Future Tense: It All Begins From Here

by armesanNMU

Life in New York continues on as normal ignoring the fact that Goliath and Elisa are still missing, and the clan is having issues dealing with it. And it seems that in addition to a turf war, Xanatos is preparing something that could have dire consequence

Previously on Future Tense…

"My name is Titania, Queen of Avalon. I seek your help with the child of David Xanatos and my daughter Fox."

"There is nothing worse than stealing a helpless child from his parents!" Hudson barked, the notion of such an act unacceptable to him. Titania shifted her gaze to the elder gargoyle.

"Even if one of them is your enemy?" There was a collective silence, intertwined with a mixture of angry and annoyed growls from the gargoyle clan. Sensing their mistrust and resentment, Titania continued. "I ask only for your aide gargoyles, for Fox's sake as well as the boy's. Oberon is not a man of great patience, and any resistance on the part of the humans will certainly make things…more difficult."

"The eggs?" Lex muttered, transfixed by the images of the rookery they never knew.

Jersey, furthest back in the group, staggered back a few steps from the images that haunted her vision. Being from the same rookery herself, she'd grown up believing that she and her seven rookery siblings were all that survived. Before now, she had been the only survivor. "Impossible," she whispered. Titania, still manipulating the images, looked back past Brooklyn and Hudson, finally taking a long clear look at the young female, who seemed awestruck with disbelief and uncertainty. "You mean to tell me that the other rookery eggs, all of my brothers and sisters that disappeared, are alive?"

"And Goliath?" Brooklyn wondered again, thinking that if Titania could know so much about the fate of their lost rookery, perhaps she knew more about Goliath than she was letting on. Unfortunately, Titania shook her head.

"I know not where Goliath is. It is the will of Avalon alone that decides when he returns, not mine."

"Then I guess it's settled," Brooklyn said definitively. "We protect the kid."

-Cry Havoc Part One

"Oberon!" Brooklyn roared out, taking the lead and charging forward while the others lingered back, Broadway and Lex landing momentarily on the side of a building, claws digging into the top ledge. "Back off now!"

Oberon growled, glaring at Brooklyn as he circled around his head. "You know not who you are dealing with gargoyle! Leave while you can and I will spare you!"

"We know who you are and we know why you're here! And we won't let you succeed."

Atop the castle towers, Xanatos stood there, his father still at his side. "All our defenses, and he just keeps coming."

"But you're standing up to him."

"He's after my son."

Oberon only glared in response as the white haired fae leaped out of the tornado where Owen had once been. "So, my servant Puck ignores our summons to serve a human," he growled.

Oberon's gaze narrowed considerably, from that he had when addressing his wife and queen. "It is time to relinquish the child!"

Fox remained equally unphased, and only lifted the gun and took careful aim at the Elvin lord. "Over my dead body," she replied coldly, not showing any sign of moving.

"Fox, no!" Brooklyn yelled, holding up a hand to try and keep her back. Unfortunately, she barely made it a few steps before her feet tripped over themselves, and she half-stumbled towards Oberon, managing only to check him with her shoulder and swing a wild punch at the Elvin lord. Grabbing her wrist, Oberon glared darkly at the red-haired woman, and threw her backwards, where she hit the edge of Alex's crib, the blow knocking her down and unconscious.

"No! I won't let you take him!" Brooklyn cried, jumping in front of Oberon as he stepped towards the side of the crib again, preparing the reach in and take Alex. Grabbing Oberon's wrists, Brooklyn attempted to force Oberon back away from the crib, but with the pain in his ribs restricting his movements, it was no large task for Oberon to simply blow Brooklyn back with a final blast of magic, knocking him down. The blow threw Brooklyn down against the floor, where even though he attempted to shove aside the pain and get up, all attempts were in vain.

Oberon sighed, turning his back to Brooklyn and looking at Titania, who remained where she'd arrived. "Come Titania," Oberon said, going up to the side of the crib and reaching in. "It's time to end this pitiful squabble." Surprisingly gently, Oberon picked up Alex, who'd been awakened by all the fighting going on, but because of the height of the crib walls, was unable to witness the violence. Cradling the child in his arms, Oberon began walking away towards Titania.

"No…don't take him…" Brooklyn said weakly, reaching a hand out as if to snatch Alex back.

"A battle well fought, gargoyle, but it seems Avalon's will is not in your favor tonight," Titania mused. Then, as an afterthought, she noted, "However to stand against the Lord Oberon and live another night is a most admirable feat indeed. Perhaps Avalon has a greater purpose in mind for you, and your clan."

"This child may be a new beginning for Xanatos. Family is a very powerful thing. It can transform anyone, for better or for worse. Let's just hope that this Alexander will make a change for the better."

-Cry Havoc: Part Two

Eerie Building

The castle had always been rather quiet, sitting atop the massive heights of the Eerie building in the center of Manhattan, though in recent weeks, it had been abnormally silent. Where once the occasional cries of an infant child echoed through the halls, only silence reigned. The office where Owen Burnette, assistant to David Xanatos, once worked was barren, save only a bare desk and rolling chair, the computer collecting dust.

Fox, seemingly the only living being in the entire castle, looked around warily as she strolled through the corridors, the cornerstone blocks acting as one giant amplifier as they echoed back the sound of her shoes walking on the floor. Occasionally a tapestry or portrait hung on one wall or another, filling in the space between the doorways and the elevator shafts on either side of the corridor.

In her hands, the red haired woman held a tray, laden with some type of sandwich and a bottle of water, carrying it as if with some renowned purpose towards the elevators that lead to the upper levels where Xanatos' office was located. Reaching the striped blue-gray doors, Fox stopped, balancing the tray on one hand as she pressed the button to activate the elevator with the other. Within moments, the elevator's monotonous ding sounded, the ring bouncing off the dead stone walls being the loudest thing these halls had heard in weeks, pending the disastrous struggle between the Xanatos family, and the Lord Oberon. Stepping onto the elevator's small and empty car, Fox tapped the button that would take her to the desired floor, her expression lacking any real emotion. She hadn't had the energy or reason to smile for weeks now.

The ride went quickly, the few floors required being indicated by the flashing orange numbers on the screen above the panel of buttons, and once they landed on the matching number, the doors slid open, allowing Fox to leave the confines of the elevator car and step back out into an almost identical hallway, cornerstone walls decorating either side of the corridor. At the end of the hall, a few yards away from where the elevator doors were, there stood an arch doorway, which in ancient times, lead to the throne room of the Castle Wyvern, but which now lead to Xanatos' state-of-the-art office. Approaching the grand doors, Fox grabbed onto one of the brass door handles and quietly turned it, forcing to heavy door to open and reveal the entrance to Xanatos' office.

The doorway was a line between the ages, where the cobblestone flooring gave way to the blue carpeted fairway of the 20th century. The walls, which once were stone blocks had become steel, covered over by monitors and computers on one side, and panels of drywall on the other, some adorned with intricate tapestries. The room itself was immense, the high ceiling lowered considerably with ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights, most of which were turned off at the moment, leading the way from the doorway towards the opposite end of the office in rows of three. The office was largely empty, save the desk residing up against the silhouette of the bay window, which was tinted a dark black so no one could see inside from outside. At the desk, the lamps were all turned on, shining down on the dark figure that was slumped over the desk like he was drawn to the papers strewn about on the surface. The computer was on, adding a casted shadow of white to that of the iridescent lamps, a small mark of dark gray or black blinking on and off in the middle of the screen, its reflection cast in the shiny black office phone that was sitting next to a stapler.

Just as Fox entered the office, the phone on the desk rang. Without even looking up or dropping his pen, Xanatos reached a hand towards the phone to answer it while simultaneously writing with his other hand.

"Hello?" Xanatos barked into the phone, his tone impatient as if something of drastic importance had just been interrupted. The person on the other line apparently continued speaking, and ignored the tone. After a few minutes of talking, Fox took a step in from the door way, announcing her presence.

"David?" Fox whispered, almost sadly. Xanatos, who'd had his back to the entrance, spun the chair around to face Fox. His previously dark expression brightened, and he raised one finger, indicating a just-a-minute gesture. Sighing lightly to herself, Fox shifted her weight to a more comfortable position, waiting for Xanatos to get off of the phone. This wasn't the first time she'd done this. It seemed every time she was around him, he was doing work.

With his attention focused back on the phone conversation, Xanatos turned his back to Fox again, as if this prevented her from overhearing any of the conversation. "Uh-huh. That's excellent. I want that in writing by the end of the week." Ending the conversation there, Xanatos hung up the phone while at the same time whirling around to face Fox again. "Hello my dear."

"What was that about?" Fox wondered, instantly suspicious of whatever shady deal he'd just been referring to.

"Just some messy paperwork we finally sorted out," Xanatos grinned, stepping away from his desk. "What brings you up here?"

Fox held out the tray of food. "I brought you some lunch. Thought you might be hungry."

Xanatos grinned, taking the tray from Fox and setting it down on one of the tables nearby. "How thoughtful. Thank you, Fox." Expecting that to be the end of the conversation, Xanatos left the lunch tray on the table, and began walking to his desk, which was located a good five feet from the table and lunch. Eyeing the lunch oddly, Fox looked up to her husband as he sat back down at his desk, and began writing again.

"Well aren't you going to eat it?"

"Maybe later. I'm a little busy right now."

Normally, Fox accepted this excuse, but she'd been told the same story for weeks now, and this was the last straw. Grabbing the tray angrily she stormed up to the desk, slamming the tray down on the desk over the papers Xanatos had been working on. He nearly leaped out of his chair, moving his hands out of the way just in time to avoid getting his fingers smashed underneath the tray.

"Wha!" Xanatos exclaimed, pushing back from the desk and looking at the tray as if it had just attacked him. Looking up at Fox's angry face, Xanatos remained eerily calm, though rather annoyed. "I assume you have a good explanation for that."

"This has gone on long enough!" Fox growled, her eyes narrowed to angry slits.

"I don't think I understand quite what you're getting at," Xanatos stated bluntly, raising an eyebrow to his wife. This only caused Fox to get angrier, and raise the volume of her voice by a few decibels.

"You've been at this desk for weeks now! I barely see you outside of this office anymore!"

Xanatos' only response was, "I'm busy."

"You're always busy. Normally I wouldn't mind, but now there are rumors of your company taking over Biotech and dozens of other small companies. What is going on David?"

"It's just business. Besides, those rumors couldn't be more wrong. I'm simply helping along some more troubled companies. 'Hostile Takeover' barely fits the description."

"What about Cyberbiotics?" Fox growled. Xanatos' calm demeanor suddenly evaporated, replaced briefly by an expression of surprise, and then one of an enigmatic expression. "I know you've been talking to my father."

"You're quite perceptive, my dear. It's true I've been in contact with Renard for some time now. I assure you, our conversations are strictly business related."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"There's nothing to worry about. Give it a few more weeks and everything will be right as rain."

Fox's glare did not leave, nor did the suspicions creeping into her mind. "This is about Alex."

"Leave Alex out of this. He has nothing to do with anything," Xanatos snapped, subconsciously gritting his teeth. Despite his request, Fox continued. She had to choke back the tears that threatened to emerge. She could not show weakness now.

"It's been over a month since Al…since that night. When are you going to snap out of this? When are you going to accept that Alex is gone?!" she cried, struggling to keep a straight face at the mention of her son's name.

"When I have the means to bring him back!" Xanatos roared, leaping to his feet and slamming his hands, palms down, on the desk, overturning the bottled water, which rolled off the edge of the desk, the clattering of plastic on carpeting a deafening sound in the following silence. Fox flinched, taking a step back from her husband, who's eyes burned in anger.

Realizing what he'd just done, Xanatos' glare softened, and his gaze fell down to stare at the lonely sandwich still sitting on the plate. His extended fingers curled up into balled fists, as he let out an exasperated sigh, shaking his head as he sat down again. Fox, having never seen him lose his temper like that before, cautiously approached him, rounding the corner of the desk and placing a hand on Xanatos' shoulder.

"David?"

In response, Xanatos placed his hand on top of hers, cherishing the human contact. "I…I'm sorry, Fox. I just…I'm tired right now, and I'm swamped with work."

"You should get out of here. Let's go somewhere. Just the two of us…we need it," Fox pleaded, kneeling down to hug her husband.

His response only shot down the hopes Fox had built up. "I'm sorry, I can't right now. But I promise, I'll make it up to you later."

Fox sighed mentally, standing up again and turning to leave. "Yeah. Sure. Later," she muttered, solemnly walking across the fairway of the office and gently closing the door behind her. Xanatos watched her leave, unable to say much in response to her clearly reluctant acceptance of his excuse, the sandwich planted in front of him staring him in the face. His deep meditation on the sandwich was brutally interrupted by the ringing of the office phone. "Hello?" Expecting someone to answer, the fact that the phone kept ringing even after he'd picked up made him jump, until he realized that it was the castle phone line that was ringing. Pushing the button to open the line, the sandwich was quickly forgotten.

"What are you doing on this line? I don't care, never use this number again!" There was a moment's silence where the voice on the other end was talking, his words causing Xanatos to start rubbing his temples as if to ward off an oncoming headache. "Yes, close the deal with Biotech. Offer the employees there the option of merging or finding new jobs. And I want you to move my meeting with the Cyberbiotics board to next week, and push the Nightstone account meeting to tonight. I want this closed as soon as possible."

Outside the doors, Fox's ear lay pressed against the phone, having picked up one of the phones. When she heard the comments about Biotech and Cyberbiotics, she quickly hung up, and walked away, biting her lip to hold back the anger and sadness. She could cry later, when she was far enough away. Lord knows she's done it many times before, ever since Alex was stolen from his crib.

Passing by the doors that lead to the nursery, Fox stopped, and made a quick glance around, making sure she was alone, though it was almost a certainty. She still hadn't gotten used to the fact that Owen was gone as well. Slowly opening the doors, she slipped in like a silent ghost, closing the door behind her.

The room was empty, save a broken crib that was centered in the corner. The toys had been taken out, the shades had been drawn, and the broken walls and windows from the battle had been boarded up. It resembled more of a tomb than a nursery, but that had never bothered Fox. Crossing the room and taking a seat next to the crib, Fox reached in, her fingers grasping a small blue blanket that lay crumpled and hidden in the depths of the cradle. The only evidence that she was crying were the soft sobs that echoed off the barren walls, the darkness covering any tears that fell.

Clock Tower
23rd Precinct

Life for Matt Bluestone had always been about the unbelievable, but nothing could compare with his life after becoming Elisa Maza's partner. Up until then, his theories had been about secret societies and conspiracies. Living gargoyles occupying the clock tower above his police station was the absolute last thing on his mind. Still, when Elisa finally told Matt about the gargoyles, he was surprised at how well he adjusted to having them in his life. They were a small clan, and from what Goliath had told him, there used to be clans that numbered a hundred. Not six, or seven.

Over the months that he'd known the clan, they'd gone through some or the toughest and strangest tests of survival. The most recent was the alleged battle with a magical Elf lord named Oberon. Matt, for some reason, had no recollection of this, and somehow the thought of a giant elf walking down the street didn't seem like something one would likely sleep through, even though that's what the clan insists happened. Whatever did happen, the end result put Fox and Pietros Xanatos in the hospital, and kidnapped Alex. No one has seen or heard from the kidnappers in over a month, and the Xanatoses didn't seem very intent in searching for their son.

Glancing out his window at the landscape, Matt took note of the time, and the setting sun. Closing the case folder on his desk, Matt wordlessly made his way through the squad room, making a nonchalant b-line towards a certain closet. With Elisa gone, he'd been restricted to desk duty, and had very few people he needed to make excuses for, so disappearing into a broom closet every night around sunset went largely unnoticed.

Lately, this had become routine. Sneak into the closet around sunset, pull down the staircase that lead to the inside of the clock tower, and quickly get up to the tower just as the sun set. Tonight was no different. Matt had no sooner climbed the last stair when the last rays of the sun vanished below the horizon, leaving only a faint glow of fire red-orange light. The resulting darkness that followed signaled the roosting gargoyles to start waking up.

The moans and roars coming from the balcony just outside the clock tower covered the tinkering of stone shards, as the gargoyles shook off the stone shell. The shadows of wings and tails lashed against the bronze-yellow panes that filled in the frames of the clock face, some of the shadows stretching to reveal beaks, or exaggerated lower jaws, and even a sword from the parapet Hudson had chosen to sleep on that morning. Matt grinned to himself, and continued smirking even when Broadway and Jersey came in, still yawning and stretching their stiff limbs.

As always, Matt hoped that tonight would be different from the last, and a huge lavender gargoyle would come in, accompanied by a big slobbering, blue dog that could sit on a Great Dane, but as he watched the shadows recede to reveal identities, he counted off the usual five. Brooklyn, the last to arrive inside the clock tower, looked up at Matt, their eyes meeting and confirming each other's fears. Goliath and Elisa had not returned.

"Another no show?" Matt asked, though he already knew the answer.

Brooklyn, though he knew Matt had already guessed the answer, humored him. "Yeah. How about you? Any luck?"

Again, the humoring. "No, just the same." Brooklyn nodded understandingly, sighing to himself as he ran a set of talons through his shock of white hair. The other four mimicked Brooklyn's disappointed look, and without so much as a word, went about their own business.

"Well, we'll keep hoping. In the mean time, I've got to get back downstairs before I'm missed," Matt chuckled, jerking a thumb in the direction of the staircase.

"Something going on?" Broadway wondered, interest always peaked by a mystery of some sort.

"We've got a new lead on the turf war going on between Dracon's goons and some new guy. I'm suppose to be on the case with a new transfer," Matt said. He looked around at the array of gargoyles as he continued. "You guys can tag along if you want. I could use the spare partner."

Brooklyn grinned slightly, but waved his hand in dismissal. "Nah, we're good. Besides, we've got out own patrolling to do."

Shrugging, Matt turned to leave, waving as he did. "Alright. Take care of yourselves. And let me know if you hear anything about Elisa."

"You'll be the first to know," Brooklyn said, watching Matt disappear down the stairs, and hearing them snap back up into their resting position on the ceiling of the broom closet.

There was a moment's silence before anyone spoke again, the television making the only audible noise in the tower. Matt's footsteps had long ago disappeared, and the eerie quiet echoed louder than most. Finally, Hudson broke the silence.

"It's been another week and still no word," the elder gargoyle mused, stroking his beard in deep thought.

"Last I heard they were seen in Arizona by Elisa's Dad and sister. No one's seen them since," Lex said from his workbench, where he was perched on his stool, not really that intent on working on the little gadgets strewn about on the table.

"But that was almost a month ago. That's a long time to go without word. Longer than before," Broadway pointed out from the kitchen.

"Aye. And that's not all that worries me," Hudson added.

Jersey, from the stair case behind the recliner, looked up from the book she'd been toying with. "Titania?"

Hudson nodded. "Aye, lass. For the Queen of the Third Race to be worried of Goliath's whereabouts is reason enough for concern." The other four hung their heads in silent agreement, and therefore didn't see the distressed and burdened look on Hudson's face before he spoke again. "I think it's time we begun assuming the worst."

"No way!" Lex yelled instantaneously. "We've got to keep looking! They couldn't just disappear!"

"We have no way of knowing for sure. Who knows how this Avalon's magic works," Brooklyn pointed out. Lex was not persuaded.

"We can't just give up," he growled, taking a step towards Brooklyn angrily. Brooklyn remained unaffected by Lex's approach, though Broadway felt he needed to sort this out.

"No, we can't, but we can't live from night to night convincing ourselves that Goliath and Bronx are just going to show up on our doorstep, either. It's been too long," he said.

With a menacing growl, Lex stormed up to Broadway, struggling to control his temper. "So just like that? We're giving up? 'So long Goliath, nice knowing you?'," Lex hissed, not believing what he was hearing.

"No lad," Hudson interjected, placing a hand on Lex's shoulder to calm him down. "We never give up hope, but we have to move on."

"Yeah, like what about this turf war Matt was talking about? Shouldn't we look into that? He might need our help," Broadway piped up again.

"He said he's already got a partner. Why bother? We can't be seen anyway, and there will be tons of cops around," Lex pointed out, blandly.

"Yeah, well it wouldn't hurt to at least patrol around to help him. It's better than moping around here all night hoping Goliath will magically appear," Broadway snapped angrily, walking towards the stairs leading towards the door.

"Oh, and sticking our noses into someone else's business is better?" Lex countered, leering up at Broadway's face. The two faced off, growls and bared teeth being exchanged before Brooklyn broke up the impending fight.

"Hey, cool it guys. No one's doing anything right now! Just relax a little," Brooklyn growled, stepping in between his two rookery brothers and glaring at the two. An awkward silence followed, with Broadway and Lex giving each other one final glare before turning their backs to each other. Brooklyn, caught in the middle, only crossed his arms over his chest, partially relieved that at least that argument had been deterred, for now.

"Well," Jersey broke in. "We're not getting any younger just standing here. I'm going on patrol."

"Good idea," Brooklyn agreed, relieved that someone made a decision. "We'd best take a full patrol tonight. Lex, you and Jersey take the north end. Broadway, you and me can handle the east. Hudson, the south end is yours."

"Wait!" Lex yelped. Brooklyn turned to look at his rookery brother, knowing full well what was coming next. "Someone should wait here in case Goliath comes back!"

Brooklyn shook his head as he sighed, hating to answer this, but forced to, regardless. "Goliath isn't…he'll know where to find us if he does come back. Right now we patrol the city. Waiting around isn't going to help us much anymore."

Turning to leave, Brooklyn lead the way up the staircase, the weight of his words hanging heavily on his mind.

"But…" Lex began to protest again, but was cut off by Hudson.

"You heard your leader, lad. Come on," he said, following after Brooklyn, unfurling his caped wings in the process. Lex was quick to follow suit, racing up the stairs on all fours, followed by Jersey, who seemed in no hurry to go anywhere, hopping off the crate she'd been sitting on and stretching her wings in a big partial yawn.

To the untrained eye, the five silhouettes of the gargoyles taking off from the balcony of the clock tower went unnoticed, but Matt, who was accustomed to occasionally look up, smiled as he exited the station and spotted the five dark shadows.

"Heh," he chuckled. "Even without the big guy they still like playing cops and robbers."

Downtown Manhattan
East Side

After dark, the East side was normally deserted, the average citizens afraid to be out when the gangs and muggers were prowling around. The streets and alleys were empty, save one blue car that was speeding towards the back alleys of a warehouse. Screeching to a halt in front of a closed door, the car waited patiently, as though something were suppose to happen. As if on cue, the warehouse door made a sudden jerky movement, and slowly opened, revealing a blinding light inside, where a dark silhouette of a man was standing, one hand on the warehouse door, the other motioning for the driver of the car to come inside.

The car rolled out of park, quickly disappearing into the warehouse, the large door slamming shut behind it. Glasses, the man who had ushered in the car, and Anthony Dracon's right hand man, turned his back to the door as soon as he'd secured it, attention focused on the car.

"Come on, come on, and let's go!" He barked, motioning to the other people inside the warehouse, each armed with some sort of power tool. "Quit floppin' and start choppin'."

Needing little more incentive, the men surrounded the car, allowing the driver to get out before they started dismantling the vehicle. Using a power drill, the hubcaps came off with little trouble, a little easier and quicker than it took for the chairs to be removed through the back, where the door was now unhinged and dismantled. A blow torch cut away the metal that held on the siding to the frame of the car, and with a few turns of the bolts, the tires came off and rolled away into a corner. Sliding a set of chains around the engine resting inside the front of the car, a crane kicked on, lifting the engine out of the frame, allowing the rest of the chop shop workers to finish up on the front end without risking damage to the pricey engine.

Laughing, Glasses stood a fair distance back from the car, inspecting the work as it was done. "Come on down to Dracon's house of auto parts. The prices are hot! And so is the merchandise," he laughed, looking down the line of the warehouse at the rows of other cars that were in the process of being or had already been stripped of all their valuable parts.

Several long city blocks from where Glasses and Dracon's men were busy running their chop shop, Brooklyn and Broadway were making their nightly routine patrol, Broadway still dwelling on the argument he'd had with Lex.

"I still don't see why he doesn't get it! Goliath isn't coming back, so why should we keep lying to ourselves?" Broadway fumed, talons clenched into fists.

"Take it easy. Lex just needs a little more time. It's hard for all of us to accept the fact that Goliath is gone. I mean, he's been our leader a long time," Brooklyn said, smiling. Then, sadly, he finished, "He's family, and it's hard to accept the fact that one of us is gone. It's like if you went missing, we wouldn't want to give up finding you."

"Yeah, I guess," Broadway sighed bitterly.

Looking over at his brother, Brooklyn tried to think of something that would get Broadway's mind off of Lex and Goliath. "Hey, remember back in the old castle days when one of Goliath's sisters blew up the old rookery?"

Broadway couldn't help but laugh. The mere mention of that one particular sister was cause for laughter. "Right before a laying too. Was she the one that blamed us for the catapult disaster?"

"Uh, we were the ones who caused the catapult disaster," Brooklyn muttered.

"Oh yeah…I wonder if Lex remembers that…WHOA!" Broadway yelped, his thoughts interrupted when a huge black hovercraft soared up out of nowhere, nearly knocking him out of the sky. Luckily, his reflexes were quick enough to adjust his angle so that he just brushed up against the side of it as he turned back, struggling to regain his balance with the increased wind resistance from the turbines.

Brooklyn, who had been further back than Broadway, folded his wings against his sides, diving out of the way of the hovercraft, and keeping his wings from catching any drafts of wind that would knock him off balance. The hovercraft, oblivious to the two gargoyles it had nearly hit, kept on flying towards a particular building nearby, leaving enough room behind it and the gargoyles to allow them to recover.

Landing roughly on a building, Broadway skidded to a halt, forced to fold his wings to avoid being knocked off the building. Brooklyn, unable to glide back up to the building, shifted his angle of descent towards the building Broadway was on, and dug his talons into the side of the brick, scaling the side of the building until he made it to the roof.

"What was that thing?!" Broadway shrieked, arms pressed against his sides to avoid catching any updrafts from the hovercraft. Brooklyn caped his wings, and glared at the ship, shielding his eyes from the heavy wind that whipped by his face.

"Nothing good…come on," Brooklyn growled, leaping off the building and gliding after the hovercraft, just far back enough to avoid getting caught in its tail wind. Broadway, unable to do much else, followed.

The hover craft paid no attention to the gargoyles tailing behind it, and kept on its intended track, coming to a slowed halt above the warehouse where Glasses was operating the chop shop, and opened the door on the belly of the ship, allowing the people inside to throw down the ropes they intended to use to get out of the ship.

Three came down first, two larger men and one bleach blonde haired woman, sliding down the ropes and landing in a crouched attack position. One had short, dark brown, slicked back hair, and a square-jawed face to frame his dark cold eyes. He was built like a professional athlete, and clad in all black, his hands gripped onto a rifle. If one had known any better, they would know him as Tomas Brod, an organized crime leader from Prague, and a much less liked acquaintance of Goliath and Elisa.

His companion was shorter than Brod, and much older, streaks of white shooting through his short crew cut mop of gray hair, and a trimmed gray beard sported from his chin. He was not a muscular as Brod, but more heavyweight, his beady eyes set between an exaggerated nose and a thin set of lips.

The woman was a mystery, her only true defining trademark being her bleach blonde hair. Her skin was a few shades paler than Elisa's, and though she didn't seem as strong as Brod or his partner, she had the attitude of one that could take care of herself.

Taking the front of the group, the woman raced across the rooftop, using her momentum to deliver a roundhouse kick strong enough to knock in the flimsy door. Looking behind her at her comrades, she motioned for them to follow her, unaware of the fourth presence up on the roof with them.

Crouched behind a ventilation duct, one of Dracon's men that had been on watch up on the roof spotted the hovercraft, and used the noise generated by the engines to cover the noise made when he readied the bazooka he was armed with. Taking close aim at the woman, he pulled the trigger with little hesitation.

The woman, hearing the blast in time to turn, moving her slightly to the right, managed to avoid being killed by the shot, but the bullet hit the frame behind where she'd been standing, and the resulting explosion was so powerful it knocked her back, the debris scattering from the broken doorway rendering her unconscious. Brod, who'd been watching, turned to his partner.

"That is why I never go in first," he said, his voice gruttled by a thick Czech accent, as he pulled something from his belt pouch.

Pulling the pin out from the grenade, Brod hurled the canister towards the now exposed guard, unleashing a cloud of knock out gas on the man. The guard attempted to escape the cloud, but it had spread too quickly, and clogged his lungs with gas, weakening him to the point where the weight of his weapon finished dragging him to the ground as he slipped into unconsciousness.

The two men by then had already begun putting on their gas masks to protect them from the effects of the gas, and charged forward, heading towards the door. Pausing at the entrance, the older man turned to Brod. "What about Sleeping Beauty?"

Brod looked down at the woman, and then back up to his partner. "Let her sleep. The Prince has a kingdom to conquer," he grinned under the gas mask, as he fired more gas grenades down the stairwell before entering it himself, ensuring that any other guards between the roof and the chop shop below would be unconscious before they got there.

Down a few levels in the heart of the chop shop, Glasses had heard the faint rumble, as if something had been fired at the building, and his fear was confirmed when smoke from the bazooka's explosion had made its way down the staircase and was seeping through the seams in the door up on the main catwalk that lead to the roof's stairwell.

"Trouble's comin'," he warned, getting the men's attention from their work. "Get ready!"

His warning, however, came too little, too late, as before they were able to arm themselves, the smoking door was kicked in, unleashing a cloud of residual gas from the stair well, and allowing entrance to Brod and his men, who had followed in after him. More gas grenades were hurled out onto the floor, driving the central group of men from the safety of close range and scattering them about the warehouse as Brod and his men started firing madly at anything that moved. With little else to do, Glasses and the rest of Dracon's men ran for their lives, running from the bullets as much as the gas.

With his men preoccupied shooting at the men in the warehouse, Brod decided to detour a little, taking aim with his own rifle and pulling the trigger at a chain that was holding up one of the engines. The rounds of bullets weakened the chain to the point where the weight of the engine was too great, and pulled one of the links apart, dropping the engine a good eight feet to the ground, where it crushed the bottom components and spilled oil across the floor in a slick ebony river.

Uninterested in anything but his own survival at the moment, Glasses dove towards the nearest car, which happened to be a limo. Knowing the merchandise well, he motioned for the nearest guy behind him to follow. In one felled swoop, Glasses flung open the door and slid inside, the man behind him doing the same and closing the door behind him.

"This one's bullet proof!" Glasses managed to explain, just moments before his theory was proven when a round of bullets passed by the window, only denting in the glass pane, where it would have normally shattered. Flinching from the close call, Glasses wasn't called away from the bullet marks in the glass until he heard the faint wail of police sirens, and a loud booming voice from a bull horn.

"This is the police! We have the building surrounded!" the voice of Maria Chavez declared through the bull horn and a steel warehouse door.

Hearing this as well, Brod ceased his firing. "Police!" he exclaimed. Waving an arm to his men, he called out, "Outside!" as he turned and ran back towards their escape route on the roof. Following their boss's lead, the rest of Brod's men abandoned their siege of the chop shop and raced back towards the staircase leading to the roof, leaving Dracon's men to fend for themselves.

Outside, Maria Chavez was stationed behind a police car door, shouting into the bull horn the warnings that were heard inside. Behind her, Matt was standing, waiting for something to happen. Glancing around, an entire array of S.W.A.T. team personnel and police officers were stationed with their guns and rifles ready, in case the criminals inside came out wanting a fight, some positioned behind their car doors, and others stationed on the roof of another nearby building for a better shot.

"Throw down your weapons and come out with your hands in the air," Chavez ordered.

There was an uneasy silence after that, where everyone tensed up, until they were baffled when they heard the squealing of tires and the revving of an engine. Figuring out what was about to happen, the police officers positioned in front of the warehouse door suddenly scattered just seconds after a speeding black limo tore through the door, ripping it off the hinges and allowing freedom to the driver and his one passenger.

Glasses tore through the line of cops with little trouble, the bullet proof car protecting them from the multitudes of shots that just ricocheted off the metal surface. Many dove out of the way of the speeding limo, as well as the line of bullets that followed it as it sped out of range. With one more target left, some of the police turned back towards the warehouse.

"Move, move, move!" Brod ordered to his men, as they filed out of the stairwell and back to the hovercraft, scaling the rope ladder to get back up to their ship. Once all of his men had been evacuated, Brod grabbed, the unconscious woman who was still laying on the ground, grunting slightly as he hefted her over his shoulder and raced towards the hovercraft, climbing the ladder as it began to rise.

By the time he'd gotten up and into the safety of the hovercraft, they had left the safe shelter of the warehouse and were being fired upon by the police. However, due to the range between the hovercraft and the ground-bound police, their bullets did little to stop the giant craft, and there was virtually nothing they could do to stop it from speeding away from the warehouse.

The police continued to fire, until Chavez sighed heavily and yelled out, "Hold your fire!" Turning from her squad, Chavez glared angrily at the fleeing limo and hovercraft, which were quickly disappearing from range.

In their haste to escape, neither the limo nor the hovercraft noticed the two winged figures watching them go from atop a taller building that overlooked the warehouse. Lex and Brooklyn watched as the two vehicles split up, the limo taking off towards the west and the hovercraft skimming towards the north.

"Come on! What are we waiting for? We've got to go after them!" Broadway insisted, hopping up to the ledge of the roof and extending his arms to ready his wings for gliding.

"Broadway, wait!" Brooklyn snapped, grabbing Broadway's arm to keep him from jumping. The sudden restraint kept Broadway grounded, but gave him reason to whirl around and glare at Brooklyn. "We can't take them on just the two of us."

"Yes we can, I'll take the hovercraft, and you take the car!" Broadway said, pulling lightly to free his arm from Brooklyn's grip.

"And what exactly are you going to do when you catch it?" Brooklyn asked, raising an eye ride at his rookery brother.

"I'll stop them, that's what!"

"Uh-huh, and how many times are you planning to get shot in the process?" Brooklyn wondered. Broadway had no quick response to that, which gave Brooklyn an opportunity to continue talking sense into him. "Look, if we take them on, we need the others. We'll talk to Matt, we'll get the others, and then we'll get these guys. We're no good to anyone as Swiss cheese."

Broadway eyed Brooklyn suspiciously, but sighed, nodding slightly in agreement. "So what do we do?"

"You head back to the tower and wait for the others to come back. Tell them what happened. I'm going to find a way to talk to Matt before the night's over."

"Alright," Broadway growled, leaping off the building and soaring off towards the direction of the clock tower. Once Broadway was well on his way, Brooklyn turned back down towards the police scattered about on the ground, some of which had entered the chop shop and were investigating the incident. Matt, he could easily spot, the bright patch of orange-red hair sticking out amidst the sea of dark blue caps and darker shades of brown and blonde.

"Alright then," Brooklyn said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "Time for some hide and go seek."

With the shadows as protection, no one would see the crimson gargoyle unless he wanted them too.

By now a safe distance from any authority figures, the hovercraft's crew was brooding about the ship, bitter about the turn out of their raid. Brod stood near the cockpit, watching as the blonde woman began to stir and finally wake up.

"Unhhh…" she groaned, using one arm to prop herself up and the other to hold her head as the blood rushed to it as soon as she lurched up. "What happened?"

"Your plan worked," Brod said. Then more coldly, he added, "Until police showed up."

"Police?!" she growled, climbing to her feet and fighting the urge to sit down and let the headache go away. Instead, she looked Brod straight in the eye, her teeth gritted angrily. "Someone squealed."

"Don't look at me!" the burly older man growled, getting up from his chair and facing off with the woman. "I didn't come out of retirement just to turn rat. I only signed on for this gig because Brod's tough enough to break Dracon's hold on the New York turf."

"And none of the men I brought from Prague would dare betray Tomas Brod," Brod mulled, looking behind him at the two pilots at the controls of the ship.

The woman scoffed angrily. "Then I guess it was me," she grumbled angrily, glaring at Brod and the older man.

Brod looked at her for a few seconds before he burst out into laughter. "Hahaha! I knew I like you!" he exclaimed, finding it somehow humorous that she would suggest herself as the culprit.

"Eh, Dracon's boys probably got sloppy. Lead the cops to the warehouse," the older man huffed, dismissing the incident of accusations.

"Yes, that will do," Brod agreed. "For now."

Clock Tower
23rd Precinct

"You're back!"

Brooklyn's wings flared open as he approached the clock tower, slowing his descent and letting him float to the ground. Jersey, Broadway, and Lex were already gathered around on the balcony. Hudson was still missing.

"Where's Hudson?" Brooklyn asked, counting off the members of the clan in his head, though by colors alone he could tell who was missing.

"Still not back," Jersey said, shrugging to give an indication that she had no idea where he was. "This close to dawn, I figured he's already found a place to roost for the day."

"So what did Matt have to say?" Lex wondered.

"I didn't get much out of him, but he said that they had a cop undercover with one of the guys we saw escaping from the warehouse. He said he'd try to get back here before sunrise, but I left him back at the warehouse. We're better off waiting for Matt before we tangle with these guys. We don't want to accidentally expose their insider," Brooklyn rattled off, recalling the brief conversation he'd had with Matt before he'd been pulled away to help inside the warehouse.

"I still think we should at least help out. We can follow them places Matt can't," Broadway pointed out. "Who knows what kinds of weapons they've got stored in that hovercraft."

"Broadway, I think you're overreacting," Brooklyn sighed. "It's just a turf war. We've seen these before."

"But nothing like this. We're talking about Dracons!" Broadway argued.

"And Matt suggested we wait for him, and I agree," Brooklyn explained.

"Besides," Lex interjected. "Our real priority should be finding Goliath and Elisa!"

Jersey rolled her eyes, taking a back seat on the banister of the balcony to avoid being between Lex and Broadway. "Oh no, not this again," she muttered, shaking her head and clamping a hand over her eyes.

"Face it, Lex, they're not coming back," Broadway growled, his inner feelings on the subject matter bubbling to the surface. "If they were, they'd have already been here, just like Titania said. We have bigger problems now!"

"Broadway…" Brooklyn growled, preparing to jump in and break up the fight should it come to that.

"So you're saying we should just give up on them?" Lex countered, getting up into Broadway's face and ignoring Brooklyn.

"Here we go again," Jersey grumbled to herself.

"No, but maybe we should focus on other, more important matters until we hear from them!" Broadway hissed, standing full upright, as opposed to his usual hunched over position.

"What's more important than finding our friends?"

"Guys…" Brooklyn started, but was ignored and interrupted again by Broadway.

"You've got your priorities mixed up. We should be helping the people here, not searching for some lost cause!"

"They are not lost!!" Lex roared, his eyes flaring up angrily. On impulse, Broadway shoved Lex lightly, causing the smaller gargoyle to topple backwards.

Lex, enraged by Broadway's "attack", leaped up, eyes flared and talons bared, pouncing on Broadway and threatening to swipe at him with his talons, if it weren't for Brooklyn, who leapt in to hold Lex back.

"Hey! Cool it Lex!" Brooklyn roared, grabbing Lex's wrist. Still caught in anger, Lex tore his wrist free, and shoved Brooklyn back, trying to refocus on Broadway, but too late to stop him from throwing Lex off of him and down to the ground. "Broadway! Lex! Hey! Knock it off!"

The fight had become and tangle of the talons and wings, two of them trying to get at each other, and the third trying to keep them apart, and it would have become intense had the sun not risen just them. The gargoyles froze, a stone shell encasing their once flesh and blood bodies in the positions they'd been in when the sun's rays hit them. Broadway and Lex were trying to grab each other, teeth bare and faces scowling darkly at each other, but were being held apart by Brooklyn, who was centered between them and had one hand on Lex's collarbone, and the other on Broadway's stomach, as if he were pushing two walls apart. Jersey, the only one of the four not involved in the fight, was perched on the banister, sitting so she was faced towards the other three, but her head turned over one shoulder to face the sunrise. And there they slept, while a new day began on the streets below.

New York State Maximum Security Prison

"Brod burned us bad this time, Tony," Glasses admitted. "He's musclin' in."

The prison guard behind Glasses remained unmoving, the conversation between him and the man behind the glass beyond his range of hearing. Tony Dracon sat on a chair behind the glass, clad in a blue jumpsuit, which was standard for the inmates of this prison. The only means of communication between the mob boss and his associate was the speaker centered in the glass. Glasses had just finished explaining the incident at the warehouse to his boss, and awaited his reaction.

"Fine," Dracon said darkly, folding his hands and resting his chin on them. "If Brod wants a turf war with Anthony Dracon, he'll get one."

"What do you want us to do?" Glasses asked hesitantly, the eerie calm emitting from his boss setting off the warning bells in his head.

"Hit these mutts and hit 'em hard!!" Dracon roared, leaping from his chair and slamming his hands down on the counter in front of him. Glasses nearly fell over backwards from the outburst, his nerves nearly shot.

Nervously, Glasses rose from his seat, seeing that the conversation had ended. "Right, Boss. Got it," he nodded, taking his new orders out the door with him leaving Dracon scowling to himself in the visitation booth. When Glasses had made it past the numerous prison guards and checked out of the prison, he'd regained his composure, and by the time the car came to pick him up outside the barbed wire fences, he'd regained his usual unemotional stance of authority, and resumed his position as the leader of Dracon's operation on the streets.

Far from the prison on its peninsula, back in the depths of Manhattan's inner city streets, there was a line of locally owned grocery stores and businesses, along with one or two restaurants, one of which had a set of police cars parked in front of it alongside the curb. Inside, the owners of the police cars were centered around a table where Brod and his associates were casually dining for what was by now, lunch. Among the cops questioning them, was Matt.

"Tomas Brod, we'd like to ask you some questions," Matt stated, glaring at Brod from over the shoulder of one of his younger recruits from Prague. "Like, where were you during last night's raid on Tony Dracon's chop shop?"

Brod, ever calm and composed, continued eating the food on his plate while replying to Matt. "Mmm, chop shop. What is chop shop?" Brod wondered idly, half chewing half swallowing the food in his mouth. Using the napkin on his lap to wipe away any residual crumbs, he sighed. "No matter. We were here last night till very late. Is that not right?"

He glared around the table at the other people, all of which nodded in agreement, muttering 'yeah' and 'that's right'. Matt, not buying the story, glared back at Brod, determined not to give up this easily.

Police Station
23rd Precinct

By the time Matt returned to the police station it was nearly sundown, since transporting Brod and the blonde woman there was no small task. Leading Brod inside by the arm, Matt occasionally looked back at the Slovakian man.

"Okay Brod, let's converse," Matt hissed darkly, pulling a little hard on Brod's arm to hurry him along.

"Waste of time. Salli will tell you exact same story as me," Brod mused, looking over at the woman who was being lead in by another officer. "Exact same story." He said the last part as if he were threatening her. Catching this hint of threatening tone in his voice, Matt raised an eyebrow at Brod and Salli.

"Then we'll just make sure you two don't compare notes," Matt said simply, pausing as he came to a bench. Looking at Salli, he gestured towards the bench with his free hand. "Sit down, miss."

Complying with no word, Salli sat herself down, arms crossed angrily as though she were offended by Matt's tone. Ignoring the woman, Matt turned back to Brod, and gently shoved him in the direction of the interrogation rooms. "Come on, tough guy."

When Matt and Brod had disappeared from sight, Salli leaned backwards, enough so that she could see Matt open one of the rooms and escort Brod inside, following and closing the door behind him. Getting up from the bench as soon as Matt had closed the door, Salli took off down another hall, this one leading towards some of the offices, one of which belonged to the captain of the police squad. Ignoring the looks from some of the street thugs that were in there on minor offenses or waiting for their parents to come pick them up, she walked right past them, heading towards the offices like she knew the squad room by heart.

Weaving in and out between desks and cops, she finally made it to Chavez's office door, and impolitely knocked once and then threw open the door, barging inside. Chavez, on the phone with someone at the moment, looked over at Salli with little shock or surprise, and then turned back to the person on the phone.

"I'll have to call you back. I have some urgent business to take care of right now," she said as she hung up the phone, and then calmly looked up at Salli, who was standing in her doorway. "Would you mind closing the door?"

Surprisingly, Salli complied, and then turned back to Chavez. There was a momentary stare down, until Salli smiled and lifted a hand to her hair, and pulled it off like a hat. With the bleach blonde wig removed, a darker shade of dirt-blonde hair was revealed, cut to about her eye-line, as opposed to the shoulder length it had seemed before. "Well Captain, what's the situation?" she asked, twirling the wig on one finger.

"Not good," Chavez sighed.

"What?" she gapped, grabbing the wig to stop it from twirling on her index finger. "Captain, you can't be serious. You mean we don't have enough evidence to bust any of the top guys on either side?"

"You were out cold the whole time, Kraemer. With the evidence we've got any half decent lawyer would rip your testimony apart."

"Then let me stick with Brod a little longer. He's got to make another move against Dracon or vice versa," Kraemer insisted, placing her hands on the edge of Chavez's desk and leaning towards the police captain.

"Too dangerous. I want you out," Chavez said, breaking eye contact with Kraemer.

"We can't ignore this! If either side wins this turf war they'll be too powerful to control. This is the best chance we'll get to bust both sides. You just have to trust me."

Chavez looked up at the young woman, an eyebrow raised questionably. After a few seconds' silence, she sighed, putting her hand to her forehead. "Your last police chief highly recommended you when you transferred here, but you're still a rookie."

"And I know what I'm doing. Give me just a little longer, and I promise I'll deliver," Kraemer pleaded.

Chavez considered this and the situation at hand, and groaned inwardly.

Outside Chavez's office, Matt had just opened the door to his interrogation room, and ushered Brod out. He did not look very upbeat, whereas Brod was smiling at the detective's misfortune and lack of ability to hold him in custody.

"So glad we had this time to chat," Brod mocked, walking down the hallway. He and Matt just reached the end of the hallway when the familiar voice of "Salli" was heard from Chavez's office.

Kraemer, back undercover as the bleach-blonde Salli, was being lead out of the office by Chavez, who was holding roughly onto her arm. "I said let go of me!" Kraemer growled, casting venomous looks at Chavez. "I can find my own way out."

"Keep it up, honeybunch, and you'll find you way to a holding pen," Chavez threatened, leaning in close to Kraemer's face. Looking up at Brod and Matt, Chavez's glare grew even colder. "Get out of my sight, Brod. And take this trash with you."

Rudely shoving Kraemer away from her, Brod gently grabbed her shoulders to help her steady herself, and walked out of the police station with his arm around her shoulders. No sooner had they made it down to the sidewalk outside the station when a black car pulled up alongside the curb, with a familiar Slovakian man at the wheel. Opening the door for Kraemer, Brod followed in after her, shutting the door behind him as the car drove off.

Watching the car leave from a window in the squad room, Matt scoffed, rather disappointed that he'd not only been unable to nail anything solid to Brod, but that Kraemer was still out in the field with him. Chavez, seeing Matt's disappointment, stepped up behind him.

"I'm giving her one more day in the field. After that we pull her out," Chavez explained.

"So what do you want me to do about it?" Matt wondered as Chavez turned to return to her office.

"At this point, we can only wait until she gives us word of another raid. Take a break for awhile, Bluestone."

Matt looked over his shoulder as Chavez disappeared back into her office, and grinned mentally to himself. "Not when I have another ace up my sleeve," he muttered to himself, turning from the window and casually making his way out of the squad room and towards a certain janitor's closet.

A door and a flight of stairs later, Matt found the gargoyles already well awake, and mulling about the clock tower. Even without asking, he could sense the sort of uneasy silence residing in the tower. "Hey guys," he greeted, waving slightly as he cleared the last step. "Have a nice sleep?"

"As well as can be expected," Jersey grumbled, jerking her thumb behind her, which was the general direction of Broadway and Lex. Matt, a little confused as to what she meant, looked over at Lex, who was engrossed by his trinkets on his workbench, and Broadway, who was watching T.V. with a scowl on his face. "A slight difference of opinion."

"Oh…kay," Matt muttered, still unsure whether or not he should ask about it, or leave the matter alone. "Uh…where's Hudson?"

"Still not back. We figured he was caught somewhere across town before sunrise last night. So, anything new on that raid we ran into last night?" Brooklyn wondered, switching topics rather casually.

"Uh…yeah. Actually, that's what I came to talk to you guys about."

"What's going on?" Lex asked, looking over at Matt from his workbench.

"Remember that new transfer I mentioned last night? She's been undercover with a crime boss from Prague for almost a month."

"The guys with the hovercraft?" Brooklyn wondered aloud. Matt nodded.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, we don't have enough evidence to nail him or Dracon's goons for the raid on the chop shop, and she went back out. Now I can't do anything at this point, but you guys can follow them places I can't."

"Uh, there's a slight problem with that," Jersey piped up. "When Elisa was undercover, that was just fine, but this time, we can't let either side see us. How exactly are we going to be of help if we can't show ourselves?"

Brooklyn was about to say something when Jersey had spoken up, and suddenly looked over at the young gold gargoyle with wide eyes. She had seen what he was about to point out. Instead of repeating it, he simply nodded in agreement. "Uh…yeah, she has a point."

"Well, I hadn't exactly thought about that, but we're not even sure that she's going to be in any combat situations with Dracon," Matt insisted. "If you can't get right in the middle of it, just give her a hand if push comes to shove."

"We can do reconnaissance," Broadway insisted, shutting off the T.V.

"Yeah, we can," Brooklyn agreed. "Do us a favor then, will you Matt?"

"What?"

"You wouldn't mind waiting here for Hudson to come back, would you?"

Matt grinned. "Not a problem. I'm supposed to be off duty anyway."

"Then it's settled," Broadway grinned, heading towards the stairs that lead to the doorway. "Come on guys!"

Brooklyn and Jersey made little argument with Broadway's decision, and followed him up the stairs and out to the balcony, where Matt could see the shadows of the three gargoyles leap up to stand on the banister and spread their wings. Silently, Lex stood up, his face still sporting an angry scowl. He did, however, grin slightly at Matt before he took off after the other three.

Standing out on the balcony, Matt watched the four gargoyles slowly leave his line of sight, and disappear into the nightscape. Sighing lightly to himself, and running his fingers through his hair, he returned to the sanctuary of the clock tower interior, and sat down on the recliner.

"I don't suppose they get take-out up here," Matt grumbled to himself, looking around the massive tower.

With the gargoyles heading out to locate Kraemer and Brod, the two said people were on their way back to the restaurant they'd been taken from when Matt came to question them. With few other leads or plans, no strike against Dracon's operation was in motion yet, so a relaxing evening over some dinner was rather appealing to Brod, but as the car rounded the corner, all of that came to a sudden end.

Through the darkened windows of the car, the flames didn't seem so bright, but the mere sight of the fire shocked both Brod and Kraemer. Their restaurant was engulfed in flames, the once humble structure a mass of orange and gold fire. Rolling down the window, as if to prove to himself that the fire was not a trick of his imagination, Brod was met by his older associate, who ran from the sidewalk near the other's who had managed to evacuate the building, and leaned on the window to tell Brod what had happened.

"That bum Dracon hit us all over town. We've been hurt bad," he said, indicating the burning building behind him.

Wordlessly, Brod opened the door and stepped out of the car, taking in the full brunt of the intense heat and flame. His anger rising to the point where the fire reflected his temper, Brod stood there for a few minutes, his teeth clenched angrily until he turned his back to the fire and slammed his fist down furiously on the roof of the car.

"Erah! That was my favorite restaurant!" Brod roared. "Now he makes me mad."

"Word on the street is Dracon's got a train-load of weapons comin' in tonight," the older man said.

Hearing this opportunity present itself, Brod turned to the older man and then to Kraemer, who'd stepped out of the car on the other side. Several other men from his crew were standing nearby, seeking refuge from the fire, which was being contained by the firemen that had arrived on the scene.

"Prepare hovercraft," Brod ordered. "If Dracon wants war, he gets war. We hit the train, then we destroy the rest of Dracon's operations with his own weapons."

Far more intelligent than to argue with their boss, everyone made the necessary preparations, so that in less than an hour, they were ready to strike the train, which was on its way into Manhattan.

The hovercraft was quick to catch up to the train, which was already well into its journey into Manhattan's Eastern train yard. Even for the speeds the train was going, the hovercraft quickly calculated its speed and matched it as soon as it had caught up with its caboose. Keeping to the train's path, the hovercraft copied every twist and turn the train made, allowing Brod and his men to easily make the transfer from the belly of the hovercraft down to the roof of the train car. Among them was Kraemer, following down the rope as soon as Brod and the others had landed on the roof.

Braced against the wind, Brod motioned for the others to follow his lead as he made his way to the end of the train and climbed down the ladder to the platform on the back of the caboose. Kraemer and the others followed, gathering around the doorway with their weapons armed and at the ready. Giving the signal to go in, one of the men took the lead and kicked in the door, instantly crouching and arming his gun once the door flew open. At the same time, Brod, Kraemer and the few others with them barged in, weapons armed and aimed. Unfortunately, the train car was empty, with the exception of passenger seats. No weapons or guards were anywhere to be found in the car. Almost instantly after registering this turn of events, the warning bells in Brod's mind went off, but Kraemer was the first one to speak her concerns about this particular job.

"Why would Dracon be carrying weapons on a passenger train?" Kraemer wondered aloud, looking around nervously and keeping her finger on her gun's trigger.

Brod nodded in agreement as he risked his exposure by standing up to get a better view of the entirety of the car, all the while with his gun out in front of him. "This guy is clever."

"You got that right, pal."

The voice hadn't even finished speaking before Brod leapt back behind a seat as Dracon's men sprang up from between the rest of the seats where they'd been hiding, all armed with powerful laser weapons. The shooting began instantly, from both sides. Bullets hailed through the train car like deadly hail, impaling themselves in the metal floor and the backs of the seats, the return fire of lasers burning the seat covers, but not managing to break through to their human targets. After a few minutes of shooting, Kraemer realized that they would run out of bullets before they even managed to take down a few of the laser guns, and Dracon's men undoubtedly had back up weapons to fall back on.

"Let's get back to the hovercraft!" Kraemer yelled, leaping out into the aisle and letting loose with a hail of bullets, all aimed for the overhead lights, which shattered, leaving the car dark, and giving Brod's men the chance they needed to get back outside the car.

Climbing back up the ladder, their retreat was abruptly cut short when those of Dracon's men still down in the car began shooting up through the roof, coming dangerously close to taking out Brod and Kraemer, as well as a few of the others. Those that managed to make it past the section of bullet holes scorched through the roof of the train ran towards the ropes that swayed from the hovercraft, which was still matching the train's path and speed. Brod and Kraemer quickly caught up, and were within arm's reach of the ropes when Glasses, who had followed them onto the roof, took quick aim and shot at the hovercraft, knocking it off course and away from the train. Helplessly watching their means of escape disappear into the night sky, the stranded mercenaries turned around to face their pursuers.

"There's no way out, Brod!" one of Dracon's men laughed, approaching Brod with his weapon charged and cocked. "The turf war's over! Ha-ha! And you lose!"

He raised his gun to his chest, placing his finger on the trigger as he gloated, taking up time to preserve this moment. As it turned out, it was a dire mistake on his part.

"BARRAAAWWWRRRR!"

Three blurs of color dove out of the darkness, on an intercept course with the man aiming at Brod and Kraemer. In the time he took to smirk, the wings were flared and talons bit into his side, knocking him over the edge of the train's roof, and down the cliff, into the river below.

"Yaaahhhhhh!" he wailed, flailing helplessly as he soared through the air and hit the river with a defining splash. Behind him, two others fell, courtesy of Broadway and Lex, their wails of terror as equal the first. With their speed depleted, Brod was able to make out the familiar outline of the three gargoyles.

"What the-" Kraemer began, but was interrupted when she heard the loud clank of a laser weapon being charged. Whirling around, she saw only a blur of dark red before the man who had snuck up on her from the other side of the train car's roof was sailing through the air. When she saw him hit the water, she looked up only quick enough to see Brooklyn rejoin the other three and disappear into the darkness once again. "What was that?! Those things, what were they?!"

Brod, having run into Goliath and Angela in Prague, had a more calm reaction to the four mystery gargoyles. "Those creatures. I fought some in Prague! Why do they help me now?"

The older man, who had seen them as well, looked over at Brod. "Maybe they hate Dracon more."

"She saw us!"

"What she saw were four shadows and four humans flying off a train," Broadway grumbled, looking over his shoulder back at Lex. "She didn't get a good look at us, at any rate."

"We did what we had to do," Brooklyn said, landing on the ledge where the other three had already landed. "Protecting Matt's partner is our priority. If she has to see us, fine. No one will believe her, anyway."

Interrupting their heated debate, Jersey whistled from atop the roof of the building. Looking up, the other three saw her familiar petite bird-like face looking down at them. "The train's heading north, and that hovercraft is heading back to meet them!"

"How far?" Brooklyn yelled up to her. There was a momentary pause where Jersey disappeared from view, only to reappear seconds later.

"I'd say a few miles by now. We can head them off at the next crossing."

"Fine. Let's go," Brooklyn said, motioning for them to follow him as he leapt off the ledge and took off towards the train crossing.

Atop the train roof, what had once been a sure-fire win for Dracon's men, was suddenly in Brod's favor. Glasses, being the only one of Dracon's men not thrown off of the train by gargoyle, and having lost his gun in the surprise attack, was faced with the five remaining members of Brod's gang.

"Don't move," Brod warned, cocking his gun and aiming at Glasses. "Looks like I've got you."

Glasses, ever the tough guy, scoffed. "Big deal. You get rid of me, there's a hundred other tough guys waiting to take my place. Dracons have owned this town for three generations."

Suddenly, Brod's eyes shot up in realization, what Glasses had said registering in his mind. "So," he chided to himself in thought. "No more Dracons, town gets new owner."

Glasses, taking the opportunity to escape while Brod was distracted, turned and leaned over the edge of the train. "Whatever," he muttered, leaping off the train and swan diving into the river.

"Tomas! We must go back for him!" one of Brod's younger recruits suggested, indicating Glasses.

Brod shook his head. "He is not the problem."

Once they'd managed to get off of the train and board the hovercraft, Brod began pacing, muttering to himself as well as his men. "I have been making big mistake," he growled, looking at Kraemer. "You want to kill snake, you cut off the head. So far we only fight the body of Dracon's operation. Now we must destroy head."

"But Dracon's in jail. We can't just break into a maximum security prison," Kraemer pointed out, stuttering slightly.

"Why not?" Brod wondered, indicating the mass of weapons stored at the rear of the ship. Kraemer, at a loss as to how to convince Brod not to go after Dracon, stammered as she continued, desperately searching for a convincing argument.

"Well, for starters, we won't even know where to look for Dracon," she said stubbornly.

"The bum's in cell block D," the older man piped up from the front.

Brod laughed triumphantly and smiled at Kraemer. "Haha! You see? As good as done!"

Kraemer, unable to argue further without blowing her cover, sighed, and nodded slightly, her mind racing as to what to do next.

North Railroad Crossing

"Here comes the train," Lex muttered, leaning forward a little more to see around his larger brother.

"Get ready, we'll tail it until the train yard, just to make sure," Brooklyn warned, spreading his caped wings. The others copied him, preparing to take off.

With the train making its final corner, and suspecting that Matt's partner and the Prague crime boss were still on the train, Brooklyn was nearly off the rooftop before he was able to stop himself. "Hold it!" he yelled out to the other three behind him, digging his talons into the stone to keep his balance this close to the edge.

"What? What's the matter?" Broadway wondered, leaning backwards but keeping his wings at the ready. The other two nodded, looking at Brooklyn strangely.

"They're not there anymore. Look," he said, pointing a talon at the dark and empty caboose. Indeed, the once populated rooftop was abandoned, leaving only the holes from Dracon's laser weapons behind as evidence of the fight.

"That hovercraft must've gotten there quicker than we thought. They could be anywhere by now," Lex groaned, folding his wings to his sides again.

Suddenly the roar of engines and the rush of wind overtook any conversation that had once been going on between the group of gargoyles, knocking Lex and Brooklyn back off the ledge of the building and onto the roof. Catching his two rookery brothers, Broadway braced himself to weather the rush of wind and the force of Brooklyn and Lex's fall. Jersey, having been back with Broadway, shielded her eyes from the heavy gusts, and dug her talons into the stone roof to brace herself. Once they'd all regained their bearings, they watched as the mammoth black shell of the hovercraft roared upwards from the base of the building, rising past the gargoyles and paying them no heed as it turned and took off towards a distant peninsula, where one could just make out the faint outline of a search light from the fenced in prison.

"Or they could be right there," Jersey muttered blandly, watching the hovercraft depart for the prison in the distance.

"Ungh, what a night for Hudson to disappear on us," Brooklyn muttered. "Remind me to get us some walkie talkies for our next tailgating patrol. That or a phone card."

"Come on! Let's go!" Lex urged, leaping off the building. Following his lead, the others flared their wings, and soared off after the hovercraft.

Already having a fairly good lead on the gargoyles, the hovercraft made a direct move towards the prison, and within a matter of minutes, it had arrived at their gates. The first to see it was the sentry on watch in the tower, who easily heard the massive turbines when it rose from above the cliffs at the edge of the peninsula, but wasn't able to confirm it until he was staring into a headlight as it rose up until it was level with the watch tower.

Having grabbed the phone connecting him with the interior prison security, the guard gapped at the hovercraft like a deer in head lights, managing only to mutter, "Uh…Sergeant? We have a problem." By the time he'd finished saying that, the exterior lasers on the hovercrafts had switched on, and were charging, aimed directly at the tower. Rather than frying when the lasers fired, the guard dropped the phone and leapt from the watch tower, falling the several feet to the ground, followed closely by the roar of laser fire and a shower of wood and wire from what was left of the watch tower.

With the tower out of the way, the hovercraft continued to drift over towards the actual building, and only stopped once it was over the roof of the west wing. From the belly of the ship, another laser weapon was activated, taking a few moments to charge before letting loose and blowing a hole in the roof of the prison. Stone and concrete rained down inside the hallway, leaving a cloud of dust that was quickly blown away by the wind from the turbines holding the hovercraft stationary above the prison while Brod, Kraemer, and two other men disembarked down the ropes before it broke away and began circling the prison to ward off any who would attempt to help the guards.

Inside the prison, every guard in the facility was on alert, rushing from their posts to where they were needed. In cell block D, Dracon sat in his cell, watching the guards run by and listening to the alarms sound madly.

"What's going on?" he demanded. "I didn't order a break out."

The guards ignored Dracon's comments, focused on stopping the intruders. Unfortunately for them, Brod had other plans. Before jumping inside the hole in the roof, Brod tossed down a few gas grenades, allowing them to detonate and fill the halls with gas, rendering any guards inside unconscious. Pulling on their gas masks, Brod lead the way down into the prison, followed by the older man, who made quick work of one of the unconscious guards, who was in possession of the keys to the cell blocks. Kraemer, the last of Brod's crew still remaining on the rooftop, hesitated slightly, her mind racing to find a solution to this unexpected turn of events.

Brod, realizing her hesitation, motioned for her to follow. "Come on! Hurry! Time to cut off the head!"

Kraemer, under the shield of her gas mask, grimaced as she shook her head in disgust, realizing what she had to do. "I never thought I'd find myself protecting the likes of Tony Dracon," she spat to herself, leaping down inside the prison and racing to catch up to Brod and the other two.

It didn't take long to reach the cell block, since the hovercraft had dropped them off within a few halls of the desired block. The hall lead to a barred gate that protected another hallway, which Brod knew to be cell block D. "Is this the only way into the cell block?" he asked his older partner, who was busy turning the key and unlocking the gate.

Ushering everyone through, he muttered out, "Yeah," before shutting the door behind him. Turning around, Brod pulled the trigger on his laser weapon, and watched as the shot melted and mangled the keyhole to the point where not even the right key would open it, sealing them in, and the guards out.

"Not anymore," Brod smirked, continuing down the hall towards Dracon's cell.

Outside the prison, mayhem was ensuing. Though compared to most battles the gargoyles had seen, this was rather minor, it was still chaotic. By the time the four of them arrived, the prison's fire personnel were trying to contain the fire consuming the watch tower, while the injured sentry was being taken away in an ambulance, while others still were positioned throughout the prison's perimeter, attempting to bring down the hovercraft, which was quickly destroying any resistance put up against it.

"Well this looks peachy," Brooklyn muttered sarcastically, taking in the scene in front of him. "Alright guys, time for some teamwork."

"We've got to take out that hovercraft," Lex said, diving down towards the rampaging hovercraft.

"Lex wait!" Brooklyn yelled, trying to stop him

"I know what I'm doing!" Lex yelled back.

"Come on! We're not doing any good just sitting here!" Broadway agreed, taking off after Lex. Trying to keep the group together, Brooklyn dove after them, followed closely in tow by Jersey. The direct approach seemed to be working, as the hovercraft's pilots seemed too preoccupied with the guards on the ground to look to the sky, until they got within a ten to fifteen foot radius of the ship, and the hovercraft's radar picked them up.

Turning their attention from the guards, who weren't really doing them any damage, the pilots switched their targets and aimed for the incoming gargoyles. A series of well-aimed shots fired from the side of the ship where one of the pilots had gone to, shooting at them manually with a rifle from the side hatch.

"Whoa!" Broadway yelped, stalling in midair just enough to avoid a shot to his chest.

"Duck!" Lex yelled, just as Jersey swooped down to dodge a shot that would've hit her head.

Flaring her wings and pulling out of the dive well below the belly of the ship, Jersey looked up to the other gargoyles, who were performing a sort of aerial dance to avoid the laser shots, and then grinned when she saw the ship above her. Adjusting the angle of her wings to catch a thermal, she soared back up to the others, looping around to dodge any shots thrown her way.

"Keep him distracted! I know another way in," she said, diving back down underneath the ship.

"Lex, help her!" Brooklyn ordered, taking off closer to the ship to fake an attack that would draw the fire and attention from Jersey. Lex, without any complaint or objection, folded his wings to follow after Jersey, meeting her underneath the ship. Latching her talons into the metal to anchor herself, Jersey sank her talons into one of the panels, waiting as Lex landed on the opposite side of the floor panel, and mimicked her. Nodding to him, the two gargoyles made quick work of the panel, tearing it from its frame and providing themselves with an alternative entrance.

Climbing up into the ship, they came up behind the shooter, eyes flared and growling angrily. Alerted by the clanking of talons on metal and the sharp growls, the man whirled around, aiming his gun to fire at the two gargoyles that had infiltrated the ship. Though he had fast reflexes, they barely made a move before Jersey managed to duck out of the way, and Lex pounced on him from behind her, like some demonic jack-in-the-box. The gun flew from his hands and clattered across the floor, falling harmlessly to the ground below to shatter.

From the pilot's position up front, the noise of roaring and a struggle came to his attention, and determined to get rid of the intruders, he raced from the front into the cargo area, facing off with Jersey and Lex. From his side, he pulled a small cattle prod, which he quickly switched on, wielding it dangerously in his right hand. Jersey, being the closest to him, was the first target he lunged at, but unfortunately for him, she was far more agile than he'd thought, and she was easily able to slide out of harm's way. The pilot, however, was not so lucky, as in retaliation, Jersey's tail whipped around, cracking down on his wrist, causing him to drop the cattle prod.

At that exact moment, the ship, with no pilot to guide it, leaned to the right, throwing the occupants of the cargo area off balance, and causing the cattle prod to slide directly under where the man fell, unable to regain his balance in time.

"Gaaaahhhh!" he screamed, the electrical current racing through his body on contact. Another jerk from the ship threw the man off the prod, ending the electrocution, but rendering him unconscious from the magnitude of the powerful shock. With the threat of the two men ended, Lex immediately made his way to the cockpit and began typing madly on the keys in front of him, attempting to right the failing ship before it crashed. Jersey, climbing up against the slant of the ship, joined Lex in the cockpit, alarmed by the shriek of failing turbines and the leaning hovercraft.

"Can't you fly this thing?" Jersey asked, grabbing onto the backs of the two seats to stay stationary and to look at Lex. "I thought you flew a helicopter."

Lex laughed sheepishly, as he looked over his shoulder and Jersey. "Yeah but, uh, first I kinda crashed it," he admitted.

Outside the hovercraft, Brooklyn and Broadway had been freed from the siege of laser fire, but were unsure as to what Lex and Jersey were doing when the hovercraft began to tilt. Now that it was clearly on a collision course, they were rather worried, until they saw two small dots of gold and green leave the hovercraft through the side door, carrying the two unconscious pilots, and managing to make it a safe distance before the hovercraft hit the ground, plowing deep into the earth and igniting yet another fire from its destroyed turbines.

Oblivious to the arrival of the gargoyles, Brod and the others were prowling throughout the cell block, searching for the mob boss, Dracon. With many of the lower levels already checked, the search had been narrowed down considerably. Unaware that Brod was here for him, Dracon was more than surprised when Brod appeared in front of his jail cell. Following closely, Kraemer and the other two men came up behind him.

"AH!" Dracon yelped, jumping to his feet and backing away from the bars. Knowing full well what Brod's intentions were, Dracon looked around frantically for help. "Guard! Guard!"

"I think they're busy just now," Brod grinned sadistically. Not knowing just how busy they were, what with the burning hovercraft and the two pilots of Brod's that were struggling against the guards restraining them, Brod continued taunting Dracon. Raising his gun to take aim, Brod grinned as he continued. "Like shooting fish in barrel, no?"

"NO!"

Kraemer reacted on pure instinct, which was probably not the smartest thing to do in her situation, but was probably the only thing she could do. Lunging at Brod, she attempted to wrestle the rifle from Brod's strong grip, but was easily pushed aside, and thrown back. Attempting to lunge again, she took another leap forward, but was caught by the older man, who grabbed her wrists and forced her arms behind her back, where she was powerless to escape.

"You betray me to help this worm?" Brod hissed, glaring at Kraemer darkly, lifting her head up to stare into her eyes with the muzzle of his rifle.

"You're both worms!" Kraemer spat, jerking her head away from the gun muzzle. Dracon, hearing the full extent of Kraemer's tone and slight accent, smiled, realizing the truth about his savior.

"Well, well, well, this is a surprise. Not many cops willing to risk death to save me," Dracon smirked, leaning out of the bars to get a clearer look at Kraemer.

"Death is too good for the likes of you, Dracon," Kraemer growled.

"You know Salli?" Brod asked darkly, ignoring Kraemer's comment to Dracon.

"You should have checked her references, Brod," Dracon grinned. "Your little sweetheart here is N.Y.P.D."

To further prove his point, Dracon reached out, grabbing a lock of the wing Kraemer wore and pulled it off, revealing the shorter cut, dirt-blonde hair hidden underneath. Enraged by this betrayal, Brod glared at Dracon, but kept his rifle pointed at Kraemer.

"Watch carefully, Dracon," Brod growled, turning to Kraemer, and cocking his rifle, leveling it even with her forehead. "I practice on her."

"Not likely."

Suddenly, the man holding Kraemer's left arm was knocked back, his head thrown back to such a degree that it hit the railing hard enough to knock him out. With her left hand freed, Kraemer turned on the remaining restraint, jabbing her palm up underneath his nose.

"GAH!" he cried, letting go of Kraemer as well as his weapon, and covering his broken nose with both hands. Attempting to escape, Kraemer turned to run back towards the door to the cell block, only to be caught by Brod, who roughly pulled her down, throwing her to the ground.

"No one makes a fool out of Tomas Brod!" he growled, aiming his gun down at the helpless Kraemer.

Preoccupied with Kraemer, Brod didn't notice the gold tail twitching behind his head, hanging down from the ceiling. He did, however, notice as a similarly colored hand, armed with talons, shot down, seizing the gun's barrel, and pulling it up.

"WHA!" Brod yelped, eyes shooting open when the hand shot down and talons dug into the gun. In shock, he let go of the gun and stumbled back away from Kraemer, turning his head upwards to see Jersey latched onto the ceiling and holding his rifle, eyes glowing an angry red in the darkness of the shadows. "The monsters!" Jersey's only response was an angry growl, and a mental grin as she tossed Brod's rifle aside and leaned closer to Brod's face, driving him back out of primordial fear.

Brod, backing away from Jersey, didn't even think to look behind him until he backed into the larger form of Broadway, and whirled around, instinctively swinging his fist to ward off the enemy from behind. Unfortunately for him, Broadway easily caught the punch by the wrist, and shoved Brod to the ground.

"Oh my god!" Kraemer shrieked, seeing the serpentine form of Jersey on the ceiling and Broadway behind her, both with eyes flared to add to their monstrous appearance. The shadowy images of Jersey and Broadway looked over at Kraemer, the red and white glares fading back to normal, until the man with the broken nose grabbed the discarded rifle and began shooting at both Jersey and Broadway, seeing that Brod was trapped underneath them.

"Die monsters!" he screamed, letting loose with a barrage of gun fire.

"Whoa!" Broadway yelped, leaping back to avoid a shot. "Time to go!"

"No argument here," Jersey said, dropping down to the ground and ducking in the process. In two good bounds, they'd leapt off the railing and were sailing up the center of the cell block, drawing the fire from the man. They also were providing the needed distraction for Brooklyn and Lex, who hopped up from their hiding place on the level below.

Clearing the railing, Brooklyn wasted no time, and charged directly at Brod's associate, landing a solid punch to the side of his head. Or at least it would have been the side of his head had he not turned and started screaming when he saw the crimson gargoyle. The force of the blow knocked him back, sending him flying into where Kraemer was standing.

"OOF!" she gasped, just before her head hit to floor, knocking her unconscious. With the hail of laser fire cut off, Jersey and Broadway returned to the walkway, looking at the unconscious cop.

"Maybe we'd better not tell Matt about this part," Jersey suggested, looking at Brooklyn, who smirked sheepishly.

"We came what we came to do," Brooklyn said. "Let's get out of here before the cavalry arrives."

"You are not going anywhere reptiles!" Brod hissed, grabbing the nearby rifle that had been dropped by the nosebleed man. The four gargoyles snapped to attention, noting that Brod was still attempting to get to his feet, but not seeing Dracon reach out between his cell bars and grab the gun Jersey had thrown aside.

Making a break for the railing before Brod could start shooting the grounded gargoyles, they leapt out into the air, followed closely a trail of laser fire from Brod. With Brod distracted, Dracon took the opportunity to shoot the lock off of his cell, kicking it open once it was weak enough. Free from his cage, he stepped out onto the walkway, glaring angrily at Brod.

"You want a piece of me, Brod? You got it! Right after I exterminate these bats," Dracon roared, looking up at the four gargoyles. Taking quick aim, Dracon joined Brod's barrage of gunfire, but made only bare misses, as he was unfamiliar with shooting a moving aerial target.

"These boys just can't play nice," Brooklyn sighed, leading the line as they wheeled around in the upper corner of the cell block, preparing to dive and charge at the two crime bosses.

"Then we'll have to take away their toys," Broadway grinned, following closely behind Brooklyn.

Managing to stay away from many of the shots with slightly adjustments to the wings, the speed from their dive gave them the necessary force to take the two shooters completely by surprise. Not expecting a charge from they prey, Brod and Dracon were ambushed, the lead gargoyle, either Brooklyn or Jersey, pouncing on them and pinning them to the ground, while the secondary gargoyles, Broadway and Lex, disarmed them, and tore off a few of the iron bars from the destroyed door of Dracon's cell, using them to bind the two men. Though it wasn't necessary, considering the initial charge had knocked Brod and Dracon unconscious, Brooklyn and Jersey kept the two men pinned until Broadway and Lex had finished tying them up.

With Dracon and Brod bound and helpless, Jersey and Brooklyn got to their feet, and brushed themselves off while Broadway and Lex placed the two men inside the cell, as well as the other two unconscious men.

"I'd say that went pretty well," Lex muttered, dragging the nosebleed man inside the cell and dumping him on the ground near Brod.

"Considering," the familiar voice of Matt quipped, coming from behind the four gargoyles towards the entrance to the cell block.

Whirling around, the four gargoyles found their friend standing behind them, grinning.

"Matt?" Lex wondered, stepping out of the cell to get a better look. "How'd you get here?"

"He had a little help," Hudson piped up, coming up behind Matt. "You lads caused quite the stir in the news. We thought you could use a little help as well."

"Actually, we could," Brooklyn admitted, indicating the unconscious Kraemer on the ground.

"I'll take care of her. You guys had better split before the cavalry arrives," Matt said, going over to Kraemer's side.

Brooklyn nodded, and lead the way towards the exit. Matt, after checking Kraemer's vitals, looked back up to his friends as they began to leave, and called out after them just as Brooklyn was about to disappear after Hudson and Lex. "Hey, Brooklyn?" A dark red and white head leaned backwards to look back at Matt. Smiling, the red-haired detective nodded approvingly to the Manhattan clan's leader. "Thanks. I don't know what I'd do without you guys."

In response, Brooklyn only grinned, and followed after his clan, just as Kraemer started to stir and wake up.

"Ungh…What happened?" she moaned, lifting and hand to her head before her eyes were even open. Fluttering open her eyelids, she looked at Matt first with confusion, and then with shock. "Detective Bluestone? What…oh my god, the monsters!" she yelped, bolting up to a sitting position, and looking around frantically.

"Monsters?" Matt laughed. "What are you talking about?"

"There were these big creatures…they attacked us…and-" she said, fumbling with words to describe the battle.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. There were no monsters."

"But I saw them!"

"Trust me, Kraemer. Conspiracies and Secret Societies, I would believe, but monsters are pushing it," Matt laughed. "Must've been some fall you had."

"Yeah…some fall," she muttered to herself, rubbing her throbbing head.

Moments later, the door to the cell block was opened, the police breaking past Brod's attempt to bar them from the block, and a flood of officers made their way to Dracon's cell, only to find Kraemer standing behind the line of bound criminals and Matt sitting idly on the bench off to the side.

"Hiya guys," Kraemer grinned, holding up her badge. "I've got a couple of new inmates for you. A couple of guys who were messing with our turf."

Matt grinned, holding up his badge as well, and watching the officers take Brod and his men away.

Clock Tower
23rd Precinct

"You did alright on your own, lads," Hudson said, smiling at the group of younger gargoyles. Jersey gave Hudson an odd look, which only gained a laugh from their mentor. "And lass, of course."

Ignoring Hudson's comment for the most part, Broadway looked over at Lex for the first real time all night, and swallowed the lump in his throat. "Uh…Lex?"

The green gargoyle returned the gaze. "Yeah?"

"I'm…you know, I'm sorry. About what I said about Goliath. I guess I just miss him."

"Speaking of Goliath, Matt said something about a video tape before we left to find you," Hudson piped up.

"What?" Brooklyn asked, intrigued.

"Something about a news cast earlier tonight. The tape is inside if yer interested."

Already heading into the clock tower, Brooklyn didn't even land on most of the stairs, before he was at the T.V. Looking around briefly, the tape was left out in the open with a big label on it, reading "Watch This" in Matt's handwriting. The others had only made it down the stairs when the tape started.

"In other news today, Xanatos Enterprises and Nightstone Unlimited have announced that they will merge, marking one of the largest corporate mergers in the modern world. Nightstone's former CEO, Dominique Destine, was unavailable for comment, but the board of directors had this to say," the reporter remarked, as the voice switched to that of the Nightstone representative.

"We here at Nightstone Unlimited feel that this is just a step in the right direction for everyone here at the company. With the addition of Xanatos Enterprises, more jobs will be available and more benefits will be provided for our workers."

"David Xanatos was unable to comment on this, but speculations are unclear as to whether or not this merger has anything to do with the financial troubles plaguing the young corporation. In a related story, rumors are circulating that Cyberbiotics and Xanatos Enterprises have been negotiating a merge contract. Halcyon Renard, President of Cyberbiotics, was unwilling to comment as to whether or not there is any truth to this rumor, but speculations are that ownership will pass to his daughter, Fox Xanatos. In other news…"

The tape rattled on with other stories of the day and night, but the news of the mergers between both Nightstone and Cyberbiotics weighed especially hard on the minds of the gargoyles. With limited knowledge on this Nightstone, or how massive Xanatos' corporation already reached, the full extent of the event was unknown.

"Xanatos is merging? Why? He already owns half of this country's business," Lex muttered to himself.

"Because with Cyberbiotics, he'd own half of the world," Brooklyn growled.

"But why? It makes no sense. No one even considered selling to Xanatos before now, and it's been over a year since we've been around," Broadway asked, pointing out the obvious.

"Sounds to me like he's building an empire," Jersey speculated.

Hudson, nodding in agreement, added to that thought the darker possibility. "Or an army."

"There's still no telling whether or not his intentions are hostile yet," Jersey grumbled.

Brooklyn nodded, but growled under his breath. "But there's no telling whether or not they aren't. If he can move castles and build steel clan by the dozens now, imagine what he can do with a few more companies backing him."

"It's a human problem, lad, but we all know what this man is capable of," Hudson said, looking to Brooklyn. "With this kind of power, it would be like fighting the King of Scotland with a stick, if he were to turn hostile against us. It's just a thought, but perhaps this has something to do with young Alex's kidnapping."

"It couldn't hurt to just check it out," Brooklyn muttered to himself. Turning to the others behind him, Brooklyn began moving towards the door. "Jersey, Broadway, you two keep a lookout outside the Eerie Building. Hudson, Lex, you come with me. We're going to have a word with Xanatos about this."

Eerie Building
Xanatos' Office

Though the sensors had detected the arrival of the three gargoyles well before they came to the door, Xanatos still acted surprised as they threw open the doors and walked into his office.

"Ah…I wasn't expecting any company tonight, but please. Come in," Xanatos lied, offering the three gargoyles an invite politely. This immediately set off the warning bells in Brooklyn's head. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Just a few questions, Xanatos," Brooklyn grumbled, caping his wings.

"Yeah! Like why exactly are you merging with all these companies? What are you scheming now?" Lex wondered angrily.

"Calm down, lad," Hudson muttered to Lex. Xanatos, instead of getting angry at Lex for the accusations, smiled.

"Quite alright, Hudson. I don't' expect everyone to understand at first. Quite simply, I'm trying to get my son back."

Brooklyn's jaw dropped. "Your son? But…Oberon took him to Avalon."

"Exactly," Xanatos said, standing up from his chair. "And I mean to get him back. By any means necessary. This is all just a means of preparation."

"Care to run that by me again? How exactly does merging with Cyberbiotics have anything to do with Oberon?" Brooklyn wondered suspiciously. He was afraid he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Simple. I'm merely preparing my offenses. If I was unable to stop Oberon the first time with all my resources in my own home, then I certainly won't have a chance of getting Alex back from Avalon," Xanatos said. "But with the added strength and resources of such companies as Nightstone Unlimited and Cyberbiotics, then I stand more of a chance."

"You can't do this!" Hudson gasped, the notion of Xanatos' intentions sounding the alarm. "It's madness! You can't lead an army against the fae! They're immortal, and what's more, all of Oberon's children as well as Oberon himself have returned to Avalon!"

Xanatos' expression of welcome suddenly faded, hardening into an angry scowl, reflecting the same expression that he had when Oberon left with Alex, leaving the gargoyles bruised and beaten in the castle. "I failed my son once. I will not fail him again," he growled, turning his back to the gargoyles and sitting back down in his chair. "This meeting is over."

"We're not through here yet, Xanatos," Brooklyn started, but was stopped when Xanatos cut in.

"Oh yes you are. And if you're not going to help me, then you're going to have to be eliminated," he threatened. "I will not let anything stand in my way this time!"

Instead of continuing the argument, Brooklyn, Lex, and Hudson took a fighting stance and slowly approached Xanatos, their senses on the alert for any hidden traps. Unfortunately, their suspicions proved true, as Xanatos secretly pushed a panic button underneath his desk, which triggered a lock down, barring the door, and sliding open a series of ceiling tiles to allow the laser cannons hidden within to lower down into a ready position.

"Oh no…" Lex muttered, looking at the laser cannons.

All at once the room erupted in a maelstrom of laser fire, locked onto the three gargoyles centered in the room. Scattering, the three separated, fighting to stay away from the shots and stay alive. Brooklyn, momentarily taking shelter against a corner of Xanatos' desk, was the only one who saw Xanatos grab the gun from his desk and take aim at Hudson, who was trying to elude one of the cannons.

"Xanatos!" Brooklyn roared, leaping up from his position and taking off after Xanatos.

Xanatos, seeing the angry gargoyle charge for him, abandoned his shot and raced towards the eastern wall, activating the switch that opened the false wall and allowed him to escape into the hidden passage way behind it. Brooklyn across the room from Xanatos, could do nothing to stop Xanatos' escape, and attempted to chase after him, but the door slammed shut just behind Xanatos, refusing to open as the enraged red gargoyle slammed beak-first into the wall, stunning him momentarily, and giving Xanatos the needed time to put a safe amount of distance between him and the gargoyles.

With Lex and Hudson drawing the fire from the cannons, Brooklyn was granted the time he needed to recover, but it soon became evident that if they didn't get out of this office soon, they would never get out alive. So far, the cannons had destroyed nearly all of the furniture, which had not been damaged by the gargoyles, and as soon as the three of them began to tire, the cannons would have clear shots at them.

"Hudson! Watch your back!" Lex cried, throwing the desk lamp towards Hudson, just in time to intercept the blast, which destroyed the lamp, rather than Hudson.

"I've had enough of this!" Brooklyn roared, pulling the computer monitor up from its position on the desk and hurling it at the western cannon.

Busy aiming at Lex, the cannon was unable to turn and destroy the computer before it hit, the resulting collision crippling the cannon's sensors long enough for Brooklyn and lunge up at it and tear it from its foundation in the ceiling. Using Brooklyn's attack on the western cannon as a distraction, Hudson looked up at the eastern cannon, taking mental aim as he pulled back his arm, and hurled his sword at the cannon, imbedding the blade in the body of the cannon, shorting it out. With the threat of the cannons eliminated, Hudson safely retrieved his sword from the busted cannon.

"We've got to take to the air before anything else shows up," Brooklyn said, still bitter that Xanatos escaped, but realizing that any further searches would be in vain.

Picking up the chair behind the desk, Brooklyn swung the heavy object at the bay window, the only escape route that hadn't been barred, as it was visible by the outside world. The shattering of darkened glass erupted, a shower of shards and chair falling the countless stories to the ground below. Leaping out of the newly created exit, Brooklyn lead the way out of the building, followed closely by Hudson and Lex.

Halfway between the Eerie Building and the lookout point Jersey and Broadway had been left to, the two gargoyles met up with Brooklyn and the others, having seen the chair and glass flying from the office window.

"What's going on?" Broadway asked. "We saw you guys come through the window and we thought…"

"We're fine," Brooklyn sighed.

"I take it Xanatos isn't planning on world peace then," Jersey guessed, taking note of the despairing looks she was getting from the other three.

Again, Brooklyn sighed, and turned towards a random rooftop, flaring his wings to land. Following his lead, the others gathered around on the rooftop as he explained to Jersey and Broadway what had happened.

"He's clearly gone mad with grief," Hudson said after Brooklyn had finished. "He'll plunder everything until he gets his way,"

"And who knows how Oberon will react. If he hated us before, he'll surely want to destroy us and the human race for insighting a war with the fae," Brooklyn added darkly.

"What about his law? That Oberon's Children can't interfere with us?" Jersey wondered hopefully.

"Who knows if that'll even hold up in a war," Brooklyn dismissed.

"We'd never stand a chance," Lex muttered sadly.

"Then we really only have once choice," Broadway admitted, seeing the brutal truth as the others did.

"We have to stop him," Brooklyn said definitively, looking back at the Eerie building, eyes narrowed in. "Before he destroys us all."

---

Gargoyles © of Buena Vista.
Original characters © of me.