Birth of the 1st Clay-Face
Birth of the 1st Clay-Face
Meanwhile, in Gotham Central, a play is taking place inside the Monarch Theatre.
The play was known as "Dread Castle which was a remake of an old horror play known as [The Terror." The Terror was made by Lucas Donnell, and Dread Castle was directed by award-winning actor Basil Karlo.
The main protagonist, Danny Crescent, was played by fellow actor Matthew Hagan, while the antagonist, Clay Face, was played by Basil Karlo's prized pupil, Juniper Montage.
Juniper Montage had always had a reputation for playing deformed and demented characters, mostly villains, like when she played The Ten-Eyed Man from the Cult Classic, [The Mystery of the Ten-Eyed Man." Or when she played an obsessive stalker in [Branches of Sin."
"Alright, Juniper, let's bring it to our A-Game tonight," Basil Karlo said as Juniper was putting on her make-up.
"Of course, I always do, Mr. Karlo," Juniper said. Then, once she got her signature clay mask on, she headed backstage.
"Of course, I always do, Mr. Karlo," Trixie sarcastically taunted. "I should be the star of the show, not stupid Juniper Montage."
"Well, maybe you would be a star if you weren't always late for rehearsals or when you could never memorize your lines," Matt Hagan said as he then went backstage.
"Oh, She'll be regretting that she ever up-staged me when tonight's over," Trixie said under her breath. "That is a promise."
As the play had begun, Juniper could only watch from a TV monitor backstage to see how much the audience loved the play. Then the time finally came for Juniper to come out and play her part as the lights went off.
As one of the victim characters, Frankie Swift, played by Sunny Flare, was walking through a hallway in the castle, Juniper, as Clayface, was hiding underneath a trapdoor.
"Fools, they played at murder, but it will be I who shall, in reality, bring death," Juniper said, speaking in a sinister voice.
Then as Sunny Flare inched closer, Clayface leaped out from the trapdoor, Sunny Flare cringed at the man with a Face made of Clay.
"AIEEE, THE TERROR," Sunny Flare screamed in terror.
"Yes, you look upon my face—a face devolved of beauty and replaced with horror—queer, frightening, isn't it?" Juniper said. "But do not worry; you won't have to look at it for long."
"Now, Frankie Swift, die," Juniper said as she brought the knife down before the spotlights went out.
As soon as the lights went out, Juniper went through the same trapdoor and waited as the lights turned on, revealing Frankie's dead body.
"Oh no, it's Frankie Swift, and she's dead," Danny Crescent said in despair.
As the rest of the characters had taken away Frankie's body, The Clay-Faced Man peeked through the trapdoor and spoke, "The scene ends, for Death is the director."
As the play progressed, another victim character named Olivia Spice (played by Aria Blaze) was the next to fall to the blade of The Clay-Faced Man.
Then, at the end, The Clay-Faced Man was finally stopped, and when unmasked, it was revealed to be disfigured actress Abagail Cross.
"Abagail, but why?" Danny said.
"Preston Payne was going to star in a schlock-fest of my masterpiece, to remake such a beauty would be blasphemy," Abagail sneered. "This isn't over, Danny, I'll be back and next time, the Curtain of fate will be dropping on you."
Juniper Montage, as usual, had a stellar performance playing the role of The Terror. Juniper was in the breakroom, cleaning her face from the residue from the clay mask she was wearing.
"Hey, Juniper, nice performance you had there," Trixie said in a sarcastic tone of voice. "You were such a superstar, as usual."
“Well, Trixie Maybe if you spent most of your time memorizing your lines and not running off all the time, maybe Basil would choose you," Juniper said.
"I don't understand why they love you more than they love me,” Trixie said jealously. “I'm prettier than you."
"Trix, I don't get why you're so worked up about all this," Juniper said to Trixie’s growing anger.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP! DON'T CALL ME TRIX, EVER!” Trixie roared. “So, you think you're so clever and famous and more loved? Well, that will change when I'm done with you.”
Trixie then has a barrel full of clay.
“You know, I was just going to put a bullet in your brain, but now that you've pissed me off, I'm going to do this,” Trixie said as she got ready to dump the clay all over Juniper.
"Hey, what are you?" Juniper said as Trixie poured the clay all over Sunset's body. "Trixie, help me. It's covering me; I can't breathe."
"So long, Lil Miss Popular," Trixie said as she left the room, leaving Juniper in the heap of clay.
(4 hours later)
The clay solidified over time and formed into a cocoon. Basil walked in, looking for Juniper.
“Juniper, Juniper, where are you?” Basil Karlo asked. “It's been 4 hours since the end of showtime, and your parents have been worried sick."
Then, the hardened clay began to crack until it burst open, revealing Juniper to be inside it.
"Good heavens, Juniper, are you okay?" Basil said as he put a jacket on Juniper, since she was naked.
“(Cough, Cough) I'm fine; (Cough, Cough) I just feel so cold,” Juniper said in a sickly tone of voice.
“Don't worry, I'll call your folks and tell them you're on your way home.” Basil Karlo said as he was dialing the phone.
“O-Ok,” Juniper said as she headed home after getting her clothes back on, not noticing that a drip of skin came off her arm.
At her parents’ house, Juniper was sitting down to eat her dinner when she started having coughing fits again, but when her dad asked her what was wrong, she said that she was fine and was just a little tired from the night's show.
When Juniper took her first bite of sesame chicken, everything was normal, but when she took the fork out, pieces of her were sticking to the fork.
Juniper saw this and threw the fork to the ground.
"Juniper, what's...Before her dad could finish, Juniper's entire body turned into reddish-brown clay. "Oh my God, Abby, call an ambulance now!"
"Mom, Dad, what's happening to me?" Juniper said as her voice gurgled. Juniper looked into a mirror and saw her face turn into that of clay.
"No...Nooo...NOOOOOOOOOO!" Juniper screamed as she smashed the mirror.
"Oh god, Momma, what did Trixie do to me?" Juniper said in despair. "Trixie was right; my career and my life really are over, and I can never get them back now."
Juniper then started crying as her parents tried to comfort her.
"I'm not an actress anymore...I'm not even a human being." Juniper said as she continued crying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSZNlw7_wjA&list=PLSBpRMBOTLNfJeWsncBFnIUMcHOmx6sec&index=165
Juniper didn’t leave her room after that day, for she didn’t want anyone to look upon her new hideous clay body.
"Juniper, honey, I have some water if you want it," Juniper's mother said.
"GO AWAY," Sunset hollered. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Sunset's mother just put the cup of water near her door.
"My career, my life—IT IS GONE, FOREVER!" Juniper cried as she threw a chair at the wall.
Juniper then looked into a mirror and saw her clay visage through her now-yellow eyes.
"Oh, if only I looked like how I was before, oh, if only," Juniper said as she started to cry.
However, as soon as she said this, she felt something start to happen from within her body, almost like her body was starting to change, and her vision started getting blurry.
"What's happening to me?" Juniper said as she clenched her face.
When Juniper regained her vision, she looked back into the mirror and saw that her skin still looked like brown clay, but she looked normal, like herself.
"What the hell?" Juniper said it with a surprised expression on her face.
"Wait, what if I...?" Juniper said as she began to concentrate as the clay started changing again, but now she looked completely normal.
"Unbelievable," Juniper said with a look of astonishment. "That Renuyu must've mixed with every cell of my body."
"Hmm, I want a tuxedo," Juniper said as her normal clothes morphed into a tuxedo.
"Hmm, I want to look like Elvis Presley," Juniper said until her whole body morphed to look like Elvis Presley; even her voice sounded like Elvis.
"Thank you, thank you very much," Juniper said in Elvis's voice before changing back to normal.
"This is amazing; I can morph into anyone and anything I desire," Juniper said as she kept trying out more forms.
Juniper then made herself morph into a table, and then into a comedy mask, which then turned into a tragedy mask, an alligator, a tiger, an Egyptian sphinx, and then into herself, but with her clay-face costume and hat on.
"Like the Pheonix from the ashes, I, Clay-face, rise once more," Juniper said as she bowed towards her mirror.
"My life...it isn't over; it's just gotten better and better," Juniper said happily.
"Momma," Juniper said from across her room.
"Yes, honey," Juniper's mom said from her study. "Oh, Juniper, you look normal, but how?"
"It must have been that clay I was covered in," Juniper said. "Oh, I can't wait to see the look on Trixie's face when...Trixie," Juniper said with a look of disdain.
"Perhaps this would be a great chance to get a little payback for what she did to me," Juniper said as she turned into a blob of clay and slithered through her shower drain. "You better be vigilant tonight, Trixie, because Clay-Face is coming for you."
(This will continue in Chapter 1: Dropping the Curtain).