Chapter 4 - Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite

A group of young adults with superpowers team up to fight a villain from another world as well as other small villains. The circus and Kethri do not become good friends.

"Do I really have to wear all this makeup?" Kethri complained. She stood in front of a full-body mirror sporting an outfit that made her look like a clown. Her top had red and blue vertical stripes with wide yellow sleeves decorated with purple spots. The pants were the same flowing design as the sleeve but with reverse colors - yellow spots on purple fabric. Her face was completely caked with makeup. They had made her face entirely white with ruby red lips and pink cheeks. It reminded her of a geisha. Except the eyes. The weird lady that looked like a gypsy had painted her eyelids to look very realistic but without irises. The entire iris/pupil part was the same shade of black so that, when she closed her eyes, it would seem like she was entranced. To Kethri it was awesome and eerie, if extremely excessive. She may have been kidnapped against her will, but she could still appreciate a work of art when she saw it.

"Yes, you have to wear it," Cael answered, not looking up. He was sitting on a chair nearby, cleaning a set of throwing knives while Kethri inspected herself in the mirror.

"I feel like my face is going to crack apart if I show any kind of emotion."

Cael finally looked up and burst out laughing. “Are you sure you won’t break the mirror instead?” He choked. “You look like my old friend, Bobo the Clown.”

"Ha, ha, very funny," she said dryly.

"I know I am. But seriously," he said, "We should probably get going."

Kethri looked thoroughly confused. “What? Now? But the show doesn’t start for another hour.”

"And do you know what you’re doing at said show?" Cael asked, eyebrow raised.

Kethri looked at her feet. “No. Figured I’d wing it.”

"Knowing Darktalon, the ringmaster, ‘winging it’ will land you on fire at the bottom of a pit with a hungry tiger in it."

Kethri froze for a moment, and then said, “Yeah…let’s go…” She and fire had a…complicated past. Any situation involving her and fire only ended in tears.

She followed Cael to the largest tent, set up in the middle. “Oh, good, you’re here,” Darktalon said, walking up to them. He was a short, plump fellow in a black tailcoat and pants with a matching handlebar mustache and top hat. “I need to try the new equipment out on Whirlwind.”

Kethri opened her mouth to protest being talked about like an object, but she was distracted by something orange and bright.

"I see your eyes have been drawn to our newest attraction, the Ring of Fire," the ringmaster chortled.

Of course her eyes were drawn to the Ring of Fire. It was a shiny circle of flickering light suspended about twenty feet off the ground. From where they were standing in the center-ish of the stage, it was in about the twelve o’clock position. Next to it, in the one o’clock spot, was a platform hanging about fifteen feet up. Since there was no ladder or anything, it was obvious she was expected to fly up there. Beside that was a small kiddy pool followed by two rings, the first of which was about ten feet in the air and the second was resting on the ground. Two blocks followed that, suspended about five feet apart vertically. Then there was a blank space with walls on either side - not sure what that was for - followed by a couple more rings, this time at the same height but staggered left to right. In the nine o’clock spot were two logs on ropes, pulled apart from each other. Next was a row of three glinting semi-circles at the bottom of long poles. Last before the fiery ring of terror was a long, cork-screwing tube. The outside was painted pitch black. It started off wide at the bottom, but with every loop it got smaller until, at the top, there was a hole that was barely large enough for Kethri to fit through. She didn’t even want to think about what that was for. It looked terrifying.

"Once again, Darktalon, you’ve outdone yourself," Cael said, looking over the course.

"It’s definitely one of my finer works," Darktalon replied, looking over his handiwork with pride. "Actually, scratch that first thing I told you about trying her out. I’m going to have her do it as a first-time run."

Kethri swallowed hard. “A what?”

"It means that you don’t practice the course. The show is the first time you go through it."

Kethri’s eyes got wide. She didn’t like the way this was going. “How will I know what to do?” She choked.

"Oh, there will be a red string for you to follow," Darktalon answered. To Kethri, he seemed a little too excited. "Just do what it does and you’ll be fine."

"Will she have a net?" Cael asked.

Darktalon laughed out loud - a hearty, robust laugh. “My dear boy, she can fly! When would she ever have need of a net?” He shook his head and walked away, smiling and muttering about silly ideas.

Kethri immediately turned to Cael. “This isn’t a good idea, is it.” It wasn’t really a question, but it had to be said.

"Probably." He turned around and started walking away.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?" Kethri ran after him.

"To get ready. I have to perform too, you know."

Kethri stopped in her tracks. “You have talent?”

Cael turned around, glaring. “Ouch. I do to have talent. Why wouldn’t I?”

"I don’t know, I just figured you were, you know, a behind the scenes person or something." She saw the look on Cael’s face and sighed. "I’m going to get hit, aren’t I?"

"Let’s just put it this way," Cael said. "Don’t move." Before Kethri could react, he pulled a knife, bent like a boomerang, seemingly out of thin air and threw it at her. It swished around her head, so close that it moved her hair a little, and then landed right back in his hand before disappearing again.

Kethri was stunned for a moment, frozen in place, fighting to regain her senses. Her breath caught in her chest and it took her a little bit to coax it back out again. Once she did, she leapt forwards, arms swinging wildly at Cael, trying to hit anything in her reach. “You idiot! Another inch and you would have hit me!” She shouted.

Cael cringed away from her attempt at violence, laughing. “Two inches,” he corrected her.

Kethri paused for a moment, mid-swing. “What?”

"The knife would have hit you if it had been two inches closer."

"That…doesn’t…make…any…difference!" She yelled, punching him with renewed fervor. It didn’t help that she was getting frustrated that he was blocking almost every punch she threw.

Cael let her go on for a little while but then finally he grabbed hold of both her wrists while they were crossed and spun her around, pinning both arms behind her back like she was handcuffed. “Alright, let’s go.” He nudged her forward.

Kethri squirmed, trying to get away but she wasn’t nearly strong enough, and her arms were pinned again. This was becoming a real problem. She was going to have to find a way around that, and looking back, she probably should have used her power before she got into this situation.”Go where?” She asked.

"Where you won’t get into trouble." They were back at the main tent. “I can’t have you getting in my way. Hey, Darktalon!" He called. "Where do you want her?"

Darktalon was in conversation, but he waved a hand towards the back, by the platform. Cael took her that direction and they found a cage with the door open. “Ah, so this is what he wanted that time lock for.”

"What?" Kethri was so confused.

Cael pushed her into the cage and shut the door. “Time lock. It will open at a certain time. I’m sure this one is set to go off when your show starts.

"So what? I just have to wait here?"

"Yep," he said. "Here’s my advice - start thinking of some flashy things you can do for the show. The more exciting your show is to watch, the less likely you are to get into trouble with Darktalon." He turned and left her alone.

 

… . .

 

Kethri was bored. She was nervous and bored. It probably wasn’t a very good combination. But from where she was, she couldn’t see anything that was going on, so she couldn’t even watch everyone else.

She had just switched from lying in the middle of her cage to sitting against the bars when something silver flashed in her vision and then something cold and metal was snapped around her neck. Kethri stood up and whipped around to see that Cael was standing there. “What the heck is this?” She asked angrily.

"It’s so that you don’t escape. Darktalon asked me to whip it up for him. If you try to go past that," - he pointed to the wall separating the stage and the stands - "You’ll be electrocuted. And the shock will go up every time you try."

"Sounds like fun. When do I start?" She asked, her voice jagged with sarcasm.

"Now," he answered, waving. The cage jerked up, knocking her over, and she was lifted up to the platform. So she wasn’t flying, then.

Standing up high, the course looked even more intimidating than it had from the ground. Especially the spiraling corkscrew of doom. But the door clicked open and she had to go. She could have just stood there, but she suspected, that even though the collar she was wearing was meant to keep her on course, it was highly likely that Cael or Darktalon or someone also had a remote detonator hidden somewhere.

"Now, folks, focus your attention on the back of the ring where stands our newest attraction, the one, the only Whirlwind, who will now complete, before your very eyes, a death defying run of the Ring of Death!" Darktalon announced and the crowd cheered.

Kethri stepped out to the edge of the platform and closed her eyes, showing off her fancy makeup. They wanted drama? She’d give them drama. She was the drama queen, after all. Holding her arms out straight to the sides, Kethri leaned forward and just let herself drop. At this point she had to open her eyes or she would plummet straight through the floor. She dove towards the pool, pulling up just in time to let her bare toes dip gently into the water. There was a gasp from the crowd. Okay, so far this was actually kind of fun. But hey, what could she say? She liked attention.

The next two “obstacles” were just as easy. She swooped back up the first one and then dove back down to the second. The red string was there, like promised. It was strung through the loops and then between the two blocks. She was about to follow it there when slam! The top block came crashing down onto the one below it. Kethri lurched back - she hadn’t been expecting that. It took her a second to get the timing down. She contemplated leaving or stopping or finding some other way around, but the fear of getting shocked drew her forward. She heard the blocks snap just behind her and her heartbeat jumped.

In front of her were the walls that she was still unsure about. But after the blocks, she didn’t know if she wanted to understand what the walls did. Her first thought was that she was going to be stuffed between them, but when she flew into the deathtrap, she saw an arrow whiz past her nose. If anything can speed a person up, it’s the prospect of being skewered. She was on the other side before she fully comprehended what was going on. She took a moment to look back and saw two walls that had looked normal a moment ago but looked like porcupines now.

She turned back forward and breathed an audible sigh of relief. In front of her were two straightforward rings. She flew through them with no tricks, wishing briefly that the rest of the course could be that easy. But she knew immediately that it was not to be, for next up were the logs. And now that she was up higher, she could predict what was going to happen next. Taking a deep breath, she flew forward as fast as she could. The logs slammed together just inches behind her. By this point her heart was racing so fast that she was sure the audience could see it trying to break out of her chest. She started to move forward and heard the clicking of a machine. In front of her, the semi-circles from earlier turned into sharp semi-circle pendulums of death. And the only way forward was through them. She ducked and dodged and wove between the three. Once she wasn’t quite fast enough.

Kethri faced the final two obstacles. Her shoulder was bleeding slightly from the last one, the cloth around the wound soaking up the blue blood, but she easily ignored it. Thank you, adrenaline. She swooped lazily down, following her red guide, trying to buy time to recover a little.

When she got to the bottom, she looked up at her next obstacle and froze, dropping to stand on the ground. Looking up, it seemed much more intimidating than it had looking down on it from above. She walked slowly under the bell, trying to stall. The inside was so dark that she couldn’t see anything. Standing under it, she felt like it was trying to suck her up and swallow her. She gulped and felt a slight tingle at her neck, her sign to get a move on. She flew up in circles. Every time it curved, she hit something, usually her head; she couldn’t tell when they were coming. It was especially bad as it started to shrink �" she was getting thoroughly bruised. She wasn’t sure she would continue to fit through but she did, somehow. Her chest constricted until she couldn’t breathe. The tube was closing around her with no end in sight, no light to show her the way until she burst out of the top, gasping for air.

It took her a moment to find the string again. It was going back down the other side of the cyclone. Battered and bruised, she followed it down. It swooped low and then shot straight back up. Her gaze followed it up and there it was, parallel to the ground. The Ring of Fire. The fire was shooting towards the center. There was just enough room between the flames for her to fit.

Kethri started to hyperventilate a little. Her heart rate was still up from the last obstacle. She closed her eyes, trying to calm down, not knowing what would happen if she didn’t do it, and not wanting to think about that. Even with that thought, she couldn’t bring herself to fly up. She was frozen, drowning in images of fire and screaming in her ears, flashes of a battle playing in her memory.

 

Fire raged on either side of her. She had tried to flee into the oasis but all that had accomplished was giving the fire more green things to shrivel and burn and turn to ash. She tripped and the fire came together in front of her, cutting off her escape…

 

She was snapped out of it by a sharp buzzing around her neck. The shock jolted her up and she jumped in surprise, right through the burning ring. Some of the flames caught her sleeve and she burst into flame like a phoenix. For a moment she hovered there, still coming to terms with fire around her. For a moment, she could actually appreciate the beauty of the flickering light but then the flames started creeping up her sleeves and the spell was broken, sending her plummeting, screaming, to the ground. She started trying to hit the flames out on the one side but just ended up catching the other side on fire. Small sections all over the outfit were now on fire. She was so distracted by the flames burning her skin that she forgot that the ground was rapidly approaching. She landed on her arm and screamed as it snapped, her elbow now bending in the opposite direction that it was supposed to. The pain was too much and she blacked out. Thinking it was part of the act - nobody would really be hurt, it was just a show - the crowd cheered.

Cael ran over to her, grabbing a thick blanket as he went. “Can I get some help here?”

"Oh, she’ll be fine," Darktalon assured him. "That was brilliant."

"Brilliant!? She was knocked unconscious!"

Darktalon just brushed him off. “Oh, don’t worry about it. Just put her in the back and let her sleep it off.”

Cael sighed. There was no arguing with Darktalon. He took off her collar so he could take her out of the ring and picked her up, draping her over his arms - she was surprisingly and ridiculously light. As in, there was no way anybody could be that light. It was like picking up a feather.

He wasn’t just going to go to the back. Darktalon might not care, but Whirlwind was seriously injured, and she needed medical attention immediately. And he knew just where to get it. He took her around to where the two cars were that belonged to the circus. He broke into one - an old-fashioned sedan - and put her in the back seat. Then he got into the front, hotwired the car, and then drove it off into the night.