The months since he hired the cop twins had been nothing short of remarkable. Word was quick to spread of the police officer in Bricksburg that could take on Master Builders, and the number of incidents in the city began to lessen. Still, though they were two minds, they were physically only one person, and could only do so much. Sirius had spent time searching for Master Builders willing to help him bring his ideas to life, and was rewarded with a squad of robot prototypes, and Cary and Alastar had trained them well. The schematics for them were sent to Octan's engineering department to create more. They'd also come up with something called the Think Tank. It hadn't been tested yet, but it seemed promising, as something that could hold a Master Builder indefinitely.
He'd also stumbled across hints of a powerful relic called the Kragle, said to be able to make objects indestructible. Further research proved it to possibly be a permanent solution to the Master Builder problem. If he could manage to use it on everyone's stuff, they'd never have to worry about Master Builders tearing it apart again.
But he'd had to put his plans for finding it on hold- he'd been given some more immediately pressing intel. The Master Builders that had caused the deaths of his parents were a bunch of circus performers, and they were in Gotham for several weeks to put on their show. How the twins had managed to dig that up he had no idea, but he was both impressed and grateful. Those Master Builders had hidden themselves well, but now they would answer to justice. His robot troops were finally ready for deployment, and it would be a perfect test run for his new power suit. Cary was finishing the final preparations to make their move.
They were off within the hour. The robots had been given laser rifles that, at worst, would burn (their goal wasn't wholesale slaughter, after all), and had the files for the Master Builders entered into their databases so they knew who to shoot, and who to let go. They weren't after innocent civilians, after all. With the newly-dubbed Super Secret Police surrounding the tent, they made their move.
Cary cut the pounding music just as Sirius strode into the tent, red cape flapping behind him and the thrumming of his power suit in his ears. People turned to stare in confusion- was this part of the act, or was there something actually going on? The newcomer was having a stare-down with the ringmaster. "It's been a long time," Sirius spoke after a moment, "but justice has finally come calling. You will pay for the blood of the seventeen innocent people you have on your hands. If you come quietly, we may be lenient."
The ringmaster stared at him for a minute, then began laughing. "Oh God, you're serious. Did you come up with that little speech all by yourself? It was atrociously cliché." Inhumanly green eyes stared up at him as the ringmaster gave him a fierce grin. "I don't know where you got the idea, but we've killed no one."
"The anti-Master Builder rally, ten years ago. You, and your crew, were directly responsible for destabilizing the scaffolding that collapsed and caused the deaths of fifteen members of the audience, and my parents."
"Oh, so this is to be payback for dear old mom and dad?"
Alastar rolled his eyes. He'd come to know Sirius' opinions on his parents well since they started working together, and they weren't flattering. But while his boss had the ringmaster distracted, he worked on quietly directing the audience out of the tent. If the 'accident' was anything to go by, the man was quite willing and able to get violent when he disagreed with something, and he had already proven himself very capable of mass destruction. He stared in surprise when several members of the troupe came up to him, one of them holding an infant. "We can't live with the guilt anymore," a young woman said. "We'll come without fuss. It was never our intention to hurt anyone, we just wanted to scare them..."
"Speak for yourself!" the ringmaster snarled. He wasn't about to go down without a fight. Fire erupted from his hands, and Sirius just barely managed to pull his cape around in time to deflect the flames aimed at him. In a blink there was fire everywhere, and the audience began to scream, pushing each other around as they fought to get out. Alastar passed the Master Builders off to their robot escort and Cary switched out, voice booming over the noise to try to bring the chaos back under control. Cables snapped as the support beams collapsed, bringing the tent down on everyone. One of the beams toppled over into the bleachers, crushing people and sending splinters flying everywhere. With a snarl, Cary split the robot forces, directing half to try to minimize the damage to the support structure, and the other half to shoot down any Master Builders they spotted.
Someone was screaming for their daughter; they couldn't find her in the insanity. Out of the corner of his eye he saw another support beam start to topple, and a split second later spotted their missing child. Right in the beam's path. With a curse he sprinted forward, snatching the child up and rolling out of harm's way. The rest of her family wasn't so lucky, unable to get down before the beam smashed right into where they had been standing, sending them falling into a pile of sharp, splintered wood. "Don't look-" he tried to warn, but it was already too late. He shoved the unconscious girl at another of the robots with the order to get her out before any more harm came to her, then pulled out his gun.
Cary-
I know. I don't think he's going to give us any other choice.
Sirius was still fighting the ringmaster, holding his own surprisingly well with only the Sword of Exact Zero for a weapon. The ringmaster didn't even bother using the madness as cover to make his escape, so bent he was on taking Sirius and the Callaghans down with him. The flames in his right hand vanished, to be replaced with a sickly green aura. "You've been harassing us long enough," he snarled. "If you want to be the bad guy so badly, then I'll make sure you become one!" He hurled the spell at Sirius, and the President went down with a shriek. Several of the robots were quick to rush to his aid, and Cary was relieved to find he was only dazed, but the ringmaster didn't look like he intended to leave Sirius that way for long.
Before he could make a killing blow, Cary pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot was almost deafening, and everything fell suddenly silent and still. The ringmaster staggered to a halt, looking down at the hole that had appeared in his chest. Stunned, he turned toward the cops, his shocked look quickly turning to rage. "You-"
Cary fired again, and the ringmaster toppled over with another bullet in his head.
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There was nothing left but a smoldering ruin. So few people had made it out. The baby, who had belonged to two of the acrobats who died in the fight, had been safely delivered to Gotham's orphanage, and the girl taken to the hospital to be checked for injuries.
Sirius sat on the ground, helmet and cape shoved off, staring at the smoking pile that had once been a circus. Cary stepped up to him, standing silently at his side.
"Maybe... Maybe I shouldn't come on any more raids," Sirius mumbled.
"That may be for the best, Sir," Cary agreed. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"
"Oh, I'm fine," he waved the cop off. "In fact, I'm already planning my next expedition..."
