Circus Acts

Chapter 16

"TOMORROW?" I jumped off the couch, Christmas was tomorrow already?

"Oh my gosh! I haven't gotten anything yet for Gazzy!" Nudge ran over to me.

"Me neither! Wait up!" Angel joined our little shopping group. We all ran out the front door.

"Wait! Let's drive!" Dr. Martinez came out jingling her car keys.

"Okay, thanks, Dr. Martinez!" the three of us chanted, stepping into her van.

"Where to?" why did she ask...

"Walart!"

"The mall!"

"Toys R Us!"

"Sir, i-is it... Dead?" a dark figure turned to see his assistant clinging to a door frame.

"Yes, Aliana, it's dead." the dark figure put the owl in the box, or, moreover, what was left of the bird. His assistant, Aliana, stepped into the room and picked up the pieces of shrapnel and bird remains and threw them in the garbage.

"N-Now, for the message, sir?" Aliana ran her fingers through her dirty blonde hair, her icy blue eyes shone through the darkness of the room.

"Yes." the dark figure almost smiled at Aliana's naïveté. She was just hired after the old assistant was fired for giving the messages in the wrong order, after all.

"J-Just the Gasman's?" she took the box from him.

"Yes, just the owl." the dark figure turned on his robotic heel and walked away.

"I'm sorry, little owl..." Aliana tenderly patted the box then walked outside, feling the calming breeze flow through her hair.

And I'm sorry, Seven's friend...

"Are we there yet? I'm hungry!" Nudge whined, crossing her arms over her stomach.

"No, Nudge, we are almost there." Dr. Martinez sighed.

"But-"

"STUHFOO NUDGE!" I yelled, my eyes full of fire. The rest of the drive was silent, finally.

"Iggy, where's your girlfriend?" Gazzy stepped into the living room holding four bowls of popcorn. He gave two to Iggy and kept two for himself.

"I dunno, why don't you ask her?" Iggy stuffed some popcorn in his mouth.

"Uh, because she isn't here." Gazzy threw a piece of popcorn at Iggy. Iggy threw some back, which Gazzy dodged.

But it did hit someone.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Max snarled, pulling a piece of popcorn out of her eye. She stepped into the kitchen and pulled out a wooden spoon and some mashed potatoes, "It is ON."

Gazzy and Iggy somehow managed to exchange a concerned glance then looked at Max (in Iggy's case, her general direction) before the food war began.

Reaper came back from his mid-morning flight and walked into Dr. Martinez's house. He shook his head at the scene and walked in. A glob of mashed potatoes flung past his face, popcorn nearly hit his arm.

He looked down, mashed potatoes and popcorn. He looked up, mashed potatoes and popcorm. He looked forward, Max, Fang, Iggy, Gazzy.

This is going to be a long day.

"Okay, we're in Walmart... and we have no idea what we're doing." I sighed as Dr. Martinez got a cart.

This is going to be a long day.

"Okay, we need to get gifts for Iggy, Total and Gazzy. Nudge and Xera, you get Gazzy and Iggy. Angel and I will get Total. Meet back here in 15. Good luck." Dr. Martinez marched away with Angel giggling by her side.

"What do you think Iggy and Gazzy would want?" Nudge gleefully looked at all the rows of toys.

"Oh, y'know..." I grinned.

"Explosives."

"He/She started it!" they all yelled at once. Reaper shook his head.

"I'm going upstairs to read... I'm not cleaning this." he made his way past the food fight and managed to catch a piece of popcorn in his mouth before heading up the stairs and into a random bedroom.

"...So... Who wants to throw the first bit of food at him?" Iggy shrugged.

Everyone raised their hands.

"Look, Xer! A rifle!" Nudge skipped out of the outdoors aisle carrying a pink rifle.

"You think Gazzy would want a pink rifle? WWMS?" I put it back.

"Whaaat?" Nudge raised an eyebrow.

"What would Max say." I shrugged, leading her back to the toy aisle to find some Barbies to blow up.

"Oooh." Nudge went back to looking at all the rows of stuff.

"Wrench?" Iggy looked in Gazzy's general direction.

"Check." Gazzy twirled the wrench onhis finger.

"Wires?"

"Check."

"Remote?"

"Check."

"Beef jerky?"

"Err... No..."

"What? I thought I packed beef jerky into the bomb kit-Gazzy, what are you eating?"

"Beef jerky, want some?"

Iggy facepalmed.

"Xeraaaa!" Nudge whined, holding up a box.

"Nuudge!" I mocked, looking at the box.

"I think it's perfect!" Nudge jumped up and down.

"I think so, too. Now, to find something for Iggy..." I took the box from her and we started walking to the chemicals aisle.

"Okay, by George, I think we've done it!" Iggy cheered, holding the bomb up victoriously.

"Iggy?" Gazzy took the bomb and set it down gently.

"Yeah?"

"Who's George?"

"Look, Nudge! 'Bomb Making for Dummies'! They are dummies, shouldn't we get it for Iggy?" I laughed, putting it in the basket.

"Uh, Xera? One problem. Iggy can't read."

"Okay, just press the DVD button and we'll be all set." Iggy handed the remote to Gazzy.

"Okay. Mashed potatoes and popcorn away!" Gazzy pressed the button. A loud SPLAT was heard before a very pissed off Reaper came out, covered in mashed potatoes and popcorn.

"Run?"

"Run."

"Doc? Doc! Where'd you go?" I walked around with Nudge.

"Xera! Look at what we got Total!" Angel came running out of the store holding a pink sweater. nudge and I looked at each other before falling on the ground, laughing.

"Okay, okay. Jeez, Dr. Martinez reacted the same way." Angel groaned, stepping into the car. Dr. Martinez, Nudge, and I followed suit.

"Now, back to home sweet home." Dr. Martinez smiled and started driving to the chaos of what she used to call home.

Okay! Sorry the chapter was later than usual, I had a bunch of stuff to do today. I quit on my schedule of a chapter a day and just started going by a chapter whenever I got around to it (about every day).

And yeah.

APPLESAUCE