A few hours later, dark fell and the gargoyles awoke. Megan stood at the threshold of the door way staring in amazement at the transformation that had taken place. Fox covered her mouth to hide her smile at Megan's expression. She looked like any other teen girl then and thought that perhaps, she was like any other...except she knew magic.
As the clan dispersed themselved inside the castle, not taking notice of the hiding girl behind Fox who they greeted, Fox called Goliath aside.
Megan then appeared at Fox's side smiling politely. "Hello Goliath."
"Megan," Golaith said in surprise to see the sorceress. He recovered immediately and greeted her with a good evening.
"So you do know her," Fox said with a hint of relief. Goliath nodded, looking Megan over as he compared her to the previous times they had met. Yes, this was the same sorceress that had helped Goliath and Elisa patch up their differences, though she denied having done any such thing. Same purple eyeshadow, shoulder length hair and covered in jewelry with emphasis on jewels.
"Did something happen?" he asked, wondering if another spell had gone wrong.
Megan looked indignant and stood with her fists on her jean clad hips. "Not to point fingers but my spells only 'go wrong' when someone or a group of someones interrupt me."
"Look out!"
"Heel Bronx!"
"Ah!" Megan exclaimed as she was bowled over onto the stone floor. It was a scene of chaos as several people tried to lug Bronx off his plastered licked-to-death victim who was trembling too much to attempt to move.
Goliath picked her up with ease and released her to her feet when she regained her balance. "Are you all right?" he asked, concerned she had been injured in the scuffle.
Megan rubbed the back of her head carefully. "Yes, mostly."
"Who is responsible?" Goliath growled at the assembly, which consisted of Brooklyn, Lex, Angela, and Broadway. Hudson had left them to feed Bronx while he secured his seat and channel of preference.
"No one is to blame," Brooklyn claimed. He explained that Broadway had gotten sausages from the freezer and Bronx had gotten hold of the tail end of the links. Well Broadway tried to juggle the other food stuffs and take the sausages back and before any of them could keep Bronx inside the kitchen he escaped. In a last ditch effort to stop him, Brooklyn launched himself at Bronx. Goliath stepped back at the same time as Fox, experience of the escapades and chases almost second nature. Unfortunately, Megan hadn't seen it coming.
Brooklyn pulled back with an alarmed cry, rubbing his left shoulder where Megan had landed a punch. "Who in their right mind flings themselves at a rampaging dog?! When people are around!"
Brooklyn was cut off from his apology by Megan letting out a hiss of pain. Fox had taken the chance of Megan's distraction to examin her head. "No broken skin, no cracked skull," she said gently to the sniffling teen, "It's not serious. You'll probably feel a bump but nothing to worry about."
"Really?" Megan asked Fox. "It hurts a lot."
"Well, you know, being bowled over by a gargoyle watch dog will do that," the red-haired woman answered in a joking tone.
"First time for everything," Megan agreed, then turned to face Brooklyn with a dead pan expression. "You should be more careful about stunts like that."
"Sorry," Brooklyn apologized, holding his hands up in defense against another punch or verbal attack. "It was an accident...you don't need to beat me up."
Megan nodded slowly, mindful of the throbbing pain in the back of her head, feeling light headed. "Apology accepted," she said through gritted teeth as the throbbing grew to a sudden pounding.
"Maybe we should go see a doctor, we have a medical facility in the castle," Fox suggested, feeling Megan's forehead. She was warmer than before.
Megan grabbed her head and clamped her mouth shut, emitting small whimpers.
Brooklyn caught her on one side while Fox grabbed from the other as she fell forward. Her brath came out shuddering and labored.
"The medical wing, hurry!" Fox instructed, handing the young sorceress to Goliath.
"For talking bold and doing magic, you're no Demona," a Puck-like tone spoke up behind Megan's closed eyes.
"Who's Demona?" Megan asked, squinting through the too bright room of where she lay. She must have passed out.
"You don't want to know," the three young gargoyle males said in unison to Angela's disapproval. They all stood outside the door, looking around Owen at her.
In his normal no-nonsense tone, Owen commented on her abnormal level of sugar intake which the doctor who had attended her had claimed to be one of the reasons she had a migraine attack.
"Everyone's got their quirk," she responded, giving the spectacled man a meaningful look. She blinked several times before her eyes became adjusted to the brightness. The headache had gone down to a minor pulse, easily ignored.
"Why did you not say anything?" Goliath asked her, coming into the room with Fox.
"I didn't think I'd be leaving home for one thing," she said, refering to her summons which Goliath was still in the dark about, "and when I got here I didn't think I'd be staying so long. But it's my fault. I wasn't feeling myself all day and I just ignored it. What time is it?"
"Almost nine," Angela answered, stepping forward with a glass of water.
Megan gasped and almost fell out of the bed as she tried to get up, causing Goliath to hold her back. "I'm so dead! I was supposed to have dinner ready! I have a test tomorrow! I'm supposed to be home right now!"
"Settle down before you hurt yourself," Fox told her, grabbing one of her flailing arms. "We'll get you home."
Megan complied and in 10 minutes was sitting in the back of nice black car on her way home with Brooklyn and Lexington acting as escorts above them. Back at the castle, Fox entered David Xanatos' office and practically flopped herself in one of the chairs in front of his desk.
"Busy day dear?" the former villain asked his wife.
"In a way," Fox answered, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.
"I heard you had a guest. Anyone I'm familiar with?" David tried to pry information without seeming anxious to hear about the large gaps Owen had neglected to fill in along with his daily report.
"That was most of the busy-ness," Fox answered with a pause. She righted herself in the chair and began to tell her husband the details of the day beginning with Alexander's outburst in the afternoon.
"Well we can't really pick and choose our allies at the moment, now can we?" David looked the full windows of his office pensively.
"What are you thinking David?" Fox asked, joining him at the window.
"We should invite her over soon. After today, we can't just leave a bad impression on her."
Fox snaked her arm through David's right and leaned against him. "True. David, are hoping she'll grant some wish of yours?"
David embraced fox fully, catching her off gaurd. "Fox, I was honest as I was when I told Oberon he couldn't have our son then as when I told Elisa that the feud with Goliath and his clan was over. I'm changed man Fox, but I need to prove it to them."
"Oh David! So what does this have to do with Megan?" Fox asked, touched that her husband was adamant about righting the wrongs he had done.
"Well we have been thinking about hiring an assistant for Owen," Xanatos began. "Between being Owen, taking care of us and Alexander and being Puck, it's time we gave the man a break." Before Fox could protest what he assumed was her assumption that Owen/Puck wouldn't be teaching Alexander magic or protecting him, Xanatos elaborated, "Naturally Owen will continue with his present duties, but I think it would take a load off him to not have to run from the board room to the nursery to change Alex's diapers while we're in meetings. Owen takes care of more things in a day than an average man does in a month and the gargoyles are stone during the day or I would consider asking Lexington--"
Fox smiled as she silenced him with a touch of her fingers on his lips. "I think it's a good idea, but do you think Owen will agree?"
"He has a stubborn streak under that flawless shine," Xanatos confided, "but I'll break it to him. I wouldn't consider taking Alex's care and protection away from him, just some of the chores."
On the way to Megan's house, the car stopped at another stoplight. Again. For the fourth time since they left the Eyrie building.
Lex and Brooklyn landed on a building not far also for the fourth time though with fewer complaints than the driver and Megan kept pitching. Lex pointed to some thugs with crowbars and clubs approaching the car.
"They always go for the nice cars," Brooklyn commented before leaping off the building and gliding downwards.
"We're really close to the humans," Lex pointed out, keeping an eye out for Quarrymen. The bluehoods were not above setting up stages to lure the gargoyles out into public.
"Then let's make it quick."
The driver was halfway pulled out of the car when war cries stopped the thugs in mid mugging. Crowbar swung at Lexington, missing him by a few inches. Club landed with a crash into some trash cans on the curb while Crowbar and a few Fists were trying to pound Brooklyn into the asphalt.
Megan left the car against Brooklyn's protests, him being too busy to keep her inside the car. Megan raised her hands in plea to the scattered citizens on the street and in their cars. "If heroes touch your heart and it's a fact, give my friends your support, on them don't turn your back!"
Lexington shielded his face from the blow that never came. Opening his eyes, he saw the thug begin to back off, fending off soda cans and other objects from the angry crowd.
"You're gonna pick on two guys trying to save a little girl? Take this!" The theug managed to duck from a piece of broken concrete that had been picked up from a crumbled side of one of the buildings.
The thugs, taken by surprise from the unexpected assult, were easily taken care of with a few punches from Brooklyn and Lex. "Um, thanks," Brooklyn said to a group near him. The group waved it off, some embarrassed by their boldness.
"Megan, we'll keep following, just get back inside," Brooklyn instructed before joining Lex in climbing to get into the air.
The rest of the way was relatively slow and peaceful for a New York night. Once in front of the brownstone on an empty street, the driver left. Lex and Brooklyn landed near the stairs and questioned Megan about what happened back with the thugs.
"I was helping you," Megan said, miffed at teh red gargoyle's lack of gratitude.
"Yeah, we appreciate it, but that's not the way to do it," Brooklyn told her.
"It was nice and all...being seen as a hero...bu you can't force people against their will," Lexington explained.
"It wasn't against their will," Megan said. "Yes I cast a spell but it only affected some people, not all of them jumped in to help."
Brooklyn shook his head. "That isn't the point."
Megan huffed, "Well, fine. I won't help you again. Thanks for the escort." With that, she stomped into her house and slammed the door behind her.
"That went well," Lex commented sourly.
"Where have you been?!" came out a shrilly English-accented woman's voice from Megan's house.
"And that's going to go a lot better," Brooklyn said sarcastically, not feeling too generous towards the young sorceress. First she punched him back at the castle, then yelled at him, and had just slammed the door in his face. He signaled for Lexington to climb up the building so they could go home, leaving the sounds of a grounded teenager and a worried aunt behind them.