138 Gray The Jack-Ass #138

Author's note: someone said something about copying the pigeon drone's software into the sentry drones to solve the problem in the last chapter, so I'm just gonna explain why that wouldn't work real quick.

The pigeon drone's only job is to fly around and stare at shit. Meanwhile, the sentry drones are supposed to do complex procedures like assembling and fixing machines, so copying the pigeon's software doesn't accomplish anything.

They might be both called drones, but their intended purposes and utilities are completely different.

Anyway, here's the chapter. Enjoy!

...

"Am I an asshole for this...?" I wondered aloud as I stood on a rooftop, gazing at the creepy circus and observing the two figures stealthily making their way inside.

True to my word, I had no intention of dealing with the whacky Professor Pyg and his menagerie of super freaks, personally. I informed Nightwing and was more than happy to leave it to him.

However, I realized that I now had the chance to resolve one of the concerns keeping me up at night, and I couldn't help but jump at the opportunity, much to my shame.

I'd already let go of my optimism that Cassandra would eventually run into the Bat Family on her own, as my mere presence made that uncertain.

Barbra Gordon was still up and kicking, and the way things were going, she might not even become Oracle, and Cassandra never rub shoulders with her and eventually become the new Batgirl.

I couldn't resist the urge to give Cassandra the push she needed to meet the Bat Family through Nightwing, as I told her about Professor Pyg, his circus, and the danger they represented.

My actions were undoubtedly manipulative, and I could only compare them to what Lady Shiva did, but in the end, it was the best thing to do for Cassandra's sake.

I was sure Cassandra knew I had an ulterior motive in sending her to the Circus Of The Strange, and the way she agreed without hesitation made me feel that much more guilt and doubt myself even harder.

But as I've said, the deed had to be done, and if I had to feel like an asshole for manipulating the young girl for her own sake, then so be it. It wasn't the first time I was a jack-ass, and I imagine it won't be the last.

...

Circus Of Strange

As she inspected the area, standing behind one of the circus' many tents, Cassandra couldn't help but frown at the eerie atmosphere and its dark, empty facade.

It was her first time visiting a circus, and what a disappointment it turned out to be. Despite Cassandra's harsh upbringing, she'd seen what real circuses looked like after she fled her former home.

The young girl had no childhood to speak of, so Cassandra had an understandable measure of expectations that these eerie, seemingly abandoned tents have promptly shattered.

Still, she wasn't here for merry-making and knew not to lose focus as David Cain had thoroughly beaten the consequences of such carelessness into her mind, body, and soul.

Cassandra's vigilance was not in vain as she immediately noticed the person trying to sneak up on her as the latter made a mistake and breathed a bit too loudly.

She sharply turned her body, throwing a high kick at the face of the person behind her. The man immediately reacted, jumping backward to dodge her attack and landing in a well-lit area, revealing his grotesque appearance.

Looking at the man's dark green face and the many pumps all over his face as he licked his lips with an elongated tongue, Cassandra froze for a second before she gathered her bearings.

"And what do we have here? A little bug that wandered into Mr. Toad's pond..." the man said, hideously grinning as he lowered his posture, putting his webbed, green hands on the floor akin to a toad, ready to lunge on a fly.

Noticing Cassandra's lack of reply, Mr. Toad chuckled, causing his protruding gut to jiggle as he pushed himself off the ground, leaping towards Cassandra like a speeding bullet.

Cassandra saw it coming and quickly stepped aside, turning to face the frog-human-hybrid as he flew past her. However, she was surprised to see a long, purple tongue full of pimples flying toward her.

It was too late to dodge, so she raised her hand in front of her face to block the attack, and the tongue connected with her forearm, wrapping around it.

She followed the tongue back to its owner, noticing he was clinging to a tent like a lizard and preparing to make another lunge, but not before pulling Cassandra towards him with the elongated appendage to make her lose balance.

Cassandra staggered two steps forward as Mr. Toad pulled her towards him and lunged, but she was quick enough to regain her balance and dodge in time.

Cassandra turned to face the man again as he flew past her and was ready for the purple tongue to fly towards her face this time. She stepped aside, allowing the strangely long appendage to shoot past her.

The young girl caught Mr. Toad's tongue and gave him a taste of his own medicine as she pulled him towards her, slamming his speech organ into the ground and stomping it as he staggered.

Quickly capitalizing on her advantage, Cassandra closed the distance and knocked out the toad-human-hybrid with a kick to the side of the latter's head.

Cassandra let out a drawn breath, relieved as she inspected the area in search of other attackers. She found not one but three bald men in acrobat outfits, seemingly tied together at the waist as each faced a different direction.

The one facing Cassandra grinned as he noticed her looking in their direction, and the three men stepped in her direction, clearly prepared to fight.

Cassandra prepared herself for the fight, but it proved unnecessary as a figure came flying over the three bald men, followed by a giant meatball that rolled over them, immediately putting them out of commission.

Confused, Cassandra lowered her hand as she looked at the giant meatball that seemed to sprout four tiny, bloated limbs and the bearded face of a woman.

She slowly turned to the figure that flew over the now-unconscious three acrobats' heads and immediately recognized him as one of the city's vigilantes, to which her confusion only grew.

However, the superhumanly obese bearded woman and the vigilante weren't the only ones to arrive as a man covered in flame came running behind the former.

"They took out Kushti and Mr. Toad. It's just you and me now, Rex ..." the bearded woman said as she looked at the flaming man before gesturing towards the three acrobats and the toad-human hybrid.

"You took out Kushti with your fat ass. They had nothing to do with it..." Phosphorous Rex said, rolling his eyes at the bearded woman as he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"No matter... we just have to stop them here... you know how the professor gets when someone interrupts his work..." the flaming man added, grinning as he raised a hand, extending it forward as it ignited in flames.

"I don't know who you are, kid. But you better get out of here while I keep those two busy..." Nightwing said as he gave the flaming man an appraising look before turning to Cassandra.

She only shook her head in response, and Nightwing didn't need the ability to read body language to understand there was no changing her mind, solely based on her expression.

"Right..." Nightwing remarked, sighing as he quickly analyzed the situation. He immediately noticed the unconscious toad man and deduced that Cassandra knew how to fight at least.

"Then you take care of the bearded meatball over there while I take care of the match stick here..." Nightwing instructed as he realized the flaming man was the more dangerous foe out of the two.

He did not wait for Cassandra to reply before retrieving several Wing-Dings, his own customized version of the Batarang, and throwing them at the flaming man.

The flaming man rasied his hand and engulfed the projectiles in a wall of flame that killed their momentum before releasing even more fire towards Nightwing.

Big Top, the bearded woman, took that as her cue as she retracted her head and limbs back into her body and started rolling towards Cassandra, intent on crushing her to death.

...

"Talk about a freak show..." I muttered as I viewed the footage my pigeon drone transmitted directly into my brain. The circus had an unsurprising lack of cameras and other surveilence devices, so I had to fall back on the old reliable drone.

"It seems to be going smoothly for now at least..." I remarked as I watched Nightwing and Cassandra dancing around the bearded woman and the flaming man, seemingly in control.

"Still... Pyg hasn't shown up. Neither did his dolls..." I muttered, freezing when I finished my sentence as realization hit me.

"Shit... I just jinxed it, didn't I...?"

...

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