5
The Plot Thickens
"So you think this Alex Rosewater would know what is going on?"
"If anyone does, it would have to be him." Roger's eyes were narrowed with determination, the passion behind his words obvious. Elisa watched this city of amnesia move past her as they drove. "He's caused trouble before" Roger continued, "He had a group of foreigners retrieve the parts for a megadeus for him and then betrayed them. And just a couple of months ago there was a fiasco where people living outside the domes thought an angel was going to fall to earth; it turned out to be some sort of old machine from back before the event, and Rosewater knew it, but he didn't tell anyone. Hundreds of people almost died because of him."
"The event..." Elisa said, that word catching her attention, "Doesn't anyone know what happened?"
"No one, Elisa." Roger sighed. "The memories of this entire city were stolen on that day. The few people who have been able to remember become instant targets. In a world that's practically living in a coma, memories can be a very valuable and dangerous thing." Elisa thought on those words as they pulled up in front of the headquarters of the Paradigm Corporation.
There was someone in her house!
Demona sniffed the air, and picked up the distinctive scent of perfume. She strained her ears, and was able to detect the sound of papers being rustled. She narrowed her eyes and made her way through the halls with the stealth the years had taught her. She frowned as the signs of the intruder grew more obvious. There were file cabinets with the drawers pulled open, papers scattered on the floor, pictures that had been tilted in the search for hidden vaults.
She paused outside her home office now. The intruder was in there, she was certain of it. She could hear the noise of her files being ransacked. She heard the interloper's footfalls on the carpet. She heard the sound of vinyl rubbing against vinyl. She narrowed her eyes and slowly began to nudge the door open.
The intruder was not exactly what she had been expecting. She found herself facing the back of a rather curvaceous woman wearing a form fitting vinyl uniform. Her blonde hair shimmered slightly with each of her movements. She was sorting through papers, a small flashlight held between her teeth so she could use both her hands. She occasionally made a slight hum or grunt as she looked over the documents. This intrusion of privacy only further roused Demona's anger. She gave a low snarl, her eyes beginning to take on their red glow.
The woman spun around, immediately retrieving a gun from its holster at her hip. She pointed it into the darkness that surrounded the door. She smiled her pouty lips and spoke with her soft voice.
"Okay, whoever's there, come out real slowly." Demona smirked at this bravado, and reached for the light-switch.
The woman's jaw dropped and she dropped the papers in her hand. She took a compulsive step back, her eyes enlarging as she gazed with absolute shock and disbelief at the gargess who stood in the doorway. Demona growled when she recognized the face of this woman as her stand-in secretary. "Wha-what are you?" Candice stuttered as she groped for words through her surprise.
"The last thing you will ever see, human." Demona snarled and launched forward. The pink-clad burglar unleased a volley of shots at the darting gargoyle. Demona dodged them easily, bounding off the walls, gliding slightly across the room, ducking behind furniture, slowly making her way up to the front of the room. The blonde-burglar saw this progress, and beat a hasty retreat by leaping through the window, arms up in front of her face. Demona was surprised by this, and darted to the window to see if she could catch the final seconds of the intruder splatting onto the pavement.
Instead, she found her own jaw dropping as the woman tumbled through the air with acrobat grace, landing on the ground and rolling with perfect agility, and then leaping to her feet to run to the pink motorcycle that was parked right outside the gate. Demona grimaced and leapt into the air, her wings catching the wind and lifting her up.
"Mr. Rosewater is not available at this moment. If you would like to leave a message, I will be sure to relay it to him."
"Get on the intercom and tell him that Roger Smith is here!" Roger growled, slamming his fist down onto the desktop. Elisa flinched. She looked around and saw uniformed security guards taking interest.
"Roger, cool down..." she urged over his shoulder.
"Please leave Mr. Smith, or I will have to have security eject you." The woman behind the desk held her hands up in the air as if attempting to ward off Roger's anger. Roger sneered, reached into his breast-pocket and then flicked his hand. The woman gasped and jumped back. Elisa could not help but smirk slightly when she saw one of Roger's business cards stuck under the woman's collar.
"I take it you and this Rosewater guy have some issues?" she asked him when they sat back inside his car. Roger sighed and put his sunglasses on. He inserted his key in the ignition and the engines roared to life.
"Paradigm Co. and I have a mutual history of aversion..." he explained as he drove. "Alex Rosewater practically rules this city. Everyone relies on him for their jobs, their food, their homes, their livelihoods. It's a tremendous power, one that he abuses at every opportunity. Its nearly cost thousands of people their lives, and he just sits there in his tower like some malevolent emperor."
"Tell me about it." Elisa muttered as she gazed out the window, her thoughts wandering to battles of the past, when her own city had been living under the rule of its dark, sadistic king.
"Goliath, you there?" Lexington's voice rang over the earpiece. Goliath shook his head, freeing himself from the thoughts of Elisa, and spoke into his microphone.
"Yes Lexington. What is it?"
"We just intercepted a report of an alarm going off at Destine Manor. It could involve Demona." Goliath's eyes narrowed at this possibility.
"I'm on my way, Lexington. Thank you for the information." As he made his way, his thoughts began to wander back to Elisa. His dreams the previous day had been haunted by her. She was now a whole world away, and his heart ached at not knowing whether she was safe, or even alive.
The sound of a motorcycle roaring shook him from his daydream, and his eyes scanned the street's below for the source of the disturbance. The pink motorcycle shot past, below him, and rocketed down the street. Then the sound of a familiar gargess' battle cry rose to his ears. His jaw dropped when the green streak that was Demona shot past him, ignored him.
"It's Demona, all right." Goliath growled into his headpiece.
"I've already told Angela and Broadway. They're on they're way." But these words did not dawn on the ancient warrior; his attention was entirely on following his former lover. She continued hard after the woman on the motorcycle, not even noticing Goliath tailing after her. What could that woman have done to earn Demona's wrath, he wondered.
The bike veered off into an alley. Its occupant cut the engine and stood up, pulling her helmet off and shaking out her long, blonde locks. She looked down at her wrist, checking her watch, and smirked.
"Just a few more minutes..." she muttered to herself. But the sound of a thud behind her drew her out of her calm. She spun and took a reflexive step back when confronted by the green monster she had seen at the mansion.
"End of the road, human." Demona snarled.
"Not yet, Demona!" Goliath shouted in response as he landed behind her. Demona whirled and faced the towering gargoyle with a sneer of contempt. Angel's jaw dropped, and she nearly tripped backwards over her own bike as she tried to move away from the evil looking creatures. She righted herself just in time to see two more of them land behind her.
"Mother, what are you doing?" Angela demanded. Demona's face tightened with painful emotion at the scornful voice of her daughter.
"Angela..." she said, waving her hand dismissively, "This has nothing to do with you. This wretched human was..."
But she was broken, mid-sentence, by the sound of a watch beeping. All eyes turned down to the pink woman's wrist. She looked down at her watch, her eyes growing large with horror.
"Oh no..." she said, the words barely wheezing out from her fear-tightened throat.
"What..." Goliath began to say, but the words died when he felt the atmosphere suddenly change. The air seemed to grow thinner. The wind picked up, blowing pieces of discarded newspaper all over. A spark of static jumped from Demona's tiara, and the female gargoyle yelped with surprise. Charges of electricity began to dance in the air.
"Its just like what happened when Elisa..." Broadway started to say, but the sentence was left unfinished when the hole seemed to tear into reality, engulfing all of them...
Elisa was shaken from her thoughts by the beeping. Roger evidently had also been lost in thought, because he jumped slightly in his seat. He then reached down and flicked a switch on the dashboard. The face of the kindly old butler leapt onto a small screen. Elisa smiled. She had to admit, that was a neat gadget.
"Yes Norman?" Roger said, his eyes never leaving the road.
"Master Roger, it seems the megadeus you confronted yesterday has returned."
"I'm on it Norman."
"Shall I begin preparing supper, sir?"
"Sure, Norman. This shouldn't take too long." Elisa was perturbed by how casually Roger spoke about what evidently was a potential crisis. The screen flicked off, and Roger pulled off into a side street. He turned to face Elisa and yanked his sunglasses off, his face serious. "Miss Maza, you are about to see a side of me only a few people have ever seen." Elisa waited, not sure what to say as Roger raised his wrist up to his face. He leveled his wristwatch beneath his mouth and spoke. "Big O, show time!"
