It's a rainy day in Mandelovia...
Mick, Shirley and Sam (with Li'l Jo) are in a car going to the circus where Mick lived with his friends for a while. They know his friends are not there, but they want to ask the circus people if they know how they got kidnapped.
Mick can remember waking up in the middle of the night surrounded by high-tech soldiers. One of them knocked him out... and he woke up in the hospital, with his memories of the last two months gone.
As soon as they pull over near the circus, Mick opens the door and runs away. Li'l Jo follows him.
"Mick!" Shirley yells "Where are you going?! Mick!"
But he doesn't listen, he's almost inside the circus.
"What happened?" Sam asks "He just looked at the circus and ran away..."
"I don't know... how odd..." Shirley says.
As they get closer to the circus they notice something weird. At first they didn't think it was unusual that no people could be seen, after all it was raining, but now they notice the destroyed trailers, the incredible mess, and the bullet holes all over the main tent.
They decide to go into the main tent, where Mick ran. Inside, they see Mick on his knees, next to a clown's corpse, and a big entirely black man that Shirley recognizes as one of Mick's friends standing behind him with a hand on Mick's shoulder.
Shirley decides to get closer, but Sam stays near the entrance, freaked out.
"W-What...? Who...?" she asks, looking at the clown's dead body.
"Bosco" Mick says in a low voice, without raising his head.
"Who did this...?" Shirley asks.
"We can't be sure" Naecken says.
"Where are the others?" Mick says as he gets back on his feet.
"I don't know... It's really confusing... I was kept captive in some kind of high-tech complex... Then I was rescued by someone and sent here... I didn't see the others while I was there, but I guess they are there..." Naecken says.
They all stay silent for a moment, not knowing what to say.
"Uh... I'm Shirley... and that over there is Sam"
"Hi!" Sam says from the entrance, with a short wave. Seeing another metahuman (at least he thinks its a metahuman) impresses him, but the impression of death all over the place is bigger so he doesn't move from the entrance.
"Hello" Naecken says.
"We should go now" Mick says "There's nothing else to see here"
When they are getting to the car, Li'l Jo, that was somewhere else when the others were in the tent, appears from nowhere and jumps into the car.
"You can stay in my house, Mr Naecken" Shirley says as she starts the car "But we're gonna have to move out soon... American citizens aren't allowed here anymore... when we find your friends, that could be a problem... There's not enough place for all of you in my place in America"
"Well..." Sam says "I could help with that! If your metahuman friends need a place to stay outside Mandelovia, I have a place big enough for anything!"
"That is so nice!" Shirley says "Right, Mick? Mick?"
Mick has his eyes closed and doesn't answer. He seems deeply concentrated.
"He's talking to Mxy..." Naecken says "I've seen him do that before"
"Oh..." Shirley says, wondering what he means... (She doesn't know that Mick and Mxy aren't the same person)
"Do you know where they are, Mxy? Nope. I'm as lost as you on this one, buddy! Hmmm... I was hoping that guys from the circus could help me, but... uh... that didn't go well... Li'l Jo doesn't know anything either... The cat?! Yeah, I talked to him the other day... nice guy... Uh... OK..."
