Twelve

Chapter 12 in which the team's investigation closes in on the culprit...

Walking outside again into the white, rainy-feeling market made me realize just how muggy everything felt that in turn made me feel ick. Especially after coming out of such a beautifully air-conditioned atmosphere. It made me wanna cry.

As I stepped out, the Master right behind me, albeit hobbling like a wounded animal, I was greeted with loud droves of chattering people and commotion, with everyone- and I mean everyone- whispering to one another about this or that. I proceeded to slip on my shades and coolly start to stroll forward, attempting to not bring myself anymore attention.
Master limped after me, hiding his pained face with his hood, hissing through his teeth at the unpleasant sensations walking brought him.
"Stay behind me, ol' chap." I whispered over my shoulder. "There could be more punks here."
"You don't have to tell me twice." He grunted.

As I feared, once people caught sight of me and recognized me, they came running in with a gasp.
I winced as they began to approach and I came to a quick halt, looking all around me in sudden panic.
But they never got the chance to get close enough, for just as soon as they moved, big burly men abruptly lunged forth and blocked their way, immediately barking at them to back off and move on.
I felt like a celebrity being defended from the paparazzi by bodyguards.
Their screaming continued and the people all verbally hissed and cried their disapproval, but inevitably did what they were told and moved away. Although still eying me like I was an exotic fish in a tank.
I watched them leave, but my attention soon turned to the tent that housed Harvey.
People, roughly five I would say, were standing outside of it and yelling bloody-murder for Harvey to come out, shaking their fists and demanding answers.
Obviously rumors were getting the best of the people.

I crinkled my eyebrows at everything. "What the heck is going on??"
"They want answers."
I swung my head to beside me at..Claud! And the skinny bloke held my laptop tightly against his chest, which is kinda weird, but hey. I said nothing. Just blinked at him, and cocked my head curiously.
His eyes floated to me. "Between the assassin this market's heard rumors about, the gang attacking people and suddenly being taken down, and new arrivals causing all sorts of commotion, well..I don't blame them for showing some concern. Harvey did promise to protect us.."
I bit my lip at this. No wonder we were called here. This place was a mess.

Even so-- Claud nodded at me and handed over my laptop with a faint smile.
"I see you've given some finances to the residents here. Your support is much appreciated, Miss."
I nodded gratefully and looked it over, running my hand against it's slick black exterior.
"Thanks..and um, you're welcome. It was no trouble."
I glanced away from him to continue examining my beautiful tech baby..until I felt eyes behind me, struggling to peer, and I instinctively moved it away from view.
"You bought a computer?" Questioned Master with an attitude. Almost like an overly strict parent.
I made a grumpy face at him, "Yes, I did. It's for my personal use. A girl's gotta have her privacy, Harry." His eyes casted at me threateningly, but I only smirked a smug smirk, and looked away.
I was so busy being relieved about my laptop's return, that I failed to notice the people being escorted away from the tent by the burly men, a tiny bit forcibly.
"I gotta say.."
I gave a quick glare to Claud.
"That was some mighty fine action you showed! You taught those ruffians what-for."
"It's what she does." I flashed my eyes at Master, who smirked at me and winked.
Ah, now we've got a secret code, cool. Does this mean we're now buddies?
"And you held yourself together so beautifully! Ah..it was a pleasure to witness, ma'am! You're the talk of the market now!" "Marvelous- who are those guys?"
I gestured at the bodyguards while folding my arms to basically hug my laptop discreetly.
Claud glanced over at them, pouting his lips. "I don't know, really..they just arrived."
"Hm?? When? How long ago?" "Uhh, I'd say maybe..fifteen minutes?" "Mmm.."

Then the sound of a familiar voice expeditiously broke the annoying chatter around us, that was loud and authoritative enough to snatch everyone's attention.
"People! People, please!"
It was Harvey. He had crawled out of the hole that is his tent and was exposing his existence to the public, ugh. "Oh, no.." I muttered aloud.
He waved his hands for everyone to look at him, and they most certainly did.
"Please, everyone, settle down. Just settle down. I know you want answers. So do I. But rioting, shouting, and crowding everyone is not going to help anything! So PLEASE. We are doing our best to figure out what's going on. Just go about your business and leave the well-being of this market to me and the professionals. I will not fail you."
There wasn't much else to say or listen to..so everyone exchanged glances, then quieted down and broke away in different directions. Thorton's arms flopped down as his gaze left them, and turned to me. I smiled and waved like a good little penguin.
Until he came marching up with a huffy attitude and I felt uncomfortable.
"DEMENS" He barked. I winced. "What's this himhaw about you taking on all those criminals on your own?!" But I avoided the subject. "Never mind that. Who's the muscle?"
His eyes flexed to the bodyguards for a brief second.
"Fresh security. I ordered emergency back-up to figure this thing out, and they arrived just in time. Considering you've been MIA for the past 40 minutes."
I gawked at this and jerked my hands to my hips. "Hey, I told you I'd take care of this thing! And I've been MIA cuz I was taking care of the Master! He got ganged up on, for your information."
"Oh, really? You've got a handle on things? How? When? By shopping around and videochatting with friends?!"
Master, at that second, darted his eyes at me and made me once again feel as if I were a child in trouble. I swallowed away my alert nerves. "How d'ya know that?" "I have eyes everywhere."
"WELL then, mister eyes, if you DID have me watched, you would know that I've been asking all kinds of people and wasn't getting any leads, so I took a small opportunity to clear a few personal things up. So back off, buster!" "Oh, you sound like a 12 yr old." "I am  a 12 yr old."
"She is, though, it's true." Master confirmed.
The man made me shake my head. Thorton, not Master..

"And wait a minute, new security- what happened to your OLD one?! And where were they an hour ago when I needed them!" But the look on Harvey's face told me something was not right.
I sunk. He sighed, heavily. "I hadn't seen them all morning. I couldn't get ahold of them. Then about an hour ago..their bodies were found..they had been crushed."
I jerked my head back. "What?!"
"..Not literally crushed, like stepped on or something..but..they were..broken. It was horrific."
"What the frick?!"
"..It was the assassin..you were right, Sarah. This man IS a greater threat than I realized. He's dangerous." Ya think?!
holy smokes, no time to react. I pointed wildly.
"GET chyer butt, TO the tent, RIGHT now!"
He scowled at me, "I don't want to hide like a coward! I want to help!"
"MOVEE!!!" Yes, I was shoving him inside.
"What good are you  going to do?!" "I have no idea, but I'll improvise!"
I pushed him right in and he staggered towards his counter, then turned to me.
I pointed forcefully at the ground. "Do NOT leave this tent for one SECOND. My boys and I will take care of this jerk!"
Brian stood up from the couch, holding a glass, and he swallowed the drink that was in his mouth.
"Ah, Miss Demens! I thought you'd like to know that the men you generously took down have all been arrested and taken as prisoners!" "Wonderful. Don't you leave either."
And I turned right around and made my exit.
The two glanced at one another, as I approached the guard standing guard right beside the entrance.
I looked up at him and he looked down at me.
"Protect those two with your life. If they try to leave, break their legs."
He nodded. I nodded back. More code. I felt so hip.

I stepped back outside, returning to Master and Claud, but then I remembered the whole point of coming out here. "And while you're at it, confine HIM." I pointed to the Timelord.
"You have special permission to break his legs if he even breathes  the wrong way."
His mouth fell. "You are NOT leaving me with that schmuck!"
"Excuse you, he is not a schmuck!...he just happens to be a bit bad at his job."
"Why are you leaving me?? Look, I'm fine, I don't need to stay behind like a child."
"What're you talkin' about, you wanted to LEAVE."
"My interest has since become piqued!"
"Oh, your face  is piqued!"
"But Miss Demens, there's a highly dangerous man out there as we speak, you can't go out alone!"
"I'm not going alone, I'm gonna find the boys and solve this thing. Until then, I want you and everyone here to go about business as usual, you hear?"
He jerked his head back. "Really?!" "Yes."
"Well, I'm not saying he won't come after us, but...wouldn't it be safer to stay indoors?"
"He might very well try to go after others if he was so comfortable taking out guards. And he did it in secret. If everyone is hiding, he'll have a better chance to start dropping more bodies and we'd have no way of knowing until later. So stay out in the open and act like everything's normal. If he's around here, he won't be on edge by the quiet and lack of population."
He nodded at this. "I see.."

I looked down at my laptop, then pulled out my notepad and pen and pressed it against the computer's top, biting my pen's top off and inserting it at the end to begin jotting down clues.
"Besides, he's already shown himself and given us excellent juicy sleuthing material."
"How's that?" Master mumbled.
"By showing us his M.O." "What's..an M.O.?"
Claud looked highly confused.
I cleared my throat, "Modus Operandi. It's Latin. A police term used a lot for criminals. Basically an M.O. is how they do things and what not. Like him..we know how he kills now. He crushes his victims..which tells me he's either a really skinny guy with incredible power or a really hulking guy with incredible power. Neither are okay."
"Ah, I see..so you're investigating, like a detective!"
I gave a cheesy grin and winked with a click of the tongue.
"Don't feed her ego."
I casted him a look that lasted for several seconds that screamed at him in silence with judgment.
"Really?"
He soon got what I was getting at, and rolled his head away. That's right, Mr. MASTER.
"Anyway, I'm wasting time standing here with you two fabulous imbeciles. I've gotta find the others."
I nodded certainly and tucked my laptop under my arm, slipping my pad and pen into my pocket.
I turned back to Master.
"Now away with you. Go into that tent and stay there, child." "I won't go."
UGH. Save me from the stubbornness of aliens!
"Look, they're safe in there, so you're safe, I promise." "Bloody *beep*, Demens, I don't WANT to be safe, I'm a grown man!"
"LOOK. The only thing you can do right now is LIMP! So please, get in the tent. Stay inside. You need to rest and gain back all your energy. He probably has a medical team that can tend to your wounds better than I can. You can get fed and looked after. You are most certainly not in any condition to run around with us. Besides, you'll be getting special treatment as opposed to being stuck with us idiots. Just listen to me, ok?"

He huffed through a growl. I shook my head at him, then approached the security guard.
"Make sure you keep everyone here. And I mean everyone." I cut my eyes to Master.
"..Tase him if he tries to resist."
"Demens, you little.." "Be nice, I mean well."
Annddd shove. Master staggered right into the tent and held himself against the counter, where Harvey sat on a stool, drinking from a glass.
"HARVEY" I barked. He swung around to look at me.
revenge
I pointed, "Give that brat some medical assistance, and none of you leave! I'm serious! I'll be back as soon as I take care of all this."
That was the end of it.
I turned right around, pat Claud's shoulder as I passed him, then hurried back to the T.A.R.D.I.S.
I won't bore you with details. I went in, grabbed a Pepsi (nice and cool and fresh), went into my room, delivered my laptop to my bed, retrieved my notebook from Master's room, cuz good god, that gave away everything... delivered THAT to my bed, and himhaw, narshaw, I was out of the ship and after my boys..who were hopefully behaving.
- - -

Back outside, I hurried along past Harvey's tent, taking a peek at Thorton, Brian and Master.
Master gave me a grumpy look as Harvey and Brian were around him, checking him out, and I smirked in reply cuz I'm a jerk. I then passed the security guards, a.k.a. the muscle men, who were looking at EVERYone suspiciously complete with squinty eyes and puffed out chests.
I then ventured into the large crowd of people who were thankfully leaving me alone as I walked in a straight line, scanning all the different faces for my handsome companions.
At the same time, I listened to the chatter of the people for any clues to anything.

'Twas tricky to siphon out the information I needed from the dozens of conversations my ears were receiving. But hey, I did it. And I managed to pick up a few interesting lines. About the gang and what not...someone mentioned that someone new had come to the market that was highly suspicious..others were talking about us  and that maybe I was some kind of ninja, lol
I wish. Then, out of nowhere, a child's voice suddenly broke through the noise and,
"THE MAN IN THE BOX!"
I froze.
"PLEASE!! Wait!!"
I swung around.
A child was running after me. O.O

His arms went up in the air.
"Mum! Mum!" He yelled to a woman chasing after him. "Mum, tell her!!" He yelped just as she grabbed him and picked him up, about to turn around and leave.
But I hurried after her, going around the two..
"Excuse me!"
She stopped and looked at me in a surprised manner. "What'd you say?!"
She held his head against her shoulder.
"Please, we don't want any-"
"It was a man!" The kid swung his little head so hard towards me, that his mom had to jerk herself back to keep from getting hit in the face. His bright blue eyes shined at me.
"What about him?!"
"A man in a blue box!"
!!!!
*INTERNALLY SCREAMING*
"TELL ME MORE"
Wow, ok, I might've just shouted. Which startled the mom a bit.
"He was here!!" "Shh, Barry!" She jerked his body to get him to shut up.
I nearly jumped, I was so excited. "BRUH, please! Please please please, you HAVE to tell me more!! Keep going!" "Please, leave us alone." The mom muttered hurriedly, as she tried to get past me.
I was much too stubborn. "Ma'am, I'm begging you! I really need to know!"
"There's nothing more we can tell you!" She retorted as she hurried along.
"He was looking for someone!" The boy yelled over his mother's shoulder.
"You need to find him!! You need to save them!! DON'T TRUST THE BAD WOLF!"
"Save who?! WHAT?!" I exclaimed, as the two started to merge with the crowd.
"EVERYONE!!!" His little voice screamed desperately, right before disappearing.
"Wait...WAIT!! COME BACK!!!"
But come back, they did not.
I blinked several times as I just stood there, swallowing, staring after them, as my mind began to process what just happened.
. . a man in a blue box . . was looking for someone . . I need to find him . . I need to save 'them' . .
I need to save everyone.

Yes, that's specific.
Who the hay was that kid and how the hay did he know so much?
Why did he tell me this, and how did he know me???
It was pointless to chase after them. They were gone. Which is just my luck.
The only thing I could do was slowly turn around and blink a few more times at the ground.
Until eventually standing irritated me and my mind and I decided to leave.

A few more mental notes to take down for later solo-investigating.
Clues from creepy children: page 1.

I kept callously pushing past all the people who got in my way and served no purpose to the investigation, while trying to get my mind on the matter at hand.
No one seemed to know anything I didn't already know. . . minus that boy.
I couldn't help but question why that mother didn't want me to hear all that.
Push
Was she protecting the man in the box??
Shove
Was she protecting her son?
Push and Shove
I didn't know anything.
Push push, Shove shove
And why was he so desperate to tell ME all that?!

A R G H

I just started plowing my way through the people, cuz I could no longer breathe or think and they were annoying me. At last, I spotted an exit out and I took it.
I skid right through and dashed into the open area beyond them and let out an exaggerated gasp of air.
#DramaQueen
Talk about a sea of faces! After recovering, I straightened myself back up and looked ahead, then ding. A stroke of luck, at last! Roughly 17 yards away stood Jim, Bane and Joker, the three standing around a chattering blue-skinned alien boy. . . . at least, I think it was a boy. . . and the boy sure had a lot to say, waving his arms around and looking up at each chap with his huge yellow lizard eyes, that bulged right out of their sockets. His indigo-colored jello-like skin jiggled as he moved, blabbing away through his gaping black hole of a mouth.

In any case, the boys seemed rather interested in what the boy had to say..
once the squirt saw me, though, he stopped talking altogether and turned his attention to me instead, mouth hanging open adorably. The boys soon caught notice and looked over at me.
They were actually delighted to see me. O.O

"Dearest!" Jim exclaimed.
"Ah, Miss Demens!"
"Hello, lads!" I called back with a wave.
"Get over here, punk!" J yelled.
And so I did.
"Ya got here at a good time!" J announced the second I arrived. "Have we got some juicy gossip for you!" "I'm all ears." I replied as my eyes rolled to the boy...who was still staring at me, open mouthed.
Cue raised eyebrow.
"We have learned a great amount of information in our investigation, Miss Demens."
"You'll be quite pleased with what we've come up with."
"So pleased, I think we deserve a promotion. And  a raise."
"Ok, bruh, don't pull the Three Stooges act. ONE of you needs to tell me the haps."
They all glanced at one another.
"You tell her." Said J. "No, YOU tell her." Said Jim. "No, YOU!" Said J.
"ARGH" Said Sarah.
They all glared at me.
" . . . . . . . So you probably heard by now that those old security chums got themselves pancaked, eh?" J crossed his arms. I nodded, solemnly. "Sadly, yes. They were crushed by the assassin..at least, that's what everyone thinks." "Ahh, yes, but that's not all that happened. This assassin guy apparently got here this morning, right?"
I nodded again.
"Well, guess what ELSE we've learned!"
He let out a hand to gesture at Bane. The Masked Man took it from there.

"The traveling carnival workers also arrived here this morning, at precisely the exact same time."
"Along with a suspicious biker." Jim said, boredly. I shot my eyes at the two.
"Are you saying the assassin's one of the carnies??"
"Mmm, maybe. He's either one of them or he simply hitchhiked with them to get to here."
Joker licked at his scars.
"Same goes for the biker. The carnies have been coming here for years, but these two are new additions." "That would make a lot of sense.." "mm, yeah, sure...so, guess what else we learned?"
Back to Bane. "They perform at their tent, but they reside in an abandoned house not far from here."
"Get this..there are other homes there, too, that have been all abandoned. The carnies are the only ones who use them. And they never found the morons who made the houses in the first place."
His grin was demonic.
Conspiracy
"We thought it best to await your arrival before we took any action."
"Like, say, go and talk to them. Sing pretty songs to them..."
"Thank you for that..anything else?"

"That's a juicy part...this kid here saw the guy."
J nodded at the boy, who took a deep asthmatic breath.
"I saw him walking across here!" holy cow, this kid was nasally.
"He was big and he was huge..his face was real mean! He had big arms and big teeth, and his eyes were all big and yellow and scary."
I crinkled my face at this. "Boy, you are too fab for words."
I took a step toward him. "Which direction did he go?"
He at once pointed in the direction of some homes sitting off in the distance, away from the market.
"Towards the circus freaks' house! I think he's staying there."
I smirked looking in that direction, then rolled my head back at the kid, and like that, I handed him a 20$ bill. "Go get yourself some sweets, kid. Treat yo' self."
His mouth fell completely and he let out a gasp before immediately taking it and hopping on his bike just to ride away at full speed. "Thanks, Miss!" He yelled over his shoulder, breathing excitedly.
I smiled and shook my head at his naive little self.

Back to the boys.. I turned my head to them, but noticed that Joker was now staring at me in an almost hurt manner. "Where's my  treat?"
No time for his shenanigans, I merely squinted at him and looked to the other two.
"Anything ELSE to report?"
"Boy, you're greedy." "It has been said that the circus performers possess abilities that are described as....other worldly." "Well, I mean, they're alien, so it would make sense."
"Which makes them allllll the more tricky..since we just have tiny guns, pretty words and bare fists."
"Hey, we may not be able to move things with our minds or crush someone's bones with a simple squeeze of the hand or shoot out energy through our palms, but there are fighters who have triumphantly made due with JUST their tiny guns, pretty words and bare fists! It simply takes determination, skill and a clever eye to defeat someone. Special powers are just a wee advantage. You know someone's weakness, you practically have their heart in your hand."
Joker applauded me. Smart aleck.

My eyes fell to the ground, "Still, having the Master would've been nice..we're down a fighter now."
"Ah, we don't need 'im." Joker mumbled with a wave of a hand.
Jim made a snooty face. "He was dead weight. Better off."
I crinkled my brows at them, "All I'm saying is, with him out of the fight.. who is fine, by the way, thanks for asking.. we're down to just three fighters now. Facing against a brute with super strength and a squadron of alien circus freaks is gonna be one heck of a trial, with just three  fighters."
"eh..three? Why three?" "Are you not joining us?"
I shot an arm at Jim.
"Oh c'mon now, like you're really gonna tote a gun around and fight alongside us!"
Jim gasped. So genuinely and offensively, you could almost believe him.
"How dare you?! I'm an important man! I've killed more men with just a few spoken words in under a minute than you will in your entire lifespan!"
In reply, I snatched him by the tie and jerked him in close, which is a sad mistake, cuz I think he liked it. -_- "Are you actually telling me you'd break into battle if we confront these freaks?"
He pouted his lip, his brown eyes scrolling up and down my face, as he thought long and hard on what to say. "Mayyybbbeeeee...."
I squinted at him. ".....okay...how about this...you help us fight, and I'll.........spend a day with you. Meal, dessert, movie, the whole works. Just you and me. Not  a date, just...a whatever."
I instantly regretted my decision.
He developed such an enormous freaky grin that I started to internally screech at the mistakes I just made, and it took me all my strength not to cringe.
"Do we have a-" "dEAL"
He let out a hand for me to shake it as I still held him by the tie and with a roll of the eyes, I reluctantly reached in to take it, but the slime sUDDENLY RETRACTED IT AND LUNGED IN AND KISSED MY CHEEK AND STARTED RUNNING, I WILL KILL.
"YOU SLIME!!!"
I screamed, wiping my face of cooties, as the imbecile sped off ahead of us, laughing in hysterical victory. dwodoeojejfflelfk
The further he got, the more aggressively I breathed, longing to spill the twerp's blood.
"Remind me, boys, to destroy him as soon as we solve this case." I growled through clenched teeth.
Joker and Bane exchanged amused glances.
"Will do." J chuckled.

- - -

Abandoned, indeed.
These houses were a ways away from the market and they were as dirty and trashy as can be.
I wondered whether these were intentionally built for those that wanted to live outside of the market or if these were initially built to serve as a colony-type place until they were left to rot, and the market was simply put in place of it since it would have more use.
But the fact that the original developers of the houses disappeared unsettled me.
Why were the freaks the only ones that resided here? Why did they keep coming back?
And what happened to the developers???

Even so, there was no love put into these buildings.
The paint was scarcely still on the wood boards, revealing unattractive brown and grey colors that gave the places a dull, depressing feel. There were wood chips and broken glass scattered everywhere, the windows and many parts of the boards smashed in. Some parts even looked moldy.
These houses were decaying, ready to be torn down.
It was sad, the feeling I got, as I thought of whether or not these homes would hate their own existences. Whoever stayed in these places had very little to no respect in maintaining them.
And it honestly made me angry.

I peeked into the windows as I passed them, and saw that the state of the interior was just as bad as the exterior. They would look similar to old unused attics, if not for it being burdened with broken furniture, dusty as all heck, with faint beams of white light shining through the windows to show the level of neglect people had caused on these poor houses.

"This is making me wanna weep..why would anybody wanna stay in these if they're like this??"
I was unanswered as the four of us kept walking, looking for a sign that someone was staying in one of them. So far, they all truly did appear abandoned.
"It doesn't look like anyone has even passed  through here in decades.."
Jim commented, looking around with the rest of us.
I peeked over at Bane, being at the tail-end of everyone, him being point.
"Are you sure they're staying here??"
He nodded his head, "Indeed. The information was confirmed by three others. They watched them come here themselves."
"And they're over here NOW." J added, being infront of Jim, who was infront of me.
"The freaks left their tent about an hour ago. The gossip hounds squealed that they went this way."
I looked all around. "Well then, that settles it. We definitely need to be on guard."
"When do we ever NOT need to be on guard? Seems everyone's always trying to kill us."
I rose my brows and shrugged at the Irish bug's comment, "Good point."

That's when we reached the end of the line. The last house. The biggest house.
That was surprisingly just a little more fixed up than the rest.
And pagan lies, there were more than just a few, there were at least ten! Pft...

But never mind that.
The boys and I gave the building a good stare, before my bright eyes looked away and spotted something to the left of us. "DA-HA!" I exclaimed, and started skipping towards the thing I saw.
They all shot their heads after me and soon shuffled in the same direction, as I skid to a stop and knelt down to inspect the gravel ground. They all bent down next to me and behind me, Bane standing and peering over me, J kneeling to my right, and Jim laying on his stomach to my left, as we all soon locked eyes on the evidence before us. Footprints.
The gravel beneath us crunched and made crisp little abrasive rocky sounds that went on with every shift we made. The grey and white shades of the tiny rocks mixed with the white, rainy-feeling sky, and the abandoned houses surrounding us made for a rather dreary atmosphere.
And here we were, investigating a case to find a bunch of circus freaks and an alien assassin.
This felt like an X-Files episode.

I turned my head to the boys, "Not so good at hiding clues, I'll tell ya that."
"This IS rather sloppy." Jim mumbled, obviously unimpressed with their villain skills.
"Unless they WANT us to find 'em." Joker pointed out.
Bane agreed, "They could very well be baiting us."
mm, an ambush..just our luck.

I scrunched one side of my face as I thought long and hard,
" ..........Very well."
My eyes flashed to the house to our right. It WAS pretty large. Which is probably why they chose it.
Unfortunately, the windows were rather high. So it wouldn't be as easy to peek inside.
"Who in the world puts windows that high?"
They all looked. "..Idiots." Said Jim. "Giants." Said J.
"Mm, even so, before we bust in there, we should scope things out first. C'mon."
We all rose and hurriedly hopped over to the side of the house.
The building, unlike the others, was made of stone that was painted over...the paint, of course, peeling off...and the windows were all intact, but dirty.
As we approached the wall, I looked up at the window as if it were an age-old foe.
Curse my tiny height.
"Can any of you guys.." I glanced at them. Joker scrunched one side of his face in a doubtful manner.
"Not unless we stand on eachother's shoulders, no."
"Well whatta ya know? Even tall folk have limitations."
The window was roughly 7 to 9 feet up, directly underneath the gutters...I jumped.
And again. And again. To try and get a brief glimpse of the inside.
With each jump, I growled in frustration, and waved my arms like a displeased chicken.
"I-" *jump* "HATE-" *jump* "BEING-" *jump* "SHORT!!"
*jump-jump*
Suddenly, holy crud, I was being abducted by aliens--okay, close, I was being lifted up by my hips and raised higher and higher, and yes, I squeaked, as Bane had come up behind me and picked me up.
Like that, I was at eye level with the middle of the window.
I briefly glanced down at the three-- Bane watching me, Jim snickering at the situation, and Joker trying to withhold laughter by curling his lips back and making high-pitched stifled coughing sounds as if he were some kinda wounded hyena.
"Shuddup." I snapped, and looked back.

"What can you see, Miss Demens?" Bane questioned, trying to maintain his strength.
I peered long and hard, squinting my eyes. I even put my hands over them and pressed against the glass to get a clearer visual. As I mentioned, this place was better maintained.
Still a little messy, with cobwebs and dust here and there, but this place was indeed wider and had a lot more space, with tables covered in bottles and sciency tools and shelves stocked with organized items set in rows, as if it were a mixture of a lab and a general store.
It was darker inside, with a faint golden glow, that was only visible in a few spots.
I shook my head, "All I see is furniture. Not them."
One of the boys briefly shuffled away for a total of three seconds as I continued to peer, then came back with a skid. "They're inside. The footsteps lead to the entrance!"
"Even so, they're not in there.." I looked at Joker. "Was it locked?"
He lowered his head with lowered eyebrows while still looking at me. "I didn't check."
I hummed. "Well then...Bane." I tapped his hands and he steadily lowered me down at ground level, like I was a precious piano not to be dropped.

"Whatta ya think we should do then, boys?" I asked as I straightened my shirt.
They all glanced at me, then the window, then eachother. I did a sideways frown.
"Is there a back entrance??"
Joker at once bolted ahead of us to the opposite side, returning within a few seconds just as before.
"Nope."
I huffed. "Well.....I guess........we bust inside, then."
But our exchanged looks turned out to be ones of reluctance, for we truly were not sure if we should.
It wasn't the brightest idea. But it was an idea.
"We better hurry up before they leave, is all I'm saying."
J crossed his arms. I scratched my head.
"..Okay. Show your weapons."
We all pulled out our weapons.
I had my two guns. Bane had...bare fists...Joker had a baton, and Jim had a single gun.
I casted them each a look, "I told you guys to arm yourselves! What is this nonsense??"
"We did!" "You might as well fight with your arms! Bane, you don't even HAVE a weapon!"
"He IS a weapon." Joker mused as he patted Bane's shoulder with a delighted smile.
Jim wasn't too far off about the whole tiny guns, pretty words and bare fists thing.
I rolled my eyes and stuck my guns back into their holsters, "We're trashed before we even enter the joint." "Don't you worry, darling." Jim encouraged with a smile, wink and tap of my chin.
"You've got things covered for us. We'll be right behind you."
I narrowed my gaze at him, "Alright."
I spun on my heels. "Let's go."

- - -

Before I knew it, we were facing the front door. The only door.
And I found myself staring it up and down, as if it were chained, so many times that my eyes were getting dizzy. "......Well we can't just kick it open, they'll definitely know."
I scratched my head and huffed, one hand on my hip. "Maybe we can...I dunno..does anyone have a lockpicking kit?" They all shook their heads. I sighed.
"...Wait....you said you didn't try, so like.."
I went for it. I grabbed hold of the knob and turned and eureka!
It started to budge. I tossed the three a surprised expression; they leaned in, intrigued.
Turning my head back, I sucked in a wad of courage, guts and also a bit of air, bracing for an intense battle, and like that, I pushed it open.
The door creaked and gently bounced against the wall with a small thump.
The inside was revealed.
We all stepped up to the doorway and leaned over to peer, our heads piled against eachother.
I swallowed. "...mm......hi."
I said this, but quietly, so no one would hear me, so it was essentially pointless to do the thing.
"..We're, um...coming in...door was unlocked..don't kill us.."
I took the first step forward.

The place was so dusty, it made me choke.
And cough, and choke. I waved at the clouds of dust flying around in my face.
"help, I'm dyin'." I wheezed between chokes. The others came up from behind me to gaze around.
Jim took the liberty of patting my back as I fought off the coughs.
Bane slowly walked to the right, as Joker walked to the left.
They examined the items piled atop counters that were connected to the walls on each side of us.
It was so dark inside, I would scarcely be able to see, had it not been for the light from the open doorway. Beyond us were the shelves that made this place look like an old store, with various objects hidden behind many thick grey, dusty cobwebs. The floorboards were filthy, nails sticking out of them. The rest of the house was covered in the golden shade that faded into black as it reached the end. It didn't make my nerves feel any better. I raised a brow and dared to step further.
"Stick together, guys." I whispered. "They could be anywhere."

The house was so old, the whole floor creaked as we slowly ventured forward. Bane and Joker had moved infront of me, Jim moving beside me, as we carefully scanned the whole house.
Every inch. We got further and further, moving as steadily and as slowly as possible.
Quiet and cautious. These freaks were making me impatient, playing hide and seek so well.
If there was no back entrance and all the windows were intact and unable to open, then there was only one exit to go through and that was the one we just used to enter.
So where in tarnation.

Joker rolled his head, "Where the *beep* are they?"
"Language." I hissed. His eyes were the next thing to roll.
We were covering every inch, there was no way.
But the closer we got to the end, the more dread built up in my heart.
"Maybe they did..leave.."
"Not likely"

We all hit eachother swinging around so fast, where I even bunked my nose against Joker's arm and Jim ran into me. Our eyes zoomed right to the figures slowly and disturbingly emerging from behind the shelves. I widened my eyes as I studied them all.
The acrobat/contortionist girl, the ragman, and all the faces I saw before when the lot came to investigate my little musical concert. A bald man covered in tattoos and piercings, his eyes all white from the lack of irises or pupils, stood in the middle, shirtless and only wearing black leather pants.
Another was a short man with bulgy eyes and a bulgy nose, and goblin ears and chubby hands, covered by a brown Yoda robe that gathered around him as it was too big for him.
Another was a blindingly blonde woman-- pretty enough, though a little too caked with makeup-- that was dressed in a flashy Victorian-looking scarlet outfit that conformed to her figure..with snakes that were wrapped all around her limbs and neck.
Another was a muscular man, who's skin was covered in black fur and had pointy animal ears at the top of his head.. with red shining from his mesmerizing eyes and fangs poking out from his lips.
Lastly was a tall figure, his body completely covered by a long black cloak, his face shrouded in darkness, who quite frankly reminded me of Death.

Deep breaths, Demens, deep breaths..don't get excited..

I waved, putting on a huge grin as I looked to all of them, "Hello!"
The tattoo man stepped up and cocked his head, staring at me with all white eyes.
"Are we in trouble?"
"Does the lawwwwww want us?" The little man said with a shrilly little obscene voice, snickering with pointy teeth. I eyed them carefully. "No, of course not."
"Then why did you break into our house?" The snake lady spoke, with a classical quiet 'alluring' voice.
After a couple of blinks, I pointed.. "Ah, hold on..I even said it over there, I said hi, the door was open, we're coming in, so we are NOT breaking in, trust me."
The acrobat girl now cocked her head as she held onto the edge of a shelf.
"So what d'ya want with us?"
I looked at her. "Well.......um....................."
I kicked at Bane. "Bane, you tell 'em."
He scanned all of them suspiciously, seeing as how we were surrounded, his breathing making him sound like Darth Vader. "..There have been rumors..about an assassin targeting a man named Harvey Thorton." "Who is basically the law and order for this place." Joker added, holding his hands up.
".. and we are trying to locate him. There were whispers he was seen with you. And you allegedly reside here when performing on this planet."
"That's right." Tat dude said. "We do."
"So we thought we'd stop by," Jim drawled. "Ask you some things....get to know you.."
"And that's why we're here, cuz we thought you might know something. And that's all we want is him, we've got nothing against you, trust me. Nothing against freaks. I've got a soft spot for freaks."

They all giggled. It made me somewhat uncomfortable.
The acrobat girl shifted, smiling sleazily. "We did come across a guy a few days ago..he hitched on for a ride to here, so we brought him here. But he's not one of us..he's come in a few times to hide..he's done something bad already, I'd wager."
Yeah, try murder.
"Are you aware of his crimes?" Bane poked.
Her black eyes rolled to him and developed a sneaky, wicked little smile, resorting to hiding half of her face behind the shelf.
"I've got nothing against freaks, either." J randomly spurted out and suddenly withdrew his blade and approached the snake lady in a stylish strut. He grinned, wildly.
"Wanna know...how I got these-" "DOWN, clown." My signature command to keep the boy under control. His face immediately dropped and he frowned and stepped back to us.
Acrobat girl spoke up again, the chatty little lamprey. "We confess...we were really looking forward to..confronting you..but after seeing you take on all those idiots at the market..ya know..the low-lives.."
hmm... "..Well.." She looked straight at me and shrugged, smugly. "We decided against it."
My chin lowered, "In other words, ya got scared."
She looked away with a cutesy 'hm' that told me I was right and she didn't wanna answer.
Who needs ya.
"Now that we're looking at you four, you're rather intense." The stout man laughed.
"So there's no need to pull out your weapons, dears.." The snake lady soothed as she stroked her neck snake's neck. "We mean you no harm...not now, at least."

Oh, for now, that's always comforting.
"In fact, the assassin guy means nothing to us." Tat man admitted. "He's no concern of our's."
"So we're willing to give him up to you." The snake lady smiled.
"By telling you where he is." Acrobat girl snickered.
My companions and I glanced at eachother.
"Okay..where is he?"
"He's moved to the wasteland, not too far from the market. On the outskirts of civilization. He knows you're coming." That girl's smiling was getting annoying. And oh great.
"Be expecting a *beep* of a time." Tat man said with a demonic grin, and started to back away.
"Tell 'im we said HI." He laughed.
I swung my head at all of them as I realized they were all starting to back away.
"Hold on now, where are you going?!"
"You won't be seeing us for awhile, dear." The snake lady admitted.
Stout man pointed, "First rule of traveling life; never stick around in one place for long!"
Well that's just wonderful.
"I thought the first rule was to have fun."
"That, too." Tat man shrugged.

They all slithered away completely, grinning wickedly at us, the acrobat girl waving suspiciously.
"Be seeing you cuties...until next time, Demens."
I scowled at her. They all now waved.
"Ta-ta!" "Happy trails!" "Say your prayers!" "Sweet dreams! ♥"
And before we could do anything, the cloaked man raised his arms up, as we spun our heads to him, and before our eyes, conjured up a massive shadow that spread out across the floor, skipping me and the boys, and as soon as the shadow reached all the freaks, in a mere flash, they all disappeared right infront of us, falling through the floor as it temporarily vanished.
And just like that..they were gone.

. . . . . . .

"Well no wonder they were so sneaky, when they've got a shadow man!"
I retorted as I pulled out the mags out of my guns and checked them.
"I wish WE had a shadow man.."
I was currently seated in a chair opposite the boys, as we had all just arrived back at Harvey's tent, to talk things over. Master was in the back, listening to us, as Harvey's medical team surrounded the stretcher he was laying on, doing their best work on him.
"I feel so useless!" Master protested, wiggling his limbs like an unhappy noodle.
"You're about to go and have fun in battle and I'm stuck here, being poked and prodded like a lab rat!"
"Is he still on that injection?" Jim spoke quietly. I snickered.
"Peace, Master." Harvey told the Timelord, as he laid a hand on his shoulder from behind.
"You'll be needed for plenty of other fights. Right now, your friends need you here."
Master proceeded to make his 'not funny' face.
"I would have killed them all with one wave of my hand!"
"You would've ticked them off with one wave, like you are me, right now. So relax about it."
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. Brian was sitting next to me, just listening, obviously tired since he looked half out of it. I moved my head back to the boys as I leaned back.
"We're gonna need to grab some heavy weaponry, boys. Cuz I don't like the way they were talking and smiling at us. It was almost as if they were half-leading us into a trap."
"I agree." Bane agreed, turning to me. "If we are to face him in battle, we'll need the appropriate equipment. We'll have to be prepared for anything."
I nodded. "We're talking grenades, shotguns, grenade LAUNCHERS, anything else big and powerful we'll be able to carry. I'm not even kidding."
"And do you have all that?" Harvey called.
Joker made a lopsided frown. "Nada."
My head sank, shamefully.

"I have more than enough of what you need here."
He then pointed to Brian, "Be sure to supply them with whatever they fancy, Brian. They're our only hope. And the only hope needs to be well-equipped."
Brian nodded. "Before you all go, I'll take you there."
I nodded back, "I appreciate it, both of you.."

Another matter came to mind..and I knew I had to bring it up..
so I stood and approached the boys, who had migrated close to the entrance, getting ready to leave.
I moved to the other side of them to face them.
"Boys..I know we need all the power we can get..and we're already low in number..I don't trust those freaks or the biker guy..they might be baiting us away to try and steal the T.A.R.D.I.S...so..."
I moved my eyes to Jim. "That leaves me with one choice....Jim, I need you to stay with the ship."
He jerked his head back, mouth running open. "ME?!"
"Oh, don't gimme that, it's reasonable! You're not a fighter. Joker is better at it. So if one is staying, it might as well be you. I'm certainly not giving up Bane or else we won't have a chance."

He frowned. "We had a deal." I sulked. "But..." "NO. Deal. I'm getting what I want."
uguguhuhuhuhu
"Ok, fine. You and J...RPS it."
They snapped their heads at me. "What?"
Such unison.
"RPS it." I repeated, folding my arms.
Joker cut his eyes away, while Jim looked irritated and confused, until Joker suddenly grinned.
"Ah, yeah, rock paper scissors."
Jim rose his brows. "Why?"
"I mean, that's how Earl and Val made their decisions."
.....crickets.
I cocked my head. "From Tremors?"
...crickets intensifies....
My head fell back. "GOOD GRIEF, for fictional characters, you men are sO UNCULTURED. Just do it! Loser comes along, winner stays behind."
They huffed. Then did it.
Joker= 1
Jim= 0

Again.
Joker=2
Jim=0

And again..
Joker=3
Jim=0

...Joker grinned and looked over at me, "IIIIII winnnnn."
My head fell in disappointment and I closed my eyes.
great..
"That settles it, then." J waved and wasted no time going out the doorway.
"See ya, suckers."
I watched after him, grumpily, before turning my head back to the boys, my last hope for everything.
And with a single breath, I nodded at them, mentally preparing myself for what was to come next.
"..alright..let's do it."

- to be continued -