[hr][center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/3NhTdsYR/eclipse-banner.png[/img][h2][color=red][b]I Love the Taste of Iron![/b][/color][/h2][sub]🪳[/sub][/center][hr]
Eclipse finds himself surrounded by an endless number of clowns, caught red-nosed and defenseless. He glances down at his arms—his usual arm blades taken by staff before he was allowed in. The thought of one of the clowns misusing his signature weapons blinds him with anger, a bolt of electricity striking from above like the song of battle. Anticipation burns in his blood—how long has it been since he was allowed to go all out?

His helmet is long tossed aside now, clattering against a nearby garbage bin.

Wind stings his cheek. The stream of red from his nose to his chin is awfully warm compared to the rest of his face.

[color=gray]“All at once or one by one?”[/color] He bares his teeth in a twisted grin, blood dripping from his chin. [color=gray]“I’ll win either way.”[/color]

A clown's lip twitches.

[color=ed145b]“He’s unarmed! Get’im, boys!”[/color]

Eclipse jolts forward alongside the mass of clowns, slamming his head against another and jamming his fist into another’s chest. He catches a punch flung at his face, and licks blood from his lips, a delightful daze spinning in his skull. [color=gray]“Surprise.”[/color]

[i]Click.[/i]

A blade springs through the clown’s fist, and another is thrust into a clown’s chest. The clowns howl in pain and drop their weapons. Eclipse swings back as a second wave approaches.

[color=00aeef]“You’re only gonna win if ya use your powers,”[/color] a clown grapples him from behind. [color=00aeef]“There’s only one ‘o you, and hundreds ‘o us.”[/color]

Bats, hammers, punches, kicks, guns…

[color=gray]“I don’t care!”[/color]

Eclipse rips a chunk of flesh from their arm, his mouth now coated in sweat, blood, and iron.

[i]Delicious.[/i]

A throwing knife slams into a clown’s forehead, a bat beats against his shoulder, a straggler scratches the armor around his legs. He whips around once more and bites into a skinny clown’s neck, the stench of burning sweat filling his nose.

[i]It’s all so delicious![/i]

The clown crashes against a wall, Eclipse smashes his foot into the skull of a loser, and relishes each and every crack. The previous horde backs away in abject terror, their allies brutalized and their weapons cast aside. He slides his knives over his head, a sound like nails against a chalkboard.

It’s hard to distinguish the blood from his nose and the blood of his enemies now.

[color=gray]“I want more!”[/color]
[hr][center][img]https://i.postimg.cc/x8G7CTpZ/madcap-banner.png[/img][h2][color=dodgerblue]A Clown and a Bug Walk into a Carnival...[/color][/h2][sub]Only one survives.[/sub][/center][hr]
Madcap swings off the roller coaster tracks and onto the ground, springing forward. The suspiciously depressed clown boss is his! It’s his, it’s his, it’s his! He’d claim this bounty for himself! No one else would take his heroic glory!
​
He pushes past a sea of incoming clowns, falling like dominoes, and stones begin to dig into his feet—his sandals long abandoned now.
​
An oversized Helter Skelter looms in the distance, Madcap launching himself at Gaggles.
​
… But he missed! He cheated! He cheated!
​
Gaggles floats above him—the dilapidated balloon now full.
​
[color=FF69B4]“Hello.”[/color] He sighs. [color=FF69B4]“What did the clown do to the bug?”[/color]
​
[color=dodgerblue]“What?”[/color]
​
[color=FF69B4]“He smushed him.”[/color]

Gaggle's oversized clown shoes leave prints against Madcap's back as he's smashed into the ground, a crater appearing beneath him. Madcap doesn't even yelp, Gaggle's frown deepening as he stands atop him. [color=FF69B4]"That was supposed to be funny, so please LAUGH."[/color]
[hr][center][h2][color=gray]In the Distance![/color][/h2][sub][@SonnetNSunbeam][@BigPapaBelial][@FourtyTwo][@cosmiccowgirl][/sub][/center][hr]
Some time passes, and the carnival only ascends higher and higher. A-Team finds themselves stranded by the rest of the world, but they manage to regroup alongside a crowd of civilians. Their only shelter now is an oversized Helter Skelter. From the looks of it, it was the only truly ‘safe’ spot in the entire carnival. No tunnel entryways were found in the initial scan of it, and the fact that clowns hadn’t already appeared inside was enough to calm the survivors’ nerves.

Asteroid managed to find his way back to Lightning Girl and Blackstar after being abandoned by Madcap, and Hat Trick managed to direct any stragglers within the tower. The heroes now stand outside, fending off a strangely thinning horde of clowns from swarming the building.

No sight of Eclipse or Madcap yet, though.
​
Blackstar sees it before everyone else, deeper into the swarm, a clown jetting into the sky and smashing back down at light speed.

Debris clouds the air—but the clown she saw was for sure to be Gaggles!