least this much was to be expected. He jumped backwards, sliding on his feet, touching his fingertips to the ground to keep balance. Then, he charged right back at Igloo. If anyone else in the world tried this, Rallie could only consider them foolish.

Igloo seemed taken aback by the sudden advancement, and flinched when Drazah got close. Unexpectedly, he didn’t strike at her, but instead leapt over her entire body in a single bound. Drazah then grabbed her tail and tugged. Igloo let out a yelp, and spun around, swiping her claws at him. Drazah spun around the other side of her, then slid under her legs, pulling her tail with him. He tugged hard again, and impossibly, Igloo’s entire body was flipped, landing her on her back.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Drim Drazah gave a triumphant bow to the audience, but it wasn’t over yet. Igloo wriggled on her back for a second like a turtle until she was able to get properly upright. It was obvious that Igloo was furious as she crept up behind Drazah while he was bowing. She opened her mouth wide, then lunged her head forward, trying to take a chomp out of him. Drazah reflexively spun around and shot out his arms, grabbing onto her mouth, stopping her in her tracks.

Igloo’s breath was flowing onto Drazah, their faces just an inch away. Rallie couldn’t even imagine how terrified she’d be if she was in his position, a hair away from being a snack. This didn’t even phase Drazah, however, and he started pushing back. He pushed Igloo’s head away, then her whole body started to move backwards. She tried to stop it by digging her claws into the floor, but it was no use.

Drazah continued to push her, almost halfway across the entire arena. Then, he stopped pushing, and Igloo immediately tried another chomp once her mouth was free. He dodged again, this time jumping into the air and onto Igloo’s back. He wrapped his arms around her neck, and Rallie feared the worst. No, is he going to snap her neck?! Can I stop this?! The audience was just as antsy as her, all of them leaning forward in their seats.

None of them were prepared for what happened next, as the entire tent was filled with an unmistakable, heavy purring. Drim Drazah had begun petting Igloo, scratching her behind her ears and all over her face. No way?! How could he know that’s her favorite spot? The purring intensified, and soon Igloo was putty in Drazah’s hands. She laid down, and was clearly at peace. Her face went sleepy, unable to resist at all.

Drazah climbed off of her, and began petting her side. Igloo then rolled over, exposing her belly to him. In the feline kingdom, this was an irrefutable sign of complete trust and submission, one Igloo had never done for anyone, not even her tamer. Drazah scratched her belly, and her body went crazy. Every limb was shaking, and her head was bouncing around so much it looked like she was having a spasm. It was hard to hear, but Rallie felt she couldn’t help but make out, “Who’s a good girl,” being muttered by Drazah in slight baby talk.

To finish it off, Drim Drazah climbed on her once more, and laid out on her stomach. The two of them snuggled up, and it looked like they went to sleep. Rallie looked down as she felt a snap in her hands. Her grip had gone into overdrive, snapping her cane in two. One of the troop handed her a replacement mic, and she headed out into the ring.

As she approached the content polar lion, she addressed the audience. “Thank you for coming everyone, goodnight!” When the spotlight was off of her, Igloo wriggled out a paw, and wrapped it around Rallie. She then pulled Rallie in, forcing her to join in on the group snuggling. Though to her, it was much closer to torture from being squeezed into Igloo’s mane.

◆◆◆

About twenty minutes after the audience had cleared out, Rallie headed to the back of the tent. There the main cast were all waiting for her, with dismayed and distraught looks on each of their faces. “Where are they?” Rallie asked, doing her best to stay calm.

“They said something about going off ‘tuh get food,” Mill reported to her. “Not sure we’re gonna see them again, I’d have to say.”

Rallie strode over to one of the support beams without saying a word. She then unleashed a fury of fists into the beam, and began yelling “Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” repeatedly. She kept punching until her knuckles started to bleed, then grabbed the back of her hand, and spun back to the troop. “How?! How did they know?! Did they even know, or are they just that insane?! They managed to avoid every single attempt to try and kill them, and they made us look like fools while they did it!”

“Susten I can understand, she looks like the clumsy type. So I can believe that she actually missed the pool. Of course, she would have melted through with her Curse, but she completely dodged the pool of acid beneath the ground. We even dug it out a bit farther just in case!”

“Randex… Don’t even get me started on him… You guys did properly lace those knives with the poison, right?!” The four jugglers nodded back at her. “Then how is he still alive?! I saw for sure that you grazed him, and you four drank the only vials of antidote we had. He even dodged the backup chainsaw attack!”

“Phon Drazah… why is she so damn insistent on being in the spotlight! If that Draz just accepted her role and fell into the net like she was supposed to we’d have at least one of them. She’d be torn to bits from that fake safety net. We tested it and everything. Every dummy and carcass we used was torn to ribbons by the metal lacing.”

“Drim Drazah… I just… can’t even talk about what happened there. Damn it Igloo! I know you tried your best, but you’re on treat probation until further notice for succumbing to the enemy!”

“Leader… we’re sorry it didn’t work out,” Mill was sympathetic. “Your plan was perfect, but they’re just out of our league. We need to work our way up to people like them.”

“You’re right, Mill… I know you’re right,” Rallie settled down a bit. “I’m sorry for getting you all swept up in my ambition, everyone. We just had such success with our past targets that I thought we could handle it. Let’s use this as a learning experience going forward... Thank Cosmos it’s over. If they wanted to, they could have killed us for what we tried to pull. I guess I should just be grateful that we’re all safe and that they’re gone.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that…” a voice came from up high that made Rallie jump in place. Then the floor glowed green, and a forest’s worth of vines erupted from it. Every one of them was wrapped up tightly with no chance of escape. The Fiends for Hire were now standing in front of her, and her life began flashing before her eyes. Maybe if I offer myself then they’ll let the others go… Oh, who am I kidding? I’m not noble enough for that. Somebody save me!

“So, you’re bounty hunters disguised as a circus then? Or a circus dabbling in bounty hunting?” Drim Drazah asked for clarification.

It took a moment for Rallie to answer. She started to regain her sanity once she finally accepted that her throat wasn’t immediately going to be slit. “Closer to the latter, I guess. Lots of lowlifes like to come to our circus. I guess we draw them in. We check everyone who comes against the bounty database. Then, if we find someone, we use the magical excuse of ‘audience participation’ to get them isolated and then make them vanish.”

“That’s... really clever actually,” Drim Drazah complimented their tactics. “And no repercussions from their family, or friends, or criminal acquaintances?”

“Not really, no,” Rallie was still hesitant when answering, expecting to be tortured or killed at any moment. “Most people don’t go asking questions when a known criminal goes missing. Those who do, we direct them to Mill, and they run off, scared zjikless in seconds.”

“Guess he’s not here,” Phon Drazah reported out of the blue. “The crowd’s still too large for me to grab him without nabbing a few civilians too, but I can tell he’s still on the premises.”

“I fetch!” Kada Susten blurted and then ran off out of the tent.

“Wow, she’s really just accepted that she’s a dog, hasn’t she?” Xard Randex commented

Rallie was confused by this event, but had a more burning question she couldn’t ignore. “How… How did you know? The traps, we made sure that you were nowhere around when we set them up, and no one talked about them when you were within even a lage of the circus. You definitely had to know. I won’t believe otherwise. There’s no way you could have foiled all of our plans out of sheer coincidence and dumb luck.”

“Yeah, we knew,” Phon Drazah acknowledged. “Besides it being super obviously a setup from the get-go, my brother has a reconnaissance ability that rivals or even surpasses mine in certain situations. This just happened to be one of them.”

Drim Drazah shrugged. “People should be more wary of oddly colored flowers that just appear randomly.” He raised his hand, and from all over the tent, green roses went flying at him, and then he absorbed them back into his body.

“Let me go, let me go, put me down, I’ve done nothing wrong! Leader Rallie, help me!” There was a sudden commotion when Kada Susten returned to the tent. A young boy, around the same age as the male Fiends, was slung over her shoulder, wriggling and trying to get himself free. Susten set him down next to Drim, and he joined the others in their vine restraints.

“Good work Kada, here’s a treat.” Drim Drazah pulled a candy bar out of his quiver and handed it to her.

“Awesome! Let me know if you need anything else fetched in the future.” Kada took it gladly, and walked away while unwrapping it.

Drim Drazah bent down next to the boy, meeting his eyes, and grabbed his face. He stared deeply into his eyes, and Rallie honestly thought they were about to start kissing. “Not even a Lesser… You’ve never done an evil thing in your life, have you?” Drazah questioned him softly.

“Huh? No, of course not!” The boy fervently rebutted.

“Tell me about him, Rallie,” Drim Drazah ordered.

Rallie had assumed she wasn’t a part of this conversation, and jumped again when he addressed her. “Uhh, pretty standard story: bad parents, bad neighborhood, just wanted a new life so he came to us. We set him up running one of the game booths. Is he why you were acting so suspiciously earlier when I was showing you around?”

“Yeah,” Drazah didn’t even hesitate in answering. “He had the misfortune of triggering an annoying quirk of mine, so I had to get a closer look at him. I think I understand now, though. This boy isn’t evil, he just has the capacity to be in the future. Given the wrong life circumstances he could easily go down that path and become someone very dangerous later in life.”

Drazah then looked back at the boy, straight in the eyes. “I’m guessing you’ve had a very troubled life. That’s something I can very much relate to. You can’t let it suck you in, be yourself, not what the world defines you as given your roots.”

“And you, Rallie, keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn’t lose his way, and be sure to get him any help he needs. That’s all I had to say, thanks for being patient. We’ll be off now.” Drim Drazah snapped his fingers, and all of the vines disappeared. His entire body glowed brightly for a moment from absorbing so much at once.

“Wait, that’s it?!” Rallie exclaimed. “You’re letting us off just like that? We tried to kill you!”

“Yes, and you failed miserably,” Drim Drazah laughed insultingly. “Like you said earlier, use this as a learning experience. Get better, and learn to pick your targets more wisely. I’m sure we’ll meet again in the future. We have very similar ideals after all. Maybe next time you’ll actually be able to pull one over on us. I look forward to it.”

After Drim’s closing statement, Phon Drazah teleported them away. The rest of the troop tried to confer with Rallie over the ordeal, but she wasn’t having it. Exhaustion had set in, and she was going to sleep away this waking nightmare. She immediately flumped down into her bed once she reached her tent, but found her pillow much less comfy than usual. Her face was buried in a piece of paper, accompanied by a business card. It read, ‘If you ever get into any real trouble, give us a call - The Fiends for Hire’

Fiends For Hire Internal Dialogue 4

Eleen: Drim, I’m going to need you to stop!

Drim: Huh, what are you talking about?

Eleen: That cosdamned circus music. It’s stuck in your head, and it keeps leaking into my head. It’s so mawhging annoying!

Drim: And here I was thinking of buying their soundtrack and listening to it on constant repeat.

Eleen: I would expend all the energy I have solely to take over your body and smash any copy I could find.

Drim: That’s quite the commitment. I’ll keep that in mind if I ever want to get rid of you for a while. For now, I suppose I’ll just hum it instead.

Eleen: Don’t you dare!