Zek strolled through the front doors of the Xavier mansion like he owned the place. Which wasn’t really different from any other way he entered buildings. Well, except for the times he just vacuumed up giant holes in their walls and came in like a wrecking ball. Ah, fun times.

But Zek wasn’t here for fun. He had a mission. Practically a job.

Earlier in the day, Zek had been standing in line at his third favorite bakery in order to get a fresh raspberry danish, his second favorite danish. It was a very raspberry danish type of day, so he’d eschewed the more promising fudge-iced eclair (his fourth favorite fudge-iced delicacy) in order to fulfill the morning’s craving.

And then that jerk took the last one! This guy cut in line right before Zek had been able to open his very lovely mouth and order the last danish! And he got it, too! And the guy’s dozen bodyguards and homies or entourage hanger-onners or whatever also got their order filled.

And that had made Zek mad. He didn’t even have the option of swiping the danish or vanishing the rich-looking guy - he didn’t have the balls for all of those guys, who would probably threaten bodily harm if Zek had tried anything. So instead, he had let the anger simmer, simmer, simmer, until it had turned cold.

No impulsive lashing out. Instead, he’d deliver a heping of his number one favorite cold dish.

Revenge.

And so, after hours of research and stalking to figure out who this man was, Zek had put together a plan to exact dire vengeance upon this man. And there was one person who was perfectly suited to help him with this task.

“Juniper! Hey Juniper! You here?” he started yelling as he picked a hallway at random to walk down.

”L- is fer the way you look at me. O- is fer the only one I see, V- is very very.” he flipped his fried bologna in the skillet and turned just in time to catch it again. He had to double check if that was something he could replicate. It was pretty impressive. ”Extra ordinary, E is even more than any one can adore.” he tried it again and it it got stuck on the ceiling. His stomach growled then he growled and flapped upwards pulling the processed meat from the ceiling.

Giving it a once over and deeming it clean enough he put it on bread and started chowing down. Pointed ears perked over his humming with his mouth full he couldn’t sing so the next best thing was to fill the kitchen with noise. Everyone else was in class already. He’d was planning on going but then he heard her name again.

Recognizing the voice almost instantly Carrick’s tail flicked mischievously. It was a Zek. Looking for a Juniper. Why was Juniper here? Should he have known- Zek passed by the kitchen. Carrick was already hiding in wait for him to pass before he slowly tip toed behind him silently waiting for the right time to pounce.

Another step forward was followed by two giant strides and a muffled ”Zeeky!” Carrick leapt forward hands outstretched then before fully committing to the pounce opened his wings and stopped himself before he made full contact. It was clear Zek never would survive in the wild without him. Carrick was a great friend.

Offering half of his sandwich, ”Whatcha looking fer Juniper round here?” he asked curiously. ”Another book club meeting?” his tail flicked behind him curiously.

“Jue-jue-jue-jue-Juniper!” Zek called, his voice way too voice for the indoors. This was ridiculous. He’d been at the mansion for like a whole minute and she hadn’t already appeared. Normally she was everywhere he went! Especially when he wasn’t looking for her.

Or maybe that was the secret? Maybe he should stop

“Aaack!” he shrieked and instinctively threw a golden light in the direction of his attacker. It didn’t even go in the right direction. That’s what Zek got for getting lost in his thoughts. Normally that wasn’t a problem since he rarely had anything to get lost in. But today he had thoughts.

Such as eating this half of a delicious-smelling sandwich that his dumb pal was offering him. Releasing his clutched chest, Zek took the reparation offering and sniffed it, glaring imperiously as his feathery friend, totally pretending he hadn’t just nearly had a heart attack.

“Mrghflrf,” he said around a mouth full of bologna sandwich. He swallowed. “Mrghflrf,” he enunciated once his mouth was empty. “I need her help with something.” Then Zek had a thought. A devious, maniacal, ridiculous thought. He looked Aaron up and down and cocked his head at an inhuman angle.

“Say, you doing anything this evening? I could use your help,” he said. Sure, Ricky couldn’t walk through walls and make Zek bulletproof (both things very crucial to his plans), but Creed had just given him an awful jump scare. He no longer needed to look for Juniper. Besides, if he stopped looking for her, maybe she’d show up!

This was why Zek shouldn’t have thoughts.

“You ever, uh, proactively repossess something from someone?”

”Planning a bank robbery and need to walk through walls?” his tail flicked hopefully. ”Not that I thought about it.... she’d make it easy though.” he said imagining himself roll around in a pile of money. Instead he had to settle for gemstones that were the by product of his girlfriend. Equally cool in his opinion.

Carrick shrugged debating if he should make another sandwich, ”Nothing planned. Don’t have any gigs tonight. Not yet at least.” technically he should have been in class now, he could always catch up later though. Not like he was actually gonna go at this point. He would have just fallen asleep or stared out the window the whole time.

”You mean steal something back?” Carrick asked practically purring at the thought of thievery. His smile got wider and his tail flicked, ”Me? Steal? Never, however if I was gonna I’d want to know who it was from and what I’m taking back.” he grinned and put his hands behind his head, ”Someone steal something from ya and ya didn’t gold ball them right away?” he asked surprised.

He didn’t use the catch phrase yet when someone asked him to be part of a crew it wasn’t an official team up till the words were spoken, ”Zek, you sonofa***** I’m in!” he already had the best heist music planning in his head.

Zek blinked. Huh, Birdcat was a pretty good guesser. Like, Zek wasn’t planning a bank robbery, but close enough. More like a bunker burglary. “You’re not far off actually,” he said with a small amount of respect. Just a small amount, because it wouldn’t do for Arthur to get a bigger head than he already had.

And the dude had nothing planned. That plus his size and wings and stuff made Zek grin mischievously. Perfect. Especially if Juniper showed up anyway. But now that he was thinking about it further, flight could come in handy. Besides, Zek didn’t actually need Juniper to go through walls - she just didn’t leave holes in them when she did it.

This could work!

“Something like that,” Zek admitted. “There were...extenuating circumstances,” Zek unhelpfully didn’t explain. Least of which included possibly being banned from the bakery for incinerating someone. Actually, that was the most important reason. But the close quarters with all the goons was a close second. If he’d had a few seconds to prepare, he would’ve taken them all on, but doing so would’ve involved so much property damage that, again, he’d be banned from the bakery.

His eyes lit up as Carlton wanted in. “Great! So you ever hear of Old Man MacKellan? Super rich guy, lots of suspected drug cartel affiliations but nothing proven? Has a rap album that’s actually somewhat okay and always wears expensive suits and is followed around by a swarm of bodyguard groupies? He’s the target. Think you can be ready by eleven? I’ve got to get some stuff together and then we’re breaking into his estate on the north side.”

His tail flicked mischievously more. Would the Mom’s get mad if he robbed a bank? He didn’t want the answer for it. Carrick already knew what they were going to say. Along the lines with ‘Carrick, you’re the best but don’t rob a bank’. They were right. He was the best but he didn’t like upsetting the pair. He did owe them quite a bit. ”Oh?” he wanted more information at this point though Zek could had said anything if it meant getting him out of class. Also he was pretty sure if someone wasn’t there to look out for him Zek might end up getting himself killed.

”Allegedly.” Carrick nodded, he had heard of him and had heard of his potential dealings. His music, (the only reason Carrick knew him) was littered with the phrase ‘If I done it’ meaning he was smart enough not to implicate himself in his music. The Man was something of an legend in Carrick’s book. The way he kept avoiding drug and trafficking charges.

”My beats are slow, and my track is wack, I don’t think I can beat him with a rap attack.” the shifter rhymed knowing he’d never have to worry about an actual rap battle. It sounded like Zek just needed to steal something back from him and more than likely his wings made him essential for entering and leaving and making sure Zek didn’t get killed.

Carrick already said he was in, ”Bring snacks and I’ll bring a change of clothes.” he said giving the pocket dimension user a thumbs up.

Zek just kept grinning. It was nice having friends who were up for anything. “My man,” Zek said approvingly and gave Catbird some finger guns. “I will bring so many snacks.” And it was about time Eric was learning how to properly dress. Seriously, the amount of times Zek had seen his naked hiney just because the dude loved busting out of all his clothes all over the place! And expected Zek to have extras, or at least to borrow Zek’s trench coat! As if he wanted Birdcat’s junk all over his precious trench coat!

“See ya then!”

-------


It was about midnight when they actually got into position. There’d been this whole thing about waiting at the wrong doors for each other and stuff but honestly Zek didn’t care to dwell on it. This was why he would’ve preferred having Juniper along instead, but since she’d never appeared, Zek had resigned himself to having a meat shield in place of ghost protection. Oh well, when life gave you lemons, crush them and squirt the juice in someone's eye.

Zek was in his customary black trench coat, but underneath that he was in a black spandex catsuit. He even had the tail and cat ears headband to match. A domino mask completed the look. He was crouched on a building across the street from where Old Man MacKellan’s grounds began which were guarded by wrought iron and barbed wire. And regularly patrolled by dudes with guns and demonic abominations. Seriously, why did there have to be dogs?!

But that’s what Juniper was there for. She could phase them both through the dogs and stuff. Wait, Juniper wasn’t there. Right. That’s why Clayton was there, to fly him over the dogs and across the vast empty landscape to the dude’s giant fortress-like house. There they’d be able to start infiltration, hopefully without getting caught. And if they did get caught, Zek had a few surprises in store.

In his afternoon prep time, he’d captured a couple of cars and had then spent a couple of hours throwing the full balls straight up into the air and then catching them again before they hit him and the ground. The hours were there to let him recharge after catching such big things repeatedly. But now he had two cars that were once completely stationary, but were now caught in free fall moving at terminal velocity. Just in case.

“So... let’s do this,” Zek said to Featherbutt.

Carrick saw the finger guns and smirked at the comment and returned them, ”Let’s not get into trouble.” that was more likely the scenario but Zek adventures were interesting and gave him a good story to tell the Princess. Even if she only believed half of them.

Carrick was like twenty percent sure he was being stood up for the adventure until finally he realized he was at the wrong door. Was it his fault Carrick only half listened? Maybe, but was it his fault someone was conducting a trade of gems during their conversation behind Zek’s back? That might have been on him too. It was like waiting for his father to show up all over again.

That was until he passed the other door where Zek was standing in a cat suit.... Carrick’s tail flicked at his when he saw it and ignored making a comment on it other than “I’m underdressed...” he was just wearing his normal clothes, the black ones. Kinda hard to hide his wings and it would defeat the purpose of having them if he covered them up.

The flight was a quick one, it helped that Zek only got lost twice in the air and they had to figure out where to go after setting down on a building which.... turned out to be the one they were looking for. The shifter stifled a yawn and removed his ‘Flight’ goggles from his head and relocated them in his back pack and then looked across the rooftops to see the guards and dogs. Carrick knew of Zek’s dislike of dogs. Hopefully Zek didn’t have to get too close otherwise this was going to be ruined by his ball buddy screaming.

”Aye, before anyone sees us. At least he doesn’t have anyone on his roof top.” Carrick said proudly not needing any binoculars. ”Like they want us to rob the place. I mean steal something back.” Carrick corrected himself and did the finger guns again. ”Also ya got enough tricks in yer arsenal or got enough room fer me backpack?” Carrick asked wondering if it was better to leave the backpack and come back for it later or hope he didn’t shift and loose all his magic tricks. One of them might come in handy.

Carrick flapped a few times and rose into the air then reached down to grab hold of Zek before taking to the air and crossing over the grounds where the dogs patrolled. Thankfully the wind kept their scent away and Carrick kept them so high in the air unless someone was flashing lights over head they wouldn’t be spotted. ”What did he steal from ya anyways? One of yer chains?” the shifted smirked.

One of these days, Zek was going to have to figure out a way to fly himself from place to place. It wasn’t so much that Caspar was bad at flying or uncomfortable, but the in-flight refreshments were awful. Zek had spat two bugs out of his mouth before finally getting a decent one. However, the Birdcat still took up less room than one of those little personal planes so Zek figured he’d keep the dude around after all.

Zek snickered after Catbird scoped out the place. “Yep, they’ve done everything except set up a giant neon sign that says ‘break in’,” Zek agreed, absently deciding to return his binoculars to his pocket. Winged Wonder has bird eyes or cat eyes or something so Zek figured he could see well enough to scout things out.

“I’ve got plenty of tricks,” Zek said easily. “For all kinds of situations.” He still had his duffle bag, which he always kept with him. That was overflowing with various necessities, like sandwiches, ball bats, chains, wooden steaks, his hammock, his morningstar, a half dozen assorted rifles and shotguns, his murder bucket helmet, and even his disco staff. His new metal dumpster contained tons more stuff, including another minifridge and an inflatable life raft.

“But I can snag your backpack too if needed.” Zek liked how prepared Chris was for once and Zek was always appreciative of other people who brought lots of stuff with them. Who knew? Maybe Craig had some grenades with him! Zek held out a golden light in case Birdcat wanted him to store it.

Then they were off! “Nope, still got all my chains,” Zek said, even fishing inside one of his coat’s pockets to pull out a handful of the massive, gaudy bling-bling. A couple of them still had decently-fresh bloodstains. Now that had been an adventure! Zek scowled into the night though. “Worse. This dude cut me in line and bought the last danish. And he didn’t. Even. Finish. Eating it.”

If Old Man MacKellan didn’t survive the night, Zek wouldn’t cry, although he’d definitely show up to the man’s funeral and take all the catered food.

The chatter was good though. It helped distract Zek from the fact they were literally flying over soldiers of the legions of Hell. And he didn’t have enough cars to drop on them, so it was probably for the best they were so high up. It was doubtful they could even be heard.

Whenever they finally landed, Zek thanked the dead gods that the roof was flat. Like seriously, you could easily land a helicopter on the place, like on that big giant X that was painted just over there. There was even a rooftop stairwell access point! Of all the convenience! Zek tried the door with his gloved hands and nearly cooed at how cute the little deadlock sounded, trying to keep him out.

“Okay, so we need to get in and get down to the basement,” Zek said as he fished a map drawn in crayon out of his pocket. He’d managed to get a former minion of MacKellan’s to make it for him, after repeatedly dropping him off a building and catching him just before he splattered on the ground. Dude was still going to have a concussion for awhile though. Zek passed the map to Catbird. “I wanna keep my hands free, so you can point us around.”

Then he shoved another golden light at the door and it flashed away, appearing moments later gently on the floor of the roof with another flash. “Let’s go!” he whispered as he led the way down the steps.

The shifter had been pretty on board with the whole ‘steal’ something back mission up until he was told what was stolen from him. ”Fer a danish?” The shifter stared blankly at Zek for a ten count, his tail shifting in the wind behind him. If his wings were open he would have been lifted off the roof. Once everything was processed Carrick started to chuckle. ”Boyo... Yer petty as ****” he summed up and then shrugged, it was too late to leave now. If he did he was pretty sure Juniper would have an earful for leaving Zek on his own.

The door was there and gone in two flashes and he looked at Zek and folded his arms after looking at the crayon drawing. ”Ya know I can pick locks right?” the shifter asked looking at the door then shaking his head at Zek.

”If ya want to let them know someone is here I can just roar for ‘em.” the shifter eyerolled and looked down when passing the camera watching the entrance to the door. With all the guards it was more than likely the roof was the last thing anyone was worried about. ”I mean, ya at least got some paint or a sticker to cover the cameras right?” he said taking another look at the drawing. Could he read this? It wasn’t like the blueprints he read as a kid. At least he had gloves on.

Carrick reached into his back pocket and slipped his own gloves on now that they were on the property. ”Right, so what pastry we looking for? And why the basement?” Carrick asked reaching into his bag (suddenly glad he kept on to it) and pulling a large roll of novelty bumper stickers. Pulling off a smiley face he tacked it above the door where the camera was and then trailed after Zek.

Zek nodded. “For a danish,” he repeated. Birdcat could be a bit slow sometimes so Zek had to take extra time to get basic information and facts to register in the dude’s befuddled mind. Must be tough being half dude, half cat, and half bird. The math alone was ridiculous. At least he had a somewhat pleasant personality.

Zek stared at his pal and cocked his head thoughtfully. “I did not know that,” he said. “Good for you!” he said cheerily. It was important to acknowledge when other people tried to be as amazing as Zek. It was the thought that counted. Didn’t count for much, but Zek was pretty sure it counted for something. Just nothing important.

But Zek was a generous friend so he could afford a basic compliment.

“Nah, roaring won’t be necessary,” he said after a moment’s thought. “Doubt anyone saw anything though. Nobody ever really looks up.” That was one more reason to like rooftops - it made people way better targets. They also tended to act more real when they thought they weren’t being observed. And speaking of… “Um, no?” he said, taking a moment to pat down his pockets. Nope, no spray paint. Dang. He’d forgotten to replenish his supply after painting that mural on the side of Sammy-Poo’s bar last week. It had been a lovely mural, too. All those stick figures re-enacting the Kama Sutra, but in an urban, modern interpretation, and really adding a positive multicultural presence to the area.

“See? That’s why I chose you for this mission,” Zek said as his cohort took out the camera. Zek smiled as if that had been the plan all along. He’d actually planned that Juniper could ghost them through all the walls and floors and they’d be out so quick nobody would notice anything. But again, you had to acknowledge the efforts of those who were just...simple.

“Oh we are so past the pastry,” Zek said as he started into the stairwell, instinctively hushing himself to just above a whisper. Birdcat had super hearing or something right? But if he didn’t, he just wouldn’t know Zek was talking to himself, so no real loss. “Naw, the basement is where the old man keeps his vault of fancy, shiny stuff. Like jewels and gold and art and stuff. We’re taking everything he’s got. Teach him to cut in line at the bakery.” Zek sniffed and got to the bottom of the steps to the third floor. He stepped to the side.

“You wanna pick this?” he said, pointing to the door. He felt like Cristobel needed to be included.

”Ya sure?” Carrick asked matching the whispered tones of his partner in crime, ”I can screech if ya want more of a dramatic entrance?” his tail flicked behind him as they walked down the stairs to the next door. ”Figured it was because June-bug wasn’t around and ya needed a fast transport.” he smirked, ”When ya really needed someone ta just make jokes and distractions.” he nodded sagely.

”Oh? Can I?” Carrick asked gleefully playing up his excitement. Practically bouncing to the door he reached out for his tail which after a moment entered his hand. Carrick felt around at the base of the bushy tail and pulled out two little lock picks and then eyed them to the door.

”What kind of cat would I be without a little skill in pickng?” he asked crouching down and humming one of the beats to Old Man Mackelln’s music. Carrick might have lied when he said he heard of him before. The shifter spent most of the day memorizing his flow. ”Run the Jewels.” he said in response to the vault. Maybe he’d pick something up the Princess would be impressed with. Something far more shiny than the Valentines day gift he got her.

”I like me some shiny.” he said truthfully as the door unlocked and swung open. Someone was on the other side of the door with their back to them. Carrick quietly backed up and pulled the door with him. Either Zek was going to get to show off or Carrick was going to have to act fast. What was the choke hold Maya taught him?

“No need for you to sing,” Zek said, turning down Calisto’s offer of screeching. This really wasn’t the kind of heist that needed theme music. Even if Birdcat started humming while poking at the lock. Zek was actually pleasantly surprised when the lock clicked. Who knew the dude actually had talent? Zek had been expecting to have to take this door down too. He begrudgingly had to admit this was a lot sneakier though, and he guessed that might be for the best since Coco wasn’t blessed enough to be able to go through obstacles like Zek could.

“If you couldn’t pick a lock, obviously you’d be a ***** cat,” he remarked. “But don’t worry, you’ll get a chance at anything you want from the vault. And whatever we can’t liquidate we can give to a charity or something.” Not because Zek was feeling particularly generous, but he didn’t want to go through the effect of finding a good fence who could deal with potentially very recognizable and valuable artifacts. Zek didn’t need that kind of attention.

He didn’t need attention from any of MacKellan’s guards, either. He immediately smashed a light into the man’s neck, vanishing him right out of his clothes. He caught the guy’s gun just before it hit the ground. He glanced back. “You still need an extra change of clothes?” he asked the shapeshifter. “You know, in case you end up naked again?” Zek wasn’t entirely sure they needed a big winged lion critter in their mission, but Zek was used to improvising.

”Nice one!” he said watching the guy vanish out of his clothes then shook his head, ”That’s one of the things I got in the back pack.” he said shaking his back a little his wings ruffling when he did so. ”I will take his glasses though. Maybe he’s a smoker too.” Carrick said rummaging through the man’s pockets and placing the sunglasses on his head.

”I know a guy. Deals with custom jewelry. Usually sells on the other side of the planet. Safer. But... since I got me Princess kidnapped through him he’s kinda on me **** list.” he said finding a box of cigarettes and sniffing them. They were free so he wouldn’t complain even if these were the wrong kind.

Brushing his pants and standing Carrick looked around and sniffed the air. ”Let’s avoid the kitchen. Smells like someone’s cooking.” The shifter looked to the drawing, ”Why crayon?” he turned it a few times to see if he was holding it upside down or backwards. ”is this a coffee stain or a blood stain?” he asked debating if he should lick the map but then decided he didn’t want to find out the hard way.

”That way!” he pointed in a direction. Should be easy, they just got to walk around till they find stairs going down. Carrick also made note of all the windows they passed just in case they needed a quick exit. ”Shame, always thought he was a good guy. Guess it’s true what they say. Never meet yer heroes.”

So Crisper didn’t need the clothes. Whatever. Zek just shrugged and kicked them inside the stairwell once the featherhead was finished rifling through them. Personally, Zek didn’t feel the need to take anything at all - the dude’s fashion taste was horrible. He did keep the gun though, sliding it into an inner pocket of his trench coat, right by some of his knives and a giant cheese stick.

His ears perked a bit though. “Oh yeah, you know a princess. Georgia or something. You should introduce me to that buyer,” Zek said very matter-of-factly. It never hurt to make new friends, or at least contacts who could help you get what you wanted. He wasn’t concerned about the kidnapping bits though - that was probably just business and honestly Catbird’s pal probably deserved it. “In return, I’ll introduce you to this guy I know who smuggles exotic chocolates in from Europe. The kind that’s illegally good.”

“Why not crayon?” Zek said in a very confused manner. He raised an eyebrow and everything. Crayons were awesome, they came in so many cool colors, and were great for writing on walls with. He watched his feathered friend do a….weird Indian tracking ritual?...before just heading off. Zek didn’t comment - who was he to judge other peoples’ religions? Unless they were just weird, that is.

“It’s definitely a stain,” he said both unhelpfully and probably quite unconvincingly. He highly doubted Creel wanted to actually know what the stain was or he’d be asking Zek for all of his bleach and acid and Zek only had a couple of gallons each with him - nowhere near enough for the bath Casto would need.

With the birdcat on point, Zek made sure to try paying attention to their surroundings. His head kept swiveling and watching all directions. “Please, he’s not that good,” Zek muttered with a chuckle. “Have you actually listened to his stuff? He’s terrible. All those slant rhymes - disgusting.” If he wasn’t already convinced the man had none, Zek would’ve considered stealing the man’s talent as well.

And then Zek started hearing footsteps from up ahead. “In here!” he hissed as he threw open another door. It was way too soon to be caught. The room was super dark and he plunged into it, like a cat-eared shadow with exquisite taste in clothes. “Or don’t! Just don’t rat me out!”