19. Movements in the Dawn:
I just want to thank the creators of DARK AGES for creating such a great background, and Storyseeker for correcting my fics and helping me with great ideas and for the characters of his ficverse.
After having caught the Hunter while he was trying to rob some weapons.
"Well then," she explained with a grin. "For all that you can do, you can use our supplies."
As the eyes of the man under the mask widened, the Gargoyle's grin widened even more.
"One way or another, you will pay off your fee," Lucifia explained.
In a sudden and violent movement that no one saw coming, her right claw slashed over the masked face, slitting it open just where the marks had been drawn in.
"Perfect," Demona's daughter explained beneath the screams of the man whose mask drew up the blood hungrily.
"Fine, we will talk at the precinct. I will send two of my officers to the hotel, where you will wait until they arrive and drive you directly to the precinct," Chavez ordered. "Your friends leave now! And tell your mate that if I find any of his clan out there hunting masked criminals, I will have them detained also. I will not… *KLIRR*… AAAAARRRRKKKK!"
"CAPTAIN?" Elisa shouted into the cellphone "CAPTAIN?"
The answer consisted out of a dead wire, which told her more than she wanted to know.
"Stop, boy!" the former leader ordered, and to his large surprise Roland did just that. "Where is Chavez?"
"I don't know," the bandit replied, turning around and looking at his rookery father with an unmasked face, having been forced to remove his usual mask for the oxygen one. "You are perhaps a bit too old for catching me, father."
"And where are you going, lad?" Hudson asked in return, letting his mate step besides him. "You know that it won't turn out to be a good end with Lucifia… Don't delude yourself."
"More unhappy than I have been with you?" Roland snapped back. "I'll take my chances."
"Now there, father," Thailog said, his voice twisted by the oxygen mask, pointing a laser gun at Goliath. "Let us talk."
"Where is Captain Chavez?" Goliath growled, his eyes lighting up white.
"I have no idea," his clone replied. "But I know where Lucifia is, and who the most important members of her cult are, and… who the Hunter is."
"How much do you want?" Goliath asked in a nearly resigning tone.
"Just in time," a voice ahead of him said, and looking up Roland discovered Lucifia standing in front of the sacrifice-basin on a stone-altar, holding a dagger. Thailog was kneeling in front of her, and only barely conscious.
"What is this?" the captured Gargoyle managed to say, though having witnessed this ritual often enough to know it all too well.
"Simple," Lucifia told him coldly. "You have outlived your usefulness, and now you will serve me in another way."
...
"I never really believed this sacrifice would work with a clone," Lucifia mused, staring for a moment at the dagger and then at Thailog's throat.
...
"Wait!" Thailog screamed, as Lucifia held the dagger to his throat. "I can give you more than just my own meaningless death!"
"And what, pray tell, would that be, my lamb?" the dark Gargess asked, moving her face nearer to his so that she could see and taste his sweat.
"The Labyrinth," Thailog answered through clenched fangs. "I'll give you the Labyrinth and all the clones within it."
*** in the Dark***
14.09.98; 05:45; Undisclosed Location:
The screams coming from all other parts of the large building echoed through his tortured brain, and if he weren't using all of his concentration to stay awake, Roland would have wondered who was suffering besides him.
Hanging off a wall, his claws bound tightly in handcuffs that he would have managed to destroy easily if he had just half of his usual strength; the rogue Gargoyle asked himself if he had ever been in a worse situation in his not so happy life…
The fist hitting him on his forehead helped answer this as a no.
"She should have taken us with her," the man, who Roland could see had a slight diametrical face, said to his partner while holding his fist.
"It doesn't matter," his partner said, wearing a grey shirt and expensive looking trousers. "Soon, the blood of the unbelieving will rise and cleanse this world."
"Finish me off," Roland spit at them. "At least then I won't have to hear your bullshit anymore!"
This caused the man with the good-looking shirt to hit him hard in his kidneys, making his mask fly off.
"At least we know the reason why he wears this," his tormentor joked, taking up the mask, as his companion looker over at the table behind him. "How do I look?"
The first man turned to the second who was now wearing the white mask.
Roland snarled, his eyes shining white.
"What a pity," the man holding the mask replied, as he shattered it in his hand.
"Lets see how much he can scream," the man with the strange face said, holding a taser in his right hand.
"She said we should just prepare him," the other man said. "Dead, he isn't useful to us."
"I know that they can hold out long," his friend replied, bringing his strange face nearer to the Gargoyle's. "And they say I look awful."
Roland leashed forward with his head, trying to bite off at least a bit of his tormentor's nose for this insult. The man proved too quick for that, and brought his face out of the Gargoyle's reach, and instead rammed the taser into Roland's stomach where its flickers of electrical light illuminated the room, while screams raced through the halls.
"Enough," the second said, holding his friend's arm. "She told us to prepare him. If we kill him..."
Roland, smelling his roasted skin, was inclined for a moment to tell them that they had failed and that he was dead already, when he, still hanging in the handcuffs, felt something strange...
"I can't see why she insists on keeping him," the first noticed, looking at his friend. "His blood is weak, even for a sacrifice."
His friend opened his mouth to speak when… he was knocked against the wall by Roland's tail, knocking him unconscious, the spiky end causing deep wounds on his left side, which began instantly to bleed through his once expensive shirt.
In another swift movement, Roland used his tail to throw his other tormentor off his feet, making him fall on his back and losing the taser in the process.
To his horror, the man with the uneven face watched as the Gargoyle tore apart the handcuffs and leap on him.
14.09.98; 05:50; Castle Wyvern, Courtyard:
Darlene sat on the battlement, Gem sleeping on her lap, overlooking the main part of the courtyard. She saw some Gargoyles standing around in groups, seemingly discussing the night's events when she heard the clawed footsteps of someone approaching from behind.
"Talking with Delilah has provoked memories of Paul, hasn't it, sister?" Desdemona asked, taking a place beside the blonde Gargess.
"Not just him," Darlene noted, turning to the caramel skinned warrioress. "I was also thinking about mother."
The sceptical look of her sister made her smile.
"She never talked much about such back then," Darlene explained. "I mean, she talked about Goliath and my father, but I always thought she held back."
"Held back?" Desdemona asked.
"She didn't open herself to me," Darlene replied.
"Many have problems with that," Desdemona noted, taking a look at Gem who was slowly awakening.
"Yes," the blonde Gargess agreed, stroking her daughter's hair. "But I think it is because she never let her guard down, having needed to always be prepared in case the Hunter appeared beyond the next border."
14.09.98; 05:54; Streets Over New York:
Demona cursed the Hunter and all humanity, as she hunted him through the night, the same as she had done over the centuries and vice versa.
The Hunter on his hoverbike was still somewhat ahead of her when he suddenly turned and fired, forcing her to quickly glide behind a water tower to the left of her, gaining the masked man some more metres before she could resume her hunt.
She was almost sure he was leading her into a trap, and wondered if she had the luck to run into one of the clan's patrols, but quickly banished this thought. They wouldn't be of any help and for sure would try and hold her back once she had him...
~ No, ~ Demona thought, her eyes fixated on her prey. ~ It is between you and me. ~
Unknown to her, the Hunter smiled under his mask as they approached their goal.
14.09.98; 06:07; Under The Streets of New York,
Near The Labyrinth:
Thailog tried hard not to show how uncomfortable he felt. This wasn't much judging by the fact of the number of armed cultists walking silently ahead and behind him, wearing guns. Not that he was afraid, for he had killed such before. It wasn't them, or even the Gargess with the black eyes walking to his left, for despite whatever was hidden behind those eyes and in this form, the clone believed he had a good chance of at least escaping her.
The thing troubling him the most was the explosive material fixed around his neck by some sort of collar, complete with a little blinking emitter control that was now in Lucifia's claw.
Had the situation been different, Thailog would have been impressed by the way Demona's daughter had been prepared, though he doubted this little *gift* had actually been meant for him. He had no doubt that Lucifia had spoken the truth when she had warned him that instant explosion would be the result of any attempt on his side to remove the collar or move too far away of it.
Realizing that this way of thinking wasn't help him very much, Thailog instead took attention to his surroundings, hoping to find anything which could help him to get out of this situation... but all he managed was to notice how smoothly the cultists behind and in front of him moved through the darkness.
Indeed, they were moving so smoothly that they had managed to take a homeless man that tottered in their direction, muttering to himself until he discovered them, by surprise.
"INTRUDERS!" he screamed loudly, his shouts echoing through the floors, nearly overlaying the sound of the bullet, which hit him straight in the forehead.
"Abe, Talon said you... " a voice said, and Thailog discovered Burbank and Brentwood coming up to him, as the clones apparently either hadn't heard the dampened shot or had mistaken it.
They didn't mistake the sight of the armed cultists with their former master and an unknown female between them though, and though at first looking aghast, they quickly turned and ran with Burbank leading the way.
Thailog opened his mouth, but Lucifia ordered him with a gesture to stop, instead indicating him to follow them and by doing so they and the cultists reached the entrance of the Labyrinth in time to see its various inhabitants, including Mutates, clones and two Gargoyles, trying to shut the massive steal gates.
"Now!" Lucifia snarled.
"Order 14065!" Thailog shouted in the direction of the clones, as they helped to shut the gates. "Kill them! OBEY!"
Due to the closed gate, he was unable to see if his orders were being followed, but the screams that suddenly came through them made it seem probable.
The gate shuddered, as two of the cultists tried to push it back, but it was obvious that it was much too heavy for them.
"You and me," Lucifia ordered the first of the clones, and reluctantly Thailog threw himself against the gate, pushing it slowly aside.
As they entered the scene of the battle, Thailog had to say that he was impressed, for the clones had effectively destroyed the labyrinth's defence. He discovered two dead and one wounded man, one dead male and a female of Goliath's clan, and most interestingly, Talon being pressed to the ground by Burbank and Malibu, with Hollywood standing near a seemingly knocked out Brentwood.
A further look around, through a crowd of fleeing people, made him discover his *precious* Delilah, lying with her back on the wall, crying.
~ Delilah, ~ Thailog thought, as he realised the situation. ~ What a nasty girl you are! ~
Unfortunately, this didn't help him a bit, as he noticed that the cultists behind him were still pointing their guns at him.
"Move in, secure the clones and kill the rest," Lucifia said, walking to the Talon, the leader of this clan, now secured on the ground by his very subjects.
"Bastard murdering liar..." the former Human spit on her, his eyes and arms glistering with electric energy. The two clones were having a hard time trying to hold him down. "You will not come through! You will..."
Lucifia stepped forward and snapped his neck.
As Talon's body fell down limp, Thailog, without even the slightest bit of shock or interest in his role in it, saw his chance to act. With remarkable speed he jumped forward, trying to kick the control out of Lucifia's claw, only to have her turn around even quicker and laugh at him.
"I appreciate your help..." she explained, putting her thumb over the button.
"ROAAAARRR!"
Thailog had only a moment to see his lifesaver, Claw who came jumping down from one of the Labyrinth's upper levels, and then the electrical energy coming from his claws, which hit them all. Lucifia was the first one to be hit, as she was struck the hardest and flew over Thailog at the wall behind him, while he thus fell to his knees, the Humans around him doing the same.
~ A bit too late... ~ the clone thought numbly, as the Mutate looked over at the dead body of his leader.
The Mutate now looked over to the clones who, without orders, stood there dumbfounded and somehow terribly lost, and then his eyes shifted to Thailog...
The clone of Goliath wanted to tell him that he had had no choice in the matter, which was near enough the truth, when he heard a *click* from behind him. He turned, quickly noticing that the cultists behind him hadn't come back to their full strength, but seemingly were focused enough to raise their guns, aiming at Claw.
Realising his chance, Thailog turned around, and though his legs were still shaky, he jumped at one of the men, throwing him against the right of the open gate. However, his comrade to the left used this opportunity for a shot, on which Claw went down dead or merely wounded.
Before the cultist could point his gun at the clone, Thailog had grabbed him by the neck, making him loose the gun. He fully intended to slash the man's stomach open when...
*Click*
Shocked, Thailog looked to his left where Lucifia had risen to her knees, pressing the button of the control... without anything happening!
The clone needed only half of a second to figure out what had happened.
"Too bad your collar couldn't stand the electric shock," Thailog told her sarcastically, throwing the man still hanging in his claw on Demona's daughter, thus knocking her to the ground.
Then, using both his claws, he removed the collar, throwing it as far away from him as possible, thinking about killing Lucifia on the spot before turning to the other clones and realising that the rest of the cultists were slowly regaining consciousness, too, making every second he stayed longer a risk.
~ I'm done with risks, ~ Thailog swore to himself.
"Time to leave!" he ordered the clones. "We... "
He stopped when he noticed that the area that Delilah had been sitting in was now empty and she was nowhere to be seen.
"Come!" he said, and after seeing that they were following his orders, Burbank and Malibu close behind and followed by Hollywood with Brentwood in his arms, he ran on all fours through the exit grabbing himself a gun from the gun in the process.
Mere seconds later, Lucifia threw the cultist from her, looking first at the forms escaping in the shadows and then at the cultists at her side.
"Get them!" she ordered these one being able to stand "You other finish the rest."
Together they began pursuing the clones through the tunnels under New York.
14.09.98; 06:22; Castle Wyvern, Over The Courtyard:
Another surprising long and *instructive* lesson with their teacher was done, leaving the surviving hatchlings lying on the parapets, awaiting the sun to refill their energy and heal their bruises and aching muscles.
"Is she trying to kill us, or does she just want to make us feel miserable before the tests?" Jane asked, as she sat over the courtyard, letting her legs hang over the green.
"It's not so bad..." Duncan said, lying on one of the parapets, his white beak showing in the air and his golden hair being blown by the wind. "I mean, do you think the tests will be easier?"
Unhappy murmurs were heard from the *hoping to be adults soon* hatchlings, or at least those who weren't too tired to do so.
"Not so bad?" Eve replied, sitting with some of her siblings on one of the trees growing in the courtyard. "Climbing around the castle walls? How shall this prepare us for the tests in Xanadu?"
Now Duncan sat up, staring at his rookery sister.
"You still think they would train us in the forest?" he said, pointing with one claw over the city. "There aren't so many bandits in the Park."
"We always train in the forests," Victoria threw in, hanging in one bough about Eve.
"We don't protect a forest, but a city," Duncan noted, lying back on the parapet. "Who needs to know a forest here?"
This left the lot of them silent for a moment, as they tried to become friendly with this thought.
"I need something to drink," Jarred, sitting beside Jane, noted.
"Bring me Fanta!"
"Coke!"
"Sprite"
"Apple Juice..."
Darlene's son groaned, but complied to the unwanted task of fetching drinks for everyone, standing up and walking to the door, followed by Connor and Eve, the first to help and the second to forget her brother's victory.
They walked in the direction of the kitchen, hoping to once again salvage something to drink, probably with some help from Broadway who was normally very friendly to hungry or thirsty hatchlings. Suddenly, Goliath came racing towards them with Owen at his tail, and the three hatchlings had to jump back to avoid being overrun by him, their leader with an ear at a cellphone, who definitely didn't notice them.
Jarred was about to protest when he noticed the look on the big Gargoyle's face.
"What do you mean incident?" Goliath growled to the unknown person on the other end of the line.
~ Boy, I'm happy not to be this person, ~ Jarred thought, he and his friends still being ignored by the grown-ups.
The leader's face darkened even more, and he turned to Owen. "We need the money now," he noted to him.
Owen just nodded and went off.
"Where do we meet?" Goliath asked.
When whoever it was on the other end of the line had answered and apparently hung up, the Gargoyle fastened the cellphone at his belt and walked away, not noticing the three hatchlings who, after sharing a close look, followed him.
They soon reached the Great Hall where Goliath quickly drew the attention of every clan-member there who was drawn by the aura of his grim determination alone.
"We have a situation," Goliath explained to all of them, looking over the crowd of Gargoyles. "The deal with Thailog starts tonight, as will probably the attack on Lucifia and her cult."
The crowd shared worried glances, as they knew that dawn wasn't too far away, meaning a race against time.
In the shadows of the corridor, three hatchlings decided to share this news with their comrades, their thirst and exhaustion totally forgotten.
14.09.98; 06:49; Dark Alley in Manhattan:
Seeing his father, the leader of the Manhattan clan, landing in the alley, Thailog stayed in the shadows a moment longer than was necessary.
"Good to see you, father," the clone greeted him, stepping forward and looking straight at Goliath, and then at the case he was carrying. "You brought it all?"
Goliath mustered the twisted mirror image of himself, his eyes becoming harder by the second, as he registered the signs of battle and blood on the clone.
"They discovered you," he noticed angrily. "Your information is useless now then... they would have moved by now."
"Fortunately, father, I was quick," Thailog replied sarcastically. "I escaped while their main forces were out on an attack, so you might still get them there... or even save some lives at their unsuspecting target, which I fortunately overheard."
Goliath growled, but handed the case over to Thailog who opened it and threw a quick look at the money in it.
~ At least this night finally gets better, ~ the clone thought.
"Where?" his father demanded.
"They have their base at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a complex known as... " Thailog began.
"...The cloister," Goliath growled, remembering the place where a long time ago Demona, with the help of a deceived Brooklyn, had charmed him.
"So I can spare the directions," the clone commented, taking one step back. "They attack the labyrinth."
"What?" Goliath roared, jumping forward with white glowing eyes, only to be stopped by the end of a gun pointing at him.
"Now, now, father, no quick moves," Thailog noted, unimpressed, continuing to move backwards. "Just go quickly with the army you have surely brought with you, and maybe you can stop my ex's nasty girl from hurting someone... I very much hope so." He chuckled lightly, as he made his way further into the shadows, disappearing from sight.
Watching his clone vanish into the alley, Goliath wasted no time and grabbed the communicator hidden in his belt-bag.
"You heard it," he told the group one block away. "Brooklyn shall take half of you and go to the Labyrinth, the rest follows me north to the cloisters!"
Having said this, Goliath heard a car stopping on the street near the alley, and Elisa with her blonde wig stepped out of it, his heart becoming troubled even more.
14.09.98; 07:15; Tunnel Before The Labyrinth:
Silently, Elisa walked down the dark floors leading to the home of her brother and his clan. With her gun drawn, her face remained straight and grim as she tried to register every shadow, every noise on their way, hoping to evade a possible trap before it sprung...
Likewise did Fox do to her right, using the display of her mechanical fight-suit to scan the surroundings. Brooklyn was to her left, and probably the Gargoyles and single beast behind her. The cop knew that they were all hoping not to run into a trap of Thailog.
In truth, Elisa sincerely hoped that it was a trap of the clone, as it would that Thailog had lied and that the labyrinth wasn't really in danger, and that it all was just for them...
"AARRGHHHH!"
Everyone jumped, literally, and turned around just to see Thersities pressing against the wall, rubbing his beak like mad.
"What are you doing?" Brooklyn asked his older sibling, trying to speak silently.
"There was a spider!" Thersities exclaimed in shock.
This earned him some irritated glances.
"Haven't you heard that Black Widows invaded the canals?" the beaked Gargoyle asked seriously.
Half of the group groaned while the rest, including Elisa, turned back to scan their way for traps.
"You and your Arachnophobia."
"Hey, they wrote that they killed the alligators."
"Maybe you should have told your love that instead..."
"Silence!"
But there was no trap, and even more dangerously, the silence remained.
Turning around the last corner, like proof for her fears which had raced in her since Goliath had told her of Thailog's *warning*, the door to the labyrinth laid open...
She rushed forward, still wary of traps, but these was just background as she ran down the tunnel, Fox and Brooklyn beside her, storming the Labyrinth.
Her well trained eyes caught the scenery all too well, and in half a heartbeat they were fixated on the fur covered, winged body lying ahead of her.
"Derek..." Elisa whispered, the arm holding the gun dropping, as she ran towards the limp body. "DEREK!"
She raced to her brother's body, ignoring everything else around her, but one closer look revealed that his neck was hanging in an impossible angle, destroying all her hope that it was just a projection of her fear.
Elisa fell to her knees in front of him, staring in his eyes that were looking at her like in accusation, holding her stomach as every fibre in her body seemed wanting to explode in pain, as the tears ran hot down her cheeks...
Brooklyn watched this scene and allowed himself to mourn with his leader's mate, though only for a brief second... then he looked around in the large hall and discovered the bodies of his siblings lying not too far away, the mates having been punctured, with his slightly blue brother being pinned in the ground by a large steel-bar going through his blood covered chest.
His brother's mate hadn't fared any better, seemingly stabbed through her sides by the same sort of pin now lying beside her mate, with their blood having mixed together on the floor, now joined as one as their souls had been... Hell, his sister looked as if she had tried to reach her mate in her last few seconds, her left arm reaching for him.
~ How romantic, ~ Brooklyn thought, hearing some of his siblings and clan-members at his back gasping and roaring in rage, yet on some rational level he realised that this thought was pure self-defence to shield him of the true realisation of his clan's loss, for he remembered...
He and his siblings sitting in the rookery, listening to the stories of their elders, his grey-blue sister with the dark blonde hair and his slightly blue skinned brother sitting near each other... Them playing catch together... Them being the first to get even closer... The first to mate...
Growling, he tore his eyes from this sight and looked further around, rationalising that there were also three dead humans lying there on the floor, but..
"Brooklyn?" Fox's voice called him back out of his thoughts.
He looked at her, feeling slight guilt over his slip of attention, as justified as it was, and following the direction of her gun where he discovered Delilah's dead body...
~ No, ~ Brooklyn corrected himself, noticing that despite lying there leaning against a wall, near Maggie's body, and was staring ahead without blinking, she was still breathing. ~ She is in shock. ~
Seeing that the body lying near her was that of Maggie's, he figured out why.
"Okay, Fox, stay with Elisa," he said, looking back to his group. "The rest of us make groups, two together, try to have at least one partner who already knows this place. Search for survivors or attackers, but BE careful."
Watching them depart, and knowing that they had understood, he laid a claw on Elisa's shoulder, which she didn't even register, and turned around to walk over to Delilah.
~ She is the only one left... ~ Brooklyn thought, trying not to step into Maggie's blood. ~ By the Dragon, how could the defence have failed so? ~
He threw a short look over his shoulder, to where Elisa still cried over the body of her brother, noticing that the doors were opened without signs of damage.
"Delilah?" he said to her, kneeling down to be at eye-level, trying to let his voice sound as calm and comforting as possible. "Delilah, what happened?"
The hybrid didn't respond, but continued to stare ahead like she didn't see anything at all, but continued to breath swallow but long, her cheeks covered with dried tears.
"Del..." he began.
"The master came with the bad Gargoyle," the hybrid said with an emotionless voice, still staring ahead with eyes not seeing him. "He came and now they are gone, everyone is gone and... and..."
"Thailog..." Brooklyn growled, though this was a low growl, like a curse.
~ He sold Lucifia the labyrinth, ~ the clan's second thought. ~ He sold her the clones and then sold her to us... or has he sold us to her? ~
A big question, a vital question for the group under Goliath who right now were attacking the museum only on his clone's words.
"Fox, can you reach your husband?" the second asked the former mercenary, rising up. "Seems Thailog was involved in this, so the museum might be a trap."
Still standing at Elisa's side, Fox pushed some controls on her left arm, but then shook her head.
"We are too far down," she replied, tensed. "I will go up."
Brooklyn growled out of frustration.
"Skip it! You might run into a trap," he ordered harshly, just to add a bit calmer. "Goliath and Xanatos are too clever to trust Thailog anyway. We'll go soon. Seems there is nothing to save here, contact him when..."
"He called and we had to follow," Delilah continued, more to herself than anything else.
"What?" Brooklyn asked, staring down on her.
"He called us through the doors..." the hybrid said, still staring emotionless ahead. "Kill them all!"
Fury raged through Brooklyn, and with one quick movement he grabbed at her bomber jacket, raising her over the ground, pressing her against the wall and staring at the trembling hybrid with white silver eyes.
"What have you done?" the Gargoyle shouted on Delilah who covered her face with her claws in pain and terror.
Brooklyn saw what he had seen before, that her claws were covered with blood, but now noticing that she had no wound at all as he had first guessed. He made a quick glance at Maggie, whose throat lay open, covering the ground around her in blood, turning her golden fur red, and suddenly he realised who had done this.
"Master Thailog said!" she cried out, fresh tears running down her cheeks.
"They took you in when you had nowhere to go," Brooklyn shouted on her, still pressing her against the wall. "They were your clan, and when this bastard said you should kill them you just..."
"Who did this?" Elisa's voice, coming from his left side, stopped the Gargoyle in his accusation, and a quick glance showed him that his leader's mate had drawn her gun, directing it on the hybrid's head. "Which one of you killed my brother?"
Brooklyn let Delilah loose, allowing her to sag against the wall, while he turned and looked at Elisa.
"Elisa!" he began, trying to sound comforting but firm at the same time. "I know how you feel, but..."
"You don't know!" Elisa shouted on him with a tear-streamed face. "He lies there and you fucking don't know..."
"Two of my siblings lie right beside him," Brooklyn screamed back, pointing at the bloody scene. "It fucking breaks my heart... but you can't blame the clones for something Thailog programmed into their brains."
He stopped, breathing deeply and staring into Elisa's tortured eyes, wishing Goliath were there.
Slowly, Elisa sunk her gun again, while taking a short look at Delilah, which showed nothing short of contempt, and then turned around to kneel beside her brother again.
Brooklyn looked at her for a moment, and then turned to Fox who had watched this scene without interrupting, knowing it was better to remain uninvolved, and then back to Delilah, not knowing if he could believe his own words. Sure, the clones had been programmed, and since he and his clan knew about this they had needed to be more careful, but right now the blood stained Delilah's claws, no matter whose it was...
"Second!" a voice called to him from behind, and turning around Brooklyn discovered Diomedes with his mate Fuchsia and the others returning from their search. "We discovered more blood, two bodies, no more, no sign of Fang... or Claw."
Brooklyn nodded, the first was no big loss. Hell, he might turn out to even side with Lucifia, but as for Claw… what the hell had they done to him?
"She found an old ventilation, well hidden," Fuchsia added, while petting the red beast with two large horns on her forehead standing at her side, stopping her second's thoughts. "The rest seem to have vanished through this. If we follow we might be able to help them."
"Not enough time," Brooklyn replied quickly, and when Diomedes wanted to raise his voice in protest he added. "Besides, I think the last thing they want to see now are more Gargoyles."
"What about the bodies?" Thersities asked.
"We take them with us," his second replied.
"A picture of us carrying human corpses won't make it any better if it showed up in the evening news," the older Gargoyle noted.
Brooklyn stared for a moment at him, and then he groaned, realising their situation. This would be the one thing that would definitely top this night, but he didn't need to look at Elisa to realise that she wouldn't leave her brother here.
"I will make a call when we are at the surface again," Fox jumped in. "They can take them in a truck and bring them home."
When Elisa didn't protest, Brooklyn nodded.
"Take some blankets from the beds," he ordered a part of the group.
Most of the group did so in silence, when Fuchsia stepped closer to the second.
"What do we do with this traitor?" Fuchsia asked, glancing at Delilah who stayed silent, as she sat on the ground, staring ahead wordlessly.
"We take her with us," Brooklyn replied. "Goliath will decide what to do with her."
"Why bother with that?" his older sister asked.
The second ignored this suggestion, and instead eyed the rest of the group, which had not gone for blankets.
"Search for material we can seal the gates with," he told them.
Brooklyn was looking around in the Labyrinth, the place that had been home to so many people, clones, mutants and humans alike who had no other place to go, and probably no other hope. It had been a place once filled with life seeking to thrive despite the hardness and reasons to despair.
Now it was empty, with no chatter or laughter, just coldness and blood drying on the ground, a place never again to be called home that for sure.
"The Labyrinth is dead."
14.09.98; 07:16; The Cloister:
The shot coming from the single tower missed Achilles not by much.
"We won't come close enough before they shoot us out of the air." the crested gargoyle shouted at his leader and the other clanmembers accompanying them who glided some metres away, gliding some mad stunts to keep the shooters from getting them.
"Hide on the ground." Goliath replied, pointing at the earth, where trees were blocking the view.
"If you allow me Goliath." Xanatos pointed out flowing to them from above. "This suit is bulletproof."
Not waiting on a response the billionaire started the main jet on his back and flew straight to the tower, ignoring the bullets pinging at his suit and finally racing through one of the windows with his mechanical wings retracting.
Left alone as Xanatos engaged the snipers, the gun fire having stopped, the gargoyles glided further.
"You enter the main gate I and Achilles take the back." Goliath ordered the other gargoyles around him. "Remember main goals are finding Chavez and Lucifia."
They nodded and glided off to the left side, with Goliath and Achilles forming the second team heeding right.
"The second would be needed here." the crested gargoyle noticed gliding besides his brother. "You said he knew the territory."
Goliath became dizzy a moment as the memory of the events in this cloister flooded his mind, Brooklyn's, unwilling, betrayal, Demona's laughter, the urge to obey...
"Leader?" Achilles insisted as his brother had remained silent a second.
Goliath shook his head, driving away the dizziness.
"He know the labyrinth better than any other, too." he replied.
Noticing the suspicious glance thus threw at him, Goliath wanted to tell him to be watchful for further guards, but when he took a quick glance to his left he discovered a form through the coloured form of the window, in a movement which...
The leader of his clan roared turning his path straight to the window, even enlarging his speed as he folded his wings to fit through the window, leaving his startled brother behind him. The precious glass broke instantly under his massive attack and under a shower of coloured shards Goliath came down on Lucifia, who just held the dagger above her head, a dagger which Goliath stopped with one powerful grab.
"Your evil ends here!" the large gargoyle told the younger looking female.
"It has only begun." Lucifia replied.
Shocked Goliath registered the blood running from the dagger she held in her claw. Throwing a look over Lucifia's shoulder he discovered Brentwood, the little clone lying on the altar, his throat slid open and his blood pouring over the edge. The clone's mouth opened as if he wanted to say something, but he was too weak to gather the breath and with Goliath watching, life left his eyes.
For a moment nothing happened and both just looked at each other, giving Goliath hope that despite as how horrific the act had been, it had though been in vain, but seconds later Lucifia began to tremble.
"You are toooo laaate." she stated still held by him and seconds later the horns on her forehead small as that of a chamois began to grow, along with her body.
Goliath knew he had to act not to loose control over her and secure her until reinforcement arrived, but trying to turn her arms against her back turned out to be impossible since Demona's daughter quickly pushed back, gaining strength with every second.
Knowing he would loose the battle using pure strength, Goliath used his tail to pull Lucifia's left leg away from under her to bring her down. His opponent stumbled, but in the last second she used her own tail to cling to the altar.
Using her strength Lucifia brought her left leg between them both and pushed Goliath against the wall, rising her dagger to deliver the killing blow, but hesitating the split of a second...
Having rested on the edge of the window, Achilles had waited for this moment, jumping down on the unsuspecting gargess, kicking the dagger out of her claw and wrestled her until he got his arms around hers, holding her tightly, though a now full grown Lucifia fought like a wild tiger, pressing her arms against his.
Goliath groaned, rising again and seeking to help his brother he staggered nearer.
"You are too weak." Lucifia said. "This is the beginning of the end."
With this words and a loud scream she pressed against Achille's arms and despite all his strength and willpower, Goliath's brother felt his arms being torn apart until he had to left her free. In a movement nearly too quick Lucifia turned around, grabbing the crested gargoyle and threw him against his leader, making both of them collapse on the ground.
"Pathetic." Lucifia noticed, starring over them and thinking about what to do.
*BANG*
With this her left shoulder exploded, sending flesh and black blood around as the gargess stumbled toward but held herself on her feet.
Looking around she noticed a blond haired female security officer sitting on the roof of one of Xanatos's helicopter having come closer unnoticed by the sound of battle, just reloading.
With a snarl Lucifia jumped over Goliath and Achilles and escaped through the exit. Seconds later the blond security officer jumped through the window, followed by two colleagues.
"You follow." the officer ordered her two colleagues "And tell the gargoyles to gather."
As they left she turned to Goliath and Achilles who managed to rise.
"Xanatos sent you?" Goliath asked, lending his brother a claw to help him up.
"After you left." the security officer validated.
The leader of his clan knew he should be angry over Xanatos not consulting him first, but he realised he had more important things to concentrate on.
"Come we have..." Goliath said and began to move, but the commando's hand on his arm stopped him.
"Sunrise is less than a hour away and we need time to get you back." she told him "Leave her to us."
Goliath thought a second, feeling his own exhaustion and seeing his brother trying hard to suppress the pain of his arm, if the sun...
"Goliath." he heard a voice coming from the entrance, discovering Javin entering with an unconscious Chavez in his arms, followed by the rest of their group.
"Your group has already met with the our other team and come back." the commando informed him.
Goliath starred at the death form of Brentwood.
~maybe they only got him~ he thought, but knew better.
"How bad is it?" He asked the commando.
14.09.98; 07:51; Castle Wyvern, Great Hall:
In the middle of the hall, only Darlene sat besides Delilah when she heard the helicopter land moments before the doors were struck open by Goliath who was greeted by Brooklyn.
"Where?" the leader asked.
"Morgue." the smaller gargoyle replied.
Goliath raced on, likewise eager to outrun sun as to comfort his wife as soon as possible.
~better run fast~ Darlene thought.
Just then the doors opened once more and the rest of Goliath's group came in, lead by Javin who carried a small form under a cover.
This caused Delilah to rise, though staggering as she neared the large gargoyle under the watchful eyes of the clan. Darlene propped her causing Demona who walked in after her brother to frown.
~where the hell do you come from?~ Darlene thought, but her mind was too occupied to go after this question now.
Ignoring everything else the hybrid walked to Javin and under his hard eyes she removed the part of the blanket hiding the face, revealing the wan,blood and lifeless face of Brentwood.
A silent, mournful sound emitted from Delilah's mound, causing the hatchlings around Jarred, watching hidden, to shiver. The hybrid would have fallen if not for Darlene holding her, softly leading her back to her seat.
"Bring him to the mourge." Brooklyn told Javin.
The large warrior, who had eyed Delilah for a moment with sympathy, nodded, leaving silently.
"Lets throw her to the cell like a traitor like her suites." Kronos demanded.
To her shock Darlene heard some agreeing murmurs from the gargoyles gathered and maybe even more shocking was the look of consideration she saw in Brooklyn's face when she looked to him.
"Tell me you don't consider this." she asked him angrily.
"She is dangerous." Brooklyn noticed, looking grudgingly at Kronos.
"She needs help and no jail!" Darlene replied, pointing at Delilah who had once again retracted in her own world and no sooner then she said it, she realised she meant it. "She will live with us."
"She will not." Demona snarled back, stepping nearer to her daughter.
Mother and daughter looked at each other a second as the room around them became silent.
"She will." Darlene replied silently, starring directly into her mother's eyes and ignoring the rumbling feeling of her stomach. "Either she comes with us or I will stay here, I will be there for her."
"You..." Demona began.
She was going to say more had not the sudden pain, signalling her transformation and the turning of her daughter into stone stopped her.
Having turned human, Demona watched the stone form of her daughter a moment longer, as the ones of her former clan watching her before leaving the hall in grim silence.
EPILOGUE
14.09.98; 7:01; near a dark alley in Manhattan:
Thailog smiled, as he entered the deserted house, holding the case.
Looking around, he discovered Malibu and Burbank sitting on two rotten chairs, as he had ordered them to, but one of them was missing.
"Where is Hollywood?" Goliath's clone asked.
His two clones shared a look.
"Gone," Malibu said in a depressed and excusing tone.
When nothing more came from them, Thailog grunted, as there had been enough loss this night of his possessions, and staying longer meant the risk of loosing all.
"So are we, before daybreak," he told his minions. "I think I will leave this city to Goliath and his clan... or Lucifia, or whoever will get it in the end... Follow me!"
With this, Thailog left and the other clones followed without further questions.
To be continued...