Babkak prided himself on being good during a crisis. He seemed the only one among his little band of misfits able to keep his head in the midst of an unexpected catastrophe. The fact of it was that life had stopped surprising him long ago. When you weren't surprised, you weren't easily caught off-guard. And when you weren't losing your mind with shock at the sudden turn of events, you could try to fix things.

No, not much surprised Babkak anymore—living with Kassim had prepared him for anything.

Still, the impending destruction of a possible earthquake made his stomach churn.

As Aladdin caught Jasmine in his arms, Babkak glanced at Kassim, who clung to him for dear life. The sheer panic and confusion in his brother's wide eyes was enough to shove him into leader mode.

"What is that?" Kassim called over the growing rumble.

"Is the world ending?" Omar questioned, hands pressed firmly over his ears.

"Not yet," Babkak replied as he swept a calculating gaze over the crowd. "At least, I don't think so..."

"What?" Kassim interjected. "How could you not know if the world was ending?"

"I don't know! Nobody knows, just—Get out of the way!" Babkak pushed Kassim off the platform seconds before a chunk of the ceiling crashed down where they had been standing.

Mass confusion fell over the crowd as large sections of the ceiling continued to tremble, threatening to fall at any moment.

"We have to get everyone out of here!" Babkak shouted as the Genie tripled in size and tried in vain to hold up the ceiling.

"Right!" Aladdin replied, taking Jasmine by the hand and pulling her toward the door. He didn't get far, however, due to the tightening throng of fleeing guests.

Just when Babkak had resigned himself to the fact that this was, indeed, an earthquake, what looked like masked assassins flooded the pavilion on all sides.

One of the guards called out something about an attack and Babkak's heart sank. The guards seemed to be no match for the thieves as they stripped the guests of their valuables.

Yeah, an earthquake definitely would've been preferable.

Knuckles cracked beside him and Babkak turned just in time to watch Kassim down a man with an uppercut to the jaw. The thief didn't stay down for long, however, and swiped Kassim's feet out from under him with a well-aimed kick.

Of course, Babkak would've helped had he not been engaged in a fight of his own. Two against one was never fair, but he didn't really have time to complain. He had to admit, these thieves, whoever they were, had skill.

But Babkak hadn't survived on the streets for so long by pure luck. Whipping off his turban, he knocked it into the first man's head before sending it sailing straight into the second's nose.

Somewhere in the chaos, he heard Omar cry out.

Right. The kid had never been much good at holding his own for very long, preferring to hide than fight most of the time. That didn't mean Omar couldn't fight, he just…

Babkak glanced over his opponents' shoulders to see his little brother throw a kick that didn't land quite right.

… Wasn't very good at it.

One last punch gave him the out he needed. It also let him snatch one of the thieves' knives. Weapon now in hand, Babkak made a break for it.

He made it over just as a particularly large thief trapped Omar in a headlock. Sneaking up from behind had always proved to be a useful tactic and Babkak wasted no time in bashing the villain over the head with the knife handle.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on him," he told the dazed thief.

A single tap on the forehead from Omar sent the man crashing to the ground.

Babkak grinned at him. "Nice work."

"Thanks."

They'd barely had time to recover from the squirmish when Kassim came flying backwards into their arms. They both caught him before he could crash onto the floor and Babkak eyed the nasty bruise blossoming on his cheek.

"Not your day?" Babkak inquired dryly.

Kassim just shook his head as if hoping to clear it. "They fight like demons…"

"Worse than demons!" One of the palace guards declared. "These are the forty thieves!"

As if that should mean something to them. Sure, Babkak vaguely remembers hearing about the group once or twice, but part of him hadn't believed they were real. The other part hadn't given them much thought.

Until now.

Genie's confusion echoed down from the ceiling. "Really? I count thirty-nine."

A few feet away, Aladdin mumbled something, then proceeded to dash out of the room.

"Now, where's he going?" Kassim exclaimed, exasperated as he dusted himself before tossing another punch at an approaching enemy.

Omar's hands flew to his cheeks. "Oh my gosh! The gifts!"

Sometimes—only sometimes—Babkak felt like he was surrounded by a pack of halfwits. "I don't think that's really what's important right now."

With that, he attacked the thief that had snuck up behind a still-distracted Omar.

"Well," he asked, sidestepping Babkak and his newest opponent, "aren't we gonna help Al?"

"I think," Kassim grunted, caught in the aftermath of a punch to the stomach, "we have more important things to take care of right now."

"More important than Al?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Babkak saw Jasmine sock a thief in the face. "Al can take care of himself all right."

"That's for ruining my wedding," he heard her growl.

Yeah. Aladdin definitelymarried the right woman.

Or, he was going to marry her once they all got themselves out of this mess.

There were times in which Babkak found the Genie to be annoying and a little too… much. But as the dazzling lamp-dweller soared down from the ceiling and started taking handfuls of thieves out with his abracadabra nonsense, Babkak found he'd never been more grateful that the Genie was on his side.

Soon, a muscular, pale-faced man turned to his fellow thieves. "Cassim said nothing about facing the powers of a genie!"

Babkak glanced over at his friend, hoping he hadn't heard. The last thing he needed today was to have to listen to Kassim complain for the hundredth time about how another person had stolen his name.

"Get the others out of here," the pale man sneered. "We'll leave the King to his plans."

Almost as quickly as they had arrived, the thieves vanished, leaving nothing short of a disaster in their wake.

"Look at this mess!" Omar cried.

But Kassim was already making a dash for Gift Central. "No time! Come on!"

"Finally! I knew you guys would get your priorities straight sooner or later!"

It took all Babkak's self-control to hold back an eye roll. When they arrived, Aladdin was standing alone in the center of the room, a mixture of irritation and confusion twisting his face.

He glanced at his friends with wild eyes "Where's the King of Thieves?"

Chest heaving, Babkak turned his attention to the gaping hole in the wall.

Yes, an earthquake would've been preferable. Messier, sure, but far less confusing.

Taking in the sight of his beaten crew, he had a feeling this already very long day was about to get even longer.

Oh joy.