CIRCUS BIG TOP TENT - NIGHT
Under hot spotlights, a ringmaster speaks into a microphone. A large banner behind him reads "FREAK SHOW" in big, red letters.
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... nothing you have experienced in your lifetime has prepared you for this evening's entertainment. He will delight you. He will shock you. He will make your hair stand on end. And, so, without further ado, the Malkin Brother's Traveling Circus is proud to present...BLOB!" The Ringmaster announces into a microphone. The music blares. Spotlights spin, and then converge on... BLOB. Wow. Mountainously obese is an understatement. He is 500 pounds of sweat-dewy flab in a Speedo bathing suit. The crowd is awed.
"Yes, friends, yes... here he is. Let your eyes try to take him all in. Blob is bored and irritable, but dutifully raises his arms like a champion." The Ringmaster continues.
He walks, flesh quivering, looking to the crowd. Children laugh at Blob in the crowd. Many a pretty women is repulsed. In the center ring, the sights make Blob angry. He stops in front of a cinderblock wall with a bull's eye painted on it.
"No scale can tell his true weight. No lone tape measure can accurately reveal his girth. But, that is not all. Blob is much more than a man with a severe glandular problem. Much more indeed... " The Ringmaster continues to draw attention to The Blob as the drum roll starts.
Spotlights reveal 15 cowboys with rifles in a semi-circle. Against the bull's eye wall, Blob holds his arms away from his body. The crowd murmurs excitedly.
Cowboys cock their rifles.
"Rifles ready... Aim..." The rifles target Blob. Blob closes his eyes.
"FIRE!" He yells, and rifles crack and pop, echoing. Clouds of rifle smoke immediately obscure Blob. Screams are heard from the crowd.
"Watch very carefully, ladies and gentlemen. Behold the behemoth!"
Blob walks back into view, arms still up. There are many indentations in his flesh. Blob takes a breath... flexes his body. Bullets pop out from the indentations, all directions: POP... POP POP POP... POP... The crowd arrupts, applauding the strange creature. Ringmaster comes to stand beside Blob, soaking in acclaim, but perturbed with Blob.
"Don't just stand there, idiot. Take a bow. Give them a smile. They love you!"
At the back, of the crowd Pale man and Tan Man, in sunglasses, share a mutual box of popcorn, watching impassively.
BLOB'S DRESSING - NIGHT
Blob, in a big robe, is seated before the remains of an enormous, glutton's delight meal. He jams food into his maw, eating everything, turkey, corn and mashed potatoes alike, with his hands. Grumbling to himself, he says "Give them a smile, Blob... they love you, Blob. They don't love me." Blob stands, wiping his mouth with his sleeve and letting out a bellowing BURP. He walks towards a giant canvas bathtub. A huge bubble bath. He clips a clothespin to his nose as he disrobes.
"Okay, okay... relax. It's your special time now. Time to pamper yourself. Time to treat yourself like a little princess."
He awkwardly hops into the tub, displacing much water, letting out an "ah" of pleasure. He submerges. Blob holds his breath and rests his head, eyes closed.
Unbeknownst to Blob, designer shoes traverse the wet floor. Pale Man and Tan Man have entered. Pale Man takes a switchblade out, cuts a slash in the side of the canvas tub. Water gushes out, leaving Blob high and dry, covered in bubble. After a moment, Blob realizes and instinctively covers his breasts. "
Hey... what the hell's going on?"
"Bath-time's over, fat boy." Pale Man says.
"You don't want to wrinkle." Tan Man replies.
Pale Man throws Blob his robe. Blob puts it on and takes the clothespin off his nose, flustered and getting angry.
"Who... who are you guys?" Blob asks nervously.
"We're with the government." Tan Man says as he flashes his ID. "We caught your
act tonight. You're quite the performer." Tan Man sits down across the room.
"The Mutant Registration Act was enacted by Congress several months ago, Mister Blob. Now, are you thinking you can simply ignore the laws of these good United States, or do you only obey those certain laws that please you?" Pale Man says, angered.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but this is my private dressing area... "
Pale Man backs off. Tan Man vainly examines his fingernails.
"Let me explain something, doughboy. You have unnatural powers. You are a mutant and a danger to society. So, we normal folks need to know "who," "what," and "where" you are at all times." Pale Man says, while on the canvas wall, a huge shadow rises outside.
Blob sees the shadow, not understanding, as... the shadow of a clawed hand reaches to the canvas, ripping... Across the room, Tan Man looks up, horrified by what he sees. Pale Man flies past, slides across the food table and his the floor, unconscious. Tan Man jumps up, reaches to his holster. Saberetooth enters through the ripped canvas, a massive man with blonde hair, bushy sideburns and white eyes with no pupils or irises. He wears a fine suit and smiles a fanged smile. Tan Man brings his gun up, points it. But, behind Sabretooth another figure leaps, springing high - a somersaulting blur. Tan Man follows with his gun, above, trying to aim. The figure lands. It is Toad, an ugly, hunched man in a bad suit, crouched, long-legged, grinning from under greasy hair.
"Hello." Toad smiles evilly.
Tan Man fires. The bullet misses as Toad springs up, agile. Toad lands in a crouch on Blob's dressing table. Tan Man points his gun to follow, but his eyes widen. Behind Toad, in the dressing mirror, Sabretooth closes in. Tan Man cries out, turning. Too late. Sabretooth is on him... Toad leaps away as Tan Man is tossed head-long into the mirror. The mirror shatters into a million pieces, and Tan Man falls back, out cold. Toad lands beside the rather bewildered Blob.
"The name's Mortise Toynbee. Pleased to meet you. You really don't look like much of a menace to society."
"Give him time." Sabretooth says as he crouches over Pale Man, about to claw his throat.
"No, Sabretooth. Let them live to tell others that the Brotherhood was here." The owner of the voice, Magneto, comes through the tent's proper entrance. Sabretooth, still poised to rend, growls gutturally.
"If you treasure your own life." Sabretooth reluctantly relents. Magneto motions for Sabretooth and Toad to leave, and they obey, exiting. Blob is wary.
"No reason for you to be frightened, Blob." Magneto says, turning his head to look at Blob.
"I'm not frightened. And, I could've taken care of those fellows all by myself." Blob looks at Pale Man and Tan Man. "What did they want from me, anyway?"
"What everyone wants... to look upon you and rationalize their own existences. But, the hour has come for you to stop accepting the label of freak. You are not a freak. You are the next step in homo-superior evolution. Homo-superior." Magneto puts his hand on Blob's shoulder. Blob's shy about this.
"Would like to stop being hurt by humans, and instead be the one who does the hurting for a change? Would you like that, my handsome friend?"
"Yeah... yeah, I'd like that a lot."