Shaska and Samudra made their way through the now-empty carnival to the big top. Unfortunately for them, they found all the security guards already soundly defeated, many lying in pools of blood. Schwarz wiped the blood off his sword, while Meilong relaxed from her staff form and coiled around Zinnia again.

“We still have a boss to take out,” said Schwarz.

“Take… out?” Zinnia asked, confused. “Why would you be interested in Mr. Andre that way?”

Schwarz stared blankly at Zinnia, then said “no, I mean kill him. Where is he?”

“Oh, yes, Mr. Andre should still be in his office.”

“Snake girl, who are you?” Shaska asked.

Zinnia began to explain who she was and the details of how she got to the carnival, but Shaska cut her off.

“So, you’re an escaped slave and this whole carnival is a front for traveling human traffickers. Damn it, I can’t stand slavers. Damn the feds for not cracking down harder.

“But more importantly, you say you can fight and navigate? You’re hired, girl! We need a navigator and some extra muscle! We’re gonna be stopping a civil war soon!”

Shaska held out her hand with a smile on her face. “Name’s Shaska, business and bounty hunter extraordinaire! Surely my name precedes me?”

“I apologize, ma’am, but I have never heard of you. The Queendom of Orinoca is quite isolated,” Zinnia replied, petting her snake’s face. “And while I have never fought in a war, I will gladly follow you as far as you need, Miss Shaska.”

Zinnia bowed gracefully, and Meilong mirrored the gesture, lowering her head in sync with her mistress, their connection almost palpable.

“That’s what I like to hear!” Shaska exclaimed, though mildly annoyed Zinnia didn’t shake her hand.

“Where is this ‘Mr. Andre’?” Samudra asked.

“His office is in a shipping container behind the Potato Coaster,” Zinnia explained. “This carnival requires much in the way of heavy machinery to be transported from town to town. You would be unable to ignore this shipping container, however.”

Shaska cracked her knuckles again. “Let’s go put the hurt on him, then. I don’t take too kindly to slavers and traffickers.”

“Please, allow me to join, ma’am,” said Zinnia with another bow. “He may have saved me from my previous owner, but I was still forced to be a circus performer, in addition to the horrors he forced me to–”

Shaska interrupted with “don’t go any further. I know full well what they do to slaves.”

Meilong stiffened up again, and Zinnia spun the snake around with a flourish before sticking her tail in the ground. “There is no one who wants Mr. Andre to face justice more than I do… but…”

“He’s probably got the local police and the feds on the take, right?” Shaska asked, blowing smoke. “I don’t care. Even if they raise my bounty for this, I’m still kicking his ass.

“Snake girl, prince, we’re gonna put an end to this. Pretty boys, stay back and protect the slaves and the happy couple. Never know when more security will show up.”

“As you wish, Miss Shaska!” said Lulupo, still holding several of the slaver henchmen in his hair.

“Actually, let those guys go real quick. I wanna give my fists a warm up.”

Lulupo obliged and let the goons go. They tried to run away, but Shaska was too fast, and she proceeded to beat them within an inch of their lives.

Shaska cracked her bloody knuckles, taking a final drag before tossing her cigar aside. “Criminal scum always fold like cheap cards,” she growled, blowing out a cloud of smoke. “Now, let’s go introduce Andre to some good old-fashioned justice.”

----------------------------------------

Back at the Humo Robinson, Carne was milling about, watching Ren and her workers put the finishing touches on the airship’s repairs.

“So, Ren, was it? How come you don’t want to join our crew?”

Ren smacked her forehead and turned to Carne with a surly expression on her face. “Ah thought ah told you t’leave me be whahle ah was workin’.”

“It’s a simple question. We could really use someone onboard who can repair the ship when things go bad. And Shaska, as… crass… as she is, pays well, too.”

“Fahne. Ah’ll tell ya exactly what ah told ev’ryone else.” She crossed her arms. “Ah got deep roots here. Ah got mah own business. Ah gotta protect this town from mobsters ‘cause the damn police sure won’t.” She tapped the side of her head. “Any o’ that makin’ sense to ya?”

“I guess,” Carne responded. “It’s a wide world out there, though! Full of all sorts of wonders! Don’t you want to see it?”

Ren rolled her eyes and said “the rest o’ th’world is still a smold’rin’ crater after th’Great War ended fahve years ago. Not much t’see until they rebuild.” She shook her head, waved her hand, and finished with “please, jus’ lemme work.”

Ren wandered around a bit more, looking to see if anything else needed fixing before Carne piped up again.

“Hey, so, where are your parents anyway? Awfully odd for a girl, especially one as young as you, to have her own busi–”

“Ah ain’t got no parents!” Ren shouted as she threw her notepad on the ground in a fit of anger.

“M-mom? D-d-dad?” stammered a fifteen year old Ren from behind a police line, staring at their bloodied, bullet-ridden corpses lying in the street.

“That’s it! Ya Worldwahde Smoke gahs’re done! C’mon, fellas! We’re gettin’ our pay an’ headin’ back t’th’shop!” Ren shouted.

She started to storm off, but Carne ran after and grabbed her hand. She swiveled around, drew one of her guns, and pointed it right in Carne’s face. “Let go of me raht now or ah’m gonna blow ya away,” she growled.

Carne did as he was told, a look of fear on his face. “Please, listen! I know what you might be going through!”

“How could ya know, ya annoyin’ pervert?!”

“I’m an orphan, too!”

Ren lowered her gun. Her expression softened a bit, and she cocked an eyebrow.

“Ah’m listenin’.”

“My brothers and I grew extremely impoverished in the slums of Gokashi. It’s a miracle that I was able to get my hands on the medical books necessary to become a doctor. When I was seven, burglars broke into our house… and they did unspeakable things to my mother and forced my brothers, father, and I to watch, guns to our heads. They forced us to dig through the house for what little valuables we had…”

“P-please! Let my m-m-mama and p-papa go!” sobbed a young Carne, holding out a gold necklace.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

The burglar chuckled. “You kids are gonna wanna watch this,” he sneered, snatching the necklace.

“...and then they murdered my parents, execution-style. Bullets to the backs of their heads. The burglars eventually got gunned down by the feds later that night. But we didn’t even get our valuables back due to the corruption in the force. My brothers had no options but to turn to a life of crime to provide for me. Running booze, drugs, prostitutes, basically anything to support me.”

“Serenicus…” Ren said, hand over her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes.

“It’s fine. I mean, it’s not fine, but that was well over ten years ago. I tell you all this because I want you to trust me. We’re not bad guys despite our leader’s… seedy past.”

Carne held out his hand. “We could really use a mechanic, Ren. It could be the adventure of a lifetime!”

Ren fought back the tears and gritted her teeth. After a second, she shook her head.

“Ah can’t. Mazurka City needs me… mah company needs me. Fer openin’ up to me lahk that, sure, ah’ll continue to fix yer airship, but… ah jus’ can’t…”

“Hm. I see…”

“Ah got th’envelope all fixed. Mostly jus’ some nicks and scratches in th’gondola now that can be fixed tomorrow.”

She turned around and gestured to her workers to keep going; they were stunned by Carne’s story. Ren set off, before slightly turning around again.

“I'm... Sorry I snapped at you like that, doc…”

----------------------------------------

Shaska, Samudra, and Zinnia stood in front of the Potato Coaster, a ramshackle ride made of cheaply assembled metal that would probably violate a host of federal rules if they existed. In the distance was the shipping container housing Mr. Andre’s office. There were no riders on the coaster, as the carnival had been evacuated some time earlier.

“There it is,” said Zinnia, raising Meilong up to a fighting stance.

“Shall we head over?” Samudra asked.

Before Shaska could even make a move, however, she was rushed by five security guards pointing rifles at the group, along with a huge security guard with a big, bushy beard of around Shaska’s height.

“I am Security Chief Dreyfuss,” boomed the huge man. “I see you have Mrs. Kite with you, meaning you have seen far too much of our operation. You will die where you stand before meeting Mr. Andre.”

“How cute, you think this is my first time staring down a firing squad,” said Shaska, blowing smoke and cracking her knuckles. “Do you know who you’re dealing with? I’m Shaska. I eat chumps like you for breakfast.”

Zinnia cocked an eyebrow. “You eat people, Miss Shaska…?”

“Famed bounty hunter Shaska the Squeeze, yes,” Dreyfuss replied, holding up his arm. “I will enjoy this. FIRE!”

Shaska jumped high, faster than the eye could track, the instant she heard the word, as did Zinnia and Samudra, and the three landed on the roller coaster rails above. Shaska looked at Samudra and asked “you think you can handle this, prince?”

“Indeed, Lady Shaska, I am more than capable of handling myself in a fight,” he replied, brandishing his spear.

“What are your orders, ma’am?” Zinnia asked.

“We let the prince deal with those chumps while looking for this Andre creep by ourselves.”

Shaska and Zinnia hopped off the roller coaster rails and toward the shipping container. Meanwhile, the security guards began to fire on Samudra, to no avail, thanks to him deftly blocking the bullets with the head of his spear and his Aether-enhanced reflexes. Dreyfuss grew annoyed at this, and activated his potentia, shifting himself to a half-man, half-crocodile form, growing to match Samudra’s height in the process. He charged Samudra with his jaws open, revealing a set of razor sharp teeth.

Samudra just stood there, held out his hand, and blasted Dreyfuss with a wave of scalding steam, causing him to rear back and howl in pain. The other guards held their fire for a moment.

“You all are fools if you think a potentia like that can stop a Panipuri prince! I am nigh-indestructible!”

The guards began to fire again, but Samudra impaled Dreyfuss on his spear and held him up as a man-crocodile shield. Dreyfuss screamed some more as he was peppered with gunfire, which was still annoying despite it not penetrating his scales.

“STOP, YOU IDIOTS!”

The guards did as they were told, and Samudra pulled his spear back, causing Dreyfuss to crumple to the ground, bleeding profusely. As he hacked up blood, he pulled himself up and glared at the prince. “You…”

“My name is Samudra, prince of the Panipuri Kingdom,” he said, raising his spear. “Be sure to remember that in your next life.”

----------------------------------------

At the big top, Andy finally came to. He was still chained up under Lulupo’s hair.

“Huh…? Where am…?” Andy asked, groggy. He saw his wife on the ground with a bomb collar around her neck. “Roxie…?”

He then noticed the collar around his own neck and began to panic.

“What?! What’s this?!” he cried, scrambling to remove it.

Lulupo smacked him with a glare of severe intensity in his eyes. “Don’t mess with that! It’s a bomb that will explode if not handled properly!”

Roxanne finally began to awaken as well. She looked up at her husband, seeing the bomb collar around his neck. “Andy…?” She noticed the collar around her own neck. “What? What is–”

Andy pulled her close. “Calm down, sweetie. You need to be calm. We have bombs around our necks that’ll kill us if not handled properly.”

Roxanne’s eyes widened, and she was starting to regret her decision to go on a grand adventure.

Lulupo and Schwarz explained the true nature of the Zaba World carnival and how the couple were almost sold into slavery.

“Y’know, if I had a losa for every time I was almost sold into slavery, I’d have two losas. Which isn’t a lot, but…” Andy began.

He was interrupted by his wife exclaiming “it shouldn’t have happened twice!”

“What I want to know is how a slave ring like this was able to operate in this country for so long without being stopped,” Schwarz wondered.

“It’s those rotten feds, darling,” Lulupo growled. “They take graft from anyone who offers, covering up the most heinous crimes. I’d wager a billion losas that they’re well aware of this ring and were just turning a blind eye to it while people disappeared left and right being sent to who knows where, having the worst horrors imaginable enacted upon them for the sick pleasure of people in high places.”

“What you say… it is the most likely answer,” said one of the slaves, a young man, stepping forward. “Rumors have flown all around the countryside of an evil traveling carnival, but my wife and I thought they were just that: rumors.”

He looked at the headless corpse of the young woman and began to weep. “That woman was my wife. We thought we could have a romantic day to ourselves at the carnival. We thought it was just an urban legend.”

Lulupo put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, darling! We can’t bring your wife back, but our boss and associates are on their way back to get the key to your collars so you can get back home!”

He retracted his hair, no longer sensing any danger. “So, what should we do while we wait for Miss Shaska?” he asked.

----------------------------------------

Mr. Andre sat in his shipping container office and leaned back in his chair. He glanced at an old newspaper whose headline showed how Shaska got her various licenses revoked for her financial crimes. “That Shaska is here in the park, is she…? Well, it’s not like she can bring me in… I have no bounty, and she’s not a hunter anymore. Surely, she’d realize bringing someone like me in, with how much money I’ve given the feds, would be suicidal…”

He paused for a moment, then pondered some more. “Though, that Dreyfuss isn’t particularly bright…”

He reached into his desk and pulled out a handgun. “Just to err on the side of caution…”

Just then, the steel door of the shipping container crumpled like it was paper. It was Shaska, crushing it with her monstrous strength like it was nothing, then casually tossing it aside. As she stood in the doorway, cracking her knuckles with a scowl on her face, Zinnia slinked up behind her.

“Ah… Shaska the Greedy… to what do I owe the pleasure? Have you come to make a busin–” Andre started.

“Put a sock in it!” she interrupted.

Zinnia poked her head out from behind Shaska. “Hello, uh, M-Mr. Andre, sir…”

“Ah, Zinnia. I see you and your snake friend have been reunited,” he said with a smile. “Did you enjoy perf–”

“Snake girl! Stop being so polite to him!” Shaska ordered, pulling on Zinnia’s ear. “You’re not a slave anymore, remember? Give him a piece of your mind!”

“But, my mind is in my head and I cannot open my skull to–”

“Oh, it’s alright, I can always capture more,” Andre interrupted, raising his gun. With a loud bang, the gun went off at Shaska, but Zinnia deflected it with a swing of Meilong, the bullet ricocheting off the snake’s helmet. “Hm.”

Andre pulled out a key. “I assume you’re looking for this?”

“Yes!” Zinnia exclaimed in response. “Please, relinquish it!”

Andre said nothing, and instead swallowed the key.

“Oh no! The other slaves…!” Zinnia gasped.

Shaska simply walked forward and grabbed Andre by the collar. She blew smoke in his face, and her mouth widened into a very sinister smile. “Honestly, you just made this process a lot more painful than it needed to be,” she said.

A look of terror plastered itself on Andre’s face.

----------------------------------------

Samudra easily dispatched the guards and bolted toward the shipping container. He was stopped in his tracks by the sounds of blood curdling screams from up ahead. Soon, he was greeted by Zinnia, a content smile on her and Meilong’s faces, and Shaska, casually strolling while whistling. She had her cigar in one hand, and was tossing the key up and down in her other; both hands were completely drenched in blood.

“Lady Shaska! Are you–”

“All taken care of, prince,” she responded, smiling.