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 "Broken".

Government is Harder than it Looks

By SN/TVfan

Email: Sam_Nary

Beijing

Khan calmly walked through the streets of Beijing. It had once been the capital of Communist China and Pro-Illuminati China. Now it was his prize and there was a lot of hectic work to try and rebuild the city after the bombing, fighting between armies, and the rioting of Anti-Illuminati crowds in the opening shots of the war. It was potentially a fairly difficult thing to do. He could have Marilyn help clean up the streets and rebuild things, but Beijing was just one of many Chinese cities that had been destroyed by the war or by rioting. If he sent Marilyn to fix these problems one city at a time, she wouldn't be able to do anything else.

And the rebuilding of cities wasn't his only concern. The Illuminati was in complete chaos for the moment, but they would recover eventually. His forces would have to be ready for them when they did recover. And then there was the issue of an immortal gargoyle sorceress. Demona still raided his supply convoys and was proving to be a real nuisance.

"You can see all the work that needs to be done, can't you, sir?" came a voice from behind him.

Khan turned to see a local Chinese "bureaucrat" approaching him. The advance, while it had killed off most of the Pro-Illuminati soldiers, had also liberated anti-Illuminati men and politicians that had been arrested when the war began or had been fighting guerilla wars behind the lines until his troops reached them. In some ways it was both a gift and a curse.

A gift in that he could use them to reinforce his numbers when it came time to expand the war, but a curse in that he would need to devote more time and effort into governing the lands he had 'liberated'. The Anti-Illuminati forces weren't guaranteed to follow him blindly, and he didn't have enough supermen to control all of China. He needed the obedience of the Anti-Illuminati Chinese and in order to do that, Khan was willing to play these sorts of games with them.

"Yes," Khan nodded, "a lot of work will need to be done."

"How soon do you intend to move the move the government here and call for real elections," the bureaucrat asked.

Khan raised an eyebrow at that. Nearly all of the men that had joined his side had been diehard supporters of the 'communist' dictatorship that ruled China up until Khan's uprising. So the idea of having elections was somewhat surprising.

"Elections?" Khan asked him.

"We must maintain at least the illusion of the people's votes," the bureaucrat replied, "mostly to determine who follows party policy the best."

"I was under the impression that I was the 'party' now," Khan answered, "if it weren't for me, you would still be under the Illuminati's oppression."

"That is true, but we must present at least the image that the people are honestly involved," the bureaucrat answered, "besides, even under the old government... things didn't quite go like an Empire with different politics."

"I see," Khan replied, "leave a note of the details to arrange this then and have it sent to my second in command. I will move on from there when we are truly ready."

"But when will you be moving the government to Beijing?" the bureaucrat asked.

"When things are ready," Khan answered, "and I will decide when things are ready."

"But, sir, Beijing has always been the capital," the bureaucrat insisted, "Illuminati or not, the people will likely respond positively to even only moving the Interim-Government to Beijing."

"And will be vulnerable to attack in a rubble filled area that is easily targeted," Khan replied, "we must insure that the Interim-Government could be adequately protected before they are moved."

Khan knew a lot of this was political game playing. When his war began in earnest, he had played it as a Tibetan war for independence. However, that war had expanded into an Anti-Illuminati Civil War within China. There were some Tibetans that still talked to his representatives about Tibetan independence. Now, Khan had no intention of granting the Tibetans their political freedom, but as with the rest of the Chinese population, he wasn't yet in a strong enough position to truly secure his power. So he had to placate the Tibetans as much as he could until things were ready.

And defeating Demona would now go a long way to accomplishing that, as the Illuminati would be distracted by their own troubles for quite awhile. And if they didn't cause enough trouble, Khan did have the ideas to sneak small groups of his supermen into areas where they could cause mass chaos, particularly for the Illuminati. But those actions and hunting down Demona had to wait while Khan moved through the political games of controlling the largest country by population on Earth.

Tibet

And meanwhile the one that Khan finally wanted to target was finishing the latest nights of raids on Khan's supply lines. Demona was continuing her training missions by using Khan's various supply runs as opportunities to give the Tibetan gargoyles a chance to train themselves in combat in situations that weren't an all out assault. So far things were going fairly as the Tibetan gargoyles were progressing nicely. Demona's raids were slowing down the supplies going to Khan's units. And in doing so, the immortal female figured she was winning some duel victories. If Khan continued running the supply runs to support his main troops, now spread out across China and near the borders, his home base would become vulnerable to her attacks. But, if he regrouped his forces to deal with her, he would have to weaken the edges of his new 'empire' and threaten him with the Illuminati jumping back into the war.

As Demona returned, she came to see what was the other portion of the training program. The Japanese exile and librarian were giving basic instruction in the martial arts styles that the Ishimura clan used. Yoshi wasn't to bad with the basics, but it was Yama who Demona found to be extremely valuable. It was through the Japanese exile's efforts that much of the success that the Tibetan clan's efforts to raid Khan's supply lines were successful.

Yama had the Tibetans begin each session with basic warm up, which Demona observed to include stretches and series of rhythmic movements before moving on to the basic kicks and so forth. They would then go on to the next level when Yama felt they had mastered these things. And they reinforced Demona's raids by giving the Tibetan gargoyles the opportunity to put their lessons to a use and master basic points of strategy and tactics in the field. That gave Demona some hope for a successful fight against Khan's forces.

"How did things go?" a voice asked from Demona's right.

Her focus being on the training sessions she was observing, Demona didn't entirely notice the speaker when he approached her. His voice snapped her out of it, and she turned to the speaker, a white sphinx-like English gargoyle, Wedrington.

"Fairly well," Demona answered, "we managed to 'liberate' another cache of supplies Khan had intended to go somewhere."

Demona then gestured to a pair of large boxes that the two Tibetan gargoyles that had gone on the raid were carrying. Wedrington looked at it to see that most of it were grenades.

"I'm not sure how well those will help," Wedrington commented.

"If they blow up Khan's soldiers they'll work," Demona dismissed it.

"Yes, but we've tunneled into the side of a mountain," Wedrington pointed out, "if Khan attacks us it'll be with helicopters or jetpacks... something that would have his men be airborne. Grenades wouldn't work... the guards you've collected can't throw the grenades down on people... and I've found that gargoyle fingers are not entirely as dexterous as human fingers."

Demona couldn't entirely argue that. At one time, she might have, but her time under Puck's spell that made her shift between her gargoyle and a human form made her all too aware in the differences between human and gargoyle anatomy. As a gargoyle she could manipulate anything a human could, but she had found that during the day, many of these tasks were easier. Things humans made were commonly built for human hands, and in her human form, those things were easier for her.

"They might still work for ambushes and so forth," Demona commented, "we'll probably need to take Khan's fortress eventually."

Wedrington slowly nodded, "I suppose."

"How have things been here?" Demona wondered.

"Not to bad," Wedrington shrugged, "some worries over whether or not the 'moves' are being done right, but Yoshi says that even experts have that concern."

Some of that was Wedrington's own concerns. He had more combat experience against some of these sorts of things by being with her and going through the Second Unseelie War. But, for the most part, Wedrington was not an expert at combat and commonly followed Yama and Yoshi's instruction in their style of martial arts.

"Yoshi and Yama are still making good progress?" Demona asked.

"Yes," Wedrington nodded.

"Then that is all I can ask for," Demona replied and turned to stone for the day.

Khan's Base

Marilyn meanwhile stood quietly with Khan's second command as the sun rose. Near them, Damien had turned to stone to sleep for the day.

"And so another day begins," Marilyn said in a tone that sounded like she was grumbling.

"You're not pleased?" Khan's second asked, "the Earth is still here. We rule China. The Illuminati is still in chaos over the death of One and can't attack us. And Demona is only a nuisance at the present time."

"Yes," Marilyn nodded, "but what have we done since the conquest of China was completed?"

"My job has not changed," Khan's second answered her, "I am to run the facility and provide Khan with my advice when he asks for it."

"You're calm with all of this, aren't you?" Marilyn questioned him.

"I suppose I am," Khan's second replied, "You are not?"

"No, I'm not," Marilyn answered, "I'm either listening to Chinese politicians argue about governing China... all of them being normal humans, not even supermen... or listening to Tibetan leaders talk about independence and then relying updates on these situations to Khan while he is inspecting the rebuilding efforts."

"The tasks are important," Khan's second replied, "The Illuminati will recover eventually. We must make sure China is functioning before we move on to the next phases of Khan's plan to conquer the globe."

"I'd still prefer faster action," Marilyn sighed, "or at least joining Damien on his rounds to catch Demona."

Khan's second turned his glance out over the mountains around the base. Demona had continued to be somewhat of a nuisance for Khan's moves to resupply the rest of his forces and the Anti-Illuminati Chinese forces still under his command. Damien had been given the job of nightly patrols through the are to try and catch Demona and one of her raiding parties. So far, she had managed to elude him and make her raids.

"Shoot... we know where she's hiding," Marilyn commented, "I could go in and smash her easily."

"Demona is immortal," Khan's second reminded her, "The Illuminati had that as an explicit warning in their files."

"Smash her clan and capture her," Marilyn corrected, "her war would be over in seconds."

"I have already advised Khan to deal with her quickly," Khan's second informed her, "he would prefer to wait for her to attack here. He believes she's booby trapped the entrance to her cave. By waiting for her to attack, he believes we'd catch her in the open."

Marilyn sighed. That was a fine strategy against an under armed military force. Not against an immortal sorceress that could do nearly anything she wanted when it came to magic. Giving Demona the opportunity to attack in force was an invitation for trouble. Marilyn wondered why Khan would go through with such a strategy.

"And as you know, Khan is our leader," Khan's second continued, "he has already made his decision. We can not go against that decision. Whatever reasons he has, I'm sure his reasoning is sound."

With that, Khan's second turned and headed inside. Marilyn sighed heavily and slowly followed him. They had their own tasks to take care of, and they could not stick around complaining about Khan's strategies.

New York, Hotel Cabal

Duval sat quietly in what was the Illuminati Society's headquarters in New York. From here he monitored the activities that the Society undertook in New York City and monitored the activities of the Illuminati's members. Everyone from minor members such as Xanatos to even "ex" members like Bluestone. It was on the easiest of days, difficult. Xanatos at one time was perceived to be a valuable if only minor member. His money could fund countless separate projects that would not only earn him a vast profit, but also strengthen the Illuminati's position. But over time that had changed. Part of it had been the Illuminati's rivalry with Goliath's clan. They had intended to gather them up to 'protect' and study them. The gargoyles had fought being protected, and so the Illuminati had battled with Goliath's clan to 'protect' them. And Xanatos was no protecting the gargoyles, which largely limited actions Duval could take as Xanatos was still a member and his tower and castle were financially important to the Illuminati... all the same, Duval favored distancing the Illuminati's relations with Xanatos. If he would not support them, they had no need to support him.

The other trouble spot for the Illuminati in New York was Detective Matthew Bluestone. The man had been an FBI agent convinced that the Illuminati were real. His searching got him fired from the Bureau, but he kept searching. In doing so, Bluestone eventually earned membership, though as Duval found out, nothing with Bluestone went right from there. Bluestone continued to look for ways to expose the Illuminati and eventually aided Goliath's clan against the Illuminati's founder, the Mage. That earned him a death mark, which he somehow managed to avoid. That made Bluestone the only person to leave the Illuminati and live. Fortunately, though, for Duval, the policing the various problems related to the gargoyles being 'deputized' by New York's Mayor had kept Bluestone away from investigating the society he left.

"I wonder what he would say to the realization that it was us who truly urged the Mayor to deputize them?" Duval mused to himself and then shrugged, looking through the latest stacks of paperwork that came across his desk.

"Sir," a voice spoke up from the door to Duval's office.

"Yes?" Duval spoke looking up to the aide who had come to his door.

"Sir, I have a report from the main election board," the aide spoke and entered the office.

He then handed a small envelope to Duval. He took it and began to look through it as the aide left. As he did so, Duval was completely surprised by what he read. He was listed as a possible candidate for the Council post rank of Six. It was a complete and utter surprise to him. He had never expected himself to be considered for such a high post.

This was all related to the chaos that was going through the Illuminati. Khan's forces had killed two Council members, including One. Now new Council members had to be elected by the Illuminati's various local councils. And it meant that the Illuminati could not direct any national government to respond to Khan. And now he was listed as candidate to be a Council Member. It was an honor, but one that would put him in a fairly tight position.

The Illuminati maintained a council of six members all named for the number of their seat. Normally the Society only had to replace one member at a time when he or she had either died or failed in some sort of task or assignment spectacularly. The fact that the entire Council had to be reelected because of Khan was a sign of how troubling these things were for the Illuminati.

The election would probably carry on for quite a while to come, and would surely allow Khan to make some new attack. And with China's resources behind him, those attacks could be anywhere. Being a member of the Council represented a great amount of power, and Duval hoped that he would be able to survive the expanding conflict that he was sure was coming.

Shanghai

Khan moved through the street of another city that had been destroyed by the 'war'. There was much that would many things that would need to be to insure that the Illuminati was defeated and the ultimate plans for conquest could be realized, but at the same time, there was a lot that would need to be done to manage China as well. It was part of the political things that Khan was now finding that he had to manage after his victory.

Shanghai had taken fighting from nearly every side in ways beyond what many of the other Chinese cities had. The city's first burst of violence came after Khan had revealed the Illuminati to the Chinese people. Crowds of betrayed people, backed by Anti-Illuminati policemen and soldiers ran rampant through the city, and ultimately, the Illuminati retook the city by force. In the process most of the buildings there had suffered at least some fire damage. What followed after that was the arrival of the Anti-Illuminati soldiers under Khan's command.

Some Pro-Illuminati units fought hard to try and retain the city while others loaded boats to either flee to the Koreas, Japan, or some other part of China. And as they left, they systematically destroyed Shanghai's harbor. Which meant that Khan would have to spend time rebuilding it before moving on. And that presented an odd twist of things. China would need a strong economy to win the war with the Illuminati, but in order to do that, they would have trade with countries that the Illuminati secretly ruled.

That would be tough, but it was inescapable. However, Khan wouldn't resume international trade until he was confident they could keep Illuminati spies from sneaking into his "kingdom".

"Some of what they've done will take longer then the schedule you have listed, sir," an Anti-Illuminati naval officer spoke, "it isn't so much that they blew up the dockyard facilities, they've also sunk ships they couldn't take with them in key areas. As a result, nothing can sail up the river from the ocean, and we can not sail out. Those ships will have to be cleared from where they've been sunk before anything else can be done."

"And where would they be taken to?" Khan wondered, "I was under the impression that if you were going to salvage a sunken ship, you'd need a functional harbor to put it in."

"That is the typical thing... unfortunately, as you well know, the Illuminati have put us in an atypical thing," the Anti-Illuminati naval officer answered, "the idea is to move the hulks out and across the river and beach them on the other back while we then begin rebuilding the dock facilities, including the dry docks."

"How long will this take?" Khan asked.

"Depending on whether or not we can get the divers and tugboats to move the sunken ships... and that we don't have any weather problems... flooding and so forth," the Anti-Illuminati Naval officer sighed, "about two to three months. And that is an optimistic estimate."

"I'll see to get some supermen units moved here," Khan promised him, "they will be able to help with your salvage operation."

"Thank you, sir," the Anti-Illuminati Naval officer answered.

Khan nodded.

Khan's Base, Tibet

Khan's second continued with the work that was expected of him. Much of it was the continued operation of the labs that produced more and more supermen. And that was a key part of Khan's efforts. The Tibetans and the Anti-Illuminati Chinese were important for gaining control of China, but eventually they would need to be moved aside. Khan's secret orders was that these operations be done as secretly as possible when the time was right. And that depended on the output of more supermen, now including a large number of females, though unlike Marilyn, they wouldn't be able to use magic. The act would give Khan's race a biological survival outside of scientific measures.

Of course, it would take a few years before that final move would be ready. Until then, Khan's second kept the facilities running at peak efficiency. As he ran this mission, he met with various supermen scientists that had taken over from where the Illuminati's scientists. The work was technical and time consuming.

"We will need a way to speed up production," Khan's second commented after a moment as he watched the projects continuing.

"Doing that is easy," one of the scientists near him spoke, "the problem is that we would either need to enlarge this base or construct a similar one elsewhere. Our problems here are largely related to the size of our facilities."

"I see," Khan's second nodded, "I'll mention your suggestion to Khan when he returns from his inspection tour of China... though I can not guarantee you you'll get everything you're asking for. I believe that Khan wishes to put most of our efforts into rebuilding what we had to destroy to throw the Illuminati out of China."

"I understand," the scientist nodded, "it is, after all necessary to make sure that our gains are lasting and are ours... and Khan is operating under the plan he has explained."

"And do you have a problem with that?" Khan's second asked. There was no threat in his voice. He was merely trying to get the scientist's honest answer.

"Of course, not," the scientist answered, "I am merely stating what we will need to increase production. If that doesn't take precedence over the rebuilding of China, then we will wait."

Khan's second nodded, remembering Marilyn's impatience for an assignment beyond diplomacy and politics. That made him chuckle a bit.

"If only all of us could be as patient as you," Khan's second replied.

At the same time, Marilyn was in the main communications area, and had just opened a channel with Khan to give him the updates on what had happened so far.

"They continue to ask about an independent Tibet?" Khan's image on the screen asked.

"Yes," Marilyn answered, "or at least self governance. And since you have not granted me authority to take care of the issue, I've had to delay any formal decision on the matter until you can return."

"I don't want them killed," Khan said simply and in a tone that sounded like he was scolding a whining subordinate. Which he actually was, but to certain extent Marilyn knew that Khan agreed with her. A lot of this was for show because the Illuminati might be listening in. "Creating an equitable government is a priority and for moment, I will have to say that the Anti-Illuminati Chinese do not appear to be in favor of giving up Tibet."

"Of course, sir," Marilyn answered, "what will you want me to do about this? It would appear that Chinese and Tibetan sentiments are against one another."

"That they are..." Khan nodded, "it may work to put them under a lose federation... similar to the way the Americans have organized their government... though obviously as a one party state in MY favor."

"Of course," Marilyn answered, "the people will always follow a wise and strong king... the good is relative."

Khan nodded again.

"When can we expect you to return?" Marilyn asked.

"I'm not sure," Khan replied, "there are many cities to check and many need a lot of work. Speaking which, I want you to inform my scientists to begin a crew supermen that can function as salvage experts and get them to Shanghai as quickly as possible."

"Salvage experts?" Marilyn asked.

"Yes," Khan answered, "to begin rebuilding Shanghai's harbor."

"Of course, sir," Marilyn answered, "is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Like what?" Khan asked, almost looking mischievous.

"Anything more exciting then politics," Marilyn answered, "need a good massage? Or anything else like that? Or any enemy I could kill for you? Anything? The range is wide open."

"Or next operations to deal with the Illuminati will begin soon," Khan answered, "so long as Damien keeps Demona distracted we can continue with the next phases of the plan... and as to your other offers... those will have to wait and see what I'm in the mode for."

"Of course, sir," Marilyn answered as the link with Khan's communicator cut out.

Demona's Cave, Dusk

Inside the cave the gargoyles sleeping away the day in stone, just as all gargoyles did, came to life as the sun set and a new night for them began. Wedrington quietly stretched his wings as he shook the last bits of stone off of him. The night was likely to bring about another of Demona's raids on Khan's supply runs. Part of him wondered why Khan was doing so much of this at night. He could easily move them to daytime patrols and avoid Demona's efforts altogether.

It could be foolishness, but from they had managed to follow in their trek across China to where they were, Demona didn't think that was likely. She believed Khan to be a relatively competent commander, which reinforced the question of why he didn't take a simple solution... either blowing them up with a missile or running the supply missions during the day.

The only other options was that it was a trap, or the frontline units were so undersupplied... or Khan lacked large enough transport equipment to move large amounts of the supplies needed in one shipment. Wedrington tended to hope it was that second option, as the raids Demona had launched tended to find small transport helicopters or a couple of medium sized trucks. They commonly went in pairs, which meant they couldn't fully supply a large army that was a long way away... which would mean that Khan would have to make these runs around the clock to supply his forces. Wedrington hoped that this was the case.

"Wedrington," Demona's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

Shaking his head he turned to her.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking about things," Wedrington told her.

"Em-hm," Demona responded, "remember it is your turn to go on the training mission tonight."

"Of course," Wedrington nodded and began to follow her to another section of the cave that they had hollowed out of the mountain.

There were several rations that they had liberated from Khan's forces there, and for the moment, they were the bulk of their diet.

"I want you to stay relatively close to me during the mission," Demona instructed him, "You have more experience at this then the Tibetan gargoyles do, so I don't think you'd fully need as much of this as they do."

"I'm still coming to grips with many of the basic moves," Wedrington answered, "I don't think I did all that well as a warrior during the war with the Unseelies."

"Maybe, but that was your trial by fire," Demona sighed, "The Tibetans haven't had that..."

"So... if you don't think I need this as much as they do, why do you want me to go?" Wedrington wondered.

"Some of it is to stay sharp," Demona answered and then leaned in to whisper to him, "and need I truly say what I'd prefer to keep private in font of the others..."

Wedrington could detect some hints of the personal bond that he and the Immortal Female had formed in the course of their time together. When he had first met Demona, she was trying to regain her gargoyle form, and in the course of that adventure, he'd been pulled into it by his first encounter with Sekhmet and soon learned much about the sky blue female gargoyle.

Demona had made many mistakes in her life and went down the 'dark path' for quite a ways. It took a lot to get her realize she was wrong. And from what Wedrington had learned, she did have legitimate concerns to be angry with. It was in her methods of dealing with those problems in which she went too far. And so, he volunteered to guard her during the day, since her restored gargoyle form did not have the ability to shift between a gargoyle and human form. If only to show her that humanity could be trusted if given the chance.

Thailog then ruined that. Looking for a test subject for his witch to practice on, he was grabbed and transformed into the lion-like gargoyle that he now was. He stayed around Demona as she was the only gargoyle he knew very well, and that he needed the help to adapt to everything. At the same time, he felt that Demona sill needed someone to help her get over many of the trust issues that had lead to her turn to the 'dark side' as it were. They fought through the Second Unseelie War and in so doing, Wedrington felt they had made real progress. But over time, something else began to develop. Something that he had never expected, and he doubted Demona expected it either. And that was an almost romantic relationship between them. They had begun courting one another.

Despite this development, Demona preferred to keep it quiet. Like she didn't want to draw attention to it. Wedrington, respected her decision and figured that things would change a bit more the more progress he made in helping her move away from the person who had tried to kill every single human on the planet.

"So when do we leave?" Wedrington asked slowly.

"Immediately after breakfast," Demona answered.

Khan's Base

Damien slowly stretched out his wings as the sun set over the western horizon. It was a new night. A night in which he would be expected to deliver some crushing blows on Demona. If he could ever find the immortal female. He patrolled the area every night, and yet the sky blue female managed to elude him somehow. It could be magic, but he didn't quite have sense. He wondered if it was a failure to pay attention.

"So how do you plan to get her tonight?" a voice asked from behind him.

Damien turned to see Marilyn standing by. She seemed curious about the operation to catch Demona that was his to accomplish. Damien guessed it was likely because of the fact that Marilyn was assigned to handle many of the political matters while Khan was out on his inspection tour, and that she was bored out of her mind in doing it.

"Mostly the same as I've done every night," Damien answered, "Khan doesn't want an assault on her cave, so I am to glide around until I catch her ambushing some supply run."

"And she's managed to elude you," Marilyn commented.

"Yes," Damien gave an embarrassed grumble.

"You know, it might do better to use the convoy as bait," Marilyn told him, "not simply go looking for Demona. We know her target is the supplies leaving either this base. So use the convoy as bait to draw her in. It's a simple tactic and one used countless times. Allied fighter pilots used it to destroy the Luftwaffe in World War Two."

"That..." Damien gasped, "that might work..."

Marilyn almost smirked she he then looked down, looking rather embarrassed. It was a relatively simple plan, and one that even an ordinary person could come up with. But, Damien, like all of Khan's supermen, was engineered to be better then his opponents. The fact that he could be caught making such an amateur mistake shamed him.

"Yes," Marilyn nodded, "yes it might... but don't beat yourself up too much about it. Everyone is entitled to one bonehead mistake at least once."

Damien looked back at her with a fairly sour look. There was something in Marilyn's tone that indicated that she deliberately paying attention to his faults.

"I will beat her," Damien growled, "I will beat her and assure our victory while you are forced to stay here and baby-sit a bunch of monks who don't know they've been duped."

And with that, Damien pushed by her and went in to get his own breakfast and ultimately set things up for his ambush. Marilyn, merely stood by. She didn't like the jab at her being forced to remain outside the "spotlight" of the campaign against the Illuminati, but Khan wanted both of them to serve his cause. And so, Marilyn let the male clone get away with the remark.

Later

Demona, Wedrington, and a pair of Tibetan gargoyles glided quietly through the night searching for some lightly guarded supply run that Khan was making to his various forces around China. These supply runs commonly carried military equipment that Khan needed to supply his armies and the armies of the Anti-Illuminati Chinese that had sided with him. And by attacking them, Demona felt that she was not only helping to train the Tibetan gargoyles for the fight that would be coming, but she was also hurting Khan's ability to maintain his armies along China's borders. She had no love for the Illuminati, but figured that between that for the moment, Khan was the bigger threat... though she did hope that the two destroyed each other before things were over. It would leave the Tibetan gargoyles and their monk friends in a better position.

So far, though, they hadn't come upon any of these supply runs. That was a frustrating part of the operation.

"You don't suppose the he's decided not to make these supply runs?" Wedrington wondered after a little while, "You know... hunker down until he's certain we've given up?"

"That would abandon his troops at the edges of China," Demona answered, "and would give the Illuminati the chance to get back into the war, regardless of what defeats he's forced on them. And Khan is smart enough to know that he can not allow the Illuminati to regroup... not because we are giving him minor trouble."

"We're only minor trouble for them?" one of the Tibetan gargoyles asked.

"He's only going to see me as a real threat," Demona sighed, "because your clan has had no experience in combat, he will overlook you... which is why I am hoping that Yama and Yoshi will be successful in training you."

And so they continued on scanning the ground below them and the narrow roads carved into the mountains of the Himalayas as they searched for one of Khan's supply runs. Things were relatively quiet and as they went, the other Tibetan gargoyle had a question.

"What do you think should be done when this is over?" the other Tibetan wondered, "I doubt our clan can go back into seclusion after this... and the monks could be attacked by the Communists when they retake power."

There, Demona didn't really know. At one time, she would have urged them to kill any and every human they came across and establish themselves as rulers over them. But things had changed. Wedrington had been human, yet he hadn't made her his enemy... and in fact if he survived... a flicker in the back of Demona's own mind saw Wedrington as a potential mate.

"I do not know for sure," Demona sighed heavily.

A lot of this was new to her. For too long, her life had revolved around her lust for vengeance against those she saw as wrongdoers against gargoyles. Haakon and his Vikings. The Captain of the Guard. Macbeth. The Hunters. All the humans that had ever wronged a gargoyle. In the process, she rarely had any care for what happened to the gargoyles she come across, for all too often, they had hurt her chances for revenge. Her old clan followed Goliath, not her, and she resented it. The ragtag clan she had formed while fleeing the first Hunter settled into Macbeth's service and didn't want to turn on him, and so she abandoned them to the fury of the English. And Goliath refused to see things her way when he was reawakened. It had infuriated her to a great degree, which was amplified by his turning to the human, Elisa Maza.

Though it wasn't until her dealings with Wedrington and the Weird Sisters' trial that things for her really changed. That she was made to see that the wrongs done were done more by her then by humans. Seeing the human Elisa save Goliath from her by knocking the anti-tank rocket launcher away from her. Seeing the human Elisa ring the iron bell to save Goliath and Angela from Oberon. Seeing the human Elisa give CPR to Angela and save her life after being attacked by the Hunters. Her own vengeance had done more harm then good to gargoyles and she realized that she had never been a real leader to the gargoyles she encountered after the fall of Castle Wyvern and meeting Wedrington.

Now, Demona not only had defeat Khan, to a great extent, she had to make sure that things would progress well for the Tibetan gargoyles. She had no desire to stay in Tibet, and knew that the Tibetan gargoyles would. Je Lu and Shi La would remain the Tibetan clan's leaders and they would have different mission once Khan was defeated. And that would be mere survival. On some level, they could invest their trust in whoever would take over China after Khan, but that would be risky, and despite not wanting to destroy all humanity, Demona still didn't completely trust humans. They could go into hiding again, but the Tibetan clan wouldn't be able to hide itself very well. Demona had no answers.

"I really don't know," Demona repeated, "To be honest, in most of the instances where I've been in a position like this... I've failed because of certain points of view that were not the best..."

That was the best she could manage, as she was trying to avoid having to say that she was wrong. Wedrington and Goliath's clan would probably tell her that her ideas were wrong, but to her that was an outside judgment. And while they might be somewhat right... Demona still could not get away from trying to keep from being blamed completely.

"We still have a long way to go against Khan though," Wedrington commented, "Worrying about what to do after he is defeated might not be the smartest thing."

"It can wait," the first Tibetan gargoyle nodded, "and for now we move forward... forward to something better... something higher... higher then Khan's tyranny."

And so they glided on.

The End...