Synopsis: Oneshot. A personal version of what could be the first episode of the spinoff "Bad Guys".
All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of NotreDame. I disregard The Goliath Chronicles as invalid in the continuity.
Any kind of feedback is welcome and much appreciated. Thank you very much to everyone who wrote to me, especially to Samuel B. for his beta-reading.
The Redemption Squad
Prison is a sad place to live. Robyn Canmore had never realised how much she loved freedom until she lost it. The grey walls. The silence. No one to talk to. Sometimes cops or lawyers always asking the same questions. Where is your brother? We can help you if you cooperate…
No one could help her and she was not sure that she wanted to be helped. There had been her childhood in Scotland with her brothers and their father, who was away most of the time. They knew about their "family secret" but she didn't fully realise. And then her father's death. She was only fourteen. Jon was nine, he was only a baby. Jason and she had had to take care of him, like parents, training and preparing themselves to forget that they had seen their dad killed. The hunt had become her life. Fourteen years spent tracking, training, forging new weapons. Fourteen years of hunt following fourteen years of innocence.
And now she realised all that had been in vain. Jason, the person she was the closest to in the world, was crippled, he would never walk again. The terrible thing was, it was Jon who had shot him. And then she had lifted him without thinking that it could move his vertebrae. And Jon had run away. Now the old trio was apart.
"The only good gargoyle is a dead gargoyle…" Was it possible that their father had been wrong all along, after all? Yes, the demon was evil, but what about the other ones? The events of the night Jason had been shot kept running through her head, again and again. She was upset but it was not because the demon had not been killed. She was not sure to know how she was feeling. She wanted to sleep. Forever.
One night she found a note under her pillow. "Hunter, we need your special talents. If you want to be free again, put your red handkerchief at your window." She had laughed. An employee was making her a joke. So she had torn the note.
The night after she had found a similar note with something much more surprising: her Hunter mask. Stunned, she had run her fingers down the three red scars. Who had done this? It couldn't be a joke.
This was suspicious. It could be a trap too. Robyn wished she could talk about it with Jason. But Jason wasn't here. So she laid on her bed and closed her eyes. Hours passed. In the next cell, a woman started crying and suddenly, Robyn desperately wished she could leave the prison.
She put the handkerchief at her window.
Two days passed and nothing happened. The prisoner wondered how she could have been stupid enough to believe in that silly joke.
Then one day, when she coming back from the bathroom, closely followed by a guard, she noticed smoke coming from a door. She froze. The guard pushed her to her cell and she noticed something else: it looked like the door had been scratched. Three parallel lines, like scars…
Suddenly, the doors of all cells opened. Some prisoners had a look outside, some other were already trying to leave. Instinctively, Robyn entered her cell. This looked like the perfect diversion. The guard locked her in and the prisoner waited.
A few hours later, she was 4000 km away from the prison. Later Jason and Jon Canmore wondered how their sister had escaped.
The message to Yama was clear: leave your home, your country, your mate and everything you care for, and you'll be free. First he had been willing to refuse. Only cowards run away from their homes and the bushido wanted him to protect people.
But he wasn't protecting anything any more. He was a prisoner now. Yes, he received visits. He could even see Sora every night. But he knew she didn't like visiting him in prison. And he couldn't stand the fact that she was sorry for him. He was proud, like a warrior is supposed to be. Yes, he had done something wrong. And he deserved a punishment.
Exiling himself and leaving his loved ones was as good a punishment. He would redeem himself this way. And Sora was a strong warrior, she would recover from his departure.
So one evening, he turned to stone in Ishimura and awakened in a small room he had never been before. Four people were already in the room. Two humans, a burly man with a weird haircut and a blond woman in her late twenties, stopped talking when they saw him breaking out of his stone shell. There was also a strange silvery being and a creature that looked like a winged puma. The puma laughed. "Hey, Mr Stone is awake!"
"My name is Yama" the gargoyle corrected. This was weird. The two humans were obviously Caucasian and the puma creature had just talked in English so he had most probably left Japan. Where was he? Who had freed him from jail?
"Hi. I'm Dingo" the human male said. "This is…"
"Hunter" the woman completed.
"Yes. And this is Matrix and this is Fang" Dingo added, gesturing at the silver creature and at the winged puma. "I guess you found a message offering you freedom in exchange of services, like all of us?"
"Yes. I did."
"Cool!" Fang said happily. "So when do we get goin'? It's boring here!"
"We don't run away. It's a matter of loyalty" Yama said coldly. He already knew he didn't like Fang. The latter started a monologue about "boring people" and Dingo and Hunter exchanged a dismayed look. Matrix watched them curiously and then turned to his Australian friend. "This doesn't look like order" he said.
Before Dingo had time to answer, a door open. "The lady comes in" a male voice said. Surprised, Robyn got up and left the room. The door closed before anyone had time to react.
She found herself in a corridor. There was only one window. Robyn had time to brush the curtains when passing and caught a brief glimpse of a nearly familiar monument. The Eiffel tower. She didn't stop and knocked at the door, at the other end of the corridor.
"Enter."
A man was sitting behind a desk. The room was dimly lit so she could hardly see his features. He looked about fifty. "Miss Canmore" he said "or should I call you Hunter? Sit down please. I guess you may be a bit tired after this journey."
Robyn sat down. The man looked at her with a slight smile. "I must say, you didn't disappoint me. You passed all the tests. Especially the last one, when you went back to your cell instead of trying to leave with the others. But I didn't introduce myself. I am the Director."
Robyn tried hard to make out his nationality: the man didn't even have the hint of an accent. As if he had read his thoughts, he smiled again. "I know you are not pleased to find yourself in this city again. It must be associated with bad memories. The death of your father…"
"How do you know about him?" Hunter asked.
"I happen to know a lot of things and I am particularly well-informed about you. You are a well-trained fighter and a master in disguise, concealment and adaptation. And you could end up in jail for very good reasons if I don't protect you. I need people like you. And these men."
The man took a remote control and a screen appeared on a wall. "See this man" the Director carried on while a shot of Dingo was displayed. "He's a fighter, just like you. Formerly a TV star, he had some kind of problems with justice. And he has two assets that can be of great use: this armor and his friend, the Matrix."
Other shots were displayed. Robyn could only see a silvery matter in geometrical shapes. The Director explained. "The Matrix is an artificial intelligence, a kind of nano-technology. It can reshape nearly everything. It can get out-of-control but Mr Dingo has some kind of an influence on it."
Another photo appeared: the gargoyle in a kimono outfit she had seen earlier. "This gargoyle's name is Yama. He recently left his clan in Japan for reasons I won't discuss. You'd better not ask him, either. I think you of all people should know how great a warrior a gargoyle can be?"
Robyn nodded, troubled. She had never imagined that there could be gargoyle clans in Japan. The photo of Fang appeared. "This used to be a human. After a genetic experiment, he got the abilities that are generally associated with gargoyles, plus another one: he can shoot electric blasts. He's not very disciplined but he knows people who would give him have a bad time if they ever find him. He'll have to cooperate. And so will you."
"Me?" Robyn asked, puzzled.
"Yes. Don't look so shocked; don't tell me you enjoyed being a prisoner. Either you accept to be the leader of the Redemption Squad, or I send you back to jail."
"Redemption Squad?"
"An elite team, working for me. Some of my men are already talking to its future members."
Other images appeared. In a room, Dingo was thoughtfully asking questions to a man whose face was hidden, Matrix at his side. In another place, Yama was listening to another one, his face unreadable. Only Fang seemed upset and was apparently shouting something. The guard he was talking to said something and he calmed down suddenly.
"If I accept, how long will this last?" Hunter asked.
"As long as I want."
"Did you tell the gargoyle about…"
"Your old family grudge? No, don't worry. Unless you want to tell him yourself. Now, what's your choice?"
Robyn frowned. This wasn't much of a choice and she was not sure that she trusted the man entirely. But she thought of the years she had spent hunting the demon again and again, only to discover that the truth what not that she believed. She had lost fourteen years of her life. Maybe if she used her hard-gained skills for another cause, those years of training wouldn't have been in vain.
"I accept" she said finally.
The man stretched a hand to her and they shook hands. Robyn noticed how dry and hard his hand was, like the one of an older man. "You won't regret it, Hunter" he said. "Now it's time to join your new headquarters."
This is no Australia Dingo thought while visiting the building where he was going to live with three complete strangers. But I can do with it. Most of it was underground, including the very large training room and the vehicle room. The man found his own bedroom easily. His battle armor was there and someone had put forge ID papers on the bed, in case he wanted to leave the building. And yes, there was the electronic communicator he was supposed to keep with him all the time. If it rung, he had to forsake everything and go to the headquarters immediately.
There were books on the shelves. Dingo took one of them. It was Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo. "Great!" he whispered. "I just have to learn French and I'll be able to read it."
"Do you want me to learn it for you?" Matrix asked.
Dingo jumped. He had forgotten about his artificial friend. "You can do that?" he asked.
"Of course."
"You're full of surprises." The roommates were probably not going to be a problem. Dingo already had to put up with Wolf, Jackal and Hyena for a long time and when you can stand nutcases like them, you can stand anybody. Anyway, the woman was apparently sane and the gargoyle was obviously the silent type. No problems with them.
He left and found himself face-to-face with Hunter. "What… do you think we are supposed to do, now?" he asked.
"No idea. Waiting for orders, maybe?" He laughed nervously and they searched the other room. Fang was sitting in front of a television, switching the channels nervously. There were channels in English but obviously, this was not enough for him. He finally threw an electric blast at the TV set and went to a window, which was luckily opened. Yama was watching him disapprovingly. He followed him without a word. Not that he was responsible for that mutate but he wanted to feel the air in his wings again.
Matrix decided to "put order in the TV set" and Hunter and Dingo found themselves alone. They didn't know what to say. "It could be worse" Dingo finally said. "I heard Paris is a beautiful place, I'd like to visit one of these days."
"If you like. But it's not that beautiful."
"You've already been here?" he asked.
"Yes, when I was a kid." She yawned. "I think I'm going to go to bed now." She left the room and Dingo turned to Matrix, hoping the artificial intelligence would be in the mood for a little talk. He had the feeling he was going to feel very alone. This was not the heroic life he had imagined at a time.
Well, perhaps heroes are supposed to be alone.
Fang looked at the buildings disapprovingly. This was not New York City, hiding was going to be more difficult. He started gliding in circles, looking for fun things to do. Most people were in bed at that time of the night.
The message had been clear: "behave or we send you back to the Labyrinth". This was so humiliating. He was treated like a little kid! What had he been doing to deserve that?
He didn't have much of a choice. But he preferred to be here in that foreign place than cooped up in a cell in New York. So he was going to "behave", to be a "good boy": just now that was the price for freedom. He could do with it. He had the feeling he was not going to get on well with the gargoyle: the guy looked as rigid-minded, as duty-obsessed as Goliath. But he had decided to behave. One prank from time to time, that would allow him to survive. Maybe he would find ways to have fun here, in hiding. But officially, he would have to "behave".
The puma mutate explored a bit of the city, took mental notice of a few funny things he could do later and went back "home". There was a new life waiting for him.
A new life waiting for all of them.
THE END
