"And you're sure of this?" Goliath asked. "They just… disappeared?"
"We've been over this five times!" growled Lexington, "how many more times do you need to hear what happened!"
It was an hour after sunset and immediately after awakening Goliath began to question Brooklyn and Lexington about the events in the movie theater.
"What concerns me," said Elisa who was leaning against a parapet "is the fact that they seemed concerned about taking life from their victims. What did she call those spider things again Lex?"
"Harvesters!" replied Lexington. "This 'Ebony' woman called them harvesters."
"Makes sense," murmured Elisa, her hand on her chin as the thought for a moment. "Especially after what Captain Chavez told me this morning."
"Told yeh what Lass?" asked Hudson, climbing the tower stairs with Bronx at his side.
"That these things have been attacking people before," said Elisa, a tone of weariness in her voice. "The captain didn't take is seriously because it's been drugged-out junkies and psychotic vagrants who've been attacked. They just figured it was due to the drugs or their mental conditions that made them hallucinate monsters."
"They've attacked before?" asked Goliath, a tone of anger just barely discernable in his voice.
"Yeah, I'm afraid so," said Elisa. "They're getting bolder apparently. This is the first time they've attacked a large group in a public place, but the details are all the same. Spider shaped monsters that leave their victims drained and are controlled by a woman who stands in the air. The only differences are that some said the woman has white hair, like we encountered, and black hair in other statements."
"So what are we going to do?" asked Angela, who had been listening in on the whole conversation. "We don't even know what these things are."
"Perhaps it would be a good idea to ask Xanatos," Goliath growled. "I'm sure that he could tell us exactly what is going on…"
-:-:-
"I assure you Goliath; I had nothing to do with this." David Xanatos's tone betrayed the injured air of a liar who for once has told the truth but was not believed. He paced back and forth in his office while Goliath, Elisa, Angela, and Hudson looked on. "Why would I create creatures that dissolve into ash and don't seem to put up much of a fight?" he said after a few moments lost in thought. "Besides, I haven't had any contact with Anton Sevarius for almost a year now."
"Though I hate to say this I am inclined to believe Xanatos," said Hudson. "From what we have been told this sounds more like the work of sorcery than science."
"This situation seams to have you more agitated than one might expect of you, Xanatos," said Goliath wryly. "You look more anxious than I have ever seen you."
"These things are threatening my city. I don't want to see any more harm come to innocents than you do Goliath," said David. "Besides, who says I can't be a hero every now-and-then?"
"I'll believe that when I see it," scoffed Goliath
"Do… do you think Demona could be behind these creatures?" Angela said, her voice trembling slightly.
"No, we can be quite sure that she is not," said Goliath, putting his hand on his daughters shoulder to reassure her. "Demona is not the type to trust a human sorcerer to do her bidding. No, this is something else altogether. Something we have never encountered before."
"Aye," said Hudson. "What these things are may not be as important as how we deal with them."
"Whatever they are," said Elisa, "finding these things is top priority right now. I'll keep you guys posted, but my shift starts in twenty minutes and I have to go." As Elisa left she placed her hand gently on Goliaths chest and looked pleadingly into his eyes. "Please, be careful big guy." She said, "This chick took down Brooklyn and Lexington with almost no effort using some sort of magic none of us are familiar with. We're in dangerous waters right now, and there's no telling what new surprises these things may have for us."
"We will be careful Elisa." Goliath said soothingly as he caressed Elisa's face. Elisa smiled at him before leaving the doorway.
"We need to figure out a pattern to these attacks if we're going to get anywhere in dealing with this problem," said David, now sitting at his desk with his chin resting on his interlaced fingers. "The big issue is their ability to teleport to and from their victims. Science is not up to par with this ability yet and I'm not familiar enough with magic to figure out how to track them. If we can find out where they are going to appear, we may be able to stop them before they get a chance to drain anyone."
"I am not so concerned with where they are going to, as where they are coming from," said Goliath. "If we can find where they nest, we can destroy them at the source."
"I hate to say this lad," said Hudson, "but that may well prove to be easier said than done…"
-:-:-
"I don't think we can handle this by ourselves," a rather shaken Brooklyn quipped as the gargoyles returned to Castle Wyvern one by one. "There's just too many of them."
"I hate to admit it, but you're right." Goliath sighed "We need help, and fast."
For the past four nights the gargoyles had been endlessly battling the harvester monsters. They were not too difficult to defeat, but there seemed to be no end to them.
"I'm open to any suggestions at this point," said Elisa as Broadway landed, carrying her in his arms. "The police are swamped with these things. We can't stop any street crime; we're so tied up with these Harvesters."
The gargoyles and Elisa stood for a moment in silence, no one speaking or even looking at one another. They stood for almost a minute until Angela spoke up. A thought had popped into her head that seemed so ridiculous that she cast it aside immediately, then retrieved and toyed with. The more she thought of it, the better it seemed to her.
"Avalon!" she exclaimed. Everyone present turned and looked at her, confusion plain in a couple of faces. "The rest of my rookery brothers and sisters on Avalon! There are more than thirty of them! Surely with that many gargoyles fighting these Harvesters and searching for their nest, one of us would be bound to find it!"
Goliath stared at her for a moment before a rare wide, toothy grin spread across his face. "I think you may have it," he said. "That was a very good suggestion Angela. Return to Avalon and bring back as many of your siblings as you can. I suggest you leave immediately. We don't have much more time and dawn approaches."
"Yeah, it's almost six AM," said Elisa, looking at her watch. "It's a good thing the sun rises later and sets earlier this time of year."
Angela said goodbye to the other gargoyles, and lingered especially long with Broadway. "I'll be back soon, my love," she whispered as he held her tight. "It's only for a couple days at most."
"Please hurry!" he pleaded, tears filling his large eyes.
As Angela prepared to leap from the tower Goliath stopped her. "Wait," he said, grasping the end of her tail, "Take Bronx with you. I would feel much better knowing you were not going alone."
Angela looked as though she were about to protest, but then smiled weekly. "Sure," she said, "I guess he needs the exercise."
Fifteen minutes later Angela and Bronx had arrived at a secluded spot in the central park lake where Goliath and Elisa had stashed the magical skiff that had taken them around the world before finally bringing them home. It was quite overgrown with several seasons' worth of dead creepers, but this was no problem for strong gargoyle claws.
Angela grunted as she lifted Bronx into the skiff. "Oof! Bronx, you need to loose some weight!"
Bronx looked up at her and grunt-whined mournfully. Angela felt a slight pang of guilt. This was not the first time Bronx gave her the impression that he understood exactly was others were saying to him.
"Sorry Bronx", she said, scratching him behind his large ears. Bronx woofed happily at her, clearly not upset by her comment. "Well, no time like the present," Angela said to herself. She picked up the punting pole and started pushing the skiff across the lake. Almost immediately the mists rose about them and carried them away to their destination.