Author's voice: Yes I know...I'm sorry the chapter took so long but school projects are a pain... Hope you enjoy this chapter please review and enjoy!Oh yeah you might want to watch the episode the cage before reading...The whole thing's on youtube...
I flew carefully back to Elisa's apartment, it was mid afternoon and the streets of New York was packed. I did my best to stay out of sight, flying as high as I could. To my relief there was not a single "Look there's a monster in the sky!" to be heard. Finally after an hour of ducking behind skyscrapers I arrived at Elisa's balcony. Hesitantly I looked into the apartment. Elisa was on her couch caressing Cagney. She was surrounded by what looked like photo albums and to be frank she looked terrible. I sighed, was this even a good time to bother her? I mean the news I was about to bring her wasn't even going to help cheer her up in any way... Maybe this wasn't a good time after all... I turned to leave only to accidently knock over a flowerpot with my tail. "Crap!" I cussed as the brown pot shattered into countless of pieces, terrific, now I had a lot of explaining to do. I heard the balcony doors slide open. "Derek?" I heard Elisa call, hope in her voice. Jesus now I feel worse than I already did... "Sorry Elisa, it's just me..." I said softly stepping in front of her. "Oh...Hi Dahlia...Why...Why don't you come in?" she said stepping aside disappointment evident in her voice. "I'm sorry about the pot, I'll clean it up..." "No its ok..." she said gesturing for me to sit next to her. Gingerly I sat. "So where were you this morning? You weren't there when I got up." Elisa interrogated sipping coffee. Ok I was hoping I could delay this conversation but of course the odds are not ever in my favor. I turned away. "I went to see Derek...I went to see Derek at Xanatos's castle..."
Elisa nearly spat out her coffee but instead she chocked on it. "Whoa easy, easy..." I instructed patting her back as she chocked and spluttered. When she recovered a stream of questions escaped her mouth." Xanatos's castle?! Dahlia that's dangerous, that place is loaded with defense mechanisms! Are you hurt? Did Xanatos do anything to you...Is Derek ok? Did" I gestured for her to calm down. "I'm totally fine, Derek's fine..." "So?" she asked eagerly. I sighed. "So...Do you want the good news or the bad news first." "Dahlia!" "Ok bad news first then..." I wanted to get it out of my system. "So I went to talk to Derek and...And he's really stubborn. He...He still does not exactly want to talk to you about his metamorphosis... And he still thinks Xanatos can cure him..." I struggled bracing myself for the worse... "WHAT?! HOW CAN DEREK SAY THAT? XANATOS IS THE SOURCE OF HIS PROBLEMS! THAT'S IT I'M GOING TO DRIVE THERE NOW AND..." I blocked her from exiting the door. "Ok you need to calm down...This is why Derek didn't want to tell you about his" "I don't care! He's my brother and I need to see him now!" she screamed as she squirmed desperately against me to get through the door. "Waitwaitwaitwait you haven't even heard the good news yet..." I grunted. God she was strong. "What good news?" she asked. This is going to haunt me for life... "I've decided to... Let you bring me in... As a probable cause...To arrest Xanatos..." Elisa stopped squirming. "What?" "Use me as the evidence you need to arrest Xanatos! Then I don't know... the government will make sure he finds some way for us to turn back to normal..." I said slowly. "No Dahlia I won't..." Elisa said turning away. "Why not?" I asked confused. Didn't she want Derek to be human again? "We don't know if that will work out...Xanatos has good lawyers he won't be in jail for long...and I can't use you as a tool of personal revenge, I can't do that to you... and I won't!" she said firmly. "But don't you want your brother to be human again? Just do it Elisa I know the consequences... I'm fine with it..." I meant what I said. I was willing to do it for Elisa, firstly because I owed her and most importantly I knew what it was like to lose a younger sibling... the pain emotionally is unbearable... "Dahlia if I expose you...you'll probably be locked up in a lab somewhere forever and..." "It's ok... at least Xanatos will get what he deserves..." "But you won't. Dahlia I will not do that to you...I will never do that to you... No one deserves such a fate...not even Xanatos..." We stared at each other. Clueless of what to do next "So what are you going to do now?" I asked slumping against the door. "I'm...I'm going to let Derek choose what he wants to do...If...If I hadn't infuriated him about Xanatos the last time he wouldn't have..." "You can't blame yourself for what happened..." I comforted helping her to back to sofa. "Yes...Yes I can..."
It was weeks before we ever saw Derek or the other mutates again. During those weeks I was declared an official member of Goliath's clan. I did patrols with the trio every night. Goliath even trained me in hand-to-hand combat so now I can hold my own ground without always using electricity and most importantly without the trio worrying their butts off about me. Elisa taught me basic forensics like matching fingerprints and collecting DNA samples in the day and since I lived with her I paid rent in the form of constantly helping her around the house. "Dahlia careful with the plates!" I heard her call from the kitchen. I sighed. That was the 201th time she told me to be careful with the plates. "Ok!" I called back. "Hey did you clean up your room?" I face palmed. "Yes along with your room the living room and the kitchen before you messed it up with your cooking..." Elisa walked out with a huge steaming pot. "I'm sorry...but this cooking is for my family... Beth just passed her midterms and that is worthy of a celebration..." "Alright...Fine but..." the bell rang. "Oh god its time already! Quick..." Putting down the pot. Elisa proceeded to push me towards the balcony. "C'mon quick...They'll see you!" "Ok! Ok! Ok! I'm moving...I'M MOVING! JESUS! STOP STEPPING ON MY TAIL!" I shouted before leaping off the balcony.
I flew about the city looking for any kind of trouble. I still had an hour before sunset. The city was unnaturally peaceful and I had no idea what to do. Flying to my favorite spot on the statue of liberty I sat and watched people travel to and fro. Finally the sun sank below the horizon. Jumping off the statue I waved at a little kid who just happened to be staring at my direction and before she could tell her mother I changed direction rendering me unseen. I flew towards the clock tower. "Hey Dahlia!" "Dahlia!" "Dahlia nice to see you!" the trio called as I landed on the clock tower. "Hey guys!" " Did you bring anything from Elisa like food?" Broadway asked. "Or is it something technical?" Lexington eagerly asked pushing Broadway away. "Um nothing like that..." From my pants pocket I pulled out a brochure. "But...but there's a great band playing at the park tonight if you guys are interested..." "Awesome! When does it start?" Brooklyn asked leaping onto the ledge. Looking at the clock I grinned. "We have 10 minutes to glide to central park!" I announced. "Then what are we waiting for? Lets go!" Brooklyn declared gliding off. Lexington, Broadway and I followed suit.
God what was I thinking coming to the rock concert? The music was so freaking loud even from across the park I couldn't even hear myself think. I watched as the trio danced wildly, their movements in synch with the music. Well at least they're enjoying themselves. No waning to waste any more time, I cupped my hands over my mouth and yelled. "Hey Guys! GUYS! I AM HEADING BACK TO THE CLOCKTOWER! IS THAT OK?" "What?" Brooklyn asked still dancing his claws strumming an air guitar. "GOING TO CLOCKTOWER!" I yelled again. "What?" "CLOCKTOWER! CLOCKTOWER! CLOCKTOWER!" I screamed my vocal chords reaching their limits. Brooklyn starred at me. "What?" he asked finally. I slapped my forehead. Jesus Freaking Christ was he deaf? Not caring anymore I leaped off the building and flew as fast as I could to the clock tower. My ears were still ringing from all that heavy metal music when I landed in front of Goliath and Elisa. "How was dinner?" I asked casually. "Dinner was fine...By the way you guys have to be more careful...Beth spotted you at my window at dinner..." Elisa warned looking at Goliath. "I wasn't at your window..." Goliath gruffed. "Well it was you then..." Elisa assumed pointing at me. "Hey, I was with the trio at the park, there's a concert going on there..." "Maybe it was Derek!" Elisa shrieked. I saw Goliath look away, guilt written all over his face. "Goliath what's wrong?" I asked raising an eyebrow "Hhhm...Talon and the other mutates are back with Xanatos... I've seen them flying to and fro from the eerie building..." "What?! Why didn't you tell me?" Elisa and I asked in unison. Goliath growled. "There wasn't anything any of us you could do. Talon has made his choice... I had hoped to have spared you of this pain..." Goliath mumbled looking straight at Elisa. "I don't accept that! We have to get him away from Xanatos! I NEED TO SEE MY BROTHER NOW!"
