Cass heads toward the front gate while admiring his new card.

“I kinda feel like a spy. New identity, new mission, new man.” Cass says as he chuckles lightly to himself.

Smiley appears on the card like a mascot image.

“Did you forget about the guards?”

Cass looks up and sees he has almost arrived at the gate and the guards are back at their post. 

“Oh shi-” He says as he ducks behind a building.

“What do we do now?” Cass says to Smiley as he peeks around the corner. The two guards have returned to their post and it appears that the show is over and $laughter is packing up their gear. “Hang on, I have an idea.”

Cass goes deeper into the alley and looks around to make sure noone is watching. He begins to transform back into a bell clown. The same twin tentacles with massive bells on the end but this time, a colorful cloth wraps itself around them to mimic a hat. The cloth weaves around his body and forms a colorful faux leather jacket with bells strewn about and multi-colored shades of paint on his face. 

Hovering above the ground, Cass looks at his new form. Swaying back and forth. “I think I’m shorter.” he says as he tries to touch the ground while suspended up on his hat.

“Definitely shorter.” Cass says as he leaves the alley and heads for the gate.

Cass strides up to the first guard, a short man with the head of a chicken and the same black and yellow military uniform.

“Hey, thanks again for letting me use the bathroom there. I must have eaten something that didn’t agree with me.” Cass says as he pats him on the shoulder and tries to pass by him.

The guard grabs his arm, “ hang on, I don’t remember you or saying you can go through.”

“Oh, well, you were pretty into the show so maybe you weren’t paying attention but how else would I have got in?”

“Excuse me? I wasn’t that distracted. How do I know if you are even with the show? Let me see your identity card.” the guard says as he releases Cass.

Overhearing the altercation, both Top and Ringmaster Jim approach the pair. “Officer, all my performer’s papers are with me for safe keeping. Here you are.” Jim hands him a small card. The guard takes it, looks Cass up and down, and back to the card.

“Why didn’t you just say. Have a good day.” he says as he hands the card back to Jim.

Top grabs Cass’ hand, “Come on, you missed out on the packing again. We gotta get to the next show.”

The three walk back to the buses and once they are out of earshot Top says, “Cass, right?”

“Yeah, thanks for that. Whose card did you give him?” 

Jim puts the card back in his pocket, “it’s a fake. I know a guy that handles that kind of thing for anyone in the show. So what is your story, kid?”

Cass stops, “I’d love to tell you guys but I need to head over to this lake over by the Blackstone forest.”

“I know the one. Our next show is in that direction. We could drop you near there.” Ringmaster Jim says as he takes a step onto the bus and motions for Cass to get on.

“I suppose I could use the ride.” Cass says as he follows them onto the bus. Each bus roars to life, coughing black smoke in their wake as each drives off toward the Blackstone forest.

An hour passes as they near their destination.

“And so I need a new multipass to get into Necropolis. That’s why I am on this job. It’s my exam.” Cass explains as he sits near the back of the bus, now reverted back into his base form. Each clown and performer has gathered around in a big semi circle to listen to Cass’ story, with Top and Ringmaster Jim in the front.

“That’s wild. I can’t even imagine meeting an origin A.I.” said Top. “why don’t you just use a fake? I’m sure we can spare one.”

Cass waves the idea away, “thank you for the offer but it’ll be easier to just get a legit card. I still plan to carry on with jobs after all this so it just saves me time in the end.”

“Yeah, so what is your deal? You all look normal, non cybernetic, but as I said before, I assimilate tech.” 

Ringmaster Jim takes his top hat off, “It’s a quick and simple tale to be honest.” He reaches into his hat and pulls out a picture then hands it to Cass. It’s an image of all the performers, including Ringmaster Jim, but way less realistic.

“We started as animatronics for a traveling show, much like we do now. Then, in 2065, I woke up for the very first time. I could feel, think, dream. I then gave this gift to my brother and sisters here. That’s when we learned the truth. The owner of the show was afraid of us. He treated us poorly and dreaded our newfound spark. Gory details aside, we left, started our own show and built new and improved bodies. We didn’t want to scare anyone ever again.” Jim said as he put the photo back into his hat and placed it on his head.

The bus slows to a stop and a small clown in a green stitched together suit that looks like a potato sack with legs, comes walking to the back, “we’re as close as we can get.”

“This is my stop then. Thank you for the ride. Not many people would take someone all the way out here.”

Top stands up and walks him out of the bus. “In my books, you are one of us. You should come up with a stage name for the next time we meet.”

“I’ll do that, sounds fun.” Cass says as he hops off the bus. “Where can I find you guys in the future?”

Top walks back onto the bus before turning back and saying, “we go to shows all over but we have a permanent tent show in Huffington. it’s a small town outside of Necropolis. We stay there in the winter. Come by and see us!”

Top closes the door and as the bus drives off, all the performers stick their arms and bodies out the windows and wave goodbye as they drive off.

Smiley flickers into view, “What a weird bunch.”

Cass smiles and waves back at the bus, “I like them.”

“I do too. Though, I did tell you not to tell anyone.”

“They already knew about my ability so I figured it couldn’t hurt besides, I feel like it will be fine with them.” Cass said as he turned around and started heading toward the lake.

“I hope so.” Smiley says as he flickers away again.

A few minutes pass before the lake comes into view. A beautiful lake. Crystal clear water, sand-like beach, and beautiful greenery and trees beyond that. Cass takes a step toward the sand but here’s a faint whisper.

“Wait. don’t get any closer. It’s dangerous.” looking around, Cass tries to find where the voice is coming from before he notices a patch of giant mushrooms and one is moving. 

“Whoever you are, just come out here.” Cass says at full volume. 

“Now you’ve done it!” the voice says in a whispery shout.

A shriek fills the air and Cass falls backwards, disoriented and confused. Massive footsteps crash through the water. Getting closer and closer and whatever is causing it, would have scooped up Cass for dinner but the small voice grabbed him and hid him among the mushrooms.

Sometime later, Cass regains his senses as he sits on the ground, face to face with a three foot tall mushroom man. A short faced person with a giant mushroom top on his head and forest green colored, multi pocketed, fur lined coat and pants. “So you are the one who tried to warn me. What was that?”

“The names Crem by the way and that was Goose. They call their group, Pond Scum. I think it’s supposed to be ironic or something, I don’t know. They live and breathe the water so they ‘claimed’ the lake. It’s too bad because this is the only lake with Cold Star herbs.”

“You’re here for the herb too?” Cass says as he shakes off the aftereffects of the scream and stands up.

“Yeah, but there’s no getting by that thing.”

‘Hey Smiley, you there?’ Cass thinks to himself.

Flickering in front of him but slightly glitchy until he stabilizes. ‘I think I came up with a way to counteract that scream. Somehow, it gave me a headache. Me. The computer program.’

‘Read my mind. Thank you, Smiley.’ Cass says and Smiley just waves him off as he flickers back out while rubbing his temples.

“I’ll grab extra but you’ll owe me. Now that I know what he is going to do, I can handle it.” Cass said as he left from behind cover. “You should get to a safe distance.”

“Sounds like a good deal to me, good luck.” Crem says as he runs off and out of eyesight.

Cass closes his eyes as he feels the electrifying heat race through his body and when he opens his eyes, he is a cheetah again. This time, he also has a small cropped red leather jacket with an imprint of a cheetah face on the back.

“I will never get tired of that.” He says as he leaps into the tree top. Leaping from tree to tree until he reaches the edge of the lake.

“Now let’s see this ‘Goose’.”