212 Circus

"Who was that on the phone?" Jack asked Liam as he held the cigarette in between his fingers.

They were now on a rooftop building near The Piper's mansion as they watched the authorities investigate.

"I had connections with The Piper and some of his men," Liam said. "The one that called me is called Line, The Piper's secretary. She's coming here now along with the others."

"We're already here," a deep female voice spoke as she walked toward the men. There were three other people behind her but none of them held any killing intent. "We are The Piper's group, Circus.

"My name is Line, his secretary," she introduced. This woman was tall and slender. Her suit was tight fitted but was enough to give her mobility. She had dark purple hair which she kept neatly in a bun while a pair of dark shades sat on her nose.

"I am True, the second secretary," a rather younger and frail man spoke. He also wore a dark green suit just like Line, tight but enough to give him movement.

"My name is Cologne," a rather flamboyant and effeminate man spoke. He was tall, almost as tall as Line, and he had a slender figure with the right amount of muscles. His voice was high-pitched and soft as well as his movements. "I am in charge of finance."

"And I am Pillow," another woman spoke. She looked rather average compared to the other three with her short dark brown hair and pale blue eyes. Among them, she was the only one who wasn't wearing a suit. Instead, she wore a sundress with flowers as designs.

"And how will a bunch of weirdos help us out in this case?" Jack muttered bluntly. "Are you guys even worth talking to?"

"All four of us are Hunters of Eternity," Line said. "But after The Piper took us in, we quit the organization and decided to pursue another career."

"True," Jack laughed. "The Hunters doesn't make a fraction of what we earn in the Black Market, especially when the Otherworlds are part of the deal."

"But we didn't come here to talk about that," Liam interrupted them. "We're here to ask what the hell happened to The Piper's mansion and who attacked you?"

"A bunch of cloaked folks," True said. "They were powerful. Every one of them possessed at least a Bearer-ranked power. There was no way our security could handle them."

"When we were about to escape, The Piper suddenly locked us out," Pillow added. "He locked himself inside his Unbreakable Dome and let us escape."

This made Line kick the floor and deal a huge crack on the rooftop. "I don't understand why he had to do that. We were his servants. He should be the one to escape."

After Jack saw what Line just did, he smirked. "You are quite strong. Why don't you join us and avenge your boss?"

"Join you?" Line narrowed her eyes. "Why would we do that?"

"Let's spar first before I take you in," Jack took his coat off, revealing his bulging muscles underneath his thin plain white shirt. Even Allen has never seen Jack's body since the man always wears thick clothing that prevented anyone from taking a peek inside.

"This is unnecessary–"

Line wasn't able to finish when she felt herself flying to the edge of the rooftop.

"Line!" her allies yelled.

"Never let your guard down," Jack went to True. The man was quicker than Line in response to the attack. He managed to raise his hands to a fist and blocked Jack's kick but it didn't help him after the kick overpowered him and he too was sent flying back.

While he saw his allies getting kicked, Pillow prepared a small garden around him. The flowers that bloomed in his garden glowed under the dark midnight skies. "These are highly toxic and have instantaneous effects. Nobody can get near me when–"

It was as if his life flashed before his very eyes. Jack was already in front of him, kicking his face which sent him to the ground a couple of meters away from his garden.

"But the poison pollen…" Pillow tried to speak.

"In the gang, we intake poison slowly every day to create an immunity," Jack said. "And by far, pollen is the worst and weakest type of poison in the Otherworlds."

After everyone else was taken down, there was only Cologne left. She was right there, standing in front of Jack as they faced each other eye to eye.

"Are you not going to attack me?" Cologne asked.

Jack was skeptical about this woman. There was a mystery that shrouded her and Jack wanted to know what that is. But he still has to be careful. He has no idea what this woman was capable of.

One step at a time, Jack neared the woman. When he was about to take one more step, he suddenly vanished. He reappeared behind Cologne and was about to strike his kick when he felt a jolt of pain in his other knee.

This caused him to lose balance and fall to the ground. Cologne slowly turned around and grinned after seeing Jack hold his knee in pain.

"What happened?" Cologne asked with a teasing grin. "Can you not stand up? Do your knees hurt?"

Jack scoffed at the questions, but instead of talking he laughed. He suddenly kicked his other foot on the ground to lift him up, then using his injured foot to launch a kick at the woman's face.

Cologne was too stunned to comprehend what was going on. As she was sent flying back, she closed her eyes and let the pain approach her.

"I know what you are now," Jack said as he walked towards Line. "You were this upset about The Piper's death because you're his Bodies."

"But if The Piper's dead, the Bodies would also then cease to exist," Liam said. "How could you just say that?"

"I can see that these people don't have much knowledge in the world," Jack said. "If it was only one of them, then it wouldn't be an issue, but since every one of them could not recollect their past memories, I am led to believe that they are Bodies."

"That is true," Line spoke. "We were once Bodies of The Piper and all we wanted was to break free."

"Why do you want to do that?" Liam asked. "And there's a way to break your Body out right now."

"Did The Piper invent this technique?" Jack asked. "His experiments would always go wrong. I  was there to watch him fail over and over again."

"He failed so he could create the success," Line said. "If it wasn't for the six hundred experiments before me, I wouldn't exist. Circus wouldn't exist."

"And how are you now?" Jack asked. "Do you really have your own bodies? Like actual bodies?"

The four of them nodded.

"Then I'll take you in my care until we caught the people responsible for The Piper's death," Jack said. "Let's start by looking for a motive. What motive can you provide?"

"I think I know," Line said. "Those cloaked men. They were the ones who killed the Hunter."