Chapter twelve
Eyrie building
1 month later
5 days before Hunters Moon
Jesse lifted Alexander to her shoulder and gently patted his back, while she watched Xanatos and Owen spar.
Fox came in wearing black and red spandex, and running shoes.
"Hey Fox! Lookin' good. You've got your figure back again."
"Thanks, Jess." Fox said, taking Alexander. "How's my favorite man doing today?"
"What does that make me?" Xanatos asked joining them.
"The man who put me through," she added it up on her fingers, "fourteen hours of labor," Fox chided, then left, with Jesse following.
* * *
Jesse was wandering about the castle, unsure of what to do, when the elevator bell sounded.
"Elisa!" Jesse ran up and embraced her sister.
"Hey sport. How ya doin'?"
"Just fine. C'mon, I'll show you my room! Wait'll you see it, it's huge!" Jesse excitedly took Elisa's hand and pulled her up a set of stairs.
"So, Jesse, are you okay about this?"
"Actually, I kinda like it here. It's not so bad once you get used to it."
"What?!"
"I mean, you gotta get to know them."
"I can't believe you trust them!" Elisa said stopping dead in her tracks.
"But, Elisa. . ."
"No. Jesse, they're evil. They don't comprehend 'love thy neighbor'."
"Elisa!"
"I'm leaving. Call me when you get a clue."
* * *
3 days before
Hunter's moon
"Maza, I'm reassigning you to day shift for a while. I need you to show a new transfer the ropes."
"Day shift?" Elisa looked skeptical.
"Aw, come on, Captain!" Matt broke in.
"You're breaking up a great team, better than you know." Elisa added.
"It's only temporarily. And it wasn't a request." Maria Chavez got up and opened the door.
Elisa turned. "Well, I just want it on the record that I'm--" she met eyes with one of the most handsome men she'd ever seen. "Uh, well, hi. Elisa Maza."
The man extended his hand. "Detective Jason Conover. Uh-um, nice to meet you."
Elisa smiled.
Matt rolled his eyes.
* * *
Same day
Elisa's car.
"So, which, um, precinct did you transfer from?" Elisa asked.
"One in, uh, another city."
"Really? What city?"
"A small one compared to this." Jason replied, motioning out the window. "A town this size must take a lot of work to protect."
Elisa smiled. "Yeah, it's more than a job, it's a way of life."
"I've heard some pretty wild things about New York, like alligators in the sewers."
"I could tell you stories."
"I'm all ears."
As they drove past the docks, an explosion sounded from one of the storage buildings marked Xanatos Enterprises.
Elisa swerved and stopped in front of it. They jumped out and pointed their guns at the thieves
"Police Freeze!"
"Freeze, yourself." one of the thieves responded.
The thieves brought out automatic weapons and began firing at the two cops. One of the shots hit the hood of the fairlane.
"Hey watch it! That's original paint!" She yelled at them.
"Drop the hardware." The thief yelled back.
Jason grinned at Elisa's comment, then turned back to the thieves. He noticed that on the canisters the thieves were carrying, was the flammable symbol. He dropped to the ground and fired.
The thieves scattered as the canister exploded. A gray van pulled up and two more thieves got out and started firing while the other ones got in with a canister.
Elisa and Jason got back in the fairlane and went after them.
"Call it in." Elisa ordered.
* * *
The gray van turned off the road and crashed through the underbrush in Central Park.
"My mechanic's gonna love this." Elisa muttered and turned after them.
Jason rolled down the window and stuck his upper body out of the car, firing his gun at the thieves' van. He got a direct hit on one of the tires and the van screeched to a halt.
"I said freeze." Elisa repeated, as the thieves raised their hands above their heads.
* * *
Eyrie Building.
That evening
Matt knocked on the door. Jesse opened it.
"Hiya, Jess. Is Mr. X. home?"
"Yeah, he's in his office. Right this way please."
Matt followed the teenage girl to the more private part of the castle, grinning at her formality.
Jesse knocked on an office door.
"Come in." Came Xanatos' voice from within.
She opened it and entered.
Xanatos was sitting on the floor with Alex in his lap, bouncing a ball on the floor.
"Detective Bluestone is here to see you." She said.
"Send him in."
* * *
"I appreciate the personal attention, Detective Bluestone, but I have no idea why anyone would want to steal this particular chemical. D/I-7 is a potent concentrated disinfectant. Hardly worth taking unless you have a very large and dirty house to clean."
Alex's ball rolled and hit Matt's foot. He picked it up and tossed it back, scribbling down something in a notebook.
Matt sighed. "Okay, Mr. X., that's all, for now. But you might want to use some of this D/I-7 stuff to make sure your own house is clean."
"Alex, can you say, harassment?" Xanatos asked his son. Alex gurgled at him. "I knew that you could."
Jesse snickered from the corner she was standing in.
Matt stormed off.
* * *
Same Night
Nightstone unlimited
Dominique Destine stood from her interview with Robyn. One of her henchmen came running in.
"We ran into some trouble, Miss Destine. The D/I-7 was--"
"Remember your manners, dolt! I'm not through with this interview! You'll start first thing in the morning, Robyn. I'm glad to have you as part of the Nightstone team." She gestured to the man. "Come with me." They stepped into another room. "Now, your report."
"We, uh, y-w-w-we didn't get it, Miss Destine. The cops--"
"What?! You incompetant fool!" She grabbed the man by the shirt.
"Wait, please..."
She glanced out the window and released him. "You're lucky I treat my employees with compassion." She smoothed the wrinkles from his shirt. "Now, get out!" She said and swung her fist at him.
Dominique stood at the window again. "Why do the little people always frustrate me? Well, if you want something done right..." she doubled over with pain. Wings sprouted from her back, tearing her suit, large talons replaced her small feet, and her two middle fingers molded together. She hissed with triumph ". . .do it yourself."
* * *
Eyrie building
that night
"All right kiddo, let's try it one more time." Puck said, trying to keep his patience. He was trying to teach Alexander how to shape water into, well, shapes.
Alex produced a bubble of water.
"That's good. Now mold it in your mind."
The water quivered midair for a second, before in dropped on the fey's head.
Jesse tried to suppress a giggle.
"Oh, you think it's funny, huh?" Puck asked crossing his arms. "I'd like to see you do better."
"Really, now, you know I'm not magical." Jesse scoffed.
"Oh, you think so? That's what Fox thought a month ago, then she learns that her mother is Queen Titanya, and goes ballistic, knocking Oberon through a solid stone wall."
"Are you saying that I really am. . ."
"Oberon's daughter, The one and only."
"Does that mean. . ."
"That you're heiress to the Avalonian throne? Nope. Titanya, was worried about something involving DNA and Oberon's overly egotistic genes, or something like that. But anyway, she wants the heir-slash-heiress to the throne to be of her blood. Which means that young Xanatos beat you by a mile."
"Oh. But, do I still have magic?"
"Of course."
"Can you teach me?"
"Well, I'm bound from my powers, unless I'm instructing Alexander."
"Surly the law that cannot be broken can, in some way, be bent." She said, smiling at him. "A simple feat for the almighty trickster."
Puck caught on to what she was saying and gave her a grin of his own.
"You know, what? You're all right. You'd make a great trickster. In fact. . ."
Puck snapped his fingers and instantly Jesse was seated at a desk piled with books and dressed in a blue skirt and jacket with a white shirt. A pencil sat behind her ear, glasses perched on top of her nose, and her hair was up is a bun. "Class is now in session."
* * *
Day before Hunter's Moon
Nightstone Unlimited
"Robyn Correy, meet Dr. Anton Sevarius."
Dr. Sevarius bowed. "Enchante, my dear. Welcome to my chamber of horrors."
"The tainted biological must be ready by Hunter's Moon." Dominique stated.
"It's ready now. The mutagen has a wide range, air, water, and mammalian vectors."
"You're talking about a virus, a contagious virus." Robyn said.
"Very good. You must have been first in your class. It's quite harmless, of course. CV-1000 is a carrier virus that can be bonded with antigens."
"With this we could create a cure as contagious as any disease." Dominique cut in.
"Or it could be bonded with a pathogen and cause a disease in the first place, a plague that could threaten the entire planet." Robyn added. "Either way, it seems a most profitable endeavor."
"I think you're going to fit in just fine, Robyn."
* * *
"Elisa, where are we going?" Jason asked.
"To pick up my little sister. I was kind of hard on her the last time we saw each other, and I want to make it up to her." Elisa said, turning into the Eyrie Building parking deck.
"Your sister live at the Xanatos place?"
"Long story." Elisa said, rubbing her forehead. "Don't ask."
* * *
Jesse was sprawled out on the floor on her back with her arms extended, holding Alex up. They were playing airplane, one of Alex's favorite games. He gurgled with happiness.
Jesse smiled, but for some reason he felt really heavy. Her elbows buckled, and he landed on her stomach.
Jesse couldn't see straight, and the room was spinning.
"Owen!" She called out.
Instantly he was at the door. "Yes, miss?"
"I'm not feeling well, could you take the baby for a while?"
"Of course." He picked up Alex. "Come along Alexander, time for your bath."
Jesse stood and stumbled up to her room.
* * *
"Hi, we came to see Jesse." Elisa said, confronting Owen at his desk.
"I am afraid that is not possible. Miss Jessondra is not felling well this evening, and, at the moment, is resting in her room."
"Not feeling well! What's wrong? Is it serious."
"On the contrary, Detective Maza, it is probably just the flu."
"Well, tell her I was here, and that I'm sorry."
"Very well."
* * *
"I still, can't find a problem. She probably isn't immune to these common diseases." The doctor said. "You said she's from tenth century Scotland? I don't believe they had things like the common cold, or the flu. After a while, she should get used to them and her immune system should build up. Until then, plenty of rest and fluids. If she gets worse, call me."
Jesse sat in her bed sulking. "It's summer vacation. I can't be sick!"
"Well, like it or not, you are. So be a good girl and do what the doctor says." Xanatos said patting her knee. "If you need anything, Owen will be close by."
"Oh, all right." She said and dropped back onto her pillows.
* * *
Night of Hunter's moon
St. Damien's Cathedral.
"This is Travis Marshall reporting live from St. Damien's Cathedral, where the NYPD's Gargoyle Task Force has the condemned building cordoned off. Even now we can hear the sounds of some kind of battle taking place within."
"Look! There's one!" A woman said pointing to Lexington as he swooped down to the broken window.
"Why aren't the cops doin' anything?!"
"Stop 'em!"
Officer Morgan confronted Matt. "It's your call, Matt, but, if we don't do something soon we're gonna have a riot on our hands."
"I know. I know." ~Elisa where are you?~ He asked himself.
* * *
"Where are you going?" Jesse asked from her stake out on the couch.
"We'll be right back." Xanatos promised. "We have. . .some loose ends to tie up. Keep an eye on Alexander. And don't get off of that couch!"
Jesse huffed and plopped back down. She placed Alex on her lap, and pulled the blanket over them.
"So scout, what do you want to watch?" She asked as she flipped through the channels. She stopped at channel two, WVRN. "Hey look, it's Matt!"
* * *
"Well, if the cops aren't going to do anything, we will!!" The man shouted again. Cheers from the crowd backed him up.
"It's now or never Detective." Morgan told Matt.
"All right. Signal the choppers, we're goin' in. But I want them alive!"
* * *
Up on the roof of the Cathedral, Broadway confronted Goliath. "Elisa says we have to go. Now!"
The police helicopter shone its spotlight on them. "This is the police. Stay where you are."
Another helicopter rose on the other side of the Gargoyles.
"We're surrounded!" Lex cried out.
The door to the second helicopter slid open. Xanatos hung out the side.
"Could I interest you in a ride?"
The police helicopter fired at them.
"It appears that we have no choice." Goliath said. The two of them helped the other gargoyles into the helicopter.
Back down on the ground Matt yelled into his walkie-talkie. "Hold your fire! That's an order!"
They all watched as the helicopter flew away in the direction of the Eyrie building.
* * *
David and Fox entered the TV room.
"Hey, back so soon?" Jesse asked, her face glued to the television.
"Uh-huh."
"Did you guys see what's happening down town?"
"Yes."
"Oh, would you like to fill me in? I can't figure it out."
"That, my dear, is a story for another day." Xanatos said grinning at her.
Eyrie building
1 month later
5 days before Hunters Moon
Jesse lifted Alexander to her shoulder and gently patted his back, while she watched Xanatos and Owen spar.
Fox came in wearing black and red spandex, and running shoes.
"Hey Fox! Lookin' good. You've got your figure back again."
"Thanks, Jess." Fox said, taking Alexander. "How's my favorite man doing today?"
"What does that make me?" Xanatos asked joining them.
"The man who put me through," she added it up on her fingers, "fourteen hours of labor," Fox chided, then left, with Jesse following.
* * *
Jesse was wandering about the castle, unsure of what to do, when the elevator bell sounded.
"Elisa!" Jesse ran up and embraced her sister.
"Hey sport. How ya doin'?"
"Just fine. C'mon, I'll show you my room! Wait'll you see it, it's huge!" Jesse excitedly took Elisa's hand and pulled her up a set of stairs.
"So, Jesse, are you okay about this?"
"Actually, I kinda like it here. It's not so bad once you get used to it."
"What?!"
"I mean, you gotta get to know them."
"I can't believe you trust them!" Elisa said stopping dead in her tracks.
"But, Elisa. . ."
"No. Jesse, they're evil. They don't comprehend 'love thy neighbor'."
"Elisa!"
"I'm leaving. Call me when you get a clue."
* * *
3 days before
Hunter's moon
"Maza, I'm reassigning you to day shift for a while. I need you to show a new transfer the ropes."
"Day shift?" Elisa looked skeptical.
"Aw, come on, Captain!" Matt broke in.
"You're breaking up a great team, better than you know." Elisa added.
"It's only temporarily. And it wasn't a request." Maria Chavez got up and opened the door.
Elisa turned. "Well, I just want it on the record that I'm--" she met eyes with one of the most handsome men she'd ever seen. "Uh, well, hi. Elisa Maza."
The man extended his hand. "Detective Jason Conover. Uh-um, nice to meet you."
Elisa smiled.
Matt rolled his eyes.
* * *
Same day
Elisa's car.
"So, which, um, precinct did you transfer from?" Elisa asked.
"One in, uh, another city."
"Really? What city?"
"A small one compared to this." Jason replied, motioning out the window. "A town this size must take a lot of work to protect."
Elisa smiled. "Yeah, it's more than a job, it's a way of life."
"I've heard some pretty wild things about New York, like alligators in the sewers."
"I could tell you stories."
"I'm all ears."
As they drove past the docks, an explosion sounded from one of the storage buildings marked Xanatos Enterprises.
Elisa swerved and stopped in front of it. They jumped out and pointed their guns at the thieves
"Police Freeze!"
"Freeze, yourself." one of the thieves responded.
The thieves brought out automatic weapons and began firing at the two cops. One of the shots hit the hood of the fairlane.
"Hey watch it! That's original paint!" She yelled at them.
"Drop the hardware." The thief yelled back.
Jason grinned at Elisa's comment, then turned back to the thieves. He noticed that on the canisters the thieves were carrying, was the flammable symbol. He dropped to the ground and fired.
The thieves scattered as the canister exploded. A gray van pulled up and two more thieves got out and started firing while the other ones got in with a canister.
Elisa and Jason got back in the fairlane and went after them.
"Call it in." Elisa ordered.
* * *
The gray van turned off the road and crashed through the underbrush in Central Park.
"My mechanic's gonna love this." Elisa muttered and turned after them.
Jason rolled down the window and stuck his upper body out of the car, firing his gun at the thieves' van. He got a direct hit on one of the tires and the van screeched to a halt.
"I said freeze." Elisa repeated, as the thieves raised their hands above their heads.
* * *
Eyrie Building.
That evening
Matt knocked on the door. Jesse opened it.
"Hiya, Jess. Is Mr. X. home?"
"Yeah, he's in his office. Right this way please."
Matt followed the teenage girl to the more private part of the castle, grinning at her formality.
Jesse knocked on an office door.
"Come in." Came Xanatos' voice from within.
She opened it and entered.
Xanatos was sitting on the floor with Alex in his lap, bouncing a ball on the floor.
"Detective Bluestone is here to see you." She said.
"Send him in."
* * *
"I appreciate the personal attention, Detective Bluestone, but I have no idea why anyone would want to steal this particular chemical. D/I-7 is a potent concentrated disinfectant. Hardly worth taking unless you have a very large and dirty house to clean."
Alex's ball rolled and hit Matt's foot. He picked it up and tossed it back, scribbling down something in a notebook.
Matt sighed. "Okay, Mr. X., that's all, for now. But you might want to use some of this D/I-7 stuff to make sure your own house is clean."
"Alex, can you say, harassment?" Xanatos asked his son. Alex gurgled at him. "I knew that you could."
Jesse snickered from the corner she was standing in.
Matt stormed off.
* * *
Same Night
Nightstone unlimited
Dominique Destine stood from her interview with Robyn. One of her henchmen came running in.
"We ran into some trouble, Miss Destine. The D/I-7 was--"
"Remember your manners, dolt! I'm not through with this interview! You'll start first thing in the morning, Robyn. I'm glad to have you as part of the Nightstone team." She gestured to the man. "Come with me." They stepped into another room. "Now, your report."
"We, uh, y-w-w-we didn't get it, Miss Destine. The cops--"
"What?! You incompetant fool!" She grabbed the man by the shirt.
"Wait, please..."
She glanced out the window and released him. "You're lucky I treat my employees with compassion." She smoothed the wrinkles from his shirt. "Now, get out!" She said and swung her fist at him.
Dominique stood at the window again. "Why do the little people always frustrate me? Well, if you want something done right..." she doubled over with pain. Wings sprouted from her back, tearing her suit, large talons replaced her small feet, and her two middle fingers molded together. She hissed with triumph ". . .do it yourself."
* * *
Eyrie building
that night
"All right kiddo, let's try it one more time." Puck said, trying to keep his patience. He was trying to teach Alexander how to shape water into, well, shapes.
Alex produced a bubble of water.
"That's good. Now mold it in your mind."
The water quivered midair for a second, before in dropped on the fey's head.
Jesse tried to suppress a giggle.
"Oh, you think it's funny, huh?" Puck asked crossing his arms. "I'd like to see you do better."
"Really, now, you know I'm not magical." Jesse scoffed.
"Oh, you think so? That's what Fox thought a month ago, then she learns that her mother is Queen Titanya, and goes ballistic, knocking Oberon through a solid stone wall."
"Are you saying that I really am. . ."
"Oberon's daughter, The one and only."
"Does that mean. . ."
"That you're heiress to the Avalonian throne? Nope. Titanya, was worried about something involving DNA and Oberon's overly egotistic genes, or something like that. But anyway, she wants the heir-slash-heiress to the throne to be of her blood. Which means that young Xanatos beat you by a mile."
"Oh. But, do I still have magic?"
"Of course."
"Can you teach me?"
"Well, I'm bound from my powers, unless I'm instructing Alexander."
"Surly the law that cannot be broken can, in some way, be bent." She said, smiling at him. "A simple feat for the almighty trickster."
Puck caught on to what she was saying and gave her a grin of his own.
"You know, what? You're all right. You'd make a great trickster. In fact. . ."
Puck snapped his fingers and instantly Jesse was seated at a desk piled with books and dressed in a blue skirt and jacket with a white shirt. A pencil sat behind her ear, glasses perched on top of her nose, and her hair was up is a bun. "Class is now in session."
* * *
Day before Hunter's Moon
Nightstone Unlimited
"Robyn Correy, meet Dr. Anton Sevarius."
Dr. Sevarius bowed. "Enchante, my dear. Welcome to my chamber of horrors."
"The tainted biological must be ready by Hunter's Moon." Dominique stated.
"It's ready now. The mutagen has a wide range, air, water, and mammalian vectors."
"You're talking about a virus, a contagious virus." Robyn said.
"Very good. You must have been first in your class. It's quite harmless, of course. CV-1000 is a carrier virus that can be bonded with antigens."
"With this we could create a cure as contagious as any disease." Dominique cut in.
"Or it could be bonded with a pathogen and cause a disease in the first place, a plague that could threaten the entire planet." Robyn added. "Either way, it seems a most profitable endeavor."
"I think you're going to fit in just fine, Robyn."
* * *
"Elisa, where are we going?" Jason asked.
"To pick up my little sister. I was kind of hard on her the last time we saw each other, and I want to make it up to her." Elisa said, turning into the Eyrie Building parking deck.
"Your sister live at the Xanatos place?"
"Long story." Elisa said, rubbing her forehead. "Don't ask."
* * *
Jesse was sprawled out on the floor on her back with her arms extended, holding Alex up. They were playing airplane, one of Alex's favorite games. He gurgled with happiness.
Jesse smiled, but for some reason he felt really heavy. Her elbows buckled, and he landed on her stomach.
Jesse couldn't see straight, and the room was spinning.
"Owen!" She called out.
Instantly he was at the door. "Yes, miss?"
"I'm not feeling well, could you take the baby for a while?"
"Of course." He picked up Alex. "Come along Alexander, time for your bath."
Jesse stood and stumbled up to her room.
* * *
"Hi, we came to see Jesse." Elisa said, confronting Owen at his desk.
"I am afraid that is not possible. Miss Jessondra is not felling well this evening, and, at the moment, is resting in her room."
"Not feeling well! What's wrong? Is it serious."
"On the contrary, Detective Maza, it is probably just the flu."
"Well, tell her I was here, and that I'm sorry."
"Very well."
* * *
"I still, can't find a problem. She probably isn't immune to these common diseases." The doctor said. "You said she's from tenth century Scotland? I don't believe they had things like the common cold, or the flu. After a while, she should get used to them and her immune system should build up. Until then, plenty of rest and fluids. If she gets worse, call me."
Jesse sat in her bed sulking. "It's summer vacation. I can't be sick!"
"Well, like it or not, you are. So be a good girl and do what the doctor says." Xanatos said patting her knee. "If you need anything, Owen will be close by."
"Oh, all right." She said and dropped back onto her pillows.
* * *
Night of Hunter's moon
St. Damien's Cathedral.
"This is Travis Marshall reporting live from St. Damien's Cathedral, where the NYPD's Gargoyle Task Force has the condemned building cordoned off. Even now we can hear the sounds of some kind of battle taking place within."
"Look! There's one!" A woman said pointing to Lexington as he swooped down to the broken window.
"Why aren't the cops doin' anything?!"
"Stop 'em!"
Officer Morgan confronted Matt. "It's your call, Matt, but, if we don't do something soon we're gonna have a riot on our hands."
"I know. I know." ~Elisa where are you?~ He asked himself.
* * *
"Where are you going?" Jesse asked from her stake out on the couch.
"We'll be right back." Xanatos promised. "We have. . .some loose ends to tie up. Keep an eye on Alexander. And don't get off of that couch!"
Jesse huffed and plopped back down. She placed Alex on her lap, and pulled the blanket over them.
"So scout, what do you want to watch?" She asked as she flipped through the channels. She stopped at channel two, WVRN. "Hey look, it's Matt!"
* * *
"Well, if the cops aren't going to do anything, we will!!" The man shouted again. Cheers from the crowd backed him up.
"It's now or never Detective." Morgan told Matt.
"All right. Signal the choppers, we're goin' in. But I want them alive!"
* * *
Up on the roof of the Cathedral, Broadway confronted Goliath. "Elisa says we have to go. Now!"
The police helicopter shone its spotlight on them. "This is the police. Stay where you are."
Another helicopter rose on the other side of the Gargoyles.
"We're surrounded!" Lex cried out.
The door to the second helicopter slid open. Xanatos hung out the side.
"Could I interest you in a ride?"
The police helicopter fired at them.
"It appears that we have no choice." Goliath said. The two of them helped the other gargoyles into the helicopter.
Back down on the ground Matt yelled into his walkie-talkie. "Hold your fire! That's an order!"
They all watched as the helicopter flew away in the direction of the Eyrie building.
* * *
David and Fox entered the TV room.
"Hey, back so soon?" Jesse asked, her face glued to the television.
"Uh-huh."
"Did you guys see what's happening down town?"
"Yes."
"Oh, would you like to fill me in? I can't figure it out."
"That, my dear, is a story for another day." Xanatos said grinning at her.