All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of RALyon.
Winds of Change: Season Two
Chapter Two
Goliath worked his wing with the special weights Dr. Sato had asked Xanatos to have made. The muscles were stronger, the bones mended as well as could be expected after so many nights of sheer torture. He cursed Demona with every breath as he raised the wing repeatedly with the weights hanging from the wing-thumb. She had done this to him the night she had ripped Elisa from his life. I will reclaim my place in the skies, he thought. It had become a litany over the last weeks. He was not certain it would ever come to pass. This night, however, it must be different. This night, he was determined that he would glide or he would die. He would accept nothing less. There would be no interference or help from the clan. He did not expect it nor did he desire it. They would be out on patrol when he took his leap of faith. Sitting on his hands in the castle waiting for his injured wing to heal and grant him the skies once more was no longer an option. The loss of his mate, his soulmate if he were truly honest with himself, and the skies with her had driven him to the brink of madness. He could bare it no longer. The others had treated him no differently during his convalescence, but he knew. He knew that a crippled gargoyle was little use to the clan. His inactivity must end this night one way or another. If Elisa still lived, he prayed to the Great Dragon that she would understand. There was a good chance he would not survive if the wing was not as sound.
Carefully, deliberately, Goliath set the weights down. The lavender leviathan stood slowly, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. It was time. He made his way through the castle corridors to its highest tower, his tower and took his perch as he did every night. This night even the air felt different. The wind caught at his hair and pulled at his wings in an almost playful way. He stood upon his perch gazing out at his protectorate. This night he meant to reclaim the skies. Flexing his left wing, he tested the feel of the tendons, the muscles and even the bones. They felt strong, perhaps even eager to take to the air currents.
Testing those currents, he allowed the wind to fill the left wing. The membranes stretched, the sensation was not painful. Slowly the caress of the air became the simple pleasure he had always delighted in. It seemed the wing was ready. Perhaps more than ready. He prayed it might be so.
Experimentally, he flapped it in that current. The tendons pulled taught around the bones of the struts. There was pain, but it was not unbearable. This was not the sensation he had hoped for, but he knew he must endure it if he wished to reclaim his place. It might subside once he was airborne as Hudson's age related aches and pains often did.
Thrusting the wing forward, he began testing the flow of air over the sensitive tip of the wing-thumb. He could feel every nuance and change in the current, even the variations of temperature and moisture. It felt right, it felt as it should. As luck would have it, the damage Demona had inflicted had not destroyed the delicate lattice work of nerves that would allow him to gauge when to shift his wings and catch the changes in currents.
Another deep breath, one meant for balance as much as cleansing, and he launched himself into the night. His wings snapped open and filled with an updraft. The left wing shuddered faintly in strain, but held and he allowed himself a brief smile. He tested the changing currents with the sensitive thumb of that wing once more and cautiously shifted the long 'finger' that supported the center membrane. Another shudder passed through the entirety of the wing's structure as a joint popped faintly with a twinge of pain. He hovered for a moment more. As a further test of the wing's soundness, he shifted on the currents supporting the uninjured wing. He allowed the left wing to take a stronger updraft and more of his weight upon the wind. It held for an instant and for that instant he was certain he had regained one of the two things he had lost so many nights ago. A half a heartbeat later the wing was wracked with painful spasms. The membranes folded in toward his body of their own accord. Tossed into a sickening downward spiral, he yelled as he once had in human form when he had fallen from the clock tower. So this is how it ends, he thought bitterly as the wind rushed passed his ears, his wings flailing about in the currents in a vain effort to recapture that which he had lost.
/
Demona glared at Sevarius in disdain. The 'good' doctor had all but taken Maza completely out of her hands. He had originally given her the impression that he merely wanted samples for his genetics work, but when he had gotten his hands on the woman.. It was clear now that she held some perverse fascination for him. He watched her every move for hours on end, jotting down notes every now and then. It was as if he were waiting for something dramatic to happen. She knew he very well could be. As she glanced at the unconscious human on the monitor, she realized she seemed much more human than she had that night on the beach.
An angry sneer creased her face; human. That was what she herself was in that moment. It was not a state of being that she enjoyed. She had to admit, however, that it had its uses. Maza, on the other hand, was much more than human no matter what her outward appearance. Demona knew beyond a doubt that the woman was a Fae half-breed. It was only a matter of time or circumstances that provoked the magic hiding within. Perhaps, she thought, that is what the good doctor is waiting to see. She tapped her lip with one red lacquered nail thoughtfully. How to provoke Maza into showing off the magic, that was the question. Once she did, Sevarius would have no more need of her after he took his samples. He might hand her over then and Demona would finally have her revenge.
There were a number of ways the human might be coerced into showing her abilities. Of course, there were a good many that even Demona would not consider. She had no doubts that Sevarius might, however. That idea concerned her. She wanted the detective unspoiled so that she might break her herself.
Frowning, she glared at the wall mounted monitor that stood from ceiling to floow. The woman was staggering to her feet. She would be allowed to recover for an hour or two before the doctor sent one of the cyborg twins in again. The redhead thought he intended to send Hyena's brother in this time. Jackal was unpredictable at best. Demona glance at him across the room. The look of lust etching his face as he watched the monitor told her all she needed to know. There were things worse than death. She did not want the woman begging her for an end when she finally had her back in her talons. A fight before she crushed the detective's will and every hope, that was what she wanted out of her. If Jackal had his way, there might not be any fight left in her.
/
Two hours after her last round with Hyena, Elisa leaned on the sink and examined herself in the cracked mirror. Bruises and cuts of varying size greeted her. Some of those cuts were going to leave ugly scars. There was nothing for it. Her captors had not seen fit to provide her anything with which to treat her wounds. She assumed that meant they expected her to die there once they were finished with her. That, however, was the last thing she intended to do. Her detective's skills worked overtime every night she was left alone. She cataloged every nook and cranny of her cell down to the last bolts and screws. If there was a way out, she meant to find it.
The thought was interrupted by the now familiar squeal of the door clanging back on its rails. She glanced back toward it and frowned. Instead of Hyena swaying in, Jackal strutted in like an over proud peacock. She glared at him and turned back to the mirror.
"Damn, looks like my sister got carried away last time." Jackal snarked.
"Fuck you," Elisa spat venomously, never giving him a second glance.
"Is that an invitation?" Jackal purred as he took a cautious step forward.
"I'd rather die," Elisa snarled as she turned to face him.
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen, Maza. You know, the bit about you dying. You're gonna live through everything I get to do to you. I'm gonna make it nice and rough." his voice had taken on a seductive quality.
"Try it. They'll carry you out of here in a body bag." Elisa snapped at him in growing disgust. She had not just stood by and taken Hyena's many beatings. On more than one occasion she had gotten in a few punches and kicks. There was no doubt, considering some of the lapses between beatings, that she had left the other sore and nursing a few wounds as well. It would be the same with her freakish twin as well.
Lightning fast, Jackal rushed her and gripped her throat above the collar in one cybernetic hand. He pinned her to the wall between the room's facilities. Through gritted teeth he growled, "I don't think so, bitch. You're mine for the next few hours."
/
Demona in Dominique's guise, looked on the scene that played out before her in rising disgust. She had brought the human to this facility so that samples might be taken. The thought of witnessing the kind of violation that Jackal so clearly meant to perform nearly caused her hate blackened heart to quake. The beatings had not bothered her, but this...this was going too far. Maza was her's to break and eventually kill. She did not relish the idea of that mechanical brute breaking her first, especially not like this.
Wheeling around on the doctor, Dominique glared at him with blazing red fire in her eyes and snapped. "Stop this! The human is mine to destroy. You said you merely desired samples. You have them. Many weeks of them..."
"Oh, but my dear Demona, I wish to witness this magical ability you claim the detective posses,...first hand," Sevarius purred. The man seemed near to drooling in the most disturbing way.
"Rape is not the key to her magic, human!" she snarled at him as she approached the desk.
"Ah, ah, I don't think I like your tone. Let's just watch, shall we." Sevarius signaled Fang with a gesture and the big mutate wrapped his arms around Dominique to restrain her.
/
The sound that issued from Elisa's lips as her head hit the mesh was a half whimper, half gasp of pain. Jackal pressed himself bodily against her in a vulgar way. She tried to move her face away as he licked her cheek. When he clamped his mouth over hers, she caught his lower lip between her teeth. Blood filled her mouth as she bit down hard. He screamed and pulled away just as she tore a small chunk of his lip free and spat it at him.
"Bitch!" he raged and backhanded her. As her head rocked backward, he squeezed her throat a fraction harder and made sure her head banged into the steel mesh behind her. "What's the matter, you monster loving whore? Don't you like you're own kind anymore?"
"You're not my kind..." Elisa gasped out through her teeth. "You're a metal freak..."
"Well...yes and...no. Some bits are still real," he smiled cruelly and smeared the blood from his lip across her face. "Others are a bit, shall we say,...enhanced."
A sickening horror rose up in Elisa as his other hand dove toward her nether regions. She gasped at the violation, "No!"
"Oh yes, sweetheart. My dear sister failed to provoke even a light show out of that magic they say you have. I'm betting I'll get something out of you with...my methods." his last words were punctuated by the offending hand suddenly abandoning the area it had been clumsily groping to squeeze around one of her breasts.
"You don't wanna do this...," Elisa half pleaded, her voice weak and barely audible.
"I think I do. This is payback for all the trouble you've caused me," Jackal bit back.
"You don't get it! Goliath will tear you apart. I'll toss you in the deepest, darkest hellhole I can find...if there's anything left," She snarled as she tried in vain to push him way from her. She attempted to bring her knee up sharply at his crotch only to have it deflected by a solid downward thrust of his metal hand.
"Tsk, tsk, now that's not nice, detective," he said breathily at the sound of her sharp cry of pain. His next words were a whispered seduction, "I like it. Struggle more..."
Tears of frustration and pain rolled down Elisa's cheeks as Jackal dry humped her for several eternal moments. She struggled savagely in his iron grip. Her eyes slipped toward the skylight above. She squeezed them shut for an instant. Bright daylight poured through it. Goliath would still be secured in stone slumber. She could hope for no help there. Help had failed to come during the last weeks. She could not fault the clan. They had no idea where to look. No, if this monster's intentions were to be avoided, or at least survived, she would have to save herself.
/
Dominique struggled to free herself from Fang's grip. She was forced to bear witness to the heinous act that Jackal attempted to commit against Maza. In some twisted way, she was reliving her own similar experiences with an incident of long ago. She would have stopped this experiment sooner if she had even suspected what the cybernetic freak would actually attempt to do. Sevarius' watchdog, Fang, had prevented her from leaving the room. If she had been her gargoyle self, he would have been no match for her strength. In her human form, he had easily restrained her. Even forced her to watch the 'show' as he called it. She closed her eyes against her adversary's torment, but she could not close her ears to the cries of outrage and grunts that punctuated every passing moment.
Just as suddenly as the strangled cries had begun, they ceased. An anguished male scream replaced them. Dominique opened her eyes and they widened in shock at the sight before her. Elisa's form was surrounded in blazing green fire. A sort of silent encouragement settled into Dominique's mind as those emerald green flames engulfed the struggling pair.
/
The violation, or attempted violation was too much. Her outraged senses took over on a primal level. Her mind sank into the green flames that licked at the edges of her awareness. Power, waves of rare raging power, broke over her the instant she surrendered to them. Her back arched in the strain to control it. Instead, she lashed out savagely, blindly with all the outrage she could muster. The full force of the magic burst forth, surrounding her, filling the tiny cell and consuming her attacker.
Jackal screamed and threw himself off the object of his lust as green flames licked out of every seam and orifice in his body. All the metal bits began to glow white-hot. His flesh crisped and smoked as the flames consumed him. Those flames receded of their own accord once he had collapsed to a smoldering heap near the far corner of the cell. He was an unrecognizable mass of smoldering metal and charred, steaming flesh.
Elisa sank to her knees, allowing her body to list forward. Her forehead came to rest gently on the floor between her palms. Breathe, Maza. Just breathe, she repeated to herself over and over again. The worst was over. Her attacker was dead. He had failed to do more than clumsy groping.
As fast as it had come, the magic receded completely as she lost her tenuous hold on it. It was closer to the surface, however, she was now able to mentally touch it. Perhaps, in time, she might learn to summon it at will or even gin some measure of control over it. That was if she survived her current situation.
/
"Jack!" Hyena screamed in anguish, rushing up to the big monitor mounted on the wall as the green flames receded from her brother's smoldering body. The cybernetic woman sank to her knees and bawled like a two year old at the obvious loss of her twin.
Against her better judgment, Dominique made a critical decision in that moment. She would remove Maza from the hands of her current tormentors. Sevarius was far too demented and unstable for her liking. He might still prove useful with his other experiments, but this one was at an end. The samples he wanted were in his lab. He needed nothing more from Maza. Demona, for all her hatred of humanity, would not willingly subject anyone, not her worst enemy, not even a human, to rape. She knew for a certainty that Jackal had not been successful, but it had been a very close thing.
Dominique's gaze passed over Fang in disgust as he finally released her. She did not see the leering sneer of lust she had expected. The brutality of Jackal's demise at his victim's hands seemed to have humbled even him. It was a good thing too. She did not think Maza would be so lucky during a second threat of rape. Especially not with this fury, mutated brute, she thought. All the while, sickening images danced across her mind's eye of what she herself had once endured at the hands of savages long ago.
"I will return sometime before dawn. I have something that needs attending. Keep her alive until then." Dominique growled and pointed one red lacquered nail at Fang. "And keep him away from her. Rape is not the key to her magic."
"I wouldn't dream of allowing my bodyguard to enter that room. Just look at what she did to my assistant." the smile on Sevarius' face was revolting. "But I believe you may well be wrong about the key to her magic. Again, look at what she did to my assistant and he did not even accomplish his task. Imagine what she might be capable of under the threat of far worse."
"I'd rather not. I have made my wishes clear on this, Sevarius. I want her unspoiled," Dominique's voice reached an impressive equivalent of a gargoyle's snarl as she shouldered her way past her former captor. She gave Fang a glare that promised unspeakable pain and possible death on her way out.
/
"Well, that could have gone better," Sevarius snorted in disgust.
"Jack would still be alive if you hadn't sent him in there with that...that... monster!" Hyena raged as she found her feet and snatched the doctor by his collar.
"Calm yourself, Hanna. Do you really think I'd let your brother take such a risk?" Sevarius purred and roughly tugged his collar from her grip.
"What do you mean?" Hyena whispered as her face took on a confused look.
"That charred piece of meat in there is not your brother, my sweet girl. That is a clone. You and your brother are far too precious to me to simply cast aside." Sevarius pointed at the pile of muck in disgust.
Hyena sagged to her knees in relief beside him. She put her head in the doctor's lap with a shuddering sigh and merely blinked when one of the elder man's hands smoothed her wild hair back. In another breath, she whispered, "Thank you, Daddy."
"I will do anything for you and your twin, my dearest," he cooed at the distraught woman.
/
Fang tried to take up as little space as he could during such a touching scene. He had never guessed the pair were Sevarius' brats, nor had he questioned their 'names'. To him, they were just Jackal and Hyena, the crazy cyborg twins. He had to admit, he was somewhat relieved to hear that the barbecue in the other room was not Jackal himself. It had fooled even him. The thing had acted exactly like him, even smelled like him and smell was a powerful identifying agent. He had caught Goliath's and Thailog's scents and even though one was a clone of the other, they did not smell the same. Goliath smelled like leather, concrete, musk and Scottish heather. Thailog smelled similar, but the Scottish heather was missing. In it's place was something closer to mild vanilla. He suspected it had something to do with the cloning process and the maturation tank he had 'hatched' from. Perhaps it was even a factor of the accelerated growth all of the clones had been subjected to. He knew Sevarius had mentioned something of that nature once or twice, but the details had escaped him.
/
Goliath's fall came to a sudden halt barely a hundred feet from the street below as a metal clad hand gripped his tail painfully. He snarled more at his own indignation than his rescue and turned blazing eyes toward his rescuer. Xanatos' smug face smiled back at him from inside the visor of the newest version of his crimson suit's helmet. This suit had much smaller wings than the previous editions. It was built more for maneuverability than show as it had air jets in key locations to supplement the main booster on its back. Those were meant to allow its 'pilot' a great deal more control. It looked like a rip-off of a comic book design he had recently seen. Something Lexington had been raving about.
"Let me go, Xanatos!" Goliath raged at the human.
"Why? So you can make another attempt at suicide? I don't think so." Xanatos snapped even as he returned to the top of the Eyrie.
Goliath was taken aback at the suggestion. He glared at the human, but the fire in his eyes faded, "I do not intend to die this night."
"No? Then just what exactly did you think you were doing? If I hadn't been out here testing the new suit, you would have been a smear on the street at the base of the Eyrie." Xanatos set him down in the courtyard and continued even as he touched down before the gargoyle. "Think, Goliath! That's the kind of publicity neither the clan or I need right now."
Goliath snorted as he rolled the offending wing around experimentally. He had thought he was prepared to die if the wing was not sound. Now he realized that was the farthest from the truth. As much as he loathed the idea, he was indebted to Xanatos again for saving his life.
"You may not care what happens to you anymore, but I can guarantee that Elisa does...," Xanatos lost whatever else he had been about to say with the withering look of death that passed over the giant gargoyle's face. He had never seen a more deadly or hopeless expression on the male's face.
"Elisa is dead!" Goliath virtually howled at the human. His heart caving in just a little more with the acknowledgment of each word. His voice became the tortured sounds a wounded animal might make as he spoke, "It's time I accepted it. Demona left no question as to her fate once the sun rose to its zenith when she dragged Elisa out of the apartment. She has been dead these past weeks...I have been clinging to a memory of hope..."
After several long moments of grim silence, Xanatos finally found his voice, "There was a phone call this morning..."
"I care naught for your business games, Xanatos," Goliath said hollowly into the night as he had turned away from the human. His tormented gaze locked on an anonymous point across the city as the wind whisked the sting of tears from his eyes.
"Goliath," Xanatos could not help himself as he paused to prolong the drama. He had to string him along for a moment, at least. It was his nature to annoy the creature, the 'man' before him. Even he had to admit, there was a limit, however, when the behemoth turned a deadly glare on him once more. Finally the moment was upon him and he gave up the information he had been guarding so fearlessly. "Elisa's alive."
A spark of hope ignited in the gargoyle's face only to curdle and dissolve into an expression of the purest rage and anguish. His hands snaked out and gripped the chest plate of the suit, crushing parts of it as he jerked the human close. A snarl escaped his clinched teeth as his eyes locked on the human's. His mind was swimming in adrenaline soaked rage in that moment.
A vein in Goliath's neck stood out and throbbed angrily. Xanatos could not take his eyes off it for what seemed an eternity. He could clearly see the odd triple beat of his friend's heart. His friend, yes, that was the right word. They had slowly become friends over the last couple of years as he had proven himself trustworthy.
"Do not toy with me, Xanatos. I promise you will not like the end results," Goliath's voice was deathly quiet.
"I wouldn't dream of it, my friend." Xanatos boasted, albeit quietly. In his heart, he knew that he would in some cases, but not in this. Not with such critical information. He continued on as if Goliath had not just implied a threat to end him. "At least not with something as important as this."
Goliath's face began to relax, the pulsing of that huge vein in his neck slowed as he set the man back down on his feet and released his grip. "Very well, tell me of this call and why you believe Elisa still lives."
/
Elisa barely noticed the setting of the sun. She had lost her grip on reality for a time while her mind worked through the trauma of her latest attack. There had been just enough movement from her in those hours to snatch the blanket from the cot to cover herself. Her clothes were more or less ruined from Jackal's pawing metallic talons. The tears had dried on her face long ago leaving clean streaks in the soot that smeared it. No one had bothered to remove the roasted remains of their 'colleague' in all that time. The smell bleeding off him at first had been sickeningly appetizing and nauseating at the same time. Now, however, there could be no doubt that he was dead. It had taken only a few hours for the sour smell of death to begin mingling with the scent of cooked meat. What had not been cooked had 'spoiled' quickly.
As the night deepened, Elisa's thoughts began to focus once more. Her situation was bad and could become much worse in the blink of an eye. She had been lucky this time. Jackal had not succeeded in raping her. It had been a very near thing, far too close for comfort. He had violated her personal space and her modesty, however. That was something, she was sure, would stay with her for quite some time to come.
Taking a deep breath, her resolve solidified into a singular determination: escape. She knew Goliath and the clan had no idea where Demona had taken her. They would have come for her by now if they had. She would have to save herself this time. There was no other recourse.
Glancing around the darkened cell, she began to take inventory of exactly what she had at hand. It was a process she had gone through every night since her capture. Until tonight, however, there had been little she could have used to assist her escape. Her first priority had to be getting free of the collar or at least freeing the chain from the wall. It prevented her from inspecting the electronic lock on the door. Her eyes, accustomed to darkness, took in every detail. Aside from the cot, the toilet and sink, there was little she could use. Then her eyes fell on the remains of the cyborg and her stomach attempted to heave. He was within reach of her chain, barely. There was a wealth of items littering the charred and spoiled meat that she might use to her advantage. If only, she thought in utter revulsion, I'm willing to sink my hands into his corpse.
Elisa could taste bile rising in the back of her throat as she crawled over to the mound of meat and metal that constituted a body. She barely kept her last meal down as she dug through it in search of anything that might prove useful. Dry heaves were worse, she decided as her rebellious stomach heaved again and again in an effort to expel her diner. When she came across the 'enhanced' phallus he had boasted of in her ear, she lost the battle with her stomach. She quickly tossed the offending object aside and lost her dinner near it. Once the torrent was over she continued her search.
It did not take long to amass a sizable collection of springs and rods she thought might aid her in escape. As luck would have it, she even ran across a small toolbox of sorts with an assortment of screwdrivers. She dragged the rest of her haul back to the space she had occupied over the last several hours along with the toolbox. It took her only a few moments to find a tool that would fit the screws that held the chain to the wall. It was a little loose and slow going, but the screws that held the chain came out one by one. She chuckled faintly to herself as she worked them out of the wall. Only an idiot would use screws in place of bolts in a place like this, she thought.
In a matter of seconds, she had the chain free of the wall. She scuttled over to the door cautiously. This, she knew full well, could be playing into another one of her tormentor's little tests, but she had to keep moving. The panel protecting the circuitry was flush with a wall panel that had been placed near the door. Try as she might, she could not lift it to access the circuits. In frustration, she gripped the rubber handle of the screwdriver firmly as if it were a knife. She hissed at the noise she knew it would make and quickly jabbed the blade of the flat-head into the glass covering. It was loud, but not as loud as she had feared it might be. It popped and sizzled with sparks as it shorted out. She heard a metallic clang as the locking bolt suddenly released.
After an eternity of waiting for some sort of security to come rushing in at her, Elisa finally found the courage to grip the steel mesh of the sliding door. It slid freely as she stood and peeked around. Nothing moved. All was deathly quiet. After looping the length of the chain around her arm, she took a cautious step out of the cell she had occupied during the worst weeks of her life. As she lightly ran across the room, she noticed a set of dark scrubs hanging near what could only be the exit. She grabbed them and pushed the door open. It rattled and clanged with a maddening echo that reverberated down the hall of what was clearly a vast research facility. She cringed as she dashed instinctively to her right.
The sound of voices carried to her and she ducked into the first unlocked door she found. To her relief it was an empty restroom, the stalls open and dark. She flicked the lock on the door and took a couple of steps backward trying not to breathe too heavily. After a moment she heard footsteps as the voices passed the door of her sanctuary. With a sigh of relief, she began to strip her torn clothes off. The scrubs were tossed on a couple of heartbeats later. They were a little loose, but it was better than her tattered clothing. Those, she tucked into the very bottom of the trash can.
A thought struck her and she quickly patted down the pockets of the outfit she now wore. She found a hair-tie in one and a key-card in another. The hair tie she used to pull her hair up and out of her way. It would make it harder for her jailer's stooges to identify her as well. They were looking for a woman in a black t-shirt, blue jeans and long flowing black hair. With the scrubs and her hair up, she did not fit the description they would have been given.
Elisa looked the key-card over. It belonged to a Dana Westman. The image was of a woman roughly her own age with dark hair and dark eyes. The woman's hair was pulled into a tight ponytail. Glancing at the mirror, she realized she could almost fit the image save for the soot stains and blood on her face. Her own eyes were slightly more slanted then Ms. Westman's, but few would notice that at a glance. It was that damn collar and chain that would give her away, she realized. There was too much of it to even consider attempting to hide in her clothing. She examined the collar and found that it was nothing special. It was little more than a giant clamp. The chain as secured to it by a tiny lock.
Carefully, Elisa took one of the screwdrivers and wedged it between the lock's small shank and the collar. It took a little effort, but with the added leverage she managed pry the lock open. As soon as it was free she tore the collar away from her neck. She held it, staring at it for several long moments as if in a trance. Finally, she tucked it and the length of chain into the bottom of the trash can along with her discarded clothing. She buried them in the damp paper towels that had overflowed around the can. It felt as if she were burying the images of a disturbing nightmare.
Turning back to the mirror, she realized there was one last thing to take care of; the soot on her face. A little soap and water made short work of that and when she looked at herself again, she fit Ms. Westman's image just a little more. Security would be hard pressed, even with the tiny nicks and scars all over her face, to tell them apart at a distance. She might pass them and any cameras in the halls unnoticed for a time.
As soon as she was sure the hall was clear, she darted out of the bathroom. Adrenaline flooded her system in that instant. As she quietly jogged the hall, she thanked the heavens that the shoes she current wore had soft rubber soles. The less noise she made, the more likely she was to actually escape this hell.
A door marked stairs came up on her left and she bee-lined for it. Elevators were out of the question. That was the fastest way to get caught and hauled back to her cage. Pushing the door open, she all but stumbled through it. The wall read 18th floor. She took the stairs two or three at a time as she hauled herself along with the railing. A loud clang brought her to a sudden halt with a gasp as a flashlight beam flickered around a few floors below her.
Holding her breath, she waited in the middle of a flight of stairs to see if she had been noticed. She heard a man's voice and the crackle of a two-way radio a moment later. "All clear. No sign of the experiment."
Experiment, she raged mentally, her blood flashed instantly to boiling. I'll show you an experiment. I'll haul your ass in and lock every last one of up for aiding and abetting known felons, kidnapping, assaulting an officer, and attempted murder. She let the breath she had been holding out when the light disappeared and the door banged shut. A moment later she was moving again.
It did not take her long to make it to the ground floor. Peeking her head out, she glanced around at what was clearly a hospital-like lobby. From the logo on the wall facing out she now knew that Demona had brought her to Cyberbiotics. That psychotic gargoyle bitch had delivered her to Dr. Anton Sevarius. It all made perfect sense now. The blood and tissue samples that were taken between the beatings meant he was still playing around with genetics. She feared what he might do with her samples. He had already made Delilah with one round of samples. What might he do with more? Her genetics might well be different now that the Fae side of her nature had made itself known. How much more deadly might one of his creations be with that added to the mix? Glancing back over her shoulder, she wondered if perhaps she should go back and try to find those samples. They should be destroyed before he could begin experimenting with them. What if he had already begun? Another look at the lobby and the huge wall of glass the soft moonlight filtered though decided her. She could not risk going back without backup no matter what kind of monstrosity the 'good' doctor might create. Escape had to be her primary goal in that moment. She had come too far.
Elisa crept out the door into the short hall that merged with the lobby and cautiously looked around. It appeared empty, the dim night lighting left a good many darkened corners, however. She could not be certain the lobby and its surrounding corridors were completely vacant. So, in a moment of desperation, she made a run for the exit. Unlike a true hospital, the double glass doors were locked and she slammed into them hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs. The glass surrounding those doors seemed to ripple faintly from the impact. She tugged on those doors hoping they were merely stuck, but they did not budge. A frantic need to get out was building to an uncontrollable height. Escape was mere inches away.
"I got her!" a male voice all but shouted from a connecting hallway to her left. She glanced at him and saw the mic at his shoulder. The building's entire security network knew where she was the instant he had called it in. His flashlight beam locked on her as he advanced.
"Shit," Elisa swore as he worried at the snap on his gun holster. She was out of time. A choice had presented itself to her: dive through the glass and run or be shot. Being shot was too risky. She chose the glass even as she began to back up to make a run at it.
The huge wall of glass surrounding the double doors exploded as she threw herself through it. Glass rained down on her and the rent-a-cop both. It covered her in cuts and nicks that she ignored as she landed on her feet in a full run on the outside. The wind beat warmly at her face with the scents of spring flowers. What she would not give to have wings in that moment. She wished she had better control of the magic that burned at her core. A transformation might very well have been possible in that case. For now, she was reduced to simply running for her life.
It was late, but there was still a good amount of traffic on the road before the facility. Elisa did not hesitate to aim herself for that traffic. Someone was sure to stop and help her. She never expected the the next series of events to take place as they did. A loud report echoed off the surrounding buildings. Pain blossomed high in her chest. The momentum of both her run and the gunshot carried her into the path of the red van she had hoped to flag down. She heard tires squall as breaks were applied. The impact was hard, the van had not slowed enough, and sent her tumbling several feet. The last thing she saw before blackness claimed her was a rotund man with a red beard nearly tearing the door of his van off its hinges in an effort to get out. In a matter of seconds he had rushed up to stand over her with a cellphone in hand.
/
"Dammit, Maza!" Fang snarled viciously from his perch across the street. The entire sequence of events played out before him in sickening detail. He knew there was a good chance the woman was dead. His earlier call to the billionaire might now be for naught. "You could o' waited a couple more hours... Xanatos wu'da sent in the cavalry."
An instant after the woman went down, Fang could have sworn he heard a wildcat's howl. He looked around, scanning the rooftops. There were a few he could think of who might react verbally to the detective's apparent death. His genetically enhanced eyes found the mark just as it darted off into the night. From the shape, glowing red eyes and obvious rage, he was sure it had to be Demona. A faint smirk crinkled his muzzle. The thought slid like oil across his mind as he watched her for a moment, Lost yer shot at revenge, huh?
When his attention returned to the scene below, he noted the stand-off between the big man and the rent-a-cop. It looked as if the latter was about to shoot the driver of the van. As the sound of wailing sirens came into existence, the rent-a-cop tucked tail and ran back for the Cyberbiotics building.
Fang waited, watching as the medics rolled up and assessed the scene. Cops swarmed the area, but seemed unable to find the rent-a-cop. It was clear by the way they treated Maza that she was still alive. He waited until they'd loaded her up into the squad before launching himself into the night. His mind made up, he decided to follow them. Best, he thought, to know where they take her, just in case. He would make another call to the billionaire once he knew what hospital to send him to. It was the least he could do after what Sevarius had done to her. He had no qualms about setting off mutagenic bombs, but torture and rape... Those he had issues with.
/
"Elisa is in a hospital in upper New Jersey," Xanatos began.
"What?" Goliath hissed through his teeth.
"According to my source, she was shot by a security guard and then hit by a car after escaping the Cyberbiotics facility in lower New York. The closest hospital was just over the state line so they took her there. She had no I.D. on her. They had no idea who she was." Xanatos continued as if Goliath had not spoken.
"What are you saying? Have you known where she was this entire time?" Goliath bellowed and barely resisted the urge to snatch the human up and shake him like a rag doll.
"No, of course not! I received a second call this afternoon. She's been in a coma for the last week," he hesitated to give away the identity of his source. Goliath, in no way, cared for that particular individual. He thought better of his lack of disclosure after one look in the big male's eyes. "Fang was the caller, Goliath. He had a falling out with Sevarius over the treatment of the detective. He thought things might go easier on him if he came clean."
After a moment of obvious deep thought, Goliath locked eyes with his one-time adversary, "Take me to her..."
"I've already made other arrangements. She's being brought back to the Eyrie infirmary, back home. As a matter of fact, she should be arriving any moment." Xanatos smiled that greasy smile of his.
Goliath maintain eye contact for a moment more before he put a large hand on the man's shoulder. "You have proven yourself a changed man many times over and still I jump to foregone conclusions based on the shadows of your past."
"If that's your way of saying you're sorry, I accept the apology." Xanatos snarked outwardly and sighed inwardly in relief.
"Yes...," Goliath drew the word out in his typical baritone. "I suppose it is an apology."
/