Ridley Shay's Story

Ridley watched Dawn fly around the camp. She did that every time they were released from their cages. Which was understandable. Being trapped in there, Ridley couldn't help but climb up every wall and surface imaginable. She climbed to the top of her cage and made a web between hers and the ones next to hers. She continually jumped and fell into the web, happy to fill the wind in her hair, and the exhilaration of falling and being caught.

She felt free.

Although she wished she could climb higher and fall from a greater distance, she knew she would be punished. Again. She looked around the camp from the top of her cage, spotting each and every one of the freaks. Almost all of them had been punished at least once. The newer ones were lucky enough to the veterans to explain to them what would happen.

It was one thing to be trapped in a cage all day, but it beat getting punished by the owner. He was a ruthless man.

Sighing, Ridley began shot a string to the highest point and continued to swing from it endlessly. It was all she could do. She didn't enjoy being around too many people. Being high up, helped her remain calm. She'd managed to kill two people with her new found genes, she wasn't going to add any freaks to her list.

Maybe one day she'd add the owner. But until then, it was better for her to be trapped in the circus then to risk killing more people. She hung upside down for a while, letting the blood rush to her head, before finally releasing herself from the web.

She landed on the ground easily, and began her walk back to her cage. Saying hi to anyone she knew as she went.

Dawn

Dawn looked down, and couldn't help but notice the few people that looked at her. Ridley. She liked her, and she was a friend. Sort of. And then there was Lilith and Ara. They were alright, but she had to say that Lilith was a bit more her style. Sighing as she saw nearly everybody returning to their cage, she tucked her wings in and plummeted to the ground, managing to land on the balls of her feet. It wasn't too hard, she did it everyday. She walked over to her cage, sliding in and allowing the door to close behind her.

Her cage was actually a bit bigger then most. After all, they had to give her room to show off her flying skills. A small frown set on her face, she flew up so she could sit in a fake branch on a fake tree. It was actually quite annoying how this was built exactly like a normal cage at a zoo, with a painting of a landscape and a few trees here and there. From here, the audience wouldn't be able to see her too well. The only problem was she knew the Owner would come around at some point and make her come down.

Dawn looked out the glass and could see Salem. His cage was right across from her own. Giving a small wave and an even smaller smile, she lay down in the fork of the tree. It was going to be one long day at the zoo.
---
The Owner

"Come on, you freaks! Get back in your cages!" Jack yelled out, looking around at the array of cages. Most of them had already climbed in, but there were a few stragglers hanging around. He saw that tiger girl talking to Tony. Rolling his eyes, he caught the girl's eye and she gave Tony one last growl before returning to her cage. Better. Walking over to Tony, he handed the boy a folder.

"Your the lucky fellow giving out ticket's today. The tickets are in here, and so is the list of prices. Adults are five dollars, kids are three. Not a dime less, okay?" He didn't bother waiting for an answer. He walked around, giving a look into every cage. Most of them gave him a snarl or a hiss, but he just glared back and continued on his way. After making sure all the cage doors were locked from the outside, he stalked back to his office, taking a seat in the chair and staring out the tiny window. Let the day begin.

Ridley was already climbing into her cage before The Owner could come by and yell at her. The door slammed shut behind her and she hissed at the sound. She hated that door.

Her cage was large enough for her to climb around and shoot webs. It was too small to really show off her swinging skills, but she's managed to do it before. She immediately destroyed her web between two trees. It was apart of her show to create her web, where she often times would sleep later that evening.

After tearing it down, she started getting undressed. Unlike a lot of the freaks here, she had her own costume. Well, mainly it was her new skin after being bitten by a spider. The black sickly covering stretched from her toes all the way to her shoulders. It was hard and thick, and kept her body safe. The main reason why The Owner wanted her to show off her black skin was to show off the red hourglass shape covering her entire back.

It was no coincidence why she was called Black Widow. She knew that it was Black Widow venom that had transformed her, and she was forced to embrace it here. Once getting undressed she began climbing up the walls, her abilities to climb and shoot web were better without the extra clothing on her skin. She awaited the opening of the zoo from the ceiling, often times deciding to scare the few people who wanted to see her.

Mostly young boys who were obsessed with Spider Man. Or older men who were obsessed with Spider Man.

Ridley was in the process of trying to get a few minutes of sleep before the zoo opened when she heard a soft "hey" coming from the front of her cage. She opened one eye, seeing someone standing outside her cage. Sighing and rolling her eyes, she dropped from the ceiling, landing gracefully on the ground. She crawled on all fours towards the front, coming out of the darkness.

She was in the young girls face, before she knew what to do with herself. Avarella, she said her name was, jumped finally noticing the hunched figure in front of her. "Nixon?" Ridley questioned. "You like the name of a president who laundered money and denied he ever did it? Interesting choice."

Ridley relaxed out of her position, deciding to sit with her legs crossed. Avarella was obviously new, and was trying her best to get on all of the attractions' good sides. She couldn't wait to see her reaction when she got to Herrick's cage next to hers. That would be interesting.

"My name is Ridley. Or Black Widow as the audience members like to call me." Ridley said. "A pleasure it is to meet you." She smiled, trying to show the girl, that although she had extremely deadly venom in her body, that she was kind.

She tried to be kind to all the human staff. They had willingly signed up to watch over the crazy half humans, half animals, the least she could do was be nice. They tended to keep Jack from beating the crap out of the freaks. They kept them safe, at least until Jack decided they were no longer needed.

"A doctor, huh?" Ridley questioned. "Ever performed surgery on a freak before?"

At first, she had been taken aback from the suddenness of the inhabitant appearing before her, but before she could actualyl let a gasp of surprise, her reaction time often a bit slow, Avarella honestly had to laugh at the younger girl's first statement. Nixon? That was the thirty.. fifth president, right? It rather loud, much more so than her soft spoken voice earlier. Ridley, huh? By gosh, Avarella certainly enjoyed the girl's sense of humor. She decided to answer her questions backwards as best that she could, taking in slight awe at the spider-mutated female in front of her. At the very least, I know that a portion of the mutants here are friendly. While she should have been slightly freaked out by the fact that the girl in front of her possessed very arachnid like qualities, her human-like humor made her immediately throw that earlier thought process out of the window.

Running her fingers through her hair again out of habit, tousling out the dirt from earlier, she casually grinned, a bit more comfortable in a more normal way of speaking that she used to. Not any soft-spoken manner bullshittery, the slight accent echoing at the edges. "I'm glad you asked. No, I haven't. But I did help treat a good friend of mine, an Amanda who had three arms, with a sprained ankle.. and that one time of the sprained.. wrists. The irony of the situation." She took a pause, thinking thoughtfully on the subject. "Not quite the same as surgery, but I don't think that surgery would be allowed in my license anyhow." Avarella frowned a bit to ponder a bit more on the subject, enjoying to continue conversation. "You don't think that I may have to perform surgery at any time here soon? I've been a nursemaid, but still not the same concept." Avarella shut that train of thought (and her mouth) off before she could ramble any further on non-related things.

She tilted her head slightly, glancing at the cage's general layout inside as best that she could from where she was standing. There's webbing. Wow. She glanced back to Ridley, the same smile on her face. "Well, Ridley - I can just call you that, right? 'Black Widow' is cool and all, but your name sounds better to my ears, since it's the given name, right? - The pleasure's all mine." She took in Ridley's general appearance, looking at the fangs more than anything, but looked back to the girl's eyes directly, as so not to be too rude. "But before I get too far, I just wanted to throw in that Nixon's not quite from the president that you're thinking of. More of a.. childhood hero of mine back from where I was from." She shrugged. "But hey. I don't know my presidents very well, so I wouldn't let it bother me too much."

Avarella walked a bit closer, but kept some personal space between the two, the friendly smile that she was used to having on her wide, as she kept a hand on one hip whilst standing straight. This one was easily likable as well, despite the brief questions and mere first impression. "Does that answer all of your questions?"

"Does that answer all your questions?"

Ridley tilted her head to the side, eyeing the young doctor. "Three arms? It must be impossible to find cute clothes with three arms. That would be horrendous!" She couldn't help but giggle at her own comment. "But yes, you have done well in answering all my questions. Very good. Most people just ignore me."

She laughed again, standing up. She stretched her arms above her head, realizing that she should probably get to practicing her routine. She was forced to do one like everybody else, although she preferred to sit and talk to her audience members. With the safety of the cage, she could freely talk to people, without fear of biting them and accidently killing them.

"I'm sure you have other people to see. If you'll excuse me, I have to practice." She did a few back flips before spraying a web and pulling herself up towards the ceiling. She rarely did anything different, most people didn't really care. They were seeing a real life spider woman, they didn't care about her routine.

Arabella and Lilith wandered around, taking their time to return to their cages seeming as they had left early enough to not have to rush themselves. As they finally arrived at their cage Ara nodded silently at Herrick, who’s cage was opposite theirs. Ara liked Herrick, he was the most different and it interested her but got the feeling that the feeling wasn’t reciprocated. Lilith even liked Herrick as well, he kept to himself, something she liked in people. The two sisters didn’t have a routine or fancy trick to closing their door. They did it like the normal human beings they weren’t.

“Another day the same old things” Ara mumbled as they made their way to the back of the enclosure towards the water part; their favourite part, when an unidentified voice stopped them. Curiously the sisters made their way to the front on their cage to see what was going on. They saw the women, Nixon it seemed she preferred to be called, introduce herself as their new ‘doctor’ to Ridley.

“Boring” Lilith said attempting to move back to their previous position but being stopped by Ara.
“No wait, I wanna watch this.” Ara said like a spoiled child. “Besides, next she’s gonna be talking to Herrick you don’t want to miss that do you. Likewise she’ll come here soon and we need to figure out how we are gonna treat her.” Ara continued adopting a mischievous tone along the way.
“Fine, but only to see her reaction to Herrick and then we are leaving her alone. I refuse to be on what ever your planning and I have a book that needs reading.” Lilith said reluctantly, knowing from past mistakes that no one could out determine Ara. It was far better to compromise with her so at least you got something you wanted. Ara looked at Lilith out of the side of her eye, she wasn’t gonna fight Lilith, yet. They had to see how this doctor would act first.

After a few moment of peaceful silence watching Nixon and Ridley converse Ara went ahead and ruined it. “Ridley seems to like her-”
“Ridley’s newer than us, remember that.” Lilith said cutting off her sister before she could come up with any idiotic thoughts. Staff were not friends.
Ara gave a bitter look at her sister, she was going to say anything like that; staff were not to be trusted or liked, that was a fact they had to live with.

Dawn sighed, looking around at the huge but empty enclosure. She was sitting up on an air conditioner, which was at the very top of her cage. She should probably be changing into her costume, or practicing, but she wasn't really fond of either. Her costume was simply a white dress with gold colored rhinestones placed here and there, and a pair of golden ballet flats. But her routine she did wasn't much more interesting. She would fly around, did tricks in the air and such. And then proceed to sit and talk to younger children, answering questions of older people. Then finally, towards the end of the day (when her enclosure was mostly populated) she would show off a couple of her mind reading tricks. It never disappointed.

“Besides, next she’s gonna be talking to Herrick you don’t want to miss that do you. Likewise she’ll come here soon and we need to figure out how we are gonna treat her.” It was Arabella and Lilith, who had an eclosure right next to her own. They happened to talk, a lot. And she heard every word of it. Apparently, now some lady was going to talk to Herrick. Dawn was quite fond of Herrick. After all, he was one of the few originals that persisted, besides herself. Well, actually, he had been here a bit longer.

"If you two don't mind me interupting your talkshow, you should probably be practicing," Dawn called, her voice echoing around her own enclosure. She could hear them, they could hear her. It was both a gift and a curse.
---
"Hello, Miss Avarella. It's required for you to get to all of the freaks, so you have to get to at least half of the freaks now, the other half can be done around 11:00. By then, almost everybody will be having lunch." Jack said, staring at the new doctor. He refused to call her by her silly nickname, it made her sound like a freak herself. Looking into the cage, he could see the spider girl practicing her routine. The same one she did every single day. "Change it up a little, Widow. Your boring both me and and the guests." And with that, he was off again.

"Welcome to the zoo! You are in store for quite a surprise. So if you haven't already, come up and buy a ticket. Those of you who have a ticket, come on in!" A 'friendly' smile lit up The Owner's face as he opened a gate. He took the tickets of a family, a couple, and a girl with pigtails. And yet, even more were coming. They were all waiting in the growing line. More were approaching too, coming from the fenced off area of grass he had called a parking lot.

"Don't forget your tickets!"

Kalie shuffled along, not bothering with a map and decided to turn right, then left, and stopped in front of an exhibit with bars. Black Widow. Interesting. Expectedly, this exhibit was spider related, a girl with spider abilities. Kalie tilted her head. So that's what this place was. Humans...mutated...

How would having spider abilities help me? Kinda sounds suckish really. Spiders aren't scary but...eh, they kill bugs I guess. Does this girl kill bugs? Her hair reminds me of someone...wonder if she eats bugs too...

Kalie watched the act a bit. Then moved on. Now that she knew what this place was, she had a weird pit in her stomach. This wasn't a zoo. It seemed like torture.

Romulus. Romulus and Remus. The myth of Rome's creation. Seeing the abilities of a canine didn't surprise Kalie either. She watched him pounce around and howl a bit. She even smiled. He appeared to be having fun with it.

Maybe dog abilities wouldn't be so bad.

As some customers moved on after Romulus' performance, she stuck around, taking down notes about his appearance and smiling. He seemed more at home than the spider girl.

"Yes, I'm not gonna stop you from practicing." Avarella smiled, but slightly startled by the sudden voice of The Owner that seemed to have come out of nowhere. She turned around to see the man in authority, still taller than her as ever. Maybe I should find some ways to get taller myself? It's quite unsettling. She was used to tall people, but Jack - oh, wait, she's not allowed to call him that. She could ponder about the subject later.

Sharping herself with a straighter back to pay proper attention, she was able to call the tidbits of getting to the rest of the mutants by by 11. "Understood, sir." She spoke calmly, her expression turning into a blank glare when he commented on Ridley's practice. She held her tongue, and watched as he went off to somewhere that she didn't have any idea was. Probably to open up the zoo, seeing as opening hours would begin right about now. She quickly glanced to her watch, but didn't even look at the time, and glanced back to the cage with a smile. ".. I'll see you later then, Ridley."

Not wanting to be behind schedule before noon, she moved over to the next cage. There was some rustling about in the other cages that she had faintly heard earlier. Then again, it could have been just her, or the noise of the others practicing. Avarella wasn't exactly sure as to what to call the exhibits. Freaks was something too much, and mutants didn't fit just right. She wasn't sure as to what to call them, seeing as they would probably want to be acknowledged as such for what they were without being insulted. .. Perhaps I'll just ask them. Her attention was caught the sudden amount of people that were around that weren't there before, and quickened her pace. I'll be behind schedule at this rate!

As she reached the next cage, peering into the darkness that was just like that of Ridley's and Ebony's before she had disturbed them, only that this one seemed a bit occupied. It had already attracted a few people, and she smiled. She'd probably hover around here before talking to the one inside the cage alone. It probably wouldn't be very professional to do this while customers were around. Though, she couldn't help the widening of her eyes and the slight freeze of the limbs as she looked as at what was in the cage, possessing that of a scorpion tail. It took a few moments to process what it was that she was looking at. ".. Wow." She breathed out.

---

Freye lined up to the rest of the crowd who came by to see the zoo here that caught their attention, probably like how they did with hers.. His. (Just another year Freye, just another year, and you'll be free from this torture.) As he walked in with a small smile on his face - large smiles weren't too lady-like after all - he took a map of the zoo quite absentmindedly, taking in the entire sight of the entire zoo in general. ".. Surely to bring inspiration." He murmured to himself. While it should be wondrous to be here at this.. 'freak' zoo, he was alone, and no one should be very happy being alone. Mother had to stay back since she got herself hospitalized from falling down the stairs and fortunately only breaking a leg. He kept the bag that hung over his shoulder a bit tighter in his grip, barely glancing to the yelling man who he's assume was some big shot here at the zoo. Perhaps a sorts of ringleader or some other nonsense.

He kept his gaze on the map, looking over the color and coordination and wondering how it would look if he stuck to a palette of the specific colors on his map for an illustration. ".. Like swans and tigers." Patting down the white dress he wore for any dirt marks, he looked back up to the man who so enthusiastic. A good sculpture design concept. Looking around the crowd of that seemed to have gotten even larger, he took his phone out, only to sigh at the correspondence messages as he looked through it with a manicured hand. Sighing to himself, he looked back to the map/brochure paper. ".. Seems like I'll have to look through this place alone." Turning the paper over, he smiled as he stared over each portrait of the featured.. 'freaks', at the color and the overall appeal of the design. Though, he supposed that that they could've looked happier. Then again, not many would be happy if you think about these sorts of circumstances.

Her eye was caught by the image of the one 'freak' that was called 'Angel'. Wings.. They sound wondrous. He made a bee line to go and search for the girl. She certainly seemed quite beautiful on the picture. He tried to imagine what she would appear as in person itself, though the fact that he wasn't able to helped motivate his searching.

Ridley noticed Jack coming up and saying something to Avarella. The Owner, she meant. No one was allowed to call Jack by his first name, there was too much familiarity with first names. The Owner was a cold detachment, so that when he was beating the poor mutations, he wouldn't feel as guilty. Ridley preferred calling everyone by their actual name. It was the name giving to them by their parents, the name that they were born with. Although Avarella preferred Nixon, Ridley couldn't see herself calling the young doctor that.

"Change it up a little Widow. You're boring me and the guests."

She hissed at him from her spot upside down. She really couldn't stand him. Him and his constant, "I'm better than you, for I am fully human" act. He treated the poor people like animals, torturing them if they didn't do their routines right. And the staff were treated just as miserably. Why anyone would want to willingly work for a man such as Jack was beyond Ridley.

Avarella waved goodbye, moving onto the next exhibit. As soon as she left, several children ran up to her cage, Spider Man masks strapped to their heads. They were regulars at the zoo. Always excited to see Spider Man's distant cousin. At least that's what Jack advertised. Ridley was just a way to get more children to come to the zoo. More children meant more parents. More parents meant more money.

The children peered into the cage, waiting for Ridley to pop out of the shadows. Sometimes she would lie on her web, waiting for them to appear. Sometimes she liked to scare them, like she did to Avarella earlier.

"Black Widow!" One of the children called. Their grubby hands snaked through the bars, reaching out into the darkness.

Ridley crawled onto the ceiling passing over a small latch that turned on the soft glowing lights in her cage. They cheered happily, excited to see her. She looked at them upside down, her black hair swaying. Finally, she crawled quickly to the side wall and down to the ground before moving exceptionally close to the bars.

The children gasped and then laughed, clapping their hands. Ridley tilted her head to side showing her fangs. She pushed herself off of all fours, and shot a web pulling herself up. She swung back and forth doing aerial flips and tricks. And while free falling towards the ground, she shot a web net that caught her easily.

She smiled as the cheers came. She loved entertaining the children. It was the older men that concerned her.

Ridley stuck to the ceiling, her exhibit currently empty of audience members. She yawned, tired. She had been doing aerial and jumps for the past hour or so. Her body was ready to sleep. It was no sooner, that she contemplated coming down and sitting by the front of the cage, that some audience members showed up.

She knew them anywhere. The Comic Book Club as they dubbed themselves, even though they weren't really part of a club. One of them was the owner of a comic book store, and the little group with him were either his employees or dedicated customers. They all wore the same black t-shirt with Comic Book Club written on the back in green letters.

They had practically swarmed to her cage, their hands wrapping around the bars. They called her name several times, excited to see her. She hated them, more than she could stand.

She had half a mind to just stay up in the shadows, hidden from their view, but knew that if Jack came around and saw her ignoring audience members, he would probably beat her with a stick. Finally, she began moving, carefully moving across the ceiling down to the front bars. The moment they saw her, they cheered happily, their hands reaching out to touch her.

She recoiled back, not liking the idea of being touched by something that only saw her as a nerdy sexual object. She could see it in their eyes, the lust as their pupils dilated. She always felt uncomfortable, like she wasn't wearing enough.

They cheered for her, begging her to do something, but she couldn't bring herself to move. She wanted to disappear in the darkness, never to be seen by these crazy lunatics. She would take the beating from Jack, if it meant that she didn't have to perform for these men.

"C'mon Widow," One of them cooed reaching into the cage. He managed to grab her ankle before she could get away.

She struggled against his grip, but he was stronger than he appeared. She tried to shoot a web, a pull herself to safety, but the man dragged her towards the bars before she could shoot one off. He pulled her legs through the gaps in the bars, his hands feeling up her thighs. The others grabbed her arms, and squeezed her face.

She struggled against their grip before finally kicking the one that had originally grabbed her in the face, and hissing revealing her fangs. She could feel the venom coming out, ready to attack, but she quickly shot a web and pulled herself back up to the ceiling into the shadows.

The men slowly walked away leaving her cage empty. She made herself a small web, cradling herself into it's silky strings. Jack could beat her all he wanted, she was not coming down for the rest of the day.

"I wish to be very blunt, may I ask to draw your portrait." Okay, that was a new one. Usually, people asked Dawn more normal things, like how she got her wings and such. Or, they just laughed at her. She wasn't sure what to say, so she just sat there for a couple of seconds, looking at the ground of her enclosure.

"Sure. You can draw me, I guess. Just don't laugh at me." That last part was an accident. She meant to think it to herself, but it had slipped out. Thankfully, she talked so quiet they probably wouldn't hear her anyway. She looked up for a second, brushing a few wisps of hair out of her face. She was usually populated, yes, but nobody ever asked to draw her. Speaking of crowd, a small family was approaching. She gave an apologetic smile to Freya, and stood, letting her wings unfold and spread out. The two children laughed and wrapped their hands around the bars, pushing their faces closer. It was probably a little bit dangerous, she could easily hurt one of them if she was a more aggressive exhibit, but for the current moment they weren't hurting her at all. Except for the current streams of thoughts she was getting from them.

Look at the wings! So pretty... A voice that she guessed belonged to the little girl filled her mind, along with some other things how she looked like a doll. She did a flip for them, trying to block out their thoughts. She honestly loved children, but you try listening to them nonstop, even when they weren't talking.

Wow, she's cool. Wait, look at that one. He looks like a dog. I want to see him. He's cool. That sounded like the boy. He was already turning towards his parents, who currently Dawn couldn't tell what they were thinking. She had to be closer. She sighed as they left. No matter how much she wanted to be free, she loved it when she was visited. Even if she knew none of these people wanted to be her friend. They were just here to laugh at her, call her a freak...

Stop thinking like that. Most of them are nice people.

Pushing a fake smile onto her face, she turned back to the woman man in front of her and thought about how boring she must look.

"Would you like me to do more tricks? I must be boring you. Oh, by the way, I'm.. Angel." Dawn didn't want to give away her real name... Yet.
---
Jack stared at the empty exhibit in front of him, a sneer already in place. Where was the spider girl. She was supposed to be entertaining. Not like anybody was here... But that was probably because there was nothing to see.

"Widow! Get out here, now. You don't want to go into isolation, do you?" Isolation was something he had dreamt up. They shoved the freak into a dark room, no doors (as far as they could tell), no windows, no food, no 'enchantments'. One of his fellow scientist friends had figured out how to prevent them from using anything in that room. Actually, they were just a normal person during isolation. They didn't look nor act different. The Owner didn't know how it worked, it just did.

"I suggest you hurry up. Don't want me to come in there, do you?" He wouldn't do it unless he had to, of course. He hated being in there with them. But still, he could still ask one of his guards to come and 'escort' her out. More like drag. But it worked. He wrapped his hands around the cool metal bars, a small evil grin in place. "Come on, Black Widow. We just want to see your act..." He cooed into the darkness, a few people gathering behind him but he shooed them off.

Still, nothing. Jack took a step back and regarded the situation. He didn't really care what had happened. What he did know, however, is if this girl didn't come out in one minute, she was getting one hell of a beating, followed by a rather long isolation period.

Herrick knew he shouldn't have done that. He should have connected the fact that a lip-reader would get extremely taxed by seeing more than one mouth on a person, and eventually freak out a little. However, Zero's mind had yet to calculate this possibility, for he had yet to truly meet any person that was actually deaf, or could read lips. He rarely got visitors as it was, let alone deaf ones. Noticing that her head was spinning, a look of remorse and regret flooded his mind and facial expression. He instantly chastised himself mentally, knowing that he should have thought that one through more carefully and meticulously. Doctor Avarella, on the other hand, seemed to be entranced by his hands, leaning into his cage as if to touch them out of awe. Her eyes, on the other hand, confused him - a mix of mystified and entranced. She whispered something about how 'Goddamned cool' his hands were, to which Zero promptly made a mental note to look up the origins of this 'goddamned cool' saying, and to figure out what that trance-like look in her eyes was.

They're not saying anything, are they? I... couldn't keep up with them, I'm sorry. Those words seemed to crumble the silence that had been created, to which Herrick quickly put his hands down and Avarella seemed to retreat. Herrick turned to face Rosa, a remorseful expression clear. "My deepest apologies Miss, I... wasn't thinking entirely. No, they are not capable of speech, nor digestion. They can taste, but that is all." Herrick dipped his head apologetically. Avarella, although concerned, had her attention diverted to a crowd that was growing near Ebony's cage to which she gave her apologies and ran off. Herrick made no motion to stop her, nor did he do anything besides sit cross legged. From his vantage point he could see Ebony - or Jetta, he called her both. She was quite a nice and optimistic character, one that Zero wished he would talk to more often. Perhaps she would bring up his confidence with her enthusiasm.

That lead his eyesight to the cage nearest himself - Ridley's. Those pieces of Scum had once again come back to sexually assault the mutants again, and Herrick hated it. Normally, the quirkly fellow did absolutely nothing, for that was his nature, and that was how Jack wanted him to be. On occasion though, he had been known to scare them by simply sticking out his tongue, or even just by opening his eyes at them. The normally went around his cage that way and ended up with the twins, which was amusement enough. He turned back to Rosa and gave her a smile. "Miss, it isn't your fault. I am assuming the pressure of actually communicating got to me." He smiled - unbeknownst to him, quite sheepishly - and turned to hear Mr. Jack roaring at Ridley.

He turned his head and instantly narrowed his eyes at the situation. He was quite fond of Ridley - same reason as with Ebony, she seemed to be quite a nice person to befriend if he ever tried - and Jack wasn't in a good mood. Ridley was hiding from those Comic book lowlifes, whom instantly noticed him and scooted around his cage. He then heard Jack threaten her with that isolation chamber. Zero did not fear that room, for it did nothing to him at all - in fact, it made him feel a little more free. He shook that thought and stared back. He didn't like where this was going, but he couldn't get involved. That was simply out of the question.

Ara hadn’t been waiting long when she discovered the conversation going in front of Herrick’s cage. It amused her until she heard yells coming from Ebony’s cage. “Lilith, do you hear that?” Ara asked her sister while jumping up to bars of their cage dragging Lilith along behind her.

Lilith would have yelled out in protest at being dragged behind her sister but she also wanted to know what was happening with Ebony. Of course though she knew they couldn’t see what was happening from their cage. Though she did catch a glimpse of Nixon running off towards the commotion. “Ara would you calm down, you know we aren’t going to be able to see anything anyway.”

Ara listened to her sister before giving her an irritated look, that was not something she cared to hear right now. “Dawn, can you see what is going on?” Ara asked to their neighbor choosing to ignore Lilith’s comment. She waited barely a moment before deciding to find another source. “Zero! Can you see what is going on with Ebony?” Ara yelled hoping he would hear her from across the wide path separating their cages. Ara started tapping her foot impatiently, she hated being in the cage for the simple reason of never knowing what was going on outside. Not that there was ever much to really know anyway, until now of course.

Lilith, while she was worried about Ebony, deep down somewhere - the girl was a little bit to bright and outgoing her tastes - was already resigned to the fact that her and Ara couldn’t do anything about it anyway. She let her eyes wander around while her sister yelled out, no doubt annoying people with her need for more information. Her eyes landed on The Owner standing outside Ridley’s cage. She took a glance at her sister and decided not to let Ara know what she planned to do. No point she already knew Ara would agree with her completely, it was one of the only thing they actually agreed on. “Oi, Jack!” Lilith hissed out a the man. Unlike most of the others she actually hated calling The Owner by his first name, she hated the familiarity of it. She would never in her life wish to be familiar with a man like that. Lilith opened her mouth and felt her fangs protrude threateningly, sure they weren’t all that impressive but they were better than none. Lilith didn’t say anything else, she wasn’t much for words and well, she knew Ara would jump in at any moment now.

Ara heard her sister and immediately looked to see what Lilith had seen and found The Owner yelling at Ridley who was hiding in the darkness of her cage. Of course Ara had seen the men who attacked Ridley, and it wasn’t the first time, she glared with pure hatred towards The Owner. “Piss off. Leave Ridley the hell alone, she doesn’t deserve your shit!” Ara yelled putting emphasis on calling Ridley by her correct name. She continued from Lilith’s original comment knowing that was where she was meant to jump in. They semiconsciously finished each other’s sentences around The Owner, like it made them closer and feeling closer to each other made them mentally stronger and feel safer. They didn’t mind the threat of isolation either since they weren’t actually isolated, luckily enough for them.

"I-I didn't mean to make her go." Rosa stuttered out with a frown, watching the young doctor walk away towards another cage. She sighed gently, looking back to Herrick. Miss, it isn't your fault. I am assuming that the pressure of communication got to me. Rosa's nervous feelings declined a little, and she began to give him sympathetic looks. You and me both Herrick... she sighed gently, looking to the spikes on his feet absentmindedly. "Please, just call me Rosa..." Rosa noticed Herrick's eyes narrowed in the direction of another cage.

Rosa turned to look at The Owner, watching his actions and behaviour with consideration. She frowned slightly at him. He was the man who looked so friendly, and yet suspicious at the entrance. She had a hunch earlier, but the way he was threatening one of the people, it was so cruel, and completely contrasting to the chirpy excited personality he had put on earlier. "I thought that he didn't seem like the type to be so happy..." she commented to herself, leaning against the bars of the cage lightly. "No one keeping people in cages and making them perform routines would be calm and kind." she sighed, hoping the girl within the cage wouldn't get hurt.

Katerina sits in the corner of her cage, her blue cat eyes scanning the crowd outside the iron bars. She takes a breath, wondering how she got herself into this situation. Her tail twitches as she sees the eyes appearing outside her cage. Katerina breathes in a sigh as she stretches out, amusing the patrons she sees. She begins her acrobatics standing on her hands and walking forward, doing splits and balancing on one hand. Different things she could think of. But, of course, the crowd was distracted by her cat-like features. They always were. Why is it different now? Because she's in a cage? She chalks it up to that.

Pretty soon, Katerina hears a commotion outside her cage that isn't coming from the crowd. She carefully walks on all fours to the bars and peeks her head out as much as she can to see what was going on. She flicks her ears to hear the commotion better. She picks up on the conversation and her tail twitches as she hears it.
"Who are these people?" she thought. Being the newest member of the show, Katerina really didn't know the others. She had arrived, then when she agreed to stay, she was put in this cage. It wasn't until she felt a familiar sensation on her head that she was hit back into reality. A little boy stood in front of the cage stroking her head. He couldn't have been older than 5. Immediately, Katerina hisses to the boy, her nails extending in attempts to scratch him.

The boy screams and falls back, his mother catching him as he cries.
"What the hell is your problem you freak of nature?!" the mother screams.
"Maybe you should tell your spawn not to touch the performers!" Katerina hisses back, her back up like an angry feline, tail lashing back and forth.
The mother's eyes are filled with fiery anger, "How dare you speak to me that way!"
"How dare you speak to me that way!" Katerina glares at the woman in front of her.
The mother stands, helping her son up, "You WILL pay for this you realize. I will report you."
"Go ahead. As long as it gets me the hell away from you and that thing you call a child I'll be fine." Katerina goes back to her corner and curls up.
The boy and his mother walk off, mother seething with anger and giving one more yell before she leaves.

Herrick could tell that by Miss Rosa's constant apologies that she was a very sweet and caring lady, something that made him smile just a bit. However, his mind was focused on other things when she stated Please, just call me Rosa... to which he could only nod his understanding. He didn't want to get anymore involved than he should, for even if Zero had been around the longest of most, that didn't mean that Jack had grown soft for him or something. He would be punished the same, only he wouldn't feel it as much (been there long enough, pain just seems natural after a while).

I thought that he didn't seem like the type to be so happy... No one keeping people in cages and making them perform routines would be calm and kind." He simply nodded throughout her speech, hearing every word even if she meant to keep that to herself. "Right you are, Miss Rosa. His occupation is not one he does calmly." He stated simply, for there wasn't much to hide it. Jack thought that Ridley would ruin the show if she stayed up there, but from Herrick's simply observations, he could tell that the yelling he did on occasion would actually have a more negative effect on the onlookers. Nobody would want the Ringmaster yelling at his elephants during the circus.

Zero! Can you see what is going on with Ebony? Zero's head turned slowly and casually over to the other nearest cage, the Twins Ara and Lilith. Ara didn't seem like she was enjoying the fact that Ebony's cage wasn't in her vision, so he decided to enlighten her. "She fell. Dr. Avarella is investigating." He said in a quiet voice, hopefully loud enough for her to hear. But then Lilith noticed Ridley and Jack and started yelling profanities. Zero had to sigh at the sight, it truly was tiring and depressing. Lilith wasn't the happiest lady in the show, but that didn't mean she had to yell all the time...

Ridley swung quietly from her web, picking at her nails. Her foot dangled over the edge, as she watched people peer into her cage. They stared in, wondering where she was before moving onto the next cage. She could hear a commotion coming from Ebony's cage next to hers. She was very close with Ebony, considering they both liked the dark and had a tendency to spend more time crawling on walls, than actually walking.

As much as she cared for the other girl, Ridley couldn't bring herself to come down from her web. She wanted to be left alone, in the quiet. But that wasn't allowed. Not with Jack constantly checking up on them. He had come to her cage, probably after someone had complained, and was banging on the bars. He threatened her with isolation, like he always did.

She glared down at him, even though he couldn't see her. "Come on, Black Widow. We just want to see your act..."

Ridley felt shivers climb up her spine, as he used the same voice those horrendous comic book nerds used. She sat up straight and quickly shot a web covering the entirety of the front of her cage. No one could reach in, no one could see her even if she came out of the shadows. She was alone. She heard Jack start yelling profanities. She knew, the moment the zoo closed, she would get a beating a probably a few days in isolation with no food.

She would take gladly, if it meant she could get away from those people. She could still feel their hands on her, as they rubbed her body in every wrong way. They were lucky she didn't bite them. It would've been easy. One bite to their wrist, shooting venom up to their heart, and they would've been dead. She had killed enough people to know exactly how it worked.

Ridley heard as Lilith and Arabella began yelling profanities at Jack. Trying to get him to leave her alone. She couldn't help but smile, thankful for the kindness they showed towards her, but was overwhelmingly sad. They would definitely be getting a beating from Jack. They might even end up isolation as well. Although, it was never really isolation, so they were conjoined.

Ridley jumped down from her web, and sat in the center of her cage. Waiting patiently for the zoo to close, and one of the bodyguards to carry her out. To come face to face with Jack and the beating she would most definitely get.

Rosa flinched back quickly at the web suddenly covering the cage, blinking at it in dismay. Was it really possible that he was making a person so distressed that they'd react in such a manner? She couldn't see it as possible herself, but apparently it was. She frowned to herself, looking to The Owner and letting out a sigh. Whatever he was doing, he was doing something mean to these people, simply because they were different in a pretty spectacular way. Rosa bit her lip a little, her hand clenching the bar of the cage a little. Maybe she'd have to come and visit this zoo more, try and find out more about what this horrible man was doing and then report him to the authorities. "Hmm, but that could be trouble for everyone else in the zoo... So authorities is out..." Last thing she would want is to get these people in a worse situation. Imagine them getting dissected...

Rosa looked over to Herrick, biting her lip. "Are they going to be okay in there? He's not going to hurt them... is he?" Rosa asked with a frown, referring to Ridley even though she didn't know who it was in there. Rosa sighed gently, rolling her shoulders back. "I mean, has anyone tried to tell the cops about that guy yet, or will there need to be a first?" she asked, glancing to The Owner, and then back to Herrick.