Wagner's Vendetta

Chapter the Second (of three)

~Oh, God.~ Even the beauty of the sunset couldn't block its implications from Wagner's mind. "If _I'm_ Vinnie and Vinnie's _me_, then Vinnie just woke up as a gargoyle...Mein Gott. I _have_ to get over there _right now_!~

Wagner pulled out Vinnie's keys and examined them. No auto-maker's logo was stamped into the keys; no dealer's name was written on the worn leather key holder. He surveyed the parking lot ruefully. ~Nothing for it. I'll just have to try the doors of every vehicle until I find one that opens.~ Feeling like an idiot, Wagner tried the key in the door of the nearest vehicle, a shiny red Chevrolet Beretta. Nothing.

Wagner's eyes darted around the parking lot, checking for passersby. His night had been bad enough without getting charged with attempted auto theft on top of it. He proceeded to try an AstroVan, a Mercury Cougar, and a Honda Civic with no luck. Wagner tried to curse under his breath; a rather nasty-sounding word in a foreign language came out. Italian, he guessed. Great.

Wagner rounded the next vehicle, a Pontiac Sunfire, and found his clumsy human body tripping on the curb. He leaned against the front of the Pontiac to catch himself from falling. ~What kind of a schmuck is this Vinnie guy?~

Wagner examined the long row of cars ahead of him. He'd be here all night if he tried the door of each of them. He tried to guess what kind of car someone like Vinnie Gregarino might drive.

Down at the end of the row slouched a battered-up K-car which had once been painted a sickening snot-green, though most of the paint had rusted off. Wagner had a sudden flash of insight and smacked his forehead with his hand. "Wunderbar," he muttered, his thoughts coming out in German this time, although the voice had a terrible English accent.

He knew the keys would open the K-car before he even put one in the lock. Inside, the vehicle didn't look a whole lot better. The seats vomited stuffing, and there was a huge pile of takeout cartons in the passenger seat, everything from McDonald's and Taco Bell to Chinese and falafel. The car seemed to be held together with duct tape. Wagner considered looking under the hood, and then thought better of it. He sat down gingerly in the vehicle, the driver's seat tilting backwards under his weight as the rusted floor threatened to give way.

DON'T FORGET THE GUN IN THE TRUNK. Big red letters screamed up at him from the Post-It note in the middle of the steering wheel.

~Gun?~ What kind of guy was this Vinnie? What kind of gun? And who would leave a big note to tell anyone walking by that he had a firearm in his vehicle?

Wagner shrugged. He'd check it out later. Right now, he had to find his body. He turned the key in the K-car's ignition.

The engine whined in protest and finally sputtered to life. "Mein Gott, it works!" He could only cringe at the Anglicization of the German words.

Surprisingly, the radio worked too. "Next up is "Dangerous" by Roxette," the announcer proclaimed. The song he heard over the radio made him snort.

You pack your bag, you take control.
You're moving into my heart, and into my soul.
Get out of my way! Get out of my sight!
I won't be walking on thin ice to get through the night.
Hey, where's your work? What's your game?
I know your business but I don't know your name..."

"Well," Wagner Gregarino said, "I'm going to move my soul out of Mr. Vinnie as soon as I can!"

***

It took Wagner several minutes of driving and searching for street signs to find out exactly where in the city he was. After getting his bearings, he pulled into a convenience store parking lot, bought a map (the one in the K-car had a large section of town obliterated by an ancient stain that might have been caused by ketchup) and then, Wagner figured out how to get to his place from the store.

During the wild drive across town, Wagner found himself laying on the horn a lot--almost as much as he found himself praying that the K-car wouldn't suddenly up and stall in traffic with no warning. "I want my Mercedes!" he cried aloud for the millionth time.

Finally, Wagner turned the K-car into the lot of his own apartment building. He parked it, ironically, right beside his own black Mercedes. He had no key to the front door, but there were ways around that. He buzzed the intercom number of the apartment next to his.

"Yes?" a male voice answered.

"Hello, Mr. Yale," he said, trying to sound like his normal self. "It's Wagner--Richard Wagner. I, uh, forgot my keys. Can you lemme in?" He winced as that "lemme" slipped out.

"Sure," Brendan Yale mumbled, pressing the button that unlocked the front door.

"I've got to talk to them about security in this place," Wagner muttered as he took the elevator up to the top floor. He noticed that his new voice was emotional and shaky, unlike his old one. Wagner had spent his entire life trying to keep that cold edge out of his everyday speech. Now he missed it.

He stalked down the hall towards his apartment...at least as well as he could make Vinnie's body stalk, which really wasn't all that well. This body was far more suited to such activities as tripping on the carpet, which he did a few times. ~Herr Gregarino couldn't intimidate a housefly!~ Wagner thought to himself, relieved that at least his _thoughts_ still had a powerful edge behind them.

Wagner pounded on his door, disgusted at the pitiful amount of strength he could force out of Vinnie's arm. No response. He pressed his ear to the door and listened, but the apartment was silent. He banged on the door again. "Vinnie!" he yelled. "Vinnie, open up!" More banging.

The door down the hall opened, and that annoying blond neighbour of his stuck her head out. "Keep the noise down!" Margot snapped. "Other people have to live here too."

"I need to talk to him," Wagner said, trying to look stern and succeeding in looking like a schmuck. Margot replied by slamming the door.

"Vinnie!" he called, banging on the door again. "Open up! I can help you!"

Margot's door swung open. "There's no one there named Vinnie, and if you don't keep quiet, I'm going to call building security!" Her door slammed again, this time so hard that he felt the tremor in the floorboards.

~Great. Well, I'll go around the outside and...~

~No _wings_, genius. You aren't going in the balcony doors like this.~

Wagner sighed. ~I guess it's the Eyrie for me, then. Maybe Aashlee and Brooklyn will help.~

***

Demona peered out from under the hooded cloak she wore. Placing several bricks of C-4 plastic explosive with timers around Xanatos' warehouses was easy; there was hardly anyone on the docks tonight. Demona covered the explosives with litter and empty crates just in case an odd security guard was snooping around. There was no point in taking chances.

The effectiveness of the explosives really wasn't an issue. Damaging Xanatos' warehouses wouldn't hurt him nearly as much as what Jackal and Hyena would do. All she had to do was distract Xanatos and the gargoyles from the site of her true attack. The C-4, she judged, should do that just fine.

***

Sophia looked up with a puzzled expression on her face as Vinnie Gregarino walked through the Eyrie Building's main doors and right past her. He was wearing a pair of ripped jeans and a T-shirt, not his usual work uniform. Aside from that, though, Vinnie looked much the same as he did any other night: the same tousled hair, the same lanky frame, the same boyish gait. Tonight, though, an ironic little smile was playing around his lips. Sophia had never seen Vinnie with that expression before.

"Vinnie! Wait up!" she called.

Vinnie wheeled around sharply to face her. No casual "Uh, how's it goin', Soph?" No blushing and staring at the floor. He did stumble a little as his body came around, but overall, the movement was most un-Vinnie-like. She examined his face, and noticed something unusual in his eyes. He was examining her closely, as if sizing her up. Vinnie's eyes were far more alert than usual, their gaze almost confrontational. His usual warm, open expression (it always reminded her of a puppy) had changed into something hard and cold.

"Vinnie? Are you all right?" Sophia asked hesitantly.

Wagner examined her. ~Co-worker,~ he judged. ~He does work here...ach, scheiss, he's probably supposed to be on shift now!~

~Sophia!~ The thought was not his own. ~Gee, she's pretty...~

"Sophia?" he said softly.

"What is it?" she answered.

~That's his thoughts,~ Wagner decided. ~Vinnie's thoughts.~ He snickered to himself. ~Vinnie likes her.~ Then, he abruptly sobered up. ~I can't let her know what's happened.~

"I'm sorry," he said, resting his forehead in his palm. "I'm just...not feeling like myself tonight."

~Boy, is _that_ the understatement of the year,~ Wagner thought to himself.

Sophia bustled over and took his arm. "Are you sure you're all right?" she asked with concern. "Maybe you should take the night off."

"Actually, I've got to see Mr. Xanatos. It's really important."

"Gregarino!" A large, burly man stomped over. "You're late! Again. Where's your uniform? You're getting five demerit points for this, buster, and if you screw up one more time this week, you are FIRED!"

Wagner snapped to attention. "Sorry, sir. It won't happen again, sir."

The supervisor raised an eyebrow. Vinnie might be late, and out of uniform, but he'd never sounded so sharp. This Vinnie reminded him of an army recruit.

"Yeah, well, it better not. Get a uniform from supply, and bring it back tomorrow," he grouched, and stomped away.

***

Wagner paced impatiently, waiting for the other guards to be distracted. He'd been polite but distant towards Sophia, and finally excused himself, saying he had a headache and needed a little time to himself. The second no one was paying attention to him, he jumped in the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor of the Eyrie.

***

Hudson was easy to find. One simply listened for the sound of the television and followed it to its source. Tonight, Hudson was not alone in the T.V. room; Aashlee and Brooklyn were sitting side-by-side on the couch, holding hands and talking to one another. Wagner peeked his head in the door. "Hudson?"

Brooklyn's head came up and around to look at him. "Uh, guys? Don't look now, but we've got company." He jumped to his feet, wings spreading defensively.

"You again!" Hudson gasped, recognizing Vinnie Gregarino.

"You know him?" Aashlee asked.

"Aye. You're the one who hit Goliath with a cream pie."

"It's me, Wagner!" the scraggly young man said. "Hudson, I'm in the body of someone called Vinnie Gregarino!"

Aashlee tilted her head comically. "Vati?"

"Yeah, yeah. What do I have to do to prove it?"

"Who's the leader of the Illuminati?" Brooklyn asked.

"Mephistopheles von Sturm."

"When did you adopt me?" Aashlee chimed in.

"1944." Technically, Aashlee was only 38 gargoyle years old. She'd been frozen in stone from 1945 to 1975. No one would guess that year from her physical age.

Hudson nodded. "How many have ye killed in your lifetime?"

The young man's face grew cold, his eyes gleaming with anger. "I'll never tell," he growled, "and I have no idea what makes you think you know the answer."

The old gargoyle turned to Brooklyn. "That's our Wagner."

Aashlee's face wore an expression of disbelief. "What happened?"

"I wish I knew, liebchen." Wagner's frame sagged against the wall. "I woke up--at 7 pm, no less--like this. In the body of Vincent "Vinnie" Gregarino. I can't get into my apartment and I'm afraid that Vinnie is somehow stuck in _my_ body."

"Invasion of the Body Swappers," Brooklyn cracked.

"There's nothing funny about this," Wagner hissed. "I have no idea what Vinnie's up to with my body."

"We'll go over and check it out," Aashlee pledged. "Come on."

As Brooklyn and Aashlee took off for Wagner's apartment, the gargoyle-turned-human flopped down on the sofa and asked, "Where is everyone?" Wagner really didn't want the griffin to see him like this.

"Angela took Bronx to the park for some exercise," Hudson explained, "and Lexington is on patrol with Broadway. Griff and Goliath went to Elisa's, to visit her before she had to go on duty."

"Duty!" Wagner groaned. "Vinnie's supposed to be on security duty at the front doors. I suppose I'd better return his body to his post." Wagner dragged himself..._Vinnie's_ self...to his feet and limped his way down the hall.

"Never a dull moment," Hudson mumbled under his breath.

***

Aashlee punched in the numerical code, and Wagner's balcony door whirred as the mechanism unlocked. The female gargoyle cast a glance over her shoulder at Brooklyn, who was perched on Wagner's balcony railing, and then tentatively slid the door open.

Wagner's apartment was silent. It looked much as it always did--a comfortable couch, ornamental beer stein in a convenient place on the end table, a desk with several sheafs of paper on it, the music to Beethoven's Fur Elise on the piano in the corner, a tidy dinner table, and a tastefully displayed collection of WWII memorabilia.

Something, however, was not quite right. The living room and kitchen were in darkness, but the hall light was lit. Brooklyn and Aashlee advanced cautiously, even though the apartment sounded deserted.

"Cover the hall," Aashlee whispered to Brooklyn as she darted to the well-locked store room where Wagner kept his personal arsenal. She gave the door a quick once-over. Undamaged. She keyed the code pad and peeked inside. Nothing seemed to have been touched; the weapons were arrayed the same as they always were. Just in case, she picked up one of Wagner's Luger handguns, loaded it, and closed the door again, depressing the LOCK button.

"I thought you swore off weapons," Brooklyn said as he saw what his girlfriend carried in her hand. It had taken the clan several months to get Aashlee to accept that gargoyles should not carry firearms, not merely for tradition's sake, but also because armed gargoyles would certainly provoke more fear and resentment from the humans of the city. She had seen the logic of this argument, and, having never lived with a clan before, she had been willing to adopt this custom. Wagner was something else again. Brooklyn supposed that if he had as many enemies as Wagner, he would probably carry a gun around too.

"Yeah," Aashlee answered, "but I'm not taking any chances now." She looked at the expression of concern on Brooklyn's face. "I'll leave the safety on if it'll make you feel better."

"Okay," Brooklyn agreed, and side by side they crept down the hall.

In Wagner's bedroom, the bed was unmade, the covers thrown back by someone evidently in a hurry. Chips of stone skin were scattered across the mattress. "Our friend was here, all right," Aashlee whispered. "Vati always cleans the stone out of his bed."

"Great. He's probably gone."

"Then how will we find him?" she demanded, a little louder. "He could be anywhere in the city!"

That was when a low moan came from the direction of the bathroom. The two gargoyles jumped and looked back over their shoulders. Cautiously, they proceeded towards the bathroom. Brooklyn pushed the door in while Aashlee covered him with the handgun, ready to flick off the safety and pull the trigger...

Another groan. There was Wagner, lying on the floor, wings crumpled beneath him, rubbing the back of his head with his hand and looking very dazed. A large bruise was forming on the side of his face.

"Vati?" Aashlee whispered, letting the gun barrel sag to point at the floor.

The confused eyes fixed on them. "AAUGH! Gargoyles!" Vinnie cried, scrambling backwards. His hand rested on the enamel of the bathtub ledge. The enamel was slick and his hand slipped, dumping him over backwards into the tub. His head hit the cold water handle and a spray of icy water began to descend on him.

Brooklyn peered into the bathtub and turned the water off.

"Don't hurt me, please, just go away," Vinnie whimpered.

"What have you done to my father?" Aashlee snapped.

Vinnie peeked up at her. "I dunno! I didn't do nothing!" Just then he caught a glimpse of a long black wing..._his_ wing. Vinnie screamed. Brooklyn rolled his eyes.

"Change me back," Vinnie pleaded as he scrambled to his knees in the slippery wet tub, scrabbling on all fours to keep from slipping. "I'll do anything, please, just change me ba-a-ack!" Tears streamed from the corners of his eyes as he looked pleadingly up at Aashlee and Brooklyn. "I swear I'll never say nothin' bad about gargoyles ever again!"

"We didn't do this," Aashlee snapped. "But if I ever find out who did..." Her eyes started to redden and she tightened her grip on the gun.

Vinnie gasped and jerked his body--~actually, it's Wagner's body,~ Brooklyn thought--backwards. "Aash, put the gun down," Brooklyn murmured. She looked at him, but obeyed, sliding the Luger into the pocket of her cutoff denim shorts.

Brooklyn took Vinnie's trembling hands in his. Vinnie flinched, but did not pull away. "Right now," Brooklyn said quietly, "you are in the body of Aashlee's father. Her father is in your body."

"Wha?" Vinnie asked, trying to assimilate this information. "You mean, I'm in a gargoyle's body..."--~I know that,~ he thought--"...but a _gargoyle_ is in _my_ body? Right now?"

Brooklyn nodded yes. "I don't know who did this," the beaked gargoyle said, "but we're going to find out, and we're going to get you back in your proper bodies."

Aashlee continued to stare at her father's body. The wide-eyed expression of puzzlement in the eyes was completely out of place, and she had never thought that Wagner's face was capable of registering such bewilderment. The man who now had possession of Wagner's body could not possibly be a threat. "Trust us," she murmured, "we aren't going to do anything to hurt you. We want things back to normal, just like you do."

As Brooklyn helped Vinnie out of the tub, Aashlee said, "I don't suppose you can use those wings?"

"You mean...fly? Like flap 'em, and fly?" His face went white.

"That would be a no," Brooklyn said sarcastically.

"Great," Aashlee replied, just as sarcastically. "We can't exactly walk down the hall and out the front door like this. You would not _believe_ the two losers who moved in next door."

"Wagner...uh...what _is_ your name?" Brooklyn asked.

"Vinnie," Wagner-Vinnie said weakly.

"Okay, Vinnie. If you can find your way out to the parking lot, we'll meet you there."

***

Three. Two. One.

Under an abandoned crate, lying beside Xanatos Enterprises warehouse 3B, at the docks near the river, the timer hit zero.

BOOM! The explosives went off almost simultaneously, and the glass in other warehouse windows shattered for a half mile in all directions. Terrified citizens phoned police, all reporting the same thing--the warehouses were in flames.

Goliath and Griff were swooping down to land on the top of the Eyrie Building. Hudson ran out of the castle to greet them. "Goliath!" he called. "We've got a problem..."

BOOM!

"What was that?" Hudson cried.

"It sounds just like the Blitz," Griff said, "except there's no aircraft engines."

Hudson's head turned automatically in the direction of the explosion. Smoke and a telltale glow were clearly visible from their vantage point. "The warehouses. Near the river," Hudson responded. Wagner's difficulty had temporarily slipped from his mind.

Goliath spread his great wings. "Broadway and Lexington are on the other side of town. So is the park where Angela took Bronx. Let's go!"

As they took to the sky, Hudson said, "What about Brooklyn and Aashlee? They went over to Wagner's."

"Have they got a radio?"

"I don't think so, lad."

"Then we have no means of getting in contact with them and we haven't got time to go there and get them. We must get to the warehouse."

"Goliath, Wagner's in a great difficulty."

"Let him deal with it himself then," Griff snapped. "People might need us at the warehouses and I'm not going to waste my time on a murderer anyway."

"What manner of difficulty?" Goliath asked.

"He's been magically transformed into a human," Hudson replied.

"Is he hurt?"

"No. Closer to annoyed."

On Goliath's left, Griff was snickering. "I say, that must look good on him."

Goliath ignored the griffin. "As long as Wagner is not in danger, his problem can wait. We have something more serious to deal with now."

***

Vinnie looked around the parking lot nervously. There was a sudden rush of wings, and he jumped. There beside him were the two gargoyles he had seen in the apartment--the red beaked one, who had devil-like horns, long white hair, a long tail, and wore a loincloth, and the white female, who wore a somewhat more substantial pink crop top, denim shorts, and a cropped denim jacket. Her hair, shorter than the male's, was shoulder length and bright pink in colour, with a pale turquoise streak coming down from each temple. Vinnie supposed that if it wasn't for her short, back-curving horns, four-clawed feet, and the little stubby tail that fell to her knees, he might mistake her for a human teenager.

The female reached for him, and reflexively he shook to see the clawed hand coming his way. He noticed that her little finger on this hand had been amputated, and, unlike the red male, she had as many fingers as a human. She thrust her hand into his jacket pocket--well, actually the jacket belonged to the body's owner--and retrieved a set of car keys.

"We're good to go," Aashlee said.

"You know how to drive?" Brooklyn asked, impressed.

Aashlee nodded, putting the key in the driver's door of a shining black 1998 Mercedes-Benz.

"Aash," Brooklyn said, "are you sure we should do this?" Wagner's car looked very new and very, very lovingly cared for.

"Vinnie can't fly and we can hardly walk back to the Eyrie looking like this," Aashlee argued.

"Yeah, well, I guess you got a point," Brooklyn conceded, and clambered into the back seat of the Mercedes.

Vinnie settled himself into the passenger seat of Wagner's vehicle. "Hey, nice car," he said, looking around.

"I'd _rather_ take his 1940 staff car," Aashlee muttered, "but he parks that at Macbeth's."

"Wagner would go ballistic!" Brooklyn laughed. "He'd never let you drive his staff car. Lex popped the hood once, and oh, man, you shoulda seen Wagner's face! Lex thought he was gonna shoot him!"

"Yeah, well, we have a good excuse for doing this. You guys have to defend me, okay?" She grinned widely and started the engine.

Brooklyn's face abruptly fell. "You mean you've never done this before?" he demanded. "I thought you said you know how to drive!"

"A motorcycle," she retorted.

"A motorcycle's not the same as a car," Vinnie said, finally getting up the nerve to talk to the gargoyles of his own volition.

"Cars have wheels, right? They have motors and gas pedals and headlights, right? It can't be _that_ hard. Humans do it all the time."

"Vinnie?" Brooklyn asked.

"Yeah?"

"It was nice knowing you."

"Um...yeah. Thanks. You, too."

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Vinnie and Brooklyn screamed in unison as Aashlee threw the car in reverse and stamped on the gas, swinging the wheel around. The front of the Mercedes nosed into the driver's door of the Lexus parked on the left hand side while the bumper of a jeep scraped a line down the Mercedes' body.

Wagner's car rocketed backwards into traffic, narrowly missing a taxicab who swerved around the Mercedes just in time. The car's machinery squealed and the vehicle jerked wildly as Aashlee threw the still-moving car into first. A van driver laid on the horn; his companion leaned out the window to give Aashlee the finger. Aashlee rolled down the window and stuck her head out, hissing at the man with her eyes glowing red. The man's finger drooped and he hastily withdrew back into his own vehicle.

"Slow down!" Brooklyn hollered. ~Never thought I'd say that, but...~

"We've got to get there quickly!" Aashlee retorted, sticking her head back between the front seats to glare at him.

"Watch where you're going!" Vinnie gasped.

"Gentlemen," she said between clenched teeth, "welcome to the Aashlee Express."

***

The doors opened, and two hooded figures came in from off the street. "May I help you?" the guard on duty at the desk asked politely. Beside him, two other guards reached for their clubs. Mr. Xanatos had many odd visitors, but those concealing capes disturbed the guards. These two could be hiding something.

"No," said a smooth, sliding male voice. "We'll just help ourselves."

"Yeah," added the other. This one was female, harsh and unpleasant to the ear. "Which way to the sub basement?"

"The sub basement requires a security pass," the guard said firmly.

"Well, now, isn't that too bad," said the male figure. An odd red light shone from under his hood.

"We make our own security passes!" cried the female, throwing off her cape.

Her hair was short and spiky, except for two long tufts in front of her ears. Her lips were blood red. Her clothing--a crop top, long pants and boots, long gloves that reached her shoulders--was made of some kind of gold metallic material. She stepped forward, and Wagner could hear the whirring of gears. No, not metallic material--metal. Her limbs were made of metal. Her stomach, shoulders and face were flesh.

The second one threw off his cloak as well. He had the same metal limbs as the female, plus a metal-plated torso. He also boasted a red cybernetic eye. His hair, though shorter on top, was similar to his companion's. In fact, their flesh components bore a family resemblance.

"What _are_ they?" Sophia asked.

~Trouble,~ Wagner thought. "Get back!" he cried to Sophia, with only a slight hesitation before the words made their way out of Vinnie's mouth.

"Stop those things!" the head guard ordered, drawing his club and advancing.

"We have to sound the alarm," Sophia said with determination, running towards the front desk console.

Hyena dodged the swing of the head guard's club, picked him up, and threw him into his two charging compatriots, sending them all flying against the wall. "Strike!" she yelled, and laughed maniacally.

"Mr. Xanatos," Sophia gasped into the intercom.

"Mr. Xanatos is away on business at the moment," Owen's voice came back.

"I'm gettin' out of here!" yelped the last guard, running for the door.

"Leaving so soon?" Jackal asked mockingly, and lashed out with his left foot. At first glance, it seemed that the fleeing man was out of range--but then Jackal's leg telescoped out to twice its original length and tripped the guard, sending him sprawling across the floor. Jackal's arm telescoped out too, picked the man up, and tossed him on top of his fallen compatriots.

"Two robot creatures," Sophia gasped. "We can't stop them! Call the police and send help!"

Having taken care of the active resistance, Jackal's eyes scanned the room and focused on Sophia. "No one likes a tattle tale," he hissed.

Wagner placed himself--or rather, Vinnie's body--between Jackal and Sophia. "Don't touch her," Wagner snapped.

"And how do you think you're going to stop me?" he asked. Wagner pulled Vinnie's kitchen knife from his pocket, holding it defensively, and Jackal laughed.

The elevator doors pinged open. Hyena took one look at the figure standing there and burst out laughing. "Well, now, if it isn't our fearless leader."

"Jackal. Hyena," Fox growled. She was dressed in a sweater and jeans, but her eyes had all the fierceness of a mother bear protecting its cubs. "Get out of my building."

"Your building?" Jackal asked. "You wouldn't have any of this if your rich husband hadn't have given it to you."

"Yeah," Hyena retorted. "And that means we have just as much right to it as you do."

"This is _my_ home," Fox replied, her eyes narrowing.

"I thought we used to be a team," Jackal replied, "and being a team means you share--though I suppose you wouldn't know about that. Not if it's more convenient to leave us in jail while you married your prince and moved into a castle in the clouds."

"You left us to rot," Hyena snapped, "and you're going to be sorry!" She growled and popped her arms into spider-mode. Moments later, razor-sharp claws lashed the space where Fox had stood. Fox, however, was no longer there. She jumped into the air, dodging the swipe, and descended with one leg thrust out, knocking Hyena over backwards with a kick.

Sophia, meanwhile, had been fumbling with a code on the lowest drawer of the front desk. She finally got it to open. "Vinnie! Catch!" she called, and threw something his way.

It fell a few feet short and skittered across the floor. Wagner recognized the type instantly. Beretta 9 mm handgun. Not his personal weapon of choice, but a gun was a gun. Sophia's next toss was a box of ammunition, which Wagner loaded into the gun as quickly as Vinnie's trembling hands would allow. He cursed this human body. When the gun was loaded, he afforded himself a quick look up.

Fox, Wagner judged, was doing well. ~But I wouldn't put any money on her. Maybe in an exo-frame, but not in a sweater and jeans, not against these two.~

Jackal had left Fox to Hyena for the moment and was advancing towards Sophia. "Well," Wagner said under his breath, "let's see if we can even the odds some." He raised his arm, taking the male cyborg in his sights. Jackal looked him in the eye and curled his lip up in a snarl.

He had a clear shot. So...why was he having so much trouble lining up on his target? His gun hand was shaking and refused to stay still. Wagner struggled with Vinnie's arm, trying to hold the Beretta steady. Jackal crouched, preparing to spring. Wagner closed Vinnie's eyes and fired.

He forced an eye open immediately, just in time to see a puff of concrete behind the cyborg.

Missed.

~I _missed_??~

Wagner couldn't remember the last time he'd completely missed a target that was so close. ~How could I have missed a shot like that?~

"Whoa, how'd I miss that?" came out of Vinnie's mouth.

~Never mind. You missed. That's fact. Deal with it and decide what to do now!~

Jackal was coming up on him fast, a nasty set of sharp blades protruding from his fingers. Wagner squeezed off a shot, aiming for Jackal's heart--or at least, the area where a human being's heart would be. The bullet simply bounced off the metal plating that covered Jackal's shoulder. He laughed and clawed out at him.

~I can't shoot!~ Wagner was close to panic; his greatest defense had suddenly gone without warning. Wagner tried to run, but Vinnie's clumsy feet caught the edge of the carpet and stumbled. The accident saved him, as Jackal's claws whistled above his head.

"Leave him alone, you monster!" Sophia cried, tearing the desk phone free of its cord and pitching it at Jackal. It struck him on the side of the head.

"Ow!" the cyborg complained, leaving Wagner-Vinnie time to scramble to his feet and run to Sophia's side.

Fox, meanwhile, was fighting bravely, but she knew she wouldn't be getting any backup. ~Of all the nights for Bruno to take the Xanatos Corporate Guard out on maneuvers...and where are those miserable gargoyles when we need them?~ She ducked a slash from Hyena's buzz-saw arms and delivered a kick to her former teammate's unarmoured stomach. ~I have to keep fighting...and hope the gargoyles get here in time.~

Jackal was advancing again. Wagner yelled and charged to meet him. As Jackal approached, Wagner took hold of the cyborg's left arm and dropped to a crouch, hoping that Jackal's momentum would cause him to flip right over Wagner's back.

Unfortunately, Vinnie's body wasn't half as strong as Wagner's gargoyle one. All Wagner succeeded in doing was pulling Jackal downwards, causing the cyborg to miss a step and stop his charge. Wagner looked up to see Jackal leering down at him.

~Uh-oh.~ Wagner's stomach dropped. He struck out desperately with the kitchen knife, but it bounced harmlessly off the metal of Jackal's arm.

The next moment, Wagner was flying through the air as if gravity had suddenly taken the day off. Wagner's brain sent out a signal to spread his wings and lessen the fall, but Vinnie's body had no wings to obey the command. Wagner landed against the wall with a thud.

~Now I know how the other side feels...uuugh.~ The world went gray, and Wagner struggled not to lose consciousness completely.

Fox and Hyena had been trading blows, taking turns throwing one another to the ground. It had most recently been Hyena's turn, and the female cyborg was still struggling to untangle her limbs when Jackal took hold of Sophia's shoulder. Sophia struggled, but she could not break his hold. Jackal's eyes lit up like a young boy about to torture a cat. He let three long blades slide out of his fingers.

"Never thought I'd be a hero again," Fox muttered as she lashed out with her foot and clipped Jackal behind the knees. He staggered, releasing Sophia. The security guard retreated around the desk, snatching a club from one of her fallen compatriots as she went.

Unfortunately, Fox had still been distracted when Hyena got to her feet. Hyena seized her from behind and threw her headfirst into the wall. "Don't worry, I'm sure your husband will pay for any damage done," Hyena snarled. She surveyed her former teammate. "Or buy himself a new wife." Her maniacal laugh split the room.

"Mrs. Xanatos!" Sophia gasped, feeling like a failure. Her job was to protect this building and its occupants. As Hyena sauntered over to Fox, clicking her claws, Sophia hurled the club and struck Hyena in the head. The club made a distinct tinny sound when it hit. Sophia's feeling of elation at her direct hit turned to fear as a very angry Hyena turned towards her.

Wagner was not resisting, and so Jackal was ignoring him. ~Weapon. I need a weapon,~ Wagner thought.

The answer came to him in big red letters on a Post-It note. DON'T FORGET GUN IN TRUNK.

~What _kind_ of gun?~

~Let's just hope it's got more power than this pea-shooter,~ he thought ruefully, looking down at the Beretta. Painfully, he climbed to his feet, leaning against the wall for support.

"Vinnie, help!" Sophia's cry cut across the room as Hyena smacked her across the face. She collapsed to the ground from the force of the blow.

Jackal had forced the elevator doors open and was about to proceed to his destination. "Hurry up, sis," he snarled.

"Just a minute," Hyena chortled, looking down at Sophia Lorenz. The security guard was pinned to the floor, her legs trapped between Hyena's feet and her spiked heels that had extended out of her feet to form piton-like spikes. Two spinning buzzsaws churned out of Hyena's elbows. "I've got a security guard to take care of."

The left buzzsaw began to descend. Sophia screamed.

Wagner Gregarino glared up at Hyena, a crazed light in his eyes. "Hey, lady, your momma was a snowblower!"

"What?" Hyena demanded.

~I've got to save Sophia. Got to lure those two out of the building--towards the car.~ He staggered forward, picking up an ornamental pen set off the receptionist's desk and throwing it at her. "You heard me, diesel breath." Wagner pointed at the buzzsaws. "You cut your own hair with those?" he snickered. "Sure looks like it."

Hyena's eyes were wide with shock; then, they narrowed in rage. "Why you little..."
He pitched a vase full of flowers at Jackal. "You too, buddy-o. Your daddy shoulda read the instructions before he assembled you!"

"Get him!" Jackal growled.

Wagner opened fire on Jackal. The Beretta didn't cause any lasting damage--in fact, Wagner didn't think any of the bullets actually hit; Vinnie's aim was the pits--but the hail of bullets was annoying enough to lure the cyborg out of the elevator and towards him.

Wagner didn't dare shoot at Hyena for fear of hitting Sophia. Maybe his old body could have managed it, but not this one. Instead, he fired at Jackal until he ran out of bullets and then bounced the empty gun off Hyena's head. It was the first direct hit he'd made all night.

"What's your boyfriend say if you forget to oil yourself before a date?" he asked nastily.

"Oooh, that's it!" Hyena abandoned Sophia, charging towards Wagner with murder in her eyes.

~No kidding, that's it.~ With two homicidal cyborgs charging at him, Wagner did the only sensible thing--he turned and ran for the door as fast as he could go.

Jackal fired a volley of finger-spikes at the fleeing Wagner, but he avoided them, more thanks to a fortunate turn of the revolving door and less to Vinnie's agility. The door, however, slowed Jackal and Hyena down. Jackal waited for the door to revolve around to admit him; Hyena was too impatient to wait for a slot of her own and simply wrapped herself into cannonball form, careening right through the glass and metal. While unwrapping, she tripping herself on a twisted pipe and landed atop her brother. It gave Wagner the time he needed to reach the K-car.

Wagner struggled with the keys and finally forced the trunk open. It groaned in complaint as Wagner flung it skyward with every bit of strength in Vinnie's body.

~Please let there be a gun here.~

He had to protect Sophia and Fox. Even if he died, they were safe; but he wouldn't die without fighting. He just wanted something decent to fight with...

In the bottom of the trunk was a generic grey gym bag. It was only half zipped up, and in the bottom Wagner could see a long, wide cylinder...yes, that was a _barrel_...the largest gun barrel he'd ever seen, and he'd seen more than his share.

"It's a goddamn missile launcher," Wagner breathed in German. ~One of those antitank things...~

~Antitank?~ He caught himself laughing. ~This thing could blow up a 747.~

~What the hell kind of guy _is_ this Vinnie?~

He'd think about that later. Right now, he couldn't be happier to see a powerful, hideously illegal weapon of destruction in the trunk of some schmuck's K-car. He hefted the gun--it was surprisingly light--and turned to face Hyena with a cold and evil smile on his lips.

"Come on, baby, light my fire."

Hyena's eyes widened in comical terror as she found herself on the business end of Mr. Carter. She was armoured, and she was repairable, but the weapon facing her was likely to leave her as nothing more than a smear of blood and grease on the pavement.

Vinnie's eyes were a warm brown, not crystal blue like Wagner's, but in that instant they turned to ice as Wagner's had done so many times before. Lips pressed together, he smiled and pulled the trigger.

SPLAT!

Hyena looked down with shock at the coconut cream splattered all across her stomach. Then she threw back her head and burst out laughing.

Wagner's face fell with utter dismay. He almost dropped the pie gun. His weapon was useless--worse than useless, a complete joke.

Well, he would die then. But he would die fighting. He was the master assassin of the Iron Clan of Bavaria, and the least he could do was buy time for the gargoyles, or the SWAT team, or the Xanatos Corporate Guard, or anyone else to arrive and deal with Jackal and Hyena.

His eyes shifted to the cyborgs. They were both advancing, with unholy grins on their faces.