Castle and Cape

By Michael Weyer

Chapter Three: Birth of a Hero

Kate had been surprised at first to find the Carnival had a small gym set up. It was quickly pointed out to her that given their profession, keeping in shape was a necessity. It was quiet in the morning, the carnival performers resting from the night before. So Kate had the small space to herself as she worked on a punching bag. She wasn't usually one for fisticuffs in her training but the events of the last few days left her with a lot of aggression to work out. She pounded on the bag with fists and a few kicks, trying to let loose the anger built within her.

She finally stopped, heaving for breath. She grabbed a bottle of water to drink it down and used a towel to wipe her forehead off. She saw a newspaper nearby and looked over the front page. One story was on the Carnival's latest robbery with questions on how ARK' security could fail like this. She flipped around, grateful her own name seemed to have vanished from the news and felt some satisfaction at the picture of a perturbed Peter Fleming addressing reporters to defend his company.

The smile faded as she saw an item with a photo of Castle. She read the article with a growing sense of dread. "In the wake of the revelations involving Detective Kate Beckett, now only have plans for the next Nikki Heat novel been canceled but production has ceased on the planned movie adaptation. While the studio cited budget concerns, insiders claim the project is dead, not unlike reader interest in the other Heat novels. Author Richard Castle was unavailable for comment regarding his future plans and whether his career is over."

Kate sighed as she threw the paper down. While she was worried about Ryan and Esposito, it was Castle who worried her the most. The man didn't ask to be dragged into her problems yet was paying the price simply for knowing her. It wasn't fair, not to him, not to Alexis, not to any of them. She looked around, trying to focus on her next workout when something caught her eye.

She walked past the training area, pushing back a curtain to see one of the many costume rooms of the Carnival. It was a collection of outfits of various types, many as outlandish as you could imagine. Billowing a bit in the breeze of the tent was a long black cloak on a hook. Kate felt it, her fingers running over its smooth surface. She pulled it off and draped it in her hands. On an impulse, she spun it around, whipping it about like a cape. She pulled it around herself, feeling it flow about her body.

A rare childhood memory came to Kate, herself hanging around a comic book shop, ready to buy the latest series. She had an affinity for Elektra but still liked the classics of the hero genre. The idea of a common person taking on the responsibility of defending others, it had always appealed to Kate. It was common for cops, many deciding to seek justice this way since super-heroes didn't really exist. Kate played with the cloak more, remembering how she'd once wanted to be like that before she'd grown up.

She pulled it off and shook her head. That was fantasty of course. In the real world, things like that just didn't happen. In the real world…

A cop didn't get framed for a crime she didn't commit. Didn't come to be believed dead by the world. Didn't know of a secret danger to the city by a madman hiding in plain sight. Didn't end up falling in with a circus full of thieves.

Kate stared at the cloak in her hands as her mind suddenly opened to a new possibility. It was crazy, completely crazy. It was Castle-level crazy, not the sort of thing she would contemplate. There was no way it could possibly work out.

And yet…and yet…

To his credit, Max listened to her without interrupting once. He sat by the desk in his trailer as Kate outlined her proposal, listening quietly as he held the cloak in his hands. When she was finished, he was quiet before lifting it up, studying it with a light smile. "I haven't seen this old rag in years." He grinned. "That would be quite an act." He let out a heavy sigh before rising. "But what you're suggesting….Forget it. It's impossible."

"Why?" Kate pressed as she stood up with him. "Who says it is?"

"Me, for one," Max responded. "And if I say an act won't work, I know it."

"What are you afraid of?"

"Look," Max began in a condescending tone. "We've got a good thing going here."

"No, you have a good thing," Kate pressed, leaning over the desk. "This isn't me, Max, this isn't what I want. But this is the best way I can think of to send a message."

"What message?" he barked. "That not only are you alive but you've also lost your mind?"

"That Chess does not own this town," Kate pressed. "That there's still hope out there. That one person can make a difference, no matter what is thrown at them." Max turned away with a grunt and Kate pressed on. "Dammit, Max, you promised me. Now, was that just talk? Have you got anything left in the tank? Hell, were you ever anything?"

He whirled on her in anger. "You watch it, girl."

"Because all I see here is some broken-down loser…"

"I'm Max Malini!"

"Is it possible?"

They stared at one another for a long moment, both intense and ungiving. Max finally spoke up in a softer but no less intense tone. "I've broken ninety-two bones in pursuit of the perfect illusion. Trained a generation of escapists, acrobats, magicians, I specialize in the impossible!"

Without warning, he whipped the cloak outward, the end wrapping around a glass on the table. With a tug, he yanked it back and it landed directly into his hand. He held it up with a smile as Beckett blinked in amazement. Max studied the cloak and shook his head. "But this…this won't cut it. Not for what you want. You need something…special." He looked back up and his expression sobered as he stepped close, his voice low and warning.

"But I do nothing halfway. This will cost you, more than you realize. You'll learn just how much the human body can withstand. And the mind." He pressed two fingers to her head for emphasis. "If I have to break you down in order to rebuild you, that's exactly what I'll do. I will put you through a hell you can't possibly imagine and you won't question me at any point during it if you want to survive." That sly smile came back to his face as he backed up. "You give me your soul, Kate Beckett…and I'll make you the greatest circus act this world has ever seen."

And with a spin of the cape and a cloud of purple smoke, he vanished from sight.

Kate paused to roll her eyes at the over-the-top exit before calling out. "Where do we start?"

The main wardrobe of the Carnival was jokingly referred to as "the Closet." In truth, it was a huge room with two levels, curtains covering various changing booths loaded with every possible costume conceivable. It was a must for both a circus and a band of robbers and one could spend hours going through it. Max took to it as if he knew every single nook and cranny, which he probably did. He was on the upper level as Kate waited down below in her jeans and dark shirt. "Here we go," he said as he tossed down a heavy leather chest plate. "That will help…and…" He tossed down a mask, Kate catching it in her hands. It was a large mask capable of hiding her entire face with a filter at the mouth. "You think I need this?" she called up.

"First rule of illusion, my dear," Max called from inside one of the rooms. "Is misdirection. Not knowing you're a woman will put people off balance, make them misjudge you and that will help."He walked out to head toward another room. "But that's not the key to it all."

"And a cape is?"

"This one is. It was one of a kind, specially designed with varied elements like weighted ends for throws, things like that. It was made for Kosmov, the Russian escapist. They called him unkillable." Max chuckled and Kate got the feeling he was enjoying a private joke. He rummaged through a rack and let out a triumphant yell. "Voila!"

He scaled back down the ladder, carrying what looked like a cloak in his hands. It was dark blue to the point of almost being black, a cape with a hood at the end. "It's made entirely of spider silk," Max told her as he held it up for review. "Stronger than Kevlar…" He gave it a tug and the cape seemed to fold up into the hood. "Yet thinner than filament."

He handed it over, letting Kate hold it in her hands. It was odd, it felt so light yet when she turned it over, she could feel a heft to it, a weight that belied its size. Max held a small ball in his hands. "There are thirty-seven vanishing illusions that use a cape. You will master them all." He threw the pellet down, creating another smoke cloud and when it parted, he had vanished from sight, leaving Kate watching in wonder.

"Spin, spin, spin, snap!" Max's words echoed in the tent as Kate stood in the center of the main ring, practicing with the cape. It was strange how it felt almost alive, flowing about her as she spun about, working the billowing cloth around. It was clasped by a chain around her neck as she held the special cloth handles inside to work it, letting it whip outward. It stretched with each spin and tug, the ends spreading outward in flowing waves. Yet at a certain pull, it was able to fold back inward and into her grasp. That was, when it wasn't trying to wrap itself over her feet and trip her up.

Max shook his head as he looked at her. "No, no, you're fighting it too much! The cape must retract, free you up to fight with a fighting form that embraces the cape. Again!" Kate set herself to work, trying to whip the edge of the cape toward a glass resting on a chair in the center of the ring.

"British Bartitsu, Kodokan judo," Max was saying as he walked behind her. "The Warrior Dancers of the Tang Dynasty used their robes as weapons. Again! And so will you." As he watched, Kate threw the cape out, letting the end of it wrap around the glass. She smiled as she yanked, the glass sailing over her head and smashing through one of the windows of Max's trailer.

The two looked at each other, Max shrugging. "Eventually."

The carnival workers gathered around the smaller right ring which had mats set on the floor and even makeshift ropes around it. Raia walked around with a card saying "Round 1" as the rest of them whooped at the two fighters. Kate was clad in a muscle shirt and jeans, smirking at Rollo. "Okay, little man," she called out. "Let's see how tough you are when I'm not tied to a chair!"

"Bring it, girlie!" he growled at her. Kate lunged in and the dwarf easily ducked her charge, grabbing her leg and with surprising strength, sent her crashing to the mat. Before Kate could recover, Rollo was sitting on her back, grabbing the leg and pulling it hard. Kate howled in agony before slapping the mat, the crowd cheering as the dwarf rose to smirk at her. "Size doesn't matter when your opponent fights dirty, hot-stuff." He lifted his arms in celebration as Kate rose up in pain, realizing this was not going to be as easy as she thought. "Kiss my ass, Frank Miller," she muttered under her breath.

Ruvi's trailer was smaller than the others, dimly lit with various strange items about, including some supernatural-themed posters. The man sat at the table with Kate on the other side, droning on in a monotone voice. "The secret to mentalism is not to let the sucker know he's being hypnotized. You talk about the weather or family or anything to hide the fact you're slowly working your way into his mind, his soul…"

Kate tried to hide her skepticism at his words. She had no idea why Max was making her do this. Hypnosis was nothing more than a pile of bunk but he insisted it could be a help, not just with others but helping her own training. Right now, she was just bored out of her skull as she listened the man drone on, waving his fingers about like he was really weaving some sort of spell on her, it was so crazy to just sit and listen and watch him, just a waste to listen and watch…

She jarred as his hand slammed on the table, blinking. "What was that?" she asked, worried she'd missed something.

"I hypnotized you, sucker," Ruvi said as he chewed on a toothpick.

"Um, no, you didn't," Beckett automatically said.

"Then how come you have a haircut?"

"I don't…" Beckett reached for her neck only to find her hair wasn't there. She leapt up to look at a mirror and saw her hair was now the short length it had been when she first met Castle, barely reaching her shoulders with bangs headed out. She whirled on Ruvi, eyes wide, who shrugged. "You needed one anyway."

Beckett kicked the door open, yelling out "Max, tell me you found my gun!" as Ruvi just chuckled.

Kate flopped on the floor like a fish, ignoring the laughter from those watching. She groaned as she finally managed to work her shoulder out of the straightjacket. She worked it around, grabbing the pin inside and fiddled with the lock. She set her teeth as it jilted about, failing again again until it finally clicked open. Once it did, she shrugged off the heavy chains as well as the jacket, rising to her feet.

Sitting with Ruvi, Rollo and others, Max glanced at his stopwatch. "Congratulations. It only took you twenty-seven minutes this time." He smirked at Kate. "Now, how about trying it with some actual feeling?"

She just glared as she picked the chains up.

Kate adjusted the thick gloves on her hands. "You sure these will work?"

"They should," Raia said. She was wearing a simple unitard, albeit one a bright pink color, helping Kate adjust the gloves. Beckett was wearing a red unitard of her own, grateful Raia had insisted on the male members of the carnival being banned from this session.

Next to them was a squat woman with weathered features, leaning on a black cane, her graying hair offsetting her face, wearing a rather loud dress. Natayla had been the costume designer for the Carnival since they started, the one called upon to put together special outfits if a job required it. She pointed at the gloves as she began to speak in a bizarre and thick voice, the language seeming to mix together German, Spanish and a half dozen other European languages. Kate looked at Raia in confusion. "What'd she say?"

"No one knows what she says," the acrobat answered. "But we always know what she means." She pointed at the gloves. "There's brass linings in the knuckles. Those won't just help with climbing but also give you a little extra punch when you…well, punch." She moved the nearby ladder. "Now, come on!"

Beckett steeled herself as she followed, the high wire set above the middle ring, a thick mesh net below. "The first time is tough," Raia called out as she calmly walked onto the wire as if it wasn't difficult at all. "But once you're up here, you'll be amazed how fast the fear goes away."

"Really," Beckett drawled as she looked down at the net thirty feet below. Taking a deep breath, she carefully placed a foot out, wincing as the cable cut into her slippered foot. She tried to put the second one forward, feeling herself getting unbalanced and waving her arms to steady herself. She reached her leg over only to feel herself falling, unable to stop a cry as she dropped down into the waiting net.

Raia looked down at her and shrugged. "Okay, we wait a bit before we lose the net."

"No, no, you snap it fast, not hold it back!" Max barked at Kate. She paused, wiping sweat from her brow as she settled back into the stance set for her training. "You need to let it flow, not fight it!"

"I'm trying!" she snapped, the first time she'd done so.

Max was immediately in her face. "No, you're not and I know why. You're a fighter, Kate Beckett. You always have been, it's what made you so driven. But it's also what's holding you back now, you're used to being rigid, to holding to the rules." He tapped her head. "You need to let go of that thinking. You may be a cop at heart but the head has to adapt to this. Stop treating this as a case, it's not. You want to do this, you really want to commit to this, then you go all-in, no doubts and no more of the old rules."

Kate was breathing fast as she nodded. "It's harder than I thought."

"The most worthy things always are." He put both hands on his shoulders and spoke with heart. "If I didn't think you could pull this off, I'd never have started. And if you tell anyone here I said that, I'll deny it with my dying breath." He backed up. "So begin again. Only this time…let the cop relax and let the wild side out a bit more." He grinned. "Be a showman, Beckett. Show it all off."

Kate looked at him, then at the cape in her hands. She took a deep breath to steady herself as she drew the cloth back and let it fly out. It wrapped around the glass on the table and with a tug, Kate let it fly out and land perfectly in her hand. She and Max shared a smile of triumph as she prepared to do it again, this time with a little more gusto.

Kate leapt past Rollo, rolling around the mat. The dwarf turned around, the crowd cheering as Kate grabbed him by the foot to slam him down on the mat, rolling on and wrapping her arms under his chin. She lifted it up, a knee at his back and after yelling in agony for several minutes, the dwarf finally slapped the mat. Kate rolled off, grinning in victory as the workers applauded her.

Beckett grunted as she hit the bag again, smacking it with a combo of punches and then a pair of kicks. She shook her arms out, feeling the ache of the weight-lifting she had done before as her knees felt the ache of the three mile run she'd made in the morning. Sucking it up, she went back to work on her exercises.

She snapped her fingers out, ignoring the pain in her shoulder, now just a dull ache after so many times slipping it out of the jacket. She easily slid the pin into the lock, twisted it twice and it gave way, letting her drop the chains and jacket and rise up in one smooth motion. She looked to Max, who stopped his watch and smiled. "Four minutes, eighteen seconds. Maybe not as good as Harry but..." His smile was all the push she needed to try again.

Ruvi blinked in the trailer, staring at Kate, who gave him a triumphant smile. "You wish," he chuckled.

"Then how come you're wearing a bra?" Kate smiled.

Ruvi blinked as he undid his shirt and stared down at the lacy pink bra on his chest. "Fifty bucks, I won't tell the crew," Kate said.

Ruvi's glare turned into a chuckle as he pointed at Kate, who also laughed. His fist suddenly lashed out to punch her in the jaw, knocking her back. "Don't get cocky," he snapped.

Kate winced as she rubbed her jaw. "So much for you being a gentleman."

"In my home, we weren't exactly genteel with women."

"Where was that? Iran? Iraq?"

"Hoboken."

Kate leapt overhead, tucking her leg in then extending it, foot rigid. It caught the wire perfectly as she bent her other leg back, the knee hitting the other side. She hung there, balanced out, making sure she was set before looking to Raia. The aerialist smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.

With a jerk, Kate leapt down to the net below. As she did, she spread out her arms, the cape catching the wind and slowing her fall. She landed on the net and bounced upward, twisting in the air as the cape let her spin about. She landed in a roll, coming to her feet before a set of chairs. She whipped the cape out, the edge coming right up to a candle sitting on one chair, the whipping air snuffing the flame. In a smooth motion, Kate sent the other end sweeping out, wrapping around a knife placed on the other table and jerking it out. It flew through the air to bury itself in the bulls-eye of a target set nearby. Kate was already moving, the gloved hand reaching out to punch the head of a practice dummy, knocking it back. She stood rigid, wrapping the cape around herself as smoke billowed up from her feet. When it faded, the cape fell in a heap to the floor and Kate Beckett was nowhere to be seen.

Standing nearby, taking it all in, Max tapped the silver head of his cane to his chin and smiled broadly. "I think you're ready."

All comments welcomed if you want this to continue, thanks.