The clock ticked and another few moments passed Carrick eyed a book in front of him through one eye and winced as he adjusted the ice pack that had been given to him over his right eye. It still hurt and his head still throbbed. Heck it only had been a few days since his last shiner over his left eye and his headaches were only beginning to fade. It was a shame Carrick didn’t know when to back down despite the advice of a few fellow classmates that he didn’t mind. They weren’t his friends but they weren’t his enemies either. No if they were his friends they would have stepped in when they saw him getting the tar beaten out of him.

It was the first day of the new semester and Carrick was spending the afternoon after school not at all how he wanted it to. The morning wasn’t to bad, he spent it with a few select people he called friends but as soon as sixth period came around… that was when things got a bit out of hand.

Scott the partial metal shifter was running his mouth again calling Carrick a runt and Carrick being Carrick made a wise crack about his mother and the lack of love he received as a child. It was only meant to sting not upset him like it did. Heck maybe Scott was abandoned it would certainly explain while he was lashing out at Carrick and a few of the kids his size like he was.

Adjusting the ice pack Carrick felt weaker and more defenseless than usual not only did he get his but handed to him last week by Scott in front of his friends and a few girls from the mansion but now he got his but whipped in front of a large portion of the student body. It was something he didn’t want to repeat anytime soon but seeing as Scott was a few desks away from him in the same detention hall it looked like round two was coming around the corner.

Scott looked at Carrick and gave him the finger then the hand gesture like he was gonna kill Carrick. Frowning and returning the gesture Carrick lifted his hand and raised the middle finger. “CARRICK!” he turned his head to spot the detention hall teacher who was normally the literature teacher. He looked down with his left eye that made him look like a raccoon due to the blackened skin, “Another week’s detention!” Carrick looked down and slammed his head on his desk pushing the book forward in the process.

It wasn’t even his fault he was there in the first place he was just defending himself like his father told him, he never let people walk over him and look where it got him detention with one black eye and a fresh one now setting in.

People who get detention on the very first day of school are a special class within the community of students all by themselves. Not many people were badass enough to get into trouble right when school started.
Gawain was.

Rule number one: If you decide to cut classes on the first day because they never say anything interesting in the first class anyway, make sure the teacher doesn't catch you.
Yup.

Gawain wondered if cutting detention would make things worse; he finally decided to show up, fashionably late, just to see who else got unlucky on their first day.

The gryphon boy, and the shifter with the mouth. The winged kid had a shiner; Gawain heard about the fight earlier that day, and if he was there, he would have tried to stop it. He was a senior now, or at least supposed to be, and also an X-trainee, and kids were not supposed to pick on each other anyway.

Gawain collected another week's detention for being late, and sat down next to the winged boy, flashing a grin when the teacher was not looking.

Really, now two weeks of detention all because he wasn’t letting someone walk all over him. It didn’t matter though, with the way things are now they wouldn’t change and the last thing he wanted to do is go look for someone to handle the fight for him, that did more damage than good. He wasn’t a coward or a scaredy-cat and he didn’t want anyone to think that less more people would try to walk all over him and he was no doormat.

The door opened and Carrick lifted his head slightly and looked at the new comer, he was tall, a lot taller than Carrick and he mentally sighed, ‘bet no one messes with him’ one day he too would be taller and bigger and no one would bother messing with him. The guy who just walked in got another weeks detention for being late and then he sat down next to Carrick.

Placing his head down on the icepack Carrick closed his good eye ignoring the stupid grin the guy was now wearing and then he did something he probably shouldn’t have done he opened his mouth that had a knack for getting him in trouble. ”Bout as sharp as a beach ball ain’t ya?” Carrick asked in a low whisper so the teacher couldn’t hear him. ”Most people don’t wear a big dumb grin on their face when they get detention…” Carrick bit off his mood still foul due to his head still throbbing.

Had it been another time or place on a day that wasn’t as bad as today he would have talked to the larger guy a little nicer, but then again today was today so he had no plans on being nice when he was in the same room as Scott who was now currently glaring at him because he had nothing else going on.

>>”Bout as sharp as a beach ball ain’t ya? Most people don’t wear a big dumb grin on their face when they get detention…”

Ouch, the winged boy was not in a good mood. With a shiner that dark, it was no wonder. Judging from how the other guy looked, he was definitely not the winner in the fight.

"Well, I'm sharp enough to at least win a fight I get detention for" he smirked back at the kid, resting his chin on his knuckles "Nice to meet ya, kid. Name's Gawain."

He didn't look all that interested. In fact, he didn't even look at him at all.

"... I'm the one who's gonna teach ya how to pick a fight without havin' your @ss grounded for it."

Carrick muttered something under his breath just loud enough for the guy next to him to hear, he was pushing all the wrong buttons that ought to not be pushed when Carrick was already this mad. Debating the pros and cons of shifting and mauling Scott then this cocky sounding guy next to him Carrick had determined it was counter productive to not only him living at the mansion, but as his overall happiness. Sure Ape but still he didn’t wish to kill anyone especially the guy who just introduced himself.

His name was Gawain and he just said he could teach the winged boy to not get his arse kicked then get in trouble for it. ”If you haven’t noticed…” Carrick said as he lifted his head revealing both eyes that were covered in black, ”I’m not much of a fighter.” It was obvious Carrick thought; he was usually the smallest person in the room especially for being how old he was.

He was to put it simply a runt the only things he had that were any different from a kid his age was his wings and his legs. The rest of him was small and weak. ”You could be Ali and you couldn’t help me out!” he paused for a second and then looked back down at the ice pack and placed his newly blackened eye on it. ”Thanks Gawain but I’m doing fine as is, if I keep standing up to him he’ll get tired of it eventually, I’m nobodies doormat!”

>>”Thanks Gawain but I’m doing fine as is, if I keep standing up to him he’ll get tired of it eventually, I’m nobodies doormat!”

Gawain opened his mouth to answer, but he caught a glare from the teacher before she returned to her reading, so he didn't say anything. But he rolled his eyes. That miniature crossover between a raccoon and a bird needed a serious ego boost.

Pulling out a blank piece of paper from his backpack, Gawain started to scribble; when the note was finished, he crumpled it into a ball and tossed it at the boy while the teacher was not watching.

1. U don't need to fight him to win
2. Didn't say teach u to fight, said teach u to not get busted
3. Whats ur power

The teacher must have looked up and gave Gawain a look because he kept his mouth closed right after. He couldn’t tell if the teacher ended up looking at him or not but he didn’t really care. Worst thing she could do was give him another weeks detention right now the best outcome was expulsion and at that moment he didn’t care to much if he ended up expelled or not. It was sad to think about losing all the friends he made, Kai, Kat, Ruby, Koga, Twyla, Lily, then there was Liz right now he didn’t know what she was but he knew he’d miss her as well.

His eyes shut briefly and he focused on the sounds around him, he was tired and ready to doze off but failed to when something hit him. It bounced on the desk once then stopped moving. He opened his eyes and slammed his hand on the wad of paper and then looked at it for a second. Was this from Scott, wasn’t it bad enough the kid got him here in the first place? He sighed and looked to Scott who had his head pointed down to a book, funny… Carrick wasn’t aware that Ape could read.

Opening it up he read the handwriting and started at it not showing an emotion. ‘The hell is he still going on about?’ thought Carrick as he let out a sigh and reached for a pen that was located in his pocket. The words on the sheet however intrigued him so instead of scribbling everything out on the sheet of paper, which he fully intended to do, he clicked his pen and began to write.

1. Pranks don’t help much either and teachers don’t help much!
2. Kinda hard to not get busted in the mansion too many people!
3. Wings and a tail? Seriously? You really need to ask that? Oh and sarcasm!

Carrick looked at it for a second then nodded his head slightly, sure he wasn’t entirely truthful about his better half but he didn’t openly admit he was a gryphon shifter bad publicity, the last thing he wanted was to turn into the Mansion’s mode of transportation. They had teleporters and horse shifters for a reason.

Nodding his head he crumbled the paper back up and waited till no one was looking then he tossed it back on Gawain’s desk and then placed his head back on the ice pack waiting for a response.

The message was turned around in admireable speed, and Gawain could tell it was not a pleasant one even before he opened it. The winged boy didn't look very keen on learning... well, anything. Scott looked up, and made a face; Gawain rolled his eyes.

3. Wings and a tail? Seriously? You really need to ask that? Oh and sarcasm!

The young knight sighed and started scribbling again.

Didn't ask 'mutation', asked 'power'.
Just trying to help. My bad.
...
No wonder you get into fights.

Getting the note back he opened it up and blinked at it for a second then smirked, Gawain was right, his attitude was one of the few reasons he found himself in fights. The other reasons were because of his mouth and hands, more often than not they seemed to have a mind of their own. Staring at the letter for a second Carrick tried to figure out what he meant by power if he wasn’t talking about mutation? Really? It wasn’t bad enough he had to sit in detention with two shiners and an ice pack with his arch nemesis… wait no that was giving Scott to much credit he was more like a giant buck seventy gnat with the ability to turn his limbs into metal, but now he had to add confusion to the list.

Sighing Carrick took out a pencil and responded to Gawain expressing how confused he was by the mention of a ‘power’ if it didn’t mean mutation. Did he mean something from that cartoon he stumbled across? Dragon Ball something or other? He didn’t know but he intended to find out.

”Power? If not mutation what do you mean?”

he looked at the sheet of paper for a second before he added, ”Runts are always the target, easiest to pick on! Some reason the Eejit over there doesn’t seem to understand I’m no normal runt!” crumbling up the paper he threw it back to Gawain when the teacher was buried in her book, he already had two weeks of detention no way in hell he was going to get three.

>>”Power? If not mutation what do you mean? Runts are always the target, easiest to pick on! Some reason the Eejit over there doesn’t seem to understand I’m no normal runt!”

Gawain smirked as he read the note, and turned a page in a random textbook to look like he was actually studying. Picking up the pencil, he wrote an answer.

I meant what's you're good at. DUH.
Also, runt? You have wings, dude.

Oh yes. If idiots like that metal kid could pick on Carrick, he really needed to get an ego boost. It was usually not the size of the enemy that mattered, not at all. Gawain flicked the note back to the winged kid, and turned another page in his book, not even reading the lines. His mind was busy thinking how to get Carrick to cooperate. For his own good.

Getting the note back he let out a mental sigh and wondered what Gawain could be asking now, when he opened up the crumbled paper he scratched his head and then wondered why he couldn’t have just said, ‘any special talents?’ but no that would be far to easy wouldn’t it and it seemed it was every ones goal over the last few hours to piss him off.

Scratching down on the paper he wrote, Way to make that clear, champ! I got a few trade secrets, picking locks and pick pocketing… a few other things but nothing major, doubt card tricks would get my score set with him.

Carrick had no problem mentioning what he was capable of when it came to lifting wallets he did live with carnies for a year it would have been sad if he didn’t learn anything while he was there, after all it was his substitute school. Before he tossed the note back over he also added, Also, I happen to be well aware of my wings, Eejit

Crumbling the paper Carrick lobbed it back at Gawain and placed his head back down on the icepack and closed his eyes wishing that detention would be over soon.

Way to make that clear, champ! I got a few trade secrets, picking locks and pick pocketing… a few other things but nothing major, doubt card tricks would get my score set with him.

Right. The kid was more of a street brat than a street fighter. Gawain smirked at that; maybe they had more in common than he thought. Now that he was officially an X trainee he felt like a responsible older brother to all the weird kids in the school; and not so long ago, he was the one steling booze from Sam's room. He couldn't open locks, though. For obvious reasons.

Also, I happen to be well aware of my wings, Eejit

Gawain sighed and for a moment mirrored the kid and rested his forehead on the desk. Seriously? Glancing up at the adult in the room he made a mental note to respect teachers more after this. Teaching anything to kids these days, it's serious X work. And they don't even get paid for it well enough.

Let me see if I got this right: you are street smart, good with your hands, got wings, plus mutant powers, and you get beaten up by that guy? That's just impressive, kid. How are you doing it?

Flicking the note back at Carrick, he briefly wondered about the list he just made. Heck, if he had powers like that, he wouldn't give a crap about other guys. Chick dig pretty boys with wings.
Back to the main issue: at least the kid was not hopeless. He just needed to find a way to snap him out of his little self-pity session.

The paper was flicked back at Carrick and he raised his head and snatched the paper before the teacher could wise up to what was happening. Opening the note and reading it when the coast was clear he skimmed the new words and smirked slightly. If he could have he would have tossed a few words verbally Gawain’s way but he wasn’t sure if it was written the words would come across as they were meant. The way Gawain was making it sound it should have been cake to toss Scott around however Gawain wasn’t fully informed on the situation.

Other than the obvious (the fact that Scott was a few inches taller and a few wider and more built) he had the ability to turn parts of his skin to metal. The kind of metal he didn’t know but he knew it was cold to the touch and hurt like hell when punching or getting punched by the metal. Absentmindedly he reached up to his blackened eye and frowned then started to write again.

Scott is twice my size, and has a nasty mutation of his own…” Carrick paused for a second to raise his ice pack to his new black eye and then added, He can turn parts of his body to metal, makes it kind of hard to fight back doesn’t it?’ crumpling the paper and tossing it back to Gawain the winged mutant looked up to the clock and smirked, five minutes of detention left! It seemed Gawain wasn’t as useless as he thought.

>>"Scott is twice my size, and has a nasty mutation of his own... He can turn parts of his body to metal, makes it kind of hard to fight back doesn’t it?’

Gawain rolled his eyes. Excuses. People hav plenty of them. 'Water's too cold', 'It's not you it's me', 'He can turn into metal'. Yeah yeah. Cry me a river, feather boy.

Dude, I fought an elder god. You think that was a fair match?
You're coming with me to the Danger Room once detention's up.

***

They never made it to the Danger Room. Maybe it was Carrick giving the Iron Man the evil eye, or maybe that Scott kid really had a knack for picking a fight where there wasn't any... anyhow, once detention was really up (and it seemed to go on, like, forever) and Gawain walked with Carrick down the hallway, the guy was already yelling after them.

"Hey, little angel, got your boyfriend to protect you now?"

He got the note back and frowned, he was there for the so-called elder god, and it was after all just a giant piece of mud. Carrick frowned slightly and remembered that as the first time he shifted in front of someone in New York, and that was also the first time he too Kat for a ride. Carrick shook his head trying not to give the situation much thought. He didn’t want to remember that incident, he also hurt Katrina that night.

So Gawain wanted to take him to the danger room? As long as he didn’t lose any articles of clothing due to Gawain’s poor decisions he was fine with it. He was still upset with Shin for putting a hole in his sock.

Once detention let out Carrick yawned and exited the room with his ice packs in hand and his book for school in the other, he didn’t really get to reading anything, a shame too it meant he was supposed to read it later. Something that probably wouldn’t happen.

He stopped when Scott called out to him. Carrick frowned and turned to the mutant and raised his finger in a rude gesture, one that Scott was familiar with. ”Like I really need someone to protect me from the likes of you, ya ape!” Carrick returned the tone that was given to him as he dropped his ice pack to the ground and was ready to drop the book as well. If Scott really wanted to throw down here he would do it again and this time he wasn’t going to go easy on him.

It meant that Carrick was willing to shift to win the fight, something that Scott wasn’t fully aware of. ”Your just mad cause your ma didn’t give you enough hugs as a child, which is the reason your lashing out for attention now…” there it was again, the mother comment, it was enough to make Scott go into a blood lust rage. Metal started coating Scott’s fists as he shook then charge towards Carrick. ”Coddle…”

(Coddle = shit)