Musiclover435: thank you! I'll try my best.

Bellmitch Kritznovah: i hope you enjoy the show!

Davidscrazy234, jezzie24, PhantomGoat13: thank you all.

Reader238: all in good time.

Buterflypuss: i thought you were calling me a good chap and was kind of confused like?? Thanks? I'm glad I'm a good person? Did you click the button to early? Before I realized what you were talking about.

Pandemi: I feel so cool. 8D

Guest o3o: I know you deleted your comment or something but honestly that startled me so much. Like bloody hell dang. This seems like something my girlfriend would do xD

Bananarock509: would you?? Shhhhh your ruining my plans lemme just say you and I, we think very, very, alike.

Glacio Koro: okay funfact time! I'm also a sucker for these stories. I love the creepiness of a mind controlling circus. Like? Heck yeah, the original inspiration for this fame from the DPJL discord chat—which you should totally join and say hi to me @Call me Dee because everyone over there is pretty chill—and @Pandemi, ironically enough. If they can finish a story then goddamn I will too. I don't know. I was kinda worried about it but yo. Thanks Pami for unknowningly inspiring me.

Also I may or may not of just taken Freakshows speach directly from the script because I didn't know what to write,

Momentum

Chapter 4

Blinking Away

In which the seeds

of doubt are planted.

-0-

The tent was dark, fog covered the ground in a spooky just walked into a haunted cemetery kind of way. It was loud, the thunderous noises of millions of people echoed and bounced off the walls. There was a food stand of sorts right before the pathways to the seats. A muscled man covered in green body paint was handing out bags of popcorn and things of the sorts to the people who paid. Wally bought for bags of popcorn, the rest of the team bough none.

Noticing their looks he shrugged. "I'm hungry." He said slightly defensively as they moved to find somewhere to sit.

What lights there were began to dim, leaving nothing but the center ring dullily illuminated. A pale, albino man stepped out, red eyes shining fabulously in the darkness. He laughed crazed before beginning his speech. "Greetings, fellow outcasts. I am Freakshow, your master of ceremonies. Are you ready to smile, relax, and forget all your troubles amid the pleasant diversions of the circus?" Through the darkness Zatanna raised an eyebrow. Millions of shouts of no and never broke out in the crowd. The team glanced at each other before joining in on the yelling. Might as well fit in.

The circus master, Freakshow laughed once more. "Then you've come to the right place! Prepare to be disturbed and appalled by the bizarre and abnormal world of Circus Gothica." As his speech finished the sounds of a haunting circus tune played throughout the tent.

A roar played out through the grounds as a tall women with an robotic looking eyepatch of sorts came from the shadows. She stood proudly on a lion, grinning almost milisiously, her red eyes glinted in the darkness. The lion moved towards the center of the arena. From the ceiling suddenly a boy came falling down, a bungee cord attached to his feet, gasps left the crowd as he grabbed the eye patched woman and lifted her into the air, narrowly escaping the agitated lions teeth.

Robin narrowed his eyes. Something wasn't right here. The boy that hand bungee corded down to the girl, had his body completely obscured. He wore a long dark cloak, akin to one a stereotypical grim reaper might wear, he had baggy blank pants and fingerless mountain climbing gloves. On his face was an abstract wooden mask, with a far to wide grin carved into it. Dark eyeholes with skeletal designs were the only real way you could see skin. Glittering red eyes stared out. The masked boy twisted, sending the girl in his arms flying off into the air. She flew through the air for a moment, doing intretic flips and stunts.

As the lady neared the ground she's suddenly grabbed a hold of a rope that had dropped down from the ceiling. The masked boy and the lady slowly slid down from their spots until they hit the ground. Freakshow grinned, raising his bright red staff. "The Terrible Twins everyone" he let out a haunting laugh. Cheers broke out though the crowd.

"How did they do that?" Megan gasped, amazed. Robins frown only deepened. Something about this didn't make sense.

Phantom panted behind his mask. Even though ghost didn't seem to need to breathe, he did. He knew this only because one time, he had almost been caught while borrowing some money. Master had screamed something at him before grabbing and lifting him by his neck. Phantom had choked and cried out and tried to pull away his master's hands, eventually darkness danced in his vision and he knew no more. The mask was hard to breath in. There was no mouth hole. Only a deeply cut smile, that never pierced through the wood. Phantom really only wanted to take it off and finally breathe properly, but he was in front of the crowd, and since the Bat has seen him he was forced to wear the mask until they got out of there.

"Are you okay?" Sheik murmured to Phantom, his advanced hearing only just picking up the words of the elder ghost. He nodded not wanting to worry her. In reality he felt awful. "No you're not." She reprimanded quietly.

Phantom sighed, a tired smile on his face, even though she couldn't see it. "Feel like I'm 'bout to pass out." He mumbled lazily after a moment. Dots of black danced in his vision as he swayed. Phantom let himself be taken by the red so he wouldn't pass out on stage. Beside him Sheik sighed, noticing the faraway look in the young ghost eyes.

Conner frowned at the sound of voices. He could just barely hear them over the roaring sound of cheers.

"...you…kay?"

"No…you…ot…"

"Feel like…to pass ou…"

He scowled slightly. Could the boy in the mask not breathe or something? Then again, now that he looked at the mask more closely. The mouth carving didn't seem to actually pierce through the wood. Strange. The ringmaster grinned once again. Raising the strange staff of his he announced the next performances. The masked boy and the lady both moved off. Conner scowled, standing up he moved to leave.

Where're you going? Megan's voice rang out in his head.

I just want to check something. He answered.

I'll join you, just in case. Megan answered, Conner paused for a moment before nodding. Conner wants to go check something out Alright? She informed the rest of the team as she stood up to leave with Conner. "So" Megan turned to him as they moved down the rows of seats. "What did you see?"

Conner grunted, "heard something weird." Megan Blinked before nodding. She trusted Conners judgement.

Phantom took a deep breath of fresh air once he made it backstage, the mask hanging limp around his neck, the string on the back being the only thing keeping it up. It was unbearably hard to breath in that thing. Not that his master cared, not that he'd even dare to complain.

Sheik took a swig of some strange green liquid. Ectoplasm most likely, before moving over to Phantom with another bottle. "Here," she offered. Still nursing off her bottle. Phantom raised an eyebrow before taking it. He was pretty tired. Normally Phantom wasn't one to drink these type of things. They gave him a boost for a few hours. Sometimes a day if he was lucky, before it would all come crashing down, he'd become pale and tired. Ectoplasm attacking his other form, or at least that's what he assumed was happening.

Brushing a hand through his silvery hair he slowly brought the drink up to his lips. He knew he was going to regret this later on, but now was now, and he was exhausted. "Thanks" Phantom mumbled tiredly nursing the bottle.

Through the tend, the echoes of the audience cheered on, booming noises sending ripples of emotion to the two ghost in the carts, not that the people sending out the ripples knew. After all, Circus Gothica's advertisements about their ghostly performers, were a lot more true than people cared to realized.

Sorry for the short chapter again, reviews give me wings~