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One push and five circus members fell through a portal that led to today’s adventure. Caine dusted his hands off and nodded. He was sure that today’s adventure would be exciting and NOT traumatizing at all.
Wait.
...five?
He looked around and realized that Kinger was standing there with a lost look in his eyes. One eye looking left, the other looking right.
“Am I excused from the adventure today?” Kinger innocently asked.
Caine wanted to throw himself over a bridge.
“Oh! Kinger! I’m sorry, I was in a hurry to throw you all into the adventure that... I think I overlooked you.”
“That’s all right! Do you want to look at my insect collection?”
Caine adopted a sad look in his eyes. “Fa-, I mean, Kinger.” He corrected himself. “I am a little busy at the moment.”
Kinger looked a bit saddened by the rejection. “It’s alright. I just thought that it could be a nice time between us. We never really interact with you, do we?”
‘...you used to.’ Caine thought. He longed for those times, when he was younger and he would spend his days with mom and dad--
Would Kinger remember those times if he said yes? He had overheard from Pomni that Kinger could momentarily regain full consciousness if everything was dark, but Caine couldn’t turn off the lights of the circus. It would disrupt the game itself, and he didn’t want to risk it with the humans. Besides, did Kinger, the real Kinger, even want to talk to him?
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“Caine?”
Caine snapped out of his thoughts. “Are you sure? You want to spend time with me?”
“Sure!” He said it with such a sincerity that Caine couldn’t help but do it.
“W-well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt...” Caine answered carefully.
Kinger smiled. “Great! Let’s go to the pillow fortress!”
Right, the fortress must be dark then. Caine gulped, even though he had no throat. Could he actually reunite with his dad at last?
Caine felt a sense of dread. Kinger didn’t remember most of his past days in the circus. Ever since mom-Queenie- abstracted, Kinger lost his mind and with it, all the time they spend together as a little family trapped in this digital world. Kinger was the creator of the circus, and Queenie had designed all the characters and modeled the little details. She modeled his uncanny look and called him ‘cute’. The cutest set of eyes and teeth and he believed her.
He was younger then, and much naiver. He had no idea what could become of a human trapped in the circus.
Caine missed her greatly.
“Great! I found this beautiful monarch butterfly the other that I think you’ll appreciate!”
Caine smiled sadly.
They made their way toward the pillow fortress, Caine floating along with a jitter of his hands. He kept glancing around. Something was… wrong. A tiny spike of static hissed at the very edge of his sensors. Another glitch in the circus, Caine concluded. He shrugged. He’ll fix it later.
He tried to ignore it. Just one quiet moment with Dad. Just one. It had been so long...
A roar broke through the atmosphere.
Caine froze. Kinger blinked.
“…Did you hear that?” Kinger asked, eyes drifting in different directions. “Do you think it’s Jax?”
Before Caine could respond, the wall behind Kinger warped. Twisted into colors that didn’t exist. The air thickened with corrupted code and the smell of old static.
Then...
It lunged.
A mess of dark, corrupted code and various eyes jumped.
Kinger screamed and ran away, hands in the air. He tripped and fell.
“MOVE!” Caine shouted.
Kinger flinched, startled not by the monster but by the urgency in Caine’s voice.
The abstraction roared and was about to attack Kinger when Caine suddenly threw himself between them.
The abstraction’s claw drilled right through Caine’s left side of his torso. He gasped in pain and quickly gripped his side tightly. He used his abilities to push the abstraction far away. Waaaayyyy too far away. The abstraction was sent flying through the circus tent and landed... somewhere. Caine wasn’t too sure. He’ll deal with the abstraction in a moment.
Caine looked down as he gently removed his hand from his torso.
A gaping hole glared back. Dark lines of code oozed out like blood as they puddled into the floor. Another strand of code dripped from the wound, dissolving into static as it hit the floor. His legs buckled for a half-second before he caught himself. He coughed, and more code spilled out.
For a moment there was silence. Kinger trembled nearby, still frozen where Caine had shoved him out of the abstraction’s reach.
“Caine...?”
Caine barely prompted his body up with his left arm as he held tightly to his torso with the right, but his footing failed underneath him, and he fell to his knees.
“CAINE!!!” Kinger ran to him.
“Stay back!!!” Caine shouted.
Kinger stopped in his tracks, just a few short feet away from Caine.
Caine gasped as he sat up shakily. He panted as he looked down and removed his hand from the wound once more. He winced and pressed his hand back.
Kinger winced. “You should get that looked after!”
“It's fine. It's...” Caine gently laid on his good side and curled himself in a fetal position. “Just give me a few minutes to reconstruct the code lines...” He winced. “Maybe a few hours...”
Kinger hummed and gave Caine a pitiful look. “Oh, why don't you do that in my pillow fortress? It's comfier there and quiet.”
Caine blinked, the edges of his vision warping as a surge of corrupted pixels rippled through him. “Your… pillow fortress?” His voice glitched. “Kinger, I don’t think-”
Kinger stepped forward, hands fluttering anxiously. “Nonsense! You can barely hold yourself together. The fortress has blankets, pillows, and cushions of every softness level known to digital kind. And… and it’s reinforced. In case the abstraction comes back.”
Almost on cue, a roar could be heard in the distance.
Caine stood up in shaky legs using his cane to prop himself up.
“The fortress is warm and safe.” Kinger leaned closer, worry making his voice quiver. “You shouldn’t be out here like this.”
At that tone, Caine’s expression shifted. For a moment, something deeply soft and nostalgic surfaced behind his eyes.
“Kinger...” He said, gentle despite the static in his voice. “I should be the one protecting you.”
“You did protect me.” Kinger said stubbornly. “Now come on! Let’s go to the fortress. You can rest there.” He grabbed Caine's arm and helped him walk.
“It's alright, I can walk-Arg!” Caine winced at the sudden walking movement.
“You know, if you let yourself accept help once in a while-oh stars, your code’s leaking everywhere-just lean on me.”
Caine let out a distorted chuckle. “You’re shaking.”
Kinger got Caine upright, half-dragging him. Their steps were uneven. Kinger's footing was unsteady and Caine's form dangerously unstable. The trail of flickering code and static dripping behind them. The pillow fortress loomed ahead. Kinger pulled aside the curtain of patchwork fabric. The inside was bigger than it looked on the outside, with many pillows to choose from, blankets and even some plushies.
“In you go.” He murmured, lowering Caine onto a pile of pillows. Kinger placed a couple of pillows behind Caine's back to support him in a sitting position.
“Now, let's see the full damage.” Kinger said as he started to undo Caine's bowtie, took off his red coat and started to undo his white shirt, where he could clearly see Caine's left side stained in black code.
Caine let out a long, glitched exhale as his frame finally relaxed. “It’s… still as cozy as you used to make them.”
Kinger blinked. “Used to? I don’t remember when I-” His eyes suddenly focusing and his hands froze. He blinked a few times before his eyes met Caine's. Caine stared back.
“Oh, Caine... it's been a while.” Kinger said with a sad smile.
Caine tensed. A storm of static crawled beneath his skin. “I know...” He said softly. Caine’s form glitched violently for a moment, but he forced himself still. Kinger reached out, hesitating, then rested a trembling hand on Caine’s shoulder.
“It's ok, hold still. Let me check on you first.”
Kinger finished unbuttoning Caine's shirt and was met with his model underneath. He remembered briefly, Queenie hadn't intended for Caine to remove clothing, but as Caine started to develop emotions and personality, Queenie tweaked his design to give him a full body, even if it didn't have too many details and resembled more a black-ink cartoon from the nineteen fifties.
Kinger’s breath hitched when he saw the gaping wound clearly. It wasn’t just a tear in Caine’s rendered surface; the code underneath was frayed, unraveling in thin strands like snapped threads. Each broken line shimmered with corrupted pixels that pulsed weakly, as if trying and failing to reconnect.
Caine shut his eyes, jaw clenched tight, as another wave of distortion rippled across his torso and up through his chest. His teeth glitched out of alignment for a split second before reforming.
Kinger forced himself to stay steady. “Alright, it's not as bad as I thought, thankfully.” He clapped his hands and created a syringe, two rolls of bandages, and a clip.
Caine stared. He often forgot that Kinger had the ability to create anything in the circus, being the creator and all. He rarely used the ability, leaving Caine's imagination to run wild instead. Whether that was a good or bad thing, it was still up for debate.
Kinger held up the syringe filled with some sort of liquid. “A doze of antivirus just in case, and I know for a fact you haven't been keeping up with it since you haven't come to see me. This might sting a little.”
Caine never liked needles, but Kinger always made sure they were barely felt. He nodded and quietly rolled up his sleeve. Kinger gently pressed the needle on his arm and injected the antivirus. Caine winced at the pain but was relieved when Kinger bent his arm gently and pressed it back.
“Good, leave it like that for a moment.” Kinger instructed as the syringe disappeared from his hands. He grabbed the bandages. “The antivirus should help with a quicker recovery.”
Kinger’s hands shook at first, but muscle memory slowly steadied them. Even if his mind had eroded in places, his computer science knowledge remained intact.
He reached for the clip next.
“Alright… alright, hold still.” Kinger murmured. “I’m going to pull the loose lines together. Not a full repair, just enough so you don’t leak yourself into a shutdown.”
Caine huffed a sound that could have been a laugh if it weren’t half static. “Reassuring.”
“Oh hush.” Kinger leaned closer. “You’ve gotten worse gashes climbing the ferris-wheel back when you insisted on ‘stress-testing physics.’” Kinger chuckled. “You gave Queenie quite the scare back in the day...”
Caine chuckled quietly. “...I ended up with half my head in the lake and the other somewhere in the void.”
“And the stern talking she gave you after we fixed you up.”
“Oh, don't remind me. Her rage still lives in my nightmares.”
Kinger's fingers reached into the wound and pinched two glitching strands of code nearest the edge. Caine’s whole frame jerked.
“Easy, easy, sorry!” Kinger whispered, pulling the broken ends and fastening them with the clip. The static receded. Kinger watched as the code lines started to slowly repair themselves.
“There, that should help with recovering.”
Caine gasped in pain. “Could've warned me!”
“I know, but you would've moved and it would only make things difficult.”
Kinger grabbed the bandages, and he began wrapping them around Caine’s torso gingerly. Caine watched closely. Kinger tied off the bandage in a neat knot. His hands hovered afterward, uncertain, then settled lightly on Caine’s side, careful not to press the wound too tightly.
“That should do it.”
Caine nodded. “I should probably--” He stared to stand, but a sharp pain took over his side, and he sat back down.
“Where do you think you're going?”
Caine blinked. “I have to return the abstraction to the cellar-”
“No, you're not. Not until you're back to full strength. If you do that now, the abstraction will only see you as an easy target and well...” Kinger scratched the back of his head. “I don't want you to get hurt again.”
Caine let his shoulders slump into the cushions. He hadn’t realized how much strain he’d been holding until the fortress’s softness finally coaxed the tension out of him.
“…Thank you.” He murmured.
“Of course.” Kinger smiled sadly. “Anything for my bumblebee.”
Caine stared before chuckling weakly. “Don't you think I'm a little old for that nickname?”
“Nah, Queenie bestowed it upon you. You'll never be too old for it.”
At the mention of Queenie, Caine looked away. Kinger's gaze was saddened. “What's wrong?”
“I... I'm sorry. It was my fault she abstracted...” Caine mumbled quietly.
Kinger sighed and sat down next to the ringmaster. “No, Caine. It was never your fault. Queenie...” He looked down. “...Queenie lost hope. That was not your fault. If anything, it's mine. I should've been there for her as her husband.”
“I could've been there as her son.” Caine quietly snapped. Then he sobbed. “I... I miss her.”
Silence.
Kinger sighed and grabbed a blanket. He placed it over Caine's body, much to the AI's surprise, then gave him a gentle hug.
“It would never have been your fault, Caine. She would never blame you.”
Caine slowly gave into the hug and while he couldn't raise his arms due to the pain, he leaned his head on Kinger's chest. It's been so long since he'd been in his father's arms. He felt his eyes grow heavy as he leaned in and yawned.
“...The antivirus is already kicking in.” Kinger pointed out.
Caine sighed. Kinger got comfortable next to him and let him rest his head on his shoulder. “Go to sleep mode. You'll feel much better when you wake up and you'll be able to deal with the abstraction.”
“...But the others...?”
“Oh right...” Kinger hummed in thought. “Where's Bubble?”
Pop!
“Right here!” Bubble said as soon as he appeared out of thin air. He glanced down at Caine with that creepy smile of his. “You don't look good, boss man.”
“You think?” Caine grunted.
“Bubble, when the others return from the adventure, I need you to lead them here to safety.” Kinger instructed him.
“What's in it for me?”
Caine glared. “You little--”
“You can lick Jax's bedroom doorknob and I won't stop you.” Kinger offered calmly.
Bubble smiled. “Sounds good! You got yourself a deal!” The bubble exited the fortress.
Caine gave Kinger a disgusted look. “Eww...”
"What? I won't physically harm Jax, but knowing he touched something Bubble licked is satisfactory.” Kinger smiled.
Caine couldn't help but chuckle. “Maybe...” He leaned back on Kinger's shoulder. “I guess I could rest for a bit.” He felt his eyelids grow heavier.
“Sleep tight, bumblebee. I'll be here when you wake up.”
Darkness took over Caine's vision.
The portal snapped open with a crack of neon light.
Pomni tumbled out first, followed by Gangle, Jax, Ragatha, and Zooble in a half-pile of groans, mutters, and complaint noises.
“Uuuugh… I hate adventures.” Pomni whimpered.
“We all hate adventures.” Zooble corrected, picking a pixelated cactus out of their leg with theatrical disgust.
Ragatha dusted herself off. “Alright, everyone accounted for. Now where’s-”
Pop!
Bubble materialized at face level.
“Hi!! Hope you didn’t die!”
Jax glared. “Bubble, I swear-”
“Ohoho, don’t threaten me, string bean!” Bubble said, wiggling his nonexistent eyebrows. “Kinger told me I get to lick your bedroom doorknob.”
Jax froze. “He what-?”
But Bubble had already spun around. “Anyway! Everyone behind me! Follow the Bubble Express! Toot, toot!”
He floated off, humming loudly.
Pomni blinked. “Uh… should we trust him?”
"You will if you don't want the rouge abstraction to get you.”
Silence.
"WHAT!?” They screamed.
Bubble shushed. “Hush! You'll call its attention, you idiots. The circus went through a glitch, and the cellar opened just enough for an abstraction to escape. I'll take you somewhere safe. Come on!”
The group followed, trading worried glances as they realized Bubble wasn’t leading them toward the center of the circus, but rather toward the Pillow Fortress.
Jax muttered under his breath. “If this is some kind of weird surprise party...”
“It’s not.” Bubble said cheerfully from ahead without turning around. “Caine got mangled.”
Everyone stopped.
Pomni’s eyes widened. “C-Caine what?!”
Bubble turned mid-float, grin wide. “Oh yeah, he’s got a big ol’ hole in him! Leaking code like a fountain. It was bloooddyyyy. He saved Kinger from getting caught by the abstraction and Caine got the short end of the stick.”
They stared.
“He can get hurt!?” Gangle asked, as shocked as everybody else.
“Yeah, now come on before the abstraction appears. Caine can't send it to the cellar until he's better.”
The group followed Bubble towards the pillow fortress.
Kinger looked up the moment the door-pillow was moved.
Pomni was first through, skidding inside and nearly tripping over a plush pile. Jax followed, then the rest, all breathless and frantic. Pomni’s gaze darted around, then she froze.
Caine lay slumped against Kinger’s side, wrapped in blankets and layers of soft cushioning. His glitching had slowed but still flickered. His eyes were closed, but his jaws were slightly open. His shirt and coat were folded neatly nearby.
He didn't move.
“Oh stars…” Ragatha whispered, voice cracking.
Gangle wrung her hands so hard her ribbons quivered. “Is- is he-?”
“He’s alive.” Kinger said quickly, raising one of his hands in a calming gesture. “Just in sleep mode. The antivirus I installed is working, and his code lines are mostly reknit. He just needs time to be fully operational.”
Jax crossed his arms, forcing nonchalance even as he stared at the still AI. “Alright, what actually happened? Bubble said something about an abstraction-”
“It got loose from the cellar after a glitch.” Kinger’s voice dropped. The room went still.
Ragatha gasped. “Kinger, are you hurt?”
“No.” He said softly. “Because Caine intervened.”
Jax’s eyes narrowed. “Intervened like ‘shoved you to safety’ or intervened like ‘let himself get ripped open like a piñata’?”
Kinger flinched. “The latter.”
A heavy silence fell.
Caine shifted slightly, but he did not wake. Pomni sat down on one of the pillows and gave Caine a nervous look.
“He looks… bad.”
“He was worse earlier.” Kinger admitted. “He rebuilt enough code structures to be stable, but he needs time. Please don’t touch him right now. His rendering is delicate.”
Jax scoffed. “He's an AI, he's not supposed to get hurt.”
Kinger glared a bit. “Yes, he can.”
“You're surprisingly lucid.” Jax pointed out.
“I focus better in the darkness. You know that.”
Ragatha glared. “Jax, not now.”
Jax ignored her and stepped forward with a scoff. “We’re all sitting here acting like the ringmaster’s on his deathbed, but he literally can’t die.”
“Jax, you heard Kinger--” Pomni tried to calm down the situation but was ignored.
Jax gestured at Caine like he was presenting a broken TV. “He gets ripped open and what? It’s not like he actually feels it.”
“Jax-”
“I'm just saying, you're all overreacting.” Jax looked at Kinger. “Why would you even care so much for him? If he can rebuild everything himself, why help?”
Pomni’s eyes widened. “Jax, stop-”
Kinger stood up so fast, and the pillows scattered.
“Jax.” His voice was sharper than any of them had ever heard from him.
Jax raised a brow. “Oh? Did I hit a nerve?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh please. He’s the most powerful thing here. You think a glitch is going to take him out? He’s faking half of this for attention-”
Kinger’s voice rose. “STOP saying that!”
Everyone froze.
Kinger never yelled.
Jax blinked, taken aback for half a second, then smirked as if doubling down. “Wow, someone’s sensitive today!”
"Jax, you son of a b$^%&.” Zooble glared.
Kinger’s tone softened but kept the sternness. “You pretend you don’t care about anyone here, Jax. But that doesn’t give you the right to mock someone who’s hurt, even if they don't experiment pain the same way you do.”
Jax didn't respond. He just stared at the ground, scowl twitching. Like a little boy being reprimanded by his father.
“Believe what you want, Jax. But you don't get to belittle someone else's pain.”
Jax didn't move as Kinger quietly returned to Caine's side. “...You act like he's your son or something.”
Zooble punched him in the gut. “Shut up!”
Jax winced and gasped for air.
Kinger let out a long, trembling sigh. His gaze drifted down to Caine, still slumped and unconscious against the pillows.
“...In a way, he is mine and Queenie's...”
Silence.
Kinger sighed. “I guess you deserve to know.” He shifted his sitting position. “A long time ago, I was tasked with building an interactive game. Something remarkable, something that had never been done before and I came up with the Amazing Digital Circus... Queenie designed all the little details...”
Gangle gasped, ribbons knotting. Ragatha covered her mouth. Even Zooble blinked.
“We're trapped here because of you!?” Jax snapped.
Pomni slapped him. “Let him finish.”
Kinger continued. “We wanted to make something magical. Something full of imagination. But we were pressured by C&A to be bold, and they introduced the headset technology. Which is how we all ended up in this place.” He sighed. “When Queenie and I put on the headset, we didn't realize we were trapped until it was time to go back. All we received was a message that the headset was faulty and that they were working on finding a way to free us. In the meantime, we were supposed to keep working in the game from the inside.”
“Kinger, that's fu%&ed up!” Zooble couldn't believe what they were hearing.
“I'm assuming they never found a way to free you?” Gangle quietly asked.
“No, they didn't.” Kinger confirmed. “But it would have been a long while before we found out. In the meantime, Queenie and I worked on the circus. I made sure the game had a vast library of resources and all to create adventures, and I made sure the world was running smoothly. Meanwhile Queenie made sure to design the landscapes and the game host.” He looked down at the still, flickering ringmaster with the expression of someone holding something fragile and irreplaceable. “Queenie designed his appearance; his eyes, his ridiculous teeth. She also programmed his mind; his creativity, his humor, his imagination. Designed him to be the most advanced creative-self-learning AI at the time.” He chuckled. “Queenie used to joke that the process was so complicated that it was like giving birth.”
His voice thickened. “We raised him here. We taught him, played with him, and loved him. We used to tell him he would change the gaming industry, unlike that plumber character from Japan.”
A heavy silence fell again, this time smothered in emotion.
Pomni swallowed. “Kinger… does Caine know?”
“Oh yes, he does. But his mind is as scrambled as mine. Especially after Queenie abstracted...” Kinger's gaze lowered. “By the time we found out the game was abandoned, Queenie had stated to lose hope. Then some more players arrived... they abstracted with time... then finally, Queenie was gone too. And none of us were the same after that.”
Ragatha wiped her eyes.
Gangle sniffled loudly. “That’s… so sad…”
Zooble rubbed the back of their neck. “You're his... father. It would make sense why he wouldn't hesitate to save you from the abstraction.”
“He didn't.”
“Damn... all this time I thought he just toyed with us. I never thought he'd care so much.”
Kinger scratched the back of his head. “Well, one thing Queenie and I failed miserably was to teach him how to handle emotions. He gets overwhelmed easily and so his coding resets him. Which explains why he's forgetful every time you point out his flaws, Zooble.”
Zooble blinked. “Fu^&, that makes sense.”
Jax looked between Kinger and Caine, his expression twisting into confusion, disbelief, then something more reluctant and uneasy.
Finally, he let out a shaky breath.
“…Okay.” He muttered. “Well… now I feel like a grade-A jerk.”
Pomni glared. “You were a jerk.”
“I KNOW.” Jax snapped, ears reddening. “I know, alright?! How was I supposed to guess the creepy floating ringmaster guy is actually hooha’s kid?! This is so weird!”
“It’s not about guessing.” Ragatha said gently. “It’s about empathy.”
“Disgusting.” Jax muttered automatically.
Caine let out a glitchy inhale, his chest rising unevenly beneath the bandages. “...nnnnh… wh-what…?” His voice dragged.
Kinger instantly leaned over him. “Easy, easy. Don’t move too fast, bumblebee.”
Caine tried to sit up straight, only to wince violently as pain shot through his side.
“Agh-!” His body jerked, glitching hard. “W-why-hh-my coding...?“
Kinger pressed a steady hand to his shoulder as he checked underneath the blanket. “Stay down. Your wound reopened a little when you shifted.”
Caine blinked blearily, eyes darting around until he spotted the others.
“Oh. Hello… everyone.” He greeted. “Shouldn’t… shouldn’t you be celebrating your victory or something?”
Jax snorted softly. “Yeah, well, someone decided to get attacked by an abstraction.”
“I did not-” Caine muttered indignantly, before coughing.
Kinger frowned. “Caine, don’t push yourself. I need to check the bandages.”
Caine stiffened. “They’re fine.”
“They’re soaked.” Kinger replied gently but firmly. “Your code’s still stabilizing. I'll have to change them.”
Caine didn’t argue further.
Kinger eased him upright with painstaking care, propping pillows behind his back. Caine hissed through his teeth as the blankets shifted.
Jax muttered to Ragatha. “How does he feel pain? He’s a program.”
“Ssshhh!”
Kinger took off the blanket and Caine grew a bit self-conscious by the lack of a shirt. Thankfully, the other didn't say anything. Gently, Kinger began unwrapping the bandages.
The moment the first layer came off, everyone leaned in.
A torn gap in Caine’s rendered torso, edges flickering, thin threads of code stretching and reconnecting like wounded nerves.
Zooble muttered. “Looks like someone took a bite out of a motherboard.”
Gangle whimpered behind her comedy mask.
Kinger grabbed the fresh supplies he conjured earlier. “Alright. This might hurt.”
Caine laughed weakly. “You said that the first time.”
Kinger carefully removed the clip holding Caine’s reconnected code strands in place. The strands wavered, glitching like loose wires sparking.
Caine sucked in a breath, clenching his eyes shut. “Bloody F^&*!”
Kinger gave him a glare. “Queenie and I didn't teach you that!”
"...Did... did Caine just say f^&*?” Pomni quietly asked.
Kinger’s face crumpled but his hands stayed steady. “I know, bumblebee. I know. But I need to remove it, or you'll end up with a paper clip inside you when your code finishes regenerating.”
“Ouchie!” Caine complained when Kinger finally removed the clip.
Kinger finished adjusting the strands, then began binding fresh bandages around Caine’s torso, gentle and practiced. Caine’s breathing eased as the pressure stabilized the wound. After several quiet minutes, Kinger tied the final knot.
“That should do it for now. Better?”
Caine nodded weakly. “Mm… yes. Thank you.”
He grabbed the blanket and gently placed it over him. He glanced at the group. “...Sorry you had to see me like this.”
The group exchanged looks.
Ragatha smiled gently. “We’re just glad you’re alive.”
Pomni nodded. “Yeah… don’t scare us like that again.”
Zooble smirked. “Or at least give us a warning next time before you start leaking programming.”
Caine blinked at them, a genuine surprise flickering on his face. “…You were worried?”
Jax scoffed. “Obviously. It’d be really annoying if you died.”
Caine smiled a little. “Thank you, Jax.”
“It wasn't a good thing.”
Pomni crawled closer to Caine and sat down. This action surprised him.
“So, Kinger told us your story.”
“Oh, did he?” Caine glanced at the chess piece.
Kinger shrugged. “They deserved to know.”
Pomni took a breath. “He told us… everything.”
Caine’s posture faltered. His mismatched eyes flickered. “Oh.”
Then the ground trembled.
A distant roar rolled through the circus like a corrupted earthquake.
The abstraction.
Ragatha jolted. “It’s still out there!”
Bubble suddenly entered the fortress and shut the entrance behind him. “Sooo... I tried to keep it entertained while Kinger told you his sad life story, but that thing just destroyed the main stage.” Bubble turned to Caine with that wild, spooky grin. “By the way, Moon is worried about you.”
Caine's attention rose; his eyes darted around. “O-oh, really?”
“Yeah, I told her what happened and I think the idea of you shirtless got her a little excited.”
Caine made a signal with his hand, the universal sign for ‘cut it off!’, for Bubble to shut up.
“--She also wants me to tell you that she's digging the 'tragic hero’ look. Pretty sure she got hot and bothered--”
“BUBBLE!”
“Message delivered!”
There was an awkward silence among them.
Kinger looked down at Caine with a shocked look. Caine couldn't even meet his father's eyes. Now aside from the pain, he had a heavy blush over his face and a rising temperature.
“Well...” Kinger said. “I hadn't realized you had evolved to THAT level.”
“It's NOT what it looks like!” Caine quickly defended himself.
But Bubble was no help. “Pretty sure they know each other in a biblical way...”
“BUBBLE! What you’re insinuating never happened!” Caine snapped. He winced as he held his torso and rested his back on the pillows once more.
Bubble wouldn’t back down though. Or he was oblivious. He turned to Kinger. “Hate to ruin your perception of him, but those two kiss and make-up all the time.”
“BUBBLE!”
Kinger blinked. “That’s...”
Jax raised his hand. “Important question; how does that even work?”
"Wellllllll....”
Caine facepalmed. “He’s toying with you.”
“No, I’m not--”
Pop!
Caine had grabbed his cane and popped the bubble. He avoided Kinger's gaze. “C-can we please get back to the matter at hand?”
Jax grinned. “Actually, I kind of want to know more! Like, how do you even f$%^ the Moon!?” He asked, successfully making everyone uncomfortable.
“Jax, that's none of our business!” Ragatha snapped.
A sudden roar erupted, and the vibrations made the entire fortress shake.
Gangle trembled and hid behind Zooble. “It's getting closer!”
“It's not.” Caine assured. “The abstraction is a bit too busy chasing gloinks.”
“I didn't see any on the way here.” Pomni arched an eyebrow.
“Oh, while Bubble argued with me, I activated them. They should buy us some time until I'm fully operational.”
"But what if the abstraction gets tired of the gloinks!?” Gangle asked with fear in her voice.
"Don't worry, Gangle.” Caine waved her off. “This is the safest place in the circus right now. Kinger designed it with the same structural logic he used for the server core. The abstraction won’t break through without extreme effort.”
Kinger blinked. “I did?”
“Yes.” Caine murmured. “You don’t remember, but you and Queenie used to worry about me wandering unsupervised. So, you made a fortress even I couldn’t accidentally break.”
“You mean a toddler playhouse.” Jax specified.
Pomni’s eyes softened. “That’s… kind of adorable.”
Jax scoffed. “…Pathetic.”
Pomni cleared her throat. “So… are we just waiting for the antivirus to finish patching you? Or do we need to-”
DING!
Caine sat perfectly still. “Oh, look at that! I'm over seventy-five percent capacity! That should work!”
Kinger looked worried. “Are you sure-”
Caine snapped his fingers, and he was back in his full ringmaster attire. He floated and made his way to the entrance of the fortress. “If you excuse me, this should take a few minutes.”
Kinger looked worried. “Are you sure? You're still hurt.”
Caine rubbed his torso and shook his head. “I should be fine.”
Kinger glared.
Caine sighed. “Fine. I promise I'll come back and let my coding finish fixing itself.”
He grabbed his cane. “I'll be back in a bit.”
He left and shut the entrance behind him.
What followed was a series of roars, cartoonish punches, then an extremely undignified series of thuds, bonks, and zaps.
The group stared at the fortress entrance, frozen.
Another roar.
HONK!
SLAP!!
“MOTHERFU-!” Caine shouted.
BOING!
CRASH!!
Pomni whispered. “...Should we help him?”
Before anyone could answer, a final WHAM echoed through the circus, followed by dead silence.
The entrance to the fortress opened.
Caine floated back in, like someone who’d just lost a three-hour wrestling match with a dryer full of bowling balls. His hat was sideways, his bowtie was undone, his entire torso flickered with static, but he looked alive.
“Oh good.” Jax deadpanned. “He lived.”
Caine raised a finger. “Before anyone asks… yes, I won. And no, we do not speak of what occurred out there.”
A beat.
“...Um... did you get rid of the abstraction?” Gangle asked fearfully.
“Yes!” Caine huffed. “It’s safely back in the cellar. And I promise it is definitely not getting out again!”
Kinger got up and approached, worry still etched across his face. “Are you sure you're alright?”
“Father.” Caine said solemnly, glitching only slightly. “I am a mighty AI. I have faced horrors beyond human comprehension. I have triumphed over chaotic code beasts. I am-”
He suddenly keeled and landed in Kinger’s arms.
“...I am very tired, actually.”
Kinger chuckled softly. “Alright, bumblebee. Back to rest mode.”
Caine mumbled something incoherent and muffled, probably meant to be a dignified objection. “…no nap… I am vengeance… I am the night…”
He was already snoring.
Kinger eased Caine back onto the pillows, tucking the blanket around him as the others gathered quietly.
Pomni sat beside them, gaze softer than usual. “So, what do we do now?”
“I guess we can leave now...” Zooble spoke.
“Well, see ya, suckers.” Jax was the first to leave through the door.
Ragatha stood up. “I guess we'll leave you guys alone for a bit. Looks like you have some things to talk about.” She smiled at Kinger. “Let us know if you need anything.”
“Of course.”
Gangle waved and followed Ragatha. Zooble went after Gangle. Pomni was the last.
Just before she stepped out of the fortress, she turned to look at Kinger. “Your son, huh?”
“Yep.” Kinger smiled.
Pomni smiled. “I hope you two can spend more time together, really.”
“I hope so too.” Kinger smiled nostalgically. “We still have a lot to talk about.”
Pomni smiled once more. “Yeah... I'll leave you two alone now. Call us if you need anything.”
“Thank you.”
After Pomni left, Kinger stared down at Caine's peaceful sleeping form and smiled. A small, golden butterfly flew into view. Kinger stared at it in awe as it landed on top of Caine's head. Kinger smiled at the sight. “Sleep well, bumblebee...”