When one spends hours binging superhero movies, it can get to one's brain pretty fast that there are two types of people in the world, those who aim to be heros and those who aim to be nobodies. Now, becoming a hero and even less a superhero is a pretty high bar to reach, but that's why the two types of people are those who aim for the top or those who don't.

Eisen on a normal day, would tend toward being a nobody. Nobodies were allowed to do whatever they wanted since, hence the term nobody, they were practically invisible. Background. Bird chirping in the trees that people think is as ignorable as the air one breathes. So, on typical Monday mornings, Eisen normally sought to do just that. He'd take a leak on trashbags around the city. He'd hitch a ride on public transportation and make excuses not to pay. He'd even arrive at your local petstore and bring his anti-superhero tirade to the imprisoned little beings in cages, his very accessible and often times very cute captive audiences. Now, this hooliganism, this nobodiness, all of it was actually a plea on the inside to be noticed by no one in particular, but someone very significant. Eisen couldn't pinpoint who exactly. His parents were pretty attentive to him. Just the other day he had gone to a baseball game with his dads. Yes. Both dads liked baseball enough to take their youngest son, ok? And yes, they're both gay dads but that's beside the point. The point is, Eisen's been trying his hardest to get noticed, and today he wanted to be noticed a little more than was enough to keep him in his non-hero, nobody category.

"You're all so dumb." Eisen pointed at the parakeets sitting on manmade twigs with spiky feathers erupting from their crowns. "How could you let yourself be trapped like this? Trapped in a glass box when your bird cousins are outside chirping their love-making beaks off. Huh?" Eisen was probably projecting more onto the birds than he'd like to recognize, but a store owner, who had been hearing Eisen's tirade on and off during his shift, had had enough of his harassing the unintelligent animals.

"Sir, if you're not going to buy anything, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." 

"Can one truly buy freedom? Huh? Mark!?" Eisen read the guy's nametag and pointed accusingly at his chest.

"Alright. Out." 

EIsen refused to speak all the while the employee pushed him toward the entrance. While Eisen was outside, he stuck his middle-finger at the establishment, then proceeded to almost break down into tears. 

"Holy sh*t. I really don't want to going to work today." He complained to himself, but as he did so he managed to hear the bark of an unassuming puppy. The puppy, or what looked like a puppy, was sitting at the edge of the sidewalk and the parking lot, alone as if it were waiting for someone.

Eisen ran over to pick up the pup, then looked around for its owner. "Thanks for giving me an excuse to procrastinate little pup. Hmm. I'm surprised you're not biting me nor are you barking. Let's see."

Eisen saw a man walking away from the Petsmart, a tallish, brown haired, Irish looking dude with a huge pair of wings. Hmm. Potential owner, maybe?

"Yo! Did you forget a puppy?" Eisen ran over to the mutant, who he lowkey thought was pretty cool looking, and stuck the pug up to his face.

Carrick hated walking in the city, it was.... too crowded. The sounds the sights and the amount of people. He loved the attention and glances he got however so he made sure to open his wings on occasion when he heard people talking about them over the sound of the music blasting in his ears. Unfortunately noise cancelling headphones didn’t mean much to someone with hearing like his so all it did was dull the sounds of the city.

His eyes slitted and his hair stood on end, someone was talking to him. Carrick popped one od his headphones off his ear and let it drape down to his shoulders as a small dog was thrusted in his face. ”Sorry?” the dog was tiny, but also adorable. Carrick had a weird fascination with dogs. When he was smaller they made him uneasy but after his growth spurt he finally learned to appreciate them. They too got distracted by everything and they always seemed happy to see him meaning they were in his opinion a perfect audience member.

His tail flicked behind him making sure this wasn't a grift, a distraction while someone tried to pick his pocket. He didn’t keep his wallet in his back pocket anymore for this reason. He did spend more time with pickpockets than people would have liked (his girlfriend). ”Not mine mate.” he said pointing to the sign of the store, ”Maybe he decided the place wasn’t fer him.”

Carrick hefted the guitar on his back then looked around sad for the dog’s loss. ”He got a collar?” the shifter asked reaching over to the dog thrusted upon him and waited till the dog sniffed him. The Irishman probably smelled like a ton of other dogs given the fact that he lived at the mansion.

Eisen spent the next few whole minutes kinda half-staring, half-paying attention to the mutant with wings in front of him. He'd always wished he had received a stronger kind of mutation, one that actually made him fly instead of giving him the ability to pseudo-levitate his sneakers and gloves. HIs own mutation was exceptionally lack-luster, invisible, almost nobody-esque. Which, Eisen thought fit his anti-hero sentimentalism egged on by Bruce Banner and his aversion to deep voiced hero characters that were dark, brooding anti-hero types. He thought the real anti-heros fit more into the almost-non-hero, but Eisen's thoughts digressed as the Pug squirmed in his arms with the newfound attention it received from the big-winged, lion-tailed mutant in front of him. Mutant-person, Eisens views represent a more wholistic view of humans and their mutated buddies.

>>"Not mine mate.”
 
"You don't own this beautiful piece of work? Well..." Eisen tucked the Pug under his arm as if it were a pillow. The Pug derped his face to epicly derpy proportions, with the buggy eyes, drooly mouth and spaced out expression.

>>”Maybe he decided the place wasn’t fer him.”

"I'd agree with him if he thought that horrendous establishment were not fit for a little king like he." Eisen cheeked a grin to that thought and lifted the pug up to the sky. It was a female Pug and he quickly rescinded his earlier comment. 

"I mean a little queen such as you... though I'm not quite sure if animals can choose to be anti-heternormative." Eisen twisted his head to the side as he looked at the collar dangling from her little neck.

>>”He got a collar?”  The other mutant so fittingly asked.

"Yes he... I mean she does... and it says..." EIsen looked closely to the purple dog-bone shaped collar which had inscribed on it two words. FOLLOW ME.

"It says follow me." And at the mention of the two words, the Pug squirmed from Eisen's hands and he placed it on the ground. Then the Pug squirmed its derpy little face to the side of the store, where there was a dumpster. Then it squirmed its way behind the dumpster and disappeared into what seemed like a dimly lit crevice. Eisen turned around to see if the other mutant had followed him, then turned and pointed to the passageway behind the dumpster.

"You saw what I just saw, didn't you? Where do you think the crazy little pugster is trying to lead us? Hell? Disneyworld? Some weird pocket dimension where we'll have to fend of unicorns and dragons!??"

If he knew he wouldn’t hurt the thing Carrick was tempted to squeeze it after the little derp face. Carrick matched the face back sticking out his tongue and leaning over his bushy tail swaying happily behind him. ”Wouldn’t say beautiful... maybe, adorable?” he offered standing upright when the stranger did a sex check.

”At least ask permission first.” he suggested watching the dog rise higher into the air then lower. The shifter chose not to think too much about the next comment not sure if it was a joke or not. He just referred to all animals as lil beasty. It was gender neutral. So he was fine.

”It says ‘Follow me’?” Carrick asked looking around and sighing wondering if this was a prank by Zek or another one of those weird ‘cult’ things he started to stumble in to. ”Not gonna follow it are ya?” he asked almost in shock. ”Classic kidnapping trap....” he said recalling several movies where something ‘innocent and fun’ turned out to be a serial killing clown or a serial ‘troll’ who broke out into dance numbers.

”Wha? Nh uh!” mismatched colored eyes followed the pug until it disappeared. ”Well, kinda hungover truthfully.” he said looking around to see if there was a camera crew now filming his reaction. His tail flicked curiously as he looked back to the other guy who seemed just as confused. ”Maybe a hole in the wall behind a dumpster?” Carrick asked hoping it was nothing the stranger mentioned.

”And he’d be leading anyone there with a tag like that.” he said wondering if this was a trap for him. Should he call S.U.P.E.R.? Zek? An adult? His tail flicked again his curiosity getting the better of him. ”**** it.” he said knowing if there was danger his other forms would give him a heads up.

Approaching the dumpster Carrick pushed off the wall and pulled the dumpster out a bit after a little struggle. He’d probably have to shower before the Princess would allow him to be near her after touching it. He personally was trying his best not to smell what was in said dumpster.

The birdman, or whatever type of man he was, leaped right into action and Eisen couldn't help but think, Gee! We must be of the same mind because I literally am going to do the exact same thing. This of course was a thought he had because he was just as hesitant as his fellow mutant and wanted to disguise his hesitation behind a group-mindset. If another person did it, then it was totally ok for him to do it as well. Since this other person was a mutant, that only gave him bonus points. Super-powered buddies made everything feel safer! Or so he thought.

Eisen's adrenaline seeped through his limbs and pumped energy throughout his body as he ran into the fray to help his mutant-brother push open the dumpster. The dumpster was placed against the building to the left of the Petstore, a building that was closed on the store-side but obviously not uninhabited, by the way the pug crawled through the hole in the wall.

"Wow you're pretty good at this." Eisen mentioned, as he was barely using his strength to pull the dumpster, but pretended to strain anyway. He thought it'd be better to conserve his strength just in case an enemy lurked behind the door. 

Once the two had peeled the dumpster away from the wall, a metal door with a crack at the bottom, large enough for the pug to move through, stood in their way. Eisen heard barking coming from the other side of the door and so, in order to pursue to Pug's wishes, he decided to crawl through the bottom of the door instead of trying to force his way to open it or knock it down. 

The other side led into a dark hallway, but the pug's barking indicated that the space was larger. It probably led to the storage area behind the store where the employees would gather. Then, after Eisen made it through the crack, which was pretty large, Eisen turned around and poked his head through, realizing his buddy had wings. 

"Um. I don't think you'll fit." EIsen said as he made sure to take a step back in case the guy wanted to knock the door down.

After a little help, probably more than Carrick wanted to admit the dumpster was shifted away from the hole of the building and he frowned at it. It was small. Like ‘not for Carrick’s’ small. Suddenly he felt he was being left out of things on purpose. He looked around for a camera on the building. Someone to blame. Well someone other than the only other person he was with who seemed to be in the same state of curiosity and confusion he was currently in.

”Oh?” he asked sarcastically throwing his hands up into the air, his wings mimicked his movement. ”An exclusive hole in the wall where only you can enter eh? Not a fan of musicians are they? Well I know how to write strongly worded letters!” he didn’t ”Wait till they get a horrible review fer excluding me.” he looked around and frowned spotting a window fifteen feet up in the air.

”Know what, keep yer little hidy hole. I’m a simple man of style and grace.” he said not using the word humble. ”I’ll find me own entrance.” he said already mapping out his course. ”You get the hole and I’ll take the window.” he said flapping once and taking to the air till he could hop onto the fire escape. The window lifted with ease and he looked into a large storage area filled with boxes of what he guessed was the overstock of animal food.

His guitar went first then he maneuvered into the window and looked around disappointed the window didn’t have a visual on the mythical tunnel of darkness only non-musicians could take. ”Hello?” he said quietly looking around and only finding a door.

Once the winged mutant grew disgruntled and left to find himself his own entrance, Eisenhower stood up off the ground and dusted himself off. Whenever Eisen found himself in a new place, he had this weird habit of trying to figure out what the place smelled like, a mixture of old paint, dust, and the faint smell of animal. That animal smell may just have been stuck to his clothing from his excursion through the next-door pet store, but as he looked around the place he noticed the boxes and boxes of stored somethings. Mayhaps this was the previous warehouse to the next door petstore? The pet-store did seem huge enough to warrant another building to maintain its stock, but for it to remain empty was strange.

After he had sized up the place a little, the walls and ceiling still looked like it was in good shape, Eisen heard the sound of the Pug from earlier. Who knew the little princess had such a cute bark? There was a layer of dust over everything, but not enough to be swept up and cause major lung problems. Despite now knowing this place was only recently abandoned, the alert of the pug forced him to set aside any more questions regarding this place's safety.

A door to the further back of the warehouse stood squarely in view and Eisen could hear the barks coming from behind the door. That was incredibly unusual, since it did not look like there was anyone around to open the door for the Pug, unless his buddy had somehow made it in front of him and helped the pug out.

Just as Eisen finished that thought, the ”Hello?” of his recent companion reached his ears. He swiveled and waved toward the winged beast-man and thought that now was probably the time for introductions.

"Hi! I'm Eisen. Short for Eisenhower, the dead president. And don't you think this place is kinda freaky?" EIsen pointed at the door where the barks were coming from.

"What do you think our little buddy is doing behind that door, huh? Should we go for it, or back out now." EIsen said as he began to walk towards the door and used his mutation to step up and up above the door, so that he was now squatting above it, facing the mutant-beast guy.

"Maybe we should come up with a plan, just in case we get jumped or something." For some reason, just because the dude was so open with his mutation, so did Eisen feel the comfort enough to reveal what he could do.

It seemed the mythical tunnel led to the same spot his magical window did. When he heard the other man’s reaction to his question. This brought a little smile to his face as he strut through the storage room to the other man. ”Eisen. Dead president.” Carrick confirmed committing it to memory in case everything went south and Carrick had to give his name to the police or to Super. This whole situation was getting his hair to stand on in but he couldn’t help himself just like in most of his adventures with Zek. Carrick was curious by nature.

The Irishman thumbed his chest, ”Carrick, after the live musician.” with a toothy grin exposing his pointed canines he thumbed his guitar neck next to show off he was indeed a musician. His guitar didn’t have a name though. He used to name them and then he moved back to the city and he found it was an expensive but useful weapon in self-defense. Now all he named them was the price each one cost as a reminder not to break them.

The shifters hair stood on end the familiar voice in the back of his head questioning everything around him categorizing things into threats or non-threats. At the moment the air walker before him didn’t seem like a threat but behind the door... ‘Fight!!!’ his cat like eyes turned to slits as he shifted his attention from the door to the one above it now and he suddenly felt like he was about to be thrown to the wolves.

”What the door opens and whatever jumps out sees me on the ground?” his quieter voice was in a slight panic of anxiety and fear. ”Next yer gonna suggest we all split up gang!” the shifter rolled his eyes.

”Bigger question is how the dog opened the door.” it was a tiny pug and the door before them was shut. Something was off to Carrick, ”I don’t really do plans.” they never worked when he did plan them. ”Got any suggestions I’m all ears other wise....” his hand touched the doorknob and slowly opened it making sure to do so quietly as he prepared to jump out of the way if something charged them.

"Watch out there, Carrick the musician." Eisen said, poised in his position above the door. "I won't split up then, I'll walk right beside you." He mentioned as he then crawled back to the floor and met Carrick eye to eye.

Eisen gave Carrick a nod as Carrick slowly opened the door. The room behind the door was neither darker or lighter than the one before, just more veiled greyish light. He would find a lady surrounded by dogs, an old lady in fact, with her back turned to the man with wings.

"Oh, I didn't know we were actually having visitors this afternoon." She mentioned, in a creepily serene voice. The pug from earlier sat at her feet, as if awaiting her next command. In her hands she held a Shih Tzu and all along the walls were dogs of all breeds in chains. Of course, none of the dogs happened to bark at Eisen and his companion, so that the room was bathed in an eerie silence.

“Now which one of you dearies brought my darling Priscilla back to me?” She posed the question as the door slammed behind them. As she came closer they could see that her eyes were of different colors and that her ears drooped like a Greyhound’s. She also waved a hand in the air toward them both. Eisen wasn't paying attention, but his ears started to droop as well and he began to lower his torso to stand on all fours. Yet, he was mesmerized by this strange woman and almost felt the need to go up and cuddle her despite just meeting her.

”Can do one even better.” the musician said taking a step back but not pointing out what he was doing. The shifter’s mismatched colored eyes danced across the room looking for anything that stood out as a possible danger. Just in case he needed to duck behind the dead president. He was already dead what did he care if there was danger.

”Oh fer **** sakes.” he said after the door opened. Carrick spotted all the dogs and the little old lady. Correction the ‘creepy’ little old lady. ‘Fight?’ the voice of his beast form chimed in the back of his mind not sure what to make of the woman. There was something more important to comment on however, something that to the shifter was a worthy distraction.

”Puppies!!!” he shouted looking around ignoring the pug from before the bigger dogs were not puppies but that didn’t bother Carrick at all. The dogs all were chained to the wall something that Carrick didn’t like having been chained to a wall before. They were all quite, almost looking defeated like there was no point to fight the chains around their necks. His cat like eyes turned to slits at this realization oblivious that the voice in the back of his head was now shouting ‘flight!’.

Carrick spoke but instead of his normal beautifully skilled voice it came out as a growl and a bark. Still oblivious he looked over to the person he entered with and then cursed in dog. ‘Fer **** sakes I got a gig later!’ With wings a tail and a guitar strapped to his back Carrick was now a mutt of some kind.