The Stand

Three and Twenty

"And that meant we couldn't go to the water park for the rest of the summer," Marc said finishing his story.

"Your brother sounds really fun,"

"We had plenty of fun as kids,"

"Sounds like it," she giggled, beaming.

Marc was having a good time with Lucielle. The time had began to fly since she sat down. He glanced at the crowd every once in a while but his main focus was on her. The two laughed quietly. He was about to say something when he was cut off by a loud bang. People screamed and he stood to see what was going on. A hush fell over the room, there was someone speaking. He had to see, knowing it wasn't good.

"Stay out of the way alright this is probably very dangerous," he whispered.

Miss. Starlet nodded silently and Marc made his way to the centre of the crowd gently pushing past people, while reaching for his pistol in his shoulder holster.

About three rows away he saw what was wrong. There was a man, older, hair graying, wearing a white and black suit, and aiming a gun at the ceiling. When he looked around, Marc saw how half of his face was horribly scarred. The crowd gasped when they saw how his face was divided directly down the middle. Half dark, half light and he stared into the crowd.

"Shut up!" he yelled, making  the crowd hush once more.

Marc looked over, there were two heavily armed women, their armor and masks were orange, black and silver. The shorter of the two looked as if she was in charge. She had this strength and confidence that he could see even though her face was covered by a helmet , which was also divided with two colours down the middle, one side orange the other black.

Then there was him. The Ringmaster, who stood between them.

Marc knew that the psycho was smiling under his mask. Marc was angry but as he turned that into determination he realized that he couldn't take all four criminals by himself at once. He looked around for his partners. They were nowhere to be seen. If they didn't show up soon he would have to do something stupid.

"So sorry I'm late!" the Ringmaster called out, "I just wanted to make a grand entrance," he chuckled, "Now, how's everybody tonight? Good? Good. Glad everyone is enjoying the party," he was pacing, "Do any of you know my favourite thing about parties? Anyone? Twoface? Ladies? No one?" he laughed walking over to an older woman in a black dress, "well I suppose I'll tell you," he pointed to the woman, "personally I like the party favours," he gripped the woman's necklace and tore it off of her. She yelped in pain and gripped the back of her neck. He laughed, "Thanks for the donation dear, now if you wouldn't mind..." he aimed his gun at the man beside her and waved his right hand in the air. One of the masked women coming beside and holding open a bag, "your watch good sir,"

The man reluctantly complied removing his watch and dropping it into the bag. The other two began collecting expensive objects from people and putting them in the bags.

Marc looked at the doors. They were guarded by men that resembled Twoface. He tried to stay levelheaded and not act like a cornered animal, he was smarter than that. He watched as the Ringmaster returned to the centre of the room with the strong looking woman as the others moved through the crowd. He shifted slightly as Twoface came his way. Marc was prepared. He knew what he was going to do. He gripped his pistol with his right hand and waited.

When the two faced man approached him, Marc grabbed the gun and disarmed the man. Kicking the gun away from him, Marc hit him in the face with his own pistol. As Twoface gripped his nose Marc tackled him and after a few punches rendered him unconscious. Unfortunately for him he made a scene. He had drawn attention to himself. There was a gun trained on him. He stood up to see the crowd split and the Ringmaster was aiming at him.

"Oh well look here, somebody tried to be a hero,"

Everyone in the room looked at him. This was one of the smartest ideas that he had come up with. Unfortunately he didn't consider the fact that he wasn't Batman. He stood trying to seem heroic.

"That wasn't very nice kiddo, didn't your mother ever tell you to play nice?" he took a step forward and in an instant there was utter confusion. People were screaming and running. Marc moved forward dodging between people. There he was, beside the strong armored woman. They both lay in pools of blood and the Ringmaster with a single small hole in his forehead. Marc stared in awe, anger and disbelief. The Ringmaster was dead, again. But this time he saw it happen with his own eyes.