The Circus of Shadows
Chapter Two: Paths
Just as Dick predicted, he didn't go to his 9am class the next morning. He slept in; and upon awakening, he had decided it had been the best sleep he had in months. Richard rolled over in his bed and took a look at the time on his cell phone. "One-thirty?!" He groaned. He hadn't slept in since he was a kid- and even then 'sleeping in' meant waking up at 10am. The cell phone also notified him of four missed calls from M'gann; Miss Martian. He mentally made a note to call her back once he was finally fully awake. Richard rolled out of bed and went straight for the shower.
After he was showered and in clean clothes, he began to brush his teeth and wander to the front of his apartment to check out the city paper for the day. As he entered his living room, however, he noticed someone sitting on his couch. He leaped in surprise and dropped his toothbrush. M'gann was lounging on the couch, reading a huge novel.
"Dear God; does no one know how to knock?!" Richard said in frustration as he plucked his toothbrush from the floor and proceeded to rinse it under hot water from the kitchen. He heard M'gann laugh. "I was worried. Usually you answer your phone no matter what time of day. Four times; no answer. I figured I'd come investigate," she said as she casually flipped a page in her book.
"Yeah, I was sleeping," Richard replied defensively after he rinsed the toothpaste out of his mouth. M'gann finally looked up from her book and arched a brow. "Since when do you sleep that heavily?" Richard remained quiet, and busied himself by cleaning his kitchen. "Wally told me, you know," she said when she realized Richard wasn't going to respond. He stopped what he was doing and took a long sigh. "I got a lead, and I'm choosing to follow it. Why is everyone freaking out about this?"
At that, M'gann closed her novel and placed it on the coffee table. "So, Nightwing is back?"
The sound of his name felt like home. Nightwing; it was him. The feeling-the sound- of his name made a slight smile appear on his lips. "For the time being, yes. He is," he said. M'gann brandished her trademark smile and stood to face him. "Need any more back-up for tonight? I know Wally and Artemis plan on going just for the fun; you could use another pair of eyes watching your back- as fishy as this whole thing sounds." Richard nodded at her proposal. "Yeah, that would probably be a good idea."
The pair discussed plans for a few hours before M'gann left his apartment to go get ready. Richard had his own preparation to do. He dressed casually; donning just jeans, a blue tee shirt, a leather jacket, and tennis shoes. On the inside of his jacket, however, he kept his escrima sticks-just in case. When the time came to leave, he hopped on his motorcycle and drove the short distance it took to get to the Circus of Shadows. A quick phone call was made to Wally and M'gann to find out where everyone was. Within a few minutes his arrival, M'gann had tracked him down.
She looked pretty, even though she was in disguise. Her normally green skin was now human like. She was still dotted with freckles. Her outfit consisted of a long orangish skirt and a blouse with an over-sweater that matched the color of her skirt.
"I'm going to establish a mental link between the four of us-" M'gann started, but was cut off by Richard. "No. This is just us. Wally made it clear that they're just here to have fun. Let's leave them out of this. I don't want to pull them into another mission they didn't agree to…" M'gann frowned, but nodded in agreement. Her eyes flashed green, and suddenly her voice was in his head. This hadn't happened in a long time.
"Mental link established."
The pair met up with Wally and Artemis at the front gates of the circus, which were packed with people. All ages were there, despite the time of night. Kids holding hands with parents, teens, elders; it was like half of Gotham City had showed up for this circus. It reminded him of Haly's. As the four of them neared the circus entrance, the nostalgia Richard was experiencing was off the charts. The smell of the popcorn and fried foods wafted through the air, all around him were the sounds of children laughing and the distant screams of people on a thrill ride, there were bright lights and signs stealing his attention everywhere he looked; it was magnificent. Unlike his investigation last night, he no longer felt the feeling of emptiness that the circus seemed to radiate. The place was mesmerizing, and they hadn't even made it through the front gates yet.
Artemis had her arm interlocked with Wally's as she admired everything the circus was displaying. Wally nudged Richard in the side with his elbow. "What do you think?! Brings back memories, eh?" Richard gave a smile. "You have no idea, kid."
Once they had all made it to the ticket booth and had purchased their way in, their senses went into overload. The main courtyard of the circus was fabulous; in the center was a huge fountain that lit up with different colors. Dancers and acrobats were performing right beside it; doing leaps and jumps, narrowly avoiding the water's licks every single time. They finished their routine quickly, took a bow, and disappeared into the crowd's applause. Surrounding the fountain were a multitude of food stands and signs pointing to various black, white, and orange tents across the circus grounds and advertising what they offered inside. Wally investigated one of the signs and turned to the rest of the group. "Well, where to? We have a long night ahead of us."
They visited at least three tents, all beyond comparison to anything they had ever experienced, before deciding to visit one of the more scary tents. One of them was titled, "The Mirror of Fears". People were let into the tent one at a time for this experience; groups weren't permitted. Apparently there were multiple rooms in the tent all housing the same experience to accommodate everyone. While the four waited in line, Richard noticed the people exiting the tent. They were pale. In tears. Shivering. Proclaiming, "how did they know?!". Wally entered first, and Artemis after. M'gann turned to Richard as he was about to enter.
"Want me to keep the link open while you're inside? This could be a trap."
Richard shook his head. "I doubt it. Close the link for now."
With that, he entered. He was ushered to a smaller room inside of the tent, where he was instructed to enter and then gaze into a mirror. Dick laughed at this, wondering how this could have possibly scared so many people. His room was dark, and a green smoke slightly filled the room. It smelled of strong, yet very familiar incense. He had smelled it before, but he couldn't place where exactly it was from. As he was told, Dick approached the giant mirror in the room, and stared at his own reflection. Nothing happened. For several minutes, nothing happened. "Psh, some illusion that was," he said and was about to leave the tent when the image in the mirror shimmered.
There were acrobats on a tightrope. Not just any acrobats, either.
The Flying Graysons.
They soared from bar to bar; smiling and laughing the whole way. Richard placed a hand on the mirror. "…what…?" The scene that had haunted him for years replayed. His parents fell. The safety rope was cut. He crouched over them in tears.
In the real world, tears began to stream from his eyes. The image shifted.
There was a girl, enveloped in flames…
He left the tent immediately.
His three friends were already waiting outside. "About time! We were wondering what happened to you in there," Wally proclaimed. Artemis was leaning against him, looking more pale than usual. "Something's up with this place," Dick began to explain. "Wally, the things I saw in there. There's no way they could have known that. That wasn't an illusion." Wally arched a brow at him. "Did you see Haly's-" Richard nodded. Whatever that was, it wasn't the mirror doing the work. It had to have been something else…
It hit him instantly. The green smoke in the room. The familiar incense smell. The fear. It all made sense. It had been Scarecrow toxin or something to that effect, swirling around the room. M'gann reopened the mind link.
"What is it, Dick?"
"Scarecrow toxin. I'm sure of it. I knew that smell somewhere."
"Are you positive?"
"Yeah. Keep your guard high. I don't know who's behind this whole circus, but no one should have access to that kind of hallucinogen."
"Understood."
The four decided to visit a few more tents before calling it a night well-spent; by that time, it was almost three in the morning. One of the final tents they visited was called the "Maze of Truths", which boasted the headline; "Find Your Path." Curious, the four of them waited in line for thirty minutes before entering (again, once at a time) a massive, darkened tent.
"I'm keeping the mind link open this time," M'gann mentioned to Richard mentally as she entered the tent first. After a few minutes, he was allowed into the completely dark tent.
The darkness was consuming, but it didn't bother Richard as much as it would have other people. He'd accepted the dark, lived in it, played in it for that matter. Some spooky maze wasn't going to faze him. But after what happened in the previous tent, he remained guarded about what secrets this place could have in store. M'gann was keeping the mental link fairly quiet. He wondered if she was okay.
The beginning of the maze was in complete darkness, save for a few candles here and there Several time he was met with a fork in the maze and given a choice on what path to take, in which case he always flanked to the left. It was the rule of thumb when it came to mazes; you'd always get out. It may not be the quickest route, but it would get you there eventually. People back at Haly's called it "cheating" and "taking the fun out of it", but Richard always just found it resourceful. The maze remained fairly basic until about ten minutes in. He was met with a crossroads, except this time, there were symbols. On the left was a path marked by a symbol of a bat, roosting from a branch. The other path was marked by a solid, golden flame. He found it intriguing, and decided to take the path to the right. It seemed like thirty more minutes went by. Richard found himself stumbling through the darkness, unsure if he were just going around in circles or not. He opened his mind link with M'gann.
"Hey, have you made it out yet? This is a damn good maze."
There was no reply.
"M'gann?"
Still nothing.
Richard stopped in his tracks and began to breathe heavily. Something was going wrong here.
"Richard Grayson. You are having trouble choosing your path. You believe to be wandering aimlessly, when in all reality, your mind is the one confusing you," a female voice said through the shadows. Richard stood his ground. "Who is there?" he demanded.
A single flame lit up the area around him. Rather than being in a one-way corridor as he believed, he was at the center of crossroads, that had not two, but eight different directions. A cloaked figure stood in front of him holding a candle, which was the source of the light. Dick couldn't see her face from the angling of the light.
"I am the Pathmaker, although you may know me by another name, as I know you by another name, Nightwing," the girl said. Every nerve on Dick's body was set on fire. How could she know who he was?!
"Who are you…?" He asked once again. "I told you, I am the Pathmaker. It is the name I have chosen for myself. I am here to help guide you onto the right path. I understand there is… someone you're looking for?" she asked, as she began to pace the diameter of the room.
Richard shook his head in disbelief. "Yeah… there is. How can I trust you? I don't know who you are!" As his eyes watched her carefully as she paced the room around him. Richard wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light, but she seemed to… multiply. Suddenly there were three of her. Then six. Then eight. All of them standing in front of a direction of the maze. Richard held his head in confusion.
"Do you want to find her, Richard? I need a verbal answer before I can help you," she said calmly.
"Is…is she in danger?" he replied.
The girl sighed heavily. "Yes, unfortunately."
"Yes. Please."
One of the eight duplicates pulled down her hood, and her identity made Nightwing gasp aloud; It was Eliza, Samantha's previous roommate. The rest of the duplicates dissipated.
"She is here; in this circus. Tonight."