"That's it"
From up a nearby bush, the Black Widow was finally eyeing the wooden house where the tracks led them. Dim was surely in there, Roll too, hoping it wasn't too late.
They had to get inside, even an small crack in the walls would've been enough
"Any idea how to get inside?" Francis asked, everyone was silent. They didn't actually thought about it.
"I suggest the ones who fly among us" began Manny "Do a reconnaissance tour, looking inside every window to see if we can spot our kidnapped friends"
"Good idea, darling. The rest stay here hidden" Gypsy added. It was a good start for a plan, so the mantis, moth and ladybug all took off.
Tuck protested as they didn't lift him up, his brother was in there and he needed his help for sure, Heimlich had to restrain him "Ve all vant our freundes back, but now ve need to be careful!"
Francis posed himself on each window on the bottom floor, right side, scanning the inside. Apparently there were two adults in there, talking about something but he cared less.
Manny explored the left side but there was no sign of the beetle or the other pill bug. Gypsy flew on the upper floor, she saw a younger one writing something on paper in a room, then she turned to the other room and indeed she found the box their friends were caught in, could they be still inside? Also there was a human child also writing on paper. This was great news, but also more difficult, they would need to get upstairs, unseen.
"Found them!" She chimed once back to the bush. "Well, the box... Upstairs, room on the left, but the window's closed"
Rosie hugged her moth friend "Have you seen them?"
"No, but the box is there, a human child took them"
"We could bang the glass with something and see if Dim and Roll hear us? Then wait until the human opens the window and we sneak inside!"
It sounded like a plan, for starting.
Tuck only grasped the fact that the box was on the upper floor. Roll was up there, he had to get him out, give him the biggest hug and go home.
He immediately curled up in a ball and sprinted towards the house, all the others shouted his name and run after him.
"Tuck no! It's too dangerous! Please come back!"
Rosie spun a web that latched to the pill bug, stopping his run. Of course he wasn't happy with it, he spouted something in his language, followed by a "No! Roll there! Roll there!"
"I know! Your brother and my son are up there! But we need to be careful and not do anything rushed..."
She hugged the smaller bug, looking at the house door... why did it have a smaller door on the base?
She felt some heavy thuds, not like humans, but still big. The others were frozen.
"Rosie..." Heimlich begun, he was pale like a ghost "Come back, be very slow and silent"
The spider looked around until her blue eyes locked onto something, she also got pale.
"Tuck. Don't look back. Stay hugged to me. Do not scream"
"Eh?" Tuck looked back, of course.
And saw the cat.
Worse than birds and frogs. They were excellent hunters and they played with their preys... all bugs did know that.
For some miracle, the cat hadn't noticed them, it was just lazily biting a mouse plush, but the sight of those massive fangs sent shivers down their spines.
"They have a cat. A cat... We're so dead. So, so dead" Francis kicked a branch in frustration. Rosie was sobbing again, thinking that they would've fed Dim and Roll to the cat. Manny dismissed that.
"Gypsy said the box was on a desk, they must be in there, if they'd feed them to that hellish beast, it wouldn't be there."
"We have to wait it gets back in or goes away" Slim pondered. He didn't want to cross a cat's path, nobody wanted that.
Tuck also sniffles and sobbed, now that they were so close to where their friends were kept prisoner, there was something keeping them away from that house.
They spent a whole hour and a half revising the plan without drawing the cat's attentiom, but to no use, no one could make something up. Cats were fluffy death machines, only an idiot would act careless around them.
"GUUUUUYYYYS!!!"
All of the circus bugs almost got a heart attack after hearing the sudden yell. They all poked out of the bush to see PT calling for them on top of the wagon.
"Come on guys, that ain't funny!"
"PT, Get away from there!" They all called out
The flea turned, scoffing "At last! What the heck are you doing here? You wanna be splat by these overgrown monsters??"
"PT no!" They all waved their arms and gestured him to get into the bush with them.
"What are you saying? Please come out, i can't hear you from here!"
"PT, THE CAT!!!"
"Cat?? What Cat- OH MY GOSH" The flea jumped right before the feline impacted with the wagon, claws out, fangs bared, tearing apart the moving boxes. The millipedes escaped and the flea screamed in terror "MY WAGON! Why you overgrown murder fuzzball!"
As if the cat could hear the insults, it turned its big green eyes with slit pupils towards the flea.
"Uh oh..." PT then yelped, avoiding a pounce, the cat was in its full hunter mode, trying to catch that bouncy brown dot with its soft paws that hid sharp claws.
"AAAAA VAT DO VE DO VAT DO VE DOOO???"
Gypsy took Manny's arm and dragged him outside
"Darling, let's distract it! We'll give PT time to save himself!"
Both husband and wife flew in front of the cat's face, Gypsy flapped her colored wings, gaining the feline's attention.
"Over here, foul beast from hell!" Manny also called the cat over, so that it couldn't decide which bug to catch.
The flea jumped in the foliage, panting hard.
"DON'T YOU DARE BE DEVOURED!! Your magic number is the only thing that makes the circus go on!"
He yelled once he knew he was out of danger, it was his way to express worrying about his employees. He was harsh, but not to the point he wished them being mauled to death by a cat.
Both husband and wife flew back in the bush, clawed paws after them, but the foliage was so thick it couldn't reach its prey.
So it just sat a couple feet away from the bush, waiting.
They would come out sooner or later...
Or until it would find something better.
"Wha... what in the world are you doing here?? Near a human house? With a cat on the loose?!"
They all explained what happened, PT produced an "Oh..." looking at Rosie with a very, very awkward face.
Maybe he had went too far this time, considering the ropes weren't exactly in best condition in the first place.
Rosie was still mad at him, she just wanted her adopted son back, who now probably thought she didn't want him anymore. They checked the cat's position... it was there in the grass, waiting.
Flying was as dangerous as walking, cats were fast and jumped high enough to catch anything in their reach.
"We have to get inside. How, though, is the problem" Slim sighed...
PT cleared his throat, interrupting the silence
"All right, listen up, i have an idea.
I have to get close enough without being spotted, and then i'll do what nature made fleas for"
The rest of the troupe blinked in confusion, but they got in position.
First Francis buzzed straight forward the cat "Hey! Over here, fuzzball!"
The ladybug yelled, the cat widened the pupils and started to chase Francis around the garden. Then Heimlich tossed a stick on its head from up the bush "Here kitty kitty! I'm up here!"
"HISSS" the cat didn't like being hit, it tried climbing up the bush or jumping.
Slim there poked from the foliage "What's up?" Then he slid back in, only to appear a few inches on the left, the cat tried to catch that weird stick, the fur getting stiff from frustration.
"Hey! Eat this!!" Rosie spun a web onto the cat's nose, making it sneeze multiple time
Pt then jumped into the fluffy mass, as the red cat was finally distracted. Thirty seconds passed and it started scratching itself relentlessly.
"Oh. So that's what he meant" Francis snickered, finally, their boss was being useful for once!
It was time, they all sprinted towards the house, getting onto the stairs...
And that's when the door opened and they hid between the wooden columns on the porch.
"Nina? Nina what's wrong?" A human woman came out, almost squishing them all.
PT left the cat's fur before it was picked up by the woman
"That murder machine is called Nina??" Slim groaned, human voices were too loud for them to handle.
"She's opening the door! Now's our chance!"
They all ran towards the semi open door, before it was closed, Tuck managed to grab a loose thread from the human's pants and got inside.
"TUCK WAIT!!!"
The gang was outside, but there was stil the smaller cat door they could try and lift... it was the next step to try. The pill bug, on the other hand, let go soon enough and took a good look around.
"Up"
He looked at the giant stairs. Oh boy. That was gonna be one big climb.