The Miracle Clinic

The August Leaves Mall is a place with a historic past.

In the 90s and early 2000s it was a shining pillar of the community over in the west side of town. If there was any form of shopping to be done, it would be there. Everyone went there at least a few times a month whether it was the elderly out for a jog, young kids messing around in the playplaces, or teens vandalizing the stores. Those that were around in its glory days always thought it was going to be around forever.

It closed down permanently in 2006.

A mix of the opening of the more modern and flashy Starlight City’s Central Mall, the August Leaves Mall increasing the prices to rent out spaces each to a ridiculous amount, and the deteriorating infrastructure of The West Side caused the pillar of the community to now be nothing more than a memory.

It still remains to this day though but clearly as a shell of its former self.

Everything reeks of a bygone more simpler era that was dulled and drained of life by the passage of time. Dust and cobwebs cover both of its floors, all of the machinery have long since been deactivated, and the large 30 foot statue of the mall’s original owner broke towards the bottom and has toppled over long ago.

However despite the deteriorated state it's in, life has once again found its way inside the mall as at least for tonight it's bustling with hundreds of people. It’s The Massachusetts Boys’ annual costume halloween party, and practically every member – save for the two highest ranking ones – are all gathered to celebrate the festivities.

Though it isn’t just The Massachusetts Boys here at the party.

Spread out all across the mall are members of the miracle clinic, Hunter, Christopher, The Three Ts, & two members of Dirty Fang. All of which are wearing disguises.

On the second floor of the mall is a group of four – Elizabeth who’s in a clown mask, Ronnie with a grim reaper mask, Blanko in his phantom of the opera mask, & Tim-Tom who has clown makeup & hair on.

“So, why are we up here in the first place?” Elizabeth asks.

“Well, all hell is gonna break loose as soon as they know we’re here,” Tim-Tom remarks, “So while we’re still undercover, we should look for that photograph.”

“Yeah but, who are we gonna ask about it?” Blanko questions.

“Well how ‘bout that guy?” Ronnie says as he points to one of the few people up on the second floor.

The person there is the third-in-command, Cambridge, who’s wearing his baseball costume. When Cambridge spots them, he begins to walk over to them.

“Hey there man, you know if we can find-” Ronnie tries to say before he feels Cambridge place his hand on his shoulder.

“Hey buddy,” Cambridge remarks, “You all seem a bit lost. Party’s downstairs.”

“Really? No clue,” Blanko blurts out, “You know how to get down from here?”

Ronnie, Tim-Tom, & Elizabeth glare at Blanko while Cambridge looks at them confused.

“Then how’d you get up here?” Cambridge questions, “And I don’t recall seeing you guys around before.”

“Oh- uh- well,” Blanko stammers as he thinks a way out of this.

“Forgive my friend, he’s still a bit dizzy from bobbing for apples for so long,” Tim-Tom laughs casually, “We told him to stop but he kept on bobbing and bobbing and bobbing. You really should’ve seen it.”

Cambridge raises an eyebrow.

“We’re also in costumes,” Ronnie points out, “We don’t normally dress like this.”

“Then what do you dress like normally?” Cambridge questions as he moves his hand over to lift up Ronnie’s mask.

Before he can do that though, Tim-Tom grabs Ronnie, Blanko, & Elizabeth with his arms and starts to walk away.

“Sorry for bothering you man! We’ll be back down right away!” Tim-Tom laughs.

Cambridge is silent as the group walks away.

Once he’s out of earshot, Elizabeth questions, “He seems a bit pushy.”

“Yeah, it’s like he doesn’t want us up here,” Ronnie remarks, “But why?”

“I think I may know,” Blanlo says as he looks into one of the stores on the second floor.

The group looks into the store and are all greeted by the shocking sight of….several halloween props that all have a “use later in party” stickers on them.

“Oh,” Elizabeth sighs.

_________________________

On the first floor of the mall, Marcus is grouped up with Hunter & Christopher. The three are glancing around when Hunter spots Worcester standing on the second floor of the mall.

“There you are,” Hunter utters beneath his devil mask.

“Now hold on Hunter,” Marcus says in his jack-o-lantern mask, “If we go for him now we’ll have to fight everybody else here.”

“Bro’s right bro,” Christopher agrees in his inflatable dino costume, “We should wait for a better time.”

Hunter looks at Worcester then down at the ground before sighing and lamenting, “Alright.”

As the group of three continue through the party, Sammy & Vanessa stand by the wall watching them.

“What’s with that dino costume?” Sammy laughs under her rooster mask, “You got a clue Vanny?”

Vanessa, who has a kitsune mask over his face, doesn’t respond.

“C’mon you got no comment?” Sammy asks.

“Nope,” Vanessa affirms, “Just because I didn’t bring it up at homecoming doesn’t mean I forgot one bit about what happened-”

Before Vanessa can continue anything, the two teens feel a pair of arms bringing them closer to a person who just walked up to them.

“Wow your costumes sure are remarkable,” No. 6 Frankfurt ‘Fall River’ Schulz says in his godfather costume, “Where did you get them?”

Vanessa, without even thinking, grabs Frankfurt’s arm that is around her and goes to twist it, however Sammy stops her.

“Thanks but we didn’t really try,” Sammy remarks, “We just threw on whatever we found that was cheap.”

“Cheap huh?” Frankfurt remarks, “You girls are frugal with money, I like that.”

Vanessa, still ready to break Frankfurt’s arm, glares at Sammy.

“Aw you’re too kind,” Sammy says in a fake nice tone, “Though I must say, all the makeup you put on for that costume really paid off.”

“Makeup?” Frankfurt questions, “I’m not wearing any makeup-”

“Wait, you don’t have any?” Sammy questions as she puts on a fake shocked expression, “Are you saying all those ugly wrinkles are real?! And here I was thinking you were just pretending to be an old creep.”

A coy smirk escapes from Sammy’s face as the 34 year old Frankfurt’s face begins to go red with rage. Instead of saying anything, he just huffs and puffs before walking away from the two teens.

“I don’t blame you for that but we can’t beat that bitch up just yet,” Sammy remarks before trying to reach out to the still shaking Vanessa, “Hey, you okay?”

Vanessa quickly swats Sammy’s hand away before uttering, “Don’t touch me.”

“Okay then,” Sammy says as she puts her hands in her pockets, “How about we take a moment to breathe.”

Vanessa is silent for a moment, not moving nor responding to Sammy, however almost as if a weight has just fallen off her shoulders, Vanessa lets out a deep breath.

The two teens continue to stand on the wayside for a moment as the festivities continue.

__________________________

“So, I heard you wanted to know about The Tale of The Unshakeable Fist?” A Massachusetts Boy’s member remarks.

The member is standing right next to the giant fallen statue of a the mall’s original owner as several other members are sitting around on the floor next to him. A part of the crowd is Alex in a frankenstein mask, Selina in a skeleton mask, Randy in a ski mask, Tim with fake cat ear+fake whiskers+a cat collar+a fake cat tail, & Tom with a scooby doo mask. A trash can that’s on fire is also in front of the person telling the story.

“Is this supposed to be some sort of stupid campfire story?” Randy asks only for Selina to shush him.

“Shut up dude I’m trying to hear the story,” Selina remarks.

“Now it all went down on a dark and stormy night,” The Massachusetts Boy member explains, “Back then the mall was still open though it was on its last legs. Many people thought of it as a dumping ground for whatever they felt like. But that would all change the night he showed up.”

The Massachusetts Boy continues as he tries to make his voice sound frightening, “He had messy black hair held up with a padded headband, facial hair so majestic you’d think he was a celebrity, a parka jacket stained with the blood of many battles successfully won, and an intimidating burn across his cold dead eye. That man only spoke Korean but you could tell what he was saying just by the way he looked. He wanted to show the gap in strength between people like us and kings like him.”

The Massachusetts Boy clenches his fist and swings it, “With just a single swing of his unshakeable fist he managed to crack the Kennedy statue in half. After that he left in search for a red haired man who he swore revenge on. The mall had to shut down soon after in fear of any excess damage that the Korean man left. Nobody knows where he went – some say he went back to his country, others said he trained on a mountain, me personally I think he’s still destroying monuments to this day – but regardless of where he’s at now, nobody can deny that he truly is a king!”

As The Massachusetts Boys member finishes his tale, the crowd is silent. That is until.

BOOOOO!!!!!

Several tomatoes and garbage is flung at the man.

“That story fucking sucked!” someone yells.

“You clearly haven’t touched grass in a while if you think that shit is real!” Another yells.

“No person could even break a statue with their fists!!” Randy yells.

As the crowd continues their riot, Tim & Tom look at each other.

“What a silly story,” Tim laughs.

“I know, it’s almost as ridiculous as that costume you’re wearing,” Tom jokes.

“What’s wrong with my outfit?” Tim questions as he’s still dressed as a catboy.

Tom just gives a dead stare at Tim in response.

As everyone continues to yell, Selina nudges Alex. A look of fear is on her face. Alex looks confused until he sees what Selina is pointing at.

On the statue that’s broken in two is an indent where the statue broke.

The indent of a fist.

“That has to be fake,” Alex tries to console both him & Selina.

“Yeah, you’d only see someone do that in some stupid comic,” Selina sweats trying to trick herself, “This has to be some sort of silly reference or something the author was told to do.”

“Yeah for s-wait what?” Alex remarks.

“Sorry sorry, X kept spouting nonsense to me at my last shift,” Selina explains, “I think it rubbed off on me a little.”

“Yeah well maybe he-” Alex tries to say when-

RIIIIIIINNNNGGGG!

The loud annoying ringing of a microphone turning on causes everyone to wince in pain until it calms down.

“Glad to know this is on,” Worcester remarks as he holds a microphone, “Now then can everyone come gather around! It’s time for the Scavenger Hunt!”

Several of the Massachusetts boys members gather into one large group. Worcester is standing atop on the second floor as he remarks.

“Thank you thank you,” Worcester begins to say, “I know we’re all excited for the big scavenger hunt to begin, and I am too. But first we need to split up into groups.”

All of the members begin to shuffle about causing the members of the miracle clinic to get pushed and shoved away from one another. By the time it’s all said and done there are six distinct groups.

“Alright now then each group is going to be going to a different place and looking for The Special Presents,” Worcester says, “Those that are staying here at the mall will be in Lynn & Amherst’s group.”

Victor ‘Lynn’ Dunnerman & Trisha ‘Amherst’ Bernstein’s group is the largest in size by a longshot and Alex, Selina, Randy, Tim, & Tom are a part of it.

“Those that are in Lowell’s group will be going to Fredrick Fastbear’s Factory,” Worcester remarks.

Kimberly ‘Lowell’ Masterson’s group is less than five times the size of the mall group but is still the second largest group. CJ is a part of the group but so are Elizabeth & Blanko.

“Fall River’s team is going to the Roots Co. Warehouse,” Worcester remarks.

Frankfurt ‘Rall River’ Schulz’s group has Vanessa Deli & Sammy Becken a part of it.

“Plymouth & Quincy’s group is going to Granite’s Auto Repair Shop,” Worcester says.

Parker ‘Plymouth’ Duggar & Quinn ‘Quincy’ Overton’s group is the smallest with Tim-Tom being a part of it.

“Cammy’s team will be going to Tatsu’s Household Needs,” Worcester states.

Ronnie looks around to see he’s the only person not a part of The Massachusetts Boys in Chao ‘Cambridge’ Huang’s group.

“And for everyone else,” Worcester laughs, “You’re with me.”

Hunter, Marcus, & Christopher look up with some hesitancy at Worcester.

“Now then, let’s get to it!” Worcester says with a clap of his hands.

As all of the groups begin to disperse, Marcus glances around at all of the others who are breaking apart. All of them look a bit blind sided from this all, however Ronnie despite it gives them all a thumbs up.

The doors close behind him as Ronnie looks at Cambridge.

“So, Household Needs huh?” Ronnie tries to say to the group at large.

They don’t respond to him for a minute.

“Yeah, grocery store,” Cambridge remarks, “Just closed down yesterday so there’s still a lot of cleaning left to do.”

“Ah, so we got ourselves the short end of the stick?” Ronnie questions.

“Yeah, we did,” Cambridge breathes as he looks at Ronnie.

Ronnie keeps quiet as the group makes their way to the grocery store. Eventually they’re right at the front door to the place when Cambridge opens up his phone.

“Hold on a moment,” Cambridge says as he calls someone.

___________________

Inside a pop up halloween store, the minimum wage clerk looks up at the two sole customers in the building.

“Changing room is over there,” the clerk groans as he points down the hall.

The two people he’s talking to are Jackson ‘Boston’ Cavendish & Lucia ‘Salem’ Dulik. The two are still in their attire they had on at the dinner earlier but are holding bags with their costumes inside it.

“I see, thanks for the discount,” Boston remarks as he waves at the clerk.

The two higher ups of The Massachusetts Boys make their way through the aisles of cheaply made halloween costumes before making it to the changing room. Keyword being room since there’s only one.

“I won’t look if you won’t,” Boston suggests.

Lucia sighs as she opens the door. The two enter the changing room together and face away from one another. Lucia manages to shrug the blazer off with ease while Jackson carefully takes his arms out of the sleeves of the brown overcoat. It’s when he only has one sleeve fully out of the coat that-

RING RING RING!

His phone rings.

With his free hand, Jackson answers the phone call coming in from Cambridge and puts it on speaker.

“Hey Salem’s with me and you’re on speaker, what’s up?” Jackson asks as he takes his other arm out of the coat’s sleeve.

“I just wanted to confirm with you what you said earlier,” Cambridge remarks over the phone, “Is it still true?”

“Ah that,” Jackson says as he carefully pulls the turtleneck sweater and undershirt off him, “Yeah, go ahead and do whatever you want with those intruders from The Miracle Clinic.”

Lucia glances toward Jackson slightly, interested by his latest remark, all the while carefully unbuttoning her dress shirt.

“How’d you find out about that?” Lucia asks as she slides her unbuttoned shirt down her arms.

“Well it’s simple really,” Jackson says as he unclips his belt, “Worcester beat up someone from their group, so it makes sense they’d try and enact revenge. Once you’re done with them Cambridge, bring them all over to the heartbreak motel.”

“And should I relay this to the other groups?” Cambridge inquires over the phone.

Now with the two heads in nothing but their undergarments, they begin to unwrap the costumes they got.

“You won’t need to,” Jackson says, “I already told them the same thing I’m telling you.”

“I see, thanks,” Cambridge says as he hangs up.

As Lucia & Jackson continue to change to unwrap their costumes, Jackson glances over at Lucia who just got the costume out of its packaging.

“I take it by your wording you also knew?” Jackson questions..

“Yeah, figured I’d have it be an opportunity for the lower ranks to prove themselves,” Lucia states as she puts on the dress for the costume.

As she does so, she can’t reach down to pull up the zipper that’s on the back of the outfit.

“A little help?” Lucia questions.

Jackson turns around and helps zip up Lucia’s costume, hiding away her once exposed back in the process.

“Glad we’re on the same page here Salem,” Boston remarks as he lets go of Lucia’s dress, “Now, let’s sit back and watch how well they pass this test!”

_____________________

With Cambridge’s group, Ronnie is sweating bullets underneath his mask as Cambridge puts his phone into his pocket.

“Well, you heard what he said, right?” Cambridge remarks.

“Uhhh yeah,” Ronnie says, “We gotta look out for any fakers out there. I’ll show ‘em a thing or two about messing with The Maryla- I mean Massachusetts Boys!”

Cambridge looks over at Ronnie dumbfounded before he places his hand on Ronnie’s tracksuit and pulls him in.

“You aren’t fooling anyone Everst,” Cambridge remarks.

“Yeah I kinda realized tha-” Ronnie begins to say as he’s tossed into the abandoned grocery store, kicking up a cloud of dust when he lands.

“Take care of the trash,” Cambridge says as he turns to walk around.

Two of the Massachusetts Boys members nod as they begin to walk into the abandoned grocery store, the two cracking their knuckles as they do so.

“Must be our lucky day!” One of them remarks.

“Yeah, it’s always nice getting to finish off the easy ones-” The other tries to say as a hand firmly grasps onto his head, “Huh-”

Before the two can respond, the two hands that are grasping onto each of their heads slams them into each other causing Cambridge to turn around. As he does so, he feels something hit him. A grim reaper mask.

“I don’t think you can really call others trash,” Ronnie Everst smirks as he steps out of the cloudy shadows and over the two unconscious bodies, “Have you seen the places you stay at?”

“You’re still up, huh?” Cambridge remarks as he rolls up his sleeves, “You should’ve just played dead, would’ve made things easier for both of us.”

“What, scared of lil old me?” Ronnie questions as he walks into the grocery store, “If you wanna talk that smack make sure you back it up with some fists.”

“Fists huh?” Cambridge questions as he steps foot into the store, “If you think you & your friends can just win like you did back in Club Azure, you got a rude awakening coming your way.”

“Oh please,” Ronnie says as he motions for Cambridge to come toward him, “I got nothing to worry about, do you even know who we are?”

“Yeah, dead meat,” Cambridge remarks.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Ronnie remarks, “It’ll take a lot to put them down!”

____________________________________

Inside The Heartbreak Motel, Hunter, Marcus, & Christopher have their masks off and have been backed into a corner by Worcester’s goons.

“So, what do you say we do?” Christopher asks.

“It’s simple,” Hunter says as he smashes a thug’s face in while only looking at Worcester, “We give them hell.”

_________________________

Inside Fredrick Fastbear’s Factory, Blanko & Elizabeth have their masks off as they look around at all of the members coming after them.

“Heads up we’re fighting after all,” Blanko remarks as he gets in a kickboxing stance.

“Yeah, looks like they saw through-” Elizabeth begins to try to say before getting tackled, “Us.”

Blanko looks confused as the person who tackled Elizabeth is in an astronaut outfit and is rolling around on the ground with Elizabeth.

Wait, that wasn’t a tackle.

It was a…hug?

The person in the astronaut costume lifts Elizabeth up in the air.

“Eli! It’s been too long!” The astronaut costume remarks before letting Elizabeth down.

“Wh-who are-” Elizabeth tries to say.

“Oh right, the costume n all,” The person says as they unzip themselves out of the full body astronaut outfit.

Elizabeth’s eyes widen at the side of the person in front of her, The Massachusetts Boys No. 5, Kimberly ‘Lowell’ Masterson.

“How have you been Eli?” Kimberly questions, “I’m curious to see just how strong you’ve become!”

_____________

In the Roots Co. Warehouse, Sammy & Vanessa are staring down Frankfurt ‘Fall River’ Schulz as he walks toward them.

“So, looks like I’ll be getting to discipline you after all,” Frankfurt remarks with a twisted sense of delight.

Hearing that comment, Vanessa & Sammy face back to back with one their masks still on.

“Who knew we’d be fighting together for a change?” Sammy tries to remark.

“Just shut up and focus on the task at hand,” Vanessa utters, “We have a pig to butcher.”

______________

Inside Granite’s Auto Repair Shop, Tim-Tom is wiping away the clown makeup off his face with some water. The green wig he had on is also on the ground. Parker & Quinn are standing there looking at Tim-Tom.

“Looks like we managed to luck out here,” Parker grins, “Don’t you agree Quinn?”

Quincy is silent as she analyzes her opponent.

“Y’know, I was trying to keep it together these past few weeks. I thought I’d save all my aggression for that phantom bastard,” Tim-Tom remarks as he finishes washing away all the makeup, “But you managed to get under my skin, lucky you.”

“Under your skin? Oh no I’m so scared I’m gonna piss my pants!” Parker mocks with a laugh.

It’s at this remark, Tim-Tom walks over to the entrance of the repair shop.

“Oh no, what are you gonna do? Run away?” Parker laughs when-

SLAM!

Parker’s face shifts as he witnesses Tim-Tom slamming the metal doors shut.

“It seems like all I am is just a laughing stock to you guys. I’m not as menacing as Mason. I’m not as strong as Jackson. And I’m not as smart as Joel,” Tim-Tom begins to say as he grabs onto the metal door handles, “Being known as the worst crewhead is something I’ve grown tired of.”

Tim-Tom begins to twist and bend the metal handle until it’s unusable as he finishes, “So I think it’s about damn time that I remind everyone why I’m considered a crewhead too!”

_________________________

Back at the August Leaves Mall, Alex, Selina, Randy, Tim, & Tom all look at the hundreds, maybe even a thousand of Massachusetts Boys members all ready to beat them to a pulp.

“You got a plan?” Randy asks, panicked.

“Yeah if we make a pipe bomb then we can-” Selina tries to suggest.

“Nah we ain’t doing anything special like that bub,” Alex says before looking at Tim & Tom, “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Oh absolutely,” Tim nods.

“One hundred percent,” Tom grins.

“Good then it’s decided,” Alex solemnly states, “We’re running away.”

See You Next Chapter!~