5.3: Ambush

Having been out and about for nearly two hours, Claw decided that the clones had gotten enough fresh air and exercise for the night. Besides, he really wanted to continue his earlier 'conversation' with Dana, back in the privacy of their own quarters. So he had Dana call out in her eerie-sounding voice, "Deh-lah-lah, Bret-wood, Mal-boo! We go home now!"

There was the expected ritual protest about going back so early, but the clones obediently fell in line as they turned back towards the eastern dock entrance they'd come out of. With good stiff breezes usually coming off the water there, it was the best entrance/exit for winged folk coming and going to the Labyrinth. They cruised along, enjoying their last few minutes in the air, before they spiraled in for a landing in the alley between warehouses that contained the camouflaged entrance to their home.

They'd had a lovely outing, they were relaxed and enjoying themselves and off their guard, not expecting any trouble at all. So they were taken completely by surprise when the stacks of empty crates, barrels and dumpsters in the alley suddenly sprouted men in dark blue uniforms, aiming weapons as their leader shouted, "Now!" Even as they realized they were being ambushed, four Quarrymen fired electrified nets at them.

Claw and Dana, highest in the spiral, were hit just off-center by a net together, and roared and screamed in pain as they were hit with the electrical wallop it packed. Claw's mutated form was designed to handle and even generate electricity, but a sudden influx of it was still capable of hurting him, even killing him if it was too strong. This charge wasn't strong enough to kill a mutate, but it still stunned him badly. In his arms, Dana's multiple layers of clothing insulated her somewhat from the shared charge, but enough of it got through to knock her silly; she dropped out of Claw's arms even as he tumbled from the sky. Only the fact that the edge of their descending spiral had been passing over the roof of a warehouse when they were hit, and so tumbled onto the roof instead of to the alley far below, saved them from dying on the spot.

Just as had happened to Lexington several weeks ago, Malibu had managed to dodge part of the spreading net but not all of it, and the shock as one edge slapped him in passing stunned him into unconsciousness. He dropped from the sky like a stone from over twenty feet up, and hit so hard he damn near bounced. One wing took most of the impact, and crumpled as both his primary strut and finger-strut snapped like twigs.

Delilah, almost to the ground already and with less time to dodge, was hit by a net dead-center, but due to either improper loading or an error in manufacture, the net wasn't crackling with electricity when it hit her. But it still tangled her wings and arms, and she shrieked in fear and rage as she fell heavily to the ground below.

Brentwood, the quickest and most agile of all the gargoyle clones, had managed to dodge entirely the net that had been fired at him, and glided away in a purple streak across the sky, his huge red eyes even wider in terror. Those men were trying to hurt him! But he was fast, he'd gotten away, and now he could go with his friends to safety…

But they weren't with him! The bad men had gotten them!

Already nearly three blocks away by the time he'd realized he was alone in the sky, Brentwood wheeled about, then turned again, his heart pounding in his throat as he tried hard to think of what to do. He was alone, and the smallest of his brothers, and he didn't know where any other Labyrinth entrances were, so he couldn't go for help from Talon and his other brothers; what could he do?

As he wheeled and spun in the sky, the wind shifted slightly, and he heard an angry shriek carried faintly to his ears: Delilah! The bad men were hurting her! And he was a gargoyle; gargoyles fought bad men, they protected their territory and their friends! Brentwood chose his course and turned back, screaming a war cry into the night.

To be continued…