"You want me to what?" Zaus looked at the man who had betrayed her and the gargoyles, who sat in his chair behind his desk.
It was about mid afternoon, Zaus was lying on the couch in complete silence, reading a fascinating book about the worlds most beautiful Rain forests. Elisa had left to visit and talk with her brother, leaving the sorceress to enjoy some peace and silence to herself.
Just as she finished reading about the Colombia Rain forest, a knock from the door had interrupted the silent apartment. Sighing in annoyance, she marked her spot in the book, stood with a small stretch and walked to the door.
Upon opening the door, her eyes narrowed instantly, for standing right there was none other than Xanatos' aide, Owen Burnett.
"What do you want?" Zaus crossed her arms, knowing full well Xanatos wanted something from her and sent his aide to get her.
"Mister Xanatos asks that I escort you to the Eyrie tower. He has something to say that might interest you. If you are free, that is?" Owen asked, not fazed at all by the sorceress' harsh glare.
"Xanatos knows that I despise him for what he has done to me and my friends."
"He is very aware of that. To put your mind at ease, this has nothing to do with the gargoyles. All he wants is to have a few moments of your time to speak with you. You have my word on that." Owen adjusted his glasses, though never breaking eye contact.
The sorceress was hesitant, she was going to say no, but something about this man caused her to trust him. For some strange reason, she felt that there was more to this man than what meets the eye.
With a frustrating sigh she nodded her head, agreeing to go with him to speak to Xanatos. After leaving a quick note, telling the detective where she went, she locked the apartment behind her and followed the blond man to the car parked down stairs in front of the complex.
Now here she was, staring at the man who has put her and her friends in danger with unbelieving eyes. For he had just asked her to be a night guard at a museum he was opening up in a month or so. The job wasn't what caught her off guard, it was the fact that he was asking her, of all people, to work for him.
"I want you to be my night guard at the museum I'll be opening soon. You see, my room of private collections is a bit too full for my liking. Then a thought came to me: Why not open a museum of my own, let the public finally see all the magnificent artifacts of David Xanatos." Xanatos leaned in his chair, studying the reaction of the sorceress before him.
To be honest, he actually wanted to help the girl. When he was reading the Magus' story about the gargoyles, he found a section just on her. All the hard ship she had been through after their mother passed away. Seeing she was the sister of the princess' advisor, no one wanted to befriend her. She was then teased for befriending the gargoyles, calling her a monster as well. Even Demona, to his surprise, worried about the girl a bit. Though the female gargoyle didn't show it, he could tell she had a connection with the sorceress.
"Let me get this straight, you want me, to work for you, as a night guard at your museum, and this has nothing to do with finding out where the gargoyles are or trying to find a way to convince me to go against them?" Zaus looked at Xanatos with suspicion in her eyes, she did not trust him at all, and he knew that.
"Of course, I may be a man with many wants, but I am also a man who likes to help others every now and then."
"What makes you think I need any help?" Zaus raised a white brow.
"While I was in prison, I did not mind you and the gargoyles staying here. You had all you needed, food, shelter, clothing. You did not have to worry about how you would pay for those things." Xanatos saw the confused look on the sorceress' face.
"You see, when detective Maza goes to work, she makes money, which covers for her apartment clothes and food. That was enough, maybe a little more, to cover all the things she needs. Now that she has you in her apartment and the gargoyles, she is using up all the money she has for food for you and the gargoyles, also using the money to by you things you need." Xanatos stood from his chair.
"What I'm saying is, she can't be the only one caring for you and the gargoyles. If this keeps up, she won't have anything left."
The sorceress couldn't believe what she was hearing. Now that she thought about it, she remembered a few times that she had seen the detective sitting at the kitchen table with a bunch of paper. When she had asked what they were, the detective just said she was figuring out her finances, saying she didn't have enough money at one point and had to take out something called a loan.
"So this is why you're offering me this job… So I can help out Elisa." Zaus looked to Xanatos with hurt filled eyes. She felt horrible for taking advantage of the detective.
"Exactly, and if you except the job, I'll pay off the detectives loan and put enough money in her account to support you and the gargoyles till the museum is up and running. So what do you say?" Xanatos' voice was serious, a voice he rarely used around her. He walked from behind his desk and to the sorceress, who now stood.
"I'll do it, but I swear…" Zaus facial expression hardened.
'If I find out that this was all just a plan to hurt my friends, I will make sure you die by my hands. You know where to find me when the museum is fully up." With that said the sorceress walked into the elevator, pressed the button and headed downstairs to the main lobby.
The sorceress' mind was filled with so much at this point, she thought she would explode. As she exited the building, she was greeted by the detective, leaning against her car, a displeasure look on her face.
~With Xanatos~
"If you don't mind me asking Mr. Xanatos, but why are you being so kind to the sorceress all of a sudden?" Owen asked, looking to his boss with a raised brow.
"To be honest, the story the Magus wrote about his sister got to me." Xanatos' face showed nothing but serious and honesty. Looking out the window, he looked to the slowly setting sun.
"Everything he wrote about her somehow fazed me. I don't know how, but it did. She has been through a lot. Now her brother is gone and all she has left is the gargoyles. I wanted to find some way I could help her; Sure I have done wrong and put her through a lot, which won't change, but know that I can help her, even a little, I feel a little better about myself for once." In a very long time an actual true and kind smile graced the face of David Xanatos.
~With Zaus~
"You took a job working with Xanatos?!" Elisa stared with widened eyes at the sorceress sitting in the passenger sit of her car.
When the detective had come home and found the note the sorceress had left, she couldn't believe that she would even give a second thought about going to see that man. When she had gotten to Xanatos' company, she was ready to barge in there and drag her friend out, but when she saw the sorceress coming out on her own, she had positioned herself on her car, arms crossed and a very displeasure look on her face.
"I had to, Elisa…" Zaus kept her gaze looking out the side window, watching the scenery pass by. Soon they where parked right in front of the police station.
"Why? I don't see any reason to take a job from that horrible…"
"Because he said he would pay off the loan you took out of the bank and pay for the things me and the gargoyles need right now. That way you won't have such a burden on you any more." Zaus turned her head, looking at a now silent detective.
"I know you don't like the idea, but I don't want to be a burden on you any more, Elisa. I want to help pay for things, instead of taking advantage on you. So please, let me do this. I promise, if something happens, I'll quit and let you know."
After a few minutes of deep thinking and looking into the eyes of a very determined sorceress, the detective just sighed and nodded her head.
"You also can't tell Goliath or the others. Not right now at least."
"Ok, but they're going to wonder why you're not around as much once you start working." Elisa stated as she and the sorceress got out of the car and headed up the stairs.
"I tell them the job part, just not the Xanatos part. They wouldn't understand. When the time comes, I'll explain it to them."
"Alright, well I'll see you later. I have to get to work."
With a small nod the sorceress headed further up the stairs to the abandoned janitors closet and up into the clock tower.
A smile came to the sorceress' face as she was greeted by the blue gargoyle beast rushing up to her, almost knocking her down on her back.
"It's good to see you too, Bronx. Hey to you guys too." Zaus waved as she patted the beast's head.
"Welcome back, lass, how have you been?" Hudson asked the sorceress, seeing as it had been a few nights since they last saw her.
"I've been alright, just been a bit busy, that's all. I see Brooklyn and Broadway are out on patrol." Zaus looked around the clock tower, and only saw one of the three young gargoyles.
Before the others could confirm her answer, Broadway came bursting into the clock tower with a very tired looking rookery brother in his arms.
"What happened?" Goliath asked, as Broadway set down his red rookery brother, who was slowly coming out of his tired state.
"We were patrolling the city when we saw a shadowy figure that looked like Demona, running through an ally way. When we went to investigate, we realized it wasn't Demona, but some other kind of creature." Broadway's eyes widened as if he just realized something, his full attention now of the sorceress.
"She actually looked like you did, Zaus. When you were transformed into the cat creature with wings months ago. The only thing different was that she had gold fur, blond hair and gold cat eyes."
The sorceress could not believe what she was hearing. The same thing that had happened to her was now happening to someone else. Who knew how many others were suffering the same fate she did? She was so deep in thought that she did not realize that the detective had come up and was standing right beside her.
"She was… So frightened…" Brooklyn finally spoke but seemed to be in a daze.
"Yeah; of us." Broadway confirmed.
"She needed our help."
"Are we talking about the same person? From what I saw, she didn't want our help."
"She wanted mine!" Brooklyn snapped.
"Easy there lover boy. She wasn't thinking straight. If I remember correctly, I was pretty enraged when I found out I was something other than human. In her case, she must have been scared to death." Zaus' voice was low as she remembered how she felt when it happened to her.
"Brooklyn was able to pull this of her wrist when he tried to help her." Broadway pulled out what looked to be a medical band.
"They probably had a tracking device on her. Maybe we can find out who did this to her and Zaus. This also has the symbol that was on the van." Broadway flipped the banned over, showing the words Gen-U-Tech on it.
"All we need to do is find the place, I already know who did this to them." Zaus' voice was suddenly harsh, her eyes narrowing as everyone on the clock tower looked to her.
"Dr. Sevarius."
The sorceress leaned against the wall of the clock tower, her eyes narrowed at the floor as her mind kept going back to the night she found herself as something other than human.
"Since we know that Sevarius is the one who transformed Zaus into such a creature the first time, you should be able to do something, right? Like... arrest him?" Brooklyn looked to the pacing detective.
"Though he did kidnap Zaus and turned her into that creature, she is back to normal now and we can't use her as a witness. Plus we have no real evidence to convict him. My hands are tied." Elisa shook her head as she and the sorceress watched the gargoyles leave out of the clock tower and to the pedestals as the sun began to rise.
"He's going to go find Gen-U-Tech once he wakes up." Zaus looked to the leaving detective, knowing full well that she was going to Gen-U-Tech and talk to Sevarius herself.
"Just try to stall him for a bit, maybe I can find something out that he can't." Elisa quickly descended down the rest of the steps and headed off to find the location of Gen-U-Tech.
The sorceress sighed in frustration. First Xanatos offered her a job and now this mutation of another gargoyle like cat creature came along and somehow captured the attention of her red friend.
'When I was like her, Brooklyn didn't seem to be that interested in me… Wait… what the hell am I thinking?! Brooklyn is just my friend, nothing more! But why do I feel like not saving that other cat creature from the evil Dr…'
"Ah, get a hold of yourself, Zaus! Look you're tired and stressed from all that has happened tonight, a little bit of sleep and you will feel like yourself again by tonight." Zaus told herself after shaking her head from her previous thought.
Pushing herself off the wall, Zaus walked over to her bed in the darkest corner of the clock tower, hoping to get some much needed rest.
As the sun began to set the next day, the sorceress stood behind her still sleeping friends, watching the last rays of sun disappear from the sky. When the sun had fully set, the sorceress covered her face from the small fragments of stone skin as her friends awoke from their slumber.
"Where are you going?" Goliath looking to the red gargoyle, who was ready to take to the sky and the sorceress already knew why.
"To find her, she needs my help."
"Oh yeah, running off with out a plan, that's a great idea. I'm sure she is going to welcome you with opened arms." Sarcasm was laced in her words as Zaus' eyes narrowed at the red gargoyle, who now glared at her.
"You don't know anything about her!"
"And neither do you." Goliath interrupted, stopping the sorceress from speaking.
"Zaus is right, rushing in without a plan is dangerous, and I have a plan."
The red gargoyle looked to his leader, a happy look on his face; while the sorceress glared hard as she and the others listened very carefully to their leader's plan.
"Relax, lass; everything is going to be fine." Hudson watched the pacing young sorceress on top of one of the support beams. She had been up there ever since their leader and two of the younger gargoyles left to find Gen-U-Tech a while a go.
Whenever she was angry or upset she would always go up to the same wooden beam and either pace or sit silently with her thoughts.
"I can't, Hudson; I just know something bad is going to come out of this…" Zaus jumped off the beam, landing on her feet in a crouching position.
"Don't worry, Zaus, what ever happens, we'll take care of it." Broadway tried to reassure the sorceress.
"I know, Broadway, but in the end someone is going to get hurt." Zaus whispered as her leader and two friends walked into the clock tower, her red friend holding an unconscious cat mutate female.
When the cat mutate was set down, the sorceress walked over to get a better look at her, while her leader and her yellowish gargoyle friend told the other two about what had happened.
This female seemed to be the same height as she was when she was turned, but was a lot thinner. She had dull gold fur over her whole body, with dark blond hair. She had dark almost maroon colored wings on her back and wore only a spaghetti strap dull green night gown reaching her mid thigh.
When she looked to her red friend, she saw the concern and worry in his eyes as she stared at the female laying before them. She felt a slight pain in her chest as her mind raced with questions like; was he this worried when I was gone? When I was painfully changing back to my human form?
"She's waking up." Brooklyn's voice brought the sorceress from her thought and her full attention on the female creature before her.
The sorceress could see the fear in the female's eyes as she was frightened by the gargoyle beast, which was right in front of her face, as she backed right into her red friend.
"It's alright, we're your friends." Brooklyn tried comforting the girl but only frightened her more.
Her fearful eyes landed on the white haired girl, the only human, and quickly ran behind her trying to shield herself away from the gargoyles. The sorceress was shocked, but it disappeared when she felt the woman shaking, her eyes saddened and she placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Were you human once too?" The woman peaked from behind the sorceress, even though she was much taller than her.
"No." Goliath stated.
"Well I'm human! I'm not like this. My name is Maggie, Maggie Reed. I'm from Ohio." Maggie stated, still hiding behind the white haired girl.
"You'll be safe here, Maggie." Lexington looked to the scared female.
"This is safe?" Maggie stood next to the sorceress, gesturing to her new form, then leaning against the stone steps and sliding to the ground, shielding her face. "I need a cure! I'm not a monster!"
"We're not monsters either. Don't be afraid." Brooklyn ran his claws through her hair once before she flinched and moved away from him and behind the sorceress again.
Sorrow and hurt seeped into the sorceress' heart as she watched the disappointed look in her friends face and the fear she had seen in Maggie's eyes.
"The dawn is coming, and we all need rest." Goliath looked to the sorceress and the fearful female.
"Keep her safe while we sleep. When night falls, we will find you're cure, Maggie, even if it means confronting Xanatos at his castle."
As the gargoyles walked out of the clock tower and onto their pedestals the sorceress and Maggie followed. Right as they reached the opening, the sun had risen and the gargoyles had turned to stone right before their eyes.
"This can't be real… I must be dreaming. I need to wake up!" Maggie gripped her head as tears ran down her face.
"Maggie, I'm sorry but this is real. I know what your going through." Zaus placed a hand on her shoulder, but Maggie pulled it away.
"How could you know? You're not a monster! You're a human, just like I should be!"
"Yes, I'm a human, but I was changed into a creature just like you." Zaus walked over to a cork board with many different pictures she had taken.
After a quick search she had found what she was looking for. Pulling it from the board she walked over to Maggie and handed her the picture.
When Maggie looked at the picture her eyes widened. In the picture was a monster like her, but still different. It had white tiger features with black wings on the back. The hair was snow white and the eyes a silver green color.
Maggie looked from the picture to the girl before a few times, her mind spinning with questions.
"I was the first one he experimented on…"
"How… How is this possible? You're human though, how did you find a cure?"
"I didn't… Dr. Sevarius must have done something for it not to be permanent on me. I went through so much pain that I was in a pain induced coma for almost a week."
"Maybe that will happen to me? Maybe I'll change back, just like you!" Maggie looked hopeful, but it disappeared when she saw the hurt and sorrow look in the girl's eyes.
"I'm sorry, Maggie, but I don't think so. The only way to know for sure though is to talk to Xanatos himself."
"Then let's go! He must have a cure at his company!" Maggie headed for the stairs but was stopped when a firm hand gripped her wrist.
"It's too dangerous, Maggie! Xanatos is someone not to trust! He has done many horrible things to me and my friends. Let's just wait till the gargoyles wake up, and then we can go."
"No! I'm going now! I don't want those monsters' help! And if you're not going to help me, then fine!" With her new found strength Maggie swung her arm that the sorceress was holding, throwing her into a near by wall.
The sorceress grunted on impact, her back and head hit the wall, causing everything around her to go black.
When the sorceress finally came to herself, her head was pounding and she back pulsed with pain as she stood. Looking around she saw no sign of Maggie anywhere in the clock tower.
"Great. I better go find her before lover boy wakes up and blame me for not keeping an eye on her."
It was already nightfall when the sorceress finally walked into Xanatos' castle. As she stepped out of the elevator, her eyes landed right on the man who had caused all this.
"Xanatos!" Zaus walked right up to the man who now looked at her.
"Zaus... what a surprise. What can I do for you?"
"Like you don't know? I know what you did to Maggie, and who knows how many others. You better know how to change them back." Zaus was furious.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, my dear, but I have nothing to do with human mutation."
Suddenly a loud roar broke through the sky, stopping the two's conversation. Looking to the sky the sorceress saw her clan leader and three friends heading straight for the castle. They were stopped though - by three other cat like creatures like Maggie but males.
"Detective Maza is here." Owen informed his boss.
"Send her up; we have to stop this senseless violence." Xanatos looked up, along with the sorceress, to see the red gargoyle and only female cat creature landing on one of the towers.
The sorceress was so focused on her red friend that she did not notice the two beings heading right towards her. The sudden feeling of being pushed out of the way caused the sorceress to break from her thoughts and look up to see that Owen had pushed her out of the way from getting hit by the two begins now circling each other.
"Are you alright, Miss Zaus?" Owen asked as he got up, and he helped the young girl up as well.
"Freeze! Back off and you won't get hurt." Elisa cut in before Zaus could say a word.
"Now calmly, who are you?"
"Call me ... Talon." The black panther like creature spoke. Although his voice was very deep, the sorceress had a strange feeling that she knew who he was.
"Ok... Talon, why are you hurting my friend here?"
"Your friend made me like this."
"Impossible, Goliath would never intentionally hurt anyone. Look, I want to help you."
"Promise?"
"Cross my heart…" Elisa made and X over her heart, just like she and her brother did.
"And hope to…" Talon did not finish is sentence for he knew right there that he had shown who he really was.
"Derek!" Elisa and Zaus were shocked to see that Derek, Elisa's bother and Zaus friend had been transformed as well.
"Xanatos did this to you!"
"It was an accident; he's trying to help me." Derek, now Talon, shielded him self behind his wings.
"Don't you get it? He's lying! He's always lying!" Elisa placed her hands on her brother's back, but was shocked right away.
"Elisa, I'm sorry… I…" Derek reached for his sister, but backed away when he saw the fear in her eyes.
Tears ran down his face as he jumped off the castle and flew into the night sky, the others following him. Zaus ran to the edge of the castle, watching them vanish into the night sky.
"Oh, Derek…" Zaus bowed her head before turning and looking to the detective as two of her best friends landed next to their leader.
"Should we go after them?" Broadway looked to his leader, but got his answer by someone else.
"No, let them go." Brooklyn landed a hurtful look on his face.
"She doesn't want our help. She doesn't want me."
"Now it's war, Xanatos! You're going down for this, I promise you! No matter what it takes."
Both the detective and sorceress glared at the rich man before storming off to the elevator and heading back to the clock tower.
When they had gotten back to the clock tower, the detective was on the sorceress' bed, crying for her brother. Brooklyn was staring out one of the windows in a depressed state, his small rookery brother trying to comfort him.
The Clan leader as well as the oldest and the heavy set gargoyle looked to the two, who had been hurt. Shaking their heads in disappointment, not like that their clan member and friend were hurt. Their attention soon went to the sorceress, who was back on the support beams, but instead of pacing like usual, she was sitting with her knees to her chest, back pressed up against another beam, and her gaze up at the ceiling. Her cheek was stained with tears while her eyes were red from crying. So many emotions had welded up inside her, anger, fear, helplessness, sorrow and sadness. As soon as she walked into the clock tower she levitated her self to the highest beam where she knew she could be alone and cry without any of them bothering her.
She knew they would have left her alone no matter what but she just wanted to be as far away from them as possible.
Well every here is Chapter 25!
Sorry it took so long, this was a very good episode and I wanted it to show a lot.
Thanks you waffleirony For all you help!
Hope you all enjoyed!
Plz, Leave a Review!