Elisa had been called to the scene of an accident involving a car and some good sized stones outside of the Xanatos building.
That was the first sign that things were not going well with the clan. Looking at the broken stones that littered the ground, she could only hope for the moment that they were all alright. No one had contacted her, and it's not like there were large sections of wall laying in the street as there had been the night she'd initially met the clan…
But, still, she worried.
Matt was with her, thankfully, and took over the taking of statements and helped the responding officers by arranging transport for the damaged vehicles so that they could keep the traffic moving.
Elisa took the chance to "question the building's owner" and hurried up to the castle level.
The castle was unnaturally quiet, and there was no one to be seen.
A warning bell was going off in her brain. The castle hadn't been this quiet in years, and especially not since the Council had moved in. There was always someone around.
Hesitantly, she moved down the hall, through the great room, and out into the courtyard.
"Hello?" Elisa called, looking around at the empty space. Her eyes drifted to the gaping hole in the side of the courtyard, and hurried to look through the hole to the city below.
When she found the flashing lights, not that she'd been surprised, she knew that this was where the falling stones had come from.
But who or what could have made the hole? She looked around the edges of the opening, running her hands gently around the jaggedly broken area. The wall was not thin. It was nearly three feet thick, so whoever had gone through it had to have been powerful.
Not to mention, from the way the debris had scattered, whoever had gone through the wall had come from inside the castle and broke outward.
On instinct, and a sense of rising dread, Elisa turned to go back inside.
Just before she reached the double doors, the familiar whine and noise of a heavy engine reached her ears. Whirling, she turned and scanned the sky visible above the high castle walls.
As she watched, a familiar flying machine rose above the wall and began to descend into the courtyard. In the darkness, she could just make out the faint silhouette of someone that she, quite frankly, had almost hoped to never see again.
Taurus of the New Olympians.
'What the hell?' Elisa thought as she moved towards the large horned figure.
"Taurus," Elisa greeted, holding her hand out for his in greeting.
"Elisa," he said, grasping her hand in return.
"I can't believe you're here," she said, then paused. "Why are you here? And how did you find us?"
"I arrived this evening," he admitted. "I was flying high so that I would be out of sight for the humans, and spotted this castle, so I thought this would be a good place to begin my search. I had forgotten that this was where you and the gargoyles lived."
Elisa frowned. "So, I am assuming this is not a social call."
"No," he said heavily. "Proteus has escaped. I tracked him this far, but his trail seems to have disappeared once he reached your island's shores."
Elisa froze, her body felt a sudden cold. "Proteus. How?"
Taurus grimaced. "After your appearance on the island, there was a small group of the New Olympians who decided to band together and vocalize their discontent with staying invisible to the world. They want to rise up against the humans and be seen as Gods as their ancestors had been once."
Elisa blinked at him. "How are they going to do that?
"I do not know," he said, shaking his head. "But they seemed to have a plan."
"And it involved letting Proteus out?" Elisa asked.
"Apparently."
Elisa shook her head. "I knew he was bad news," she said softly, "But having him loose on New Olympus is one thing. Having him loose on an island with a population of millions? That's a disaster waiting to happen."
"Agreed," he said. "That is why we must catch him as soon as possible."
"We need to find the clan," Elisa said, turning again to make her way inside. "Follow me," she shouted back to Taurus.
He was right behind her as they made their way through many winding hallways.
"Halt!" came a shouted order, and Elisa turned to find a small group of black-clad figures running after them.
"Not now, guys," Elisa called back to them. "We need to find Goliath."
"Hope Bringer," One shouted. "Please stop. We have news."
Elisa stopped and whirled on them. "Fine," she said angrily. "What?"
"There was an intruder," the member said. "Some kind of shape shifter."
Elisa turned to look at Taurus. "I guess you found him," she said.
"Where is he, now?" Taurus demanded.
The wing members, seemingly having just noticed the large bull-like being in the room, went into action. Of the four of them, two moved between Elisa and Taurus and the other two flanked him.
"What is going on?" a familiar voice demanded from farther down the hall, and Elisa turned to see Shen hurrying their way with even more wing members at his side.
"Shen," Elisa breathed out. "What's going on?"
"Problem," he said abruptly, his gaze turning to Taurus. "Who is this?"
"This is Taurus," Elisa introduced quickly. "He's the captain of the guard, so to speak, of New Olympus."
He gave her a side glance, and Elisa shook her head. "Long story."
"You trust him?" he asked.
"Yes," she said, frowning.
"You're sure it's him?" he asked her quietly.
"What?" Elisa asked, frustration in her voice. "Someone needs to tell me what's going on. Now."
"We need to make sure that your friend is who he says he is," Shen insisted. "Ask him something specific that only he would know."
"Oh, for the love of…" Elisa burst out, then turned to Taurus. "Where did we first meet?"
He blinked at her for a moment, then slowly answered, "On the island of New Olympus."
Elisa turned to Shen, "Got it in one," she insisted. "Now tell me what's going on."
"This way," he motioned Elisa towards the children's rooms. As Elisa moved up beside him, he began talking quietly. "It seems that someone named Proteus was in the castle earlier."
"Damn," Elisa said on a breath. "I just heard about that."
Shen threw her a glance. "You have spoken to someone here?"
"No," Elisa said, gesturing behind her, "Taurus told me. He came here to track him down and take him back to his prison cell."
Shen nodded slowly. "Very well," he said. "The shapeshifter was roaming the castle in disguise as Bronx…" he continued filling her in as they neared the children's playrooms. As a finisher, he said, "There was some disagreement with who was left watching the children, and so we were split. Half went to ensure the safety of the Promised One, and half of us began patrolling the hallways to make sure that no one else was wandering the castle. We insisted that they all stay in one place for the time being, and it seemed…prudent…that they all be in the children's soundproofed rooms for the moment."
Elisa slapped her hand on the scanning security device that would unlock the door. As the lock disengaged, she opened the door to absolute chaos. For a moment, she thought about shutting the door again to block the noise, but forced herself into the mass of bodies and raised voices.
She looked around, trying to find the source of the argument, but decided it was a wasted effort. She looked around and spotted Goliath and headed in that direction.
"Goliath," she called out as she approached him. "Goliath," she tried again, yelling to get above the noise.
He finally heard her, and turned to motion her to join him. She leaned up on tip toe and spoke close to his ear. "Proteus is here?"
He looked surprised for an instant, but nodded.
Realizing that she would have to shout to be heard, Elisa partially turned and pointed to Taurus, calling Goliath's attention non-verbally to the large figure who had stopped just inside the door.
Goliath nodded, his face set in grim lines as he made his way through the agitated crowd.
One by one, as Goliath passed them, the gargoyles found the bovine figure and began to quiet. By the time Goliath reached Taurus' side, the room was almost silent.
"Taurus," he greeted, holding his forearm out in greeting.
Taurus took the forearm in a firm grasp and greeted Goliath in the same manner.
"I can assume," Elisa said, coming up beside her husband, "That you being here has something to do with Proteus, but I only just found out that he's here." She turned to Goliath, "Can you fill me in fast?"
Goliath let out an almost sub vocal growl in anger. "It is not a fast story, Elisa. I will go into more detail later. We were not entirely sure who it was, and were under the assumption that it was Proteus or someone like him. Taurus's appearance only gave us confirmation."
Elisa nodded and glanced at her watch. "Look, Matt is waiting for me, and I have to report back in to work for a few more hours."
"Go, Elisa," Goliath said. "We will not be running our patrols this evening, and I would feel better knowing that you are down there, watching over our island."
Elisa nodded. "I'll have my comm on," She said, giving his hand a squeeze in lieu of a hug since Taurus was there. "Let me know if you need anything before I get back."
"We will," he promised.
As Elisa left, Taurus turned a surprised expression to Goliath. "I was not expecting to see both of you. It seems that your friendship managed to survive all of the uncertainty of your journeys."
"It has," Goliath acknowledged. He remembered how the Olympians had reacted to a human on their island, so chose not to go into detail about his relationship with Elisa. If he was here long enough, he would probably put the pieces together, but he was hoping for Taurus to be long gone with Proteus before then. "Have you been here long?"
Taurus shook his head. "I only just arrived in the city this evening," he admitted. "I was trying to track Proteus, and what little trail I could find led me in this direction. Finding Elisa was an unexpected surprise, and all of you better yet. Has Proteus been here?"
"Yes," Goliath nodded. "He was imitating at least two different gargoyle members."
He raised a brow at that. "At least two?"
Goliath ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "We have no way of knowing how long he has been here." He looked to Taurus, "How long has he been gone from his cell?"
"A few days," he admitted. He looked around the room, "This is an odd place for you all to gather."
Goliath nodded. "That may be," he admitted, "But this is where the clan's children are kept safe. The door is sealed, and locked. The door and walls have been thickened to be sound proofed. It is the safest place to gather for the moment, so that our human allies are able to scour the castle and make certain that Proteus is gone."
Taurus nodded. "It is as good a plan as any," he said. Your clan has grown since last we spoke."
"Yes," Goliath nodded. "Although most of those in this room are here as a part of the gargoyle council that is aiding the other clans around the world to come forward and join once more with the humans."
"And you think that is wise?" Taurus said, crossing his arms, looking more than a little disapproving.
"Goliath," Brooklyn said, moving forward to join the pair. "Want to introduce us all?"
Goliath let out a breath. "Taurus of New Olympus," he began, "This is Brooklyn, my second in command."
As he began the introductions, more and more gargoyles hurried forward to meet the new arrival.
"Father?" came a small voice from behind Goliath, and he turned around to meet his son's eyes.
"Yes, Liam?" he said, kneeling to be closer to the boy's height.
"I think you'd better come with me," he said. "I think something's wrong with Ellie."
Goliath frowned and got to his feet. "Excuse me," he said to Taurus. "I will return as soon as I am able."
As he strode away, he missed the confused look that crossed Taurus's face.
"Father?" he said, almost to himself. He turned to the one who was called Brooklyn. "Did that…human child, just call Goliath 'Father'?"
Brooklyn looked uneasily at the stranger. "Yes," he said. He wasn't sure how much to divulge, and how much Goliath would be comfortable in knowing. "Liam is under the protection of the clan," he shrugged nonchalantly. "In the old days, before we came here," he clarified, "We only referred to each other as family. Brother, Sister, Father, Elder…That kind of thing. Goliath is his main caregiver, so the boy calls him 'Father'."
"Hmm," Taurus hummed, rubbing his cheek thoughtfully. "It is odd that you would adopt a human child into your clan."
"Not really," Angela said coming forward. "After all, I was raised on Avalon by humans who had adopted a whole rookery full of gargoyle hatchlings. Liam's mother died, and there was no other family that we were able to find, so we brought him in. Made him family."
"Angela," Brooklyn said, breaking in to the conversation before she could accidently say anything else. "Goliath went to check on Nayeli. He might need a hand."
Angela sent him a questioning look, but nodded and went to join her father.
"Well," Brooklyn said, a grin on his face, "Since we're all here, and you're new to… everything…let me introduce you to a little thing we call 'video games'." And led the large Olympian to the gaming section of the play room.