Chapter Ninety-One: The Tempest Starts

“NO.” Giggles smacked the hand of the Haunted Maze Trouper who was trying to sell a young man some drug of some description in Pleasantville Park.

“But I NEED it!” The man begged.

“What you need is a cold shower and some help. Call this lady, she's brilliant at peer support.” Giggles handed the man Tammys business card. “Imagine the savings you can make!”

“Saving for what?” The man said bitterly.

“Getting out of Pleasantville for one.” Giggles pointed out.

The man blinked, and with a scowl he walked away.

Giggles turned to the Trouper that was now staring blankly at her from behind the purple baby mask.

“You know what you're doing is naughty.” She scolded.

The Trouper moved their head to the side.

“Don't give me that look.” She continued.

Then the Trouper pulled out the knife (we all knew that was coming) and took a swing at Giggles, who dodged easily.

“RUDE!” Giggles frowned. “Hey, Chuckles, stabby things are your side of the family!”

“Right on!” Chuckles jumped down from the tree he was sitting in. “I'm not going to even need the Lions Claw for this!”

“Chuckles, hollow knife with drugs in it, remember?”Giggles groaned.

Chuckles grinned. He flew at the Trouper, using an Arm Scythe to knock the knife from their hand. He then used a well-aimed kick to knock them to the ground.

“Winning!” Chuckles waved to Giggles, who facepalmed.

Then a gunshot rang out, and the Trouper was dead. Chuckles and Giggles froze.

“Revolver?” Chuckles called out tentatively. Silence.

Giggles walked over to Chuckles, both the Lucky Seven Gun and the Desert Eagle drawn. Suddenly the quiet area of the park in the sunset seemed very, VERY spooky.

“It's started, hasn't it?” Chuckles gulped.

“We need to get out of here.” Giggles said.

Then the sirens and lights appeared.

—

“I can't believe this.” Peter groaned.

“Believe it. Chuckles and Giggles should think themselves lucky they're not in gaol for murder.” Judith Jofrey replied.

They were sitting in Judiths office. It was the day after Chuckles and Giggles escaped arrest for the death of the Haunted Maze Trouper.

“Especially as the whole plan was that they got arrested and out of the way.” Judith continued. “Revolver and Marion want a clear path to take out the Crusaders and the Troup.”

“Can't you talk to your sister and get her to see that turning Pleansantville into a warzone is a bad idea?” Peter asked.

“Her mental state has been going downhill since Dad died. I don't think anyone can reason with her anymore.” Judith sighed. “She won't listen to Revolver, she won't listen to Jones and she won't listen to me. Especially now I'm dating Daniel.”

“Oh?” Peter raised an eyebrow.

“She's worried if I have an heir before her, I'll steal the Misneach assets.” Judith told him. “Which is stupid, because Dan and I haven't been together all that long.”

Peter was about to reply when they heard gunfire outside. They walked to the window.

“Roger NO!” Giggles cried, shoving Master Revolver out of the way of a gunshot.

“Get out of my way brats or I'll kill you too!” Crusader Roger aimed again to take out Master Revolver. “This dog needs to PAY for what he did!”

“We don't necessarily disagree, we just think there MIGHT be better ways about it!” Chuckles fought to keep Mobster Marion from entering the fray.

“GET. OUT. OF. MY. WAY!” Marion roared, bringing her sword down on Chuckles.

“Will you calm your farm already?!” Chuckles blocked her with the Lions Claw Blade.

“Well…this is a bit obvious.” Peter folded his arms and watched everything unfold.

“I want to know where the Haunted Maze Troupe is in all of this.” Judith narrowed her eyes.

“You REALLY think they care about the death of one of their own?” Peter asked.

“I don't think they CARE, I just think they might want to make a statement so they're not seen as weak.” Judith replied. “The illusion of power is important here. That's why Roger set you up. He couldn't be seen as weak after Mark was killed.”

“But this attack doesn't make sense.” Peter looked back down. “He's left himself wide open.”

Suddenly there was an explosion to the east. Judith looked horrified.

“That BASTARD!” She cried.

“Aah. He was distracting Marion and Revolver so he could blow up the Misneach Manor.” Peter said. “It looks like there's going to be consequences for everyone.”

Chuckles and Giggles looked at each other as Marion and Revolver ran to their limo to check the damage to their manor.

The tempest had started.