There were a few times Clyde could convince his parents to let him leave the house by himself, and this time he'd found himself aimlessly wandering around the city. Yes, it was a Saturday, and yes, there wasn't really anything he wanted to do. But, almost all his dad had been doing the past few days was applauding the law for acquitting those police officers, and Clyde couldn't stand it. It was just one of those things that went without saying – leaving to get a break from his anti-mutant attitude was nice.

His walk had taken him to some random shopping district. He found that it was difficult, especially being smaller than most people, to wander the area without bumping into someone. It wasn't that surprising. After all, it was New York, and compared to even Boston, it was crowded. And, it was getting close to noon. At that time of day, people were going to lunch, so it was difficult to find a street without at least a few people on it.

Clyde wasn't exactly claustrophobic, but the congestion was getting a bit much. Moving off to the side, he took a seat on a bench. So it had come to this: people watching. Maybe he'd see something he could mentally laugh at, like a party of crazy tourists. Some people were idiots, so he might as well take pleasure in reminding himself that he wasn't one.

The shopping district one of Carrick’s favorite places. Not because of the stores littered with the most useless and next best thing items nor the atmosphere. Carrick came to the shopping district to escape boredom by his two favorite past times. Street performing and when no one was looking pocket picking.

Did he need to do either? No, Carrick loved the attention from the street performing, dancing, card tricks you name it. If it gets the crowd going and focused on him he was more than happy to do it. Whether it was because of his time in the circus or the fact that he was the youngest child of his family back home Carrick didn’t know or care he just liked the attention. As for pick pocketing it presented a challenge and what master didn’t like to work in his craft. Money was no longer a factor that played into it though thanks to Shade and the large sum he received for robbing those mercenaries’ blind.

Deck of cards in his pocket the winged mutant walked along in the shopping district whistling a tune while his tail swayed behind him as he tried to decide what would be more fun. Spotting a man in a tailored suit with a very expensive Rolex, ”What to do what to do?” Carrick thought aloud as he changed directions behind the man and started to follow him around the shopping district.

The man walked into all the right stores and currently had his hands full with a few bags no doubt for the trophy wife. ”Too easy? Worth it?” Carrick said to himself as he picked up the pace and with a quick sleight Carrick reached into the mans pocket and lifted the wallet without much effort and slid the wallet into his pocket before turning in the opposite direction and walking off with a new largely packed wallet.

So far, nothing noteworthy really happened. Clyde was considering trying to return home when one of the pedestrians, a teenager around his real age, caught his attention. Wings? And was that a tail? Definitely another mutant. Yep, no doubt this was New York City, the Mutant Mecca. Clyde watched as the guy, in a casual manner, snatched a wallet from the back pocket of an unsuspecting man.

Clyde's eyes went wide. Did he just see what he think he saw? Yes, yes, robberies like that were commonplace, and it was normal for people to turn a blind eye. However, this was a little different. The offender was a mutant like he was. Though Clyde wasn't responsible for what another mutant did, the public was quick to lump all mutants together, and therefore, if one did something bad, it made every other mutant look bad. Plus, by seeing this go down and not acting, he'd be an accomplice.

Letting a police officer know didn't sound like a good idea. The video in recent news had proven that some police officers were willing to be brutal towards mutants, and an assault was not something Clyde wished on anyone, thief or not. The same went for the robbery victim. Trying to convince the other mutant to return it was also not a good option, given Clyde's notoriously poor track record of attempts to persuade people.

There was one final idea. Maybe, he could pick the thief's pocket. If he acted fast, perhaps he could steal it from the guy, catch up to the victim, and tell him he'd dropped it. There, simple and free of confrontation. How hard could it be to pick a pocket? After all, no one ever suspected a little kid.

The age shifter left the bench and began trailing a few feet behind the pickpocketer. Quickening his pace, he closed the gap between him and the other mutant. Here goes nothing, he thought to himself. Taking a leap of faith, he tried to bump into the guy and time the grab so it would happen when he was distracted. Dang, this was the first time he'd tried something like this, and he really didn't know what he was doing.

With one of his hands in his pocket Carrick fumbled with the recently stolen wallet removing the bills from it counting them in his hand. Fifteen total a good number in his opinion unless they were all ones, which Carrick seriously doubted. Due to the watch the guy had on him and his dress attire there had to at least be fifties unless he was one of those fakes that Carrick to lift from. The fakes were the ones that bought clothes and accessories that were way out of their price range meaning the wallets had little to nothing in him. It was like stealing from the homeless and it never sat right with him.

A few seconds passed and Carrick shifted his eyes from person to person in front of him should he pick a new target or call it a day? Heck he could set up a table and hustle some people, card games were easy enough to fix especially when the deck was always stacked in his favor. ‘Call it a day or keep at it?’ Carrick thought pulling the deck of cards from his pocket and lifting off the top one, ”Red I go black I stay. An have some fun.” said Carrick to himself as he continued to walk forward pulling the top card off of the deck. ‘Black looks like I’m having fun here’ thought Carrick as he looked around for his next mark or at least somewhere where he can set up his card tricks while putting them back into his pocket.

Stopping and looking forward Carrick was forced to move forward as someone on the small size bumped into him. ”Ohi, ye Eejit watch where ya going!” his tail felt the hand first, the bristles on his tail alerted the winged mutants presence of someone trying to pilfer his wallet. Instantly Carrick’s free hand shot back and grabbed the kid’s wrist.

Turning he smiled to what he was seeing someone around a young age trying to pick his pocket. ”Wicked nice try, but you forgot to do a few things before trying to pillage me pocket.” Carrick said, ”First rule, check for a tail or make sure it won’t be a problem.” Carrick said his tail swaying behind him so the boy could see.

Clyde's pickpocketing attempt, to say the least, was a complete disaster. While the bumping part was easy, it was far from being enough of a distraction to retrieve the stolen wallet. The guy's tail had been a bigger obstacle than he'd counted on. Who'd think there was actually an advantage to having one? Though he'd made an effort to avoid the tail, as soon as he accidentally touched it, it set off alarm bells.

“Ow! Hey!” Clyde yelped as the other mutant grabbed his wrist. This wasn't part of the plan! Of all things to be caught for, why did it have to be attempting to reach into some other guy's pants? Cautiously, he looked up at the pickpocketer. Getting stolen from would make anyone, even a thief, angry, but luckily, he didn't seem so mad about it, though Clyde couldn't tell for sure.

“Um... accident?” Clyde tried a made-up-on-the-spot excuse, though, from what the guy said, he had a strong feeling that he was already cornered. But, this was no time to back down; it was time for him to gather his courage. True, he could go into full on accusation mode and demanded that he return the stolen property, but that rarely went well. He'd have to settle for saying something else instead. “Fine,” he said, snapping into his tougher, more serious tone. “Second rule, watch out foh witnesses. Look, I saw you steal it from that guy. It makes people like me look bad.” With that, he then attempted to yank his hand free of the guy's hold.

The fact that he might have been letting slip the fact he was a mutant barely occurred to him. At least he wasn't at school and was certain a guy with wings like that was not a classmate, so it wasn't as big of a deal. Besides, the fact that they were both mutants was the one of the reasons he'd acted in the first place.

The kid was funny to Carrick, the way he acted all self-righteous reminded him a bit of Koga on a bad day. Koga on a good day would have just taken the wallet back and made Carrick apologize. Koga did always have the muscle behind him when it came to tussling. This kid however… Carrick let go of his hand when the kid jerked it back and smiled to the little guy who was trying to be tough.

”Tough as mouse ya’are?” Carrick said lifting the hand he had around the kid’s wrist up innocently so the kid could see both hands. ”Look ‘hose calling the kettle black, you try lifting from me ‘cause you saw me lifting from that Eejit? Just trying to find some balance is all.” Carrick’s mismatched eyes locked on the kids face, ”an yer’ starting to try and throw that balance out of sync.”

Carrick waited for a second as an adult who was staring down the two passed by before he continued, ”Who says yer a witness?” Carrick asked flashing his elongated canines in his smile in a somewhat display of mischief. ”Second off that is rule number ‘tree rule number two is make sure you can out’run ‘em if you get caught.” Carrick smirked and opened his wings slightly, ”You, boyo defiantly can’t outrun me unless you got some jets stashed somewhere on yer person.”

Carrick leaned down slightly so he was a little closer to the kid (something Carrick wasn’t used to seeing as he was often the shortest in sight) ”You a mutant or something? You said people like ‘me’. How am I making you look bad?” Carrick asked not really one to let that go unnoticed. Book smarts he never really had but when it came to conversations and street smarts he usually put two and two together.

As soon as the other mutant let go of his hand, Clyde let it drop to his side. He noted the teen's apparently amused expression. He wasn't being taken seriously at all. Typical. And, he was accused of throwing the “balance out of sync.”

“Uh-huh, evening the scoh. Collection's ovah theah, Robin Hood,” he said dully, nodding at a charity stand set up across the street. It was like what his mom said a lot when he was younger. She said that if you decided to steal from the rich, that you'd better be prepared to give it to the poor. In other words, the fact that the target is rich doesn't justify stealing from them for one's own gain. It was what he was taught.

Though, the other guy was definitely not of the same mindset. Was he actually trying to give him advice, or was he just fooling around? Sometimes, serious people like him simply could not understand people like that.

However, he did understand the question. Seeing how he came so close to directly admitting he was a mutant, he wasn't all that surprised when he was asked if he was one as well.

The age shifter looked up to lock eyes with the other mutant. “Yeah, you could say I'm one, too,” he confirmed, keeping his voice down. “Anyways, you know why it makes us mutants look bad? It's because whenevah a mutant say, steals something, people don't go, 'That idiot!' Instead, they go, 'Dang mutants!'” He narrowed his eyes. “I was just going to return it befoh that man found out. You know how it's been lately, with that video and all. A stunt like that could equal big trouble.”

One could say Clyde was trying to impose his morals on the other mutant, but he felt this was dead serious. He could easily imagine that a mutant caught pickpocketing could become the target of an angry mob.

Blinking and tilting his head sideways Carrick couldn’t help but smile at the kid who pointed to the nearest charity stand. ‘Not a bad idea’ thought Carrick to himself feeling he should actually try to make up for a few marks he had in the past that got just a bit to bloody. He never made the blood spill but he was an accomplice to the one that did the spilling so in his book he was just as guilty if not less so. However, Carrick being Carrick frowned at the boy and shook his head. ”Hey, Robin needed some money too, had to buy those matching uniforms for his merry men didn’t’ he?” Carrick said never wanting to have a group of friends he’d call his ‘merry men’ nothing manly about that was there?

Carrick smirked more and straightened his head upright when the kid admitted he was one in a hush tone like he was ashamed of it. Carrick understood some other people weren’t happy being mutants but to Carrick there was no other way. ”So what yer sayin’ is I’m being held accountable for the entire mutant race? Bit extreme if you ask me.” Carrick said raising his hand and placing it under his chin, ”So by that logic, a mutant kills someone I too killed them?” Carrick said shooting his hand up from his chin and covered his mouth, ”I’m a murderer then?” Carrick mocked a gasp and pointed at the kid, ”Ohmygod. You are too then!”

Carrick waited a second to let his counter to his logic set in, ”Way I see it someone doesn’t speak for an entire race of people or mutants. We ‘ave eejits they have eejits, are we all eejits? No some? Yes.” Carrick said shrugging his shoulders lowering his hands into his pockets where one of the wallets he just lifted resided absent the bills in it.

”Sides, you really think you can put the wallet back before he finds out? Couldn’t even pull one over on me…” Carrick paused and laughed then added, ”Then again I’m good at what I do.” pulling the wallet out of his pocket without the bills Carrick tossed it to the kid, ”Tell ya what…. Kid.” he never got a name, ”You can put the wallet into the guys back pocket where it was before without him finding out I’ll quit stealing.” not that he needed to keep doing it now that he was sitting on a rather large sum back at the mansion. ”Name’s Gryph.” lied Carrick giving out one of his nicknames figuring it was best. ”Whatcha say boyo? Up fer it?”

The age shifter flashed an irritated look as the other mutant continued to ignore the seriousness of his tone. Even blunt realism didn't seem to be getting through. It was so frustrating. This was exactly why he hated his mutation so much.

“Yeah, yeah, I know theah ah idiots.” Clyde shook his head, tired of the laid back attitude he was faced with. “Plenty of them on both sides, from my point of view. Thing is, I know what you do should not affect people's opinions of every other mutant, but it does because so many people have a black-or-white view of them.” From what he'd seen, tons of people hated mutants simply for being mutants, and not much could change that.

Clyde caught the stolen goods when they were tossed. He rolled his eyes as the other mutant claimed he'd quit stealing if he successfully returned the wallet without the man's notice. This Griff person lost his trust already by stealing that wallet in the first place. Plus, there was no way would a thief give up his plunder in such a manner. Ever suspicious, the age shifter looked in the wallet to see that there were no bills inside. Just what he expected. Though his eyes hadn't caught anything, Clyde had a pretty good idea that Griff already pocketed the cash.

“My name is Clyde,” he stated, almost in a correcting tone. He didn't need nor like to be called “kid” or “boyo.” It was just so annoying. At least “Clyde” didn't exactly sound childish.

“And nice try, Griff,” he added flatly, “but I can't just hand it back to him and say he dropped it now. He'll likely check inside, and when he sees his cash is gone, guess who'll get the blame. I'm not taking the rap fo this.”

With that, he reluctantly tossed the wallet back to the teen. The wallet's owner would've probably wanted his cards back, but the only other way he could think of to return it involved bringing it to the police station, and even then, there was a chance he'd be blamed. As much as he hated to admit it, there was not much he could do.

Carrick smirked when Clyde tossed back the wallet, it seemed the kid didn’t sound as stupid as he initially led on with his preachy false wisdom ideal for a kid his age. Carrick caught the wallet and shrugged, ”Well If yer’ not gonna return it and you know about me lifting it that makes you an accomplice of sorts don’t it?” Carrick said looking around for the nearest garbage can to stash the wallet. No need being caught with someone else’s information if someone did suddenly recognize him, someone like Jorge. That would have been a big problem for Carrick. Especially seeing as Jorge knew how to get in contact with his folks and all his staff. Then he’d probably have to talk to Ms. T Carrick mentally cringed at the thought.

”So, what now Clyde?” Carrick asked looking entertained while raising both eyebrows and grinning. Putting the wallet in his pocket for the moment Carrick shifted his weight back. With Clyde’s perspective Carrick wouldn’t have been surprised if the kid suggested he turn himself in for theft. The thought almost made Carrick laugh.

”Well, if your not going to take the heat for this and I’m certainly not taking the heat for this then I guess we both pretend this didn’t happen.” Carrick took a step away from the kid and laughed, ”Maybe when you’re my age you can make folks like me see things differently but unless you don’t plan on actually getting involved best to shut yer’ trap aye?” Carrick said making it more a statement than anything else. ”Just be lucky I’m not actually ‘one of the bad mutants’ you were going on about. If I was wouldn’t hesitate to rough you up a bit.” it wasn’t a threat because Carrick didn’t have it in him to rough up anyone smaller than him seeing as he was a runt his whole life and knew what it was like to be the runt.

”That was a warning.” Carrick explained, ”lot less nicer folks out there than me.” Carrick said shrugging again and taking another step back slightly waiting for the kids response.

As the guy took the stolen wallet back, all Clyde did was glare at him. He couldn't dream of being an accomplice to a crime, petty or not. Wrong was wrong. He could try to report that teen, but what good would it do? He had no evidence but his own word, and that wasn't worth much at all. The fact that Griff even suggested that he was an accomplice made his blood boil a bit. Whether or not it was the intention, Clyde felt like the guy was mocking him.

Pointing out that he had no influence due to not being the same age was plain ironic. Unless he looked several years off of his age as well, there couldn't have been much of a difference. “I am yo age,” Clyde quietly mumbled, assuming Griff wouldn't hear him. As if age really would have made a difference, anyways. Clyde guessed that no matter what age he looked, there would be not talking the guy out of his ways.

Apparently, he was “lucky” that Griff wasn't one of the bad mutants. Heh. So theft was nothing to him. Well, it was true he could've been rash enough to try to hurt him, but he hadn't really been worried about that when he attempted to retrieve the property.

“This is a public area, and you don't exactly blend in, so roughing me up would've been plain stupid,” Clyde remarked, noting Griff's rather obvious mutation. He crossed his arms. “And, I'm sure I'm a lot nisah than some of those othah people who could've caught you. Being a mutant alone is enough to draw mutant-hatahs, but mutant and thief... that could draw not only them but also some slightly moh level headed people.”

Though he doubted Griff would listen, it made perfect sense from his perspective. Some members of the public would seize any opportunity to “rightfully” fight a mutant. Or so it seemed, judging by recent events. Honestly, the idea was a bit frightening to him.

Carrick smirked and ceased moving, ”You make that sound as if it’s a bad thing, boyo!” Carrick said snapping open his wings so all who were near the debating pair could see in his opinion one of the greatest gifts in the world. ”You think anyone could stop me from roughing you up? All I’d have to do is pick you up fly twenty feet or so and drop you.” Carrick said laughing not that he would actually ever do that but what the kid doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

”Unless you got some wings to sprout out of yer’ arse, doubt you’d be able to do much about it.” Carrick said running his mouth unaware that the guy he picked pocketed before was now walking back in Carrick’s and Clyde’s direction looking for his wallet.

Carrick flapped his wings once and was in the air not realizing that the wallet he had picked when Clyde found him fell out of his pocket. ”Like I said, not much people can do about catching me.” Carrick said landing a second later next to the wallet that was now being searched for. Snapping his wings behind his back Carrick strutted over in front of Clyde and pointed a finger in his direction, ”Don’t think you ‘ave any right trying to tell me what’s right and what’s wrong.”

Carrick paused for dramatic effect and then wagged the finger again, ”And another thing, I…” Carrick was cut off as another deeper voice interjected, “Who took the money from my wallet!?!” Carrick stopped short and turned his head, ”Saw the kid do it!” it was always a reaction to find an excuse or scapegoat whenever someone near him was yelling about something even if it really wasn’t him that caused the something to happen.

“Like you'd actually try that,” he grumbled. Not one thing he'd heard from Griff was worth taking seriously. Apparently, death threats coming from him were just the same. Clyde had no hope for him; he'd tried to convince Griff of his wrongdoing and how bad it looked on other mutants, and he tried to give him a chance, but if he failed to see things the way he did, so be it. If the consequences were to come, let them come.

>>”Unless you got some wings to sprout out of yer’ arse, doubt you’d be able to do much about it.”

Clyde lazily watched the winged mutant stay in the air for a moment. “Uh-huh,” he muttered, unamused. So Griff could fly. That wasn't really a surprise, though. What had really drawn Clyde's attention was the wallet's owner. He was coming in their direction. The age shifter just kept his mouth shut and watched as the man approached. Only half-listening to Griff, he saw him pick up the empty wallet. Clyde noted the man's change of expression when he opened it, just before he angrily demanded where his money was. There Griff was, at the scene of the crime. It was the perfect “I told you so” moment.

Except, Griff tried to pin the blame on him to weasel his way out of this. Really? When the wallet was next to him? What a coward! This was positively infuriating. “Sure, blame the 'little kid,'” he growled. His fingers subconsciously made quotation marks in the air as he spoke. “I guess yo just too scared to admit what you did.” He looked straight at the man, then back at Griff. “Well?!”

Clyde knew that some people were nice enough to be satisfied upon getting their stolen property back. However, he wasn't sure if the man would be that forgiving. He looked pretty ticked.

Carrick’s mismatched eyes fixed on the man he had picked from earlier, he was bigger than he remembered. Opening his mouth once and then closing it Carrick shrugged, ”Like I said, I saw the lil’ runt here lift it from your pocket.” Carrick said without giving any inclination that it was a lie. ”Saw ‘em do it and I was coming over here to let him know it was wrong and before I could find ya and bring the wallet ta ya, here you are.” Carrick said turning his head towards Clyde, ”Kinda young to be pilfering pockets without ‘nybody knowing isn’t he?” Carrick said laying the accent on thick.

”How much this kid steal from ya?” Carrick asked curiously knowing how many bills he had in his own pocket. The man at this point was red in the face still staring both the kids down not sure who to believe. All he knew was he had money in his wallet before and now that after one of them had his wallet the money was gone. ”Maybe he’s a mutant… explain why he lifted it so well at such a young age.” Carrick said trying to come up with an even better cover story as to why it couldn’t be him.

Turning his face towards Clyde and away and out of sight from the guy he stole from Carrick reached out and grabbed the kid by the collar Carrick didn’t attempt to lift him but rather made it look like he was trying to shake the kid up. ”Alrigh’ buckko! Give back what yer stole or I’m gonna leave you with this guy an he don’t look to happy!” Carrick said just as a couple of protesters were walking down the sidewalk with signs against mutant rights.

“Hey that Gene freak is roughing up that kid!” one of them said to the three as they quickly ran over to the scene to express their displeasure in the situation they just happened to chance upon.

“Runt? Don't call me that, Griff!” Clyde shouted at Griff, clearly offended. “And really? Yo still trying to pin this on me?” He quickly looked at the man, who showed signs of both anger and confusion. “I'm telling you, he's the one that did it!” he told him.

This was turning into some sort of blame game, except that Clyde knew Griff was the thief all along. Unfortunately, nothing he said seemed to convince the man nor stop Griff's attempt to place the blame on him. And, Griff's fabricated story seemed to be getting even more detailed.

“What? Yo trying to say I did it 'cause I'm a mutant? Yo a mutant, too! And an obvious one, at that. Just return the wallet. Yo making us both look – Hey!” he yelped as Griff grabbed him by the collar.

A startled expression flashed across Clyde's face. The thing was, Griff was a lot bigger than him. Clyde had little doubt that if the guy wanted to, he could easy toss him around. Nonetheless, Clyde wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of scaring him stiff. “Let go of me,” he demanded. “NOW.”

Just as those words left his mouth, he realized a small crowd which he'd failed to notice earlier had gathered, curious about the commotion. Clyde could have sworn he'd heard something about a “gene freak.” Looking in their direction, he could see a couple of them held signs, one, of which, said “Children Have a Right to Live Without Fear: Keep Mutants Out of Our Schools.” That was bad news: They were anti-mutant protesters, and they looked ready to pick a fight. Situations like those had a way of turning ugly in a very short amount of time. Even worse, he was right in the middle of it.