All characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyrighted to Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. I've taken the idea for the Unseelie Court from the TGS. Characters and concepts from Star Trek are property of Paramount and created by Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of SN.
Note: I'm disregarding the events of the "Goliath Chronicles", with the exception of "The Journey" because I do not wish to use the rest of the "Goliath Chronicles" as canon to my story. Also, I am altering large sections of the Star Trek storyline, especially concerning events like WWIII and the Eugenics Wars, which without the Cold War as a backdrop probably wouldn't happen the way Roddenberry wrote them, if at all. This story takes place two weeks after "Attack of the Clones".
Falls
By SN/TVfan
Email: Sam_Nary
Canton, Guangdong Province, China
"You're certain that Khan will attack toward Hong Kong through Canton?" a Chinese colonel asked as he looked out over the ground around the city.
"Much of his advance has been in a direct march from Tibet toward Hong Kong," the general beside the colonel answered, "We've pulled back to here because we can now strike at Khan, no matter which way he attacks toward Hong Kong. He will have to go past or through Canton in some way."
"What about our forces on Hainan Island?" the colonel asked.
"We can't help them," the general sighed heavily, "Our only hope is that our bunkers and fortifications here will hold them off."
The colonel only gave a heavy sigh at that. The army had tried fixed fortifications against Khan's forces before. All of them had failed. At first assumption, it was because Khan overwhelmed these posts through superior numbers, but that assumption was wrong. In many cases the men that the fortifications were supposed to slow own were able to perform feats of strength or speed that no normal human could or they killed the men inside the bunkers with sniper fire… or at worse the strange attacks made by an unnamed woman who was commonly seen with Khan's forces.
The only thing the Pro-Illuminati troops had to hope for was the fact that their previous bunkers had been few in number and hastily improvised. The current bunkers around Canton, Macao, and Hong Kong were not, and in theory could survive aerial bombing, for a short period of time. They were also being connected to concentrated rocket artillery and traditional artillery. Any attack Khan made would be met with firepower he had not encountered before.
But to the colonel, the number of men that had flocked to Khan's side because he promised to free them from the Illuminati was the bigger worry. Large portions of the Chinese army had started anti-Illuminati resistance movements, and when Khan's forces approached, they flocked to his legions.
"What about the soldiers flocking to serve Khan?" the colonel asked, "suppose they are the first wave? It might inspire…"
"We've already crushed all local resistance to the 'Illuminati', colonel," the general answered, "those behind our lines are behind us completely."
"I know, sir," the colonel responded, "but… I am not at ease with killing our own people, sir… fellow soldiers, even."
"They are traitors, colonel," the general informed him, "remember that."
"I do," the colonel responded, "I just wonder what's made them choose that path though."
"No one will ever know," the general sighed.
Meanwhile, more then one hundred yards away, Marilyn looked down toward the city of Canton from a small platform mounted in a tree outside the city. She could see clear signs of military activity in the areas that she could see from that position that weren't obstructed either by trees or other buildings.
"What have you uncovered?" Marilyn asked an officer standing nearby.
"They've set a line of bunkers across every possible advance line toward the city behind them," the officer spoke, "and our scouts believe they've also positioned themselves in a way that they can strike our flanks even if we move around their bunkers."
"They expect us to charge them with basic artillery cover," Marilyn commented as she lowered her binoculars, "can we bomb them?"
"That would take awhile and would only persuade them to launch a withdrawal toward a point that we can't bomb or until we can trap them," the officer replied, "and since all of our aircraft that we've captured are all in use by the Chinese military we can be certain that they have the countermeasures for them ready."
Marilyn sighed heavily. Their conversation was a result of the advance that Khan's forces had made over the past week. They had liberated more pockets of anti-Illuminati resistance, and the facilities in Tibet had produced enough supermen to give them the numbers to prepare for an attack toward Hong Kong, which Khan wanted to prepare for the ultimate seizing of all of China.
Marilyn had also been sent to deal with the various hotspots along the lines. This wasn't too bad, but it wasn't what the female clone of Merlin wanted. She wanted to remain in Tibet to await Demona's inevitable attack on Khan's base. But, since Damien, as a gargoyle himself, was only awake at night, Khan chose to use him to face off against Demona when they were awake. Marilyn was left fight the day and night battles against the Chinese army.
"Keep your men back here for the time being," Marilyn told the officer, "they expect to fight a set piece battle."
Marilyn then began to head down toward the ground. The officer then nervously looked down after her.
"What are you going to be doing?" the officer asked.
"Try to see if I can upset their pieces," Marilyn smiled and vanished in a flash of light.
Tibet
"I can't believe this," Demona spoke as she made her way through the snow covered ruins of what had been the Tibetan clan's monastery home.
The building had been completely destroyed, and had been partially buried under the snows that had fallen on the mountain top. The stonework looked as though it had been blasted apart and the wooden parts of the structure were gone completely. Any of that that was left was likely laying flat on the ground and buried in snow.
"I still can not get why they would do this to you," Wedrington commented as he looked around, "I mean, your clan was most hospitable to Demona the last time she was here, and you forgave me for what Sekhmet made me do. What could you have done to them?"
"We can not say why they attacked us," Je Lu spoke as he looked around his destroyed home, "we did nothing to warrant an attack."
"As is the case with small minded humans," Demona growled, "they see gargoyles and their first instinct is to attack."
"I do not believe racial hatred was the motive for the attack," Yoshi commented as the rest of the gargoyles began to gather in what had been the center of the monastery.
"Then why do you think this was done?" Demona growled again.
"Given what we've learned of Khan's activities so far, since we're arrived in China," Yoshi spoke, "my best guess is that Khan sensed that Je Lu's clan might have opposed him when he started putting his plans into motion. Attacking them was likely the only way he thought that he could proceed. It could even be doubtful that he has any opinion on gargoyles, good or bad."
"And that matters why?" Demona grumbled, "they still attacked and destroyed the home of a clan of gargoyles and their few friends who never did anything to provoke an attack."
"I am not defending Khan's actions," Yoshi answered, "but not every action is motivated by blind hatred, which means our opposition to him can not be made as though we were opposing blind hatred."
"There are different ways of opposing different evils?" Wedrington asked.
"There are many ways to oppose the same thing," Yama spoke as he approached, "the question is of choosing the most honorable option."
"The best option would be to pinpoint Khan's location and take him out," Demona commented, "Without him, his entire operation will fall apart… and maybe things will eventually be peaceful again."
"But what will we do in the meantime?" Shi La asked, "it will likely take awhile to defeat Khan. We can't just stay out here in the open."
The others were quick to agree. No one felt secure roosting on top of a mountain where they would be exposed to the winds and at risk of being smashed by Khan's troops, and Demona understood that concept all too well.
"I can deal with what must be done next," Demona sighed, "as I doubt we have time for everyone to tunnel out a cave for us to sleep in."
"A cave?" a Tibetan female asked, "you mean like bats?"
"Khan would only attack the monastery again if I were to use sorcery to rebuild it," Demona replied, "a cave will be far more defensible."
Demona then turned toward the edge of the mountain top that the destroyed monastery sat on.
"But I won't be putting it on this mountain," Demona sighed, "Khan knows we are here and will like look around this peak frequently anyway."
And with that, Demona leaped into the air and began gliding toward a peak not that far away from them.
Khan's Base
Khan and his second meanwhile were watching the entire thing through the camera lens of a Chinese RPV that they had liberated earlier in the campaign. As of yet, the gargoyles were yet to spot the unmanned vehicle.
"Ah, the wonders of technology," Khan said with a slight smile as he watched the images the RPV was transmitting.
"I would be more concerned with what they saying," his second in command commented, "we might learn more."
Khan dismissed it.
"Probably plotting my downfall," Khan told his second, "but they should know that our base here perfectly prepared for any attack."
His second in command nodded, "Damien though, wishes to engage them immediately."
"Damien can wait until they attack us," Khan answered firmly, "we we will be in the stronger position that way. We only attacked Demona in the past to test Marilyn and Damien's powers in sorcery. Now that that is done, our dealings with Demona is to wait for her to come to us."
"Wouldn't she be more likely to strike at our supply lines? Try to help the Illuminati?" his second in command asked.
"That would require her actually having a strategic mind," Khan dismissed it, "In every instance where she has run into our forces, she has attacked directly, and attacked even positions that were strategically unimportant. Subtlety is not her strongpoint."
The second gave a slight chuckle and then looked to his master with a look that was very concerned.
"Shouldn't we recall Marilyn then?" the second asked, "Insure that Demona runs into a force she won't be able to beat."
"No," Khan answered, "for the moment, our real enemy is China. Any success Demona has will be small and temporary. She simply doesn't have the numbers to do anything major in the long term."
"Then why are we following her?" the second asked, "if she is unimportant, we should focus on that which is important."
"She isn't unimportant," Khan replied, "Merely small on our list of potential threats. I'm sure that I am her ultimate target… but even if she kills me, you or Marilyn will be more then capable of keeping our movement together and will free China from the Illuminati… and besides, she is still a gargoyle. She must sleep during the day…"
"And learning where she will roost will net an easy victory," his second nodded as he caught on to Khan's plan.
"You're catching on," Khan smiled, "keep the RPV up. I don't want them noticing it, but follow Demona."
"Yes sir," his second answered.
Canton, Guangdong Province, China
Meanwhile, in one of the bunkers around the city of Canton, two soldiers looked out of the opening for their machine gun for any sign of the supermen or anti-Illuminati troops that had torn China into the civil war it was currently fighting. So far, nothing had come their way. That all ended when a flash of light came from behind them. The two soldiers turned to see Marilyn pull the pins of two of their grenades and then vanish. Men all around could hear them scream before the grenades went off.
Once reappearing outside the bunker, Marilyn couldn't help but smile. The explosion had blown the back door off of the bunker and alerted the others to the problem. They were now all firing toward perceived targets that weren't there. Khan's troops had dug themselves into trenches that were deep enough that the bullets the defenders of Canton fired were well over their heads. Even if they weren't, Marilyn noticed that the pro-Illuminati soldiers were firing so wildly that it wasn't likely that they'd hit anything anyway.
"Fools," Marilyn chuckled as she began to walk toward the next bunker.
Her pace was stopped when a small group of soldiers came running toward her. They were quick to level their rifles at her.
"Hands up!" one soldier demanded in Chinese.
"Like this?" Marilyn asked with a grin before casting a lightning spell that destroyed their guns.
"It's the devil woman!" one soldier gasped as his gun fell apart from the electric charge that had suddenly run through it.
"Get her!" another yelled and lunged forward toward Marilyn, pulling out his knife.
Marilyn easily caught the man and then slung him like shock-put into several of the other soldiers. Marilyn chuckled as that blow essentially immobilized at least five men for a short while, even as she faced off against five more.
"Didn't your parents ever teach you it's not nice to pick on girls?" Marilyn taunted as she vaulted one attacker who had dove at her feet and kicked two more in the face, sending them staggering back to the remaining two.
"Our parents taught us proper gender values, woman," the man who had dove at her growled, "and we will teach you respect!"
"A chauvinist, I see," Marilyn chuckled and chanted again while raising an arm in the man's direction.
Before anyone else could act, an emerald light shot from her hand and wrapped around the man, who screamed with pain and seemed to vanish in the emerald light. When the light finally faded away, there was nothing left but a large python, hissing angrily at Marilyn.
"Anyone else think women are inferior?" Marilyn taunted as she glanced at the flabbergasted soldiers there.
"Get the demon woman!" was the rallying cry that Marilyn heard and sighed as she was brought back into a fight again.
They all rushed at Marilyn at once, but Khan's sorceress was more then just a 'witch'. Like all the supermen in Khan's service she was stronger then normal humans and could react quicker then they could. She caught two of them and slammed them together, knocking them out. That bought time for one of the others to land a flying kick on Marilyn, knocking her back. She also ended up tripping over the python she had just created and landed on her backside.
The python was not pleased at being transformed into a snake and tried to wrap itself around Marilyn, but Khan's sorceress managed to throw the large snake off of her and into the men preparing to land a second blow. This made the soldiers scream in terror and aggravated the snake to the point were it began to constrict the lungs of one of the soldiers. All of this bought Marilyn more time to prepare her next move.
She lead off with a flying kick that knocked out one of the soldier's trying to save his comrade from the angry python and then added two lightning spells that sent two others flying. At this point, the remaining pro-Illuminati soldiers had had enough and were fleeing as quickly as they could go.
"All too easy," Marilyn chuckled as she walked on toward another bunker, leaving the python to kill its former comrade.
Farther away, two supermen officers looked toward the rows of Illuminati bunkers firing madly toward enemies that weren't there. Most of the rounds were hitting earthen barriers that their troops had erected to protect themselves, or flew over their heads to hit things unknown.
"They'll expend their ammunition for nothing," one officer smiled, "all of our 'attacks' so far have been made by Marilyn."
"They'll catch on that she's the only one attacking and will call for a sorceress," the other officer commented.
"I think that was her plan though," the first officer spoke, "Like she is spoiling for a fight."
"I believe Marilyn wished to fight with Demona, not with the Illuminati's followers," the second officer grumbled, "from the way she carries herself, she sees them as beneath her."
"They're beneath all of us," the first officer grumbled, "Demona and her gargoyles might present an interesting challenge. The problem is that we can't focus our attention on her until after the Illuminati have been crushed."
"Does she understand that?" the second officer asked nervously.
"I believe so," the first officer shrugged, "and besides, drawing out the Illuminati's sorcerers would be a help to us. When they are beaten, fighting the rest that the defend the Illuminati will be easier."
The second officer nodded, "when do we give the order to attack?"
"Either when Marilyn runs into an Illuminati spell caster, or when most of their bunkers have been destroyed," the first officer spoke, "we have their cannon targeted, thanks to the RPVs we've already captured from the Chinese and from the limited manufacturing capabilities of our base. So they will not be an issue."
"So, all we can do is keep watching the carnage?" the second officer asked and then sighed when the first only nodded.
Tibet
"There," Demona sighed as she finished hollowing out a cave in the side of a nearby mountain.
The process had been long and not necessarily quiet. Much of it were simple teleportation spells that Demona unceremoniously dumped into the lower ground between the mountain he had dug the cave out of and the mountain that the monastery had been on. The rocks all crashed loudly, and likely crushed anything soft that they hit, and smaller rocks were likely also crushed.
"Hopefully there were no supermen down their to notice the rockslide you created," Yama commented as he landed on the ledge and looked down to the rocky gorge below them.
"This from the gargoyle that has hounded for a direct fight?" Demona demanded, "that urged that we avoid all the sneaking around because it wouldn't be honorable?"
"There is a difference between merely drawing to attention to ones self and setting up a battle on OUR terms," Yama answered, "if Khan learns of this location, there is nothing to stop him from attacking us at dawn… now, given your claims of immortality, I'm sure that would be no threat to you, but the rest of us are quite mortal. If I am to die, I would prefer to be awake when that time comes… so I can face that end with honor."
"He does have a point," Wedrington commented to Demona, "Khan does have the luxury of timing his attacks. We do not."
Demona glanced back and toward Je Lu and the other Tibetan gargoyles. All of them looked somewhat nervous. And that made her sigh. Other then herself and Yama, they only had two real warriors. Wedrington and Yoshi would be helpful, with what little experience Wedrington had gained with Demona and Yoshi being raised in the same school of life as Yama, but combat wasn't their primary way of life.
The Tibetan gargoyles lacked that much. They would need formal training and probably some experience before they could really consider an all out assault against Khan's forces. The only other option would have been to use them as cannon fodder while Demona took out Khan, herself, but in her mind she had never done such things with gargoyles. She had done that with human 'allies' she had deceived, but she liked to believe she had never done that with gargoyles.
"This is our shelter," Demona spoke firmly, "were we will sleep and train. It is unlikely that Khan is looking for us here, and even if he does, any technology he has can be countered."
"Through your sorcery?" Shi La asked skeptically.
"Yes," Demona nodded and turned to the cave opening she had created and chanted in Latin.
Once she had finished she returned to the gathered gargoyles.
"All anyone will see from the outside is the mountain side," Demona spoke, "but that is only a projected image. The magical equivalent of a hologram. It holds no physical form, so we can easily walk through, after landing on the ledge outside the cave opening. We can strike and appear to fade into nothing with no trace of our presence."
That gained some measured sigh of relief, until Yoshi spoke up.
"If Khan has anything that can detect body heat, he might be able to figure out that the image is fake," Yoshi warned, "Sorcery is not the answer to everything."
"Maybe not, but it's the best tool we have at the moment," Demona replied, "and I will use it to the best of my ability."
"The real question is what do we do next," Wedrington commented.
"Mostly train Je Lu's clan and figure out where Khan is hiding," Demona spoke, "Some of which could take a while."
"Wouldn't can be in that fortress we saw when we glided back to the site of the monastery?" one of the Tibetan females wondered.
"That might be where he started, but with all of western China in his hands, and his armies advancing toward China's larger cities he could be somewhere else," Yoshi commented, "I'd think that fortress would only be a starting point."
Demona nodded with the Japanese librarian, "Yes, but until Je Lu's clan is fully trained, we won't be attacking that fortress. Khan has likely seen to its defense, so that even if an attack is successful, we'd take heavy casualties."
"There could be heavy casualties anyway," Wedrington warned, "the men who went over the top during the Battle of the Somme were well trained… and the first day of that battle is still to this day, Britain's single bloodiest day in its military history."
Demona nodded, although she didn't actually know the information that Wedrington had told her. She knew of the First World War, but to her, at the time, it was a means to the end she wanted. Glancing at the white lion-like gargoyle, Demona sighed, as the 'end' she wanted in 1914 wasn't really the 'end' she wanted now. Although, she wouldn't likely shed any tears if humanity suddenly vanished.
"Anyway," Demona spoke to give instructions to the gathered gargoyles, but mostly to Wedrington, Yama, and Yoshi, "I will make one raid on Khan's fortress to see if I can get one of Khan's supermen. In the meantime, Je Lu's clan will need training in the warrior arts. It'll be the only they'll stand a chance in the long run."
"Shouldn't someone go with you?" Wedrington asked, "to watch your back?"
"I'll be fine," Demona answered, "I don't intend on getting into a big fight. Just glide there, take one prisoner, and glide back. We'll then get whatever intelligence we need from him then."
"You're certain?" Yoshi asked.
Demona nodded, "I shouldn't be long."
Khan's Base
Meanwhile, Damien stood on the roof of the fortress that Khan had seized to use as a base. He didn't like standing guard waiting for Demona to attack. It gave her the initiative, which Damien wanted to keep the gargoyle he had been cloned from on her toes. But Khan preferred to have her come to him, so he stood guard with a small contingent of supermen on the roof of the fortress.
"This is pointless," Damien grumbled, "Khan is following them with an RPV. We should strike them at the soonest opportunity. Even with the forces here, we could destroy them easily."
"Khan is concerned that such an attack would be met with heavy casualties," of the commandos spoke, "and with Marilyn presently helping secure Hong Kong for our forces, he doesn't want us to destroy our reserves attacking Demona when she is clearly prepared or expecting us."
"And given that Demona is currently on her way here, it would be best to put up a good defensive fight," came Khan's voice as he came up from a stairway, "here, we are prepared for anything she might do."
The other supermen quickly turned to see Khan step out. They completely surprised that he had come out.
"She is coming here?" a superman asked.
"Yes," Khan nodded, "and like our friend Damien here, I look forward to meeting a new enemy face to face."
"She could kill you, my lord," a different superman warned.
"Yes, but she doesn't know what I look like," Khan answered, "and given that she is alone, I do not think she intends to have an all out fight."
"She is alone?" Damien asked, the hope for battle shinning in his eyes.
"That is what our RPV indicates," Khan nodded, "all we have to do is wait, and she will come."
"At last, battle!" Damien proclaimed confidently.
Canton, Guangdong Province, China
Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the pro-Illuminati troops in Canton, the general in charge of holding the city nervously looked out a window. He had been receiving reports of a lone woman attacking the bunkers and ambushing the men being sent to reinforce them. So far, he had received reports of thirty men dead, one of which looked like he'd been strangled and crushed by something, at least twice that number wounded or unconscious, and one missing, and there was of yet no sign of Khan's soldiers. This meant that the attack was clearly being launched by Khan's sorceress.
"You sent for me?" a voice asked from behind the general.
The General turned to see the Illuminati agent known as Pax standing in the room with him. The direct Illuminati agent looked nearly as nervous as the General did.
"Yes, I did," the general answered, "seeing as how Khan has made this civil war about you and your council, I figured you and your council ought to be more involved in putting down his rebellion."
"The Council does have agents on the ground," Pax answered, "to my knowledge though, they have not succeeded in catching Khan."
"Right now, for me, Khan is unimportant," the General growled, "that witch of his is out there attacking my defensive line, practically without a scratch. You need to stop her before my defenses are useless."
"That may be of some difficulty," Pax answered, "I am no warrior and most of the magics that I know are rather subtle. Not suited for combat. You would need to get her stop her attack and sit down to a negotiating table if I were to get any element of surprise."
"I highly doubt that she'll surrender," the general grumbled.
"Then perhaps a bit of trickery then," Pax commented, "Pretend that you are surrendering. It might even give me time to get a more peaceful resolution to this crisis."
"You honestly think this mess can be ended peacefully?" the general wondered, "that Khan will back down and give China its land and people back?"
"I would like to believe that there is a possible compromise that will be acceptable to both sides," Pax answered, "it is my way of trying to lessen the pain and suffering that both sides are feeling in this war."
"You don't win wars through compromise," the general growled, "wars are won through victory. Only then can peace be attained."
Pax only sighed.
Marilyn, meanwhile began to make her way toward the interior part of pro-Illuminati lines. Things were fairly weak as far as Marilyn was concerned. The soldiers all attacked her with guns, which she was able to destroy with lightning spells, or was able to avoid through the 'programming' that went into all the supermen. That left Marilyn somewhat bored as she was hoping she would encounter some Illuminati agent worth fighting. Canton was the gateway to Hong Kong. Unless the Chinese navy could keep the city supplied by sea, by taking Canton, Hong Kong would be cut off and one of China's most important ports would be in Khan's hands. But other then a few soldiers, Marilyn had not run into much in the way of resistance.
As she made her way through an emptied Chinese barracks, she cast a fire spell to set the building on fire and continued her way into the city. Once she was out of the now burning building, she readied a flare gun she had on her and fired it into the air, signaling he rest Khan's men to begin their attack. If the Chinese weren't going to defend these important cities to the fullest, she would assure Khan of a quick and crushing victory.
As the first shots of anti-Illuminati artillery were fired, Marilyn sensed something coming from an abandoned building not too far away. That made her smile. Maybe she would get a good fight after all.
"She knows I'm here," Pax suddenly spoke as the sound of artillery rained down on the Chinese positions around Canton.
None of the shells hit the building they were in, but Pax felt a powerful energy wave run through his mind. Almost as if Khan's sorceress was magically sending him a note of challenge.
"Then you'll defeat her?" the general questioned.
"I may have to try," Pax answered, "but I will still prefer a more peaceful solution then outright violence."
The general never got a chance to answer as massive blast of energy caught the wall and window he was standing near and threw him across the room. Much of debris from the attack landed on him. Pax then turned when he heard a feminine voice speak to him in a very confrontational matter.
"So this is where you're hiding," Marilyn smiled as she lowered herself onto the floor to stand in front of a man in red robes, although the hood was down and she could clearly see that the man was more of European ancestry then Asian, "seems like you should have been on the front lines if you're an Illuminati enforcer."
"I am an agent of the Illuminati Council, but I am no enforcer," Pax spoke, "before anything more is done rashly, I must insist that you stop this violence and sit down and talk."
"You're surrendering?" Marilyn questioned.
"No, I'm trying to negotiate what will be in China's best interest," Pax answered.
"You mean keeping the Illuminati in power," Marilyn shot back and readied a fighting stance.
"I very much doubt that Khan will be much better if left unchecked," Pax retorted, "I'm sure that both Khan and the Council could come to an acceptable agreement if both sides were more concerned for the lives of the people caught between the two sides."
"You really are a bleeding heart, aren't you?" Marilyn taunted as she sent the table flying at Pax, "Maybe this won't be a battle after all…"
Pax barely avoided being hit in the face by the flying table and reached inside his robes for a small pouch he carried with him. Marilyn was a powerful sorceress, clearly, but her skills leaned toward direct and clear attacks. Pax was not that kind of sorcerer and nowhere near as powerful. Opening the pouch, he then threw the powder within at Marilyn as she approached, intending to make a physical attack.
Marilyn coughed on the dust, largely thinking it was some sort of smoke powder to let Pax escape, but the longer her head remained in the cloud of dust, the drowsier she felt.
"I would prefer it if there was no fighting at all," Pax spoke, "I'm sure there is some agreement that both my Council and Khan would agree to."
"Then you're a fool!" Marilyn growled and cast a lightning spell at Pax.
Pax managed to dodge it, but also noticed that his own tricks had worked. The spell did very little, if any noticeable, damage to the wall he was standing near. Which meant that he might be able to afford simply taking whatever Marilyn decided to dish out.
"For the moment, I'm at least at full strength," Pax spoke, "I could easily kill you in your present condition."
Marilyn paused. She was feeling somewhat weakened, though not enough to be near death.
"And I'm supposed to be grateful?" Marilyn questioned angrily, feeling her body begin to slowly purge itself of what Pax had thrown at her.
"No, you're supposed to calm down and discus these things calmly and peacefully," Pax answered, "the Chinese people are not part of this fight. Just your master, Khan, and my Council, the Illuminati. The powder was only to help you calm down."
Marilyn didn't answer.
"I'll start, why is Khan doing all of this?" Pax asked, "and believe me, it isn't out of Chinese nationalism against 'Illuminati Imperialism'. The Illuminati created him, so that can't be the real reason. Maybe the reason he's sold to the Chinese soldiers and people following him, but not the real reason."
Marilyn watched Pax came closer to her, as if he expected her to be calm. Marilyn decided to play along for the moment. If he wasn't going to fight and was expecting her to be docile, she would be able to get the drop on him when his powder wore off.
"Khan is doing this to install a rightful ruler over the world," Marilyn answered, "One who is strong enough and smart enough to rule over it wisely."
"A bit over ambitious, your Khan is, is he not?" Pax retorted, "Conquering the whole world? No one has ever done it. Only the Romans and Genghis Khan came reasonably close, but the Roman conquest took centuries to produce and died with the Emperor Trajan. Genghis Khan conquered the most territory any one man could conquer in a lifetime, he couldn't leave a lasting political foundation and it quickly splintered into regional kingdoms at his death…"
Pax came a little closer.
"In other words, you can conquer a vast amount of territory quickly," Pax began, "but it would be solely built on the leader's personality. Once he is gone, it will quickly collapse."
Marilyn watched as Pax then moved onto the other option.
"Or, you can simply nibble at the globe and lay a strong political framework as you go," Pax continued, "but such a plan would require you having a long string of like minded leaders and a lot of good fortune. Rome had no serious outside rival since the end of the Second Punic War until the reign of Marcus Aurelius through the Severans when the Germans to the north and Persians to the east became serious threats."
"This isn't the second century," Marilyn answered, "nor is it the time of Genghis Khan. The world is far smaller today. One could conquer the world rapidly…"
"Ah… the 'Hitler' connection," Pax shrugged, "May I remind you, that while Hitler did conquer nearly all of Europe in the space of three years when the war began in 1939 through the reaching of Stalingrad and El Alamain in 1942, but you also must remember that such rapid conquests tend to draw in more forces then what you can expect to realistically beat. It didn't for Hitler. He ended up at war with the entire world, and even the nations he 'conquered' kept fighting, and not every German was as fanatical as he was."
"Khan is not some Austrian painter with mad delusions of grandeur," Marilyn answered as she felt her strength beginning to return, "we are smarter, stronger… better then the people that made us. We have a right to rule."
"And every conqueror throughout history has thought the same thing," Pax countered, "that doesn't necessarily make their belief right."
"Are you trying to persuade me to join you?" Marilyn asked.
"You and perhaps all of Khan's forces," Pax answered, "it would restore peace and would give Khan a place of power."
"With your Council as his commander," Marilyn pointed out, "remember this whole war is to get out from under your Council's thumb."
"Khan likely doesn't want to be the Council's leg man, enforcing their will on those who they don't like," Pax corrected, "What I'm offering is a much higher ranking, which correspondingly comes with a lot more personal freedom then what Khan would have had where he started."
"But he must still follow the Council's orders," Marilyn counted, "which means that any freedom we're given is only by the grace of your Council… which ultimately is no freedom at all."
Pax couldn't argue that, as technically that was true. It took him a moment or to two think of an adequate response.
"But wouldn't it be better to try and change things from the inside?" Pax asked, "Use the system against it?"
"It would fail when the people who control the system know that Khan would be a potential interior threat," Marilyn replied, nearly back to full strength, "they'd rewrite the rules to insure that we would never be able to use it. Better to scrap the entire system and replace it with something far more deserving of the powers your 'system' currently wields."
Pax was quiet for a few moments as he eyed the sorceress. His powder would wear off soon, and they had yet to reach any sort of agreement that would allow them to keep talking once it had worn off.
"Surely there is something…" Pax began to say.
"You could surrender," Marilyn said in a frustrated voice.
Then in one motion, Marilyn landed a swinging kick to Pax's chest that sent him flying back against the wall. He groaned in pain as he felt like several of his ribs were cracked.
"Or I can put all this useless talk to bed and kill you here and now," Marilyn spoke in a cold blooded voice and fired a lightning spell at Pax at close range.
That attack did the job Marilyn intended. Pax was dead and smoldering, thanks to the electricity from the lightning spell. Marilyn also heard shots being fired outside and moved to the open point in the wall of the room she had entered. When she got there she saw Chinese soldiers running in panic before the supermen she had been sent to support. And that made Marilyn smile. They would likely free the anti-Illuminati prisoners in Canton, and if the current rout kept up, they'd take Hong Kong quickly as well.
Tibet
Demona, meanwhile, glided toward Khan's base, intent on her mission to grab one of Khan's supermen. As she began to approach the stronghold, she began casting a series of spells that would serve to heat the snow around the base, making great columns of mist and fog rise into the air, hoping it would obscure their view of her. As she came closer, she noticed five men standing guard with one man looking like he was supervising them. Standing near the sixth man was the male 'clone' of her, Damien. Demona's eyes quickly lit up with a bright scarlet light.
"That clone…" Demona growled angrily and readied a lightning spell.
"She's here," Damien commented as fog suddenly enveloped the roof of the fortress.
"You're sure?" one of the supermen spoke as he tried to look into the fog.
"This came on far too fast for it to be natural," Damien answered, "it has to be her."
"Be ready," Khan warned as the supermen raised their weapons to the sky.
The supermen barely had time to react when a lightning bolt came down out of the fog and narrowly missed hitting Damien. The shockwave from the attack, however ended up knocking Damien back until he ended up stumbling back into Khan.
Demona, herself, then appeared out of the fog, and landed a slashing blow with her talons to the neck to of one of the supermen standing guard. The blow send blood splattering through the air and killed the superman she had attacked. The other supermen quickly fired on Demona's position. The immortal female ducked down and rolled forward, toward Damien and Khan. The two supermen that were at first flanking her, ended up shooting each other while the other two had their shots go harmlessly into the fog.
"All too easy," Demona grumbled as she fired off another lightning spell, hitting one of the remaining two supermen, knocking him off of the fortress.
She was about to lunge forward toward the last remaining superman, when Damien tackled her from the side. He managed to wrestle her into a full nelson and held her down in front of him. The superman raised his rifle and then lowered it.
"So this is Demona, the gargoyle that even the Illuminati fears," came another voice, sounding more curious then anything else.
Demona looked to see the sixth superman slowly approach, "I would have thought she would have been smarter."
Demona only growled at the insult, "This fight has only begun."
Demona then flung her head backward, and caught Damien's nose, making him let her go. She then pivoted on one foot and kicked Damien back. He ended up staggering over the edge, but he was soon gliding back to the battle zone on his wings.
"You won't get rid of me that easily!" Damien challenged.
Demona growled an was about to lunge toward the clone, when a laser shot struck one of her wings. She roared with pain and looked back to see the one armed superman slowly approaching. The one who had talked to her, meanwhile, remained quiet, as if he were observing the battle, rather then fighting in it.
Demona turned quickly and cast a spell that had the lone armed superman on slick ice. As he tried to advance on the immortal female, he slipped and lost his weapon, which ended up sliding right up to the female gargoyle.
"Thank you for your kind donation," Demona taunted the superman and then shot the sixth man with a quick turn of the weapon.
The shot was not serious. It only hit Khan in the shoulder, but it still knocked him down. He also knew that his top advantage over the gargoyle was that he knew her face, but she did not know his. If she knew who he was, she might have taken more time to aim her stolen weapon better.
Demona, however, cared little. She had already turned to confront Damien who was now diving toward her at great speed, hoping to do something. Demona then fired several shots, hoping that Damien's lack of battle experience would do him in. It did. He dove into two shots, which crippled his wings, and the third hit one of his legs as he began to tumble out of the air. He landed hard right in front of Demona.
Damien growled in pain and then fired his own lightning spell at the weapon Demona had stolen. The weapon exploded, knocking Demona backward, only to be grabbed by the superman who had now recovered from the icy patch that Demona had put him on shortly before. He gripped her from behind and desperately tried to hold her down.
"Surrender, devil," the superman commanded and tried to squeeze his arms tighter, which to Demona felt like a moderately strong hug.
"Never," Demona snarled back and drove her elbows back, startling the man and making him release her as her spurs went through the body armor he was wearing, but didn't quite get through his skin.
When the man stumbled back, Demona then turned to face him.
"I'm actually here for YOU, human," Demona the smiled as the superman began to recover, "You can answer a few questions for me."
The superman launched a powerful kick, hoping to knock Demona backward, but the sky blue female dodged and actually managed to grab the leg. She then swung the man around until his back connected with one of the raised structures on top of the fortress. This finally knocked him out, and Demona put him in a position that would make him easier to carry.
As she approached the edge, she glanced back to Damien who was still trying to get up.
"You are lucky clone that I am not here for you this night," Demona growled, "for you will not survive our next encounter!"
And with that, Demona left with the unconscious superman.
"Most interesting," Khan spoke as Damien finally got to his feet.
"Interesting?!" Damien growled, "she's killed four of your supermen, wounded both us and fled with the fifth superman! What could be interesting about it?!"
"She was only here for one man, and it was the man she carried off," Khan answered, "that is what makes it interesting."
"Kidnapping is hardly an effective form of resistance," Damien grumbled.
"True, but it is a way of gathering information," Khan answered, "although, how one gets that information from their prisoners is usually up to the one who takes the prisoners. She wants information."
"Then we should rescue him!" Damien urged.
"He is only one man, and not very high up in our command structure," Khan dismissed that, "and with bigger battles to fight, we can not afford a major battle to rescue one man. An information Demona gains from him will be nothing that the Illuminati, our real enemy, already knows."
Damien only looked in the direction in which Demona had fled.
"Besides," Khan finished, "we're both wounded, and you seriously. You can't glide after her, and a ground party would take too long. He'll likely be dead before the rescue team would even get to Demona's little cave hideaway."
Khan then turned and began to go back inside. Damien sighed and followed him after a few moments.
Mountainside
Demona returned quietly to the location of their base to find Yama and Yoshi taking Je Lu's clan through basic warm up exercises. Wedrington was also doing his best to follow along. It was Shi La who actually noticed Demona's return.
"You're back…" Shi La spoke, "with a prisoner…"
"Yes, but he won't be of any use until he wakes up," Demona answered, "and even then, it will likely take sorcery to make him more agreeable."
The others gave some looks like they didn't agree with that entirely, but they were also quite certain that they didn't have many other options. Only Wedrington looked like he fully trusted Demona's use of magic.
Khan's Base
"Hong Kong has fallen?" Khan asked a medic tended to the wounds Demona had given him.
"Yes," Marilyn said on the communications screen, "we broke their defensive lines around Canton and they then ran. We've taken over 25,000 prisoners and have liberated 4,569 anti-Illuminati soldiers."
"What about the Chinese naval presence?" Khan asked.
"We managed to seize a couple of gunboats, but nothing that would make a difference at sea," Marilyn sighed, "I'm afraid your idea to land troops closer to Beijing has failed. All we have gained is the territory and inflicted casualties."
"The gunboats will still be useful," Khan commented, "and thanks to the military build up in Tibet in the first stages we've recovered a vast number of aircraft. They can neutralize any attempt by the navy to restrain our actions along the coast, and with Hong Kong in our hands, we can expand the current war to the island of Formosa."
Marilyn nodded as she sensed some of what Khan was getting at.
Mountainside
The superman heard voices as he came to and quickly found that his hands and wrists were bound by bands of granite, as if the rock had formed in bands around him. The immortal sky blue gargoyle stood before him with several other gargoyles standing around and watching.
"Are you sure this will work?" Yama asked, "he looks like a fairly determined foe… and torture is a dishonorable practice."
"He will feel no pain," Demona answered, "he will simply lose the mental willpower to resist and will tell us anything, and will do anything."
"You would enslave him?" Wedrington asked, shocked.
"He is not a good human that would naturally fight to defend our kind," Demona answered, "and might be willing to turn to those who try to kill us out of hatred… and besides, they are just as strong as we are. Those rock shackles won't hold him for long. Our only other alternatives would simply be to kill him or send him back to Khan."
"Which would be worse then what you're planning to do," Wedrington sighed after a few moments, "I just want it on the record that I don't like this."
Demona nodded, "but it HAS to be done."
They had all been speaking in either English, Japanese, or Chinese, languages that the superman, through his 'programming' knew. But what Demona did next and the language she spoke in, the superman was not prepared for. She raised one hand toward him and chanted something in Latin. When she finished a strange green mist came from one of Demona's hands and went into the superman's face, making him breathe it all in.
Demona, meanwhile, stood quietly as her magic assaulted the superman's mind. He shook his head for a few moments before it stopped and opened his eyes in a trance like manner. They were also solid green with no hint of a pupil, iris, or any other normal eye structure. Other then Demona, everyone was somewhat nervous about all of this.
"State your name," Demona commanded
"Kay Lee Hue," the man answered.
"Kay, I order you to answer my questions honestly," Demona spoke clearly.
"Yes, mistress," Kay answered in a trance-like monotone.
"Where is Khan?" Demona demanded.
"In Fortress Tibet, where you just returned from," Kay answered obediently.
"He is here?" Yoshi asked in the background.
Kay didn't answer.
"The spell makes him obey whoever holds the spell," Demona told the Japanese librarian, "if I needed a spell book to cast it, if you had the book, or the page the spell was on, you could ask him, but since I'm strong enough in sorcery that I do not need a spell book, I hold the spell at all times."
Demona then turned back to Kay.
"Who is Khan?" Demona demanded, "what does he look like?"
"He is the one you wounded but did not kill," Kay spoke slowly, unable to fight the spell.
"That was Damien," Demona countered.
"He was the gargoyle you wounded," Kay explained, "Khan was the man that you wounded."
Demona then realized what the man had mentioned and then growled to herself.
"I could have ended this war and I let him go!" Demona then roared.
If Kay had his free will, he would have smiled.
"At least we can identify him, now," Wedrington spoke up, "it's doubtful that he'll get away again."
Demona nodded and took a moment to compose herself.
"You will guard us during the day," Demona ordered, "if anyone threatens to destroy us, you will fight to the death."
Kay found himself repeating Demona's command. It was then that she released him from the imprisonment that he was in.
"You're certain he won't turn on us?" Yama asked.
"Not in his current state," Demona answered, "and Khan likely thinks we've killed him, so he won't come to his rescue."
The others only watched as the spelled man took up a guard post just inside the cave opening as the sun rose, turning the gargoyles to stone for the day.
The End…