by T5 and I'm Not Mister Mxypltk
After checking on Danny Hearn, Eurostar came back into the room and said, "He's all right now. Just a spell of disorientation. Stress, maybe. We should all relax and sit down. We don't want to make it worse for him." They all sat down except Naecken, who stared at the door.
Eurostar asked, "Naecken? What's wrong?"
"For a second I felt something... no, it's probably nothing." He sat down and said, "A terrible darkness is spreading in the city. We have to help. We must find the source of this force and shut it down."
Danny laid down on his bunk and stared at the ceiling. Within him a sense of unease was growing.
The tension still filled the room. Some wanted to go to Thunder City with the circus, and some wanted to stay in Chicago and fight whatever was causing chaos before it was too late.
Naecken said, "We will start looking for the source of this madness by--"
Eurostar interrupted, "Wait, wait, wait... we haven't decided what to do yet."
"It is obvious that we must take care of the most immediate problem," said Naecken.
"Well, that's a decision for the entire team to make," said Eurostar. "We won't be able to help anyone if the government catches us. You have Tobias and Danny on your side, I have M'xy and Nowhereman on mine. My side is as important as yours."
"I wanna get some cotton candy," M'xy said.
Tobias replied, "I assume this is M'xy and not Mick."
"Yes," said M'xy, surprised. "How did you know?"
Tobias smiled. "Oh, I just guessed."
Nowhereman slapped M'xy on the back. "Come here, pal, I'll buy you some!"
M'xy said, "Yay!"
As M'xy and Nowhereman left, Naecken couldn't help smiling as he gave Eurostar an "I win" look.
Outside, Nowhereman said, "I don't understand why they wanna stay here. Thunder City is so much better than this hell-hole."
"Yeah..." said M'xy, distracted, "...where's the cotton candy? What does it look like?"
Nowhereman continued, "I just hope it hasn't changed that much, like you guys and the Nowheremobile! I bet the Arch-Mod is behind this charade!"
M'xy frowned. "'Archie Maude'? You gonna show me the cotton candy or what?"
"Calm down, pal," said Nowhereman as they walked up to a snack stand. "There it is!"
"What...?" M'xy asked, looking at the fluffy pale blue and pink treats hanging in bags all around the stand. "This is cotton candy?" His eye caught something. "Hey, is that Bosco on the floor over there?" M'xy pointed at a short clown on his knees a few feet away, with his back to M'xy and Nowhereman. M'xy shouted, "Bosco? You okay?"
The clown turned his head to the two men. His eyes were black. M'xy and Nowhereman had no time to react, when the clown leapt straight over to them and started biting Nowhereman through his coat. "Hey! Let go of me! You fuckin' goddamn clown!"
M'xy tried to pull Bosco away from Nowhereman, but he was kicked in the face.
Nowhereman yelped, "OUCH! You fuckin' bit my arm! Stop that!" He angrily punched the clown away, but the clown didn't stay on the floor for too long. He stood up and looked at M'xy and Nowhereman, with blood from Nowhereman's arm dripping from his mouth.
Bosco was about to jump at them once again, when he received a blast from behind that made him go unconscious. Naecken was floating behind, with smoke coming from his hand.
"Are you convinced now?" Naecken asked them.
Nowhereman, still holding the wound on his arm, said, "Certainly!"
First Tobias Christopher and then Eurostar appeared next to Naecken. They saw the clown on the floor with blood dripping from his mouth.
"Merde!" said Eurostar. "I guess you are right. Let's take care of this first."
"Poor Bosco," said M'xy. "He was a nice guy."
Nowhereman snorted. "Not really."
M'xy replied, "No, not really. I'm just trying to be nice."
Tobias asked, "Uh... so, how exactly do we 'take care' of this... plague?"
"Let's get Danny, and then we'll make a plan," suggested Naecken.