A Glitch In The Circus

Arcade Escapade

Inside of a room in the Tent, a door opens to reveal the inside of Zooble and Rhodes' room, where Pomni peaks in.

Pomni: Rhodes? Are you in here? Caine apparently won't be out for a while, so I thought we could see whose memories were from that pa-

However, the jester opens the door more to show Rhodes slumped over on her own bed, Ares following Pomni into the room and approaching the seemingly comatose robot.

Pomni: R.... Rhodes?....

Ares: Rhodes, are you okay?...*taps shoulder* Are you sleeping?

After one more tap, the symbol on Rhodes' forehead lit up and projected a hologram screen, showing yet another transmission from Cosgrove.

Cosgrove: Can you NOT do that to the spy drone? Programming this thing wasn't cheap, it costed me several hours of non-physical labor.

Pomni: Cosgrove, what happened to Rhodes?

Cosgrove: She's not here. This is just what happens to her Avatar when she logs out of the game.

Ares: Well, where the hell did she go?!

Cosgrove: She said something about a family event she couldn't miss, I couldn't bring myself to pay enough attention. I assume you're here about the new kernel patch you found? Well, rest assured, it's fully implanted into my kill code.

Pomni: Yeah, but... we need to know if you can also find anyone's... memories in it?

Ares: No one's come to us about remembering anything, or if it's Kinger, he's probably forgot the moment he stepped out of his pillow fort. Could you just... FIND any trace of a human identity in the data, please?

Cosgrove: Actually, now that you mention it, I DID get a name from the patch. *types* Apparently, the name is one Kirk Jaxon.

Pomni: "Jaxon"?... Huh. Guess that's where Jax got his name from.

Ares: What can you get for us on him?

Cosgrove: Tragic, I'm afraid, really troubled upbringing. Orphaned when he was about 15 with an arrested father for drunk robbery and a mother who was absent for most of his life. Foster homes, drug abuse, took a job racketeering weapons for a gang when they were busted and got arrested for 3 years in juvenile detention. Upon release, he was sentenced to serve 10 years of community service at a Christian shelter in Chicago where he was then reported missing.

Ares: Huh... So if Jax has his memories back, I wonder why he never said anything.

Pomni: Come to think of it, I... Haven't heard much from him since the award show.

Cosgrove: Well, I would give advice, but human interaction isn't exactly one of my strongest areas. But I'll inform agent Rhodes on the discovery when she gets back.

Ares: Thanks, Cosgrove. Over and out.

Cosgrove: ...Don't talk like that to me.

The transmission then cuts as the screen disappears back into Rhodes' still inert avatar.

Pomni: So, we have no leads left and Caine's leaving us all alone for the day. What should we do?

Ares: I dunno. We could go swimming. We could go to the Carnival. We could see the new puppet show-

Pomni: We did all of that last week! *sighs* ...For a place that Caine describes as "endless fun", it actually gets kinda boring without some variety.

Ares: Well, it's not like we can just leave and go do something fun somewhere else.

The jester looks at the chimera strangely, thinking how odd it is he says that despite being FROM outside the Circus... only for the sound of a kitchen timer to play as Ares perks up.