Hopefully this chapter comes in at a good time for all of you. Things have been hectic, but hopefully this will help in the mean time. Also, I have an announcement at the end of the chapter, so make sure to read the notes there too.

Either way, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

A ghost circus would've sounded insane to Karkat before the accident, but everything was possible nowadays. He honestly wondered why he didn't think of it before.

Oh, right. He was still vainly hoping for some sense of normality in this world, despite their being none.

Things had quickly gone to shit at the reveal of all of those ghosts at once, the entire crowd trying to run over each other to the exits. The ghosts were causing as much havoc as they could, trying to grab people or throw things at them. Thankfully, no one had been touched and the ghosts were oddly not using any powers other than flying.

"Guys, we need to get these people out of here!" Karkat dodged an elbow that would've knocked any normal person out, keeping close to his friends. "Try and keep some ghosts away, I've got an idea!"

"You better know what you're doing! I knew this place was fucking creepy!" Sollux swung at a ghost that tried to go for his hair, getting a good shot at their face. "Ha, should've phased through that, jackass!"

"These ghosts are way too quiet! Something doesn't feel right about all of this!" Aradia was right. The fact that they weren't using their full powers was strange, and none of them seemed that responsive. "We'll do our abest but hurry up!"

Karkat quickly went invisible and intangible, heading towards the exit most of the crowd was heading towards. It was too small, and it looked like some people were going to be trampled underneath, so he floated above, grabbing the flaps of both sides of the tent. He turned them intangible as well, the crowd flowing through them automatically with no further restraint.

Most of the crowd cleared out before he let the flaps go, letting him have time to transform. He could see Aradia and Sollux slip out as well, the latter having his phone out. Karkat figured that was fair. His dad would probably have to get in just to make sure shit didn't go wrong.

That would have to come later, though. He'd have to mitigate whatever damage was happening now.

Karkat flew around the tent, checking that there weren't any more stragglers behind. He kept an eye on every single ghost that moved and was horrified to note that a few people had gotten caught before they'd escaped. They were brought towards Clopin, shoe seemed disappointed.

"Five motherfucking people? Jeez, we usually get triple that. Are you guys off your game today?" Clopin swung his staff around, huffing. "Disappointing haul, but maybe we got some rich ones tonight. Otherwise this shit was a bust."

"Dad, are we gonna get this going or what?" Gamzee walked on in, looking bored. He was followed behind a taller boy with similar looks, a skull bandanna covering the bottom of his face. "I don't think we got the time for this."

"Kid, we always have time to take hostages. It's how we get our money anyway." Clopin patted his son on the head, moving closer to the civilians. He just smiled at them while they trembled, and it was a terrible, toothy one. "Now, if ya'll wouldn't mind telling me who your next of kin is-"

Karkat figured he should nip this in the bud now. Pulling out the thermos, he aimed at the ghosts holding the people hostage and sucked them in before Clopin could even blink. When the ringmaster stopped, eyes widening and raised his staff as everyone got to their feet, he threw an ectoblast at his feet. It caused the man to take a few step backs, eyes moving to where the shot was fired.

Karkat remained invisible, flying around higher than them so they couldn't get a clear shot as he spoke.

"You know, I'm not exactly an expert on the clown code or anything, but I'm pretty sure taking several people hostage is a clear violation of that." Karkat settled into the Phantom persona completely, counting how many ghosts were still around. They were all moving now, but he could tell there were too many to take on at once. "Clowns have it hard as it is with people finding them naturally creepy, so they don't need your help ruining their image."

"Huh. I'll admit, I didn't think you would show up this fast." Clopin tried to track down the boy by voice alone, even if he knew there wasn't much of a chance to. The hostages were able to get out, and he desperately wanted to rip off this kid's head for it. "I heard someone was going around and interrupting some shit around here, but I figured there'd be a waiting period. Cops don't show up minutes after you call them."

"Well, I can honestly say I'm not part of the police. Consider me a concerned citizen." Karkat growled, letting the sound reverberate through the tent. "Johnny and Kitty made a lot of concerns rise up, I'll assure you. You should probably look for better help than those two idiots."

"They were drinking again, weren't they?" Gamzee tsked, shaking his head. "Really can't find good motherfucking help these days. Do you remember where we found them, Kurloz?"

The older Makara sibling just shook his head, not saying a word. He didn't seem to want to be here, keeping an eye on all the exits just in case.

"Eh, we'll find some new suckers soon enough. There's always someone out there wanting some cash for beer or something." Clopin knew those two were a dime a dozen, especially when it came to newly formed ghosts. "Your name's Phantom, right? I've been curious about you. Little ol' superhero running about and busting criminals left and right?"

"And I've been curious on how a human like you has access to the Ghost Zone. Maybe you'd like to share with the class how that is?" Phantom figured it would be his only shot to figure out what was happening. Especially on this. "Is this some weird cult? Or did you just get lucky and find a natural portal one day."

"Oh, my family's been researching ghosts for years. Fascinating little buggers, the lot of you, with all your little powers and religions." Clopin showed off a lapel on his jacket, something Karkat had to swerve around to see. It looked like the Rage Aspect symbol. "Haven't been able to sign up for it myself, but from what I've been able to find, this one suits me quite nicely."

"Oh, oh, Dad! Talk about the staff!" Gamzee pointed at the thing, giggling. "Took us years to get that stupid thing, and I've been wanting to hear it."

"Yeah, yeah, I was getting to it, you little lunatic." Clopin ruffled his kid's hair, in the disturbingly father-like way that looked wrong on a villain. Karkat certainly found it strange. "Though, I prefer to keep it as a surprise. Speaking of which..."

Kurloz noticed his father's signal to him, and he instantly threw his hand outwards, something flying towards Karkat's direction. The halfa almost yelled as a fucking needle flew past him, nearly hitting him in the shoulder. Kurloz's face scrunched up at the realization he missed.

"Damn. Good shot, kid, but maybe aim a little to the left next time." Clopin twirled his staff, picking up a juggling club from one of his pockets. "I wouldn't get touched by that, Phantom! Sopor can have a real heavy effect on ghosts, and I'd rather you wake up at some point."

Karkat sighed, shaking his head. Looks like this was reaching its logical conclusion.

Good. He needed something to let his aggression out on something.

Karkat had to immediately focus on dodging the hoard of ghosts that flew straight towards them, all in one horrifying amalgamation of hands and blank eyes. None of them used any of their powers, making it easy to avoid them as long as they were in the mass. Kurloz had disappeared, though, and random needles flew from random directions.

The halfa growled, throwing a large ectoblast to slow down the hoard. He flew downward, moving towards Clopin with open malice before a club flying at his face forced him to stop. Gamzee leaped towards him, pulling out another club, swinging and fighting like an acrobat could. Karkat would've just went intangible if it wasn't for the fact he could see the clubs were glowing.

Gamzee took a bolder swing downward, letting Karkat grab his hand and throw him towards the pack of ghosts. They did stop to catch him, letting Karkat immediately start firing where he saw the last darts that were shot his way were sent. Kurloz moved between the stands as they were destroyed, and Karkat kept firing before turning and shooting himself straight toward Clopin again.

The older man just rolled his eyes, turning enough to avoid getting hit. The halfa swung around, a kick aimed for the man's head calmly dodged as Clopin ducked. A blast from Karkat did cause him to stumble, though he had to abandon the offensive as the swarm found their way to him again.

Karkat flew up towards the ceiling, the mob separating into two streams in an attempt to cut him off. The swarm tried going for his right and left, something the halfa could see. Before he could get to the top, the halfa stopped suddenly, letting them lock in before dropping, the ghosts ramming into each other.

Karkat let himself smile as he spun, throwing ectoblasts everywhere to cause the Makara's to scatter, the only one not taking cover being Clopin himself. The teen reached forward, ready to grab at him and that stupid staff the clown was raising towards him-

OBEY

Karkat stopped as the word rang in his head, causing an immediate headache. He didn't have enough time to react as the swarm suddenly piled on him, grabbing at his limbs, and doing their best to hold him down when they hit the ground. Clopin clapped appreciatively as Karkat struggled and they forced him to stand on his knees.

"I'll admit, you put on a good show there, but it ain't exactly in anyone's best interest to just rush a man like that." Clopin quickly reached out, grabbing Karkat's hair so he could look him in the eye. "I am working with a client too, and Dualscar ain't exactly patient. I've got my own safeguards, but fuck am I going to waste it on him."

"O-Oh? You're working for that fuck?" Karkat shouldn't be surprised. Endangering civilian lives for his own gain was classic Dualscar shit. "Here I was, thinking you were actually a threat on your own. Kinda disappointing, honestly."

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking. I've been looking for a funny man lately, and this little staff should help me." Clopin smiled broadly, forcing the red orb between him and Karkat. "This has been a staple in my family for generations. And trust me, I make sure to use it every single day."

OBEY OBEY OBEYOBEYOBEYOBEY

"Fuck... Off." Karkat growled, snapping at Clopin's hand. This bastard thinks he can control him? "I ain't doing shit for you."

"Feisty! That's rare. I wouldn't get too uppity, though." The orb on the staff glowed brighter and brighter. "It just makes this hurt a lot more."

OBEYOBEYOBEYOBEYOBEYOBEYOBE-

Karkat felt something in him snap.

For the second time, his gas mask separated into a mouth, a stream of fire slipping out. Clopin actually had to move back, the surprise breaking the spell instantly. The halfa kept breathing it out everywhere, the ghosts moving back as it started to burn the tent.

"You- how the fuck?" Clopin looked at the staff warily, actually looking pissed off for once. He saw the tent go up in flames as well and that only made him angrier. "Well. Looks like you're about to wreck my entire business…"

He lifted a hand, snapping his fingers. The ghosts stopped before suddenly moving in one direction, right out of the tent.

"…Seems only fair I decide to fuck-up your place too." Clopin motioned for his kids to gather round, pulling something out of his pocket. "I'd hurry and get to them when you can, kid. They can do a lot of damage when I'm not around."

Clopin threw a smoke bomb down, and while Karkat did shoot forward to try and catch one of them, they had somehow disappeared. The halfa growled, wondering if he should try to go after them before looking where the legion of ghosts went.

He could still see the general mass from a distance, but they were going at a surprising speed. He could see a few stragglers getting off and away, but they usually went right back toward the general group, which was heading straight for…

"Fuck." Karkat shot forward, panic setting in as he finally realized where they were going. "I gotta contact Aradia and Sollux. Maybe the others. Jesus fucking Christ."

Karkat had realized that they were heading towards Amity Park. And he doubted Clopin sent them for a few simple errands.

Trizza figured the meeting was going fairly well. Sure, it was fully of stuffy old men that didn't seem connected to reality, but those were usually the best people to get investments from. That, and it was at least a little fun to watch her dad spin a good sales pitch.

"Alright, gentlemen," Mr. Tethis clapped his hands, smiling broadly as he moved them through some more doors. "I think that's enough reports on the old projects. I think it's about time to show off some of the new ones."

"I'd say that the work is pretty impressive so far, but I'm not very sure if I want to invest in this 'ecto-science' you've talked so much about." Trizza gave a quick once over to the man who spoke up and saw a cross. Of course this one would be ticked about it. "I wouldn't think something made involving this Spades character would be very lucrative."

"I'd imagine a man who can build an interdimensional portal has plenty of things to give. Besides, you said it wasn't built by him, correct?" Said another businessman, straightening out his tie. "It'll be nice to corner this side of the business before somebody else does. Surprised that man hasn't done it himself."

"I assure you; Spades did his best to give us good plans for it, and we've done our best to deliver." Mr. Tethis let the two talk amongst themselves, giving his daughter a pat on the shoulder. "How are you holding up? This hasn't been too exciting so far."

"Haven't you always said that when things aren't exciting is usually when things go great?" Trizza rolled her eyes, but she did have to admit that this was informative. At least she could count manipulating people as an actual career skill. "You still have the force field to show off. If you can pull that off, maybe I'll consider going to college for business or something."

"That is all I wanted to hear." Mr. Tethis clapped his hands, moving toward the display table covered by a cloth. "Now, I'd like to show you the first thing Axion Labs is trying to build. It may be one project, but it is a big one."

He pulled the cloth off, showing what appeared to be a weird piece of schizo-tech that didn't have any immediate use. Shapes into a box with green lines and several buttons on one side, a large antenna stood out of the top, almost looking like a tennis racket. The only thing that looked good was the lines themselves, which glowed green.

"I'm not going to lie to you; the design is a work in progress. However, due to the work of our engineers and Dr. Slick giving us some plans, it is a functioning prototype." Mr. Tethis almost slapped the thing like it was a new car before remembering that he could break it. "This baby will not only be one of the biggest things in home defense, but possibly military and commercial. Despite some of Slick's plans, this should do more than just focus on ghosts."

"Ah, right. Ghosts. That's something I've been meaning to bring up." Cross (as Trizza was going to call him), was apparently eager to bring up this point. "I've been wanting to ask if there's any type of insurance against them?"

"Why in the world would there be ghost insurance?" Bush (Trizza just called him that because of the mustache) huffed. He did look through the window briefly, as if expecting to see something. "Besides, I'm sure those reports about them milling about are just hogwash."

"I wouldn't take any of those reports too seriously. Remember, us kids have way too many tools to help fake that stuff." Trizza didn't want some religious guy to wimp out just because he was concerned about a few spirits. Besides, they hadn't done too much damage yet. "All those videos are likely to be doctored."

"She's right! She knows quite a few people who could do that too." Mr. Tethis was lying only a little to make sure things went smoothly. "Now, could we get back to talking about our invention please?"

"I suppose." Cross mumbled something about the town being involved with the devil before clearing his throat. "You wouldn't happen to know how to operate it, correct? I'd like to know if it at least works."

"Not a problem. The techies made sure to give me a rundown before you got here." Mr. Tethis fiddled with a knop or two as the antenna started to turn slowly. "The range on this isn't that big so far, but we have actually been able to project a small shield."

The antenna glowed before a shot of light moved up, then arched downward before touching ground all four of them. Trizza did have to agree that it was pretty cool. The lightshow did dazzle the investors too, one cautiously poking at the green shield that formed around them.

"It seems like I can cross this pretty easily. Well, maybe not too much." Bush was pushing against the shield, and he went through it easily, but it almost looked like he was trying to push through water. "Though this is actually hard light and everything. I almost can't believe it."

"Yeah, we're still working on making it a little more universal, along with some other ideas." Mr. Tethis figured that it was in the bag, despite Cross and his misgivings. "And considering its completely run-on ectoplasm, it's green energy! Quite literally green, too."

Trizza could see dollar signs in their eyes, and it looked like she would take over some part of Axiom Labs after all. A part of her still cursed at the idea, but if this made plenty of bank, then maybe she could look the other way and learn to enjoy it for now. Maybe she could run her own line of stuff if she was good enough at this too...

She didn't know it then, but as a door slammed open behind them, she wouldn't have a choice.

"Sir!" One of the interns rushed in, out of breath and sweat clinging to his form. "Sir, we need to evacuate!"

"Mr. Moxlol? What are you doing here?" Mr. Tethis waved off the concerned looks of the investors, his smile becoming stressed. "I thought I gave everyone the day off tonight so I can do the demonstration."

"Yeah, I know. I already left hours ago, but I forgot I left my laptop here before- you know what, never mind!" Moxlol grabbed Mr. Tethis, shaking him a little. "Sir, we need to leave! Ghosts are attacking the town and it looks like they're heading-"

"Kuprum, calm down. A ghost isn't just going to attack the building just because." They really didn't need this right now. Trizza was not going to let him scare Cross before the deal went down. "Besides, Spades can handle it, right? I'm sure he's already driving towards it in his hover car."

"It's not one ghost!" Kuprum groaned, looking panicked. "There's a whole legion of them outside! They came from some kind of circus or something and they're wrecking up the place."

As if on cue, they heard the sound of a loud crash occurring. It sounded like a car had been hit hard far down the street, but the impact had been loud enough for it to travel down. And it was soon followed by more, along with flickering lights going across the building.

"...Shit." Mr. Tethis mumbled, standing there as he listened to the destruction. He jolted as the lights flickered again, going off longer this time. "Shit, everyone get in the shield! If those things get inside, it's the only place we'll be safe!"

Trizza didn't realize how fast she'd moved until she nearly stumbled into her own father and the others in the room. Her dad hadn't turned the thing off, and despite her own misgivings, she knew it would stay on long after the power was out. If the power went out. God, she hoped that wouldn't be the case.

She looked above, only to see glowing figures moving past the ceilings windows and hoped that would be the case.

Karkat knew the situation was going to get bad, but the extent of it wasn't exactly what he expected. It hadn't taken long to catch up to the mass of ghosts, but they'd separated before he did, which was all that was needed to cause utter chaos.

The hypnotized (as far as he knew) ghosts didn't seem to have a plan other than try and wreck whatever they could find. The few he'd dealt with so far hadn't found anyone yet since Aradia and Sollux were getting people out of there as soon as they could, but that didn't make his anxiety (obsession) lessen. The amount of destruction they were doing to his town was also driving him up the wall.

The halfa stopped briefly, taking a breath. Can't lose himself now.

He assessed the situation.

He didn't have an exact number, but he figured that about thirty different ghosts were running around and doing this. He was able to catch three with a quick use of the thermos when the mass had separated, and he could see about five of them running around nearby. If he caught them now, that meant he only needed to find twenty-two more after this.

God, this was a fucking mess.

He didn't think much further, sending a chained sickle out to grab one of the offenders before they could get away. He pulled the ghost, launching it at another before it could notice the assault.

Karkat dodged a tackle, grabbing a ghost by the back of a leotard, pulling them around and throwing them at the other, slowly recovering ghosts as fast as possible. He let out a bit of fire, circling the ghosts before moving on to the next two.

The next two weren't all the powerful either, blasting one into a car with an ectoblast before tackling the other. He grabbed both and put them into the flaming pile before the others could even think of moving. A sickle and chain went around all of them, preventing any from escaping.

Karkat let out a breath, thinking something through. He kept the chains tight as he closed the distance, cringing inwardly at the zombie like state the ghosts were in. Something told him he was right about his earlier hypothesis.

"Hey, one of you wake up." Karkat lightly slapped one, narrowing his eyes as it didn't do much. It wasn't like he could actually hurt them that badly with a clean conscience. "At least show you have some free will stuck in there. One of you say something!"

The blank stares he got only made his heart drop.

The halfa figured that the staff trying to make him bow down wasn't just some random fluke. From the looks of it, it seemed to hypnotize ghosts that look into it. And it was, of course, in the hands of a psychopath that dresses like a clown.

Again, his life was goddamn ridiculous.

"Come on, something's got to be left in there." Karkat shook one a little. A horrible thought entered his mind that maybe the staff could've simply obliterated any free will they possibly could've had before he could stop it. "Wake up, wake up, wake up dammit-"

The blast rang out, causing Karkat to stiffen. The fact that he couldn't hear any impact made him worry more, causing him to look behind him slowly as to not agitate whoever gave him the courtesy of a warning shot.

Spades glared down at him from the sights of an ectogun, and Karkat desperately wished he wasn't.

"Alright, Phantom. You and I are going to have a little talk." Spades growled. He set the intensity of the gun higher, the whine an explicit threat. "What the fuck is going on, and why are you at the center of it?"

…Fuck.

Alright, I hope you enjoyed that. This part of the story will get resolved soon, though don't expect the stress or heartbreak to end there.

Onto the announcement, I've got a new story up! It's a BNHA x Persona 5 crossover I've been wanting to write, and I've decided to update it a little more rarely, with it being monthly at the very least. I even have a lot of playlists to go along with it if you want to hear them. I'll leave the link below.

The Musutafu Branch: s/13951100/1/The-Musutafu-Branch