"What the hell am I doing?" Kaz said aloud to himself as he glanced out the window of his 'small' private jet. Kalli opened one feline eye as she lay stretched out on the floor next to Kaz's chair, the bright amber orb fixed its gaze on Kaz's face. She stared at him only the way cats can, blankly, intensely, fixated, dismissive, and bored. And she was doing it with only one eye, it seemed like Kaz wasn't good enough for a two-eyed stare. Snorting softly Kaz dropped a hand over the side of his seat to pet the Savannah, Kalli opened both eyes at that, stretched even more before rolling toward Kaz showing her belly. “It's been what...five..six years since I left New York. I don't even ha-" Kalli jerked suddenly, head snapping up, fore and hind claws darting in to grab and slash Kaz's arm, her teeth bit down on his hand. After a few moments she stopped, but didn't move. "I'm not allowed t-" And she started back up again. 'to talk' He finished the sentence in his head smirking as the large cat scratched and bit his arm and hand. She couldn't actually hurt him of course, nor was she actually trying to, but Kaz was sure if it were anyone else, their arm would be bleeding freely from the initial flurry of claws and bites.

Kaz wondered to himself what Kalli's reaction would be if she did draw blood from someone. He had gotten her when she was still a kitten, just old enough to leave her mother. Since then she had only had himself and, from time to time, other, smaller, cats to play with. Once while at his dojo and she was just at the age where she was starting to come into her adult strength, she had gotten out of his office area. One of his students went to pet her and ended up with a nice gash on his arm, since then Kaz made sure to teach her she can't 'play' with anyone else but him. She would still chase lasers, strings, play fetch, and play in those ways, but physical aggressive playing never happened again. It surprised him quite a bit that she could be trained much like a dog. He had initially chosen her breed by looks, how exotic it was, and how expensive, because he likes expensive things.

"Gah!" Kaz scowled at Kalli who had just bit him quite a bit harder than normal, probably because he wasn't paying her enough attention as his mind wandered. Kaz twisted his arm and hand to break Kalli's grip and grabbed both canine teeth on the left side of her mouth between his thumb, index and middle fingers. "Now what? That almost hurt furball." Kalli dropped all attempts to claw him and squirmed her body and head to try and break out of Kaz's hold. After a minute or so, she stops, her feet under her, head tilted to glare at Kaz while she growls just a bit.

Reaching out to the table near him, Kaz grabed a thick-skinned leather ball. Holding it up so that Kalli can see it, her whole body freezes, eyes locked on the ball. “Sit." He said as he let go of her teeth. She sat. Grinning Kaz pretends to throw the ball, Kalli's head and eyes begin to follow the movement before stopping. She wasn't fooled, she was never fooled by the false-throw. Without warning, Kaz threw the ball down the long open cabin. Kalli bolted after it, hitting it just after its first bounce, landing somewhat hard with the ball trapped in her forepaws, hind claws slashing at the leather. Kaz knew she would be busy for quite some time as he stood up and moved to the liquor cabinet. He was very fond of the cat, but he didn't feel like playing, so instead of the 'fetch' ball, he had thrown the 'go nuts' ball. As he filled a glass he glanced over as he heard the thudding sound of the ball on the cabin wall and the second impact as Kalli ran into it while knocking the ball away.

Sitting down again, Kaz sipped at his drink, enjoying the taste and slight burn, as he relaxed. "Six years. I hadn't really planned on returning, was gonna let Emily handle everything...So, why am I flying thousands of miles not just to the US, but to a part of the country I've stayed away from?”

“Fuck it.” Throwing back his glass, he quaffed his drink, downing it in one go. “I've never been good at this thinking thing.” 'Especially when its personal.' Reclining in the chair Kaz turned on some music, keeping the volume very low, not needing it very loud, and fell asleep to that and the clinking sounds of Kalli's collar tags.

Some time later Kaz awoke as the jet touched down on a private runway well away from the city he was bound for. It wasn't until he tried to sit up that he realized he was pinned beneath his large cat. Kalli didn't lay on someone's chest, she lay on someone's entire upper body. Lifting a hand he moved to pet the feline purring softly in its sleep. As his hand touched her head, her breathing, and purring, changed slightly as she began to wake up and nuzzled his hand a bit, sending pins and needles through Kaz's numb hand and arm. Grimacing at the fuzzy feeling, “Hey, fuzzball,” He said softly, “get off me, you're heavy.” When Kalli didn't move Kaz proceeded to pet/scratch her from tail to head. Before he go to her shoulders Kalli jumped up, twisted and swatted Kaz's hand away. “Ha! Serves you right.”

Getting up took a bit, his body still being a bit numb. After standing he moved to the restroom to splash water over his face and rub the sleep away. Pausing midway through he looked at himself in the mirror. 'When did you start getting old? You're not even 30 yet.' Brows furrowing slightly, 'Look at you, can't even wake up right away, full of pins and needles, all groggy...Us'ta just hop up instantly awake ready to go.'

“Things change, people get older, tired.”

'Bullshit. You ain't tired, you're bored, and you know it.'

“Bored? Think so? ...Of course I do, I'm talking to myself.”

'Duh, not to mention you wouldn't have come here if you weren't. You want excitement, some danger. Elaina was fun and all, but face it, you knew that wasn't going to last, and you don't plan on going back to her. You left her, you did the leaving this time around.' Kaz wanted that to be a lie, wanted the implication to be a lie, but he couldn't lie to himself.

'You're not cut out for this business-guy-in-charge thing. Not really a 'guy in charge' sorta person in the first place, remember when you,'

“Shut'up.... I know I'm not, but what else am I going to do, build a giant vault and fill it with gold coins to dive into?”

'Hell if I know. Go buy yourself an island, hell, buy a few of them, or build one, you've got the cash for it.'

“And do what with'em? Live on them alone? I don't think I'd like that much.”

'Screw that, nab a bunch of humans, or mutants, you know you don't really care which,'

“Yes I do.”

'Uh-huh, yeah, suuure you do.' [/color] Kaz rolled his eyes at himself. 'Nab the poor bastards, throw'em on the island and make'em fight, or hunt them, or have them fight you. That really could be fun, admit it.'

“Like some screwed up Hunger Games.”

'Cuz the Hunger Games aren't already screwed up to begin with right?' Kaz snorted. 'I've..got an idea... Excitement, danger, something familiar, something you'd enjoy, or someone at least...Isabel.'

“HA! That could be fun, wonder if she's gotten stro-”

'Kid stuff there, you know you've wondered what she'd be like in b'

“She'd gut me from crotch to chin!”

'She'd try.'

“No, I bet she could do it. Besides she seemed sorta...cold in that area.”

'Syn?'

“Oh, I bet that'd be fun, if she didn't slap some pheromone brain-lock on me in the act. Not to mention, I don't think she swings our way.”

'What abou-'

Kaz threw his hands in the air as he turned away from the mirror and began getting things together to leave. “Duuhhh-ahhh! Don't even! J-Just..no...no no no No. Gah, no.”

'Vega...Circe...'

“....What's the point of even thinking about this?”

'Reasons for being here, and staying. Justifying the first, coming up with the second.'

“It's not about sex, hell, I don't even...Relationships don't work for me, we know this. Besides, I'm not here for that. The houses are already being built, same with the checkpoints, the gates, walls, everything else.”

'Which you don't need to be here for, don't even need to do the announcement from here. Admit it, you're homesick.'

Kaz didn't really have anything else to say to that thought.

'Think Red is still around? It'd be nice if he were, get together, get some drinks, catch up and talk about the good'ol days. I miss Big Red, all of him, even though I could never tell them all apart!' Kaz started laughing and felt a small sadness grip him. If he could call anyone he had met in his adult life a friend, it would be Abyss. Realizing that made Kaz feel a little sad and disappointed.

Kaz made a sharp whistle as he grabbed Kalli's leash, and clipped it on her when she padded over to him. “Common fuzzball, time to go.” The two of them exited the jet before attendants collected his things. “Sir,” A sharply dressed young man said from his left. Kaz turned and saw his transportation idling, waiting. “You know where to go right, and how to get in?” The man seemed slightly hesitant, unsure of what was going on. “Yes sir. If I may...Why?” Kaz smiled weakly to the man and handed Kalli's leash to him. “Take care of her for me, I'll be there later. Don't worry, I'll pay you extra for it.”

Kaz dismissed him with a glance and slight wave. Stretching out Kaz rolled his neck, cracking it, then his other joints in a nearly unbroken, uninterrupted string of snaps, crackles, and pops. When he was done, he set his feet firmly, stripped off his shirt and began to change. He grew in height slightly, became thinner, more streamlined, then his back began to bulge near his shoulder blades as two large skeletal arms emerged, quickly fleshing out with muscle and skin until Kaz sported a set of large, wide, strong, bat-like wings. Kaz kicked off his shoes and socks, and stuffed them and his shirt into a small pack he had at his waist. His feet became similar to talons, though much more muscular with a set of wicked looking claws. The hair atop his head, which had been long and loose had slicked back and clung together into something crest-like. Kaz looked at Kalli, “Be good.” As Kaz jumped straight up and beat his wings a clear membrane covered his eye sockets, making him look slightly bug eyed.

Kaz flew over the land using the slight thermals that rose from the ground, long after the sun had gone down, not the he couldn't fly without them, but they made it easier. Ignoring buildings, traffic, and people, Kaz made much better time than he would have in the car. At first he flew somewhat aimlessly over land and the city, but he eventually found himself heading towards the only home he had really known for much of his time in the city, his warehouse.

Before he came within a mile he was able to pick out little things about the building, little things that made him think, 'It looks like crap.' As he got closer that thought grew into a fact. Unlike many similar buildings that were left unattended, or even attended, there were no broken windows, but there was plenty of graffiti all over the place, even on the roof. 'How the hell did they get up there? The answer became apparent the closer he got, there were holes, or indents in the side of the building, and something that looked like a piton for rock climbing. Kaz circled around a few times, noticing as he did that the doors, all of them were dented in many places, some of the walls were blackened by fire, or maybe an explosive.

After landing on the room Kaz tried to open the door but found that, while it had held against repeated beatings, it was stuck shut. “Dammit.” Kaz said as he changed his form again, for more muscle power, dug his claws and fingers into the space between the door and the frame, digging his claws into the roof, he wrenched the door open with a squeal of twisting metal. T'sk-ing, Kaz moved into the building and immediately coughed as dust was kicked up from opening the door. 'I guess no one has been here for some time...' He sighed heavily, feeling a bit disappointed, 'What did you expect, for someone to suddenly show up here and be waiting when you got back? You knew that wouldn't happen, you've known ever since she left. You know she left because of you, you did it, it was your fault, and you don't even know why.' “Shut! Up!” He yelled as he punched the wall shattering the concrete around his fist. “dammit” He said in a low whisper before sighing.

Kaz had expected the alarm to go off when he broke in but he noticed after he had moved into the kitchen that nothing had happened, no alarm, no emergency lights, nothing. He tried to turn the lights on, but they seemed to be dead as well. “Finally fell off the grid?” Kaz made his way to the backup generator and got it running. After a few minutes the emergency lights grew bright enough for normal people to see. The next thing to turn on was the air system, though he could tell from the sound that it wasn't doing much. If it had been running the whole time, until the power went out at least, then it was probably in bad need of maintenance, of which he could only replace the filters. He threw the old dust caked, bug infested filters on the floor, kicking up more of the ever present dust. Running a finger along a surface he displaced a strip of dust a few inches long and at least a quarter of an inch deep, if not half or more. Sighing, “I was hoping this place would have held up better...It would take a lot of work to get this pit back into a livable space again.”

He went through the building checking various things like his cars, various weapons, electronics, clothes and the food. “Oh god that's disgusting!” Of course there wasn't any food left, anything that could be gotten into had been gotten into by mice, rats, and whatever else, but what they couldn't get to, had decomposed nastily. “Guhh...Might be best to just take what can be saved and burn the rest.”

Before heading back to the roof Kaz found himself at his room. He found himself staring into, memories flooding his mind, making it hard to enter the room. Eventually, as the generator was running out of fuel, there apparently hadn't been much in it, he went in and collected a few things and stuffed them into the cleanest bag he could find. When he made it too the roof, he decided he'd send some of his people in to clean the place, though whether he'd use it to live in or not was something to deal with later.

Changing back to the winged form, Kaz took flight to his temporary, for now, residence. He would wait there until Kalli and his things arrived, if they hadn't already, eat, and sleep if he could. If he couldn't, then he'd figure something out.

Kaz woke early in the morning, just as the barest hint of light began to touch the visible sky, though most people wouldn't have been able to notice it. Even to his heightened senses, it wasn't bright enough to wake him, not by itself that is. Kaz tried to suppress the yawn he felt growing, and succeeded for a short time, but he eventually lost the battle to a mighty yawn that threatened to take his jaw off. When it ended he felt tears squeeze out from the corners of his eyes. They began to roll down the sides of his head as he blinked a few times, before finally wiping them away and rubbing his eyes to clear them. Stretching took him next, though only an upper body stretch that he held for quite some time as a final yawn took him. Kaz shook his head vigorously, blinking rapidly, and moved to free himself from the sheets, only to find his legs pinned under Kalli's weight. The cat was sound asleep, making the feline equivalent of snoring sounds. Gently Kaz moved his hands under her and lifted her up as he slid his legs free and standing up before he set her down in the spot he had just vacated. Kalli moved around a little bit, flipped over to her other side, curled up again and lay still. He gave her the lightest of pets on her head, with just a little more pressure on her forehead between her eyes before moving away.

Wearing just a pair of loose cotton pants, Kaz moved into the living room, completely devoid of anything that would normally be in such a room. Once in the center of the spacious are Kaz began to stretch and warm up before moving into the basic forms of one martial style and then another. He began slowly, every movement slow, painfully slow, exacting in its precision. Ever so slightly he began to pick up the pace, moving from the speed at which tar drips to molasses in winter, to the speed of road construction, each increase was deliberate, timed, and fluid. Eventually after more than an hour had passed, his speed of his movements had far surpassed a human beings physical limits, and yet he didn't loose any of his precision or miss a beat. Due to the blinding, disorienting speeds at which he moved, it seemed as if his arms and legs had replaced by wispy, translucent, ghost like apparitions while his torso seemed to bend in unnatural ways, twisting impossibly small. Of course it wasn't. If the human mind was capable of following his movements, their eyes certainly weren't, only able to catch snapshots of poorly focused images.

Kaz continued the movements at that speed for half an hour before he started slowing down at the same rate he had increased it. When he finally completed the final movement he stood stock still, his chest barely moving more than it would while he slept, pulse only slightly elevated, his skin showing just the faintest hints that he were going to, or maybe just had, barely, broken a sweat. Kaz took a controlled, deep breath, letting it slowly as he relaxed the muscles in his body. When he opened his eyes he was looking into Kalli's eyes as she perched on the counter that separated the living room from the kitchen.

Kaz froze locking eyes with the 'feline'. This wasn't the first time that she had done something similar, not that what she was doing was uncharacteristic of many animals, especially cats, but there were times Kaz just could not shake the feeling there was more going on behind those eyes than there should be for a simple animal. If it were a chimp or gorilla looking at him the way Kalli was, it wouldn't trigger the itch at the back of his head. He knew they were intelligent, not human level intellect, but they weren't simple animals, more like, children, young children. The only animal that made Kaz's skull itch inside as much as cat, were crows or ravens, or whatever they were, if they were different at all. He had seen them do some very, very strange things that couldn't be ignored as 'instinct' or 'animal behavior'.

”Ca-” Kaz caught himself before he actually said it. Saying it would be admitting it, and he wasn't willing to do that. ”Kalli...”

The cat didn't move, not a muscle, not a tail twitch, nor an ear swivel. The two of them continued to stare at each other for a few dozen moments more before Kalli all at once changed. She went from being as still as a statue to fully animate, tail moving, ears twitching at everything they heard and eyelids drooping into a lazy, there's-nothing-worthy-of-my-attention look. Kaz eyed her, eyes squinting just a little, before he to animated.

He moved to her and stroked her back while she rubbed her face against his forearm. ”You hungry girl?” Kalli didn't respond with anything more than turning in place so that he was able to scratch her back better. Kaz snorted, 'Heh, yeah, stupid though huh, as if you'd be him this whole time.' Rubbing her head playfully he moved into the kitchen to make sure her food and water dispensers were full, they were. Kaz went into the freezer and pulled out two large pizzas and threw them in the oven without preheating it, not because he was a rebel, but because he was lazy and didn't feel like waiting.

Kaz moved to the bathroom, stripping along the way, throwing the clothes in the hamper before stepping into the shower. The shower didn't have a curtain or door or anything else to block the view if someone were to come in, not that anyone would, or that Kaz would care if someone did. His body was something he was quite proud of.

Partway through the shower Kalli decided to enter the bathroom and pad over to the shower. Kaz watched her slightly amused as she watched the water fall to the floor, then bat at it, before she started swiping at the water as it made its way toward the drain. She seemed to be having fun with her little game and Kaz let it go on for some time until he was almost done. Before shutting the water off, he held his arm out and let the water slide down it to fall onto Kalli. She quite literally flipped out of the room, landing and tearing off somewhere else in the condo. Laughing Kaz toweled off and went to his room to get dressed.

He saw Kalli next to the open window, sun falling over her as she cleaned herself. She saw him and gave him the familiar 'I hate you' look. ”Oh shut up, you love water.” After Kaz got dressed in loose pants and grabbed an easily to remove shirt, he moved toward the balcony and opened the sliding glass door. ”Kalli, don't go tearing up the place, I'm gonna be gone for a while.” After closing the door, he changed into his flight form and dove off the balcony.

Kaz had no destination in mind when he lept from the balcony, but he wanted to get out, to feel the wind in his hair and wings, to see the city he had been away from for so long. From his vantage point above the tallest buildings, his enhanced eyesight could easily pick out individual faces of those on the ground, but when he looked around at sprawling city beneath him as a whole, it looked exactly the same as when he had least seen it leaving for Romania. 'Some things change' He thought as he looked in the direction of his Warehouse and then around the city, 'Other things...stay the same, as if you didn't exist in the first place.'

His meandering flight took him all over the city, though he seemed to stay longest in areas he had a connection to. Kaz had hovered near the sanctuary for some time before finding a place to land on, a small, thin 'ledge' running along the outer wall of a building with a clear, unobstructed view of the place. The ledge was just wide enough to stand on if he pressed himself against the wall, but Kaz slid down into a crouch and latching onto the wall with one clawed hand, digging fingers into it while his wings were held out to catch the wind and press his form against the wall.

For a time all he did was watch, seeing a few people go into and out of the Sanctuary, but he didn't recognize any of their faces. He began to imagine what would happen if he dropped in on Sanctuary, literally, and who he would draw out. He was sure the Order would show up quite fast, it would be great to see Abyss again, his sister...he could live without seeing her. It wasn't that he disliked Syn exactly, but the two of them always seemed to butt heads in the past. If the Twins were around, he didn't think he'd be able to hold himself back from hugging the two redheads, though he was sure they weren't. Isabel was...She didn't seem to be too happy with him the last time they had seen and spoke to each other. Did she really hate him for leaving the Order? Probably. Kaz imagined her gutting him just for that, if nothing else. 'Who else...?' Kaz found he was at a loss, he really had no new information, he knew there had been a few new people around the time he had left, but his memory failed him. He began standing to do what he had thought of, but before he let go and dropped down, a face flashed into his head. Lisa. Kaz stopped in his tracks. ”Dropping in and pissing Lisa off would not be a good idea.”

Instead of heading towards the Sanctuary, Kaz flew off in a different direction, Lisa's unimpressed, irritated, cool face following him in his mind's eye.

Kaz went a fair distance away from Sanctuary before he changed course, without having any place in mind. The sunlight had filled the land while he had been watching the Sanctuary, so he was no longer mostly invisible to those below him. He could see the shadow he cast as he soared through the sky, could see the few people who noticed look up. Kaz was somewhat surprised to see a few shocked and stunned faces from those that saw him. 'Really? With all the mutants running around and causing general mayhem on a semi-regular basis, you people really shouldn't be surprised about a flying man.'

Seeing things from a literal bird's eye view could be a bit disorienting and throw navigation off. As such he had already passed by the area where Full Circle was located. When he realized where he was he began a slow, circular decent until he was flying just a little above the power lines and street lamps. He perched atop one of the street lamps a half block from the bookstore, ignoring the humans below him. Even though it was still early in the morning, he expected to see some people entering or leaving the building, not because they wanted to buy a book, but they had coffee and it wasn't too bad. As he watched, he saw no one enter or leave and it seemed very odd to him. He began to think that maybe Vega had sold it, that it wasn't the Full Circle he remembered and helped finance, but he saw the name of the place clearly and he could make out the books inside. The lights were out and it gave Kaz the sense of...loneliness, of disuse, much like his Warehouse did, but without the obvious damage his place had sustained.

Kaz didn't like it. Did not like the look of the place. Did not like the vibe was getting. Didn't like the twist in his gut. He was probably just letting his paranoia get to him, but Kaz wanted to find out for himself. Dropping to the ground, absorbing the impact with almost no perceivable effort, then headed towards Full Circle, his wings folded around his shoulders like a cloak, something he had picked up when he had seen from an old episode of Gargoyles.

His pace was steady but quick, eating up the distance to the store. The closer he got the more details he could pick out without making the effort it took to see long distances clearly. Full Circle was definitely not being used, or couldn't be used would be more correct. It was clearly barred and locked, from the outside with some heavy duty, non-standard lock. 'I can't think of anywhere besides some big, fancy, industrial place locked up like this, so why would.... Did the police have something to do with this?' Kaz definitely needed, wanted, to find out what happened. He'd have to find Vega at some point. Or..'I could just..go in, not like this can stop me..' Kaz's clawed hand closed around the lock and bar, but he didn't tear them off. He stayed like that for long moments before letting go and turning away.

Walking into the open street, clear of anything above him, Kaz pursed his lips and looked back at the store. With little effort he exploded into the air, wings swept back along his body as he rocketed straight up. Once he reached the apex of his jump he unfurled his wings, caught air and started moving away. He hadn't jumped to a ridiculous height, but it was sufficient for his needs. A few blocks away Kaz did a double-take when he saw a somewhat rundown sign that clearly said Iris, though he couldn't quite make out what the rest of it said. If he were anywhere else when he saw that, he probably wouldn't think anything of it, but being this close to Full Circle, which was run, or had been run, by Vega, who lived at the Mansion, as far as he knew, and who had a good chance of knowing Iris...It couldn't be a coincidence. Kaz felt a little sick.

All of a sudden Kaz didn't feel like heading to the Mansion, he still would, probably, eventually, had to, since that was the best place to look for Vega and find out where she was or how to get in contact with her. Just not at the moment.