“LLLAAADDDIIIEEESSS AAANNNDDD GGGEEENNNTTTLLLEEEMMMEEENNN!!! I AM THE GLORIOUS MASTER OF THE MYSTERIOUS HOUDONI AND I PRESENT YOU TONIGHTS PERFORMERS!” a middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache and ringmaster outfit announced to the crowd assembled around him inside the big tent.
“THE MAN KIDNAPPED AND FORCIBLY TATTOOED BY DEVILISH ABORIGINALS, TATTGHOULISH!”
A tall skeletal man covered in tattoos showed off his tattoos by moving them around his exposed torso leaving the crowd to wonder how the trick was done.
“THE MAN WHO BENCH PRESSES ELEPHANTS, DONE BRAWN!”
A giant of a man with muscles on his muscles flexed his grotesque muscles before showing what they can do. He lifted a giant barbell over his head then proceeded to throw it up into the air and catch it.
“THE BEAUTIFUL TWINS WHO ARE PRATICALLY JOINED AT THE HIP, TALIA AND DALIA!”
A set of beautiful conjoined twins, one blonde and one raven haired, blew kisses into the crowd.
“THE WOMAN WHO IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN BITTEN BY SPIDERS AND GAINED THEIR ESSENCE, SPIDERINI!”
A petite woman wearing a spider mask and black leotard proceeded to do a quick appetizer of her later performance on the tightrope.
“THE LIVING CANNONBALL, BOLT!”
A man wearing a white jumpsuit and helmet launched himself from a cannon across the pit before landing on the other side without a scratch leaving everyone to wonder how they did it.
“THE MAN WHO IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN BORN WITH TWO KNIVES IN HIS HANDS, SERGEI THE UNMISSING!”
A young man with slicked back black hair and a goatee threw his knives in winding unnatural paths around the tent before catching them.
“AND HIS LOVELY WIFE WHO HOLDS HIS BALLS, IRINA THE JUGGLING!”
A young woman with pale blond hair and paler skin demonstrated her skills by juggling twenty balls helped by her husband who threw her the balls.
“AND THE EVEN LOVELIER, NATALIA! THOUGH I MAY BE BIASED AS SHE IS MY WIFE.”
A curvy mature woman with a luxurious beard copied the twins by throwing kisses into the crowd.
“NOW THAT EVERYONE IS INTRODUCED, LET’S GET ON WITH THE SHOW!!!”
***
The circus troupe was having a late dinner after the show was wrapped up.
“Now that we have broken bread and had our wine, it’s time to talk business. The man that took Bobo from us is in town. We previously let that grudge go as he was across the country and Bobo had already left the family, but he is no longer across the country and Bobo will always be family.” Houdoni said while looking around the table at his found family.
With a pound on the table Sergei responded, “That man is a MFBI agent and has left a trail of powerful figures in his wake. Bobo was a f*ckup. He had no discipline. No control. He turned his back on this family when you tried to instill some. To risk this family for him is the height of folly.”
“Sergei you are right, but we are carnies and freaks. Folly is our bread and butter. However, while I am the head of this family, you all are the life blood of it. let’s put this to a vote. Who says we take revenge?”
Tattghoulish raised his hand in the air. Done Brawn followed his lead. Dalia did so as well to her sister’s shock. Natalia agreed with her husband. Spiderini has never turned down a fight.
“And with that decided, let’s go get us a federal agent.”
_
Killjoy Circus Troupe
“No laughing matter”
Grade B
*Induvial members range from D to C
_
***
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
A young man with dark green hair walked down the street towards his home. The man had on a grey leather coat, plain white t-shirt, jeans, running shoes, and a badge hanging from a ball chain necklace.
The man’s senses failed to give a heads up to the conjoined twins that knocked him to the ground using their superspeed. He tried to enter his shadow, but the twins were quicker and grabbed him by the shirt keeping him in this reality. They then spun like a top and launched him into a wall.
He had sand armor wrapped around his body before he touched the ground. When the twins came at him again, they left only a scratch. As he was preparing to end the fight, a form jumped from a rooftop then turned into a human missile headed straight towards him. The greenette strengthened his armor knowing that he could not dodge the guided missile slowed down by his armor and the twins would keep him from the shadows. Surrounded with as much fire and force as the missile was it plowed through the greenette’s armor and left him sprawled on the ground.
Greenette’s armor shifted from sand to water hoping it provided the armor with the right balance between agility for the human cannonball and defense for the twins. His hope was rewarded as the fight was turning in his favor.
This momentum was halted when the twin’s attack was preempted by a knife that carved an opening in the armor giving the twins an in. They proceeded to grab the greenette and throw him into the human cannonball.
The greenette’s armor shifted to grave dirt as it provided a little more defense to the armor compared to water with little reduction in speed. The true trade off was agility, but that was fine for this fight.
The death essence in grave dirt weakened the knife enough that they could not shred his defenses. The fight was once again turning in his favor. That was when the lead balls came from the shadows, they could hit him unlike the human cannonball and had enough energy to make it through the armor unlike the twins or knives.
The greenette activated his last resort by dissolving his gray leather jacket and turning the resulting energy storm into opaque gray oriental battle armor. This armor did everything his previous ones did, just vastly better.
The battle was immediately different. The next time the human cannon ball entered the greenette’s reach, he was spiked into the ground. The greenette did not finish off the opponent due to needing to get the twins before his time limit was exceeded. The technique took a lot out of him to perform. He proceeded to chase the twins while shrugging off all the balls and knives thrown at him. When he eventually cornered the twins and was about the strike the killing blow, white webs wrapped his legs together and black hair bound his arms to his torso.
The greenette was about to break his bindings when a grotesquely muscular man came from nowhere and gave him a bear hug keeping him in place.
Even with all that the greenette was still struggling to break his bonds, but alas the armor had weakened enough with time to allow the strongman to shatter it.
The greenette was about to teleport to escape and regroup when a heavily tattooed man laid his hands on the greenette’s biceps. The tattoos slithered off the marked man and up the greenette’s arms and spread all along his body. The tattoos suppressed the greenette’s natural abilities and the hug prevented him from reaching his gun. Not that the gun would do anything before being knocked from his hand by one of several people.
Even still the greenette did not give up. His natural abilities fought the tattoos every inch and even pushed it back in places.
“KNEEL”
The word struck the greenette like a hammer causing him to falter and the tattoos to dig their hooks in even deeper. When he looked for the party responsible, he caught a well-dressed middle aged man sporting a handlebar mustache.
“GIVE UP”
Another blow and a further sinking in of the tattoos. The greenette could fight off the tattoos or the mind control effect, but not both.
“GIVE IN”
While all but immune to mind control effects due to his peculiar nature, attacks of the mind still hurt him and due to that same nature hurt his soul and body.
“FALTER”
The muscle man had his body, the mustachioed man had his mind, and the tattoos had his soul. He could usually rely on the other two anytime one was attacked, but the group had everything covered.
All that resisting would do now is prolong the inevitable and waste the precious last of his strength. So, with the last of his strength, he stored away all of his equipment, just in case he ever got another opportunity and to deprive his opponents of them.
All he could do was hope that he would wake up again.
Being:
Body:
[Bone Apple Tree]
Soul Tattoos:
[Celestial Weaving]
[Sand: Tier Three]
[Water: Tier Five]
[Faith: Tier One]
[Holy Water: Tier Three]
[Shadow: Tier Five]
[Necromancy: Tier Five]
[Rot: Tier ErRor]
Special Abilities:
[Consumption: Tier Nine]
[Wound]
[Empowerment: Tier Nine]
[Empathy: Tier One]
Current Equipment:
Head:
[The Black Wasp Jackal’s Face]
Earrings:
[]
Necklace:
[]
Clothes:
[]
Rings:
[The Mentalism Ring]
[Mena’s Book]
[Petrifying Ring]
Bracelets:
[]
Shoes:
[]
Armaments:
[Beastly Heart]
[Murder Weapon]
Storage:
[Chi Organ]
[Spirit Shards]
[Various Utility Artifacts]
[Various Articles Of Clothing]
[Death Dogtags]
[Leech Muscles]
[Leech Teeth]