Goliath cursed as the image disappeared. He needed to get Angela out of here and to safety, then get to Elisa.
The sound of running footfalls and shouts met his ears, and he had a moment to wonder if it was from friends or foes.
A flood of black swat team members and the dark blue uniforms of the NYPD officers swarmed the room. Goliath stepped back, allowing them to do their job of securing the suspects. Shifting his gun back into its shoulder rig, he bent to his daughter.
She was awake, her eyes open and filled with fear. "What did you give her?" He snarled.
One of the scientists broke down and began confessing about Angela's abduction and what they had had to drug her with to get her to stop fighting.
A pair of officers leaned down to start assessing Angela, and a call for emergency medical assistance went out over the radio.
"Damn, Mason," One officer said, coming to clamp his hand on Goliath's shoulder. "Mind telling me how you got down here so fast?"
"I found a back door," Goliath muttered.
"Yeah, well," The man said with a half grin, "Cap's pissed."
Goliath nodded. He would deal with it later. "Thank you for letting me know, Morgan."
Morgan shrugged. "We would have all done the same if it were one of our own kids."
"Take her out," Goliath said. "Take her to the ambulance, and get Angela to the hospital."
"Where are you going?" Morgan demanded.
"There is another girl here," Goliath said, pointing at the wall that had appeared transparent only a few minutes ago. "I saw her in the next room."
"Goliath," He said with a frown. "We just came from that direction."
Goliath froze, his blood chilling in his veins. "What?"
"We just came from that direction, and we swept every room on the way here after your radio call," Morgan answered, his face etched in concern. "There is a lab next door with all kinds of crazy looking contraptions in it, but there were no people in there."
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Goliath followed behind the team just long enough for them to shift their focus elsewhere. As they went around a corner, he slowed down. When the last person turned the corner and left his sight, he turned and ran back down the hallway.
If this was the direction the team had come from, and they had checked all of the room on the way, then Elisa wasn't in this part of the building. What he had initially thought was that Elisa had been in the room next door, but now he realized that wasn't true. He had been seeing images from somewhere deeper within the labs.
With his weapon at the ready, he worked his way through the endless maze of hallways.
He heard the fight before he saw it. The now unmistakable sound of a gargoyle roar, smashing of what he thought might be furniture and the firing of weapons. Goliath quickened his step, not running because he didn't want to just burst into a dangerous situation, but feeling a pull to get there soon.
Coming to the end of the hall, he found that it was a "T" section, where the hallways branched off in opposite directions. He had a fifty-fifty shot, so as he got to the hall he turned right.
As he turned the corner, he jumped when a familiar redhead ran into him.
Reflexively, he reached out to steady the other person.
"Dominique?" He asked and a surprised whisper. "What are you…"
"Later," Dominique snapped. "The noise is coming from down there," She pointed down the left hand hall. She raised a good-sized Glock in a practiced shooter's hold and continued down the hall without him.
Goliath whirled and joined her, hurrying to get just a little ahead of her. He wasn't trying to suggest that she couldn't handle herself, but he was the trained officer and she, while armed, was still a civilian.
The sounds grew louder the farther down the hall they went.
"Secure her tail, you fools!" Came a raised female voice.
There was a loud crash, and Elisa shrieked in fury.
Goliath motioned Dominique to hug the wall behind him, and he crept forward towards the door. The metal security door now hung at an odd angle, affording Goliath a view of the room while providing enough cover to remain partially hidden.
Elisa was strapped to a table. Several unconscious guards littered the floor, giving Goliath a twinge of pride. She certainly wasn't making it easy for them.
A pair of guards approached the table from two different directions, dividing Elisa's attention. While she swiped at one guard with her tail, the other reached out with something that let out an audible crackle. Her body arched in pain, the straps holding her down on the metal table straining, and Goliath realized that they had given her a shock with something.
Goliath reached into the inner pocket of his coat and withdrew a small black device. He leaned in a little and activated the taser, watching as the yellow colored electrodes shot forward and hit their target on the arm of the man who had just shocked Elisa.
Not the smartest move on his part, but he was angry and not thinking clearly.
Obviously.
When the guard went down, screaming and convulsing, they all swung to look at the door.
"Fantastic," Dominique snarled, then moved around him to aim her gun in the doorway. She took careful aim and squeezed off a shot.
The harsh fluorescent lights in the overhead fixtures exploded, casting the room in darkness.