[Continued from Bustin' You Outta Here]

It was a lovely day so far. Zek enjoyed the sunshine on his skin and how his red-tinted sunglasses blocked out the sun. And not that there was much skin exposed. He was still in his customary black trenchcoat and fingerless gloves. Ripped jeans, Vans, and a loud, multicolored t-shirt completed the ensemble.

He was ready for the circus!

“Thanks, mate!” Zek said to the cashier as he got his ticket and walked through the entrance turnstile. Waves of sugar, butter, smoke, and that vague smell of lots of people milling around on a hot day all mixed together in a heady stench.

It was amazing!

He hadn’t been to a circus in so long and when he’d seen the flier for this one, he thought of his pal Creed, the catbird. He figured he’d be into the stuff and Zek had swung by earlier to break Wingboy out of his mansion prison.

Which reminded him.

Zek dropped a red ball on the ground beside him. There was a flash of light and now Clark was there, wings and big nose and all.

“Welcome to the circus!” Zek said, his eyes casting about for some kind of food.

”uuuuuuuuuuuuukkkkkkk.” Appearing in a flash the smells were the first thing that assaulted him then the daylight and then the sights. A few things reminded him of when he was younger but he got an uneasy feeling he couldn’t explain. Motion sickness.

”Mate, ya got ta warn me before ya do that. Could have just as easily flown here and saved ya cab fair. I’m dropping ya next time we fly. See how you like it.” Carrick said with a smirk patting Zell on the shoulder before yelling. ”I’m home!” he jumped up and down free of the ankle his wings opened then closed and he started to look around for familiar faces.

One thing about being ‘home’ was the need for comfort food which Zap seemed to be thinking the same thing. Carrick made a b-line over to the fried food vendor and got in line his tail flicking excitedly behind him. He hopped the Elephant ears still tasted the same. If not he was gonna have to complain to someone. You don’t go home and not complain to someone about something right?

”Did ya see any signs for what time the show starts?” Carrick asked his eyes darting from place to face to see what was different and what was the same. Too much was different, anytime he spotted someone carrying something there were no smiles. Something he didn’t like. Everyone here always smiled or at least they used to.

Zek shrugged as Ricky complained. He didn’t see the catbird’s point. Like, it was basically instantaneous travel for the dude. Also, last time he’d flown Zek, the ride had sucked. There was turbulence and no complimentary peanuts! “Yeah, well, the last time you flew me, the ride sucked. There was turbulence and no complimentary peanuts!” Zek argued. “Besides, the risks of getting cancer from my balls is pretty low anyways.”

And Zek juked to the side as big ol’ wings flapped out and beat the air. He was pretty sure he saw a tail flicking around. “Woah, someone’s feeling frisky today!” Not that Zek could blame him, since Crimbleton had grown up here. Or had he just been part of a family acrobatics act, the Flying Catbirds, before his siblings and parents were so cruelly murdered? No, he’d been adopted by the old lion tamer and taught how to use his powers for the good of mankind and left with a broken heart when the man had died. Or...something.

Eh. Nobody had ever accused Zek of being a great listener. And it wasn’t like Creel’s origin story was ever going to be relevant to anything anyways.

Zek joined Eric in line and studied the menu. Fried pickles? YES! Cinnamon bums? Zek didn’t know if those were a typo or a novelty but either way they sounded fun!

He put his own head on swivel at Clyde’s question. “Hmmm, there’s a sign for a freak show. Oh, an animal taming display! Weird, I thought animals were banned from circus acts years ago. Um, a fire dancer, ice cream, cotton candy, oh I found some bathrooms!”

He swiveled back around and pulled the circus flier out of his pocket. “But according to the flier the big show starts at six.”

”Not an airline, ya want snacks bring ‘em yerself.” he said trying to not laugh at the comment. ”How about ya just keep yer balls to yerself?” he smirked.

”No animals here mate, least they didn’t have any when I was here. All the ‘animals’ are just mutants like meself. They can shift of have physical mutations. Princess’s call ‘em Gorgons.” he said absent mindedly as he recognized an older face behind the register while her eyes looked a little glazed over it was still her.

”Heya Mabel, been a few years eh?” the old woman with pointed ears perked up a little when she saw the shifter. Her accent was close to Carrick’s she was from Ireland as well. Cork but still Ireland. “As I live and breathe. Carrick me dear boy how you doing? Ya haven’t aged in a day.” The older woman looked back to the other woman behind her said something then kicked the door open.

“I best be the first one ya said anything to. Come ‘ere boy. Give old Mabel a hug. Been shy of a decade?” she frowned and as she brushed past Zek and picked Carrick up in a bear hug. While the woman was older she was as strong as a bear. She lifted Carrick with ease. “Nothing but skin and bones. Have ya been eating?” she looked over to Zek, “Has he been eating?” she looked back to Carrick who she was squeezing still, “Light as a feather! Whatever ya want on the house fer me favorite boy. How have ya been? Yer mother how is she?” she asked slowly setting Carrick down.

”I’m good Mabel, I’ve been eating. Mother’s been better. She’s dead. Last year.” he frowned slightly and then felt another tight squeeze as the elderly woman picked him up in another hug. “Poor dear.” ”Whatever we want?” Carrick asked with a mischievous grin.

“Within reason, I got a business to run and I remember how ya could eat pounds of the Elephant ears. Care for some Cinnamon bums?” she asked with a smile before heading back into the food stand. “Fresh out of the fryer!”

Carrick walked away from the cart with an armful of food. Fried and non and looked to Zek, ”hard to believe I wasn’t the size of a house with her fried foods. Six?” he asked nodding his head, ”Got some time then.” his tail thrashed behind him as he started to bite into one of the elephant ears he was holding.

”Staying away from the fire breather, last time I seen him he almost set me wings on fire.”

Zek snickered. “And here I thought you liked my balls.” He held up an orb but got distracted by another thing Casey said. “

Wait, you know a princess?” He screwed up his face in concentration. “I thought we had a president, not a king.” He was pretty sure he’d heard that somewhere. “Oh wait, you mean from Scotland? Like a Scottish princess?” Zek stepped back, quickly apologized for stomping on that person’s foot, and looked Cougar up and down. He knew a princess? Maybe he could sneak Zek into her castle. Zek was willing to bet an entire doughnut that Cree knew where the larder was.

And it turned out Craven really got around. Even if his tastes were...varied. The old lady with pointy ears was hugging, complimenting, calling Catbird her boy. At least, that was Zek though she was saying. Her accent was basically Swahili to him. And she was a tough old bird because she could pick up - wait, was she calling him Carrick?

So that was his name! Oh yeah, he’d read that somewhere before. Gosh, how embarrassing would it have been to have accidentally been calling him something else this whole time? Fortunately, Kevin hadn’t seemed to notice.

“He sure has ma’am,” Zek said with a glint in his eyes and a Southern drawl on his lips. “Why, our Carrie-boy here is the best darn rat-catcher in the whole county! Ain’t nowhere we go he’s out a-rustlin’ up some varmints and making the meanest rat stew you ever did have the pleasure to taste.” He was pretty sure Pointy Tips hadn’t heard anything he said. He was also pretty sure his accent had slipped into hillbilly. He was only mildly sure that the peoples behind him in line were looking at him like he was crazy.

He swiveled his head around. Okay, now he could confirm that, yes, they were indeed looking at him as if he was crazy. And had been possessed or something.

Eventually they made it out of there. Zek had walked out with a comical amount of food that he’d put in a bag and promptly sucked it into hammerspace, leaving his hands free to hold a single cinnamon bum. Twice the buns as the leading brand of cinnamon buns. Twice the cinnamon and sugar, too.

Zek sank his teeth into the bum and ripped off a piece. He talked as he chewed, “Alright, so no animal taming, only mutant...mastering? And firebreather is a no-go.” He chewed some more. “Let’s check out the magic acts then!” There had to be magic acts! “Unless you know of cooler stuff here? Oh hey, can you get us more free stuff? Like the big stuffed animals from that shooting game over there?”

Zek was going to milk Rick-the-meal-ticket for as much as he could.

The shifter shrugged, ”Sure. She’s from Atlantis.” he didn’t think it was that big of a deal because she wasn’t what he expected of Royalty. She was… difficult. Maybe he’d introduce Zek to her? The thought didn’t sit well with Carrick for some reason however he didn’t want to dive into why it bothered him so he did what he did best and ignored it.

Zek however he couldn’t ignore. The ball boy made that difficult. The shifter’s eyes dilated under the effects of the sugary foods as he inhaled his second Elephant ear. While Zek could free up his hands using his mutation Carrick had to stick to more ancient methods by stuffing his face some of the sugar sticking to his face as he finished one after the other.

”What’s cooler than magic?” Carrick asked as he produced a card from his sleeve, which was now covered in powdered sugar. He looked at the card and sighed, he’d have to set it back in the sleeve later once it was clean. Putting the card into one of his pockets he smirked, ”Got a pretty decent knife thrower. Taught me how to do it. Never get enough chances to practice in the real world.” he said with a chuckle. ”Magics a bit safer fer the bystanders.” some magic.

”Doubt they’d give it away. Easy enough to win though.” he said walking over to one of the stalls. The man working it didn’t’ know who Carrick was otherwise he would have told Carrick not to play. The shifter grew up on these games and a large amount of them were rigged. He knew most of the tricks to win. Setting some food down next to him he fished for a dollar then set it down on the counter popped another ear in his mouth and chewed while spinning in the chair before grabbing the gun.

“Need the rules?” ”Nah, so this before on a show.” he lied before aiming to the left slightly of everything he shot at. Carrick didn’t miss a target. ”What one ya want?” he asked Zek with a full mouth while the attendant stared at the shifter with an open mouth in shock. "What show did you watch?"

Zek nodded his head in respect. “One of those Georgia girls, gotcha.” He hadn’t known Georgia had princesses either, but then again, geography had never been his strong suit.

He licked some sugar off his bum. “Literally nothing is cooler than magic. Except ice. And snow. And popsicles. But everything else is fair game.” Then a thought hit him. “Well I do remember the time my assistant accidentally used a real walk-in freezer instead of the special one for my escape act. Super cold, but we ended up with tons of great ham, so I guess magic is still way cooler. He got a raise, too.”

“Also, you should totally show me some knife tricks. But later. None of the knives on me right now are balanced for throwing.” Also knife throwing was weird. Balls? He was fantastic with those. Darts? Pretty sweet with those too. Shurikens? He wished! But knives and axes were definitely on his bucket list (and not the list of stuff in the murder bucket he’d left in Juniper’s room).

He wiggled his bum at Carter and he swallowed a particularly large bite. “Good point,” he said. “Magic can be rough. Remind me to tell you about the Fullerton Weekend Wildfire some time. Well, that’s what it’s called now. At the time it was mostly just screaming.” A second thought occurred to him. “Huh, last time I actually performed a magic show. What a coinky-dink.” He shrugged and bit into his bum again.

And then guns. And prizes. And serious respect! “Serious respect, dude!” Zek said, holding up a fist to bump. “So that’s why you’re always watching those cooking shows! Really took the cake there on that one!” And then Zek’s face turned overly cheery. “I’ll take that one!” he said, pointing at the giant pink cat with a white bonnet that was almost as tall as he was.

And when the bewildered man brought it over to him, Zek made it vanish too. “So you know how to win the other games too? I’ll challenge you on any ball-tossing game!”

Chewing his sugared ear and ripping another piece off he stood and fist bumped Zek watching him make the stuffed toy disappear. Once they were out of earshot from the guy behind the stand he finally answered, ”Most of ‘em. There’s a few that that escape me, the ring toss fer example.” he said ”spent months trying ta master it. Had to stop heard the ‘ting’ of the ring on glass at night. It was haunting me.” he smirked.

Walking over to the ball throwing game Carrick looked to the game attendant and nodded his head, “No… @@@@ long time no see Carri you still don’t get the big prizes.” Carrick smirked and waved to the guy, ”No, mate. Wouldn’t dream of it only here to settle something with a pal of mine. How’s yer brother?” “Retired, lucky *****” Carrick put a few dollars down and received three big softballs and look to the old timey milk jugs on the stands.

”Let you go first, that way I can make fun of ya when you lose.” Carrick said smirking. ”Mansion gets funny with some of the stuff I learned here. Can’t throw knives in the kitchen Carrick, no backflips in the hallways between classes Carrick.” he started to take on a more feminine voice the more he quoted him, ”No fire magic tricks in my classroom Carrick.” really they had Bunsen burners and hot plates. What was the difference?

”Drives me nuts.” he said shaking his head. Suddenly he wished Zek made Liz’s bed disappear as well. ‘No magic in my classroom’ he scoffed and tossed one of the balls in the air and started to juggle while he watched Zek throw.

“We’ve all been there, man,” Zek said in agreement. Although in his case, it hadn’t been the ting on glass at night, but a chainsaw and a whole lot of angel hair spaghetti.

And once they reached the ball toss, once against Crood knew the person. How long had the birdcat said he’d been gone? Did they people not have lives or ever do anything else but this one circus? Because if they did then maybe Zek could try to take over one of their jobs. He could totally eat fried foods all day or scam hundreds of people out of their money! It wasn’t much different than his normal day-to-day living anyways!

And the guy called the Birdcat Carri.

So that was his name! Oh yeah, he’d read that somewhere before. Gosh, how embarrassing would it have been to have accidentally been calling him something else this whole time? Fortunately, Cavendish hadn’t seemed to notice.

“Pearls before swine, I guess,” Zek said with a smug grin as he slapped down his cash and picked up the softballs. He rolled his eyes. Ug, so big and bulky. You had to be terrible to miss hitting such lousy projectiles. Nothing like a good regulation baseball. He crammed the rest of the bum in his mouth. “Whaagh issggggg!” he said as he wound up and through the ball.

It hit!

And did nothing!

“Whaagh?” he said through a mouth full of cinnamon bum. “Whaagh ghaang ghaaaan?”

He threw again. The milk jug wobbled but didn’t fall.

Zek twisted his heads to glare at Crouton. “Uuuuu igged isss,” he accused him.

He threw the other ball too. It also had no effect.

Zek stomped the ground and moved aside. He crossed his arms, glared at Birdcat, and nommed his bum.

Carrick smirked when Zek struck out one time after another though it looked like the last one was the closest. The shifter stopped juggling and caught all the balls in midair finishing with a little spin. ”Not too bad.” he said with a little smirk. A few people were watching them now, because of Zek throwing and Carrick juggling. ”Surprised ya didn’t use one of yers.” he smirked winding up and hitting the bottom of the jug as hard as he could. The thing moved backwards the forwards as if it hit something behind it and fell forward. ”Just the one fer me then.” he said offering up the other two balls to Zek so he could get another shot at it. Wasn’t like he could win anything anyways.

After setting the balls on the counter for Zek he turned and caught the end of the conversation, “This place is a freak show. Muties everywhere and not one dumb animal!” It was a jock with a varsity jacket walking with an arm wrapped around his date for the show. Carrick smirked and eyed his back pocket. It looked like a heavy wallet was the culprit. Carrick walked away from the stand for a second and bumped into the jock briefly before relieving the guy of his finical burden it only cost him the last two bites of his elephant ear. “Watch where you’re going freak!”

”Sorry about that mate!” he apologized and headed back to Zek, ”Won’t happen again!” his tail flicked at the jock ‘because I already got everything I need.’ He thought as he walked back over to Zek and put the wallet down next to him. ”Someone dropped this.” the attendant averted his eyes from the wallet and made it look like he was doing something.

”Next round is on that jerkoff, should probably go grab some pints and seats soon though eh? Don’t want to miss the show.” the attendant wanted to say something to Carrick but quickly averted his gaze. ”Good seeing ya mate! Say hey to yer brother!”

Zek glared. The circus was fortunate he wasn’t pyrokinetic. Or storing C4 or dynamite. Or had a death ray.

Three balls. Three perfect hits. Three STRIKEOUTS.

He was sooo tempted to break out a baseball bat and go to town on the stand and the carnie would just have to find a new game to rig. Black fury blazed in the bounty hunter’s eyes. Catbird’s condescension didn’t help.

He spat out the rest of his bum and fixed his glare on Carrion. “I was giving them a fair chance,” he grated out. He stepped forward in darkness and brushed past the lad. Zek tapped the balls and stared levelly at the carnie. A vampire’s grin grew on Zek. He promised murder.

“Just so we’re clear,” he enunciated crisply and slowly, to let every word sink in like blood upon soil. “I take a ball. I throw the ball. The milk bottles fall. I win. Correct?” Zek cocked his head to the side as he talked. And kept cocking his head until it was twisted just farther than humanly possible, never breaking eye contact.

“That’s how the game works,” the man said.

“Perfect.”

Zek stilled. He slowly picked up a ball and his head rotated until it was resting in the normal direction. He picked up a softball and pulled back. And then he let the ball slide from his fingers behind him where it rolled, potentially underfoot of a jock in a varsity jacket. He hurled his hand forward and a golden sphere burst into existence and zipped the few yards and struck the entire stand underneath the milk bottles. Light blazed. The stand vanished.

The bottles all fell to the ground.

Zek twisted his head and stared at the man. “I would like the giant teddy bear now, please. Or will we have problems?”

The bear was placed in front of him. “A pleasure,” Zek said with all the sweetness of a viper eying a rat.

He vanished it as well.

He turned to Birdcat with a whirl of his trenchcoat. “I’m done with these games. Let’s go see some real action.” Zek was smiling. His eyes were not.

The flash of light prior told him that Zek won another prize, ”Wasn’t too hard then, eh?” Carrick asked rifling through the wallet pulling the cash out. Less than he was expecting maybe the guy was pissy because his daddy didn’t love him enough. Carrick smirked, ”Off to the big top!”

They passed by the firebreathers and knife throwers on the way to see a little of each unfortantly for them everyone was packing up because they were about to be in the show. Everyone he knew seemed happy to see him except one of the firebreathers, it might have had to do with Carrick’s snide comment, ”Yeah, got about a foot taller, whose the shrimp now?” Carrick apparently wasn’t over almost getting set on fire all those years ago. People forgot that feathers are flammable. Carrick didn’t.

When they arrived at the big top the smell of hay, fresh dirt and fried foods lingered in the air. Carrick was home. Other than his stomach growling he was at a lose for words recalling all the fun he had under this tent... okay maybe not this exact tent but the setting seemed right.

Nostalgia hit him like a brick. Wait more like a slap. The shifter stumbled forward when a large hairy man without a shirt slapped Carrick on his back. He stumbled forward and was brought back to the here and now. “You come back to the big top and you don’t come even come say “Hey, I’m doing well. Sorry I didn’t call after my mom passed. I apparently don’t look any younger.” he sighed and brought his hands up in defense when Carrick snapped around his eyes turning to slits.

”Fek off!” Carrick growled as he turned and spotted his old friend Tiny. It was an Ironic name. His real name was Tim but he was seven feet tall and the circus’s strong man so everyone just called him Tiny. Upon realizing who had hit him Carrick’s mood turned and he started grinning and jumping up and down swinging at the guys hands. ”Hey ya giant **** sorry about that. I’m good. Here fer the show to watch this time. I don’t need ta steal the spotlight from ya now. This is pal. Ze-k.” he said thumbing towards Zek before standing up fully again his tail swaying behind him.

Tiny looked to Zek then nodded his head then looked back to Carrick as the lights started to fade, “You two stick around after the show. We need to catch up half-pint.” ”Come on’ least a full pint now.” he grinned and nodded his head. ”Long as yer paying fer the drinks.” the shifter turned and went towards some seats making sure not to sit in the first few rows. That was the splash zone.

”Tiny was like the cool uncle I never wanted.” he explained as he found a seat.

Zek swiveled his head to stare at Catbird with dead eyes. “They started it. I ended it,” he said with a rictus grin. As they walked away, the jock started complaining about the bottles not being set up and started shouting about a stand. Such entitlement. Zek’s grin grew three sizes that day and his eyebrows raised. His head swiveled back and he lobbed a scarlet sphere over his lead. A milk bottle stand came crashing down on the jock.

“Let’s proceed,” he said crisply.

Zek’s mood softened as they picked their way through the rest of the circus. Watching snippets of the various sideshow acts kept bring back memories of the time he toured with that entertainment troupe. Many of the same kinds of skills were used in both, although Zek himself had mostly focused on magic.

The giant pink cotton candy in his hands also helped sugar-coat things.

Zek kept his concentration on the spun candy and on the people all around them. Just like the performers, most guests were streaming towards the big top for the main show as well. It looked like they’d gotten there at just the right time. Saving the best for last. And Zek and Birdcat were definitely The Best.

And then a wild gorilla almost took Crighton out. Mmm. The cotton candy just really melted on your tongue. Zek crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out to see if it was changing its color. It was getting traces of purple, but nothing major. He’d just have to keep eating.

He glanced to the side. Oh hey. Winged Wonder And Mighty Joe Young were talking and having a quick heart to heart. And it wasn’t a gorilla after all but a really big ol’ dude with arms the size of Zek’s torse. He glanced down wordlessly and patted his stomach.

Nah. He much preferred the toned look. Besides, he’d have to get a new trenchcoat if he bulked up that much and it took forever to break in a new trenchcoat. He smiled toothily in response though.

And then they were seated. And Bird cat started talking about family history or something.

“He seemed cool,” Zek said as he flashed his bag of delicious food into existence and sat it between the two, silently offering its contents to his compatriot. The light and Kyle’s wings actually gave them a decent buffer zone from other people. “You two get into a lot of trouble or something?” You know, the things Zek actually cared about.

”Tiny? the shifter asked before responding with a hand diving into the bag of snacks Zek had produced. ”More like me getting into trouble and him getting me out of it. I was smaller as a kid but me mouth kept running. Tiny just looked out fer me.” he said shoveling a handful of popcorn into his mouth. He started saying more but then stopped when the lights started to dim more.

Carrick didn’t realize how much he missed the place till the drumroll started, “Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages! Welcome to the show!”

----

The clapping continued for a few minutes after the final bow and Carrick spotted all the familiar faces. He let out a few loud whistles and shouted, ”Great show!” while his tail was swaying behind him he shoveled a little more popcorn into his mouth. ”Yer out of popcorn. Have to get more when we leave, but what a show right? I know, it was missing the core of the high flying act but they did the best they could without me.” Carrick said a little bummed they omitted his act. They could have at least attempted to find another flier all those flaming rings went to waste.

Instead of clearing out with the rest of the spectators Carrick waited till the place cleared out and then walked down to the center of the main ring where the ringmaster led the show. With everyone gone it was eerie. ”Yer in fer a treat. The after party after the shows are usually pretty fun. Just don’t stand next to the fire breathers.” he said smirking.

Zek’s face was covered in confectionary sugar and grease and chocolate and so were his hands but he didn’t care because dead gods that was amazing! He hadn’t been to a circus in forever but goodness gracious and rigatoni that blew Zek away! His eyes were practically alight with glee and he kept accidentally making golden lights flash in his hands in between claps.

“I don’t even care!” Zek said giddy as his barfight buddy gave him the terrible news. It was a total lie because popcorn was popcorn and practically sacred, but Zek was still caught up in the show.

But then eventually things died down and Zek just stuck around with Birdcat. I mean, it wasn’t like he had anything else to do. He used that time to clean his face and hands cat-style. It involved a lot of licking.

“Maaaan, if the after party is anything like the show, this is gonna be awesome!” Zek said as he managed to get the last of the marshmallow sauce off his chin. His nightclub basically had a party every night and Zek had seen some wild stuff, but when the circus cast broke into a song about how this was the greatest show? Ah, how was that gonna be topped!

“I feel like a high flying act would’ve just been over the top, dude,” he said as he slouched back like a contented cat. He glanced at his snack bag and between the two of them, they’ve devoured practically everything in it. A. Maze. Ing. “This is way better than spending your day at that old manger with you hologram friends, huh? Oh, do ya think you could introduce me to those belly dancers? Like, how do they get their bellies to move like that?”

He pulled his shirt up to reveal his faintly-abbed tum tum, which he promptly poked and jiggled. “Those guys had some moves!”