Chapter 51 – Silverport Circus

Throughout the day, Quinn and I watched the rest of the newly assigned cohorts we were in charge of. There were four cohorts of four Awoken and their Canaries. At a little less than 1 in 100,000, 16 Awoken wasn’t too bad. ‘Course, they weren’t all from Silverport. Three were while the other fifteen were from the nearby cities.

Of course, four cohorts also meant I needed to source four different Calamities for our practical exam. I had an idea on where I could get some. If it didn’t work out, I had some other methods I could use to hunt down a Calamity.

The big issue was Calamity proofing the amusement park, though. Although we were using it as a hunting grounds, that didn’t mean we wanted said calamity to escape out into the wider city. That’d be incredibly irresponsible of us, and probably wound up with me being fired.

Quinn promised she’d take care of it, so I could only trust her for now. Trust her and plan for when things would inevitably go south. I could probably put collars on the captured Calamities so I could use Seek on them. It’d work well enough, and have the added benefit of letting me know where they were at all times.

I glanced at my phone and double checked this was the place. There weren’t many people left from the Deadlock gang. Most of us had been wiped out in the brutal fight that took my arm and leg back then. For the first time in forever, I was getting in contact with a ganger.

I was on the north side, just outside of the entertainment districts. Tucked away in what once used to be a city park sat a large circus. Striped tents reached into the sky like mockeries of the towers all around us. Rain pattered down from above near constantly, which made the large tents sag heavily.

A clown at the entrance of the circus idly practiced making various animals out of balloons. He skillfully twisted a long balloon into the shape of a wolf as I approached. I hugged Vigil tighter to my chest. Clowns always used to freak me out when I was younger.

He popped the balloon with an oversized needle, and revealed a flyer that’d been hidden inside the balloon. “Sorry, lady, we’re closed for the day. Our next show starts this weekend! Don’t miss it!”

I glanced at my phone and read the coded message aloud. “Closed? But it's a fine day for festivities.”

The clown’s smile dropped, though the makeup still made him look like he was smiling. “Any day’s a fine one for fun. What kind are you interested in?”

My ears perked up as I heard the response I’d memorized on the way here. Although this circus looked normal, it was one owned by Black Diamond. Black Diamond, the premier underworld black market. ”The fun that can’t be seen by the light of day.”

”Head to the third tent, and look for Bronto the Strong. He’ll let you in.”

“I’m here for Bruce.” I clarified. That was the name he was going by now. He hadn’t said much in his message, but he did tell me to just mention his name at the gate.

”Bruce?” The clown looked me over, and shrugged. “Main tent, then.”

“Thanks.”

The clown smiled once more, and handed me the flyer. “You really should return for our next show! Kids love the circus!”

”I…” I hesitantly grabbed the flyer, and my tail swished around behind me. Maybe Sylvie would be interested in something like this? I could never take her to do anything fun in the past, but I had more money than I knew what to do with now. “I’ll think about it.”

“Great!” The clown blew up a balloon, and went back to working on his skill with animals. Although the circus wasn’t open today, that didn’t mean the workers were idle. There was a lot to set up and clean for their next day of operation.

I headed on into the circus, and passed by all sorts of tents and stands. I thought it’d be a bit eerie being here with the circus closed for the day, but it wasn’t too bad. There were workers all around, so it wasn’t too creepy.

I shuffled into the main tent in time to catch the tail end of a troop finishing their practice for the day. One of them skillfully flew through the air, and was caught by the other in a feat of agility that I’d only be able to pull off thanks to my enhancements.

My ears twitched to the side as a man in an extravagant top hat and petticoat appeared at my side. He wasn’t there a moment ago—I was sure of that. Beyonder of some kind? He looked kind of familiar—

“Reyna!” The man threw his arms wide, and whipped his top hat off. He had a mop of green hair tied back into a ponytail, and his eyes looked like they were permanently closed into a squint.

”Bruce?” I hesitantly asked. He’d changed quite a bit since I saw him last. Granted, that was years ago. They’d been verykind to the man, it seemed.

”Dman, you’ve grown up, kid.” Bruce slid his top hat back into place. “It feels like just yesterday I saw you last.”

“You’ve certainly done well for yourself.” I wasn’t sure at first, but I definitely recognized his outfit from some research I did online. “You’re the circus master?”

”In the flesh.” He waved his hand to the tent. His smile slowly died, and he eyed me from head to toe. “Thought you died back then alongside everyone else.”

”I was lucky.” Got out with just life-destroying injuries. Most of Deadlock wasn’t so lucky. “Why’d you respond if you thought I was dead?”

“I saw all that news stuff about Canary Vargriev. To think our little monster would grow up to be a heroic Canary.” He laughed lightly, and moved around toward the seats around the room. “Come and have a seat.”

A warm flush rose to my cheeks at hearing that nickname after so long. I was… well, I joined when I was still just a kid. I was terrified of looking weak back then, so I did quite a few things to earn that nickname. “Thanks for contacting me back.”

”Yeah… not many of us left anymore. Not after what happened.” He sighed, and took a seat in the stands. His top hat slid off his head, and smoothly dropped down next to him. “Out of everyone, I’m glad you're still alive. I thought about reaching out once I saw the news articles, but, well… wasn’t sure you’d want to be seen with anyone of your old life.”

”It's fine.” I probably wouldn’t have seen his attempt anyway. My email was stuffed full of people trying to contact me for one reason or another, so I’d just been ignoring it. “It’s nice to see you still kicking, too.”

My tail wagged happily behind me. Bruce and I had been particularly close in Deadlock. He was a master marksman back then, and one of the guys that usually guarded me during the various jobs I did for the gang. He always used to force ear protection onto me, and made fun of me for pretending I wasn’t scared when the shooting started. He was like… an uncle, maybe?

“Yeah, well…” He ran a hand through his hair. He looked good, to be honest. Last time I saw him he was bald. “You’ve changed quite a bit since then. You stopped trying to cultivate that violent and crazy mask?”

”I-I never did that.” My ears twitched as I guiltily ducked my head. My silver hair fell forward to hide the rose shade of my cheeks. “What makes you say I stopped, though?”

”That.” He pointed right at the stuffed animal stuffed into my hands. “Going for a kawaii wolf vibe now? Gotta say, it fits you surprisingly well.”

”I don’t even know what that means.” I tucked Vigil into my pocket, and crossed my arms. Must be some weird internet slang. For being well into his 40s, he always was plugged in. “But no. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

”Sure, sure.” He broke into obnoxious laughter. Even if he changed physically, that annoying laugh was still the same. “So what brings you by? I imagine you didn’t contact me just to catch up.”

I winced, and shook my head. It felt like I was digging up the tombs of my past more and more recently just to ask for something. Everytime, it left a bitter feeling in my heart. ”I… I need some help.”

“Obviously.” Bruce rolled his eyes. “You actually going to ask for help this time? Or do I need to play twenty questions again.”

”I need Calamities. Alive ones.” I threw my request out there after hesitating a second longer. “I have credits, ‘course. However much you need.”

“It’s not a matter of price with that kind of thing.” He shook his head. “Even if I wanted to, they’re a tough product to move. Why do you need them, anyway? Looking to become a Reaver?”

”They’re for teaching new Awoken, actually.” I looked away from him as my ears dropped low. “I’m an instructor at the academy now.”

”In that case, why not put in a formal request to the outposts in the Mire?” He suggested. “Could probably get some that way.”

”That’s…” A really good idea, actually. Weak Calamities attacked outposts all the time. Enchanted items were attractive to them despite the radiance fields protecting the outposts. Plenty of them could be put down with a few shots, so they wouldn't be that dangerous to try and capture alive. “You think that’d work?”

”Wouldn’t be the first time they’ve done that kind of thing.” Bruce picked up his hat and ran a finger along the brim. “Right after the gang collapsed, I became a Perimeter Defense Force soldier. It was a pretty common request.”

Right, scientists would want to experiment on Calamities, wouldn’t they? It might be easier to go through official channels in this case. Not to mention I wouldn’t have to worry about questions being asked. Honestly, Quinn set me up on the wrong foot to begin by trying to approach this with money instead of bureaucracy.

My ears dropped pitifully as I tried to figure out what kind of nightmare requisition form I’d need to fill out to get a Calamity delivered to the abandoned amusement park.

“How’s little Sylvie?” Bruce asked after I fell silent. “I tried to bring food by a few times for her, but you guys must’ve moved right after the gang fell apart.”

”Um, yeah.” I was picked up by Hades a day after the incident that saw most of the Deadlock gang on a slab. One of the first things they did was move Sylvie somewhere better and take care of her at my request. “Thanks for trying.”

”Don’t mention it.” He waved his hand casually. It was covered in far more scars than I remembered. It seemed the years hadn’t been as kind to him as I thought they had. “And you? You look good. Not as skinny as you used to.”

”I’ve been eating better.” I glazed over talking about myself as much as possible. No way I wanted to admit to him that I was now with Hades.

“Speaking of, want to go grab some dinner? The chef here has skills to die for.” He clapped his hands, and flicked his hat back onto his head. “We can catch up while I write a letter to an outpost commander I know. If you take it to him, you should have no problems getting a few Calamities officially.”

”You’d do that?” I clutched my hands over my heart. Even after all this time, he’d go out of his way like that? People weren’t supposed to just help me, yet this was the second time a ghost from my past reached out without asking for anything in return.

”Why not? It’s just a piece of paper.” He grinned, and tipped his head toward me playfully. “So?”

”Yeah… yeah, that sounds great.” I stood up and followed him out of the circus tent. The food was, indeed, to die for. I didn’t realize pizza could be so delicious. It was a long time full of stories before I finally headed home. Hopefully Sylvie wouldn’t be too mad at me for being out so late.