One thing Mae was still getting used to since Blackjack entered her life was the amount of exercise the giant dog needed. One walk didn’t seem to be enough, or sometimes two, and today she had given up and opted to take him to the dog park to run his energy out.

Seven was busy with work, so she was alone, trying to make the most of things. Normally she didn’t mind being outdoors, but today she would rather be home where it wasn’t so dang sunny.

Maybe just another half-hour, and Blackjack would feel tired. The dog bounced around in circles, then bolted toward a new arrival, barking happily. Mae groaned. Nope, maybe another hour. She should have brought a book....

Zek hated the dog park. Because it lived up to its name. So many dogs all over the place! It was unnatural! Unholy! Unbearable! Like, there were some tiny and cute ones, yeah, but too many big ol’ canines that were just uh-uh, no way Jose!

So you might ask yourself why Zek was choosing to spend a portion of his day off heading down to the dog park, that he knew full well was a dog park, and yet seemed to be under no discernable influence of drugs, love, lust, or other forms of mind control or extortion. Now if you asked yourself that and you got an answer you weren’t expecting, you should probably go see a psychiatrist. Or a priest.

Zek walked into the park, very obviously not having a dog. Where would he even put one? All he had on was a visor, sunglasses, a tank top, short shorts, and flip flops. No leash, no collar, no dog. Or so others might think.

A scarlet orb appeared in his hand and immediately all the ball-senses in the surrounding dogs went off. The orb was thrown and several dogs longed for it! But then it became…another dog oh my goodness what a great invention do it again!

And Zek realized the flaw in his cockamaney idea. Now the park had even more dogs!

“Ruh-roh!”

Mae had seen a lot of things during her time in New York. The usual mutant trying to battle a robot, sometimes a brawl or two. But, a dog coming out of a ball? That was, unusual. In fact, it seemed very much cartoonlike in her opinion.

Mae paused, watching as Blackjack ran toward the new dog, then ran toward the new human, her senses of danger on edge. She made sure her powers were close to her neck so she could hear clearly, ready in case Blackjack and this stranger did not get along. Because, when a mutant throws dogs out of random orbs, why would you not be concerned.

Blackjack did the 'great the new best friend' dance with the other canines, and promptly tried to jump at the stranger.

"Blackjack! Down!" she yelled, waving at her dog.

Blackjack was not a good listener. Oh, he could hear just fine, he just didn't listen.

This is what Zek got for trying to be a little nice! Normally when he encountered big ol’ dogs, he captured them and then released them in some alley somewhere else while he made his getaway. But this time he thought it might be slightly more humane to release the dog in a park filled with other dogs and people who liked dogs (and would theoretically take care of suddenly stray dogs).

“Well, flibberjibblets to that!” Zek swore. Never again would he extend quarter to the mangy monster spawn! “Git! Scat! Scram! Return from whence ye came!” he shouted as dogs started appearing around him and the dog he’d just gotten rid of. And this time he wasn’t the one making with the unvanishings!

He wanted to run but his escape route was cut off. Where are those leash laws when you need them?! Zek started backing up anyways, his hands out to ward off other dogs. “Back! BACK!” he cried. Then balls of light started flashing into existence and started getting thrown.

Mae's concern turned into panic when the kid who started the chaos started throwing things, and dogs started disappearing. Blackjack wasn't the first to go, but that didn't stop her from sprinting to the friendly dog's rescue, the first of several dog owners to see the danger signs.

"Don't you dare touch my dog!"

A gold orb hit Blackjack, and he disappeared on contact. Mae was two steps away and turned her panicked attempt at a rescue into a full on tackle, before grabbing a fistful of the guys shirt.

"What do you think you're doing?!!!"

Oh, there were still dogs. A lot of dogs, despite the ones that disappeared. It was hard to be intimidating when dog kisses were quickly intruding on your personal space.

THERE WERE SO MANY DOGS!!!!!!!

“No! No! No no no nonononono!” he shouted as he tried to pivot and juke to no avail. And all his hammerspace slots filled up quick. And there were still SO MANY!!! And they were barking, whining, mocking him! And don’t even start witht he owners! Where were their owners anyway?!

Then: “Ummph!”

Boy meets girl. Girl introduces boy to ground. Girl is on top of boy. Boy doesn’t appreciate the position he’s in and coughs in girl’s face as his back collides with the ground. Boy’s exposed skin meets a dozen or so tongues.

“AAAAAHHHHHH!!!” he yelled in pure terror. Now the dogs were siccing humans on him! Or worse! Becoming humans!!! SHe said something to him and grabbed his shirt but he wasn’t paying attention. The lights were on and someone was there, but that person was currently running in circles in the attic.

“Getoffgetoffgetoff!” he shouted and his hands flung up to shove an orb at the girl. But instead of vanishing her, a little terrier appeared instead.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” he elaborated as he started to roll to the side, completely heedless of anything on or around him as long as he got away!

The guy was screaming. Holycow he screamed like a girl. Mae snarled angrily and shoved her powers forward, effectively muting the guy she was beating up. "Damn it stop being so noisy! And stop throwing DOGS!!!" She let go to catch the little terrier, who barked with excitement now that it was free. Mae considered muting some of the dogs as well, but now that the guy was quiet, they seemed confused, and much of their own barking had stopped.

Mae moved her elbow so it was shoved against the stranger's back, pushing him into the grass. Thankfully, this was a dog poo free segment of the park, but she had no promises if he struggled more.

"Let go of my dog, of so help me, I will haunt your life like a poltergeist for the next month," she snapped.

“AAAAA--” --AAAAHHH!

Huh?

Zek’s mouth stopped working right. His brain didn’t. Unless he was having a stroke or something. Well, he was tasting dirt right then, but that probably had more to do with being pressed into the ground with a girl on his back and an elbow in his spine. Good grief! This is the third time this week!

Zek twisted his neck all the way around until he could stare her in the eyes. She was saying something about not being loud and not throwing dogs. “They started it!” he said. Who cares if he was on mute. Then came the threat and something about dying or whatever. He stopped listening. Instead he took advantage of the momentarily silence and lapse of demon-dog attention to flail a hand back and press a gold ball against the girl.

Newly liberated, Zek pushed himself off the ground and onto his knees. The dogs started surging toward him again so he made another red ball and threw it with a shout. “AAAAA! GO FETCH, YOU LITTLE MONSTERS!” Oh hey, he could talk again! And a dozen feet away, the ball became the girl, in the same position she’d been in, only this time several inches off the ground.

Many of the dogs had peeled off to go for the ball and that gave Zek an idea. He started casting about, throwing the rest of his crimson orbs in different directions, drawing more dogs away even as the orbs became more dogs. “AAAAAHHHHHHH!”

Mae could not pinpoint when exactly she went from pushing the guy into the dirt to just, kneeling in the dirt. There had been some type of ball again, then she found herself much further away. And the guy was making noise once more. Ugh. And throwing things. Throwing dogs, actually, if she was understanding it correctly. Still angry, she jumped back to her feet and moved so she could mute the idiot. She looked around, and Blackjack came bounding back to her.

”I swear, did you come here just to annoy people? Do you even line dogs? What a pain! Why don’t you stuff yourself in a ball next time!” she glared. She had her powers extended so just his mouth was silenced again. He could hear, but not speak. It seemed fitting.

Again the scream cut off. Zek kept yelling anyways. What was going on in this dog park?! No wonder dogs were so evil! Things kept not working! Fortunately most of the mangy miscreants were gone from him, having discovered the other dogs. Some of the cannier ones still kept an eye on him from a safe distance away.

And then the girl was back. And he couldn’t speak it seemed. He was soooo done with this place. He mimed his responses back to her and honestly, could you blame him if they were rather rude and maybe containing some vulgarities? In doing, he noticed he could hear his hands touching. His eyes narrowed. There was some kind power in play. Well, time to experiment.

He snapped his finger and caught a nearby dog’s attention. He made a gold ball appeared and lobbed it at the dog. It barked with glee and leaped for it! And vanished!

Zek manifested the captured dog in a red orb and flung it at the girl. A few feet away from her it suddenly became a dog, caught in mid-leap and still lunging forward, mouth open and everything.

“Sic’ ‘em!” he mouthed and gestured. Actually, he said and gestured other things entirely, but there could be kids reading this.

The guy started miming, and Mae watched as he lured another dog, caught the dog, and threw the dog at her. Mae yelped and managed to catch the surprised pooch, and quickly deposited it back on the ground where it barked in surprise and excitement.

"Stop throwing DOGS!!!!" How could she fight a power like this, when the guy just managed to snatch things out of the air and throw them at her. Living things. Dogs. Mae expanded her powers so the bubble stretched out a good 10 feet on all sides. The dogs caught inside the bubble seemed to realize they couldn't hear things inside of it, and started venturing further away to see where the sound went. Only Blackjack stayed close. She could hear the guy now, but most of the dog barking vanished. If he had electronics, they would be dead. She felt her muscles coiled, ready to move if he tried to throw something at her again.

"What is the point of showing up here just to ruin everyone else's day? Are you seriously just that bored?"

With the dog on trajectory toward Miss Stupid-Face, Zek turned and started to survey his escape options. Throwing balls in all directions had worked to get most of the dogs away from him, but now they were forming an entire perimeter of loose clumps around him at several yards distance. And there was a horrible sound in the air. What was that awfulness?

Oh yeah. Miss Stupid-Face.

He snapped his neck around, “@#$%--”

Oh hey, he could speak again! “At symbol! Hashtag! Dollar sign! Percentage!,” he shouted at her. He was this close from tearing his hair out in frustration. Wait no. Tearing her hair off! Way less painful for him. “Shut up, you Word Witch! Can’t you see I’m trying to leave?! It would be waaaay easier to do if you just buggered off already!”

Glowing balls formed in his hands even as his voice kept raising in intensity and exasperation. “I should really just throw you in a lake,” he said as he turned away and, choosing a direction at random, started to walk off.

Maybe it’s because he wasn’t paying attention. Maybe it’s because he didn’t have dog ears. Maybe it’s because he was inside a shield of silence. Or all of those things. But regardless, Zek was not able to hear the loud, piercing dog whistle that began erupting across the park.

Mae wanted to kick him back out of the sphere, but something stopped her. Maybe she was just irritated enough she wanted to finish scolding him. Maybe she sensed something was weird. Her sixth-sense for danger has been quick lately, given the amount of trouble she and Seven seemed to attract. Blackjack was looking outside the bubble where humans were....acting like dogs. What?

”Hey! Are you doing that too? You better stop! Really, throwing dogs wasn’t enough?!” she complained, pointing as one small teenager ran around with a frisbee in their mouth, their Labrador happily chasing them.

Of course she couldn’t hear the noise causing it inside the bubble, but she could see it. Blackjack stuck his head outside the sphere, then quickly returned, obviously not liking how it sounded. Mae wanted to test it, but stopped herself. Maybe the noisy guy would test it for her.

Zek was all set to storm off in a huff and a puff and a blow your house down but he really couldn’t resist not having the final word. Because she was acting like a real female dog. Well, probably a male dog too. Zek wasn’t a dogologist. He also wasn’t super high class either, because his gesture back to the girl was rather evocative and had caused an old woman to faint once.

“I don’t throw dogs, Dog Breath!” he yelled. So it wasn’t his most creative comeback ever. Not really his problem - the Last Word was worth so much more. “But I would totally throw frisbees if I had one! They’re really fun and awesome!” he continued in the exact same tone of voice.

And then he suddenly didn’t care about storming off in a huff and puff. Instead he turned back and stomped over to Missy Stupidface. “And where do you get off yelling at me and everything!” It wasn’t a question despite his word choice. “How do you like people getting all up in your business?! Huh? Huh?! HUH?!” He bobbed his head closer with each ‘huh’.

“And then you just steal people’s voices so they can’t yell back? So uncool, dude!” He didn’t actually know if she had done it, but was starting to get on a roll.

And so what if more humans were exhibiting doglike behaviors? And a few were starting to form a pack? And look a little territorial? And other dogs were starting to form squadrons and small regiments? And one of them had fleas but that was probably a pre-existing condition that had nothing to do with the current situation? Dog parks were stupid and everything in them were too.

The guy did a lot of yelling. For now she would call him Loudmouth, for lack of a name. He got into her personal space which caused Blackjack to raise his hackles, but she had more to worry about than his yelling, and breath. This was a good reminder why she didn’t like people, and stayed in her bubble. Especially when people outside the bubble acted like dogs.

”Okay I’m giving you one chance to look at what’s happening in the park before I kick you out of the bubble. People are going crazy, and you know, maybe I should let you join them! You don’t like dogs, I mean you can always be one.”

Did she have a plan to stop it? Not really. He was sort of interfering with her efforts to do things.