"OH SHIT! OH FUCK!" a man yelled as he ran through the dim alleyways of the city known as New Meridian, his breath out of control, his face filled with a mixture of shock, confusion and even fear, of something that at first looked so innocent.

He didn't truly understand what had happened, him and his buddies were just doing a regular job for the boss, collecting "taxes" and such stuff, when suddenly, a child appeared at first she seemed so harmless, it was a child after all, but then they noticed that her eyes were missing, her mouth replaced with a sharp collection of teeth, and her libs were robotic, before they could say anything a pair of figures emerged from out of nowhere, a bird dressed as her, and anvil with boxing gloves, a ten ton weight with a weirdly sculpted face and two bombs, a small one and a very large one. Before they could react the weird group just started beating them up, his arm was probably broken from the boxer, but at least he wasn't dead like his buddies. As the memories of the encounter still ran across the man's minds he could only say "WHAT THE FUCK!? WHAT THE FUCK!? WHAT THE FUCK!?"

As he carelessly ran through the street he tripped on something, was it a rock, he looked back and saw a bomb, one that looked just like the one the kid had, and then he knew she was near, before he could say anything he heard a voice.

"Well, well, well, look who was trying to run his scared butt back to his dear old boss," he looked behind him and saw the red-haired child alongside her gang "unfortunately for you, there is no running away from this gang!" she said with a wicked smile (if you could even all it a smile) on her face.

"NO PLEASE, LET ME GO I BEG YOU!" the man begged and cried, with his hand clapped together and his knees on the ground.

"But where would be the fun in that?" the child asked looking at the man with a predatory grin.

"Awww he's so cute when he begs!" the anvil said mocking the man's pleads "can we keep him Peacock?"

"HELL NO!" the bird that was on top of Peacock's head said "IT PROBABLY HAS A TON OF VIRUSES AND STUFF! WE SHOULD PROBABLY JUST KILL IT!"

"And remember last time we brought a Medici pet to our safe house?" the ten ton weight said "I don't get easily traumatized, but that was something else…"

"THAT WAS AVERY'S FAULT!" the anvil screamed pointing his… finger? … boxing glove towards the bird.

"WHAT DID I DO?!" the bird said acting innocently when she knew very well what she had done.

"YOU FED IT EXPLOSIVES BIRD BRAIN!"

"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW HE COULDN'T EAT THAT!" she knew very well he couldn't eat that.

"CAN IT YOU GUYS!" the child spoke with an authoritarian tone in her voice that could rival even that of Lorenzo Medici "Sorry Andy but I still haven't had my complete fill of head clobbering, so I'm afraid that I'm not afraid to crack this dog's skull in"

"NO… NO! NO!" those were the last words that were heard that night, the broken man's echoes of desperation slowly fading away. Soon the alleyway would be painted red, and in time so would the city.

It was now morning and I had just finished waking up from the bench that I know called my bed, at first I didn't know if I would be capable of sleeping, but it was better that I thought, still I wouldn't turn down a warm bed.

"Hey Akira you awake?" I asked my companion that know inhabited my right arm.

"UH? Oh yeah I'm awake… now." He said with still some traces of sleepiness, then he went back to sleeping. I shacked my arm violently to wake him up even more, "uhhh… okay, okay, I'm awake, for real now, geez I need my beauty sleep too you know?"

The parasite said with an int of frustration for not being able to sleep more than he wanted to.

"Yeah im sure you really need your beauty sleep especially when everyone can see you through my bandaged arm" I said, teasing the parasite a little bit, I can sort of understand now why Filia liked to tease me so much.

"Pipe it Pietro." The parasite responded with even more annoyance. "Anyway, where are we going to search at today?"

We were still looking for both Filia and Carol, those two were still gone and there were no sign of them yet, I tried looking at the places where we usually hang out as a group, but we had no luck there, I tried the Madman's Café, Filia's favorite place but the people working there said that she hadn't been seen there in a good while, I also tried looking at the Park, it was Carol's favorite place, it was filled with beautiful nature and a lot of dogs, but neither of them were there, and the people that frequently went there were also worried that Carol hasn't been to the park in days usually she visits it almost every time she can, at this point I didn't know where to go.

"How about we just patrol around the streets for now?" I asked Akira, he pondered for a moment and then said.

"Sure, we don't have a lot to do anyway, we can always just patrol around the streets" Akira agreed with me, then added " and maybe when we take a break we can catch a show from the circus?"

"The circus?" I said with excitement, "I love the circus!"

I said as I stood up and went to the streets of the city to get something to eat first

I did love the circus and the one from New Meridian was unmatched, the Cirque des Cartes was one of the biggest reasons to even go to the river king casino, after all it was there where they performed most times, the crew was filled with immensely talented people, Taliesin plays some of the finest tunes that could be heard, it made a lot people wonder why he never tried be a professional musician; Hubrecht is a lovable man he always sported a huge smile and a welcoming presence, he was the second strongest man in the circus he lifted unimaginable amount leaving the crowd in wonder; Regina is the domminering beast tamer of the circus, the has control over a various amount of beast and animals, the animals always listen to her and never tried to lash out at her, although he does have quite an intimidating image; Feng is the acrobat of the circus, paired with her two birds that rest on her head she is the most graceful talent on the circus; Beatrix is the magician of the circus she can store and unimaginable amount of stuff in her cloak, I always wondered how she did that, but combined with skill and talent her shows are extremely enjoyable, I heard she has a rivalry with the main attraction; and speaking of her, Cerebella, oh man was she something else, the girl is a fan favourite and the main reason there are so many people watching these shows, energetic, flashy and spirited, I personally think she's the soul of the circus, I still remember meeting her in person last year, and I even got her autograph! The only reason I was even able to get there was thanks to Filia of course…. We used to go to the circus when they had big shows, she knew I loved it and would always guarantee us front line tickets.

"Filia…" I softly say, part of me is scared, what if I don't find her, or Carol, what if both of them are already in places I can't even reach, the tough really scares me, I feel a cold shiver run through me, last time I saw them we weren't even being friendly, we fought each other, I want to apologize to them, I want to see them again, i…

"Hey Pietro…" I hear Akira whisper to me, "I can feel you heart waver in doubt, it'll be okay, we'll find them." The parasite said his word actually comforted me, with his help I do have a bigger chance to find them.

"Please everyone step away from the crime scene, not one more step." Turning my head I saw a crowd of people, even further beyond the police were there, it looks like there was a crime scene.

There were also reporters at the scene they were asking about the murders, apparently this wasn't the only one of this type.

"Excuse me sir, but recently there have been a large spike in crimes committed against the Medici family of the same nature as this one, do you think they may be connected?" one of the reports asked, the officer simply said

"No statement!"

Despite the officers not wanting people to get closer, I sneaked my way to the front, the scene that I found was gruesome, there was a body that was horribly beaten to death, his skull smashed in, his arms and legs broken, and much more, I took a glimpse at the body before the officers covered it with a blanket, further there were medics carrying two more bodies also covered by the blankets.

"Hey kid, step away from the scene." I turned to one of the officers who was talking to me, "you're too young to see this stuff, go back home."

"O…Okay" I said as I stepped away from the scene and the crowd, when we were a good distance from them I whispered to Akira "Hey, you think Midas did that?"

There was some silence for a second then came an answer from Akira.

"No chance" he said extremely confident that Midas wasn't behind this gruesome scene, "Midas is quick with normal humans, he doesn't waste time with them, these guys were toyed with by someone, but I'm afraid that whoever did this isn't a normal person."

"You think they may be parasite too?!" the thought of another Midas being out there was truly frightening, and this one didn't look like the second chances type of one.

"I'm not sure, they may not be a parasite," Akira stated, it wasn't much of a relieve, because whoever did this is still a dangerous individual, "but what bothers me is that these crimes have been spiking up at the same time that the Skullgirl is close to appear, and yes I do catch up with news from time to time"

Damn and that means that they could also be looking for the Skullheart, Akira wasn't kidding, there are a lot of people looking for this thing.

"But that doesn't matter, we just have to focus on getting to her first," Akira said reminding me of the true purpose of why we're here in the city "but if we do run into this person, we better be prepared, we don't know what kind of sicko we might be dealing here, hell, it may be our most dangerous foe perhaps"

"Man I'm pooped!" I yell out in exhaustion, this was easily the most fun I've had clobbering Medici fools in a night, I think I even broke a personal record of how many idiots I killed. We recently finished our nightly "patrol" and we were pretty far from the lab, so we just took on of the apartment keys from one of the Medici scumbags and used his apartment for the night, eh, the waste of live wasn't so much of a waste after all.

"Yeah boss, I'm exhausted!" Andy said he was shaking his fists as he walked, "My fists are still sore from all the punching and clobbering!"

"You did very well Andy, you too Tommy, you aim was on point that night." Tommy just grinned and did a thumbs up with his hand.

"George, Lenny, you guys provoked some delicious mayhem and some nice fireworks" The walking bombs both blushed and rubbed their heads.

"And of course you did wonderfully great to Avery" is said to Avery who was sitting on my shoulder, "seriously a pie filled with venomous snakes? I should have thought of that before!" I said screamed a bit frustrated that I didn't think of that before, man my imagination has been failing me, wait… what about a pie filled with porcupines with poison on their quills? Nah… it just sounds like I'm copying Avery's idea.

"Hey boss? Are we going out again today?" Avery asked with puppy eyes the rest of the group looked at me eagerly waiting for my response, I kept silent for a bit, I have to tease them a but first, now I will walk back and forth as of I'm thinking about it, and now for the answer.

"DUH! OF COURSE THIS WAS THE MOST FUN WE'VE HAD IN A GOOD WHILE!" the whole group cheered, look's like they were just as excited as I am, "No fool is going to stand a chance against us."

"Wait boss, what about, ya know, him" Andy said with a bit of salt at the "him" part, I knew very well who he was talking about.

"Pffft, what is tin can man going to do anyways, ground us?"

"Something like that, yeah, but this time I'm going to make sure you bunch stay where you're supposed to stay" Oh boy, speaking of the devil…

As we turned around we faced the walking one man band himself, Big Band, or should I say Big Bomb, because that is all he does, he drops a big bomb on out fun, AND NOT THE FUN TYPE OF BOMBS

"Oh man, it's the party pooper!" said Andy with a look of displeasure

"Scram Big Mook, you can't boss us!" said Avery pointing her knife at the large coated man

"Hold up you guys, let him talk, maybe he'll tire himself in his own mumbo jumbo." I ordered them giving the blowhard a short time to speak.

"Look Peacock, I know you're going through that fase, and I understand you're even more volatile when the Skullgirl is right around the corner, but you have to think smart, just because the Skullgirl still hasn't made her appearance doesn't mean she isn't scamming something, if she knows about you and about the lab, you're done, and possibly even more will be dead because of that carelessness." The Walking Can kept saying, still treating me as if I can't handle myself, I mean I killed people damn it! "And even more, you're targeting the Medici, you're attracting the wrong type of attention"

"AH!" I laughed at his face "The wrong type of attention?! THAT'S MY FAVOURITE TYPE OF ATTENTION!" my answer seemed to have annoyed him a bit, which is something that I always enjoy doing with Big Band.

"Peacock, there are lives at stake, lives that may fall in your hands, and you need to realize that with that kind of powers that you have there will also be a lot of responsibilities with that will fall on you, you get where I'm going." Suddendly a great idea came through my mind.

"Yeah I do understand…." I "sheepishly" and "innocently" say

"Damn it Peaco… waitsaythatagain?" the tin man recoils in surprise, according to plan.

"I do understand but… but… *sniff* *sniff* but… it's not fair" I start to "tear up" and try and fool Big Band

"A…Are you crying? Wait… OH NO! I AM NOT FALLING FOR THAT!" Big Band said as he turned his face to the side and closed his eyes, time to step up my game.

"W…Why did…did I have to be…beco….become like this, i… I was fine before… the war everything was fine, b…but then everything… changed and… I lost… I lost….e… everything, my body, my family, M… M… Marie…. " and for the final nail in the coffin" It….It's not fair Ben"

By using his real name (which I rarely do), he will definitely think that i'm actually crying and he will be moved by my words.

"*Sigh* I…" AH HE'S ACTUALLY LOST FOR WORDS! THIS IS GREAT! But I can't laugh, I have to be genuine, I´ll look him straight in the eyes "You make a fair point Peacock, you did go through a lot, and it's normal to take your anger out on others, but there has to be a better way, look, I won't say anything but you have to promise to keep yourself under control, okay?"

"Okay I'll promise" PS I don't

I decide to hug Big Band and when I do, I look at my crew and give them a mischievous smile, which they respond with one of their own.

"Alright you girl, how about we go back to the lab? And this time please stay inside for once." The Tin Man say's with a hint of tiredness in his voice.

"I will" I lie

(Night time)

"Definitely not" I confess to myself "Hey guys, you ready to head out again?" I say to the crew we are already a good distance from the lab, they all cheer and yell in excitement.

"Very well, time to paint the town red!"

Another day, and no leads, we tried patrolling through the streets, but to no avail, I still don't have any clue to the location of Filia and/or Carol, I'm trying to stay positive and part of me still believes there's hope, but I'm starting to get more and more desperate, I didn't even take a break, so that meant that I had no time to go to the circus.

"Maybe she could be in Little Insmouth?" Akira asked, I highly doubted, she didn't have any prejudice against the place but it just wasn't her style, then again if she was kidnapped, Insmouth was a perfect place.

"I can't see her in Insmouth, but we can try."

"Maybe tomorrows, I'm tired." Akira said, he wasn't alone, I was also pretty tired, the search took a bigger toll on my than I thought, but just as we were making our way back to the bench…

"HELP PLEASE! AAAHHH!"

We heard a man screaming, it seemed to come from one of the more narrow streets, nevertheless I rush towards the source of the sound.

"JUST LEAVE IT, IT DOSEN'T CONCERN US!" Akira yelled, but I can't abandon a cry for help.

"No can do, someone needs our help!"

"OUR HELP!?" I ignore him and continues forwards, until I see a man, he's limping towards me, tears on his face.

"PLEASE HELP ME, THAT CHILD IS INSANE!" his face was a mess, and seemed like his arm was broken. Then suddenly I hear someone.

"HEY WHITE, GET LOST WHY WON'T YA!" I hear what sounds like a child I look forward, beyond the man who has at this point fallen to the ground unconscious. "UNLESS YA WANT SOME OF THAT TOO!"

"Who are you? Did you hurt this man?" I ask her, getting a better look now, I see what the man was talking about, in front of me was a redhead child, but weirdly and creepily enough, she didn't have eyes, and her mouth was razor sharp.

"Who am i? Well since you want to know so hard the name's Peacock. Now do you want a beating or not!?"