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Chapter Twenty-Two, Just a Costume 2: Redressed

Jess was on her mobile.

"How long?" asked Matt.

"No ETA," said Jess. "The ARC is tied up with all those creatures from earlier."

"Damn it," said Lester.

"I wonder if all those anomalies appearing at once is a coincidence."

"Don't know Connor," said Matt.

Jess phoned Becker. No answer. Was he still at the park?

"I don't suppose you lot have unauthorized weapons in your vehicles?"

"Sorry, Lester."

He cursed as he watched with horror as something flew out of the anomaly.

"Time to improvise," said Matt.

"What the hell!" cried Joe.

Matt jumped onto the stage. "Easy, Joe," he said.

"What? What's going on?"

Matt watched as a small type of pterosaur flew across the dance floor. Luckily, no one seemed to notice.

"I can't go in to details, Joe, but I need you to try to keep them calm."

"What it?" Joe asked, watching the pterosaur.

The rest of the team had joined them. "It's hard to explain," said Connor.

"And the ball of light?"

"Equally difficult to explain," said Emily.

Joe looked at them. "You lot know, don't you?"

Matt sighed and nodded. "Look, just pass it off as a floor show."

"Are you joking?"

"Listen closely," said Lester. "We are in the middle of an emergency. You're the Emcee. Like it or not, you're our voice. They must not panic. Order them calmly and lightly to move away from the stage. Suggest that they might want to...evacuate."

"And what do I use as a reason?"

"Tell them the stage is having electrical issues," said Jess.

Joe stared at them all for a second. "OK," he said. He kept calm, announcing a slight problem with the stage lights. He told them all to move to the back of the club until further notice.

Unfortunately many patrons were too sloshed to hear or understand.

"They aren't moving," said Connor.

"They didn't have Abby to sober them all up," said Jess. "I have an idea." She saw Burt and Ernie, the security guards she met at Joe's. She ran to them.

They were staring at the pterosaur. "We have a...situation," she said.

"Yeah," said Burt.

"We need to keep everyone back."

"What is that?" asked Ernie.

"It doesn't matter right now," said Jess. "These people are our priority, right?"

In unison, Burt and Ernie nodded. Then they each shook the surprise out of their heads. "We're on it," they said. Then they ran toward the mass of people, performing crowd control.

"I love those guys," said Jess.

"Heads up," said Connor. "Another nemicolopterus just flew through. Luckily it's one of the smallest known pterosaurs."

"They're still a menace," said Lester.

"Agreed," said Matt. "We need to contain..."

Jess screamed. Several more pterosaurs had flown through the anomaly, and were dive bombing the patrons, including Jess.

Matt threw over a nearby table and pushed her beneath it.

Now the club goers took notice. They began to scream and swarm backwards. The pterosaurs circled around, taking turns swooping on the crowd.

"Take it easy!" cried Joe in his microphone. "It's all...part of the show...folks." He laughed uneasily. "Nothing...to worry about." He looked to Lester and the others and wondered if that was right.

Matt and Connor threw more tables over, pushing people below them. Burt and Ernie and some of the other employees helped. The club owner tried to usher people into his office.

Emily and Abby were swatting at the creatures using grabbed discarded props like fake swords.

"We need real weapons!" cried Emily.

They tried to to corral the things but it was impossible. All they could do was try to keep them from the people.

Jess watched the chaos from under the table. She held a young woman's hand who was trembling and crying. "It's OK," she said.

"This is...just a gag, right?" she asked.

Jess smiled. "I'm sure it is," she said. Her mobile pinged. It was the ARC. A team was on the way. She smiled. She squeezed the woman's hand. "It will all be over soon."

Lester stood outside the lady's room. He had pushed his wife and other people, including a few men inside. He wouldn't take shelter however, not with his people fighting the danger.

End of Chapter Twenty-Two