Awakening Part 4

Brooklyn, Lex, and Broadway felt like deer in headlights a they stared at the over a dozen armed guards in the floor, each with their own weapons pointed right at them.

"Uh...sorry, wrong floor." Brooklyn said sheepishly.

Not even a second later, the armed guards started shooting at the gargoyle trio, who jumped back into the elevator shaft and started climbing up. With the shots still coming from down below, Broadway jumped to the closed door on e next floor and pried the doors open.

The guards from below peaked inside the elevator shaft and started firing at them from below, causing them o jump through the open doors to avoid getting shot. The hallway they were on was empty, but with the alarms blaring loudly, it may not stay that way for long.

"Now what?" Lexington asked.

"Now we try the indirect approach." Brooklyn said with a smirk as he looked at Broadway with a smirk and pointed at the floor.

Broadway got what he was saying as he reared his fist back and punched a hole on the floor. The scientists in the lab below them all screamed in fear as the gargoyles ripped part of the hole to make it bigger as they all jumped down and landed in the laboratory, with Broadway giving a slight growl for good measure. Every scientist and lab technician looked on in fright at the sight of these creatures they have never seen before in their lives.

Brooklyn stepped forward to grab a scientist by the scruff of his coat and hoist him up above the ground. "Where is the disc?" Brooklyn asked threateningly with his eyes glowing white. Fearing for his life, the scientist pointed at one of the computer terminals.

"Let's see." Lex said as he went towards the terminal and wondered which button to press. After finally picking one, the disc popped out of the terminal, and Lex grabbed it. "Got it!"

It was at that moment when security tried to break into the room, but Brooklyn blocked the door and tried to hold them back. "I think it's time to go!" Brooklyn said in urgency.

Broadway used his strength to rip out a piece of equipment and throw it at the window, shattering it. The three of them leapt out the building and glided away, avoiding being shot at by security.

"We did it!" Lex cheered.

"Yeah, let's get back to the castle!" Brooklyn said jovially as he and his friends glided away.

/

Meanwhile, Hudson and Bronx walked down the abandoned tunnel where the underground base is.

"I'm still not sure how we got talked into doing this?" Hudson complained to Bronx, even though he knew he couldn't answer back.

Hudson and Bronx soon stopped as they came upon a large steel door at the end of the tunnel. What caught Hudson's attention was the beeping noise of a security camera at the corner of the wall.

"Here's a problem." Hudson noted, before a smirk came unto him. If he can't get the door open, he might as well have them do it for him.

After telling a Bronx to remain hidden, Hudson ran up to the door and made sure that the security camera was constantly on him. Sure enough, a light was shined behind him, which caused him to turn around and noticed at least two dozen security guards with their weapon all trained on Hudson.

"I don't know what sort of thing you are, but I'm betting you're not bullet proof." One of the guards said bravely.

"Aye, that's a wager you'd win." Hudson said with a smile as he raised his hands in surrender.

The doors soon opened leading the way to the underground facility and Hudson was escorted inside by the security guards. Everyone, from the security to the scientist, all had a look of fascination and slight fear at the mere sight of Hudson.

However, everyone was taken by surprise when Bronx ran out of the shadows and pounced on one of the security guards. Hudson took the distraction and took the gun away from the guard next to him, then proceeded to lift him up and toss him right into a few more security guards.

Bronx growled at the commander in charge, who then proceeded to pull out his pistol, and aim it at the beast. Hudson saw this and shoulder tackled the commander out of the way, causing him to miss his shot as he fired the gun. The bullet then hit one of the equipment, causing it to explode and spread some fire throughout the laboratory.

Hudson went to one of the control panels and tried to figure out which button to press, but since he was not technologically acquitted to this timeline, he had no idea what to do. Growling in annoyance, Hudson slammed his fist into the control panel, which somehow caused the disc to pop out of the terminal.

Hudson smiled in satisfaction as he took the disc and turned towards Bronx, who was growling at a group of security guards. "Come boy." Hudson said as he began to leave for the exit.

Bronx followed the elder gargoyle, but then the commander got himself back up and slammed a red button. The doors began to close, so Hudson and Bronx hightailed it as fast as they could, which they eventually managed get through before the doors completely closed.

Hudson groaned as he sat up and rubbed his back. "Ugh, I'm getting too old for this."

More gunshots were heard down the tunnel, indicating that more security guards were heading their way. Not wanting to stay here any longer, Hudson and Bronx climbed up a ladder and made their way through a smaller tunnel close to the ceiling, with the guards following close behind them.

The elder gargoyle and the beast soon came upon a steel fence that led to the subway, but with no exit in sight.

"We'll be sitting ducks in here, right enough." Hudson said in frustration.

Hudson and Bronx had to continue moving as they narrowly avoided incoming bullets from the guards shooting at them. They raced down the path with the security force still on hot pursuit of them, but then Hudson heard the subway train heading their way.

Getting an idea, Hudson ripped the steel fence apart and waited for the train to come closer. As soon as it was beginning to pass, Hudson and Bronx jumped off the path and landed right on top of the train, digging their claws into the metal as to not fall off. When the train finally reached outside, Hudson grabbed onto Bronx and spread his wings, letting the rushing air current from their speed carry him off, and causing them to crash onto a roof and roll down the tiles until they stopped.

Happy to be alive, Bronx licked Hudson's face, much to his embarrassment. "Ack, away with ya." Hudson said as he gently pushed Bronx off him. "You need to be losing some weight, and that's a fact." Hudson frown ed as he took out the disc he just took. "I hope this wee thing is worth the aches I'll be feeling later."

Back at the air base, the people on the flight control room were try to figure out what was going on and were trying to reestablish contact with the other two bases that got it.

The commander was going over the data from what he just heard. "Stations 1 and 2 have been breached and we've list two thirds of the data." The commander said out loud.

All of a sudden, the door to the control room was busted open. Everyone looked on in shock when Goliath, the female gargoyle, and Blue Beetle stepped through.

"Wrong, you've lost it all." The female gargoyle said with a smirk.

"Hands up, and nobody has to get hurt." Beetle said as he morphed his arm into his sonic cannon and pointed it at them.

A couple security guards raised their weapons, but Goliath smacked them away with his tail. The female gargoyle went up to a terminal and pressed a button to eject the disc.

"Mission accomplished." The female gargoyle said. She then smirked maliciously as she smashed her hand through the terminal and ripped out a large cable that was sparkling with electricity. She slammed the cable right into the terminal, causing it to catch on fire, and then the alarms sounded throughout the entire air fortress.

Outside, one of the air fortress' engines catches on fire before it exploded, causing it to begin descending towards the city.

The female gargoyle ran off for the exit. "Hurry Goliath!" She said urgently.

Goliath looked on in shock at what she did. "What have you done?"

"Are you insane?!" Beetle exclaimed in disbelief as he could feel the fortress starting to lose altitude.

"We have to leave!" The female gargoyle exclaimed as she ripped the door off of the emergency exit leading outside.

"We cannot just leave them!" Goliath said as everyone on deck tried to put out the fire.

"Let's go!" Goliath's mate exclaimed as she pulled him along towards the exit.

"These people are going to die if we don't do something!" Beetle exclaimed as he towards one of the control panels.

"If you wish to stay and perish, then you've made your choice." The female gargoyle said as she dragged Goliath out the exit and they both glided away, though Goliath did it reluctantly.

Beetle looked at the damaged control panel as he could just tell they were getting closer to the city with every passing second.

He ran up to one of the technicians who was typing away at one of the control panels. "What's the damage?!" Beetle asked urgently.

"One of our engines is completely destroyed, and we've lost power to our rear ones! We need at least five engines to keep us in the air long enough to make an emergency landing!" The technician said urgently.

"Unless you've got super strength to lift us up, then there's nothing stopping us from crashing into the city!" The commander exclaimed.

"There's gotta be something!" Beetle exclaimed in frustration as he slammed his fists on the panel. He tried to think of every possible scenario save these people, but he wasn't coming up with anything.

"There is something that we can do, Daniel Kord."

'Well what is it, cause I'm open to any suggestions!' Beetle thought urgently.

"Let me hack into the systems, then I can reroute power into the rear engines. We will then steer the ship into the water away from the city."

'It looks like that's our only option.' Beetle thought before turning to everyone still on deck. "Everybody, grab on to something!"

After everybody held something to hang on to, Blue Beetle slammed his hands onto the control, causing a blue grid-like pattern to spread across the terminal. Beetle's eyes began to glow blue as he could practically see the entire schematics of the fortress right before his eyes. He allowed the Scarab to work its magic as some of the lights and the alarm died down.

Back outside, the two engines in the back started up again and the ship began to stabilize again and begin to rise up. However, that was short lived as two more engines exploded, causing it to descend even faster.

"We have lost two more engines. We do not have enough power to stay airborne with the three we currently have."

"Maybe not to stay in the air, but just enough to steer." Beetle said as he took control of the ship. The remaining engines veered right, pushing the air fortress right towards the Hudson River. "Everybody, hang on!"

The air fortress soon crashed into the water, causing everyone to jerk forward inside from the crash. When the ship began to slowly sink, Beetle morphed his hand into his plasma cannon and blew a hole into the hull of the ship.

"Everybody out!" Beetle exclaimed as every technician and security jumped through the hole and into the water so they could swim to safety. "Scarab, can you detect anyone else in the ship?"

"I am detecting several humans within the confides of this vessel. I would advise rescuing immediately, if you do not want them to suffer termination."

"Just point me in the right direction." Beetle said as he activated his rocket pack and flew straight through the ship's hallways. 'Goliath, we gotta have a serious talk about your girlfriend.'

/

Meanwhile, parking as close to the pier as she could, Elisa could only watch on as she witnessed the large air fortress crashed down into the Hudson River. The fortress was almost completely on fire with a couple explosions occurring in various locations of the ship.

She got out of her car and stood by the rail, hoping to get as close a look as she could. She managed to see people swimming to shore, so she knew that there were survivors. She also managed to see a streak of blue flying in and out of the fortress, and dropping off more survivors into the water and going back in for more.

"Good work, Danny." Elisa said with approval, before she looked up into the air and noticed two silhouettes gliding across the night sky away from the wreckage. "Goliath?"

/

Goliath and his love soon glided their way back to the castle and noticed the others and Xanatos standing on the tower, waiting for them. When the two of them landed, the female gargoyle handed Xanatos the disc.

"My friends, you have my profound thanks. Rest assured that the knowledge on these discs will be put to beneficial use for humans and gargoyles alike." Xanatos said happily, before he noticed something odd. "We appeared to be someone for this celebration."

"Yeah, where's Blue Beetle?" Brooklyn asked in confusion. "Wasn't he with you?" Everyone noticed the sad look Goliath gave, worrying his fellow clan.

"Lad, what happened?" Hudson asked in concern.

"The air fortress fell to the river." Goliath answered as he looked at all of them. "Blue Beetle stayed behind to try and save the humans. We did not see him rise up from the wreckage."

That caused everyone to gasp and have a shocked look on their faces, with Brooklyn lowering his head at the loss of his new friend. Bronx even gave a whimper and held his head to the ground, with Hudson petting his head in comfort.

"Oh no." Lex said with sadness as he leaned against the wall, with Broadway patting him on the shoulder.

"This night may be a victory, but it still brings us a heavy loss." Xanatos said with a sigh and had a soft look on his face. "I promise you, his sacrifice will in vain and we will put these discs to better use. Not just for us, but for Blue Beetle and his memory." With that said, Xanatos left the gargoyles and headed back inside.

"The loss of Blue Beetle was tragic, but he made his choice to stay behind." The female gargoyle said, though there seemed to be no trace of comfort in her voice.

"We should've stayed with him. Perhaps we could have helped him." Goliath said, feeling guilty over the loos of his ally.

"Then we would have perished with him as well, and none of us would have survived. Is that what you would have wanted?" She asked sternly.

Goliath took a deep breath to calm his emotions as he began to walk off. "I promised to meet a friend. She will want to hear about this. I'll be back soon."

Goliath's mate didn't like the sound of that. "A friend? Who? Not one of us."

"No, a human." Goliath answered. "Elisa Maza."

"Aside from Xanatos, we have no human friends, nor should we." She said in a slight angry tone. "Humanity is our enemy, Goliath. I thought you'd learn that a millennium ago."

"I cannot make war upon an entire world." Goliath said, shocked at the notion she was suggesting. "Doesn't Xanatos and Blue Beetle prove that there are good humans, as well as bad?"

"Can you forgive the humans for what they did to our kind?" She asked angrily.

"The ones responsible for that have been dead for a thousand years." Goliath argued.

"Then their descendants shall pay!" She exclaimed with pure hatred. "I will have blood for blood!"

Goliath stared at his love in the eyes, no longer able to see the warmth she once had when they were together a thousand years ago. "You said the centuries have changes me...they've changed you to." Goliath said with pity. "You've become hard, unforgiving. You are not as I remember you." Goliath shook his head as he walked off. "I'm going to see my friend now."

Demona held her glare as she stepped to the side. "So be it."

Goliath hopped on the edge of the tower and took off, gliding through the air to meet with Elisa, and give her the sad news about Danny.

Meanwhile, Xanatos was watching Goliath glide away from the castle on video monitor with a frown on his face. "Goliath, it seems, is too hard to control. A pity."

/

Goliath glided right above the building he was meeting with Elisa and spotted her waiting for him. He wasn't sure how he was going to break the news to her, but she had a right to know. However, he gasped in shock as he noticed that she wasn't alone, with someone standing right next to her.

And was even more shocked to discover that it was Danny, foregoing his Blue Beetle armor.

"You're alive?!" Goliath exclaimed in shock as he landed, though he was still quite happy to see his friend was alive.

"Yeah, though it was touch and go from that landing." Danny said sheepishly.

"The humans aboard the vessel?" Goliath asked, wondering if they made it out as well.

"They're all safe." Danny assured. "I managed to get everyone out of there just in time. After I was done, I found Elisa."

"Never mind that right now." Elisa said urgently. "Listen Goliath, I've been looking all over town for you."

"Why?" Goliath asked.

"Three Cyber Biotics installations have reported robberies by some kind of creatures plus Blue Beetle in one of them, and I saw you and one other gargoyle flying away from the plane wreck." Elisa explained with her hands on her hip. "What's this all about Goliath?"

"The discs were stolen from Xanatos. We returned them to him." Goliath explained.

Actually, there might be something more going on than what Xanatos is saying." Danny said firmly.

"Remember this." Elisa said as she took out a picture of the mark she discovered from those mercenaries the other night. "It's the logo of a robotics firm that is owned by, are you ready, Xanatos Enterprises."

"Are you saying that Xanatos is responsible for the attack in the park?" Goliath questioned in a troubled tone.

"That's exactly what she's saying, Goliath." Danny said.

"He probably planted that bug on you himself." Elisa theorized.

"And orchestrated the attack on the castle to make himself look like a victim." Danny added.

"But those were the same men who stole the discs from him." Goliath argued, having a hard time believing this.

"Goliath, nothing was stolen, I checked." Elisa said, trying to get her point across. "Those discs were Cyber Biotics property. He must have staged the theft to trick you into stealing the discs."

"He's been using you, Goliath. He's been using all of us and tricking us into trusting him so we could do his dirty work." Danny said angrily.

"Listen, Goliath, we haven't known each other very long and I know you don't have any good reasons to trust humans." Elisa said gently. Goliath looked away with a troubled face, but Elisa gently brought his face back to looking at her. "But you've got to trust somebody in this world."

"And trust me when I say, you can definitely trust me and Elisa, especially when it comes to Xanatos." Danny said with a smile, one that Elisa showed as well.

Goliath looked at the picture again and contemplated everything they just told him. These two may have started off as strangers, but they have proven to be honorable and capable warriors, even going so far as to guard him while he slept in stone. What reason would they of lie to him about any of this?

After making his decision, Goliath growled in anger as he crumbled the paper in his hand.

Danny and Elisa smiled, happy that he believed them. "You won't regret this, Goliath." Elisa said as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Now let's go to the castle and take that creep Xanatos down." Danny said as his armor spread across his body.

"Agreed." Goliath said as he jumped off the building and glided back to the castle.

"I'll meet you guys there." Elisa said as she ran to the roof door and made her down stairs.

"You got it." Danny said as he activated his rocket pack and took off into the air.

"I do not appreciate being used as someone else's puppet. The Xanatos must pay for his transgressions."

"Don't worry, he will." Danny promised as he took off at top speeds towards the castle.

/

"I'm afraid the gargoyles have outlived their usefulness." Xanatos said as he and Owen stood in front of a tarp covering five individuals. "I can't count on their loyalty. But now, with the data on those discs, I can bring their replacements online."

Owen looked at his watch before speaking up. "Three hours until dawn. We need only to wait until they sleep again."

"No." Both men looked behind them to see the female gargoyle stepping out of the shadows. "You need to test these replacements, do you not?" She asked them with a sinister smirk, one that Xanatos returned.

Back outside, the gargoyle trio sat atop one of the towers, with Brooklyn looking off to the distance, Lex working on a laptop he was given, and Broadway was eating some food. Each of them didn't really have a happy face on them as they still thought about the loss of their friend, Danny.

"Wish Danny could have shown us more of what this century had to offer us." Brooklyn said with a sad sigh.

"I know." Lex nodded in agreement as he closed the laptop. "The first human friend we made in this time and we end up losing him." Lex then looked up at Broadway as he was eating some popcorn. "How can you eat at a time like this?"

"What? I eat when I'm sad." Broadway defended himself. All of a sudden, a laser beam completely destroyed his snack bowl. "Whoa!"

The trio looked down and saw what shot at them. Standing on a bridge below them were five silver-colored robots that looked exactly like Goliath, with one of them retracting a laser cannon back into its arm. Standing amongst them were Xanatos, Owen, and the female gargoyle.

Xanatos smirked before he gave the order. "Attack."

Metal wings unfurled on the robots backs as jet boosters fired up and they shot up into the sky right past the trio.

"What are those things?!" Broadway exclaimed.

One of the robots flew down and activated its laser gun and fired a few shots at the trio, causing them to dive out of the way and glide down. The robot flew up and fired again, managing to hit Broadway on the shoulder.

The teal gargoyle screamed in pain as he stumbled in the air and grabbed on to tower, but a brick came loose and caused him to crash to the ground. Broadway groaned as he tried to get back up, but he then fell unconscious.

"What did I tell you, Owen. A vast improvement." Xanatos said in satisfaction. "They're steel instead of stone, they don't sleep during the day, they can fly instead of glide, and best of all they are one hundred percent obedient."

Lexington tried to glide away from a robot chasing after him, but it managed to get a lock on him and fired its laser cannon, hitting him in the shoulder. Lex screamed in pain as he began to fall midair, but Brooklyn managed to catch him and carry him off.

The robot gargoyle was about shoot at them, but Goliath swooped and tackled it right into the tower, causing it explode. Brooklyn was happy to see his leader had returned, but he was shocked to see Blue Beetle fly up right next to him.

"You're alive!" Brooklyn exclaimed happily.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Beetle said jokingly before he got serious. "Hand me Lex, I'll put him somewhere safe while we take these guys out."

"You got." Brooklyn said as he handed Lex over to him before he glided off to join the fight.

Beetle flew down to where Broadway was and placed Lex next to him before flying up to get back into the fight. Xanatos saw this and turned his gaze back to the female gargoyle.

"I thought you said Blue Beetle was dead?" Xanatos questioned.

"It doesn't matter." She said with a snarl. "Our new Steel Clan robots are far superior to that human."

"Either way, Owen sent a message to the robots, ordering them to attack Blue Beetle, but make sure they leave him alive." Xanatos ordered his assistant.

"At once, sir." Owen nodded as he pulled put a remote and gave the order to the robots.

As the battle raged on, with the robots shooting everything they viewed as an enemy, Hudson and Bronx raced outside and were shocked at the battle raging on.

"What's all the noise?" Hudson asked before he saw one of the robots flying down towards him.

The robot fired its laser cannon at the two of them, but they managed to jump out of the way. As the robot swooped down passed them, Bronx chomped on its metal tail and held on as it flew off. The robot couldn't handle the extra weight as it crashed down onto the ground.

The robot turned around and tried to fire at the gargoyle beast, but Bronx hopped out of the way of each shot, whole still biting down on the robot's tail. Hudson jumped down from above with a roar as he drew his sword and sliced down, cutting the robot in half from its head to its torso.

"Never a dull moment is there, boy?" Hudson as he patted Bronx on the head.

Goliath glided in the air as he avoided getting shot at by one of the Steel Clan robots, before an idea came to him. When the robot began to fly in close, Goliath did a midair flip and latched onto the back of the robot and hanged on.

While the robot tried to shake him off, Goliath gave a growl as his eyes glowed white, before he grabbed onto the robot's head and began to pull with all his strength. Sparks began to appear on the robot's neck as Goliath managed to rip the robots head right off, before jumping off it. The headless robot crashed right into one of the castle towers, causing an explosion and some of its pieces to fall towards Xanatos, Owen, and he female gargoyle, which they avoided.

Blue Beetle was in a dog fight with the robot he was fighting, with both of them firing lasers at each other as they rose up in the air. The robot flew up higher as it then dive bombed towards the hero, tackling it in midair.

"The aerial maneuverability of these automatons is really quite impressive."

"Be impressed later when we're not fighting for our lives!" Beetle exclaimed as he struggled to get out to the robot's grasp.

Beetle managed to get one of his arms loose as he punched it in the head a couple of times, but that didn't seem to do anything. Beetle then morphed his hand into a blade as he stabbed it right into its chest, causing sparks to fly. Beetle, however, wasn't done as while the blade was still in the robot's chest, it morphed into his plasma cannon before fired a few shots. The robots back exploded a few times, leaving a large hole with Beetle's cannon sticking out.

Beetle smirked in satisfaction as the robot's body went limp and fall to the ground. "That's another one taken to the scrap heap."

"It is ill advised to celebrate when the battle is still going on."

"I know, so let's finish this." Beetle said as he took off.

Meanwhile, throughout all of this, Xanatos looked on with a disappointment on his features. "Hmm, my Steel Clan isn't performing as well as I'd hoped."

"There's only one robot left." The female gargoyle said urgently.

"I think it's up to us, my dear." Xanatos said as he and his companions walked back inside.

Meanwhile, Lex and Broadway were starting to come around as they groaned in discomfort.

"What's going on?" Lex asked with groan.

"I don't know." Broadway said before looking up. "But it's not over yet."

A Steel Clan robot was flying right toward them, getting ready to fire at the two as Bronx and Hudson ran over beside them. Before it could fire at them, Blue Beetle flew down from above and fired his sonic cannon at the robots back, causing it to get pushed down fast and crash into the ground.

Before the robot could get back up, Beetle flew towards it and pinned it to the ground, causing crack to appear on the floor. Beetle morphed both his hands into maces and slammed them right into the robot's head, shattering it to pieces.

"Why do you not show such brutality when fighting the criminal element of this city?"

"These are robots, not people." Blue Beetle said, starting to get a little used to Scarab's ferocity.

"Beetle!" Broadway and Lexington exclaimed happily as they, Hudson, and Bronx ran up to the hero.

"Thank goodness you're alive!" Lex said happily.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Beetle said with a smile.

"Maybe a little." Broadway said sheepishly.

"It's good to see you still breathing, lad." Hudson said in approval as he patted the hero on the shoulder.

"Thanks, you guys." Beetle said with a nod, before he felt Bronx rubbing his head on his head, indicating that he wanted to be pet, which Danny did happily. "Guess this means were friends now, huh boy?" Bronx reply was a happy growling noise.

Back on one of the towers, Brooklyn and Goliath landed and watched on from above.

"We won, dude!" Brooklyn said happily.

"Dude?" Goliath questioned.

"You haven't won anything, fools!"

Brooklyn and Goliath looked down to see Goliath's mate aiming an RPG in her arms at the two of them, while Xanatos aimed a laser rifle at the rest of the group. She fired the weapon at the two up I. The tower, causing them to jump down while the rocket hit the tower, causing an explosion that sent Goliath crashing on the bridge she was standing on, while Brooklyn landed with the others.

"What are you doing?!" Goliath exclaimed in disbelief as he got back on his feet.

The others were about to go help him, but Xanatos aimed his right at them. "Hold it. Let's just let them play out their little drama, shall we?" Xanatos said as he turned his gaze to Blue Beetle. "I'm not sure if this gun can actually hurt you, Beetle, but one slight twitch and I fire at your friends." Beetle gritted his teeth in anger as he knew he couldn't do anything at the moment.

"Goliath, you're a fool, but then you always were one, weren't you?" The female gargoyle said mockingly. "If you'd only taken the rest of our clan away from the castle that nigh. The plan was perfect! It would have succeeded!"

"Plan?" Goliath asked in confusion. "What plan?"

"I made a bargain with the captain. I was to get us all out of the castle so that the Vikings could sack it." She explained.

"What?" Goliath asked in shock.

"It would have worked, and after the humans were gone we would have had the castle all to ourselves!" She explained without even a hint of mercy, shocking not only Goliath, but every one of the clan and Blue Beetle. "But you ruined it! You had to protect the humans! You made us stay at the castle when we should have been with you! When the Vikings attack the captain said he would protect us, but I didn't trust him. I've stayed alive because I don't trust anyone."

"But why did you do it?!" Goliath exclaimed, trying to understand how she of all gargoyles could be a traitor.

"You can ask me that?! After how they treated us?!" She exclaimed angrily. "They had to pay; all humanity has to pay for what they did to our kind!"

"There is good and evil in all of us, human and gargoyle alike. You should know that more than anyone." Goliath said wisely. "Don't you see, none of this would have happened if it weren't for you."

"Don't say that!" She said angrily before calming down. "Goliath, this is your last chance. Humanity is a poison that must be purged from this planet. Together, you and I can create a new world for our kind. You trusted me once, you loved me once. We have found each other again after a thousand years of solitude, does that mean nothing to you?"

Goliath looked down in sadness as he could not even look her in the eyes, heartbroken at not only her being a traitor, but also how far she had fallen. This act was all that she needed to know that he would never join her cause.

"Very well, if you are not my ally then you are my enemy." She said coldly as her eyes glowed red and she fired the RPG, which Goliath dodged, but the explosion sent him tumbling forward. "I have a name to, Goliath. The humans gave it to me long ago, you should know it before you die. I am...Demona." She aimed her weapon at the downed Goliath and prepared to fire. "Goodbye, Goliath."

All of a sudden, Elisa came running in and tackled Demona away from Goliath, causing her shot to fire in the air and hit one of the towers and caused an explosion. Some of the rubble fell towards Xanatos, and before he could get away one of the larger pieces hit him in the back of the head, knocking him down.

Demona and Elisa looked up and saw the top of the tower crumbling down and crashing onto the section of the castle they were standing on, causing them to fall off the castle screaming in fear. Goliath gasped in shock as he jumped off gliding after Elisa, grabbing her and carrying her off back to the castle.

Demona tried to spread her wings and glide off, but the pieces of debris and rubble kept hitting her in the back preventing her from her doing so. As soon as Goliath landed and placed Elisa back on her feet, he looked down and gasped in shock as Demona disappeared into the clouds below, disappearing along with the rubble.

Goliath had a look of despair as, despite her being a traitor, she was still very precious to him, and one of the few things he had left of his old time. And now he has lost her again, living with the pain for a second time.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Goliath howled in anger and sadness. Goliath soon sets his glare upon Xanatos as he was starting to come to. He grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and dangled him over the edge. "She wanted me to destroy humanity! I think I'll start with you!"

Xanatos, however, didn't feel intimidated in the slightest as he still held his smirk. "Go ahead. Without me, you'd still be gathering moss."

Goliath growled as he was about to make good on his threat, but stopped when Elisa ran up to him and spoke up. "No, Goliath! Don't do this."

"Give me one good reason not to drop him." Goliath said lowly.

"Because if you do, you're the same as Demona." Elisa said.

Blue Beetle flew up and landed on the other side of Goliath. "Goliath, if you make this choice, then Demona has already won."

"They're right, lad." Hudson said as he stepped forward. "Is that what you want?"

Goliath growled for a second as he glared at Xanatos, before taking a deep breath. "No." Goliath answered.

Goliath roughly tossed Xanatos at Elisa's feet, causing everyone to smile proudly at Goliath, knowing that he made the right choice.

It didn't take long for Elisa to arrest Xanatos and escort him to the squad car, while Blue Beetle gave a statement to the police about how he was the one who orchestrated the attack on Cyber Biotics. If the charges go smoothly, then he would be going to jail for a long time.

/

Sunrise was close, as Goliath stood atop the highest tower of the castle, looking on in the distance. Hudson and Elisa stood behind him as they could tell that he still felt troubled by the supposed loss of Demona.

"You did the right thing, lad." Hudson said.

"Do you think she survived?" Goliath asked.

"If she did, we'll know soon enough I imagine." Hudson answered with a troubled look on his face.

Down below at the lower level of the tower, the trio and Bronx were preparing to go to sleep with Danny, who was still wearing the armor but the face mask wasn't there, talking with them.

"Man, has this night been something." Danny said with a sigh.

"You're telling me." Brooklyn before he took put a pair of sunglasses. "At least these shades I got are still intact." The very moment he said that, the lenses cracked and shattered, causing him to frown in disappointment.

"You turn to stone when the sun comes out anyway, so I don't think you really need those." Danny said with a smirk.

"Yeah, but I thought they were cool." Brooklyn said sheepishly.

"You know, I could really go for something to eat right now." Broadway said.

"You just ate." Lexington pointed out.

"I know, Chinese food, and it was good to." Broadway said.

"If you think that's good, I'll take you guys out for some barbecue food." Danny said before walking up the stairs to meet up with Goliath and Elisa.

"It's nice to know that we have at least two human friends in this new world." Goliath said, looking grateful at the two of them.

"I hope you have more, lots more." Elisa said with a smile.

"And who knows, maybe you guys won't have to stay hidden forever." Danny suggested with a smile.

"And no matter what happens, we'll always be your friends, Goliath." Elisa said. "Same time tomorrow night?"

"I wouldn't miss it." Goliath said as he prepared for the sun.

"Good, maybe we'll catch a Giants game." Elisa suggested with a chuckle.

"Giants?!" Goliath asked in surprise just when the sun came up and he and the others turned to stone.

Danny looked on at the sunrise and couldn't help but give a little laugh. "Just when this city was starting to get used to a new Blue Beetle, now it has to adapt to gargoyles."

"I wonder if this city is ready for these guys?" Elisa said as she looked on as well.

"Well, either way, times are changing, and I for one can't wait to see where this goes." Danny said as he activated his faceplate and took off into the air.

/

Hey everybody, I've got the next chapter for all of you.

And with this one out of the way we are finally done with the Awakening arc. This was really fun to write as the gargoyles are officially part of the story and I for one can't wait to write the countless scenarios I have to put them in as they are now part of the DC universe.

Not too much to say as the next chapter will be the introduction of those canine criminals from Gargoyles we love to hate. After that it'll be another original chapter that I'm looking forward to writing.

That's all I have to say for now, but I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Have a good day everyone, stay healthy and stay safe.