"Fetch": an original Gargoyles fanfic begun by MC, completed by Mona

Disclaimer: All characters from Gargoyles are copyright Disney. Dr. Lee Thal and Malevola are shared by the original author and the current author.

Time: Shortly after the end of the Goliath Chronicles

Crack. Flash. Boom.

The evening sky in Manhattan was bleak and dark. Rain was pouring down in sheets. Lightning flashes illuminated the metropolis as they streaked across the sky. Thunder rumbled like a hungry man's stomach. The moon was invisible, as if Artemis herself was frightened off by the storm.

A lone gargoyle stood at the window of one of her hideaways, staring out. Demona was often likened to a storm, passionate and violent but able to relent. At least, once in a while. The immortal being was beautiful -- if something that kills could be described as beautiful.

"They're out there," she whispered to herself. The clan she had abandoned. The family she had turned her back on. Except one.

"Angela," sighed Demona. I let her down. She'll never trust me again. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Her daughter was somewhere out there. Come dawn, Angela would turn to stone and her mother would become exactly what she hated -- a human.

"Humans," Demona muttered. "The bane of my existence." Why doesn't anyone understand that the only good human is a dead one? Even the virtuous Elisa Maza has her faults. The problem with Angela is she trusts humans too much, since she was raised by them on Avalon. I need someone who understands me. An emissary. The gargoyle picked a magazine from the floor. Flipping absently through the pages, she stopped at an article.

Creation: Scientist Plays Deity

Dr. Lee Thal, expert on genetic medicine, has discovered a new way to save endangered species. "Cloning is faulty -- a threat to biodiversity. Eukaryotes are complex; reproduction is more than splitting in two like bacteria. The survival of a species depends on redistribution of genetic material."

Rather than grow clones from samples, the Thal method involves collecting cells from male and female specimens. Extracting the genes, the scientist can create new and unique individuals. The only side effect appears to be an accelerated growth rate, which eventually slows. Though he has never attempted to make a human baby, Thal's successes range from elephants, pitcher plants, wildcats, and several species of whale.

"People ask if I have children. I say, 'Sure I do. Dozens of them'," the geneticist concludes.

A smile curled across Demona's lips. "That's it." She returned to the window. The rain had stopped. It was about three in the morning, a few hours until dawn.

A few hours later, Dr. Lee Thal sat at his breakfast nook to eat a bowl of banana bran flakes. He was in his middle thirties, with a nonathletic build. His chocolate brown hair was graying at the roots.

Ding-dong!

Thal leaped up and rushed to the door. "May I help you?"

Standing on the doorstep was a tall peach-skinned woman in a business suit. Her red hair was in a bun. "Dr. Lee Thal, I presume?"

"The one and only," the geneticist replied with a smirk. "Do I know you?"

"Dominique Destine. I've got a proposal for you."

"What kind of proposal?"

"I want you to make a creature for me." Destine held a brown envelope. "I have samples from both the mother and father."

"Hmm..come on in." The scientist led the woman to his basement laboratory. "I work here at home. Saves me the cost of commuting." He took the envelope and removed two plastic bags. The first one contained a lock of ebony hair. Dr. Thal took a pair of tweezers and placed the strand on a slide, then set the slide in a machine the size of a microwave oven. He pressed a button marked 'analyze', then turned on his laptop. "Follicle is complete. I can extract the DNA." He repeated the process with a piece of red hair, with the same results. What kind of creature is this, he wondered. Fifty chromosomes. Humans have forty-six. "I'll do it."

"Excellent," Destine smiled. She turned to leave, stopping only to hand the geneticist a business card with a phone number and e-mail address. "Call or write when something develops."

TBC