The black sphere containing Naecken and Cat emerged 200 meters above the circus grounds.
It was night time, and it was raining.
But something was dreadfully wrong.
The big tent and the vans were on fire, and people were running around screaming.
Cat opened a door;
"Go on, help your friends, I must return to my own time...and don´t forget to say hi to Umberto de la Costa for me."
"Who?"
"Forget it hehehe...here, a gift from yourself."
In her hand a small black non-reflecting pebble lay.
He took it and said goodbye. Then jumped out of the sphere.
The fall took only seconds, but felt like a eternity, as he could hear gunshots below.
He landed with a great thud.
Around him, laid the bodies of the circus artists and other visitors...and then he saw his enemy.
Nowhere Man, Eurostar and the others where shooting everything in site with automatic Glock guns.
The sight shocked Naecken.
These were his friends...why were theu doing this?
He walked up to Mick and was about to ask him when he turned and sprayed Naecken in bullets.
Blank eyes and a monstruos grin covered his face.
Naecken took hold of the gun and crushed it. Then grabbed Mick in the neck.
"You have to stop this. What are you doing? These people helped us!"
A giggle was the only response.
Madness.
As soon as he let go Mick reached for the gun and tried to fire it at Naecken again.
Pity showed in Naecken´s face.
Then the rest of the gang charged a couple who Naecken knew where the Wild Animal artists.
He quickly brok the neck of Mick, and with a sad voice said;
"I´m sorry my friend, this seems to be the only way to save the innocent...I shall miss you."
He then threw the body as a shield between the couple and the rest of the gang.
A desperate scream came from within his big chest;
"Nooooooo! Let them be!!!! Shooot meeeee!"
The gang turned as one and proceeded to try to turn Naecken into Swiss cheese.
Naecken picked one of the vans and used it as a club.
It squashed the remaning members and Naecken stopped to ask the couple;
"How did this start? What happened to my friends?"
Throuhg sniffles and tears the man replied;
"We don´t know...they came back from a mission in their black car, and..."
"Black car? We don´t have black car."
"Well, thats what happened anyway, and they started to kill people the instant they got out of the car...It was horrible...we didn´t believe the stories we had heard about you..."
"Stories?"
"Yes...apparently they had done the same thing at different places here in Mandelovia...slaughtered innocent people everywhere..."
Naecken felt dizzy.
This was totally impossible.
He knew for sure that his friends would never do such a thing...
Brainwashing?
Remote telapathic control?
Evil men dressing up as them?...mmmmm
He walked to the van, picked it up and threw ut away.
There underneath were the crushed bodies of his friends...
Their eyes were crushed and wiring could be seen inside.
He picked up the body of Eurostar and examined it.
Apparently someone had built cyber endo-skeletons and cloned a copy of his friends on the outside.
Now that he looked closer, he could see the imperfections and the synthetic materials that had been used to create this murder machine.
Someone had made these to give them a bad reputation.
Naecken knew the government was sure to be hunting for them now.
A sudden thought occurred to him.
When he found his friends again, he had to warn them about this insidious plot.
They had to flee...go to someplace far away from here, to build again...and possibly have a new beginning.
he sat down in the rain with couple, and waited...
