”Well, not really invented. I mean, we definitely made it our own. Put some flair on it fer sure.” Carrick nodded in agreement feeling just as upset as Zek... well maybe not as upset as Zek. They took his trench coat. The shifter knew it was his favorite coat.

”New n’stupid is a dangerous combination.” he agreed again, maybe they weren’t as well known as the thief liked. After a night like they had tonight everything was going great. They were the ones that made things happen. If you had a problem they were the ones to avoid! ”Aye, less everyone think they can start stealing from us.” he was getting flashbacks to when he was a kid gearing up for an alley fight with the other gangs before he left.

‘Fight! Kill!’

”Too right, fight we will.” Carrick agreed with himself but ignored the last bit. He didn’t need to kill anyone. Otherwise, the moms and Hunt might get involved and that was the last thing the shifter needed.

The doors to the locker room opened and a small team of Zeks and Carricks entered. All of them geared up for the big game, none of them actually able to make it outside. This was a show after all and Carrick was here for it. Especially as ‘Coach’ rolled in. A few of the Carricks snickered in the back ground and then waved. Then coach started to speak.

Carrick didn’t follow half of the story but knew it was to stir the team up, which was silly because it was only Carrick and Zek that could do anything about it till they got the other two thieves into Zek’s portal. The Zeks cheered. The Carrick’s roared and just like that the real Carrick felt his hairs stand on end, his heart rate elevate.

His rage... too much to quell. The real Carrick’s eyes turned to slits and then joined in the roars and ran to the portal knowing it was just gonna be the two of them. It didn’t matter though Carrick knew the team would be cheering them on. As they left Carrick high-fived the other Carricks.

------

“Gahhhh! A mouse trap!?!?” the one with the top hat asked as the other shook his hand now trapped between the small mouse backbreaking device. The one in Zek’s trench coat shouted out in pain as his companion chuckled. “'oo 'as a bee 'ive mouse trap in their apple pie rockets?” his laughing turned up the more he thought about it. The one whose hand was trapped in a mouse trap released his hand and shook it. “Must be something worth protecting right?” shaking his hand he opened the pocket and dug his hand in only to reveal a fist full of peanut butter. “What the hell?”

Zek fell into a free fall instantly, which worked great for his purposes. A ball appeared and his morningstar vanished. A scarlet ball appeared and he quickly positioned himself so that when the ball flashed away and the hang glider appeared, Zek was already strapped in.

He swooped upward and started climbing into the sky, leveling out only when his ascent started to slacken. “Hmmm, now if I were an idiot, where would I be?” he shouted out loud to anyone in earshot (namely Carter).

Zek was many things, but a tracker wasn’t one of them. Which would probably be something important for a bounty hunter but Zek never let that slow him down. “I’d be in plain sight, is where I’d be!” Zek said as he soared around in the fairly empty sky in the moonlight and the ever-present haze of light coming from the sleepless city. “I’d probably still be on a rooftop too!”

Zek coughed as he swallowed a mosquito. “Ack!” he said. This shouting in the wind stuff was for the birdcats. “Hey, you got one of those X-Man communicators or whatever? That’d make this so much easier!”

And in the meantime, the Trenchcoat Thief flicked his peanut butter covered hand at the teleporter. The delicious snack suddenly slipped off the frictionless hand and splattered over the ‘porter. The movement caused a couple of fruit wedges to fly out of the sleeve of the coat and splatter the area. “How do you like them apples?” he said in a nasal voice.

After the leaving the portal Carrick’s wings snapped open as gravity took hold, before he could catch his friend who too was falling he materialized a hang glider, silly grounders. Anything to give the illusion of flight. Carrick kept his words to himself and held on to the baseball bat, white knuckling his weapon so he wouldn’t let it go. Last thing he needed was to lose something else of Zek’s.

”Oh! I know this one! In a mirror!” it took Carrick a second before adding, ”Habit.” it was hard to turn off the sarcasm and the joking, even if he was pissed off at the moment.

”More than likely, not like they can port or fly. Just climb right?” his slitted irises quickly glanced over from building to building, for any movement or people. A few birds caught his attention, followed by a orange cat. They weren’t what he was looking for so made a mental note to ignore their movements the ones he was looking for were far more... animated.

”Not an X, mate. Wrong team.” he said knowing full well Carrick had helped out on occasion if the right people asked. No, his team were more walkie-talkies and hours of paperwork before getting a hold of the earpieces. ”Even I did it be in the other clothes.” Carrick said pointing to the direction of a one very confused person who looked like he had a hand full of... peanut butter?

”Found ‘em.” Carrick said before adding, ”Since when have we had trouble comminating. We just get loud right?” his eyes focused on the pair and he turned his wings to send him in that direction hoping Zek was smart enough to follow. ”They found yer peanut butter pocket...” he said apologetically. Everyone knew that taking Zek’s snacks unless offered was off limits.

If (and this was a big hypothetical if) there was one thing Zek liked about Featherbutt, it was his sense of humor even under the most vengeful of circumstances. Zek cracked a huge Cheshire grin that nearly split his head in half. “Good one!” he said, tossing a quick frozen waffle at the Winged Wonder. The waffle didn’t even come close to hitting him, but Zek wasn’t really trying - it was a good joke.

“I think the guy with the very impressive hat can port,” Zek yelled. He probably didn’t have to yell so loud, because he knew Christian had good hearing, but it still felt fun to do. “He kicked me off the building!” His backside was still smarting a bit from that. Which was why he now had steel-toed boots on. The boots with spurs were still in the shop - he hadn’t had a chance to steal them yet.

“Crumbs!” Zek yelled again. No communicator? Well this counter-attack got a lot less cool. “This got a lot less cool! What’s the point if I’m the only one who has one? Oh wait, do you think Winter Smolder would be into helping us out?” Zek angled his glider until he swooped swiftly nearish his buddy. “You right though!” he yelled as loudly as he could as close to the guy's ears as possible, before swooping away and up into the sky.

Just as he reached the apex of an arc, the dreaded words came to him. “Not my peanut butter pocket! Nooooooo!” he cried. Zek’s eyes swirled with lights, flashing through solid gold, white, blue, before settling back on red. “I’m gonna keeeeeeel them!”

He shifted his weight and fell into a dive on Chuck’s trail, screeching all the way.

The miffed shifter wouldn’t comment. Trying to bring any of the ‘adults’ he knew would have opened up the door for questions like, ‘what are you doing hanging around this guy?’ or ‘why are you guys trying to rob them?’ most of them wouldn’t understand it was a territorial thing. They crossed them on their turf. Meaning they had to go in the most humiliating way possible. Lucky for Carrick and Zek they didn’t have to worry about losing.

”Ya want the do gooders helping us out?” Carrick asked in his dive before undershooting the building the two thief's were on. He was faster than Zek in the air and if one of them could teleport that meant he could be faster than the Irishman meaning he had to do his best to sneak behind them. ”Give them the drop!” Carrick called as he dove and turned to go around the building.

Hoping Zek would be able to distract them enough Carrick turned his body and maneuvered in between the buildings ignoring the clothes lines and clothes that hung over the alley way. Only stopping to snag a bed sheet with obvious yellow stains. ”Gross.”

“Got some company! Quit ****in ‘round we’ll check the pockets later!” one of the thief's said as he tried to open the mousetrap and avoid getting peanut butter all over his hands.

“It’s not that I want them to help as much as it is I wanna see Coleslaw slipping and sliding from someone else’s powers for once!” Zek yelled. The dude’s ability to alter the environment was awful unfair at times.

Then he just focused on his target below them. He returned to screeching as loud as he could, even bringing out an airhorn to blare wildly as he shot down toward the idiots on the rooftop with all the speed of a falling Zek. Featherbutt peeled away to go do something, which was fine by Zek - Zek was clearly the main act so the Winged Wonder was probably doing something back stage.

When he was a dozen dozen feet above the roof people, Zek begin making lights. Scarlet light flashed and the glider vanished. Golden light and a massive crate as tall and wide as Zek was tall appeared in front of him. He grabbed it and the motion and the momentum caused him to start somersaulting in midair down at the two fairly flabbergasted people. The airhorn was still blaring until it fell loose, to go clattering over some other roof. Another golden light and the lid of the crate vanished.

A couple dozen feet til impact, and Zek kicked off the crate and a white ball flashed in front of his hand before rapidly becoming a white disc that was only visible from Zek’s side. From the rooftop, all the thieves saw was a white ball vanish and then Zek vanish.

Then the massive, lidless crate of thousands of illicit yo-yos that Zek had been smuggling shot toward the roof at terminal velocity.

The crate of smuggled toys fell towards the two figures, both jaws open. It would have been a sight to see however Carrick was busy with his own plan. A sneak attack. One of the reasons the comedic duo worked so well together was because they very rarely worked with each other. Both Carrick and Zek did their own thing and it always seemed to work for them (usually).

This time was no different. When the one with the top hat saw the crate fall towards them at break neck speeds he lifted his peanut butter covered hands and the crate started to slow. Unfortunately it wasn’t slow enough. The initial speed and weight of the crate continued on under the influence of his powers. Until his friend grabbed them and they both vanished.

The crate shattered and Carrick saw it all from behind the pair. Smirking and holding the stained sheet. The top hat wielder needed to see what he was slowing down. The sheet in his hands just added to his plan now. Before it was just a distraction but now it was the plan.

”Stirring performance!” Carrick shouted allowed as the pair reappeared behind the crate. Both stopped and turned towards him. ”I got ta say, talent recognizes skills.” he continued to buy some time for Zek to reappear. ”Ya got all the right stuff but yer about a decade to early ta try and claim our neck of the woods.” Carrick flew a little higher in the air and opened the sheet.

“Whas he doing?” “Dunno... giving up?” the pair asked each other.

Carrick turned the sheet from one side to another revealing nothing behind it. ”Unfortunately ya challenged the wrong pair. Ya stole his coat and yer wearing me new hat. Can’t let that slide.” “Look at the stains...”

”Ya need ta see what yer slowing down right?” Carrick asked to the pair.

Zek didn’t get to see the toymageddon occur, he was too busy flying through the air of antoher dimension. The portal endpoint in Zekpoint had been aimed up toward the ceiling of the world, causing Zek to go from a plummeting freefall in Dullworld to being shot up into the sky into Zekworld. It didn’t take long at all from his momentum to wear off, but by then he was another couple dozen feet in the sky.

Gravity began to decrease as he made his descent until he reached the ground as lightly as a feather. It wasn’t nearly as fun as a breakneck fall, but he had other things to keep him occupied at the moment.

“Now if my calculations are correct, if I open a portal here on home base, I should step out right on top of one of the crates on the roof,” Zek said to himself. THe Math Zek nodded and pushed his glasses up his nose. “I concur,” he said as he scribbled random lines and numbers on a chalkboard with his permanent marker. “Glad we agree!” Zek the First said as he stepped through another portal.

His head immediately bounced off a brick wall and he fell back into Funworld. “Why do we even have that lever?!” he shouted, turning his ire toward Math Zek. Math Zek shrugged, “I dunno, boss. You know we’re addicted to making references to pop culture whenever we can.”

Zek Prime grumbled and muttered and a new pillar of ground burst up beneath him and traveled about ten feet before it thrust him through another portal. This time He popped up from a portal that was parallel to the rooftop and he jumped out and landed with a crouch, a golden light burning in his hand. “So what did I miss?”

”Ah yes! My assistant!” Carrick said as he nodded his head to Zek who appeared on the roof glowing orb and all. ”Just THE magic trick.” he said trying to get Zek to play along. ”Our new subordinates, were just about to see it.” his wings still kept him aloft only moving a little closer when the pair turned to Zek.

”Nothing behind the sheet?” “Woss 'e doin' wiv that stained sheet, isit? Don't cop it.” Carrick stopped and looked from one guy to the other waiting for a translation. The shifter had a hard time understanding the accent. Even if it was one he ran into several times as a kid. “Why is the sheet stained?” the other asked.

”Part of the trick! Good showmen never reveals his secrets eh?” Carrick quipped as he turned towards Zek and waited for him to look. ”It’s part of me magical disappearing trick!” Carrick was looking to get balled and vanished.

“'e were just tryin' ter fight us and is now showin' us a magic trick, isit?” the other held his hand up curious to see.” one said to the other “I’m curious now.” both of them pushed each other a little and Carrick hefted the sheet overhead. Thankfully there wasn’t too much wind that night or the stained sheet would have blown away. It however slowly dropped overhead as Carrick flew over it towards Zek waiting for the ball of light to launch his way.

Carrick threw a fist midair hoping if Zek picked up on it he’d be throwing a punch at someone as he reappeared. If not Carrick was just distracting them with his act.

“I fin' 'e's gone barmy!” the teleporter exclaimed as Claymore drifted overhead with that horrible blanket.

“He’s not the only one,” the slick thief remarked. He shuddered and that simple act caused a series of tinkling sounds. He opened the trenchcoat and pulled out the wind chimes that were hanging there. “Why on earth does that dipstick have one of these in his coat?”

That’s when light flashed and suddenly the bird boy was gone, a single sheet left floating to the ground.

“Oi! Where’d ‘e go?” said Top Hat, immediately teleporting a dozen feet closer to the blanket to inspect it.

“How should I know? You were supposed to be watching him!” said the oily American.

“Bloody ‘ell,” said the the Top Hat Teleporter.

“You can say that again!”

“Bloody ‘ell,” the teleporter repeated.

“Quit repeating yourself!” said Slick.

“Oi, you said…”

“No I didn’t!”

Then they turned to the giggling, bad-at-impersonations-but-good-at-causing-trouble Zek who took a step backward and sank through a vanishing portal on the top of the crate. A split second later, a scarlet orb landed right behind the teleporter and Featherbutt popped out in all his eye-of-the-tiger-hawk glory, his fist aimed right at Top Hat’s head.

“Crap,” they said together. “Not again!”

It was a bright light then a red light and Carrick swung with all his might. His foot popped up in the air trailing behind him as he flapped his wings pushing himself forward following the punch. It was a ‘stupid’ punch. At least he had heard that a dozen times from the Texan Ranger, his ‘supervisor’ from S.U.P.E.R. he also called it highly impractical because it left the shifter so open for attacks. However, Carrick was an immortal and didn’t see the issue. It looked cool and if it landed it... it realllllly landed.

”Hawk PUNCH!” Carrick shouted as he launched forward his fist impacting on the jaw of the man who was now hatless. The hat flew off to the side as Carrick and the thief formally known as top hat moved forward (or backward) a few feet.

Carrick didn’t stop, after the punch landed the shifter threw another and then another. ‘Top Hat’ took each punch then fell to the ground only to be pinned by Carrick. Locking his knees around him his tail thrashed wildly as he struck the man again. Followed by a roar.

It was a territorial thing and both forms echoed their feelings in the back of his mind. ‘Fight!’ ‘Kill’ ‘We are Alpha!’ two of the three he gave any merit. There was a tooth next to ‘Top Hats’ face which was now bloodied.

”**** off! Our turf! You work fer us now or can **** off!” Carrick turned and pointed to the other whose jaw was still opened from the attack. The stained sheet landed on him and he scrambled to break free.

Zek poked his head out of a basketball sized portal that appeared about waist high a dozen feet to the side of Carpenter. It was just in time to see the punch connect. “Yeah! That’s my boy!” he shouted. His glowing eyes widened and rapidly started flashing between gold and blue (because he couldn’t do green for whatever reason) as the guy’s top hat came sailing over.

“Mine!” he shouted and practically fell out of the suddenly bigger portal he hit the ground and caught the hat. “Hat, I name thee Vengeance, for you are now mine,” he said gravely. He flipped it upside down to inspect his new property as Featherbutt started ravaging the dandiprat. There was a disgruntled coo and when Zek stopped shaking the hat violently, an angry pigeon flew out of the hat and into the night.

“Oh hey, this hat is awesome! Almost as good as my trenchcoat!” Zek shouted. “Hey Copper! Get a load of this!”

Zek turned the hat around again and a couple of smoke bombos immediately fell out of the bottom and struck the ground. Purple and black smoke immediately began billowing out, blinding Zek within seconds.

“Crap.”

Then everything went sideways as once again Zek slipped on the ground. And as before, he couldn’t latch onto anything. It was as if everything and everyone within thirty feet of the guy under the sheet went absolutely frictionless. The last thing Zek saw before the smoke completely covered his vision was a bedsheet ghost running over to his friend and pulling him out of Winged Wonder’s clutches like a slimy eel from a bowl of jelly.

“C’mon, Blip, we gotta go!” he said, hauling his slipping and sliding friend over the frictionless ground.

Knuckles covered in blood he watched in horror as Zek took the hat. The shifters shoulders slumped. ”Awww, come on! I called it!” he knew he’d get it back at some point or Zek would end up getting bored of it. Either way he watched his new renamed hat release a rat with wings followed by two smoke bombs.

”What! Nu-uh!” it was better than anything he kept in his pockets. It was... it was cooler than the disco stick. Such a thing seemed impossible but it was looking him in the face. A true magician’s hat.

It would be he his!

Smoke filled his lungs, covering his face and flapping a few times to break up the air he felt the former top-hat wearer slip out of his hands. Which was fine, because Carrick was more worried about why his feet were slipping out from under himself.

”That’s right! Better run! If ya need a reminder of whose in charge around here feel free to check back in with us! The true kings of New York City!” it would have been more intimidating if Carrick could stand in one place.

His feet slipped again, ”What else does the hat do!?! Gimmie!”

Zek started coughing violently as the smoke filled his lungs. “Blegh,” he said. He opened another portal and went back to Zekworld. “Be are bee!” he coughed.

Twenty seconds later he stepped back out wearing a gas mask and weilding a leaf blower, the extension cord running through the portal to an outlet in Zekworld. “Let’s blow this popsicle stand!” he shouted as he turned the machine on. Smoke started getting violently shoved away.

As the smoke was clearing, Zek realized the ground was back to normal and he could stand properly. “UGh, they’re gone,” he said. “And they still got our stuff! But at least we have something of theirs!” He plucked the hat off his head and tossed it through the air at Connor. “Here ya go mate, see for yourself.”

Zek was a gracious friend and most benevolent. He enjoyed doling out gifts to his friends, especially ones he neither paid for nor needed. After all, did he really need a hat with hidden compartments in it when he could just reach out and pull something out of an entire stadium?

“I think we need to arrange a hostage trade,” he said.

Zek vanished and returned shortly after portaling away with the means to remove the smoke. Carrick opened his wings all the way in hops to get his wings from not stinking of the smoke. He didn’t want to shower again today. Even if the princess was going to request it. He would be a fool not to.

”I can find another pair of pants...” his eyes still focused on the hat and the fact that his accomplice was in possession of it. Would he steal from Zek? Better question... when?

Once the hat was tossed Carrick stopped staring wide eye in Zek’s direction and focused all his attention on the hat that was now in his hands. ”All me life.... I dreamed of finding one of these and then stealing it because it’s a waste of money.” his dirtied hands brushed the brim of the hat and then reached inside.

”Please be a rabbit... please be a rabbit” the shifter felt something soft and almost started to cry as he grabbed on to the fluff. Looking down his hand pulled out a kerchief... followed by another and another.

”No rabbit!?!” looking up and still pulling the fabric ”What for, we got the hat and established our turf. Why not just tell them ta give it back?” Carrick asked still focused on the never ending scarf.