Zek had to admit it -- Carl’s ex had a hideous voice. So scratchy and not at all feminine. Honestly, she sounded like a decades-long chain-smoker on helium and a cold. He didn’t object when Catbird swiped some popcorn, though. Again, it wasn’t like Zek had paid for it.

There was a brief moment of silence, but one filled with details. Like, was the popcorn a suitable entry bribe? Was it a good conversation starter? Would it be the magic key to open the door?

Or was it just popcorn?

”Put your head in an oven and turn it on high!”

Zek began to guffaw so much he nearly dropped the rest of the popcorn. “I like her!” he said. “I wouldn’t say she has great recipes though.” He was pretty sure that wasn’t how you properly prepared Birdcat. But still, seeing this part of Garek’s life was so very fascinating.

He managed to recover himself somewhat (at least enough to stand upright) when Crichton pulled out their purloined sirloin. “I gotchu,” Zek stage whispered and held up a golden light in his free hand. He backed up quite a ways because honestly he had no idea what Birdcat was gonna do and it was just as easy to vanish a door from ten feet away as it was two feet away.

>>>”Put your head in an oven and turn it on high!”

Carrick chuckled. He missed Nico more after that comment however instead of trying to reminisce about his former feathered friend Carrick decided it was time to carry out their mission so he could get the hell out of the mansion. He could almost taste freedom. With a nod of his head Carrick took a step back so the door could open.

”That anyway to talk to an old pal?” he said scattering a little bit of the popcorn on the floor still holding one or two pieces in his hand to distract him with if the African Grey didn’t take the bait. Carrick also tossed the steak in front of the door. He wasn’t afraid of dogs but he suddenly had the fear that Nico could command him.

Carrick should have been watching Zek as he moved back further from the door. He should have also guessed it being Zek the ball of light was meant for the door and not his tether. However Carrick was Carrick so he didn’t. ”Pull” he said meaning to open the door.

Carly definitely should’ve been watching Zek. Everyone should’ve been watching Zek. His very presence automatically made everyone’s lives better, even if by looking upon his magnificence they would be temporarily stricken with justified feelings of inferiority and awe.

Also, because Zek had no clue what Catbird was gonna do so he was just winging it.

Birdcat said “Pull” so naturally, Zek threw his golden as if skeet shooting several clay targets. The ball hit the door. The door vanished.

And then there was more growling.

Zek froze. “Ruh-roh…”

In his line of sight, he saw this grey bird sitting on top of a cage with a wicked look in its beady little evil eye. It opened it’s very vicious looking beak.

”Zorro. Sic’ ‘em!”

And then a German Shepherd Demon Spawn bolted out of the room and it’s growls started to fill the hallway. Zek let out a sound of his own, albeit far more piercing. He chucked the popcorn at the beast and immediately turned tail and started running.

“Aaaaaaaaaah thiswasastupidideaaaaaa!”

There was a flash and the door was gone. The growling came next. Carrick understood, the door was gone to their room. He wouldn’t have been happy either. If any had shown up and took his door he’d be wondering where was the security in this place. Hearing a girlish shrill Carrick saw Zek take off in a cloud of dust. ”Scoob! Like don’t run man!” Carrick yelled after him keeping his eyes on Zorro. Carrick waved the steak around and whistled. ”Heya bud don’t look at him.”

>>>”Zorro. Sic’ ‘em!”

”Nico, shove it.” the bird wasn’t helping and apparently Zorro wasn’t going to help either. With the door gone there was nothing stopping Zorro for defending his home and while Carrick was the first suspect the other one took off running and Zorro did what dogs do best when something is running. Chase it.

The four-legged beast gave Carrick a wide birth as the shifter looked at Nico gave him the finger and then chewed the popcorn he was going to give the African grey. Carrick stared him down for a moment and decided he needed to meet Carrick’s new friend Hiyori, who was a cat. ”Best watch yer back in the skies.” he said as he took off after the two that already bolted.

The girlish screams of his partner in crime weren’t hard to follow. Nor were the people of the mansion pushing up against the wall as everyone made their way through the halls. Carrick shook the meat in his hand calling after Zorro. ”It’s a Sam special!” the dog however was not interested in him just Zek. That was till Carrick cursed snapped his wings open and took off after them.

While Carrick wasn’t the fastest while running his wings gave him the edge to close the distance and before Zorro could catch up to Zek, Carrick landed between them glad the mansion hallways were wide enough to get his wings open enough to interfere.

”Stop!” the dog didn’t. ”**** sorry mate,” he snapped open his wings and roared loudly making his form look intimidating as possible to stop the dog. Hopefully both parties would stop running.

Nico turned his gaze to Carrick and glared back at the boy. Carrick was no good. But Carrick was big. No fighting. Yet. Attack later, maybe. Yes. If the parrot would’ve had lips, he would’ve been smiling wickedly. As it was he opened his beak slightly and shifted his stance on his perch. Carrick raised finger. A bad finger. Said bad things. Nico could say bad things too. ”Up yours, you eejit,” he said, an Irish lilt in his voice as he mimicked Carrick.

And then when the Eejit left, Nico fluttered down from his perch into the hallway and began picking at the popcorn.

-----------------


“AaaaAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaHHHHHhhhh!”

A klarion call roared through the hallways of the mansion, like an ambulance or a firetruck on its way to an emergency. Except this time, the emergency was giving chase.

And it wasn’t an ambulance with a siren. It was Zek with a good set of lungs and a powerful fear or dogs.

“Aaaaaah!!” he continued to shriek, heralding his frantic flight well in advance. If he had stopped for a moment, he might’ve realized that running and making a lot of noise were two things that would be very attractive to a large dog who’d been cooped up in a room for several hours while his owner was off teaching and doing her job. But if Zek would’ve been dumb enough to stop for a moment he would obviously be devoured by the dead godsforsaken hellhound that was asftewr his flesh and soul.

“Aaaaaaaah!!!” he continued, not giving a care what all the people leaping out of the way of his path thought. Or what they thought about the barking that was dead gods it was getting so close run Zek run aaaaaah!!!!

And then the heavens opened up and there was thunder.

“Ack!” Zek said in surprise as he was momentarily deafened and instinctively jumped. Which was a problem when running hard tack as he was. He tripped, flew a few feet, rolled, bounced, banged, somersaulted, and then collided into a wall.

“....ow….”

Carrick could hear the commotion behind him but didn’t look as funny as it would have been to see Zek take a dive and roll after running like that he knew the second he looked away from the dog he’d do something. ”Now I was going out of me way ta give ya a great treat fer a little help. Nothing big.” he waved the stake around while he kept his gaze with Zorro.

”Quit messing around and get this thing of me and on the dog. The whole mansion’s gonna be coming here to see what’s going on and personally I’d like ta not be here.” his tail flicked behind him waving Zek on to hurry up.

Carrick moved slowly and lowered his stance still keeping the steak out in front of him. While Zorro was growling at him he was starting to sniff the air. His mouth was either watering or foaming which Carrick took as a good sign. ”That’s right Zorro, steak something you’ll get if yer a good boy. No biting now can ya sit fer me?”

Zorro recovered from his recoil. Ears hurt! He whined softly. And sniffed. Sniffed again. Parrot human had meat. Zorro wanted it. But where was target? Was parrot human enemy? Prey? Mouth sounds came from it, most just noise. Like bird calls. But some were words. Treat? Help? Good boy? Biting? Sit?

Zorro knew this game. If you sat, you got the food and called “good boy”. You felt good. Liz played this game a lot. That’s why he was the best boy. He always won. But just one thing distracted him.

The running human was smashed against a wall, head twisted around weird. Zorro huffed. His toy was broken. Okay, nothing in the way of his new game. He sat and opened his mouth, panting expectedly at parrot human.

-------------------------


Meanwhile, Zek started pulling himself up. “Owwww,” he said again just to let Carlton know how much he’d sacrificed for this dumb stupid awful plan. He planted his hands on the sides of his head and manually screwed it back on straight. Then he cracked his neck and it epically echoed as all the little extra bones popped too.

“Alright, hold your horses. And your horrible demon beasts, I’mma comin’,” Zek groaned as he came closer, but you know, not too close.

He waited until the dog was firmly distracted with steak and then quickly smacked a ball against the anklet and tossed the subsequent ball at the demon’s neck, where it manifested perfectly encircling the beast’s wretched neck.

Zek frowned. He was hoping the anklet would be too tight and possibly suffocate the thing.

“Sooo, we done here?”

Carrick waited till Zek was up and moving before offering Zorro the steak, he sat like a good boy. He was the best boi now which meant Carrick was getting out of the mansion! He could hardly contain his tail as it flailed wildly behind him. ”Good boy.”

Zorro would get one of Sam’s steaks and Liz would have to deal with that headache later. All around a good start to the day, closing his wings behind him and looking to Zek he kicked his leg out for the ball of gold (non-cancerous hopefully). ”D-Did you plan it to fit on his neck?” Carrick pointing to the tether glad he didn’t have to explain why Zorro was choking. The day just kept getting better.

”Yes we are!” Carrick said kicking his leg out and scratching it glad for the freedom. ”No idea how bad I need this!” Carrick said running down the stairs.

Zek watched the dog warily as it chewed its food. He couldn’t help but feel it was just whetting its appetite for the most dangerous prey. It was just pretending to be a “good boy” but Zek knew that old trick. Just smile and wave and when they turn their backs, devour them! So Zek wasn’t going to turn his back on the beast. Unless he was running. And even then he’d probably just run backwards and swivel his head around.

He blinked. Catbird was saying something. “Oh yeah. Totally. Whole plan was to get it on the demon’s neck. Yup,” Zek nodded. And because they were friend-like people, Zek chose not to mention how fat Craig’s ankles must be for the anklet to fit so well around the abomination’s neck.

And at least, they were done. “Huzzah,” Zek deadpanned. “And you’ll be there quicker than you think!” Because Zek was so done with this mansion place for the day. Like, running and the danger room and the kitchen was awesome but the dog thing put a whole damper on it. Besides, they were wasting daylight! And while normally, Birdcat’s antics were entertaining, Zek had his eyes set on something better: the circus. And he wasn’t letting Cadbury get in the way of anything - who knew what other stuff awaited them before getting to the circus?

So Zek opened his mouth. “Hey, catch this real quick.” A golden light flicked over and Winged Wonder vanished. And another flash later, the swiped door appeared and clattered against a wall. Zek surveyed the scene, from the door to the devil and rubbed his hands together.

And as he strolled away, keeping his eyes on the dog as long as he could, and was off to the circus.