Morayma N. Rodriguez10-11-2005© 9:54PM
The Trails of Babysitting
Hatchling Days Relived: part 2The sun had set in Manhattan Island and the city was still buzzing with noise and lights. However, things were far from peaceful in the apartment of police detective, Elisa Maza's. It has been nearly two weeks since little Alex diverted Lexington into his earliest form of a newborn hatchling. Two weeks since Elisa took the enchanted gargoyle baby to live with her until the trouble among the clan was resolved. The dark hair policewoman lost some sleep during the time but nothing she couldn't regain during the day in her time off. She had gotten the hang of doing at least three things at once with the hatchling around and was now using this newly gain talent to fix dinner/breakfast for herself and little Lex while playing 'Fetch the ball' with him.
She had one hand at the stove making some fry chicken for herself, the other getting a bag of chip from the cabinet above her stove, a bottle of formula warming in the microwave, and took a minute to tap the ball with her foot when Lexington tossed it to her. She was about to use the time it took him to race Cagney for the ball to figure out whither to fix him baby food or give him the gram crackers he enjoyed so much when… Rrrriiiinngg!! Rrrrriiinnngg!!
Luckily the chicken was ready, "Perfect timing," she stated as she scoped the chicken out of the fryer before answering. "Maza here… hey Matt… yeah, I'm hanging in there. Jr.'s been a bit of a handful at first but I'm managing…" she glance back to check on the hatchling and found him trying to wrestle with her cat for the ball again. "So what's up? … … WHAT!!" her shouting startled the mini gargoyle into shying behind her potted miniature rose bush, "You mean to tell me the Quarrymen manage to swipe over two dozen laser rifles from Cyber corps' storage?! … … Oh no, I want in on this case! There no way I'll stand by while those lunatics … don't worry I've already got the perfect sitter in mind…"
*****
The Catacombs
Deep underground in the old subway catacomb life was pretty quite and peaceful for Talon, a.k.a. Derek Maza, his fellow 'Mutees' and the homeless they protect. Derek Maza is Elisa's younger brother who, along with three other humans, has been subjected to genetic experience that mutated them into man-made gargoyles. In appearance they resembled cat-like creatures with bat wings and the electrical power of an eel. They are able to shoot electrical charges from their hands and are also able to fly. Derek's two friends where named Claw and Maggie, and the third artificial gargoyle was called Fang, whom they kept locked away. Fang had taken advantage of his new abilities and tried to take over the catacombs. However thanks to Brooklyn and the clan he was stopped and captured.
Apart from them they were other artificially made gargoyles. They were clones of Goliath's clan. Thalog, Goliath's clone, had them created so that he had a fighting force of his own; only he had them specifically programmed to obey his every word. When the evil copy was brought down, Derek took them into his clan and began teaching them how to think for themselves. He and Maggie were in the middle of a lesson just then when they were interrupted by footsteps. Footsteps and some form of awkward squealing heading in their direction.
"Looks like we have company." Talon turns toward the entrance, "Maggie have 'the kids' take cover just incase there might be trouble."
"Alright Derek." Maggie stood and took the hand of the closest gargoyle, Brentwood, Lexington's clone, "Come along everyone."
Talon watched the clones follow behind her like a group of ducklings following their mother. Since, their mental capacity was set at a certain low level, they had a long way to go before they could do things on their own and Talon and Maggie have been treating them like their own children. The bond had help made some progress; the clones only listen to them and were slowly but surly learning the difference between right and wrong. Once they were safely hidden, the jaguar like gargoyle walked toward the entrance to see who was coming. Only Goliath's clan and his family knew how to get down to the catacombs, but there could always be the possibility of wanderer. In this case, he was happy to know that his sister was the one visiting. She was carrying a bag with her and what looked like a… baby seat?
"Hey Derek. Long time no see" she greeted her transformed brother with a warm smile.
"Hey sis," he returned the smile and tilted his head when he saw the baby seat. There was a blanket over it, "What's with the…" he was interrupted by a small sneeze coming from underneath the blanket.
"I'll explain everything once where out of this drafty tunnel." Her tone reminded him of their mother; which naturally made him suspicious.
*****
15 Minutes Later
Since there had been no way of calling her brother and his clan; she didn't had much choice, but to surprise him with her tiny roommate. Thankfully, it hadn't taken too long to explain the situation. The mini Lexington was sitting on her lap looking and chirping at everything that moved. He giggled as he saw all the new faces, though four of them had him tilting his head in confusion. They looked just like the gargoyles from last time only different colors. He also saw three others that were covered in fuzzies like the grey playmate that liked making the funny noises, so he tried getting their attention in the same manner.
"Meew"
"Oh Elisa, he's adorable," Maggie tickled and allowed the tiny hatchling to grab a hold of her hand. He giggled when her fur rubbed his small stomach, "And so sweet."
"Yeah, he likes to play the Cute Act a lot," the dark haired detective handed the laughing babe over to the cat-like female gargoyle. "He can't glide yet or walk, but he can climb a little; I caught him more than once climbing the couch and curtains. However, I don't think he can scale stone yet." Claw was standing just behind Maggie, silently smiling at the active hatchling trying to take in everything he could see. "He usually likes to crawl around on all fours and likes to play with his ball, so he shouldn't give you too much trouble." She opened the bag she brought with her and pointed out it's contents, blanket, baby food, formulas, toys and so on, "I know this is short notice but with this case going on and Mom and Dad out of town for the week…"
"You don't have to explain anything sis, of course we'll watch him for you," he watched as the clones gathered around Maggie to see the baby, "Not only will he have all of us watching him but he'll have plenty of new friends to play with."
"Thanks again Derek," Elisa hugged her jaguar like brother before leaving, "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Talon watched his older sister leave before turning back to his clan. The clones had all gathered around Maggie to see the new little creature better, "What this?" asked Hollywood, Broadway's clone.
"This is a baby," replied Maggie as she kept the squirming hatchling in her arms as he tried to poke at her wings in curiosity.
Brooklyn's clone, Malibu, sniffed at the tiny babe, making it squeak in surprise before he asked "What 'baby'?"
"A baby is a new little person that likes to be held and played with." Maggie explained to the teal green gargoyle as the miniature gargoyle tried hugging at his beak.
Brentwood, Lexington's clone, curiosity got the better of him and held out his hand to poke the baby. To his surprise, it caught his fingers and began sucking on his knuckles. He only blinked at the action; more interested by the fact it looked an awful like the gargoyle he was cloned from. "It little," He looked at himself and then again at the babe as he made his realization, "Me little, it more little."
"Yes," the female Mutee nodded as she gave the dark purple clone a pet on his head, "Babies are always little but they grow and get bigger just like you."
Mini Lexington gave out a little squeal of delight when Maggie switched to tickling his foot in order to free Brentwood's hand. "Why no it talk?" Burbank, Hudson's clone, asked.
"Because he doesn't know how yet," Maggie held the little hatchling by his tiny hands and got him to stand up. "He hasn't even learned how to walk yet," however, baby Lexington did figured out rather quickly that he could hop on two legs once he was held like this and did so a few times.
"Alright now," Talon motioned his tiger-like friend, Claw, into coming forward, "You can all play with Lexington later. Right now we need to finish tonight's lessons," he'd seen the way Claw had been watching them all and knew he wanted to hold the baby, but was too shy to let them know, "Claw here can watch Lexington until we're done, won't ya Claw?"
Now Claw was mute. He hasn't spoken a word since he was transformed himself, so he communicated with the others by charades. His facial expression showed that he was quite surprised at the thought of watching a baby alone and was, in his shy way, kind of nervous. Then the little olive green hatchling looked up at him. At first it just stared at him with those large, owl eyes, surprised by his large size, then all at once it squealed, smiled, and held its small arms up towards him.
"Ah, ain't that cute?" Talon glanced at Claw and nodded towards the hatchling, "He wants you to hold him."
Surprised, yet encouraged, the tiger creature knelt down and took the small being into his muscular, furry, arms. Besides the trio clones Claw was the only other gargoyle that didn't wear a shirt and so mini Lexington found himself held against Claw's furry chest. The tiny gargoyle was delighted to be there. It was all warm and fuzzy! The fur tickled him and he couldn't get enough of the soft feel of it. He rubbed he little baldhead against the fur like a kitten and turned and stretched on his back in Claw's arms. His mouth opened in a long squeaky little yawn and his eyes blinked closed as he snuggled closer to the warmth and fell asleep.
Seeing the soft look in Claw's eyes, Maggie started herding the clones away, "Come on now. Let's finish our lessons while Lexington takes his nap. Then when he wakes up you can all take turns playing with him." The clones liked the idea, now they only needed to learn how to play with something that small.
The many homeless people that Derek's clan protected here in the catacombs watched with warm smiles as Claw sat down with the baby in his arms. Some of them even walked over to see the tiny creature better. Those whom were parent eyed their own children carefully as they were allowed to get real close and actually touch the baby, with Claw's permission of course. Yes, baby Lex was going to be well cared for in the catacombs.