Harly shifted her weight. She wore a rare frown, her brow furrowing.

She stared at Roulette's cards. Each of her friends' faces wore an expression of eerie calm. Too unnatural to be considered peaceful.

"You kidnapped them." It sounded like a statement but there was accusation hidden in her tone.

Roulette placed the cards in front of him. "Nothing personal. Just business."

Harly reached into her pocket and for her Powerine baton. A quick glance toward the mooks on either side of her made her rethink pulling it out, so she just tightened her grip on it.

"Just business?"

"With your father," he said. "Unfortunately it involves you and by extension your friends." He spoke as if this was a run-of-the-mill transaction.

"I thought we could make a game out of it," he added cheerfully.

Harly loved games and all, but this...

"What do you want with us?" she demanded.

"Like I said, this is between me and Phineas. He doesn't want me to get the rest of that orb's power. He said it will 'drive me insane'. Ridiculous!"

"I don't know, you do seem a bit... crazy." Harly said. "I should know as I am as well."

"The best people are. It's the only way you Powerines of reality can process the sheer scope of your power."

It just occurred to Harly that her father once trusted him enough to let him into the troupe. The troupe was their family, people they trusted. Her dad told him their identities as Powerines. It hurt knowing how serious his betrayal actually was.

"But anyway we're getting off track." Roulette said. "We tried stealing the orb but there are magical protections in place to keep us away. Sooo we must use another way."

"Which is..."

"Taking what he cares most about and blackmailing him of course. This is where you come in." He said cheerfully. "We need your soul as a bargaining chip.

"The thing is, because of your powers, you are a hard person to kidnap. So we are using your friends as a means to get your soul.

"So unless you want to come willingly-" He looked expectedly at Harly, who shook her head in annoyance. "-we have a game for you to win back your friends' sou- Hey! Are you texting while I'm monolouging?!"

Harly looked up from her phone. "Oh sorry. You were just talking so long, I mean this chapter already passed 388 words."

Roulette glared at her. "I'm getting to the point."

He laid down the cards. "The game is simple. I'll give you a riddle, the riddle's answer will lead you to another area in the fair. Once there we will play a game. Win and you get one of your friends' souls and the opportunity to invite an ally, someone already in the fair, to help you."

He slided one of the cards toward Harly. She tried to grab it but it disappeared back into Roulette's hand.

"Lose and you give your own soul or a companion's as collateral."

Roulette gestured to the cards Harly is holding. A 'five of a kind'. Four aces and a joker. Harly placed them into hammerspace. To be summoned when needed.

"Anything else I need to know?" Harly asked carefully.

"Not that I can think of right now."

Roulette held out his hand. Harly hesitated. Verbal contracts were tricky, not having the terms written down means it's difficult to keep track of the terms and if someone didnt mention something important when they shook, they would have to negotiate it later on. 

She took a breath. "I want my friends unharmed and no civilians involved." 

Roulette nodded.

They shook hands, briefly getting cloaked in an aura.

Roulette stood up, taking the cards with the performers in them. "Want your first riddle?"

The dealers moved away so Harly could stand. She took out her baton and it extended into a warhammer.

Roulette gave her an amused look. "Beat me up all you like, it won't save your friends. Only I can summon their cards."

Harly sighed and pocketed her baton. "Fine, what's the riddle?"

"Running and racing across the rails,

Follow the sound of screams and wails,

A source of excitement or fear,

You'll find your ghostly friend here."

Galant... Harly thought, It's somewhere in the fair. Rails, screaming. Fear, unknown, intangible, chocolate, speed...

The rollercoaster!

He walked to an exit behind the tent then stopped. "I just remembered." He looked over his shoulder. "You have to save all of them before sunrise tomorrow." He left.

Harly rolled her eyes. Of course. And the rollercoaster is on the other side of the park.

She glanced at one of the dealers and gave a smile. "You don't by any chance have a car I can lend?"

The dealer rolled her eyes and walked away.

Harly pouted. "Fine."

.....

Phineas and Yew stood before the entrance of Lovegood park. Sounds of laughter and festival music could be heard from blocks away.

"You didn't have to come."

"Yew, this situation involves me just as much as it involves you." Phineas gave him a sympathic look. "Besides, I know what it's like to lose a loved one."

Yew adjusted the grip on his staff. "I should gave kept a closer eye on her. She's only a 2 day old. A newborn for crying out loud! What kinda parent am I?"

Phineas put a hand on Yew's shoulder. "An inexperienced one who's trying his best. I didn't exactly always make the right choices when raising Harly," he said reassuringly. "At least yours can't teleport."

Yew gave a small chuckle. However he still felt like he failed before he even began.

Phineas tried to call Harly but the connection was unexpectedly cut off.

He looked around, making sure no one was near.

The pin on his hat glew, the glow spreaded across his body and faded, leaving him in his powerine clothes.

He wore an orange suit with purple buttons and undervest. Red and blue card suit patterns dotted the colar and hemline. He wore miss-matched red and blue gloves and shoes. A blue diamond and red spade covered his eyes. The look was finished by a orange top hat with a blue spade shaped pin.

"Looking good as always Entropy, but is it really necessary?"

"Civilians are more likely to listen to me in these clothes. That way we can make sure they stay s... um..."

"Safe?" Yew suggested.

"Sane," Phineas amended. "Come on, they said to meet them by the fountain."

Yew nodded.

.....

Harly walked through the fair grounds. Everything was annoyingly normal. People walked around, browsed stalls, took pictures. Normal. But it wasn't normal.

She disliked feeling gloomy. Usually she would transform her surroundings in a bouncy castle or a big cake to cheer herself up, but she couldn't do that in public. Not without exposing herself. Plus she needed to save her energy.

She saw the rollercoaster up ahead. She looked around and ducked into a small space between two tents.

Her spade shaped earing glew, the glow spreaded across her body and faded, revealing Euphoria in her Powerine clothes.

She wore an orange unitard with a sweetheart neckline. Card suit shapes were cut in the torso, covered by translucent blue material. The same material covered the skin up to her shoulders, with red and blue collar around her neck. She wore red and blue gloves, arm braces and hair ribbons.

She wore orange boots with a clover and spade shaped knee guards. Orange, knee length fabric made up her showgirl skirt. Covering her eyes and cheeks were an orange balloon shaped marking and red and blue card suits.

She disappeared around a corner and reappeared in front of the entrance of the rollercoaster.

Some passerbys gave her a look, suprised that they didn't notice her arrive. Euphoria focused and they left her alone.

No need to get them involved.

Euphoria didn't need them crowding around her like they usually did. She could luckily induce a kind of 'bystander effect' on them. If only for a little while and assuming the power was available. Sometimes her abilities were a bit inconsistent.

She never minded the attention, though. It was a good distraction from-

"Hey, they don't need to know that..."

Sorry Harly...

She turned back to the entrance of the rollercoaster. Took a deep breath, forced a smile and entered.