Ants, high up that was all that they looked like multicolored ants scrambling from one place to the next always in a hurry. The cars well they just look like bigger bugs whenever he flew over the city in between the massive skyscrapers. Carrick’s wings shifted downward as his body arched down towards a perch he spotted a few dozen stories down from his current altitude.

One of the many things Carrick loved about flying in between the skyscrapers was passing by the window watcher, the corporate big shots that nothing better to do than get paid watching birds pass by their window. Carrick’s eyes caught an old bald man jump back a few feet as he passed by shooting down towards the ground.

Before he hit however he opened his wings and slowed till he landed on a ledge about thirty feet above ground. The surface he landed on was concrete, an over hang where birds obviously stooped to do their business. The white and gray stains were evidence enough. Making sure not to places his hands in one of those rained out stains Carrick crouched like a gargoyle and closed his wings slightly as he looked down below for a new mark because his current spending income had been rather short.

Looking through the passer-bys below him he was tempted to yawn, sure any of them in the shopping district like this could have been an easy enough mark, but it had been too long since he felt challenged when it came to pick pocketing. Carrick knew he wasn’t the best but he knew he was close enough where he could go out of his way to hit a harder mark and come back successful. The last Rolex he obtained was proof enough of it.

Mismatched color eyes were drawn to the big red guy, most of his skin was covered except for his face, neck and hands and a tail. Carrick smirked at the red monkey looking tail, his own tail shifted forward and wrapped around his leg. Carrick grinned and nodded his head at the guy thinking to himself, ‘Clothes like that must mean he ‘as some coin’.

That was his mark, they guy who looked like he was a good four feet taller than him and ten times as wide. An Olympic strong man on ‘roids. He was big but was he fast? Carrick’s lips curled upwards in a smile as he stalked across the landing towards the nearest ally way and glided down to the surface.

Walking out from the alleyway Carrick ‘accidentally’ bumped into one of the guys in his path and frowned slightly at the lack of wallet in his back pocket. ” ’excuse me” He moved forward and away before the businessman noticed. Shaking his hand slightly Carrick started to tail the big red hulk of a mutant before he waited for the right moment. Carrick really did love the shopping distinct.

Abyss walked through the crowd and as usual worried about little to nothing, people didn't pick fights with him, oh they mumbled things under their breathe and gave his back dirty looks, but her had learned over time that people knew better than to mess with him and thus, he had let his guard drop, a few years ago his eyes would have roved the crowd looking for potential fights, now he didn't bother, he didn't watch out for people, traffic or pick pockets for that matter. It was obvious that he could kill somebody with a flick of his wrist, how then would someone be so foolish as to start trouble they couldn't finish with him.

A large black briefcase hung from his left hand and matched his slacks and suspenders, his white tank top showed threw his whit satin shirt against his red skinned back drop. his finely polish shoes shined and reflected their surroundings. He was thus far enjoying his day, he had managed to get free of the sanctuary and the near constant drama that occurred there. It was a sad day when you realize that the streets of new york might be more peaceful than your home. if he didn't love the place he would consider moving to an apartment of his own.

Anticipation crept over the winged thief as he closed the distance between him and his target. Polished shoes black briefcase, if it wasn’t for the fact he was large and red Carrick would have passed him over as a ‘normal’ New Yorker and the ‘normal’ ones like him were often the ones he lifted from. Ignoring the briefcase (mainly because he didn’t have any use for a nice briefcase) Carrick started to match the guys stride a few feet behind him for a few blocks to get a read on him. Wings were tucked behind his own back he noticed everyone else was over looking him. They were too busy looking at the big ape before him, he wasn’t sure how he felt about being ignored for once.

Back pocket, the way the pants bulged it was on the left side. At least Carrick hoped it was a wallet because if it wasn’t he would have to get out of there quick, for all he knew the giant had laser vision or something one of the many cons of picking from an obvious mutant you never knew what you were going to get but Carrick was sure he could get out of there pretty quickly if the situation called for it after all it wasn’t like he had to worry about it being crowded in the sky.

The only thing Carrick had to look out for now were windows, mirrors or the big guy stopping any one of those would prevent himself from performing his disappearing act. His tail twitched the way a tigers did before a kill a habit his tail seemed to perform on its own. It was a quick second and his hand was back to his chest, he waited for a second to see if the big oaf turned to see what just happened.

Carrick grinned and slid the wallet in his sleeve deciding not to be seen looking through a wallet he just snatched. He started to walk off in the opposite direction before spotting an alley and his escape route. ”Cake” Carrick thought allowed though still quite enough so no one would pay him much mind.

The move would have been flawless on a tailless man, But for a boy with a tail he didn't pay much attention to the fact that as he was snatching said wallet his legs had brushed against the bright red tail. Abyss looked over his shoulder and shook his head as he turned to see a bold young man making a relaxed retreat. If he hurried too much, the boy would be tipped off to his thunderous approach.

He suppressed a smile as the young man talked to himself calling him 'cake'. oh, that wouldn't do at all. Abyss opened four voids around the young man, one in front, one to each side and because of the wings one directly above.

He chided, Mercury to stay within the void for now.it wouldn't do to show all his cards at once.

"Oh, I would say Cake is a bit of an overestimate of your decision making and a grave underestimate of my patience." Abyss opened his hand offering the youth a chance to return it on his own. if not he would need to humble him a bit, Take him apart, and then put him back together. perhaps in his own image, the boy was bold. he liked that. but he was foolish. he wondered if the wings worked or if they were for show...he'd have to be extra careful with him in case his bones were hollow like a birds.

Once inside the alleyway Carrick heard the loud voice and sighed cursed under his breath, ”Coddle”. The winged wonder knew it was too good to be true he must have done something to tip off the giant, ”Afternoon Big Red, lovely weather we’re having right?” Carrick said trying to sound calm while his eyes scanned the man over and everything above him. How fast was the giant? Could he jump high? Wouldn’t be the first time he had seen someone his size jump that high, Carrick did serve some time in the circus, another question popped into his mind what were those black holes?

‘Not sure I can talk meself out of this one’ Carrick thought to himself when he spotted the ape’s massive hand. Looked like it could snap him with no more than twitch of a pinky. Carrick blinked and mismatched eyes floated up to the big red face and Carrick debated on how to play his next hand. Con the man? No he looked like he knew how to recognize a con something about the way he was staring at him, almost like he was expecting something to come.

Wallet still secured in his sleeve Carrick reached into his back pocket and pulled out a similar colored black wallet hoping the ape was too focused on him to notice the wallet difference. ”Guess you caught me. Can’t blame me though can yeah?” Carrick said trying to keep the attention on him and not the wallet. ”Life in the city can be tough on one, such as me. You of all people can understand I’m sure.” he was starting to get nervous making his accent come out more and more.

”What say I drop the wallet get out of here and you forget this whole mishap?” it was wishful thinking on his part but it didn’t stop him from trying, ”Sorry…” Carrick tossed the wallet towards one of the black holes and watched it vanish through the portal, ”Hmmm, not how I intended that to go down.” it wasn’t but it worked. As long as the ape was under the assumption that it was his wallet that vanished, ”So am I good for take off?”

“It’s a nice enough day.” He replied in turn to the young man with mismatched eyes. He quietly observed as he settled himself to come up with a game plan.

“No, I don’t blame you, I’m almost impressed that you picked me as a target, though a bit fool hardy, you must be confident in your craft to hunt large game.” He shook his head lightly. “I’m not a forgetful man, though I can be forgiving.” He held open his hand for the wallet expecting the young man to toss it to him, when he didn’t he smirked at the choice placement.

“Hold on friend, I’d hate for you to go running off just yet.” A red hand popped out of the void to his left and slung it Abyss, he grabbed the wallet out of the air and flipped it open.

“Has it been a busy day?”His eyes looked over another face that looked like it belonged to a man that if the kid stayed still would break him in half.

“I’d prefer my wallet. If you’d bother to look in it you’d realize that there isn’t much cash, and the single credit card while valuable would be disabled within moments of my call. So lets trade.”

He tossed the wallet at the boy’s chest softly. ”And we can discuss making your life easier, longer.” He dropped the voids that temporarily blocked the boys path. He could flee with his wallet and take the card and try to get away and hope there weren’t cops nearby when he tried to use it, or he could consider career options with a new acquaintance.

”Coddle!” Carrick said again his back up plan to get him out of there came falling down around him. ‘Curse them black holes and whatever is lurking in there’ Carrick thought to himself looking into them hoping to find where the hand went. When he didn’t see anything lurking behind him he got a chill down his back and looked back to big red. ”Neat trick…” Carrick said pointing to the holes and then reaching for the wallet that hit his chest and fell to the floor.

”Damn, cards are about as useful as tits and on a bull and twice as dangerous to milk them.” he said flicking his wrist and having the wallet he lifted from big red slide down his sleeve into the palm of his hand. The thing about cards was not only could they be cancelled but they could be tracked it was one of the first things he learned at the circus when they were teaching him some extra skills and the last thing he needed was to be caught in the act by anything.

Opening the wallet and shaking his head slightly Carrick sighed and tossed the wallet to big red, ”Figured you’d be the payload, custom suit obviously, briefcase and all that.” not only that but he was the size of a house and no one would go out of their way to notify him his wallet was lifted unless incurring his wrath, at least not in the big city. Not that Carrick wasn’t confident of his abilities he was just more focused on a sure thing, why gamble when you can fix the game? ”Sides better to ask forgiveness than permission right?” Carrick asked scratching the back of his head and shifting his eyes from big red to the holes that were starting to make him think he didn’t have much of an option.

Carrick looked up and spotted another hole and noticed there wasn’t any sunlight shining down and he stepped forward a bit hoping it wouldn’t fall on him swallowing him whole what ever it was. ”I like long lives, easy however… I feel like you’re about to offer me a deal and I’m a church going angel and the only angel I know that is red… well… call me skeptical.” the black hole in front of him vanished and Carrick took a few steps towards big red but kept out of reach.

Sharpened teeth showed as he smiled his tail flicking behind him and the shifters neck stretching to look up to big red, ”Damn you’re tall!” he waited a second and then added, ”Skeptical I happen to be but I am open to hearing the offer.”

Abyss grinned as the boy turned a phrase he hadn’t heard into the worst curse word he had. You could make any word a swear with the right inflection. He smirked as the boy turned phrase after phrase, He wasn’t sure where he learned to talk but he had a mouth on him.

“I’ve never had the problem, I always took what I wanted at the source and skipped paying altogether, bat least back when I stole.” He shrugged with a smirk on his face. “ You take enough and then reinvest it and you won’t have to steal again.”

He nodded to the logic. “ I recommend next time keeping those attributes and applying to an older gentleman on wall street, plenty of that type down there, and they wouldn’t be able to throw cars at you as you flew away.”

“As for permission and forgiveness, I would and will help you out more than the contents of my wallet would. Are you pocketing for survival or pleasure?” he then nodded back toward the street. “ come on I was just abot to grab something to eat.”

Abyss shot back as he was likened to Lucifer “Hmmm, A devil shows mercy to the angel who steals from him, something is mixed up in this tale, but have it your way.”

Abyss chuckled quietly at the young man’s observation and recantation. “And you have wings. Now then, I was going to simply introduce you to the sanctuary, They take in strays of our kind, but if you have certain talents and a taste for the morally grey, Well, it goes further than a simple homeless shelter. ”

He looked to be sure he had his attention before he continued. “ We take a bit of a firmer stance on what freedoms mutants should have and do have. Sometimes we go about ensuring those rights in the legal channels, more often than not however we take the other route.” He paused there to see if the wild mouthed teen would be interested in something bigger than pick pocketing the most dangerous person on the street.

Carrick’s eyes shifted to the massive mallets that were big reds hands and he resisted the urge to flee. With hands like that Carrick was nothing more than a fly to the man so he decided it would be best to be a good acquaintance though he had no intention of tweaking his language, if he didn’t do it in school or at home why bother now besides it seemed that big red didn’t mind a little cursing from the Irishman.

Carrick nodded his head slightly as red explained he had the right idea but it would be best to apply it to someone else, where was the fun in that? No Carrick liked a challenge and he was tired of lifting from the typical wall-street men, it took them to long to notice when their wallets were MIA.

>>“As for permission and forgiveness, I would and will help you out more than the contents of my wallet would. Are you pocketing for survival or pleasure?”

”Yes.” was all Carrick had to say as he looked up to red again this time focusing on his massive face. There really wasn’t much need for Carrick to pickpocket anymore. The mansion had food for him and was willing to help out with his clothing situation if needed but Carrick preferred to use his own money that he acquired his way. A way he found entertaining.

The hulk turned and headed towards the street and Carrick walked to his side making sure there was at least some distance between the two in hopes to avoid getting smashed to the pavement by a hand or a foot. Carrick rather liked living. ”Fair enough,” Carrick said with a smile, ”Got a point there, not really looking for a place to stay for now, I’ve got a few places here and there.” Carrick hadn’t heard much about the sanctuary other than it was a homeless shelter for mutants and such who were down on their luck. ”But I guess it is always good to have a new place to lay low if needed.” Carrick said the last part to himself more than anything. He also neglected to mention he lived at the mansion most of the time.

”Morally grey happens to be one of my favorite colors.” Carrick said, without giving it much thought. He pick pocketed so that counted as morally grey right? Carrick didn’t comment much about the legal and illegal stances red had mentioned. The shifter’s stomach growled. ”You said something about buying me lunch right?” Carrick took a few steps forward, ”I mean I was just gonna buy some lunch with the money I pinched from ya, but all you have are cards. So…” Carrick took a few steps forward and placed his hands on his head and turned towards big red, ”So we go where?” talents for morally grey Carrick had if the pay off and entertainment was something Carrick was interested in.