"7 years ago, I was still in school, just, minding my own business, get laughed by the same batch of bullies for the same reason. Though, that day, a terrible incident happened. Remember I said my father is a spaceship pilot? Well, he died in that incident."
Albur tilted his head. He felt like he heard the same incident before.
"I don't remember the details anymore, all I know is that is a glitch attack. The whole spaceship was exploded, everyone onboard is dead, including my father."
Albur thought for a second, isn't this Johnson's story? His sister died in a spaceship incident as well, and its also 7 years ago.
"I didn't grief a lot, I forced myself not to. But what I can't stand is my classmates. They made fun of me, and my father. They say I am a the weirdo that cursed him to death. I....did something terrible out of rage."
"Which is?"
"I...killed them...."
Albur gasped lightly.
"After school, the bullies kept coming to me and make fun of me. I can't.....stand them, so I...stabbed one of them with my scissors....."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Haha! This cursed weirdo! Aren't you gonna cry?"
"Yeah! Wa, Wa, my dad died! Haha, "
Shy is walking on his way home, the bullies kept making fun of him. They even snatched his bag and dumped out all his stuff because he ignored them.
Shy is very very angry, he couldn't stand them anymore. He took his pencil case and took out his scissors. Then.....
'Spootch!'
Shy directly stabbed his scissors at one of the bullies. Blood dripped out from his chest, the bullies were shocked, Shy panted as he pulled out the scissors. The bully kneeled on the floor, and even spat out blood. The pedestrians nearby were all shocked. Shy looked at his hands covered in blood, and the pair of scissors that have a bit of flesh on it.
"Oh my god!"
"Is that kid alright?"
"Call an ambulance!"
"Get the police!"
"Stop that masked one!"
Shy dropped the scissors, and ran away. Some pedestrians went after him, he ran as fast as he could. He managed to hide in alleys to evade the chasing adults.
Shy couldn't go home, he would be caught very quickly. Police squads had been sent to search for him.
But it was that day, something in him changed. He would sometime laugh uncontrollably. His emotion become unstable, he had the urge to kill after hearing sirens. Sometimes, he would stop hiding and reveal himself to polices, but only those small squads that doesn't have heavy fire arm.
He would kill them, which satisfies his mind. But before leaving he would clean up the crime scene, with whatever he can find nearby.
He gone insane, kept laughing, and crying uncontrollably in the dark alleys. Until, one day. He is walking in the dark alleys, hiding from the police. Then, a series of footsteps sounded behind him. He turned around, and found a man, standing in the shadows, he is holding a staff, with a glowing purple gem on the staff.
???: "Why hello there....young man...."
Shy: "Who are you....hehe...are you the police.....you're here to stop me??!!..."
???: "Oh, poor little kiddo, look at you, you're so....cuckoo..."
The man raised his staff, Shy dashed towards him with his dagger. The man fired a mini lightning that shocked Shy and make him fall onto the ground. He then coated the staff with purple energy and used it to knock Shy's dagger off his hands.
???: "Calm down, youngling.....let me see something real quick..."
The man used his staff and channeled pink energy into Shy's head. Then, things that Shy saw at his perspective appeared in a bubble that the man summoned using the pink energy that channeled into his head. He quietly looked at them, when Shy tries to escape he used his staff and froze him in place.
The man watched it for a while, and popped it after a few more minutes.
???: "Man, is that tragic..... "
Shy: "What...do you want from me?"
???: "Nothing, to be honest, as a kiddo who just turned 16 running away from police, you're nothing but a zero stat performer. But..."
The man used his staff and made Shy levitate, he pulled him towards him and stare at him.
???: "I see you have talent of cleaning up crime scenes eh."
Shy: "What do you want....?"
The man cleared his throat and put Shy down.
???: "I see that you are being hated by your class mates. Because.....you hide your face from them..."
Shy: "Uh...huh...."
The man chuckled, he searched his pockets on his suit, and took out a poster. The poster have obvious blood stains on it. Its a Help Wanted poster, looking for more employees for a circus.
???: "You'll fit perfectly in my circus. As the janitor. Relax, in my place there won't be any bullies that mock your attire, your persona, and your capabilities."
Shy hesitated for a second.
???: "Come on, you don't wanna join us? I can give you a place you can stay. A place where you can call home...."
Shy looked at the man.
Shy: "You seem to have powers beyond science..."
???: "If you have any problems with your mind, after you join, feel free to reach out to me..."
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
"My.....so you really joined them?"
"I know they are dangerous criminals....monsters....but..."
Shy's hands gripped on his pants.
"They are the only people who accepted me....."
Shy lowered his head, and lowered his voice.
"They didn't laugh at my nervous personality, they didn't mock my mask habit, they...treated me like a real group of friends, or....family."
Albur gasped lightly. Shy sighed.
"Also...I also killed a lot of officers.....what difference do I have from a monster anyways."
Albur leaned forward slightly.
"Ok...."
But before he could ask more questions, Shy's eyes suddenly glowed a faint purple light for a split second. Albur leaned back a little.
"Your eye...."
Shy blinked, he gently touched his face.
"Oh, its nothing, that's boss's clouding spell."
"Clouding spell?"
"Yeah, as I said, I had a hard time during that killing time, it was a very painful memory. So after I joined the circus....Cluster helped me cloud those memories. I....could still recall them but..."
Shy's eyes glowed purple again, he paused.
"But?"
Shy looked at Albur in confusion.
"Huh?"
"That Cluster dude isn't someone you could pick on."
Albur put Havoc aside.
"Never mind, now, can you tell me more about...your....circus family?"
Shy turn to look at the camera, ensured it is still blocked and muted.
"But, I'm still considered new in the circus, my info might be wrong, I'm not like Juggler and Scar, who had been in the circus for decades."
"It's alright, just tell me what you know."
"Ok.....who do you wanna know?"
"How about.....Juggler, that master swordsman that got one punched by Rhea."
"Huh? Juggler? One punched?"
"Yeah, Rhea punched him at the face, and he had to retreat."
"That can't be...he's holding back again? How would he let that slide?"
"So...."
"Ah, right. To my knowledge, Juggler had been with boss since he started the Deadly Circus. Boss personally trained him to make him have insane sword skills."
"How long did that take?"
"Decades of course, you can't see how skillful he is?"
"Indeed....."
"Also, he isn't a human or anything, he is a robot."
"Robot?"
"Or a Computer Intelligence to be exact. I'll be honest, I am the only true human in the circus."
"What about that scarecrow? And Cluster?"
"Scar Cruel? Hmm, if I'm not mistaken he used to be an agricultural robot."
"What?"
"Yeah, he is an agricultural watering scarecrow. He is one of the bots that were paired with quantum traveling, you know, they can travel across the farm to water and fertilize the crops."
Albur think he had heard about quantum traveling farm robots before when he is learning in high school. Havoc excreted some of his virus particles and pressed Albur's watch. He went to the search application and searched the internet, the network isn't very stable but with more attempts of searching and using his virus powers to bypass the virus molecules of the tumor, he managed to get back online..
"Quantum Traveling bots does exist in the era 8015-8142, though they are abandoned due to their high maintenance cost and the bots will be hard to retrieve when they malfunction."
"Scar is one of them. Though he was abandoned way earlier than his kind. If I remember, he had a malfunction in one of his emotion energies. He became hostile towards the crops, pests and even humans. He even went on a rampage and attacked multiple citizens using his quantum traveling powers. At last he was being caught and sentenced to disintegration."
"Oh....but he...."
"Yeah, its boss again. When Scar is pushed to the disembody room, boss used his staff and instantly brought him out. Like me, he offered Scar a place he can belong, a family, and a good use to his talents."
"So....he became that clown scarecrow....."
"Yeah. His voice box is damaged so he can't talk, he also don't wanna renew it. But somehow boss understands what he says."
"Mmm....interesting...then.....lastly..."
"My boss, Cluster. He.....I don't exactly know what is his past or why he became this, all I know is that he isn't a human, well at least he isn't now."
"Then what is he?"
"He is a.....walking corpse."
"What? W-w-walking....."
Havoc stared at Albur, Albur stared at him.
"Yeah, you see his face is a skull face half white half black right?"
"Yeah, that's his, mask."
"Well, the black one isn't a mask."
"Huh?"
"Half of his face is...."
Shy
Shy paused, a sound rang in his mind. Albur raised an eyebrow.
"Shy? Hello?"
Don't you dare spoil more to him. He seems nice to you, but his side isn't.
Shy stopped talking, he stood up, and covered his ears.
"Boss?"
Keep your speakers shut, I will be casting shields on you later.
Shy looked at Albur for a second, his hands are shaking, he looked down at the floor, and gently nodded.
"Ok..."
Albur want to get more info from Shy, but no matter what he tries, he still keeps his lips sealed. Without any ideas to get him speaking again, he limped out of the room.