Elisa closed her eyes and turned her head as shards of plastic and glass rained down on her.
The room had been plunged into darkness. There was light coming from the hallway through the gaps caused by the door that she had broken when they had forced her into the room.
Elisa strained against the straps that were holding her to the table, still swinging her tail in wide arcs to keep everyone away from her.
There was a metallic scraping noise, and the shadows moved, telling Elisa that the door was being moved to allow people in and out of the room.
The bed she was laying on jostled, and she was being wheeled from the room as the panicked conversations whirled around her. There was a bump as the bed with the wall in the hallway, and Elisa found it empty. If there was no one there, what had caused the light to explode like that?
Hands were pushing the bed now, and she was being pushed quickly down the hallway, two of the black clad guards in front of them, and she could only assume there were a few more behind them, but she wasn't able to turn her head far enough to see.
There was a commotion, and suddenly both Goliath and the redheaded woman the boys had called Demona were in front of them and shouting orders. Despite being armed themselves, the guards put their hands up, lowering to their knees.
Demona kept the men there, and Goliath hurried to stand beside her, repeating the orders to the people farther down the hall. A few moments later, Goliath was back where she could see him, and was putting the thin plastic strips that she knew of as Flex Cuffs around the wrists of the security people.
Once that had been completed, Goliath hurried to her side. He hurriedly released the metal buckles on the straps and helped her from the table.
"Thank you," Elisa said, accepting the hand that Goliath had extended to her. Slowly, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and slid off to stand on her feet.
"Leaving you here was not an option," Goliath said softly. "But we need to get you out before the others return."
Elisa nodded. "This way," She said, gesturing for them to follow.
"No," The woman shouted.
Elisa and Goliath turned to face her.
"I am not leaving without Angela," She snarled. "Where is she?"
Elisa skidded to a stop, turning panicked eyes on Goliath. Had she been mistaken? Was Angela still down here somewhere?
"She is safe," Goliath said to calm the two females. "We found Angela first, and she was taken out by the other officers. She is out front being cared for."
"What?" Dominique said, aghast. "So… all of this…" she gestured around them at the damage and people held in the Flex Cuffs, "Was for the gargoyle?"
Goliath huffed out a sigh. "We do not have time to argue, Dominique," he said, then turned to run after Elisa.
Dominique followed closely behind as Elisa navigated the hallways and led them straight to the stairway to the alley that Goliath had taken earlier.
Elisa hesitated at the doorway that would let them out into the alley, and Goliath pushed past her to open the door slowly. As he walked out into the darkened alley, verifying that there was no one outside to witness Elisa's escape, He turned to motion for the two others to follow.
Elisa hurried outside, frantically checking the sky.
"There is still plenty of time, Elisa," Goliath assured her. "Hurry now, before you are seen."
Elisa nodded, and began climbing the building. As she pulled herself over the edge and onto the roof, she sent Goliath a look over her shoulder.
Goliath waved her on. Elisa nodded and disappeared from sight.
Goliath sighed in relief, even though he was anxious to get to Angela, work here was still not done. He grabbed his radio again, alerting the officers that there was another group of people down in the labs who were in need of transport to the station. He gave them rough directions to where they were, but being how extensive the laboratory was, it would still take them a while.
"I simply cannot believe that you let me go through all of that for the Gargoyle," Dominique growled, breaking into his thoughts as soon as his radio clicked off. "You should have told me that Angela was out and safe."
"We were busy at the time," Goliath pointed out, irritated. "How was I to know that you did not yet know that Angela was safe?"
Dominique stewed for a moment, getting a grip on her temper, before finally raising her gaze.
"This was nice," She said finally, quietly. She was very aware that there was still a lot of police officers nearby, and she didn't necessarily want them to hear voices and come running. "It has been a long time since we worked together like this," She said, a wave of nostalgia washing over her.
"Yes," Goliath answered, somewhat distractedly as he scanned the sky for Elisa, hoping that she'd managed to get airborne.
Dominique felt her irritation rise. She had been planning on how to begin this talk, but he wasn't even paying attention to her.
"Goliath, I…" Dominique started speak. If only they could have a few seconds more, perhaps... perhaps she could tell him the truth… that she felt something for him. That she wished things could be different.
Goliath turned his gaze on her, and she recognized the disapproving look in her one-time love's eyes and she shrunk back.
Goliath looked at her expectantly, frowning at her reaction but waiting for her to complete her thought.
Dominique steeled herself. Now was just as good a time as any to come clean about her feelings. "Goliath, for what it's worth, I never wanted any of this to happen. I never wanted you to hate me the way that you do. I did what I thought was best for our daughter."
"No," Goliath said, shaking his head sadly. He didn't know what her game was, or if she even had a point to make, but he just wanted it to be done so that he could finish up here and take his daughter home. "You did this, everything then and now, for you."
"So that's it then?" Dominique said. "Have you no place in your heart for what we had?"
"Once, maybe," Goliath admitted. "There was a time when I would have forgiven you anything."
Dominique glared at him. "For all your high and mighty morals and self-importance, all of your preaching and lectures on forgiving others, you suddenly lack the ability to forgive someone a mistake?"
Goliath's posture stiffened. "To have forgiveness, you have to first accept responsibility for your actions, Dominique, and that is something that you have never willingly done."
"Like what?" She asked, frustrated. "What mistake did I make that was so unforgivable?"
"Abandoning our child, keeping her very existence from me, was not a mistake, Dominique." Goliath said, calm in the face of her anger and feeling nothing but sorrow for the girl she had once been and whom he had once loved. He took an unconscious step away from her. "That was a conscious and malicious choice that you, and you alone, made. Having her raised like I was, in a home of strangers and no real family, is unforgivable to me. If you had known me at all, you should have realized that."
"Oh, but you can accept that creature, make allowances for her and forgive her for putting our daughter in mortal danger?" Dominique bit out. "I'm not the monster here, she is."
"Monsters are not dependent upon their outward appearances. Monsters are made because of their actions." Goliath retorted. "Elisa has saved Angela, saved me, putting her own life at risk to do so. She did that very thing, tonight. She was willing to put herself back into the hands of the scientists at this facility to keep Angela safe. When I got there, Elisa was bartering Angela's release in exchange for her own safety."
"So you're saying, what?" Dominique stared at him in disbelief, her eyes filling with tears of regret and self-pity. "That you have feelings for the gargoyle? She's not even human, Goliath"
Goliath said nothing. What could he say? The fact that he had started developing feelings for Elisa was something that he would have to examine later.
"Fine. If that is the way that you would have it, Goliath" Dominique said.
Goliath sighed. There was no use continuing this. Their time was running short. "We must all eventually answer for our decisions in life, Dominique. For now, go. Leave this place. I will not have our daughter see you arrested this night when she has already been through so much," he sighed. "But if your role is discovered in all of this, I cannot protect you. Xanatos will be going behind bars for the illegal machinations that this laboratory was involved in. I hope, for your sake and Angela's, that you finally find the forgiveness and leniency that you seek."
"So be it," Dominique snarled, and stormed down the alley to disappear into the darkness.