Retrieval Saga: Nocturne Operations Chapter 1: Reassignment pt 1, a gargoyles fanfic

Gargoyles and Lilo and Stitch is property of Disney. The NSC and related things are property of Largefish8. Draco, Chip, Morph, NegaMorph and Omnirus are property of Cydra. The UNSC and covenent tech is Halo tech and property of Bungie.

Retrieval Saga: Nocturne Operations

Chapter 1: Reassignment pt 1

Councilmember Oriano of the NSC council followed General Orsen into the ward. "How many is it now?" he said. "About 10 now, and a couple of them were civilians," said Orsen, "and they're not a pretty sight afterwards." Oriano looked at the several EXP mutants lying on beds. Their eyes were completely blank and quite a few of them were drooling. "What exactly is doing this, how is it doing this, and why?" he said, disgust lingering on his voice.

Orsen shrugged. "We have no footage. Whoever it is, he's a pro. He's targeting all EXP victims...and..." he said but the councilman finished horrified. "They're all in our empire task forces...reassign the ones left...keep them out the way until this assassin is located and dealt with." "Hmm, that'll be difficult," said Orsen, "In fact, there are two in particular who move around quite a lot."

"Are you a general or not?" Oriano said angrily. Orsen looked down as a message arrived and smiled. "Don't worry...I have the perfect mission for them."

Matt and the crew looked out at the huge form of Central Station. "Last time I was here was for trial." said Matt, yawning. He hadn't slept well. "You don't think we're in trouble, do you?" asked Lilo. "From what I've heard, this is for our own protection," said Kala. There was a pause and she said, "Yeah, I have trouble believing it too."

Matt nodded. "Yeah," he said. An aide in a military uniform came out. "Captain, the general will see you now." Matt sighed and walked inside. General Orsen was standing, looking out into the crowded spaceport. "Mr. Lynch...What you're about to hear doesn't go outside the room...specially not to the kid EXP-infected."

Matt's face became slightly more grim in expression. "There's not some sort of mutation affecting the EXP-infected, right?" he asked. Orsen sighed and turned on a holofeed. It showed several people in a hospital. They were clearly lobotomized and even more clearly EXP-infected. "What the hell?" said Matt. "Someone is hitting EXP infected...regardless if they're military or civilian. One's a kid barely older then the one outside." said Orsen sadly. Matt glared. "The 'kid' has a name."

"I prefer to not get too involved with someone who's more likely than others to have an accident," said Orsen. Matt ignored the comment and asked, "What exactly happened to them?" "Someone drained the A.I. from their heads. The psychic trauma was enough to 'crash' their brains. They'll recover...eventually...but I don't want anymore of our key military staff out of the fight...you're being assigned a ship..." said Orsen, looking gloomy. Matt smirked.

The NSC preferred UNSC and Covenent tech from the Halo verses and it was usually the best ground tech around. Orsen glared, seeing Matt's impression. "You and your force are in command of the NSS Bladestorm until whoever's behind this is caught. Your first assignment is with your Ensign...claims to know you..."

Matt raised an eyebrow and said, "Huh, most often when I hear that, I feel some sort of dread. It's not a girl, is it?" "No...he joined up after Executive Genetics was shut down 2 years ago," said Orsen before shoving a medal across. "Get to your ship...commander." Matt smirked. "Does this mean I get regular pay?" he asked cheekily and was nearly blasted out the door by Orsen's yell of "GET YOUR BUTT IN GEAR, YOU LITTLE MAGGOT!" Matt fled out the room and fell over Morph. "He's got some good lungs on him," he said

Matt stood back up and said, "Well, I might as well go see my new ship." He started walking off and noticed an odd squishy sound with every other step he took. He looked down to see his foot was wrapped with a dazed Morph. "Aw man," he said.

An hour later, the gang were flying the North Star throughout the fleet, looking for the Bladestorm. "Ok...where is it? Oh, I hope it's a Planet cracker class," said Matt happily. The comm beeped. "North star and BiNebular. This is Bladestorm. We have you in visual...release controls for auto-docking." A very old ship came in range. "You're kidding," said Matt in gloom. The ship, an old Phoenix class, sat next to several destroyers. "That junk's my ship? I knew this would happen," said Matt gloomily.

Then a thought occurred to Matt. "Say Chip," said Matt as he turned towards his cyborg friend, "You think I could borrow V-Quip for a little bit?" He looked down at V-quip. "Go attach to the nice ship," he said and was electrocuted for his trouble.

"Don't think that's gonna be easy," said Chip, "Mechomorphs have their limits and even if he could merge with the entire ship, it'd take a while for him to be able to reformat it without the security systems attacking him. The best you could hope for is one piece at a time." The BiNebular could be seen being tractored into one of the bays. "Oh, I hope Stitch and Hyena don't occur to someone...I bet it's not the best way to make a first impression," said Matt gloomily. The bay the North Star was flying into looked crowded with ground crews and marines in battle gear. "Ok, Please don't cause too much trouble, we gotta work with these guys for a bit."

"So where are we going on this big ship?" asked Draco. "I dunno...the jobs aboard but it seems like it's gonna be for a bit." said Matt as the North Star set down. The rest of the bay was filled tons of military gear, from Covenent Wraith tanks to Sparrowhawk vtol fighters and alot of other equipment. "Well, least we'll have alot of firepower," said Matt cheerfully.

The group stepped down into the bay. Matt was a bit nervous. Usually bay crews were there to capture or shoot at him so it was a pleasant surprise when one trooper called 'OFFICER ON DECK!' and the whole bay saluted. "Y'know Draco, I think I may like this." "Let's head over to the main bridge," said Matt, "I wanna sit in the captain's chair." "Ok, but no silly pauses between words," said Chris.

The bridge had obviously been made for a non military ship, though the controls were anything but civilian. A guy in combat fatigues was standing talking to one of the pilots. He had an ensign uniform and turned as he heard the hatch open. "Sir, I have your..." he stopped at the same time as Matt. The ensign was very familiar...

"Mark?" asked Matt, "Is that you?" "Matt?" said the ensign, also sounding surprised. "Mark, how long has it been?" Matt said, grinning. Chris said. "You know this guy?" Matt nodded. "Mark helped me and Chloe out of a few tight fixes back when we were starting out," he said before saying to Mark. "Heard you were dead, last time I trust MSN news."

"So how have things been back at, er," Matt looked back at his friends and changed the subject, "So what made you come here?" Mark shrugged. "Some guy with a bunch of battle droids materialized in Tokyo and said we had to obey some creep named...what was it?" he said. Matt answered darkly, "Hamsterviel."

Mark nodded. "Yea, that was the guy. The guy's droids didn't last very long versus the gang. I thought I'd head here and see what was happening. My merc company said I had to help out and here I am," he said. Before realising that Matt was avoiding the subject. "Er...my company has an outpost there," he lied. As lies went, it was convincing.

Matt then brought the conversation in a more forward-direction, "So, do we have any assignments aboard this ship?" Mark nodded. "An old friend as it happens," he said, turning on a hologram. The figure was easily recognized.

"Hey," said Draco, "It's that black market Splitter, Whatsisname." "Romanov," corrected Mark, "He's been spotted going into forbidden territory with some dangerous weapons." "So what else is new?" said Matt, sounding unsurprised. Mark added, "Turns out he was the one who sold the battle droid tech to the Emperor. NSC intelligence wants him alive." Matt rolled his eyes. "Oh...great...knowing our luck, it's a demon-infested hellhole of a dimension..."

Meanwhile, in a New York warehouse district...

Romanov, in human form, looked down at his watch. "Vere is zat idiot human, Castavay?" he said to himself. Suddenly he noticed an armored jeep driving towards him. "It's about time," he grumbled. Several Quarrymen piled out, hammers charged and at the ready. A blonde man climbed out. Mr. Castavay. A pleasure to be meetink you again," Romanov said, all smiles. His two bodyguards, T-X's in human disguise gave the newcomers the assessing stare of all bodyguards.

"Yes, though our last meetings have not been so pleasant, though that was no fault of ours," said Castaway, "Perhaps this time will go smoother." Romanov grinned happily. "My associates can dispose of any trouble vith ease. Zis vay please," he said, walking over to a crate. He pulled out what looked like a rock with a handle, purple spikes jutting out of the top. "Ze type 33 guided munitions launcher, known as ze needler. Eet is capable ov trackink movink targets vith an added bonus...vatch if you please," he said and fired at a shipping crate, several of the purple spikes shot into a crate and exploded, blasting a baseball-sized hole in it.

"Impressive," said Castaway, "Very useful for making Swiss cheese out of pesky meddlers." Castaway grinned and reached for a blue gun. "Ze type 25 directed plasma rifle. At least 200 years ahead of current military technology," he said, blasting a riddle of holes in the same crate, the crate's metal proving useless against it. "Ze price for both is quite reasonable...$1,000,000 per thousand units," he said.

Castaway pursed his lips and said, "Hmm, not simple pocket money, but considering its power..." He suddenly interrupted by the sound of wings swooshing through the air. "Oh no, not again," moaned Romanov.

Several winged shapes with glowing eyes swooped down. "VY DON;T YOU LEAVE ZE SMALL BUZINESS MAN IN PEACE!" yelled Romanov as the Quarrymen opened fire. He pointed at the shapes and yelled to his T-X's. "KILL ZEM NOW!" he practically screamed. The T-X's turned, eyes glowing. The first one transformed his left arm to a plasma cannon while the other pulled out two plasma rifles from the crate and both began firing until the red beaked one landed in front of one and punched him, causing the droid to stumble.

"Heh, Vikings put up a better fight than these tin cans," said the gargoyle. "Don't get cocky, lad," said an elderly one-eyed gargoyle wielding a sword, "Greater warriors have been defeated by an innocuous opponent they turned their backs on."

The red gargoyle was proved right as the terminator straightened up and returned the punch with interest before striding towards its prey. "Unidentified organic...hostile...removing," it intoned, aiming its plasma rifle arm only for the elderly gargoyle to stab it from behind. The machine turned and aimed.

Romanov, who knew exactly the type of humor the ancients had as far as luck went covered his eyes as the gargoyle jumped the retaliatory blast which hit the other T-X dead center, blowing it apart. A smaller gargoyle with green skin and different wings from the rest said, "Why'd you have to do that? I wanted to see how it worked." "How about you avoid letting them do their work on you?" said the elderly gargoyle.

The T-X seemed to glare and grabbed a needler from the crate, firing a spray at the gargoyles, tracking their dodging. Romanov and Castaway had to duck as several shots narrowly missed turning them into pin cushions. Castaway's jeep was not so lucky, the shards igniting its gas tank. "Erm...I'll give a discount." said Romanov nervously.

Castaway grabbed Romanov by his shirt front and said, "You better get rid of these fiends now or our partnership is over." "I...I don't know these guys. you know that," he said. Both looked down to see a few shards in the crate at their feet. "Oh no," said Romanov gloomily as the shard blast knocked them down. Castaway shook his head as the smoke cleared, a winged lizard-like creature, wearing the same armour that Romanov had been.

Castaway drew his gun and said, "Well, this explains a helluva lot. You made a big mistake when you thought you could dupe John Castaway." Romanov backed up. He doubted even his fast talking could get him out of this. "Erm...first shipment free? You am thinkink I am one of zose?" he said. A screech of metal got his attention and the remaining T-X's head landed at his feet. The gargoyle clan leader, a big purple one threw the T-X's body aside. Romanov had taken the opportunity to learn the name of his annoyance the first time the clan had attacked. "Goliath, vy do you torment me?" A blast from the Quarrymen got his attention back. "Oh screw zis. I vill get you for zis, Goliath. You are beink as bad az dat mercenary," he said, flying as fast as he could, as far away as he could.

It was later, Romanov sat at the workbench he used for prototypes, fixing his holo emitter so he could look human again. His ship's pilot was next to him, passing equipment. "So...we move universes again?" he said to his boss. Romanov glared, "Not till ve find vat ve came here for."

"But now the Quarrymen think you're one of them," said the pilot. "Yes," said Romanov frowning, "those superstitious hunters von't allow me to explain about aliens before they shoot me dead." "But they'll send a hitman."

Another associate, on a com scanner suddenly paled. "Oh smeg...boss? An NSC ship just warped in...callsign 'Bladestorm'. It's in Jupiter's orbit...ETA is 4 hours." Romanov rubbed his head. "Oh for heaven's sake..." he said, looking down at an old NSC map. "We check the last part..." he said. "But sir, if we leave anything for the NSC team..." said the pilot was cut off. "I vill go alone. If zey follow, then the infected vill have a meal," he said darkly adding, "And make sure zat flyink annoyance, Goliath, unt hiz people know to follow. It iz ze perfect test."

Meanwhile, the Bladestorm was approaching Earth. "There's something that's bothering me," said Mark, "Why bring a little girl on a military mission?" Stitch, who had been talking to Mark, with the other experiments shrugged, impressive coming from a four-armed lifeform in any case. "Me naga know." "Whatever it is, I hope we have some way to fight it," said Matt.

Matt walked out for a minute. Techo, who had also been there leaned forward. "Maybe it's something to do with whatever's been picking off EXP infected?" he said to the experiments. Mark winced. It was supposed to be a secret but then again, Techo hacked restricted files for fun.

"Maybe, but if they're giving us this ship, it's probably going to be something big, really big," said Mark. The intercom beeped. "First mate to the bridge," said the PA. Mark sighed and walked out. Draco turned to Chip and asked, "So what makes this universe so unique?" "Not sure," said Chip, "but I'm detecting both magic and hi tech on this Earth, we may be in for a few surprises."

Matt and Mark were looking at a hologram of NYPD records. "The idiot," laughed Matt, "He thinks that he can trade weapons and not be noticed." Mark nodded. "We got an address...some hotel on Manhattan. Nice and easy." Matt nodded and scrolled down to see a flashing line of text. They only flashed if it was urgent. "A hit's out on him? Who the smeg's Castaway?"

"Whoever he is, we better get to Romanov before he does," said Mark, "I don't think Romanov's just here to trade goods, he's after something else and we need him to tell us what it is." Matt looked at it. "Shouldn't be too hard. Two fireteams. In and out before the NYPD knows we were there," he said, adding, "And my friends will be helpful too. Chip eats security systems for breakfast."

"But what about the magic?" asked Mark seriously. Then he burst out laughing and said, "They're just kidding right? There's no such thing as magic. Digimon are one thing, but they're digital." Matt raised a hand and turned it draconic. "Believe me, it's real. All the men with iron rounds...just in case," he said.

The two Pelican dropships circled down through the clouds, revealing New York ahead. The NSC had taken to raiding the Haloverses for technology, if only for the fact that the UNSC tech was easy to mass produce, very important with the Empire hammering on their doorstep.

Matt got up from the co-pilot seat and walked into the back, bumping into Draco. The experiments had come along, as if Matt could have stopped them. Plus, none of the marines aboard the Bladestorm, not even the ODST's were experienced with the sort of traps that Romanov could cook up. Matt's ribs still hurt from when the weapon dealer had set Tuatara, a cybernetic version of a mutagenetic creature he'd faced a year ago, on him.

"Uh, this thing does have parachutes, right?" said Chip nervously as he looked down on the city below. "Don't tell me you're afraid of heights," said Draco. "No, I'm not," said Chip, "I'm just naturally nervous about potentially plummeting several hundred feet to my death." One of the marines smirked. "You'll be fine, our pilots are the best," he said, just as the dropship went though some turbulence. Matt went and sat down. He personally dreaded the point when, and he knew it was coming, the gang foud out why he'd really kept Lilo aboard, originally saying they could deal with Romanov on the way to Earth.

Contrinus looked down and said, "So which building are we going to? They all look the same up here in the dark." Matt pointed down. "There. The Liberty Arms hotel," he said. The second Pelican had already landed and had offloaded its marines. "Mark, anything on the police radio? I really do not want to explain MA5C assault rifles to the NYPD," he said, jumping out as the dropship hovered a few inches off the roof.

"Can't get any on this frequency, let me try another," said Mark who was on the Bladestorm. He adjusted it and suddenly Chip's voice was heard saying, "Boy, it's really high up here. How can anyone be comfortable living so high above the ground? This must be where the rich snobs live." They looked to see Chip looking over the side and his lips not moving.

Techo took pity and pulled him back. "You'll be fine. Your fall onto Galva Prime's moon still gettin to ya?" he said as one of the marines burnt the lock clean off the steel security door. "We're in," said the marine. Matt nodded. "Still nothing?" he said, the group heading down the stairs.

"How did he know I was nervous about the height?" came Chip's voice on the radio, "Wait a second, is that an echo? No, wait a minute, that's the radio. Oh god, they must have heard me. Oh god, I can hear me!" The rest quickly became music being played very quickly.

"Change that frequency, will you?" said Matt. Mark adjusted the radio and the voice that came out was very different, "Ok, we're converging now. That double-crosser won't know what hit him 'til it's too late." "Mark? Zoom in the Bladestorm on that. Check to see if Romanov upset the city enough to send in SWAT," he said, concerned. A boom further down and a yell of surprise, followed by an 'oof' signalled that the marines had found whoever had been guarding Romanov's home. "Call me when you have something," he said and headed down. A guy in NSC battle gear and holding an iced-up needler was trying to back away from two grinning marines and Draco, who had apparently been the needler's target of choice. "Oh...erm...Sierra convention?" said the prisoner weakly, holding his hands up. He paled even more when he saw Matt come down. "I'm dead," he said simply.

Matt glared at the merc then looked down at Draco, winking with a small smirk. "You ok?" he asked, igniting a plasma orb for good measure. Romanov's goon didn't need to guess where it would go if Draco's answer was not the one Matt wanted.

On the Bladestorm, the comm officer next to Mark said. "Erm...I just hacked metro cams...is that an armoured truck?" he said. An armored van, like the ones SWAT liked had parked near the hotel's service entrance. "If they send anybody into the hotel, tell us about it," said Matt. "Erm, they kinda did," said Mark.

Matt rolled his eyes. The last thing they needed was SWAT, maybe they could impersonate an FBI team. A knock at the door caused the marines near it to tense up. Matt looked at Draco and the other experiments. "Just get him to blab about where Romanov is going. Techo, record what he says. I'll get rid of the cops," he said.

Matt opened the door and knew the situation won't be easy when he saw they clearly weren't cops. "Er, can I help you gentlemen?" "We're here for Romanov," said the leader. "He apparently flew the coop, so there's no point in you coming in..." said Matt. Just then Morph came over and said, "Hey Matt, Romanov's toadie just-" Morph was interrupted as the people outside blasted his head to pieces.

Matt slammed the door in the group and ducked as several lasers shot where his head should have been. The marines began shooting back through the wall, several yells of pain reward for their aim. "Why can't something go right? Mark, you there? Jam the police band. That gunfire'll bring em like moths to a flame," he said. A Quarryman used his shock hammer to blow a hole in the wall beside the door and was floored by a triple burst from the marines' assault rifles. Matt punched a second one on the nose with the full force of his EXP mutation behind it, sending him into his friends with a crash. "Time to leave," he yelled, grabbing Techo as he went, causing the merc to drop his PDA to the floor. The quarrymen followed behind them, ducking for cover as the marines fired at them. One of them got on his own radio.

Morph waddled around like, well, a chicken with his head cut off as he regenerated. Surprisingly, he was avoiding all the random shots throughout the wound by mere inches. The Quarrymen were quick behind them. "These guys are determined," said a marine, blasting another in the shoulder as the Quarryman tried to climb the stairs, sending him back down with a series of thumps. Just then, Morph regenerated his head. "Morph!" yelled Matt, "We need a distraction now!" Morph blinked and transformed into a surprisingly cuddly-looking pink experiment with big blue eyes.

Matt's eyes widened in shock and slight fear. "Rebreathers down now!" He yelled just as a faint green cloud came from the experiment. The results were impressive. Several Quarrymen passed out from one sniff and two ran into each other trying to get away. "What the smeg was that?" said a marine to Draco.

"Experiment 254," said Draco, a little nasily since he was pinching his nostrils shut, "more commonly referred to as Mr. Stenchy. Designed to be irresistibly cute so he could get into enemy bases and let off his awful stench." "Its times like this I'm glad I don't have a nose," said Chip.

Techo went over and prodded one of the quarrymen. "What did Jumba use for that? CR riot gas?" he said as the Quarryman moaned. A laser blast came from the stairs as the rest of the Quarrymen, copying the idea with their own gas masks came up. "Here we go again."

Matt dodged a blast and accidentally brushed the dial of the radio. "We're on our way, Elisa, make sure no civilians are nearby," said a deep voice. Matt was confused and changed frequency to talk to Mark. "Who was that, Mark?" he said, throwing a plasma orb at a Quarryman taking a bead at Chip.

"I don't know," said Mark as he tried to get a better focus, "The odd thing is that it was on a similar frequency to the police's communicators, but it wasn't a human voice." "Great, more trouble," he said, switching frequency. "Drop 1, where the smeg are you?" he said and jumped as a hail of rockets caused the Quarrymen to scurry for cover. "Right here, sir," said the smug pilot.

A short time later, the band of gargoyles dropped on the rooftop. "It looks like we missed the party," said Brooklyn. Then Lexington noticed a dropped PDA, "At least they left an address," he said.

On the Bladestorm, the gang were all looking at a copy of the information that Techo had gotten from the goon. "I never knew the NSC had facilities out here," said Matt, looking at the hologram of the facility. Wilson shrugged. "They used to, till the quarantine line was moved," he said. Techo sighed. "The guy said that Romanov wanted something from there to do with Tuatara."

"Tuatara?" said Kala, "The cyborg lizard that cracked Matt's ribs?" "I find it very hard to forget him," said Matt. Techo shivered and Wilson looked grim. The three of them had met Tuatara's people before and knew all to well what this could mean. "We go down there, blow the place up," said Matt, darkly.

"Oh sure, blow up a building in New York containing lizard mutants," said Chip sarcastically, "No one will ever notice." Techo showed the feed. "It's not in New York. It's a mile outside the limits," he said. Matt nodded. "You have no idea what Romanov might cause. We have to stop him and it's the only way," he said.

"Well how bad could those lizards be?" asked Contrinus, "It's not like there's anyone here who's actually be on Sy-yong." Matt walked out at this. Techo rolled his eyes. "You experiments need people skills programmed in. How do you think we know about a classified incident?" he said.

Meanwhile, the gargoyles were gliding over to the abandoned facility. "Why would this place be of any importance?" asked Broadway. "Perhaps it contains something that is very important," said Goliath, "And not likely something harmless."

Inside the base's control center, Romanov and his two remaining employees sat at controls. "I gottem, boss. Bearing 3 by 32," said one. The other was twitching. "Wh-what the hell were those things in the cells, man? They had NSC marine uniforms on...but...but..." he said gibbering. Romanov ignored him. "Wait for zem to get inside then seal ze..." The calmer goon suddenly tensed up. "NSC Pelican approaching, orders?" he said. Romanov glared. "Ok, let zem land, then activate perimeter weapons, kill zem."

As Matt slid down the rope and onto the roof he said, "Be quiet, we can't let them know we're here." Quite soon afterwards, Morph apparently missed the rope and fell down with a loud 'yipe' before splatting on the roof.

Techo aimed his battle rifle around and the flashlight highlighted a line of scratches, in the steel of the landing pad. "Er...Matt?" he said. Matt looked at it while the others got off the hovering dropship. "Ok, you got the cryo-bullets?" he said. Techo nodded but a boom got everyone's attention. Two railgun rounds from a rising turret went clean through the dropship's cockpit, blowing it apart. A second later, two SAM's from another turret blew the rest to rubble. Without hesitation, the turrets switched to their machineguns and opened fire on the group.

Romanov laughed happily as he saw the marines scatter and run for the ramp down into the main complex. "Seal zem in and begin the lock timers and turn on the P.A system," he said, leaning back. He felt even happier when he saw that the apparent leader was Mr. Lynch. He'd be able to kill all his enemies on one go. It was like it was Romanov's birthday.

The last marine rolled down the ramp close behind Kala and Draco. "Ok, I think Romanov's definitely in system control," said Wilson sarcastically. "No, ya think?" said Draco. "Stow it, Draco," said Kala, "We have to put those guns out of commission before they blast them to pieces." "We gotta get to system control," said Techo. "We're lucky they hadn't got the napalm mortars online," he said as a wail got everyone's attention. A huge blastdoor was rising from the floor rapidly.

The clan heard faint human voices, speaking what sounded like gibberish. (NSC standard). Broadway peered round the corner to see Matt and the gang crowded together, debating how best to find System control. They didn't see the gargoyles as they hadn't yet grown accustomed to the gloom inside the base.

"Who are these guys?" asked Broadway. "And more importantly, are they allies or enemies?" asked Angela. They got a slight shock when the creatures and one of the humans suddenly got glowing green eyes. Matt and Draco were the first to spot them. "Over there," Matt said, pointing, glad that he still had experiment night vision, even if it wasn't as powerful as a full experiment's. "Shouldn't be too hard to take care of them," said Draco as he breathed ice at them.

Matt threw up a plasma shield as the gargoyles scattered before rounding, angrily. "They aren't infected," whispered Techo to Draco. "What's the big idea?" yelled Brooklyn angrily, eyes glowing. Matt glared, never taking kindly to being spoken to like that and was about to reply when Romanov's voice came from the speakers. "Ah...ve have all made ze introductions, Da?" he said

"Romanov!" yelled Matt and Goliath at the same time. They paused and asked each other, "You know him?" "Oh, I see ve have not yet had proper greetinks. Oh vell, it's more appropriate to say goodbye." Matt gulped. "If you are wishink to know how you vill be killed, ask Mr. Lynch. He knows my new...employees better zen anyvon...HAHAHA..." he said, terminating the link. "Well, that bodes." said Wilson, aiming his rifle around.

"What manner of monstrosity is he unleashing?" asked Goliath. "Something I really hoped I wouldn't have to deal en masse again," said Matt. Brooklyn glared. "What do you mean, again?" he said. Matt glared back and made a slight mistake, he ignored Brooklyn, turning to the gang. "Cover the tunnels, the vents, everything a person can fit in, even if it seems unlikely. Techo, load up the cryo..." he said and was interrupted as Brooklyn spun him round to face him.

"I said, what do you mean again?" demanded Brooklyn, his eyes glowing. "If I stopped for explanations now, they'll be on us before we can defend ourselves," said Matt. And with that, the infected that had been watching from the balcony with reptilian interest, chose that moment to leap on the gargoyle, clearing Matt and pushing the merc back. Brooklyn struggled to hold the infected away, the two matched, strength-wise until there was a silky noise. The infected looked confused and then its head fell off. Matt stood behind it, holding his ion staff. "I really hate those things," he said, helping get the prone infected off Brooklyn. "CONTAC...ARRGH!" yelled a marine who was dragged by his head into a vent with a scream. More cries rang out as the rest of the infected, furious that one of their number had been killed, leapt from their hiding places.

"So long as these are not magic," said Hudson as he drew his sword, "I think we can take them." "You don't need magic to be deadly," said Chip. "Quite true, lad, ye are a lad right?" "Actually, I'm dead center, but referring to me as a male saves a lot of trouble," said Chip as he decked an infected that was sneaking up on him.

The infected shrugged it off and forced Chip to narrowly dodge a punch that smashed the concrete like it was polythene. Matt shot one infected between the eyes and blasted another with a plasma blast, both shuddering as they began to self-heal. Techo emptied a clip of Cryo-rounds into another, freezing it solid, till the ice evaporated.

The infected grinned toothily and threw the merc into Wilson before helping two of his fellows mob another marine. "Fall back or we're dead, or worse," yelled Matt, blasting the leg off another infected who was leaping at Broadway. The infected weren't about to make it easy, forcing the group to split up and head down separate corridors; Brooklyn, Matt, Wilson, Chip, two of the surviving marines and Kala in one, and the others down another.

Techo was running in front. "Don't look back...and don't let em scratch you," he yelled, firing a burst over his shoulder, catching an infected who was leaping at Mark, in mid air. Draco picked up Morph and shook him. "You're the one with all the experiments' powers." He pointed him at the infected and said, "Use them." Morph was slightly dizzy from the shaking and ended up becoming Swirly.

The infected stopped, and started making a 'hss hss hss' noise, it was laughing. Right up till Swirly-Morph hit him with both barrels, so to speak. The infected keeled over, tripping two of its fellows who turned on it. With a chill, Draco recognized the uniform on one as one of the marines who had been mobbed earlier.

"Time to make like birds and fly this coop," said Lexington. To his surprise, the infected suddenly started flapping their arms and strutting around like chickens, with horrible impersonations of said fowl's cluck.

The infected marine then grinned and aimed its sidearm at Lex, only for Techo to shoot the door control, sealing the now angry infected off. "That ought to hold em for a bit," he said. "Hope the others are ok."

Meanwhile, Matt and his group weren't in a much better situation. He was at the back of the group, firing and was barely holding them back. He finally got a similar idea to Techo and shot the door control for the emergency bulkhead, sealing the infected of, at least for a while. He had no wish to have an accurate re-inaction of Sy-Yong, right down to his own infection.

"This infection shouldn't work against me, right?" said Brooklyn. "I'm not sure," said Chip, "but mixing infected DNA with, um, what are you again?" "Gargoyle," said Brooklyn. "Gargoyle? As in the water spouts carved as statues on cathedrals and castles?" said Chip. Brooklyn glared and punched an infected hard enough to send it back the length of the corridor. "Ooook, so that's a no," said Matt. Wilson fired at another, more cautious infected. "Talk later, guys," he yelled, running into a side room.

Chip and Kala quickly followed after him. As Brooklyn came after them, he asked, "And what are you two?" "Wrong time to go into detail," said Chip, "But in a nutshell, we're genetic experiments from another planet that's in another universe." Matt looked at Brooklyn's confused face. "You get used to it," he said cheerfully, "Name's Matthew, Matt to my buds and 'don't let him escape' to my enemies."

"I'm Brooklyn," said Brooklyn as he shook Matt's hand. "Huh, odd name your parents picked," commented Matt. "We gargoyles aren't usually named. It's kind of a long story." "Which we don't have time for," said Chip as the sound of claws against steel started getting louder. Matt glared, eyes going red before aiming his hand at a small hole an infected had just torn and sent a needle thin beam of plasma through, causing a shriek of pain. "I REALLY hate those guys," he said, walking past the trio. Kala looked at Brooklyn apologetically. "He has anger issues," she said.

Romanov as he watched the monitors, "This is so much fun. If only I had some popcorn." One of the goons walked up, "Sir, what if they get out into the city? The infected, I mean." "Who cares?" said Romanov, "Humans are not my concern. Ve'll be out of here long before the NSC come to glass this city." The goon looked at Romanov solemnly. He'd been recruited here, but then again, Romanov was the boss.

There's the first chapter of my new story. This is also my first two-parter chapter. I think this makes an appropriate cliffhanger. The gang and the clan trapped by the infected. How will they survive? Stay tuned for the next chapter to fine out. Please review.

On an additional note, this is my first Gargoyles fanfiction and I'm just getting into the series. So please excuse any errors concerning the continuity and the characterization.