Review. I own nothing. Not even this computer.
Adrien's eyes roll in his head. He moaned in his sleep as he shifted and tried to get comfortable. The dreams were overwhelming, and confusing. He gasps as he falls into another one.
The small trailer is uninviting and very unassauming. There is the small cot that Adrien Agreste is laid upon. And a small fold out desk that The Man and the contact are sitting at. A parrot clucks in a cage attached to the ceiling and begins to laugh maniacally at the sleeping young man.
The man sits across from the circus owner who takes out his cigar and blows a large stinking blue cloud into the mans face.
"You have a lot of guts coming here to see me. You know that? I shouldn't even talk to you." The circus owner has a greasy bald head and a large black goatee and looks to be willing to see anything to anyone. The Man reaches into his chest pocket. The circus owner stiffens but the Man just brings out an envelope. The circus owner picks it up and hefts it. It had barely fit into The Mans hand. But in the circus owners hand it looks like a regular envelope.
The circus owner opens it and whistles in delight.
"That is a lot of money. You save all of this yourself?" The Man nods in response.
"Where did you even get all of it? Actually never mind I don't want to know. And you secret service type guys wouldn't tell me. And it's not like you could." The circus owner chuckles deeply before coughing loudly and spitting on the floor of his small cramped trailer. The man touches his throat self consciously and growls deeply like an actual gorilla.
"Listen up you massive meathead. This is not a fun business. And I try to avoid kids. They always want to run away and join the circus then it turns out that its not all fun and games and that you have to shovel a lot of feces and deal with a lot of weirdos. Like me." The circus owner grins and leans back in his small creaking swivel chair.
"And this isn't even a kid running away to join the circus! this is you kidnapping a kid and then bringing him to my circus! Tell me something can you read? Does the sign outside say kidnapper circus? Does it say circus where people bring kids that they just abducted?" The greasy man shakes his head as The Man just glowers down at him. He is too big for the cramped trailer, both of his shoulders hit the walls and his head is squashed into his shoulders. He looks intimidating, especially with his constant frown. But if a fight broke out he would not be able to defend his charge.
"That's right! You can read after all! It says Tommy's circus! I am Tommy the ringmaster! And we don't deal with run away kids!" Tommy the ringmaster said with a sneer at the man. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out another envelope. This one had a few bills actually sticking out of it, there were too many to actually close it.
Tommy's eyes widen and he holds his hands out like a little boy begging for candy.
"But then again you and I do go way way back, to the special ops...where was it again the middle East? America? Eh who cares we both some some dark stuff didn't we? You especially. And if someone like you took a liking to a boy like that and think that you need a place to hide out for a bit...well old Tommy is more then willing to help out a bit! I can keep you both secreted here! I can even give you a small trailer and a place in the act! Won't that be great! Wouldn't you just love it! Can you still do that thing where you break people's legs? The customers would love that!" Tommy's eyes are glistening from the smoke of his stinking cigar as he ruffles through the money and brings it up to his nose to sniff it.
"Oh yeah! Daddy Tommy loves that smell!" The man rolls his eyes in disgust, Tommy wasn't even the mans name. He used to be a member of secret intelligence who saw some things that he wasn't supposed to see and had to disappear. And then disappear again. And was eventually made the ringmaster of a two bit circus that got drastically too big.
The man taps the table to get Tommy's attention. Tommy glances at The Man in confusion, apparently confounded that he was still even in the room. The Man nods towards where Adrien is sleeping and Tommy frowns.
"Now we will take you both in, but the kid might be a problem. He has a very noticeable face. It will be missed too if I have to guess. He will need a disguise. How attached is he to his hair? And all his teeth?" The Man growls threateningly and Tommy snorts loudly and holds up his small greasy hands.
"Kidding! I'm kidding! But no one works at Tommy's circus for free! If you both are here then you both are working! Got that? That means that you clean what I tell you, do what I tell you and no smart talk! Haha! Sorry! Just a little circus humor from me to you." Tommy grins widely and The Man has to resist the urge to punch him in the teeth.
He takes a deep breath, he is doing this for Adrien, it is for Adrien's safety. It all comes back to Adrien.
The Man remembers it vividly. He had just finished putting the finishing touches on Gabriel Agreste's dinner, a simple meal but one that Gabriel enjoyed and that The Man took great pride in making, plus it was a nice change of pace compared to all of the very stinky cheese that Adrien insisted on eating (Or pretending to eat and just slipping it to his secret magical pet).
The Man had put the plate on a platter and walked to his employers office. He had not bothered to knock. After all Gabriel was normally hard at work in his office, or else he was asleep in one of the chairs. Gabriel did not often sleep in the large four poster bed that he and his wife used. The Man made sure that it was clean every single day though, just in case that Gabriel did choose to sleep there one of these days. He had gotten far in his jobs by being overly prepared, and smarter then the average person. Or at least more aware.
The Man stepped into the office, saw no one and put the food on the desk. There were files left out, pictures of children in Adrien's class. Names, ages, dates, schedules. Little numbers and notes besides each picture. The Man studied them for a few seconds. It was unusual. Normally his employer had pictures of models and fashion designs. These were much more...unpleasent.
The Man picked up the most prominent picture of the bakers daughter, the pigtailed Marinette Dupain Cheng. She was smiling and blushing slightly. The picture must have been taken off of social media. The Man puts the picture back down, he has worked for mob bosses and psychotic killers, he has seen everything. It is none of his business what Gabriel Agreste gets up to in his spare time.
Right underneath Marinette's picture was one of Adrien. In large red lettering across his face it said 'Nearing Breaking Point, More Misery Needed.'
The Man did a double take at that and picked it up, studying the charts and graphs, they were all clocking emotions and outbursts. And it looked as if Adrien was reaching a very large one. The Man hears a click behind him, he puts down the pictures and quick steps to the doorway. He gets out of the room just as the floor beneath the life size portrait of his employers missing wife opens up. Looming out of it comes the terrorist Hawkmoth.
The Man covers his mouth to stifle a gasp and watches as Hawkmoth de-transforms into Gabriel Agreste. He sits down at his desk with a deep frown before starting to rifle through his pictures again, not saying a word. The Man prepares himself to go running, to warn the woman that he works with, to warn everyone. But then the floor opens up again and out of it rises the woman. She glances at Gabriel.
He nods to Nathalie and she walks around the desk before holding up a picture of Nino Lahiffee.
"He would make a promising next victim." She says it simply, emotionlessly. The Man takes a step back, rattled. He had seen people taken apart, spiders crawling across peoples face, water torture. But this was an entirely other form of evil.
And they were saying all of this right in the same house as Gabriel's son.
The Man stepped back still silent. He had to think, he had to plan, he had to get out of there! But first...he had to save Adrien!
The Man frowns at Tommy as the ringmaster taps his cigar out on the floor.
"Look whatever nonsense you got into I can help, I mean you greased my palm enough..."He chuckles dryly. "But we can't just pick up stakes and get out of here overnight! There is still a lot of cash to come from this place! We aren't moving for at least another month. So get comfortable." Tommy said. The Man sighs, he can't spare to bribe the ringmaster any more, it was better to have some cash hidden away around traveling carnival people just to be safe.
"Is the kid funny? Can he take a punch?" Tommy the ringmaster asks. The Man glances at Adrien and nods briskly. He had watched plenty of videos of Chat Noir being both.
"Good then he is in the clown ring whenever he isn't doing chores like scooping up after the animals or cooking...and as for you...how does the term strongman sound? Gorilla! The shaved simian strongman! We have a singlet ready and everything." The man...or The Gorilla he supposed frowned at the name before rolling his eyes and nodding. It would not be a glamorous job but he could work it as long as he needed to.
The Man...The Gorilla would do anything to protect his charge. After all that was his job right?
"Great! You both start tomorrow morning bright and early. You're just lucky that I fired a few of the other folks off. There is an empty trailer just a little ways down. So if you need anything just come back to old uncle ringmaster Tommy." The ringmaster smiles before pulling out another cigar and a match.
"Although we might have a problem with the kid over there. He has one of the most recognizable faces in the country. How attached is he to his teeth again? A joke! I'm joking! Not sure if you heard it the first time! What I'm saying is this. We will need to disguise him. The easiest way would be to shave his head...there is a razor in the new trailer. Use that. Should probably do it before the brat wakes up too."
The Gorilla nods his thanks before standing up. He and Tommy shook hands and The Gorilla picked up Adrien as he gasps in his sleep. The Gorilla winces, he wishes that he could say something to comfort the sleeping boy. The Gorilla remembers back when he was a child how whenever he was scared or having a nightmare his mother would sing a song to him.
He tries to force some air movement, tries to get his rusted vocal cords working. All that comes out is another grunt. He sighs in dejection before walking into the trailer.
It is small, and cramped. There is a stove and two cots stacked on top of each other. The Gorilla finds an electric razor in a small pan beside the stove and a mirror hanging overhead. He picks up the razor and rests it against Adrien's hair. So full, so many gorgeous beautiful golden locks.
The Gorilla closes his eyes. He had no clue why this was so hard. He had strangled people for less...Why couldn't he shave Adrien's head? He removes the razor and sits back down. He would wait until Adrien woke up in the morning and have the boy do it himself.
The Gorilla's head begins to nod, he felt drained. He shook himself awake and took the ring out from his pocket. He held it and the small black kwamii was summoned. Plagg shook his head and glanced around nervously before focusing on the Gorilla.
"Oh great so you're in-" The Gorilla shushes him and points to Adrien, Plagg glances between the two before floating over towards Adrien. When he wasn't immediately called back he quickly flew over and rested on top of the boys damp cheek.
"I'm allowed to be near him?" Plagg asked the Gorilla who nodded. "But I can't tell him that you stole me."
The Gorilla nodded again.
"Alright, just as long as he is safe." The two nod together and Plagg curls up on top of Adrien's head and starts to snore. The Gorilla leans his head back against the wall and closes his eyes. The trailer is tiny, but he has been used to small spaces for years. Ever since he hit his growth spurt.
Juleka snores loudly before sitting upright and snorting. She shook her head as a bright red light filled her room. Her brother Luka sits up from his own bed and rubs his eyes.
"She found the flare gun again." He mumbles as he stands up and changes with Juleka politely turning away. She got up and changed herself and the two went above deck to see what their mother had done this time.
Juleka and Luka paused at the top of the stares in surprised shock at what they saw. Anarka had a harpoon in hand and was yanking on the rope to haul in a large very expensive looking car. The red light conintued to blaze in the night sky. The pirate captain woman tossed ehr head back and laughed.
"Morning my hearties! Help your ma scavenge this brig that sunk beside us!"
"Oh wow, this is definitely a crime." Juleka mumbles beside Luka who nods as they go to help their mom scavenge the busted car for scraps and anything that might be worth something. Living on a houseboat wasn't cheap, and you had to find money somewhere...even if it meant dragging the canal and selling whatever you found for scrap metal.
This wasn't their first car, and it would not be their last.
Review. I own nothing. Not even this computer.