A/N: For Cordria's June challenge: Any fic or poem under 1,000 words, beginning with the line "She was running down the alley".
She was running down the alley. It was around half-four in the morning, and there was less than half an hour to go until sunrise. This time of night even the would-be thieves and muggers had gone to bed, and the grey of the pre-dawn was beginning to drown out the stars.
She quickly found what she was looking for – a fire escape leading to the roof of a tall building, the top rimmed with wire – and began to climb, taking note of the shards of gravel the crunched beneath her feet. This building had been a roost recently, and there may be another gargoyle coming to sleep again today. The hammer weighed heavily in her hands as she shifted her grip, making sure it wouldn't accidentally turn on.
Her watch – a recent gift – beeped at her until she fumblingly hit the right button to shut it up before someone heard. Ten minutes until dawn. No time to go back now. She scrambled towards the roof faster, the awkward ladders creaking and clanging as she climbed. Someone's potted aspidistras nearly took a two-storey dive for the pavement, but she caught the overbalancing pot just before it fell and continued her climb.
The watch beeped again as she was carefully navigating the barbed wire circling the roof - she didn't have the key-card to the gate, and there was no alarm going to automatically unlock it. Five minutes left. She slunk over to the heating vent behind the door leading to the inside of the building, hopping the fence and slipping into the gap between where the cool pipes met the vent and the wall.
One minute. Hidden from view she clutched the hammer and waited for the sunrise.
Now. The first sliver of blazing yellow rose above the horizon, tinting the sky orange and pink. Up on the roof, a solitary figure faded from living flesh to stone. Ensconced in the tiny hideaway Angela slept, holding the confiscated quarryhammer, and waited for the sunset. Xanatos would have to wait a few more hours for his next project.
Fin.