Tsyrk
Chapter 1
She gasped for air as her eyes cracked wide open to a chaotic sight: lights, like those of cities, forming strings from planet to planet. Their colors stretched beyond the edge of human comprehension. She felt her body move on its own, spasming as her skin tore itself apart. She screamed in pain as she fell downward, the world growing darker and darker.
A thick fog clouded her mind, enveloping her in a haze of disappearing memories. As she struggled to gather her bearings, one question demanded her attention above all else.
'Who am I?'
She regained consciousness at the cold sting of icy wind on her bare skin., her body shivering as she slowly opened her eyes. All she could see were street lights, all lined up, shining their lights across a snow-covered road, with flakes of snow lazily drifting through the wind. With a trembling hand, her skin a hard shell of black hiding red flesh and edges of white, she pushed herself up.
"Had a good nap?" A gravelly old voice spoke behind her, and her head swiveled around at the sudden sound. The abrupt movement almost caused her to fall, and she barely stopped herself from kissing the snow-covered pavement. A middle-aged man was leaning against the wall behind her, snuggled in a large winter coat, smoking a cigarette and drinking coffee from a small plastic cup.
"Who are you?" She questioned, pushing herself away from him. He didn't answer, just looked at her with an expression she could not read as he took a deep puff of his cigarette. They were at the front of some gas station, and the sign on top shined with the words 'WOG'. She did not know what it meant. "And, where am I?"
"Name's Glavar until further notice, and right now," the man quickly chugged the rest of his coffee before carelessly throwing the empty cup onto the paved ground, "you're in Ukraine."
"Ukraine? Why am I in Ukraine? I should be in… in," she lost the trail of words as her mind only responded with fog. Confused, she tried to reach deeper into her mind, but there was nothing but fog. "I can't… remember. Why can't I remember?"
She began to hyperventilate, trying to find a memory, any memory in her mind. Glavar dropped his cigarette to the ground, stomping on it before standing up. "Hey, calm down, you're not the only one."
"Who are you to tell me to calm down?!" She yelled, swinging her arm at him. Something twitched within, sending a spasm that disfigured her limb. Before her eyes, it morphed into an insect-like scythe. Her distress grew at the sight. Her whole body trembled, internal organs shifting unnervingly. Her legs split into four, mimicking the grotesque appearance of her arm. The other arm followed suit, transforming into a scythe-like twin. Her torso contorted, dividing into three segments, while her neck stretched unnaturally outward.
Her body finally ceased its chaotic transformation. She looked into the gas station windows, to get a good look at herself. She had a monstrous, insect-like body, her head in the permanent form of a mask with the horns of a Harlequin, an omega symbol on the top of her head. "W-what… the fuck?"
"Oi, Oi!" Her attention was drawn back towards Glavar snapping his fingers, squatting beside her. "Don't look over there ok? It's only going to make it worse. Look at me, and calm down."
"W-what is this? Why am I like this? Why are you hel-"
Glavar put a finger on her mouth with a shush, cutting her off "Stop, I want you to take a deep breath, and let me explain." She gave a small nod, before taking a deep breath. "Good, now, this whole thing with you is that you are, as the locals would like to say, a freak. I don't know why this happened with you, every few weeks another one like you will just randomly appear out of thin air. Like Skelefoasa and her partner Pietru over in Moldova, they are not monsters. Freaks of nature, sure, but not monsters. And as for why I'm helping you, let's just say I have my reasons."
"I see," she responded. They sat in silence as she considered what he said. Is there any way for me to turn back?"
"If you mean back to normal? Then probably no," Glavar grumbled, and his response caused her to slump her head on the snow in a gloom. "But, how about something more possible? How about you try to turn back to how you were before."
"I guess I can try," she responded, shifting her body slightly as she tried to turn back. Slowly but surely, her body shifted itself back to its previous form.
"There you go, now, what do you wanna do next?" Glavar asked, smiling at her.
"I don't know," she said dejectedly, looking at her hands, before looking back up at him, "I don't really have anywhere to go. Can I… come with you?"
"Join me? Are you sure?" She shrugged. "You know how I talked about monsters? Well, I'm one of those monsters. Though, not the conventional kind of monster."
"What kind of monster are you?" She asked, unable to suppress a sudden nervous gulp.
"I'm the monster who kills the worse monsters," Glavar said, standing back up. "You up for that? Cause let me warn you, you'll become like me sooner or later."
"Well, you're quite nice for a monster," she said, scrambling to her legs. "Though, there is one thing left. I don't… I– Who am I?."
"Right, of course," he chuckled mirthlessly, "how could I forget? Hmm, considering your appearance, how does Arlekino sound?"
"Arlekino," she repeated the name, rolling off her tongue. "Yeah, I think I like that."
"Well, then, Arlekino, let's get this show on the road, then, " he said, pointing to a black bus by the gas station. "And by the way, name's Anatoli!"
Arlekino woke up at the sound of the Tsyrk bus's door opening. Stretching her body with a yawn, she grabbed onto the couch beside her, pulling herself up. "Good morning."
"Good morning," Odette, their ballerina, responded as she climbed into the bus. She sat her plastic bag down and removed her jacket and skirt before lying down with a groan. "Last week's hit was so fucked, I can still feel it. I think I hate moles now."
"Same here," Arlekino sighed. That damned mole-man in Albania had been so annoying to deal with. "Fucking mole-man. Why the fuck did it need a tunnel from Albania to Montenegro?"
"Beats me. I'm just happy it's all over," Odette leaned down to grab a bottle of Jelen Pivo. Bending her leg towards it, she placed her foot – thankfully wearing her modified ballet shoes – with the tip of her toes under the cap before flicking it off. Taking a swig of it, she grimaced before her face morphed into a disgusted scowl. "Ugh, what the hell is this shit? Tastes like a pig's ass."
"How do you know that?" Arlekino asked with a smug grin on her face, causing Odette to flip her off as she took another swig, much to Arlekino's confused horror. "And why would you drink it again?!"
"That's because she has no taste," another voice piped in. They turned to see Krotitel, the tamer of the group, practically shoving pastries down his gullet. He sat down on his own couch, and the spirits of Zlut the tiger and Modry the lion materialized to lay down next to him. He had insisted since they had first met that the two were the spirits of the animals of the zoo he worked at, and nobody ever bothered to say otherwise unless they wanted to get mauled. The Tsyrk members, however, could shit on his stupid little cats all day if they wanted to. Except for Begemot, since he had a soft spot for the two 'kitties' as he liked to call them.
"You're the one eating who's eating almost as much as Begemot," Arlekino snarked, leaning into her couch while Odette laughed like a hyena. Krotitel just rolled his eyes. "Speaking of, where
is Begemot? I haven't seen him since I fell asleep."
"He got carried away at the bar," Krotitel groaned. "Outdrank every fucker there and then started playing therapist again. "
"Again? This is like… the 5th time I think!" Odette mumbled before taking another swig of her beer. Begemot was the group's strongman, and sure, some of them were pretty strong too, but Begemot was the only one that had stopped a small building from collapsing on top of them. He was also pretty empathetic for someone who looked like he did.
Their conversation was cut off as Trapets barged into the bus with a large box, setting it down, and pulling his workbench from the bus's wall. Trapets was their inventor and also the newest member, building things that while they could understand the idea and purpose of, actually trying to replicate them was a task of epic proportions. Even Glavar couldn't make sense of the stuff, but hey, if it works, it works. They had figured out his tech was mostly around traversal, and most of his current creations were like grapples, zip lines, and other such things, hence the name.
"What are you up to now, kid?" Arlekino asked. Silence greeted her back, and when she turned to glare at Trapets, she found him already engrossed in his work.
"Little Trapets here said he got an idea for the bus!" Begemot's booming voice announced his presence before his large form entered the bus. He was a huge man, though not as muscular as someone might expect since he always believed that kind of thing was pointless. Still, he was
big and only slightly smaller than Arlekino, who towered over every other team member. "C'mon, tell them."
"Okay, okay, I'll tell them," Trapets pushed Begemot away, though that was less him pushing Begemot and more Begemot taking a few steps back out of his own volition. Trapets took a deep breath before he spoke. "Okay, so, remember how you guys told me about all those gangs and bandits that keep trying to get you?"
He was met with enthusiastic nods and a frustrated, collective groan. One would think that no one would be stupid enough to take on a group of assassins, especially Tsyrk. However, human stupidity had no bounds.
"Well I had an idea for this little module thing that I could attach to the dashboard, and with just a single press, our bus will turn invisible!" Trapets explained, clearly enthusiastic. "With this, no one would be able to see us, we could even-"
"Attention everyone!" Trapets exited babble was cut off By Glavar's gravelly voice. Begemot stepped back, letting him stand in front of them all. Everyone quieted down, and after a few seconds of silence, Glavar spoke. "We have a new assignment, located all the way in Hungary."
All the members either groaned or shouted in protest. If there was one thing they all agreed on as a team, it was that they fucking hated Hungary. Nothing actually bad happened there, it was mostly just the principle of the thing.
"Yes, yes, I know none of you wish to go there, but there's been a recent event in which we are needed," their boss said, sitting down in the bus's driver's seat. "Plus, do you want to deal with Gena again? There's even the floating city in Bulgaria that we haven't dealt with yet."
The immediate reaction was a unanimous no, except for Trapets, who'd joined after all that and had never met the crazy bitch. Gena wasn't too bad, sure but she even scared Arlekino with some of the things she saw. No one wanted to deal with something touched by that false angel either.
"Hungary it is!" Glavar proclaimed as he turned on the engine. "Let's get this show on the road!"
"What's wrong with Gena?" Trapets questioned silently into the round.
"I'd rather not have to deal with that stupid crocodile-faced bitch ever again," Arlekino grumbled. Gena was a
freak, even more than Arlekino. Sure, the gruesome murdering – even for them – that made all of them puke except for Glavar was one thing. But she was just so…
inhuman. What's worse is that she wasn't even like Arlekino, since she had said things that implied she hadn't lost any memories. Arlekino had seen her face, her
real face.
"I miss my country, and the black sea had such nice sights too," Begemot sighed wistfully. "But then that city went up and that false angel came soon after. I wonder how it's going there."
They all sat down as the bus picked up speed, leaving the quiet little town they had been staying in.
Arlekino woke up to the light from passing streetlights hitting her face, the rumbling of the wheels on the asphalt road, the purr of the engine, and her friends snoring like there was no tomorrow. Begemot surprisingly didn't hog a lot of space for his size, sleeping in a curled-up position. Odette however, was sprawled all over the place and the loudest snorer there. At least she'd get her karma with a hangover tomorrow. Krotitel was the happiest he could ever be at any given moment, being sandwiched between his two cats. Trapets was the quietest, his breathing holding air for much longer than the others.
Arlekino slowly stood up, grabbing onto the metal bars on the bus's ceiling, and pulling her legs up as she climbed across to the front of the bus. Letting herself down, she sat on the edge of the bed just beneath the driver's cabin.
"Why are you awake?" Glavar's voice was quiet, and he offered a small glance at her.
"Because I woke up?" Arlekino snarked back at him, making him chuckle slightly. They sat together, looking out onto the road in silence. "When was the last time you slept?"
"Almost a decade ago I think. Why do you ask?" He said, taking a right turn.
"What's it like? Never sleeping?" Arlekino asked. She had never seen him sleep before, and after asking him about the why one day, all she'd gotten in response was that his h power was responsible for that, and that had been the end of that.
"You get used to it. The first time I tried to sleep after I got my abilities, I had the most fucked up nightmare I think I've ever had, same with the next, and the next, and so on," Glavar sighed gabbing two mints from the dashboard and handing one to Arlekino. "Thing is though, I could never remember those dreams. Sure it's hard with normal dreams but at least you have an idea of what you experienced."
"Do you miss it?" Arlekino asked while chewing on her mint.
"Sleeping? I honestly don't even know anymore, I think I forgot the feeling," Glavar shrugged. He hit the brake, their path blocked by a passing train. "To be honest, it scares me. As if, there's a chance that if I fall asleep, even for a second… I'll die."
Arlekino got up, taking a few steps before standing behind him, slowly lowering her head onto his shoulder. "I don't want you to die," she whispered into his ear.
"I know Kino, I know," he sighed, pushing his head against hers. "Go to sleep now, ok?"
"Ok," she responded, turning around and grabbing onto the metal railing. "Goodnight, Toli."
"Goodnight, Kino."
"Um… 35. 76, ma'am." The clerk said, looking up in nervous terror at Arlekinos face. Arlekino fiddled with the wallet, placing two 20s before grabbing her bag and leaving the store. She admittedly didn't like doing the grocery shopping, but the fear she instilled in some people gave her a good chuckle. Except old ladies, they couldn't give less of a shit, and when they did they were screaming at her for holding up the line.
They were all currently in the small city of Senta, in the northern region of Serbia. The plan was to stock up on more supplies before going to Hungary. The city was pretty lively, which kind of made sense as there were no people with powers as far as she could tell.
After a few minutes of wandering, she found the others at the bar's entrance.
"Hello everyone! I come bearing gifts!" She shouted, showing off her bags. Odette, like the totally responsible drinker she was, immediately ran up to her to get a beer from the bag. "You have a problem."
"I have a strong liver!" Odette responded with a cocky tone, walking away as she cracked her bottle open. Arlekino sighed, turning to see Begemot fidgeting with Glavar's lighter.
"Where's Glavar?" She asked, walking up to the mountain of a man.
"He's in the-" Begemot was cut off by a door slamming. They both looked down to see Glavar walking up the stairs and swearing to himself. "You alright boss?"
"Egh, the place is fucking annoying." He stopped, looking up at Arlekino. "Kino, you feel like kicking them in the ass for me? Don't feel in the mood for it."
"Do you want me to kill them?" she asked, handing the bags over to Begemot. After years of working as a mercenary, some would find it boring and trivial. Arlekino, however, found it got more fun year after year.
"Preferably not but eh, do whatever, I'm going for a smoke." He said, pulling out a packet of cigarettes.
"Don't get carried away!" Begemot halfheartedly shouted before leaving with Glavar.
Arlekino did a couple of stretches before jumping down. Bringing her foot up, she kicked the door open and leaped inside. She flew through the air, the world seemingly slowing down as the men in the bar were caught by surprise, and straight into a guy drinking a beer. Her arm spasmed as its segments moved around to form a scythe, before smashing into the guy's face.
"Woo! Let's do this!" All she heard were the screams of grown men. One guy tried to be smart and run away, but he barely made it a few meters before a heeled foot sent him flying across the room. Arlekino stood in front of the entrance, slamming it closed. "You fucked with my boss, now you deal with me!"
"You fucking clown!" A man shouted, pulling out his gun. Arlekino flipped a table, blocking the bullets, before kicking it at the shooter.
All turned to pandemonium as each man there tried to attack her. Arlekino flipped a man's knife around, stabbing him in the eye before using him as a human shield. Holding him by the arms, she swung him around before throwing him into the bar's drink shelf. The shelves collapsed, smashing them onto the floor.
"Raggh!" Another man charged at her, pretty big too, but nowhere near the size of Begemot. Grabbing him by the face, she slammed him down, the splinted wood.
"Got anything helpful?" She asked, checking his pockets, and finding a box of matches. "Ooh, this will do!"
Grabbing a match, she lit it up before lighting the whole box. She tossed the box at the bar, creating a burst of flames, slowly growing and burning the building. Backing away, she opened the front door.
"I hope you had fun! I sure did!" She cackled, slamming the door closed. She leaned on it as a man started to bang on it, begging for freedom. She looked through the door's window, smiling cruelly at his despair. "Should've learned some manners, tough guy."
"I'm back!" Arlekino announced cheerfully to the others. They were all eating at a picnic table near the bus. Arlekino looked around but couldn't find any hint of Glavar being around. "Where's Glavar?"
"He just left," responded Krotitel, pointing at a building, "said something about a phone call and then went over to that building."
"Oh, thanks. I wanted to tell him I was done." She said, jogging over to the building.
"He said he wanted to be left alone!" Shouted Odette, but Arlekino only ignored her.
When she reached the abandoned-looking building, she grabbed onto the brick wall and crawled upwards. She paused mid-climb as she heard something to her right. Shimmying lightly across the brick wall, she peeked through a tiny little hole in a covered window.
The inside was worn, old furniture strewn across the room, but that wasn't the most eye-catching thing there. It was Glavar, talking with someone… in person, and not on the phone. The person he was talking to was odd, to say the least. A long-haired women in a dark suit with a fedora on her head. She could barely hear anything, the only word she could make out was Hungary. The woman handed him a small black box before a glowing doorway appeared out of nowhere, and she walked into it.
"What the hell?" Arlekino said to herself as Glavar left the room. She lowered herself down, before going back to the others. Sitting down with them, Trapets offered her some food.
"So? What happened?" Asked Krotitel, handing a piece of food to his cats as they fought over it.
"I wanted to, but he seemed too busy." Arlekino lied, which made her feel uncomfortable. She rarely lied to her friends; even when she did, it was mostly about petty stuff like eating someone's food. But it was clear that something was off, this was something that not even she knew about, and Glavar told her basically everything.
"Alright, everyone!" She turned with the others to see Glavar standing behind them. "Fill your stomachs, grab anything left for later and we're leaving."
"Yes sir!" They all saluted while Arlekino followed him onto the bus, her insides twisting and not on purpose.
"Wanted to tell me something?" He said, sitting down in the driver's seat.
"Oh yeah." Arlekino paused, thinking about what she saw, and whether or not to confront him. "Just wanted to say I took care of the bar by the way!" Arlekino answered cheerfully, deciding it was best to leave that for a later date.
"Really? How did it go?" He questioned, staring deep into her eyes.
"Well," she scratched her head sheepishly, "I didn't leave any evidence that would point it at me!"
"Eh, good enough." Glavar shrugged, looking past her. She turned to see the others had packed their things. Glavar cleared his throat before speaking. "Alright then, let's get this show on the road!"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
AN: Merry Christmas everyone! Hopefully, you enjoyed this chapter!
I have written mostly Alt-power Taylor fics, so I thought, why not write something original? And what better setting than my home region of Eastern Europe!
Tomorrow I'll be leaving for Italy, so I won't be doing much writing. (Not that I did a lot before)
And thanks to
@Partisanenpasta for helping me out on this one!
Anyways, happy holidays!
![Tsyrk [Eastern Europe]](/data/threadmark-index-icons/l/80/80177.jpg?1735074072){kind=icon}
