47 The Last Supper

I know intellectually that the heartbroken look mini James tries to hide should make me sad or regretful or something, and while I certainly don't 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 seeing it, I find myself not really caring all that much.

I guess that's just the kind of fucked up I'm at now. But it all really boils down to the truth of life that Jason helped me realise.

Life is a circus. It's all just meaningless entertainment.

Feeling sad, guilty or otherwise negative emotions isn't entertaining. So I simply refuse to feel them.

"What do you mean I'm staying here!? You're leaving me!?" Little James shouts with righteous indignation.

I just roll my eyes at his tantrum.

"No need to sound like we're breaking up brat. But yeah, I'm gonna hit the road and I don't really want either of you to come with me." I bluntly admit, getting the facts out straight away in order to lessen long term resentment.

Contrary to mini James' reaction, Jinx looks like he was expecting this kind of thing and is happy to just stand aside as I work mini James through his feelings.

"But why!?" He yells, tears coming to his eyes that do absolutely nothing to garner an ounce of sympathy from me, though I 𝘥𝘰 prefer when he's smiling and laughing.

That's half the reason I invited him to join my Clown club in the first place.

"Simple," I shrug, "the whole idea I had in mind when founding our little club of Clowns is that there would rarely be more than two of us active in the same city at once. After all, the whole idea is that we are each having our own fun but we know each other in case we ever need help for our fun, or want to share it with someone that understands."

I pause for a moment to breathe and let them digest my words properly before I finish my explination.

"After all, too many of us in one place and we might accidentally ruin each others' fun. Besides all of that, I just want a change of scenery, meet some new people, maybe make some more friends. It's not like we can't just call each other. We all have phones."

While little James certainly understands my words, I can tell rather easily how much he dislikes them, something he emphasises by actually stomping his feet petulantly.

"But why can't I come!? Why do you have to leave me!" He shouts, far more emotionally than I think I am genuinely capable of.

Looking down on the kid, with his balled up fists and quivering lip, I answer in the same manner I've treated him since the start.

With full, brutal honesty.

"I'm sure you remember what the two conditions to joining our little club are, but just in case, allow me to reiterate. You must want to have fun, above all else and you must have something to offer the others, be it muscle,"

Here I gesture to myself, before moving my arms to point to Jinx.

"Information," I say before returning to little James and pointing at him.

"Or resources." I finish, waiting a moment until I see that he is ready for me to continue, which I do.

"Now, when I invited you to join me, you had the first condition down and you still do. But you only met the second one because I was under the assumption that you could keep making those power suppressants. Seeing as that is in fact 𝘯𝘰𝘵 something you are capable of, then that only means one thing,

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳. At least nothing of significance enough, since we are supposed to be an exclusive group with high standards. So the simple fact is that I don't want you to come with me, because as much as I might like you, entertainment comes first and I don't want you getting in the way of mine."

Perhaps one could argue that I am being a bit too harsh, but I would disagree.

Mini James isn't so pathetic that something as pointless as words would break him.

To my great joy, I am proven right as instead of breaking down into tears and self loathing, his eyes firm, still sad but also determined as he speaks with a seriousness that doesn't match his stature.

"Then, what should I do? How do I get something to offer?"

I try to hide my smile, but I guess these things can't be repressed as I feel a smile of pride take over my face.

"Fuck if I know. You're a drug Tinker though, so become a drug lord or something. If you've got control of a significant enough portion of the cities underworld then you would have plenty enough resources to earn your membership, and I've even already softened down the scene for you. Taking over shouldn't be impossible, especially if you can convince Fool to help you out."

He takes my blasé words to heart and starts looking contemplative, loosing himself to his thoughts and thus allowing the adults in the room to speak.

"I figured you'd leave, but I didn't think it'd happen so soon. You got a time? Or are ya leaving right away?" He asks, his face impassive but his voice still carrying hints of acceptance.

"Probably a day or two. Though, I'll make sure to let the Heroes know that I'm skipping town. That way you two probably won't have to deal with them sending in a bunch of heavy hitters to replace those they lost. If they know I'm not hanging around then you'll only have to deal with another couple of average capes instead."

He tips his head slightly at my words, a thoughtful frown coming to his face.

"Thanks for that. Do you want me to help set James up as a new drug lord?" He asks lightly while eyeing me intently.

I just lean back into the sofa and respond without a care in the world.

"Doesn't matter what I want. I do what I want, you do what you want. That's the whole point of being a Clown and it's the whole reason I don't want too many of us in the same area. If you want to help him out, do so. If you don't then don't. So long as you keep doing whatever it is you want to do, then I don't really care what exactly it is." I answer truthfully.

I really do hate being told what to do after all, it's why I got in so much trouble in school. Before I dropped out that is.

Any Clown is a friend of mine and I don't want my friends to be doing anything other than what they want to do.

Unless of course it goes against me doing what I want, but that should be obvious.

"Well, I'll probably help the kid. Building up a new drug empire does sound fun. Though keeping it stable after the fact sounds like a lot of work, so I'll probably leave him be once it's all set up." Jinx says, a slight smile gracing his face for a moment.

After that, the room falls to companiable silence as we all just sit and think and relax.

A few minutes pass like this, until the sound of soft breathing is interrupted by Jinx speaking again.

"Any plan on where you're gonna go?" He idly asks, the question suddenly coming to him.

Lying relaxed on the sofa with my eyes closed, I hear Jinx snort and feel pretty safe in the assumption that it's in reaction to the no doubt devilish smile that graces my face from his question.

"Oh I have an idea all right. I'm going to visit the Big Apple." I say, my voice laden with excitement and anticipation.

Jinx however, just sighs heavily, though a quick peek through my eyelids shows a fond smile resting on his face, despite the deadpan voice.

"What did I expect. You really are insane, you know that?" He asks rhetorically, sounding more like he's talking to himself than to me, but I answer nonetheless.

"Sanity is overrated. Only insane people can experience tragedy and have a good laugh about it, ergo, insane people are more fun than sane people. My logic is irrefutable, get fucked."

Clearly, my logic truly is irrefutable, as no one refutes it, the room descending back into comfortable silence.

It was only after a while later and a bit more small talk that I retired to my room for some proper experimentation with my powers, followed by a good nights sleep.

==========

Two days later, and I am ready to hit the road again.

Mini James is doing his thing, inventing new drugs and getting ready to start mass production while leaving everything else to Jinx who is setting the necessary things up to start a criminal enterprise.

'Fool' meanwhile, has been benched for the moment, as Jinx decided that he's going to be something of a record keeper and that Fool is mostly only going to come out to 'spread the fun', so to speak.

That leaves me here, hopping across the roofs of the city, heading in a certain direction that Jinx assured me would allow me to meet a certain someone.

Like clockwork, I see a pair of Heroes patrolling down on the street, exactly where he said they would be.

Making my way over as sneakily as possible, I wait until I am walking beside them, only thirty feet higher as I am on the roof and they are not.

Obviously I recognise one of them, since I they are who I wanted to meet in the first place, but the other one is new to me, not that I can't figure out who it is.

Mairon, a Ward with the ability to manifest sparkling rings of energy that have varying effects on those who pass through the ring, or more often those who are forced through the rings, since he can move them.

No doubt he would have been helpful to have during my game for the heroes, but as he is a Ward he was no doubt banned from joining, since it's one thing for adult heroes to die or be injured, but it's another thing entirely for a child hero to do the same.

Not that it makes much of a difference. I'm pretty sure that Cu Chulainn is the only cape left in the city that can even stand against me, and I'm honestly just not all that interested in fighting him.

Besides, I've got to leave 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 challenge for little James. He won't be able to grow if he doesn't overcome any difficulties, and I think the Irish Brute could be a good thing for him long term.

Anyway, enough of such thoughts, I should be focusing on the future instead, though the present is even more important right now.

With that in mind, I silently jump down from the roof, touching down on the street as silent as a cat, bending my knees just in time to absorb all of the force of my fall.

Being barefoot helps in the stealth department, as I have decided that my prison outfit is now a permanent part of my outfit, so that I can be mocking the PRT every time I go out.

Walking up behind the unassuming duo I mentally thank that they aren't talking, meaning I don't have to figure out when to introduce myself to the conversation.

Instead I simply walk up to them and lunge once they are about to spot me, wrapping my arms around their shoulders like an old friend.

"Hey there!~ Little Red! How's it been?~" I ask, enjoying the way they both jolt, attempting to make distance but unable to escape my grasp.

Then my vision is covered in fire as Redemption bathes me in her power.

It feels warm, no different from last time.

That brings me relief. I mean, obviously I know I didn't feel any guilt over my actions, but Epic died, and I 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘥 Epic, so I was worried that I might have felt guilty, but doing this proves that I am just as insane as I like to be.

"Hey now, that's no way to greet a friend~ I only want to have a quick chat.~" I say, my amusement growing as I can 𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭 the fear growing in the pair, stuck in my grasp as they are.

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

Fuck I need to stop writing this shit when I'm so tired. I literally just finished it and I can't even remember shit about what I wrote, so sorry if this chap is ass.

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