Elisa pounded at the room's only door, shouting and trying to attract attention.
She knew from her previous time here that the doors only opened from the outside, and no matter what she tried from this side did much. Same with the walls. They had a layer of a concrete or plaster that she could easily dig through with her talons, but beneath that were layers and layers of metal that she was unable to get through.
She had tried, and every time, they would just shift her to a new room, patch up the previous wall, and shift her back again.
After a while, she had just given up.
She was starting to dig out around the door frame, just in case this room was not as well built as the others. She doubted it, but she was going to try.
A dull thumping met her ears, and she paused in her efforts. It hadn't come from outside the door…
Elisa scanned the room, and focused in shock on the human female who was frantically pounding at an invisible wall that separated them. Elisa ran forward, her palms stopping her momentum with an audible slap as she came in contact with the surface that separated her from Angela.
She could see Angela's mouth move as she spoke, but the sound was muffled, almost as if she were speaking under water. Elisa looked over the surface, trying to find anything that could be a weak point where she could break through.
There were more muffled thumps, and Elisa turned her attention back on Angela. She moved to stand in front of the young woman, and placed her hand over where hers lay on the surface.
"Are you okay?" Angela mouthed out, slightly exaggerating the words.
Elisa gave her a small smile and nodded.
Angela attempted to return the smile, but it faded quickly and her head whipped towards the door. Elisa watched in horror as the door slid open, revealing a pair of the white lab coated doctors. They entered the room, and were followed by a large man holding a sturdy metal chair.
The man set the chair down, and stood to one side with his arms folded. His face said he was bored, but one of the lessons that Elisa had learned in this place was to not trust their faces.
Angela turned away from Elisa and faced the scientists. They were approaching her and speaking.
Elisa wished she could hear them.
Angela shook her head, and bunched her fists. She looked ready to fight, and Elisa began pounding on the wall between them. Nothing good would happen if she began causing trouble for them. Elisa was going to do her best to get the girl out unharmed, but in order to do that she needed Angela to cooperate.
Elisa pounded again to get Angela's attention.
Angela's gaze met hers, and Elisa shook her head firmly. She held her hands up in a pleading gesture, and Angela slowly nodded.
Angela stood up straight, squared her shoulders and walked forward to sit in the chair with the black clad man behind her right shoulder. Angela folded her hands in her lap and glared at the two scientists.
Elisa took a deep breath in relief that Angela had understood. She watched helplessly as the scientists began speaking to Angela. For her part, Angela was staring straight ahead and answered things in short, if not single word answers.
The scientists continued their activities and Elisa's mind continued to race. She had gotten lucky last time she escaped, even though she'd thought it had been a little too easy at the time, she'd grabbed the chance.
This time, she had a feeling that she wouldn't be so lucky. And it wouldn't just be her this time. She would need to get Angela out as well.
The sound of the sliding door behind her caught her attention, and she swung around to meet the gaze of the two white coated scientists that had all but haunted her dreams… Or they would if Gargoyles dreamed.
"Welcome back," The male said, "Did you have fun on your outing, my dear?"
Elisa growled involuntarily.
"Now, now," The woman said, walking fully into the room from the doorway. "There will be none of that."
Elisa's eyes shifted between the two of them, trying to keep them both in her line of vision.
"Well, I hope you enjoyed yourself," The male said, giving her a dark grin. "Because, I'm afraid that there will be no more of that. We have work to do now."
"Work?" Elisa asked, slowly lowering into a fighting stance. "What work?"
"Important work," The woman said, briskly. "Enough talk. Are you going to come with us voluntarily, or will you need motivation to behave?"
Elisa crouched and bared her fangs.
"What did I say?" the woman snapped, and brought a familiar object from her pocket. It was small, and extended like a police baton, but this one was electrified. "We are not going to have any of the snapping, snarling or biting. Not tonight, and not ever."
Elisa remained ready. She did not relish the thought of being shocked by that weapon, as she had already experienced that a time or two, but neither was she going to back down. Not with Angela in the next room.
"My dear," the male said in a calm, almost cheerful voice that made Elisa's jaw clench. He raised a small black object from his pocket and put his finger over a button. "I don't think that will be necessary. All the gargoyle has to do is to look behind her to see what is at risk." He pressed the button, and suddenly the room was flooded with sound.
Sounds of a struggle filled the room, and above it all was Angela's voice. Angela was cursing her captors fiercely. There was the sound of something hitting the ground followed by some wheezing gasps.
Elisa whirled to see that Angela had one of the doctors on the ground, curled in fetal position, having struck him in a… sensitive area. The other two in the room, however, must have called for reinforcements because a handful more people spilled into the room to help restrain her.
"Stop," Elisa cried, slapping at the wall. "Leave her alone."
"If you promise to comply with our orders, and cease fighting us," the male said, "I will gladly call them off. Your friend will be taken back to her room, and left alone."
Elisa didn't believe that for a moment. "Let her go," Elisa said roughly. "She is an innocent. Let her go, and I will not fight you."
"No!" Angela cried, fighting against the hands that were restraining her. In the scuffle, the chair was knocked over and the fight continued on the floor. There were so many people in the room now that Elisa couldn't even see Angela. Only hear the shouted, "Elisa, no!"
"Leave her alone," Elisa said, her shoulders sagging. "Let her go free, and I will not fight you anymore."
"Very well," the man said, and spoke so that they could hear in the next room. "You heard her. She will behave as long as the girl is unhurt."
"And released," Elisa reminded him.
"And released," The man said.
"That's all well and good, Sevarius," Came a frustrated voice from Angela's room, but it was impossible to tell who had spoken, "But we're going to have to drug her to get her to stop fighting."
"Then do it," He said offhandedly. "Then make sure she is released near where you found her."
Elisa stood still, watching as Angela kept fighting, until she was injected with something that took the fight out of her. She wasn't unconscious, but she seemed to go limp.
"What did you give her?" Elisa asked, her voice husky with pent up emotion.
"A simple paralytic," The man said. "She is awake, but no longer able to cause us trouble."
"Will it hurt her?" Elisa asked.
"No," He replied. "It will wear off soon, and she will be back to her normal self."
Elisa nodded. She had no choice but to trust that they would keep their word. Her only other option would be to fight them, and possibly have Angela hurt.
Elisa placed her hand on the wall, and watched as the people who had been restraining Angela backed away one by one. Finally, Elisa was able to see Angela. She looked a little rumpled, but appeared unhurt.
"I'm sorry," Elisa said, hoping that her friend could hear her. "I am so sorry that you were brought into this mess. Go home, Angela, and live your life."
Elisa had taken two steps away from the wall, her hands dropping limply to her sides, when a familiar form burst into the room.
Weapon drawn, face a mask of fury, Goliath stood in the doorway and addressed the room.
"NYPD," he identified himself. "Hands on your heads and back away from the girl."
Elisa watched, wide eyed, as the group did just that. Goliath moved into the room then, and pulled a radio from his pocket. He called for backup while keeping his full attention on the ones who had hurt his daughter.
Then he noticed Elisa, and blinked in surprise. He turned at an angle to keep an eye on the room's occupants, but also to take in Elisa and those with her.
"Elisa?" He called out.
"Get Angela out of here, Goliath," Elisa shouted before whirling on her own captors.
She caught them by surprise as they were focused on what was happening in the other room, but that had only given her a moment. The woman brought the electrified baton down on Elisa's leg, and Elisa let out a shout of pain. Eyes illuminating red, Elisa took hold of the weapon and, enduring more shocks from it, broke it in half before flinging it against the far wall.
She swept her tail out and took Sevarius' legs from beneath him and sending him to the ground. The small remote that he had held in his hand flew and shattered against the stone floor, causing the wall where she could see Angela and Goliath to go opaque.
It was once more just a blank, white wall.