Elizabeth’s brow was furrowed slightly beneath her oversized sunglasses as she walked down the sidewalk toward the bus stop. Much of her attention was focused on what was inside her purse and it required her to continuously broadcast feelings of calmness, lethargy, peace, contentment, and any pacifying emotion she could think of.

Liz could do many things, but altering what an animal felt technically wasn’t possible for her. She knew some empaths could delete or reduce feelings that were there, but Liz had never been able to do that. Instead she just introduced new emotions and usually at such strength levels that it drowned out anything the animal was feeling before so now it would focus only on what Liz was projecting. It wasn’t an exact science, and such brute force methods could cause problems if used too liberally on animals without actually dealing with what was causing their emotions, but Liz felt it was justified in this case.

The nature of her focus allowed two guys, their silhouettes against the sun about a head taller than her but of similar builds, to block her way, only paying enough attention in time to stop before colliding into them. “My apologies,” Liz said as she shifted sideways to move around them. Gotta pay attention, Liz. This is still NYC, not a back country road.

One guy blocked her,. “Hey, hey, hold your horses,” he said nicely enough. “You have a moment to help my pal and I out?”

Elizabeth’s frown deepened, blonde eyebrows arching as she looked them over. “In what way?” she asked bluntly.

“We have a little problem with--”

Suddenly her purse was yanked off her shoulder and rapid footsteps alerted her to a third person running off with it. But then the guy who was talking shoved at her. Without thinking, Liz grabbed one of his wrists, pulled him forward while smoothly sliding to the side and then shoved her other hand against his back to propel him forward.

Then the other guy got his arms around her and Liz howled with sudden fury. At the same time all the pigeons on the block exploded into the air and answering howls from dogs in apartments and such echoed through the street.

Rap blared out from Carrick’s massive noise cancelling headphones as he flew over the city with his thoughts on the another new guitar. One day he’d have one that was Carrick proof, it wasn’t really his fault it doubled as an effective weapon in defense from a crazy guy with a bullwhip and cowboy hat. Seriously... who was that guy? It didn’t matter though that was a week ago and he had been putting off buying another new instrument. They were expensive and well he thought he could use a little time off from the gig playing which Ironically was about to pay for the new guitar.

”Whooo! Whoo!” he chimed in to the music dulling his enhanced hearing glad he invested in the good headphones. He couldn’t hear the howl or the commotion below but what did get his attention was the sudden activity of other fliers. In Carrick’s opinion the most annoying ones. Pigeons.

”The flying ****?!?!” Carrick shouted dodging the sudden hoard that came out of nowhere. ‘Fight!’ the unwelcomed voice shouted in the back of his mind. Carrick was an ‘alpha’ at least that’s what his other forms thought. These pigeons were challenging his title as ruler of the skies. His stomach growled, the suggestion of eating the rats of the sky went ignored.

”****ing birds!” Carrick shifted his wings and took a few birds to the face as he was forced lower to the ground away from the flock that went crazy. ‘Fight!’ the voice suggested again this time answering the calls of all the dogs he now heard as he removed his headphones. His hands went up to his ears from the sudden sensory overload from all the barking.

There was a commotion below. Someone was running with a bag as a woman was being lifted into the air. She was shouting, ‘Mate!’ another suggestion he ignored not focusing on the woman but rather her attackers, ‘Fight!’ Carrick’s eyes turned to slits as he agreed this time with his beast form, ”Fight!” he swooped low and let out a fierce roar to distract everyone below.

”Duck!” Carrick shouted landing his foot on the face of the man who held the blonde. His targets back arched following his foot as Carrick pushed off and flapped his wings using his face as a spring board. Using his acrobatic skills Carrick flipped midair and then dropped on the second attacker. ”Two versus one ain’t exactly fair. Is it?” the man he landed on jerked his head forward then slammed it back into Carrick’s nose causing him to let go and stagger back on his feet. ”****er” his rage grew and he let out another roar.

Liz opened herself up to the rage she’d induced, throwing herself headlong into the fight part of fight-or-flight. A long time ago, this kind of thing would’ve terrified her and instead of sending out and feeding anger and fury, she would’ve been caught in a panic spiral. But Liz wasn’t that girl anymore. For one thing, she wasn’t defenseless.

She flung herself around, writhing and wriggling in the guy’s arms. He was strong, but in a wiry fashion, but in a musclebound way. Liz knew he wouldn’t be able to restrain her for long. She also made sure to take advantage of being in the air to kick out at him and the other guy. She didn’t have leverage to do much damage, but at this moment she needed to keep them off balance more than anything.

A roar to end all roars stole at her attention, but she didn’t allow herself to be distracted. If this was a worst case scenario, these next few seconds could be absolutely crucial in breaking free and getting her own footing against a possible fourth assailant and--

Elizabeth immediately ducked as best she could and something blurred over her head, she heard an audible fleshy THWACK and then she was being pulled backward and down.

The guy hit the ground hard and Liz’s weight nearly knocked the wind out of him. He reflexively loosened his grasp and that’s all Liz needed to slither out of his hold, savagely jabbing her elbow into his stunned face and cracking his head against the concrete even as she rolled to her feet.

She faced the other two and quickly took stock of the situation. Carrick was fighting the other guy. Wait, Carrick? Where did he--Liz shut down that line of thought. It didn’t matter right now. Since he was there, Liz focused her attention on the third person, or rather what was inside the purse he had snagged.

It had only been mere seconds, maybe ten or twelve, since her purse had been snatched. Which meant he was still well within her range. She smiled ferally. Her active suppression effect wasn’t in place, but emotions tended to linger a bit. This time she flooded her purpose with violent impulses and rage and repeated impulses to attack and protect.

The person had turned a corner or an alley or something and was out of sight, but their sudden screams of terror was music to her ears.

The shifter learned the hard way once his roar was considered a weapon, it was enough to destroy someone's hearing so if he roared once it counted as the first strike these guys he was targeting however were trying to mug some poor innocent.... Liz!?!?

”Fer **** sakes!” this was what he got for playing the hero. Why did he do it? Was he paid to do it? He was pretty sure he was being paid to do it but rescue the woman who broke his heart once almost a decade prior? Carrick growled and threw an elbow to the back of the head of the guy he was still climbing.

Should he just leave? ‘Mate?’ ”Fight!” Carrick shouted flapping his wings enough to get the guy off balance. Carrick crawled to his ‘prey’s’ front as he went down oblivious to what the other person encountered as they rounded a corner. It didn’t matter. There were two attackers here now. He could always have a police officer go find Liz’s purse. He wasn’t interested in the slightest to help her.

So why was he fighting now? The more he hit the guy on the ground Carrick decided this was more for him than anything. Therapeutic even. His cat like eyes focused on his target turning to slits, his adrenaline pumping, the smell of blood in the air. Carrick inhaled again and roared as he stood up fully one foot on the attacker. ”Talk about yer bad luck! I was in the best mood till all those stupid rats flew at me!” he was alpha. His beast form confirmed it by shutting up.

”Yer lucky day.” he growled towards Liz, ”You alright?” he asked his pointed teeth in a frenzied smile as he looked down at his target who wasn’t getting up but rather holding his nose and trying to roll over.

With eyes smoldering with savage delight, Liz finally turned back to her two assailants and her unexpected ally. The one who had grabbed her was motionless upon the ground. The other was in similar condition, although still awake. And then there was Carrick.

The rage she’d induced began to abate, as if cold water had washed over her. Carrick. One of the last people she wanted to see on any given day. “I’m fine,” she said, rolling her neck to stretch out any kinks that might be there. “What are you doing here?” She didn’t mean to come off sounding terse and aggressive, but getting hyped up in a fighting mindset wasn’t so easy to get rid of, especially when she was still connected to that which was no longer in her purse.

Without waiting for an answer, Liz glanced around to see if they were in the clear. This part of the street was abandoned now, the roaring having terrified everyone away. Good. The last thing Carrick needed was more people witnessing him assaulting someone, even if it was in assistance to someone else. “You should probably clear out,” she said pointedly as she crouched by the guy who;d been grabbing her.

She wasn’t worried about him trying anything, not with Carrick there, and she knew she no longer had to worry about her purse. The screams were fading into the distance and she knew the person had abandoned the purse, and for very good reason. Nobody else was going to try to take her purse before she got there, so she took a moment to feel for the guy’s pulse. Good. Still alive, just knocked out. Hitting her head hard on concrete a couple of times will do that to you.

”Oh are ya? Well my mistake.” he growled stepping on the guys chest again as he tried to get away. ‘Kill!’ Carrick shook his head feeling the bloodlust. ”Here I was thinking someone was in danger. Had to step in. Silly me. Ya clearly had things handled.” Carrick crouched down and flipped the guy he was standing on. His face bloodied from his fists. ”Did she have it? Or did I save her?” he asked flashing his teeth in a smile, his eyes slits. Carrick looked more like a demon than an angel right now.

”Or did she need some help?” he asked already knowing the answer. ”Come on, out with it.” he shook the guy by the shirt a little. ‘Kill! Fight!’ shaking his head again and running his hand through his hair he inhaled and exhaled trying to calm himself his tail thrashing behind him pleading him to toy with his kill some more.

”Funny way to say ‘thanks fer saving me Carrick.’” he said avoiding Liz’s gaze. He didn’t want to be near her, however he also knew he should help even if he didn't’ want to. His mother would have been rolling over in her grave if she found out Carrick didn’t help her. Was that why he helped?

”I was going to buy a new guitar, then I got attacked by a flock of pigeons. Minding my own business then bam. Rats with wings everywhere. Suddenly they weren’t afraid of me and what do I see? An ex being picked up mugged.” he shook his head, ”Should I have just watched? Didn’t sit right, now I can hold this over yer head some. Maybe get out of an exam as a way of thanks?” he smirked finally looking away from the two to check on her.

Concern flashed in his eyes in way of his cat like slits rounding as he stared at her. ”Oh? Ya got it handled now? Cops on the way? That’s fine I can wait. I got jurisdiction here now.” he said flashing a S.U.P.E.R. badge. This was the first time he got to brag about working for them. ”Wasn’t there another one?” he pointed in the direction of the runner.

“Indeed it was a mistake,” Elizabeth said cooly, staring up at Carrick. “I did have things handled.” One more second and she would’ve been in reach to kick off the other’s guy’s chest, shoving him back while also propelling her assailant backwards and cause him to fall, where she would’ve been ready to attack him like a wolverine. She’d been training with Sam and Serena for a year now, and on top of her Krav Maga, these two punks weren’t a threat to her.

Liz stood up and stared at the winged idiot. She noticed the blood, the smile, the eyes. She kept flicking her gaze toward his tail and even paid attention to his wings. Sometimes Carrick was so easy to read - he had more body language than most people. She scowled, irritance bubbling back up in anger. “You should talk to the Doc about getting your eyes checked, I was in no danger,” she said, aggravated at his continued sniping. He wasn’t meeting her gaze. Fine. She could stare at him for a long time.

She shook her head and scoffed. “Yes, you should have just watched, if only long enough to scope out the situation. Instead you barreled in and immediately attacked someone. Did it occur to you that if I hadn’t been paying attention, if my reflexes had been a bit slower, or your aim a bit off, you would’ve flying-kicked my face in?!” She scoffed again. “Oh no, you’re not getting out of any tests for that!”

Liz was feeling good. The emotional tide pool around her was liberating. The anger and righteous fury, mingled with bloodlust and best-defense-is-a-good-offense mentalities unshackled her tongue and clarified her target. “Not to mention you did this in broad daylight right out in public!” she snapped. “You’re lucky nobody is around right now, but what if another round of pictures and videos of you savagely attacking somehow winds up on the Internet? What do you think is going to happen then?”

She waved a hand at him. “And look at you! You have blood all over your hands! I don’t care what kind of cockamaney scheme you concocted in her head that you think flashing a fake badge is going to make everything okay, but it won’t! This could’ve been real bad, Carrick. Still might be!” She met his eyes hotly, matching his gaze with a hawkish glare of her own.

“Don’t worry about the other one - like I said, I had it under control,” she spat. The screaming was no longer audible. “They won’t be taking anyone’s purse for a very long time. But don’t change the subject - you need to start thinking things through! You’re not a kid anymore, there are consequences to your actions!” she said, her voice steadily increasing.

Carrick smirked when she refused to thank him. Insisting that she had the whole situation handled. So it was all a misunderstanding? He wondered. Carrick looked back over the two guys on the ground and his tail flicked again, ‘kill prey’. He shook his head again, ”Nah, pretty sure me eyes are fine.” he said knowing she was talking about his eyes turning to slits. ”Eyes have always been two colors.” he said knowing that wasn’t what she was talking about.

He didn’t misunderstand anything. She needed help, she just didn’t like who came to the rescue. He didn’t take it personally though it was Liz. There was a wall there. He learned the hard way before and this time around he was a lot less invested. ”Yer welcome.” he flashed his teeth at her in a smile knowing that would piss her off more than anything. Carrick knew how to press buttons.

”Imagine it’s hard to be saved by an ex, even one as monstrous as me.” he said his tail now flicking signaling he was toying with her. ”We both know I got more control than that, teach.” he said shaking his head his own frustrations starting to show in the situation but him tapping his head. If only to get his beast form to shut up. The word ‘mate’ popped up again in the back of his mind and he had to shut that down.

”Could have also just lifted me leg if you weren’t coordinated enough. Here I thought frosty and Serena been training ya?” he said smugly trying not to laugh the times he had seen them throw her on the mansion grounds. He wasn’t spying, more like passing by over head.... and she thought he needed his eyes checked.

”Saved someone from a mugging? In broad day light?” he parroted and then pat himself on the back, ”Damn right I did. You were outnumbered, sheesh ya think you’ve never been rescued before.” he said rolling his eyes knowing this was just like old Liz. Always needing someone to rescue her. Maybe that’s why she was upset. ”Moms will give me a pat on the back fer this one.” he said smugly.

”And maybe you need yer eyes checked. Nothing wrong with this badge. Far from fake, long as I have this baby. Carrick O’ Conner has a get out of jail free card.” he said looking at it and making sure it went back into it’s secure hiding place. In his pocket. ”They want me to do stuff like this.” he said even more smug now. ”Rescuing damsels and saving the day. All in a days work fer the hero.” he said pretending he couldn’t hear her tell him he needed to grow up.

Liz pushed her oversized sunglasses back up her nose. It was amazing they’d stayed on her face even after the ruckus. It also meant it would be harder for anyone to see her roll her eyes, not that she was in any mood to actually care what anyone thought, especially the arrogant, obnoxious boy in front of her. Especially when he kept smiling like a smug little cat!

And he admitted to having seen her training! “Then you know I can handle myself!” she snarled. At the risk of repeating herself, she said, “I didn’t need saving!”

She held up her hands in surrender, despite how badly she wanted to hold her hands up in strangulation instead. “For the record? I have seen nothing that shows you have any control over yourself in any circumstance. But you know what? Fine. If your ego needs stroked that badly and you just have to get a little bit of praise to make up for the lack of attention you got as a child and that you clearly so desperately crave, then thank you! Thank you for stepping in where you weren’t needed. I’m so grateful for the assistance of a big, strong ma-a-an to save me as if I were a helpless teenage girl! Thank you so very much!”

Anger came in many shapes and forms. One of them was the venomous attack of a viper.

She whirled away. “Happy now? Wait, nevermind. I don’t care. You can just take care of all of this then, since you apparently have an in with law enforcement. You can be their problem today. I’m going to get my purse.” And she started storming down the sidewalk, her fury palpable to every animal around.

”Sure ya can.” he said nodding his head and shoving a finger and examining it upon removal. ”Didn’t need my help at all.” there was an eyeroll but unlike Liz he didn’t have massive sunglasses to hide them. He didn’t care if she knew he didn’t believe her. It made the situation even more enjoyable for the winged shifter.

”God forbid, I try and learn on me own or take classes with other faculty members at the school to keep all forms in check.” ‘mate’ he shook his head again, he was pretty sure it was the arguing that was getting the beast form worked up. Or the adrenaline. He wondered if the Princess was busy from her royal duties she had a way of keeping his beast form in check.

”Was that so hard?” he asked having heard half of her rant and only picking up on the things that he wanted to hear. ”Yer welcome.” he looked to the ground then to the sky as Liz seemed to power walk to her purse. ”Eh, you can wait here. I’ll go. I’m faster anyways. Sides, just because I got a get out of jail free card doesn’t mean I like talking to the police.” he said flapping his wings and pushing off one of the muggers with a foot.

Carrick passed Liz then chuckled, ”Yer welcome!” he shouted again flying passed her and rounding a corner only to slow when he stopped in surprise. ”The ****?.”

Liz arrived moments after Carrick, but she’d heard his expletive. It sparked a twisted smile on her face. She knew exactly what he’d encountered, even before she reached her purse.

About sixty angry wasps were swarming in and out of her purse, dotting the ground around it and the air above it, forming a no-go zone of about a five foot radius from the purse, occasionally making forays at seven or eight feet out. Unfettered fury and induced protection modalities lingered in them, in part encouraged by their queen, who remained safely hidden inside the purse.

The beautiful thing about wasps is that they needed very little provocation to go on the attack when their hive and/or queen were in danger. Really, all she’d really had to do was withdraw the suppression she’d been blanketing them with ever since removing the massive hive from the eaves of the bookstore she’d been at earlier that afternoon, at the owner’s request and deepest appreciation.

Liz had been planning on relocating the hive somewhere well away from pedestrians, and in fact had been on her way to a possible site when she’d been stopped.

Savage glee filled her and Liz allowed the many arthropod minds to wash over her in close proximity as she strengthened her connection with them. Vicious joy hit her, as so many of the wasps were still in battle mode, their stingers hungry to sting again and again. She caught scattered flickers of their assault on the pursesnatcher in their minds, but dampened that connection before she could tap into their eyes. Compound vision was too confusing for her.

Liz waved a hand and followed it with an outpouring of that suppressing cocktail she’d been feeding them earlier. The horde of wasps immediately started settling down and then Liz hit them with a strong impression of their hive and returned to it. That was another beautiful thing about wasps - they were easily manipulated into doing things they knew how to do, especially when a queen would continue carrying out Liz’s ideas.

The wasps started streaming back into her purse and Liz continued to bombard the stragglers with varying feelings and ideas untils he could latch onto specific avenues of thought and impressions that would get the wasps to do what she wanted. Many of them simply followed the others.

And then Liz calmly walked over, picked up her purse, and slid it back on her shoulder. She glanced back over her shoulder. “I told you I had it all handled,” she smirked.

”Bit scary. Glad ya ghosted me. This would have been an issue fer me.” Carrick said lowering to the ground close to the purse but far enough away to flee if she decided to turn her flying arsenal at him. Wasps, bees, and hornets.... anything that stung Carrick had a healthy respect for and thought that distance was the best approach. His other forms didn’t care too much though. Fur went a long way in protection.

”Poor boy didn’t want to stick around fer a beating. What a shame.” he said his tail flicking behind him in irritation. His cat like eyes started to open up. In short he was disappointed there wasn’t more to fight. Not that he wanted to but he did like blowing off steam. It seemed to keep his other less desirable self from trying to take control.

Leaning up against the wall, ”Guess ya did.” ‘hunt’ Carrick’s nostrils flared and he tilted his head back a little to look up. The smell of fear was still in the air and it was close. ”Any chance ya want ta call in to the police?” he asked. ‘Fight! Kill!’ Carrick shook his head, his pupils reverting back to slits as he sniffed the air. His tail flicking in hunt mode.

”Pretty sure yer friends are nearby....” he sniffed the air again. ”Did give them a scare.” he said with a chuckle.

Liz wouldn’t deny that a not-small part of her would’ve enjoyed unleashing her bag of wasps upon Carrick. For a moment she just stared at him in lazy contemplation, a feral gleam in her eyes. He wouldn’t die from it and a quick visit to the Doc would heal everything up, assuming his own recuperative powers didn’t resolve it all satisfactorily first. In fact, that was possibly an even better outcome! Strictly pain, with no consequences!

But the blonde knew that wouldn’t be a good idea in the long run. All it would do would give Carrick valid reasons to take pot-shots at her, not to mention the ramifications of a teacher assaulting a student. So she squashed that part of her down, a process made easier moment by moment as more and more wasps succumbed to her psionically-induced peaceful lethargy.

“I imagine the guy had other, more sudden priorities to attend to,” Liz said with a malicious grin before tossing her head back, her hair fanning out over her shoulders as she did so. The buzzing in her purse continued to lessen.

“No, no sense calling the police,” Liz decided after a moment’s thought. “It would just be my word against theirs,” she said, nodding back in the direction they’d come from. “Besides, no harm done to me. In truth, it would look more like I attacked them!” Because how else could a woman without a combat mutation possibly fend off an ambush and also manage to get back her purse? An investigation would get messy quick and would do nothing. She hadn’t lost anything anyways - she could feel through the wasps that everything that had been in her purse was still there, if jumbled around a bit. Fortunately the hive was still intact.

“And they should be afraid,” she declared, adjusting the purse once more and turning toward another street. She wanted to find a different bus stop now - she didn’t feel like returning to the scene of the crime. She also wanted to get away from the animals she’d blasted into outrage. Which reminded her….

With a moment’s concentration, she opened her suppression effect to include all the birds, dogs, etcetera that she’d whipped into a frenzy and just like that, all animal noises in the area stopped.

“They should think twice before jumping another person. Then they should think a third time. And then they shouldn’t do it.” She felt no remorse, only satisfaction, a primal justice having been sentenced. She waved a hand at the ground where her purse had been. “Stick around or leave, I don’t care.” She started walking on her new path. There was another good bus stop on the route she wanted just a block or so over. She had just enough time to get there, even with this delay.

”Let the stove on did he?” Carrick asked wondering why that was always a thing. Granted he didn’t do too much cooking himself so he never had that issue. That and the mansion had about a couple dozen other fire hazards other than the stove. The shifters eyes darted in the direction of where the thief ran off to. ‘Hunt!’

Carrick shook his head again this time palming the side of his head trying to knock loose the thought. ”True, ya are a bit hysterical.” he said recalling she said she ‘didn’t’ need his help. That was enough for Carrick to know she wasn’t in her right head space whatever that may be. ”Well and mine, gonna cost ya though. SUPER does work with the police and I can put a call in to one of the moms. Might be able to handle things for ya. For a passin grade of course.” he said grinning his sly grin.

”True, and it fer some reason people are more afraid of me.” he rolled his eyes while his tail flicked in her direction. In truth Carrick’s other form scared him more than anyone else probably. He didn’t like anyone taking control of him. ‘Hunt! Kill!’ Carrick turned his head away from his focus for another moment trying to drown out his beast form who was in ‘hunting’ mode. He could feel his heartrate stirring more. The hairs on his arms standing up now as well.

”Right.... Yer welcome!” he said knowing she was just gonna leave the situation be. Fine by Carrick, less hassle for him. Even if he was looking forward to an easy ‘C’ that still counted as passing right?

‘Fight!’ ”Shut up!” Carrick finally snapped after feeling his fingers clench into fists on their own. Or rather under the influence of something else. His beast form. His fingernails grew and he felt the start of a shift happen only to die out quickly when Carrick decided to correct himself with a very Carrick method. He slammed his head into the wall. It hurt and he was a bit disoriented but now he didn’t feel his beast form taking control. Carrick was the alpha here not his other forms.

Elizabeth paused for maybe half a second. Did Carrick just call her hysterical? Something fey flashed across her face and for a moment she considered (for the millionth time this month) choking the lad. Luckily he hadn’t also suggested that she calm down or else Liz likely would’ve exploded. And to attempt to extort her for a better grade?!

Heat flashed over her in that moment as those feelings peaked inside of her. Wait, what was she doing? She wasn’t actually wanting to attempt to suffocate Carrick, no matter how irritating he could be. She also needed to find out more about this “Super” thing he claimed to belong to. And what did he mean about moms?

His mom was dead. He knew that, right? That was why he’d de-aged himself.

This time Liz did stop completely, right before stepping into the road. Something wasn’t right with that boy and not for the usual reasons.

She turned around with a frown just in time to hear him shout and ram his head into a wall.

“Carrick!” she shouted and immediately sprang forward. She stopped outside of arm’s reach of him, and yelled again, “What are you doing?!” Alarm flared through her and she felt echoing pangs of it beginning to burn in the hive by her hip as the wasps began pulling out of their Liz-induced lethargy. She hit them with a wave of calmness and carefully slid her hand into her purse for her phone. If Carrick lost control here, she wasn’t going to be able to do anything and she knew how dangerous he could be. She started dialing Sam’s number.