With flier in hand, Zek strolled up to the fancy gates at the fancy mansion. “Sister school...gifted, heh, we’ll see...youngsters….weird and archaic, oh well,” he read off the plaque on the wall beside the gates. The sign pretty much confirmed he’d arrived at his destination so he went ahead and crumpled up the old-school map he’d followed to the place and kicked it to the side as he entered the grounds.

There was a circus in town. A big ol’ thing. Supposed to have many of the classics, like a freak show, acrobats, carnival games, and apparently a huge focus on mutants. Which just seemed pretty amazing to Zek. There was also a lot of advertising for Martini the Miracleman, which seemed like a pretty pretentious name for a magician, but Zek was down for that. It had also reminded him of someone else who might be into the whole circus and magic thing so he figured it was time for another adventure.

Which was why he was at the fabled mansion, also home to Sam Sam The Icy Man, whose room he had yet to invade and cover in toilet paper, so this visit was really killing two birds with one stone.

He found his way to the main doors and knocked. When a person opened them, Zek pulled his free hand out of his trench coat and waved, dazzling them with a sunny smile. “Hi there! Can Carrick come out and play?”

Every time he showered now his leg itched. The shifter sat on his bedroom with a small stick on the floor of his room, which for the first time in months had been cleaned. Well Carrick level clean. Most of the food containers were gone, what little furniture he had was dusted and the floor was vacuumed. The shifter had way too much time on his hands being stuck in the mansion. His room was starting to look… normal.

He didn’t go under the bed to clean though. That was insanity other than the thing that made noises in the middle of the night and the bag of gemstones he had collected from the princess he had no idea what was down there. That was probably the safest place in the mansion to store anything expensive.

”Fer **** sakes….” the shifter grunted as he jammed the sick in the space between the bracelet and his ankle. He sat the scratching it for a few seconds before satisfying the itch. Looking back to his room he nodded his head once, mother would have been proud.

He heard a voice behind him. “Carrick, you got a visitor.” He turned, no one was there. This place was weird. Sighing and going to the nearest window he leapt from it and circled back towards the front. Who would it be? He didn’t owe money to anyone, he hadn’t caused any trouble recently so there would be no reason for anyone to show looking for him and Pippa would have called him if he was about to be picked up by SUPER or the police. At least he hoped that was the case.

”Zekky,” he swooped low and flapped twice before landing his wings folding behind him. His tail swayed and flicked when he saw the man. Maybe he finally get into some trouble. Mansion friendly trouble. ”Come fer a visit?” he asked.

If the the plaque hadn’t sealed the deal that this was indeed the fabled land that Carrie had mentioned where mutants lived and studied or whatever, the door greeter certainly did. Even after the doors were shut in his face with a polite, if terse, “One moment while I get him,” Zek still couldn’t tell what the person looked like. Not a single detail of the person’s appearance stuck in his mind. Couldn’t even remember what they sounded like.

“That’s not creepy whatsoever!” he informed the door. His hands retreated into his pockets as he waited for one moment.

THen two moments.

THen three.

Four moments came up quick.

Dead gods, this was taking forever! “Dead gods, this is taking forever!” he said for the door’s benefit. He only half expected it to respond.

But after a couple hundred years, there was fluttering and whooshing and all the sounds of an oversized cat-bird-guy swooping down. “Carlton! My man! How’s it going?” he said,as he turned with outstretched arms.

“Nah man, I came to get you out of here! There’s a circus in town and I’m thinking you, me, a whole afternoon and no responsibilities. Whaddya say?” He thrust the flier at Rick’s face.

”Not bad, bored.” he said with a shrug, kinda been around the mansion longer than I want to right now.”[/color] he said walking closer till he spotted the flier. He reached for it as Zek explained why he was here.

”Noooo way!” he said studying the name of the circus and seeing the ringmaster he had worked with in the past. ”This… used to be my circus!” he said his tail whipping behind him excitingly. ”Hell yeah! Wonder if they need a hand while they’re in town. I used to give some of the best highflying performances. How I learned to throw knives and…” he reached into to his pocket and with one hand gave off a small explosion of smoke before focusing back on the flier.

”Been way too long. Wonder if they recognize me? Wonder if everyone is still with the circus, man I didn’t realize how long I missed those guys!” Carrick said laughing, ”The hell we waiting fer!?!” he was about to take off then stopped. ”awww fek.” he looked down to his tether and started growling.

”*** ******* **** ******* *****!” he cursed in a slur as he shook his ankle. ”I can’t go. House arrest. Might have mauled someone.”

Now that was the proper way to respond when you did something really cool for someone. Tail frenzies, near lift-offs, even the flash powder trick. Zek heartily approved and nodded excitedly. The fact that it was Eric’s old circus just made it fifty times cooler and possibly made Zek seem even more amazing than planned. He was totally going to pretend that he’d known that stuff aforehand, yessir.

“Totally, man. I was like, hey, Carter would love to go back to his old haunting ground. Knew how much it meant to ya,” Zek gleefully lied. He pointedly took his time observing the dude’s wings and tail before remarking, “Somehow I feel like they’ll remember you. Unless you had a whole flock of identical siblings. Or would that be a litter of kitlings? Sorry, I don’t know the proper birdcat terminology. Chickittens?”

But Zek loved the guy’s enthusiasm and he clapped his hands together. “Alright, man! Let’s do this and--” The enthusiasm vanished and Zek learned a few new swears.

“Ah,” he said commiseratingly, sobering for just a moment. “That explains the ankle jewelry. I just thought you had really tacky fashion sensibilities.” The sobriety ended and he held up a ball of light. “No worries, I got this!” He bent over, intent on pushing the ball against the bulky bracelet.

”Pride?” what would a whole bunch of Carrick’s or Gryphons be? He smirked, ”A headache.” the shifter enjoyed pressing buttons a bunch of him would be a headache to everyone else.

”Hold up!” he kicked his leg away from Zek before he could make it disappear. Luckily the globe didn’t hit his ankle. He already felt the phantom vibrations from his phone half expecting the call from Pippa or someone else. ”Reads me heart beat. If I get too excited they send someone to collect me. The don’t want me going all beasty again.” the shifter said bummed he was going to miss the circus. The last thing he wanted was to piss off the people trying to help him. He already shifted once since getting the bracelet. A second time would be harder to explain.

”Ain’t supposed to leave the grounds or turn.” he said his tail drooping behind him. His feet touched back down to the ground and he let out a sigh. ”Not supposed to leave or shift. Till they figure out what they want to do with me.” his smile faded. ”Fek” he sighed. He read the flier one last time they weren’t gonna be around forever.

Zek missed. But that was only because the leg and bangle were no longer there. The ball rolled out of his hand and winked out before it could strike the ground. Alright, Canton was playing hard to get. Zek was willing to go along. Or at least he was until Birdcat explained.

“Not a problem!” Zek said. “Just don’t get excited then. I mean, you’ve been in one of these before.” Another golden light appeared in an upturned palm. He tapped it against his head. “No harm done! Well, probably. You haven’t lost any IQ points or developed any brain tumors, have you?” Because to be honest, Zek really didn’t keep track of what happened to people he’d vanished. Hopefully the lightshow wasn’t cancerous or anything - lead underwear was probably expensive.

He shrugged. “Yeah, yeah, no shifting, basic probation.” Zek’s mind was a’whirlin’ even as the other dude grounded himself. “So just let me make it go bye-bye then! I can store the thing while we go have fun and then pop it back on ya later, no harm no foul. Can’t detect any heartbeats or movements when it’s frozen in time and in another dimension! Nobody will even know it, or you, are gone!” he said with a wide grin. Zek Covington: problem solver extraordinaire!

He held the ball up and made another pass as the ugly anklet. “Just hold still and I’ll get this off of ya in a jiffy and then we can head up to the Big Top!”

….it was probably a good thing that Zek was at least pretty.

The shifter raised shook his head, ”It’s got me pinned to the Manison. Not allowed to leave the grounds. Even set it off one time by flying ‘too high’” he used quotation fingers because he didn’t think it was possible. When he got light headed he knew he went too high.

The shifted flapped his wings and moved back slightly taking the phrase ‘light on his feet’ to a whole new level. ”Saying I can’t leave the grounds and it monitors my heartbeat. If it was as simple as just taking it off I’d of done it several times over. Losing me damn mind! Soooo boring here. I cleaned my room. I never do that!” he said folding his arms.

The shifter stared at Zek for a moment and then shrugged, ”Only way I figured to get out of here is to put it on someone else. No one wants to try it. Too many do gooders here to want to try and trick these things.” he looked down to his ankle and thought aloud, ”Wait… you been using cancer balls on me?” he asked moving further away at the sight of the ball of light.

His hands immediately went to cover below the belt. Hoping that would help. He hoped Zek was joking. He got his name wrong on purpose enough. Hopefully this was a joke as well.

”blah blah blah CANCER BALLS?!”

Zek blinked at Wingboy and then at the glowing ball of light in his hand. He blinked at Kittybird again. Only then did he smile toothily. “...no?” He whisked his hands behind his back and made the ball itself blink out. “I have absolutely NOT been using cancer balls on you?” His voice totally pitched up there at the end.

Also, Cancer Balls sounded like a cool band name.

But Zek held his hands back up in placating surrender. “I get the point. No balls. Bollocks.” Well that certainly threatened to put a damper on the day’s activities. Maybe Sam would be interested…? Nah, as amusing as that would be, Zek figured he had some kind of obligation to help his pal Karl out.

Zek’s face brightened. He held a hand up over his head and a golden light popped into existence. “I have an idea!” The orb vanished. “Sounds like we just need to bait-and-switch you with someone else then,” he said, deliberately not thinking about that Evil Woman Who Must Be Despised from the incident at the nightclub. “Are there perhaps any….bad-dooers around here? Individuals with skewed morals? Bad influences? People who could use five bucks,” which he’d totally make Candy pay for, “or even particularly unobservant people who could easily be knocked out?”

Zek didn’t know if what he had been using on people had been dangerous. Carrick’s tail flicked behind him and he sighed loudly reaching for nothing behind his ear. He stopped carrying around extra smokes when he was around the mansion full time. They didn’t really have smoking sections and while he could just fly over the grounds with one it was weird smoking and flying. The cigarette burned far too quickly while flying. ”At least let me bum a smoke if yer gonna give the big C.” he said finally. We all had to go some time.

”Not gonna knock out a kid.” Carrick said landing then thinking on it, ”Less they deserve it.” he added finally. Was there anyone that was willing to cover for him? His thoughts went straight to the princess for some reason and his throat started to vibrate into a purr. He realized the company and stopped immediately. The princess would be the first one to yell at him for trying to sneak out. Most likely she’d want no part in it.

The shifter folded his arms and thought for a moment and snapped his fingers. ”Got a girl who I used to date.” his fingers snapped when he thought of Liz. ”She’s a teacher now and we didn’t really end on the best of terms.” his tail flicked angrily behind him. ”Bout as evil as they get here.” he said being biased to the situation. She hadn’t killed anyone but she stomped on his heart sure enough.

”No, knocking out.” he said grinning imagining Liz wondering where she got her new jewelry. ”How ya propose we get this on someone else?” Carrick asked almost having a pep in his step now.

Zek’s eyes got big and round. “She sounds utterly monstrous!” he said. Evil AND a teacher? Now that was a truly heinous (and somewhat redundant) combination! She also seemed to have questionable taste in men because apparently she had dated a musician-turned-convict. Tsk, tsk. “...you’re sure knocking out isn’t an option?” Or maybe hitting them from a distance with a fastball?

He shrugged. “Alright man, we’ll play it your way. Got some options though.” Two more cancer balls winked into existence, one gold and one red. “I can hit the bangle with this and then make it appear on someone else with this one,” he said, raising first the gold and then the red orbs. “Should probably make sure their leg or whatever isn’t bigger than yours.” Then again, Zek didn’t live here so there really weren’t many chances of this coming back to hurt him.

The gold light winked out and the red one dropped to the ground where it became a duffle bag. It was already unzipped, because why bother? Not like many folks could pick pocket dimensions. He crouched to ruffle through it. “Orrrr, since you seem rather….attached...to your family jewels, we could saw it off!” He pulled out a (only mildly rusty) hacksaw. “The bangle, that is. Not your, you know what. Whaddya think? I’ve also got duct tape so we can patch it up again.”

The shifter smirked at Zed’s comment, ”Naw mate, not that bad of terms.” it seemed to him Liz was trying to patch things up between then at least get on less hostile terms. Carrick however was doing well at not making that happen. To him her leaving him and the mansion without a word was more recent than it was for her and well. Gryphons have a hard time forgetting slights or was it Carrick?

Carrick looked to both of the balls Zap was holding and thought his tail ticking behind him. There were a bunch of kids his size, at least they had similar builds some of the kids might have been younger than him but he wasn’t planning on bulking up anytime soon so he didn’t think about that too much. No he was thinking of who was good at keeping their mouth shut. There was one kid that was in a constant state of sleep but Carrick felt a small bit of guilt for wanting to mess with sleepy. He’d have preferred one of the other seven dwarves.

”Next week’s issue.” Carrick said thinking, ”If we cut it off it’ll be hard to explain it to Pippa when they come and pick me up…” he folded his arms once again and then looked to the saw then to Zek. ”Got an idea! Got any steaks?” the shifter smirked mischievously if not he knew where he could find some.

Zek shrugged amiably. “Alright man, no knocking out the teach then.” They’d just have to find someone else then. Or at least a way of convincing or tricking a person to accept a...gift. Zek narrowed his eyes as the anklet. Nah, there’s no way someone would accept that as a gift. They’d know right away they were being insulted. Well there goes the plan for the Grinch Gambit.

Ricky didn’t seem too keen on the hacksaw idea either. Zek barely constrained himself from rolling his eyes. You try to help a guy and just keep getting rejected. Tsk tsk. And when Ricardo got an idea, he wasn’t even cool enough to have a light pop on over his head. But again, so few people actually managed to live up to the high standards Zek maintained. And the world was that much a poorer place.

He arched an eyebrow at the Wingman but shrugged again. “Sure thing, boss. Gimme a sec,” he said. He stuck the saw back in the bag and began moving things around. Lots of things clinked and clanged but he finally pulled out two sharpened pieces of wood and handed them to Featherhead.

“Alright, so we thinking ditching the circus and hunting vampires instead? Or are we going camping or what?” Zek blinked. “I’d prefer hunting vamps instead, actually. No offense, but I only have one tent with me, and I don’t really think there’s room in it for us and your wings.”

The shifter blinked when he was offered a wooden steak. Of course Zell would have some in his bag. Apparently he was prepared for everything. ”Well I mean, we could hunt some in the danger room.” Carrick said with a shrug then snapped his fingers again. ”Oh great idea!” he was planning on convincing someone’s dog to sit still long enough to get the bracelet on them but the danger room did create replicas of people apparently they even had a heartbeat.

”Meant meat steaks. Why would I want to hunt vampires. Haven’t done me wrong yet… have you seen them before?” Carrick asked, curiously wondering if he should start carrying the steak Zek handed. No doubt he has more.

”Mate, if I can fit in a cell or a cage I can fit into a tent.” Carrick said, ”Not that I want to though.” he showed off and sucked his wings tight to his body. It wasn’t the most comfortable for him but he thought it was important to show off the versatility of them. ”We can mess with me ex or we can take the easy way out and make another one of me.” Carrick said already heading to the kitchen. ”Hungry?”

Again, Zek’s gifts were rejected. What was up with this guy? He was like the opposite of an Indian giver. Like an Indian taker. Asking for stuff and then not wanting it when you gave it to him….actually, that just sounded like a cat. Zek sniffed. Cleric was starting to make a little bit more sense.

“I mean, I don’t think I’ve seen any vampires. Not yet anyways,” Zek shrugged. “But you just never know when you’re gonna need a couple of stakes. They work just fine on non-vamps, too.” Zek dropped them back into his bag though. Could you really blame him for not thinking of meat steaks? Like, how was that the first thing people thought of?!

As Kenton folded himself up like a sad butterfly or a bashful burrito, Zek gave him the fish eye. “If you say so,” he said skeptically. “By the way, you look like a sad butterfly. Or a bashful burrito.” He shrugged again. “Whatever though. Let’s go make another one of you. Sounds fun. Also, I could go for putting stuff in my mouth.”

He packed away the rest of his stuff back into his duffle and smacked it with a ball before following Ricardo. “By the way, what’s this ‘danger room’ thing you mentioned? And is it truly as entertaining as it sounds?”