Chapter 14

Xanatos organized a visit to the Off-World Agency on the premise of becoming a sponsor. Once it ended, he delivered information to the gargoyles. Goliath, Brooklyn, and Lexington penetrated the Agency at night and entered the basement level where Xanatos had determined the weapons were kept.

"There is the device," Goliath said, pointing a claw to a long piece of equipment shaped like a ray gun or a small cannon on a stand.

"Is there only one?" Brooklyn asked, looking around. "I thought there would be more."

The gargoyles combed the scene, but all that they found was the one. Lexington crept over and began to inspect it.

"Can you disable it?" Goliath asked.

Lexington explored the cords and the metal parts with his claws.

"Yeah, I think I see how it works. And if I do this…"

He reached up inside it with his claws and crushed part of it. Then he pulled out a gem from the inside.

"Now they can't just easily repair it," he said with a smile. "Even if they do notice the broken part down here, which they may not."

"What's the gem for?" Brooklyn asked as he took it and held it up.

"They needed something strong for the immobilization ray. It looks like these gems were carefully shaped to focus the ray when it was fired."

"What if they have more of these stones?" Goliath asked.

"Then we still know how to stop the machines," Lexington said. "They're useless once you take the gem away."

Goliath took the stone from Brooklyn and tucked it away in a pouch at his side.

"Let us leave then. We will let the ducks know of our success."

The night of the ducks' first away game arrived. The ducks warily traveled to Pittsburgh in the Aerowing. Xanatos gave Grace a ride in his jet, so that she would not be seen arriving with the ducks. The gargoyles rode with them as did Elisa Maza, who had now been told the full truth about the situation in New York. Xanatos had decided that the presence of a detective might prove useful if someone tried to seize Grace.

Once they reached the hockey stadium, Xanatos said he had other matters to see to and did not stay at the stadium. The gargoyles slipped into the darkness of the alleys.

"You sure you don't want me to stick with you?" Elisa asked Grace.

"No, just walk around and keep watch," Grace said. "I've got to move around freely if I'm going to help the ducks."

The game began, and at first, there was no sign of any attack. The Mighty Ducks were faring well against their opponents. Grace made herself invisible and walked around the edge of the stadium, watching the game from a distance. She didn't see anyone from OtherEarth, Inc. here.

It wasn't until the second period that suddenly the ducks began to stumble on the ice. Grace saw Tanya and Grin fall to their knees, and she sent out her power to revive them. Once they were up again, she started to move to a different part of the stadium, but in one of the halls, Roy McNabb and several others from the Agency found her and pushed their immobilization ray towards her.

"There's the outsider. Fire!"

Grace stepped back, but they had already activated the device. Yet, even as it started to power up, it quickly began to whine and shut down.

"What's going on?" Mulligan, the one who had inspected the Pond, asked as he looked nervously from the machine to their target.

"I have work to do," Grace said as she turned dismissively from them. "As your machine is not working, I'd suggest you leave me alone."

One of them tried to fire a gun at her, but Grace just raised a shield that blocked the bullets. She walked towards the doors and left the building.

Focusing her attention on the ducks again, Grace walked out into the dark street outside the hockey stadium. She needed to find another way back into the stadium where those men from the Agency wouldn't see her.

All at once, she felt something hit her with the force of a battering ram, and Grace collapsed on the pavement. Managing to lift her head a little, she saw Chase Farrow standing at the top of the steps leading into a factory across from the hockey stadium. He and Golott, the defender, were standing beside another immobilization device. It was active.

Chase descended the stairs towards her with a smug expression and Golott not far from his side.

"I knew we could not trust the Off-World Agency to take you down on their own. Their security measures are starting to lag, don't you think?"

Grace groaned as she felt the force of her own power thrust back upon her. The sensation was like that being crushed under the weight of a semi-truck.

"Oh, and by the way, your beaked friends getting the message that you can't help them. Our colleagues are draining them now."

"NYPD, back off!" a voice shouted as the hockey stadium doors were flung open.

Chase and Golott turned to see Detective Maza walking towards them, flashing her badge and raising her gun.

"This isn't New York, detective," Chase said coldly. "You are far from your jurisdiction here, don't you think?"

"Maybe, but you're not authorized to run that device. Turn it off!" Elisa commanded as she continued to advance.

Chase glanced at Golott before turning back to her.

"No."

Golott raised a hand slightly and sucked energy from Elisa with rapid force. She dropped to the ground beside Grace in a weakened state and unable to speak. Through her own struggles, Grace could see the detective's eyes start to close.

A moment later, the doors to the stadium opened again, and McNabb, Mulligan, and the other agents hurried out to the street.

"What are you doing?" Mulligan asked, looking in confusion at the device.

"What you should have been able to do," Chase insisted. "We caught this unregistered threat trying to escape …but not before she attacked this woman."

He gestured to Elisa.

"It's a good thing we had a working device since yours was faulty," Golott added.

Mulligan walked over to Elisa and checked her pulse.

"Well, she's still alive at least. Did you see what was done to her?"

Chase appeared bewildered.

"I'm not sure, but my healing power doesn't appear to be helping."

"I should take her to a hospital then," Mulligan said to the others as he picked up Elisa and carried her to his car.

McNabb dismissed him and stood over Grace.

"Well, we'll have to take her back to our building," he said grimly.

Chase frowned.

"Why take the risk? Just finish it here."

"Because we don't hold public executions," McNabb protested.

"This one's too powerful. It has to be here and now," Golott insisted. "And we'd be happy to help."

McNabb studied them. On the ground, Grace still felt pinned and unable to speak, but she managed to roll over on her back and face the sky.

"He means we don't want to see anyone else get hurt," Chase added with more tact. "Now did you bring the sword or not?"

McNabb held his hand out and one of his men brought something in a rolled cloth to him. As he removed the cloth, a long blade like a samurai sword was revealed. It was made from the strongest steel on the planet.

McNabb took the hilt with both hands. He raised the blade high over Grace's chest, and then he began to thrust straight down towards her heart.

But just as the blade came within an inch of her, Grace's hands clapped around the blade, and in a desperate attempt, she held onto it with all that she could manage. Chase and Golott stepped back in surprise.

McNabb was left standing over Grace, trying to finish what he had begun. One of his men came up alongside him and tried to help him force the blade down. But Grace cried out as her power began to rage like a fire within her, and suddenly the steel began to melt in her hands.

McNabb pulled the sword back after a moment, and he was left with half the blade he started with, and all of it had become like molten steel, no longer solid and sharp.

"Don't just stand there. Do something! Finish her!" Chase shouted.

Grace forced herself to roll to her stomach again, and straining, she reached out one hand to the pavement ahead of her. Then she moved other hand and her legs until she was crawling towards the steps where the device whirled and hummed.

Chase nudged Golott, and the defender released a blast of energy towards Grace. But when the light cleared, she was still moving, if only a few inches at a time. Chase ran over and grabbed Detective Maza's gun where it had fallen. He raised it and fired at Grace, but the bullets appeared to disintegrate as they reached her.

Golott tried to grab for Grace, but he howled in pain as he drew his hands away. There was steam rising from them as he stumbled back.

"You fools, what level did you set the device to?!" McNabb shouted as he ran over to Chase.

"We chose the highest level to counter her power. Why isn't it working?!"

"You've turned it up too high!" McNabb insisted. "There's so much power and energy being thrust back upon her that we can't get near the blazing heat that's erupting around her. She's too strong!"

Grace had reached the stairs leading up to the device now. Her body had transformed from its normal appearance to increasing in its luminosity. Now it was radiating with the light like that of star, so that they could hardly look at her. The concrete beneath her seemed to be cracking and melting.

As she pulled herself up the steps, Grace's hand reached for the device, and Chase ran around the side and darted up to it.

"This is my victory tonight," he said coldly as he tried to adjust the controls.

"No! You don't know what you're doing!" McNabb shouted, but he didn't wait around to say more. He and his men started to run away from the device in alarm.

Grace's burning white hand reached up and touched a lever on the device. Steam soared from it as Chase stood over it. Golott watched only for a moment before he began to run after those from the Agency.

With her face lifted up to the device, Grace turned her white-hot gaze to Chase, and then her fingers closed securely around the lever.

David Xanatos and Owen arrived at the rear of the hockey stadium in a limo. A few other men in suits stepped out with them when suddenly a deafening explosion shook the street on the other side of the stadium. All of them dropped back beside the limo warily, but Xanatos saw that whatever had happened, only the one street had been affected. He grabbed Owen's arm, and they ran around the hockey stadium until they reached the street on the other side.

A blackened ring about twenty-four feet in length covered most of the street. The front of the factory across from the stadium was in ruin and parts of it were still crumbling. Xanatos saw a large outsider on the pavement at the edge of the ring. He grabbed his shirt and lifted his head up.

"What happened here?"

But the burly young man was bleeding from the nose, and he seemed too dazed to speak.

"Sir, over here!" Owen called.

Xanatos dropped the outsider and strode over to where Owen was standing near some rubble on the other side of the devastation. As Xanatos drew closer, he saw Grace partially buried under the rumble and looking very pale. Owen took over his overcoat and laid it over her as he removed some of the rubble. Her clothes, possibly destroyed, were gone.

McNabb and the others from the Agency hurried back to the scene and started to approach.

"Stand back. We'll be taking that monstrosity!" he insisted.

But Xanatos moved into his path.

"No, you won't. Now stay out of our way," and then he turned to Owen. "Is she alive?"

Owen was crouching beside the girl and checking for a pulse.

"I've got something. Yes, she's taking shallow breaths. But we must get her medical attention."

Xanatos called over to the men that he had brought with them.

"Mr. McNabb, these are my lawyers. In reviewing the permissions granted to Off-World Agency, they've found some discrepancies regarding what legal rights your agency has when it comes to outsiders. So instead of wasting my time, you're going to talk with them. As you can see, I have other matters to attend to."

McNabb caught Xanatos' arm.

"That outsider must be dealt with at once. There is no time for matters of legality. The safety of our world is at stake!"

Xanatos threw him off.

"I couldn't agree more."

The lawyers intercepted the men from the Agency as Xanatos and Owen took Grace back to the limo. Police and other emergency vehicles were beginning to arrive on the scene.

Wildwing awoke in the hospital later that evening. His manager, Phil Palmfeather, stood at his side.

"Phil? Where are the others?"

"They're here too, babe. You all took some sort of beating at the game, but no one is sure what happened."

Wildwing started to sit up.

"Are they okay?"

"It's hard to tell, but they're hanging in there," Phil said. "You wanna tell me what happened?"

"I don't remember much except being out on the ice," Wildwing said. "Did anyone else end up in the hospital?"

"Funny you should mention that. Elisa was brought here just minutes before you all. She's not doing so well."

There was a rap on the window of the hospital room, and Phil drew back the curtains to reveal the huge shape of Goliath clinging to the outside of the building.

"Whoa!" Phil said, jumping back.

"Phil, go and check on the others," Wildwing said quickly.

"But…"

"Go on, Phil."

Phil sighed as he opened the window for Goliath and walked out.

"Sheesh, what a way to get visitors."

Once he was gone, Goliath shut the door to the room, and Wildwing quickly asked,

"What happened to Grace?"

"Xanatos has her. She was injured in the encounter with the Agency and other outsiders, but he has assured me she is alive."

Wildwing sat back in the hospital bed.

"My clan and I were attacked when we tried to approach the stadium. I am doing well enough, but some of my friends are very weak."

"Phil said Elisa is here," Wildwing said.

"Yes, I already saw her, but she would not wake. I fear she was hit the hardest."

"Probably trying to protect Grace. I'm sorry, Goliath," Wildwing sighed. "Do you know where Xanatos has taken Grace?"

The towering gargoyle shook his head.

"He would not tell me in case someone was listening to our conversation. But no doubt he will do all he can for her."

Wildwing put his hand to his head wearily.

"Our plans went horribly wrong. I'm not sure my team and I can risk leaving Anaheim again if this is going to be the result."

"Perhaps not everything was a failure," Goliath said. "I have been trying to put the pieces together of what happened. My clan disabled one of the Agency's machines, but another one was destroyed tonight. Perhaps when Elisa wakes up, she will be able to testify as to who attacked her. And Chase Farrow is dead."

"How?" Wildwing asked.

"There was an explosion with the second Agency device. He was killed in the blast. The outsiders who were attacking us ...and you and your team, they seemed to have gotten scared and stopped the attack after the explosion. I think they know Chase was killed."

Wildwing considered that in silence. Chase had been the one leading the attacks against them. Perhaps the other outsiders would back down with his death.

Goliath started to walk back to the window when Wildwing said,

"I hope Elisa recovers soon. And thanks, Goliath."

The massive gargoyle nodded and crawled out into the night.

This story will be finished soon. Thanks to those readers who have stuck with me!