VVVVV
Consequences Part Five: Lady and Tiger (3/3)
a Gargoyles story
by Merlin Missy
Copyright 2001, 2005
PG-13
VVVVV
Talon looked down upon the lights of the city. He could
barely see them from up here, due to the fog and the damned
tears. His son's face was before him, small and innocent.
He'd allowed himself to imagine what Daniel would have
looked like as a human, and now it seemed he would never be.
He would have to hide away his face, never know what it was
to spend a day at the park or the zoo, always be alone ...
"Derek? Do you want to talk about it?"
He'd wondered when this would come, although he'd more been
expecting Elisa, maybe one of the gargoyles.
"I don't think I can." He closed his eyes, felt the brush
of an arm against his, leaning on the edge of the parapet
beside him.
His father said, "Then let me see if I can do it for you. The day
Daniel was born, you picked him up and held him against you.
You saw him open his eyes and stare at you, wondering who you
were and what you were going to mean to him, and at that moment,
you knew you would gladly trade your soul to make him smile
at you even once. And because he was who and what he was,
you knew the road before him was going to be difficult. You
promised yourself that he would never be alone on it, that
you would always be there for him.
"Tonight, you had a chance, a pretty good one, to make
everything all right. You watched Claw change, and you were
happy for him, but more than that, you were happy because
you thought it meant your son would be better in just a
little more time. You saw him as he was going to be, a
human with all the world before him, and all this nonsense
about mutations was going to be just a bad dream. You paid
attention to every detail of him tonight, committing his
face as it is now to memory because you hoped it would be
the last time you'd see him this way, before his
transformation, and you thought to yourself: even now, he's
one of the most beautiful things you've ever seen.
"And it didn't work. You realized things weren't going to
be that easy, and it burned you from inside because you
finally had to face that no matter how much you try, you're
not going to be able to make him better. You have nothing
to offer, nothing to trade, because Fate doesn't make deals,
and your son is going to have to live with that. You'd like
to tear Xanatos' head from his shoulders, but you know it
wouldn't do any good, and that just makes it worse.
"So you're hurting, for Daniel, for Maggie, for yourself.
You want to do the best by them that you can, and you can't.
You know what Daniel's life will be like from here, know how
much pain he'll have to go through from now on because
tonight didn't work out, know how alone he's going to be.
You feel like you've failed him, even though there's nothing
you could have done. You love him, but since life isn't a
fairy tale, love doesn't conquer all. You can see both his
faces clearly in your mind, the human and the Mutate, and
they're looking at you, trusting you to fix it, because
you're his father, and you can't, and it's killing you.
"Am I close?"
Talon nodded, and allowed the tears to run from his eyes,
wet his fur. He felt his father's hand on top of his,
offering comfort if he chose to take it.
"I want to take care of them."
"I know."
"I want to give Maggie the biggest wedding this city has
ever seen. I want to send Daniel to kindergarten, and
college, and I want him to find out what it's like to fall
in love with someone just as wonderful as his mother is. I
want them to be happy."
"I know."
He lowered his head. "I should be down there with her. She
needs me to be strong for her."
"No." The quiet assurance made him turn his head, open his
eyes. "Maggie's stronger than you think. She'd got coiled
steel in her. She might bend, but she always springs back.
You don't have to be strong for her. You just have to be
there, maybe let her be strong for you. That's what
building a life together means."
"I can't. Not yet." His mind began turning in a new
direction, one in which he and Maggie and Daniel would still
be as they were, but better. Happier. "I need to do
something first." He extended his wings behind him.
"Do you want me to go with you?"
"No. I won't be gone long. Tell Maggie I love her for me?"
"Tell her yourself."
Derek smiled, not bitterly. Love meant holding onto the
handles and running alongside until the bicycle was
balanced. It also meant letting go and watching, even if
the bike crashed, because that was the only way anyone
learned to ride.
Time to learn how to pedal.
"I will. Thanks, Dad." Then, because he did remember when
it had just been his bike rather than his whole life, and
because no one else was there to watch, he caught his father
in a fierce hug, which was returned after only the briefest
hesitation.
Talon let go, finally. He stepped up to the ledge and
jumped off, catching the warm May air in his wings. He
turned back momentarily, saw his father standing there,
watching him. He remembered the first day at school, the
first bike ride, the first driving lesson, the Talk,
recalled the trips with Dad to work, and the Saturdays Dad
had spent on the bleachers watching his football games, and
learning how to bait a hook without impaling his fingers,
and trips to the department store when he and Dad would hide
among the drill bits while Mom made Elisa and Beth try on
clothes.
He would find memories to make with Daniel.
Talon dove, pulling in his wings to increase his speed, and
pulling up when he was still well over most of the
buildings. He needed to find something, something
important, and his best bet was the Park. He hovered over
the tops of the trees for a long while, listening out of
habit for sounds of untoward actions.
He noticed a young couple taking a stroll below him, arguing
as they did, and he sighed, wondering if they were crazy or
just incredibly stupid to be where they were at 4am.
Against his better judgement, he followed them at a discrete
distance for a time, until they finally went to their car.
Talon veered back, and spied exactly what he had been
seeking.
The trip back to the castle seemed longer than his trip
there had been, even though he knew he was gliding faster.
He hoped Maggie hadn't taken Claw and Daniel back to the
Labyrinth already, and then cursed himself for several kinds
of fool for having left them there with Xanatos. The clan
was there, certainly, but it wasn't the same.
He descended on the courtyard, and hurried back down to the
laboratory. The room was empty, and his heart felt sick.
She thought he had left her, and had gone home.
He walked slowly back up the stairs, then paused, hearing
noise from the direction of the living room.
His family and the clan were together; Xanatos' people were
nowhere to be seen. Maggie sat on the couch with his
mother, Daniel resting on Mom's lap. He didn't see Claw,
although he suspected he'd been put to bed. Elisa looked up
when he appeared in the doorway, but he made a gesture to
keep her quiet.
He crept behind the couch, then placed his hand on Maggie's
shoulder and began to massage it. She tilted her head back,
looking up at him upside-down.
"Hi."
"Do me a favor?" he asked.
"What?" She looked mistrustful, and as he'd marched out the
last time she'd seen him, he supposed he understood why.
He pulled out his other hand, which he'd been hiding under
one wing, and presented her with the flowers he'd found in
the Park, moonflowers that bloomed only at night. She took
them, and stared up at him again in confusion.
"Marry me?"
She tilted her head down again. He felt the entire family
watching them while trying not to watch, and realized
belatedly that putting her on the spot like this might not
be the best way to get her to say ...
"Sure." Her head tilted up again, and her split mouth was
curled into a wide smile. His heart raced in his ears as he
tried to comprehend what had just happened. She'd said yes.
Wanting very much to let out a most unsophisticated whoop of
joy, he contented himself with grinning like a moron and
saying very simply, "Cool."
Daniel stayed asleep on his Grandma's lap.
VVVVV
June
VVVVV
Dear Elisa,
How's things? I'm not too bad. Who am I kidding?
I'm fantastic! Look at me, Mama Bluestone's little
boy, off on a quest with King Arthur! How cool is
that?
As you might tell by the postmark, we're in London
just now. Guess Avalon thought we had some unfinished
business here, and I think it was right. Griff's spent
a lot of time with his pals here, Leo and Una (they
say hi). I'm guessing she's the unfinished business,
but don't tell Griff I said so.
And speaking of the whole "long lost brigade." You
know, as I reread that last line, it sounded a lot
cooler in my head. Anyway, we've hooked up with some
friends of yours: Angela's sort-of dad and two of her
rookery sibs. Okay, so I was probably playing
Minesweeper when you were telling me how they came
through with the pregnant posse. They're gonna join
up with us for a while, see the world, maybe help us
locate Merlin. I'll keep an eye on them for you.
You know I'm the only one of the group who was born
this century? Weird.
Well, I miss you and the guys down at the station and
the clan and everybody. If you don't hear from me
again, tell my folks I love 'em, and tell everyone
else the mother ship finally came for me.
Love,
Matt
VVVVV
Elisa folded the letter and put it back in the envelope.
She stood a minute, tapping her hand with the paper, then
set it on the hall table she used as a desk.
A few minutes' worth of rummaging found a ragged world map,
the one she got back in high school to help her with her
geography class. A lot of the names and borders had
changed, but the cities stayed where they were.
She had an old, many-punctured cork board from her dorm room
days. She took down the picture over her hall table, a
floral thing she'd liked, and put the cork board in its
place. The map, curling at the edges, covered most of the
board.
"Pins, pins," she muttered to herself, trying to remember
where she'd put the few survivors. Eventually, she
scrounged a handful of clear and multi-colored pushpins from
the junk drawer in the kitchen and the smelly old bookbag
that she really needed to toss.
One clear pin for Scotland. One for London. One for
Prague. She placed them one by one in all the places she'd
visited, willingly or not. Then she placed a blue pin
beside the one at London.
Gonna need more pins, Elisa thought, a little sadly, and
then she set Matt's letter so that it stood below the map.
And possibly a filing cabinet.
It was no use moping. She had to get dressed and get down
to the Labyrinth, so she could watch her baby brother get
married.
VVVVV
Every horizontal surface in the place had a candle sitting
on it, making a rosy glow to fill the room. If the smoke
was a little denser than she might like, it was still
lovely, giving the place atmosphere. Maggie liked
atmosphere.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the others gathered,
standing in various shades of quietness, saw Diane dabbing
at her eyes discreetly, saw Peter squeezing her shoulder,
saw Elisa resting just so against Goliath, saw Nashville and
Tachi beside their parents, neither really paying attention,
saw Holly and Brent looking up with equal wide stares from
their seats on the floor, saw Beth a pace away, holding
Daniel, who had his head against her shoulder, his fingers
in his mouth.
Just beyond Derek, Claw no, he wanted to be called Toby
now waited nervously, as if it were he going through this
and not them. Behind her, she felt 'Lilah's presence, just
as skittish, but happy, bubbling, joyful.
She wanted to remember every minuscule detail of this moment
for the rest of her life, knew that she would anyway.
Someday, they might even make this official and legal, but
she would hold this ceremony as the One, the time when in
front of their friends and family, they declared their
joining of spirits.
Her parents should have been there. She knew that, and
their absence hurt her as she had not thought it would or
could. She wanted them to see, and know she had done all
right with her life, dammit. Despite their every effort,
she'd found happiness with these people, this man.
Derek took her hands, his eyes going directly into her soul
as he said, "Maggie, this isn't the life I would give to
you. If I had my way, we'd be living up there, in a house.
We'd have a mortgage, and a few cats, and we'd be looking
into good preschools for Daniel. But we're not up there,
and we're not going to live in a house, and I can just
imagine what would happen if we showed up at Headstart with
the kid. We're probably going to spend the rest of our
lives like this. Without you, I don't think I could face
that. When I'm near you, when I see you, the Labyrinth gets
brighter. When I hear your voice, I can do anything, even
if that just means getting through another day without
losing my mind. I wish things could be different. I wish
those doctors would find a cure for all of us, but whether
they do or don't, I can face it so long as I'm with you.
"I love you, Maggie. I've loved you since I met you, and
whatever body either of us wears, I will love you until I
die."
Now it was her turn. She remembered the words she had
chosen, watching him sleep three days before.
"Derek, you are the most amazing person I've ever known.
You make me laugh when I want to cry. You have a strength I
never understood, only knew that it was there when I needed
it most. You gave me courage, when I wanted to hide away my
face from the world, and you gave me love when I thought no
one could even stand to look at me. You took the three of
us, and some wounded broken people, and formed a paradise
out of tossed-out dreams. You said that you wanted to give
Daniel and me a home, but you've given us something far more
special. You've given us a family, the first I ever really
knew. For that alone I can never thank you enough. But
there's more, so much more. You've given me hope, my love.
You made me able to dream again, and every dream I have is
of you and Daniel and all our friends. I don't care if they
find a cure; if I have you, I am more alive than I could
ever be without.
"I love you, too, Derek, and I will love you until the end
of time."
Beth stepped up and handed Daniel to Derek. He stirred and
looked around, as she placed her hand on his small back.
Derek kissed him on his head. "You, little man, we also
promise to love our entire lives."
"To watch over you, and take care of you, and when the time
comes ... " She met Derek's eyes.
"When the time comes, we'll let you find your own way."
"And we'll love you whatever way that might be."
Derek said, "And now, since there's no one to tell me
otherwise, I'm going to kiss the bride." And he did.
It was a most inopportune time for an explosion.
Derek shoved Daniel full into her arms as the walls of the
room trembled. "Run!" he shouted, pushing her, and she
clutched her baby to her, moving instinctively for shelter.
Behind her, the ceiling buckled, and she had time to draw
breath, but not time to scream, before the tortured stone
gave way.
Dust choked her, and she huddled against a wall with her in-
laws and Toby. Broadway stood with them, wings blocking the
falling debris. He spasmed each time a large rock struck
him. Beside them, through the dark and the smoke, Maggie
saw Brooklyn and Katana shielding their kids.
Please let Derek be okay, she prayed as the rockslide
slowed, and finally stopped.
"Is everyone okay?" Broadway asked, when he could breathe.
Maggie saw the large cuts and bruises he'd taken for them.
"You're not, monster," said an unfamiliar voice. A
Quarryman wearing a gas mask stood in front of them with a
weapon. Before they could move, or even scream, he shot
Broadway. Behind him, other masked figures moved into what
had been their largest room, all packing.
Brooklyn growled, and went after the nearest one. Maggie
felt the electric charge build in her hands, saw tiny
flashes of light crackle from her son's fingers.
Time to fight.
VVVVV
Elisa couldn't see. She'd been in the dark before, but this
was pitch. She felt someone beside her, could sense a
heartbeat, and she knew that feel, that scent even in her
deepest dreams.
"Goliath?" She touched him gingerly, then prodded harder
when he didn't answer. Okay, that's a shoulder.
"Goliath?" she called louder.
"Elisa?" said Lex from the darkness. "Are you okay?"
"I can't see. And I think Goliath is on top of my leg. I
don't think it's broken. You?"
Lex groaned. "Other than feeling like I've swallowed half
the dirt in the city, I think I'm okay." The sound of his
voice moved closer to her, and she felt him bump against
Goliath. "Big guy?"
"I can feel him breathing," said Elisa. "He's alive. I
guess he got knocked out. What happened?"
"Dunno. There was an explosion, and now we're here."
"Where's here?"
"I think ... I think we must've gotten into a passage." He
moved more in the darkness. "I feel rocks over here. I
think we're buried in." He made a half-gagging sound.
"Lex?"
"We're not alone. Whoever this was, they didn't make it all
the way in." Noises came, from far off.
"That sounded like weapons discharge," said Elisa. She ran
her hands over Goliath's known and loved form. Her hand
came away wet from his head. "I think he might have a
concussion."
"Great."
"Why don't you see how far back this passage goes? Maybe we
can get out the back way."
"I'll try." She heard him shuffling along in the dark.
"There's a door here in the back, steel. Um, it's locked."
"Wonderful." She tried shifting position, and pain shot up
her leg. If Goliath turned to stone while he was laying on
top of it, he could shatter the bone with his weight. "Just
wonderful."
VVVVV
Their attackers managed to shoot Ruth and Katana before the
crush of bodies in the newly-close area made firing
suicidal. Left only with close combat, the Labyrinth
natives and their friends quickly took the upper hand.
Diane took charge of the wounded, getting those who could
still walk to help those who couldn't into the maze of
tunnels and away from the battle. Broadway looked to be in
pretty bad shape, but Katana was well enough to help carry
him back and away.
At a quick lull in the fighting, Brooklyn pulled Maggie and
his kids aside. "Nash, I want you to take Daniel and your
sister out of here."
"But ... " said both Maggie and Nashville.
"No buts. Take them to the nursery. That's the best-
protected place there is down here, and stay with them.
Protect the eggs." Reluctantly, Maggie handed her son to
the young gargoyle, and kissed Daniel on the head.
"I'll find your daddy. Be good." Brooklyn had already
turned back to the fight, and relieved an attacker of his
gun.
As Nashville ran with the kids, Maggie saw a Quarryman start
to follow him down the ruined corridor.
"I don't think so!" she snarled, and pounced. Her hands
glittered with undischarged electricity. She stuck a hand
to either side of his head. He spasmed, trying to dislodge
her, and she let loose.
He screamed, screamed like the torture of metal, and then
the smell hit her, like roasted porkchops. She rolled off
him, and vomited profusely beside his shoulder.
From her position, she could see her dress, the pretty white
lace she'd sewn for a month, dirty beyond cleaning, ripped
beyond repair.
He was going to kill my baby. He was going to kill my
baby.
"Maggie?"
Brooklyn was beside her, hand on her shoulder. Out of
instinct, she flinched, until she saw his face more clearly
in the dimness and dust. Yes, this was the same gargoyle
who'd said he loved her, but for him that had been a
lifetime ago. She allow him to help her up.
"I killed him, didn't I?" Her knuckles moved to her mouth,
and she wiped the bile there.
"Yeah. He's pretty crispy." She grimaced. "Sorry. Look,
guy's dead. You can worry about it, or you can get back
into the fight, but you can't do both, or you'll get
yourself and the rest of us killed."
"I know." She stared down at the dead man at her feet. It
was going to be such a nice wedding.
VVVVV
"Get to the nursery!" shouted Talon. "All of you!" Most of
the Avalon gargoyles, used to authority, started moving as
soon as the words were out. Angela puffed her way to his
side. "That means you, too."
"I'm staying. I have a lot to fight for." She patted her
bulging tummy, and her eyes blazed red.
Talon shook his head. "You can't do us any good here."
"But ... "
"Angela, please. And take 'Lilah."
"This is my home!" 'Lilah said.
"And your egg's in the nursery. If this goes bad," he
turned at Angela's sharp chuckle, "Okay, if this goes worse,
you'll be the last line of defense for the eggs." Angela
looked down and away. 'Lilah wanted to give her a hug --
Broadway was back there, somewhere. "Go."
Angela placed a swift kiss on Talon's cheek. "Bring them
all home."
"Guard those eggs."
Angela grabbed her hand. "C'mon." She dragged 'Lilah out
and up towards the nursery. They ran together through the
debris to where the other Avalon gargoyles already trembled,
huddled with most of the Labyrinth's children, and the
adults who could not fight.
'Lilah cast a look around them. Gargoyles comforted human
children. Weary humans assisted tired, pregnant gargoyles.
All in a fearful silence.
There was a noise in the corridor, and Angela crouched as
'Lilah readied herself for an attack. A figure came into
the doorway.
"It's us," said Nashville, just before Angela could jump
him. He held a squalling Daniel in his arms, and tugged
Tachi behind him.
Relief flooded Angela's face. "You're okay."
"We all are. I think." 'Lilah took Daniel from him and
started soothing the baby. He calmed at her familiar touch,
and she held him, stroking his hair. Tachi held fast to her
brother's hand, mute.
"How bad is it?" Angela asked him.
"Bad. There are Quarrymen everywhere. So they're not after
the humans." He wasn't bitter, not yet.
"I should be out there," Angela muttered.
"Talon said to stay here."
"Talon's okay?" Nash asked.
"He was. All right," she said to the others in the room.
"I want you to gather what you can and build a barricade in
front of the doorway. We can always dig out later. If
there is a later," she said quietly.
"Where are you going?" asked Creusa.
"I have to help protect this place. That's what being a
gargoyle is all about." And she was gone.
Daniel started crying again as some of the brighter
gargoyles started piling every stick of furniture they could
scavenge in front of the entry.
'Lilah kissed Daniel's head, and stood away from them, also
watching.
VVVVV
Time to go, thought Fang as the wall to his cell crumpled.
He took a quick glance around the place that had been his
prison for two years. Nothing here he wanted to keep. He
climbed through the hole.
On the other side, he took a quick breath of free air.
Tasted just the same as the stuff in his cell. He had to
get out of here, before Talon and the rest noticed he'd gone
missing.
"Stop right there, gargoyle!" He heard the familiar sound
of a weapon being cocked and stopped dead. Figures. I get
out, and there's somebody right there to take me back. He
turned around slowly.
The Quarryman was barely more than a boy, and he quivered as
he held the gun at Fang.
"Kid," said Fang, hands in the air. "I ain't a gargoyle.
I'm a Joe Schmoe just like you who got the bad end of a
research grant."
"You're a monster. Mr. Castaway says you carry off
children, and break into the homes of honest people, and you
go after human women for your ... " he swallowed, "your
perversities."
"You're thinking of the purple guy. Me, I'd like nothing
better than to walk out of here and go down to Casey's and
drink about a truckload of Coors. If you put that gun down,
you can come with me."
The kid took aim.
"Why do they always go for option B?" Fang asked of no one.
His hands fell from the air and he shot a couple of electric
bolts at the unsuspecting bastard. The gun went off as he
fell, and the bullet ricocheted twice before burying itself
in the ground.
Fang walked over to the supine kid and checked for a pulse.
"Well, isn't this your lucky day?" He snagged the guy's
wallet and fanned out some credit cards, a little cash.
"Mine, too."
VVVVV
Talon tossed a Quarryman into the wall. The impact sent
even more debris falling, covering the masked human and the
rest of them with dust and pebbles.
"Shore up that wall!" he ordered Beth and Carl. Both
nodded, and confiscated tables for the wood. "If you can,"
he added, too soft for them to hear.
"Watch out!" Talon ducked without looking, heard the hammer
whoosh over his head, then jabbed out with his leg behind
him, felt it connect satisfactorily with flesh.
As the man crumpled, Talon turned on Angela. "I thought I
told you to hide."
"You need me here."
He was past the mood to argue. "Fine. But if you get
yourself killed, I am not taking the heat from your dad
and Broadway, got it?"
"Got it."
He turned back to the cave-in. "We need to get through
this. Even if the others are dead, we have to know."
"They're alive," she said. "Nashville brought Daniel and
Tachi to the nursery." A shudder of relief passed through
him.
"Let's dig."
VVVVV
Malibu ducked as the man swung a hammer at his head, and
angrily lashed out with his long tail, sending the man to
his bottom.
"Take that!" said Brent, behind him, as he tossed another
man into a wall. Holly whapped him over the head with a
piece of timber he'd picked up somewhere, just to be sure.
Boo looked with approval at his brothers. They were making
their way down the corridor, away from the rest, but they
were fighting like real gargoyles. Too bad 'Lilah was
missing all the fun.
And then, like magic, there were twenty guys around them,
all pointing nasty things at them. Boo remembered, deep in
his programmed memories, how to identify and operate the
weapons, but that didn't do him any good when they were
pointed at his head.
"Wait," he told the others. Banky ducked his head, ready to
charge. Holly patted his palm with his club.
"We've got four of them," said one of the men into a walkie-
talkie. "Waiting for orders."
"They're gargoyles," said a guy beside him. No, a girl.
"We know what to do with them."
"These are the ones we're looking for," the guy with the
walkie-talkie said back to her.
"Location?" asked a clipped voice from the speaker.
"South entrance, near the Park."
Boo looked around him. He hadn't noticed just how far the
fighting had taken them from the main Labyrinth. They were
almost outside.
"Disengage," said the voice.
"What?" asked the girl, and some of the other guys.
"You have your orders."
The leader waved his gun, and the rest backed away from
them, towards the Labyrinth.
"What was that all about?" asked Banky.
"They must've heard of us," said Brent. "Got scared."
"Chickens," said Holly.
Boo said, "No, something's ... "
A shadow came in from the greater darkness. "Hello, boys."
Malibu had spent most of his life here, raised by Talon and
Maggie and Claw and the clan. Something deep inside him
momentarily lost everything he'd gained in the past two
years as he said, "Master?"
Beside him, Brent started shaking, and Boo placed a hand on
his brother's shoulder.
"I'm glad you remember me," said Master Thailog.
"We thought you were dead," Holly said, dropping his club.
"I nearly was." He spread his wings in the narrow tunnel.
Boo could see the network of scars covering them, covering
his face and torso. The amusement park had burned, and so
had he.
"Why are you here?" Boo demanded, and cringed right after.
Who was he to demand reasons for what Thailog wanted?
"I've come back for you, my children," said Master in his
rich voice, so like Goliath's and so far more wonderful.
Back. Back. "Back?"
"You will come home with me, now."
"Home?" asked Brent, still trembling.
"This is our home," said Banky.
Master shook his head. "No, this is your prison. You
should be out gliding the night skies, not trapped here
beneath the ground. You are gargoyles."
"Home is here," Boo said.
"Really? Do you think Goliath and his clan want you? Do
these humans want you? The other gargoyles despise you for
what you are, and the humans are afraid of you. I will take
care of you. Come with me."
Banky started moving towards him, and he felt Brent start to
go. Holly stayed, but his eyes got big.
"No," said Boo, voice shaky. Banky and Brent stopped. "We
live here now."
"I created you. You belong to me."
"We belong to us."
There was a gun in his hand. Boo's programming obediently
supplied: Particle beam weapon, model A4-00 manufactured by
Heckler and Koch, safety is a small nub beside the trigger,
power cells last for at least one thousand shots.
"You will bring Delilah, and you will come with me. Or you
will die. And I will order the troops in there to slaughter
every last human and gargoyle in the Labyrinth."
Brent whispered, "No ... We be good."
Boo's heart hammered. Kill everyone? Kill Maggie and Talon
and Claw and Ruth and Mindy and Ezra? And all the real
gargoyles? And the eggs? "We ... " he started.
"Leave them alone."
'Lilah had spoken very quietly, but her voice carried
through the corridor just like Maggie's did when they'd done
wrong. Master's face lit up when he saw her.
"Hello, Delilah," he purred.
"You aren't gonna hurt anybody."
"Oh, but I will, unless you and your brothers fall into line
RIGHT NOW!" His voice had risen to a shout, and he aimed
the gun right up Boo's nose. Boo tried not to breathe.
"No," said 'Lilah.
"'Lilah," Boo hissed, staring down the barrel.
She ignored him, walked through them, through the stalemate,
right up to Master Thailog. She stared him in the eye and
he stared back, still pointing the gun at Boo. Seconds
ticked by. From far away, Boo heard shouts, shots, people
fighting, maybe people dying.
'Lilah folded, like her floppy doll, and went to her knees,
bowing her head, like when Ruth showed her how to pray.
"Let them go, Master," she said in a soft whisper. "If you
make them go with you, they will fight you and I will fight
you." She looked up at him. "Let them go, and I will go
with you."
"Uh uh," said Holly as Boo darted towards her. The gun
poked him in the nose.
"'Lilah, you can't go."
"Hush, Boo." Her eyes did not leave Thailog's face. "Pick.
I won't fight. Take us all and we'll fight until you're
dead."
Master looked at her, and at them and to her. He held out
his hand, lifted Delilah to her feet. "Come, my dear." He
dropped her hand, and keeping his weapon sighted, spoke into
a walkie-talkie: "Target has been achieved. Break off the
attack. Repeat, break off the attack."
As he spoke, 'Lilah turned her head back to Boo, and he
watched her hand twitch rapidly through letters: "Watch
egg." Boo swallowed, and she repeated the words.
Reluctantly, he twitched his fist in response: "Yes."
Thailog took her hand, silencing her, and pulled her towards
the entrance.
"And just to keep this interesting," he said, and he fired
at the ceiling behind them. The stone, already weak from
the earlier attack, fell in, sealing the tunnel. Boo heard
'Lilah shout as he pulled Brent out of the way, and then
nothing.
When the dust cleared, he saw Banky with a few rocks on him,
but okay. Holly had a large piece of ancient concrete on
his tail, which Brent scooted over to help move. Boo looked
at the rubble blocking their way out. And he started to
scoop rocks and dirt away from the tunnel.
VVVVV
They were surrounded. Angela looked at Talon helplessly; he
clutched a bleeding shoulder. The handful of humans with
them were wounded, but held whatever they could scrounge as
weapons, even the stones from the rockslide, useless, all
useless, against particle beam guns.
Talon growled, low in his throat. Angela felt the battle-
rage deep inside her. She had to protect her egg, but if
she died and the egg died, then at least the clan would
survive. She read in the eyes of those around her that they
understood they were already dead, but they'd take out as
many of the enemy as they could when they went.
"Which of you is in charge?" Talon demanded. One of the
many masked men made a quick movement, jerking his thumb.
"I don't suppose there's any way you'd let them," he tilted
his head, "walk out of here if I agreed to come quietly."
"The humans," the leader said. "Not you. Not the female."
He raised his weapon.
"Didn't think so." He glanced at the humans with them, at
his sister, and saw what Angela had seen. "Then it looks
like we have only one option." Angela crouched.
The walkie-talkie on the man's belt spat static:
"Disengage." In the static, Angela thought she heard, no,
that couldn't be right ...
The leader turned off the walkie-talkie. "I didn't hear
anything."
One of his men turned to him, "But sir?"
Talon nodded and they sprang, claws and teeth at the ready.
Their human friends gave cries of defiance and joined into
the fight, wielding clubs and stones, fighting for their
lives.
The Quarrymen had greater numbers, but they weren't
defending the only home that hadn't thrown them out. Faced
with their worst nightmares given flesh and wings and aided
by humans, and having already been given an order to
retreat, several took that option, and ran into and over
their fellows behind them.
Those that remained really had no chance.
When they were done, when the attackers were lost in the
Labyrinth or dead on the floor, Angela took a moment to
breathe. She looked at her allies, wounded though they
were, and thought, They did it. They defended their home.
They repelled an invasion. Whatever comes next, they have
that.
VVVVV
"Disengage," came the tinny order over the speaker.
Brooklyn heard it from one of the bodies piled at his feet.
He glanced up, saw Maggie in the ruins of her wedding dress
take out another Quarryman. The others were already running
for safety, but there would be no safety for them here. The
residents of these tunnels knew them far better than any
invading force could hope to, and they would revenge
themselves on the fleeing men and women.
Brooklyn was willing to bet maybe two in five of those still
alive made it out.
And these. They'd have to figure out what to do with these,
sort the living from the dead, and choose how to deal with
both.
Katana came from a tunnel opposite, dragging in another
corpse. He went to her, wrapped his arms around her as she
dropped the body. She trembled, and he held her near but
not touching her wound.
"We're alive," he whispered into her short hair. "We're
alive and the kids are safe. That's what matters right
now."
"One of the humans died from her wounds. Broadway may not
live until sunrise. Others are injured badly, and they have
so few supplies."
"We'll take who we can up top. There are hospitals.
They're legally required to treat injured humans, even if
they don't know if they can pay. We'll do what we can."
There was a movement in the rubble near the top of the pile.
A few stones gave way and clattered down to his feet.
Brooklyn broke away from his mate, went into a crouch. Out
of the corner of his eye, he saw Maggie ready herself, saw
Peter with a gun he'd taken from a dead Quarryman. If there
were more ...
"Anyone alive in there?" came Talon's welcome voice.
Maggie let out a shuddering sigh. "Derek!" she called.
"Who's alive?"
"I've got Angela here, and Beth. Carl and Steph and Ezra
are okay. Jorge's wounded, but I think he'll live." More
stones dislodged, and Brooklyn climbed the treacherous pile,
helping to move rocks. Katana stood below him, and passed
stone after stone down to Toby, who passed them to Peter,
who handed them off to another, and another.
Maggie broke off from the digging to go to the nursery and
check on the kids. She came back several minutes later with
Nash and Tachi and Daniel, followed by a scared group of the
Avalon gargoyles.
"We sent the others to the other side," Maggie explained,
as the newcomers helped at the dig, helped drag bodies,
helped tend to wounded friends.
"Is 'Lilah over there?" Talon asked from the ever-widening
hole.
Brooklyn looked. "Nope."
"She left the nursery ages ago," said Nashville, moving
rocks.
"She what?" asked Talon and Maggie simultaneously from
opposite sides of the hole. Talon turned pale under his
fur.
He barked an order to someone behind him. "Get a group
together. Go see who's still hiding, and who's elsewhere in
the Labyrinth. Find the clones."
A deep pit opened in Brooklyn's stomach. It's too soon,
he told himself.
Without the order, Maggie gathered a handful of humans and
gargoyles and set them to the search for survivors.
She's fine, wherever she is. It's too soon. He kept
excavating.
VVVVV
Maggie was near the south entrance to the Park, ready to
turn back, when she heard the noise. More digging.
She rounded a corner, and saw the boys, trying to dig their
way through another landslide. "Oh thank god," she said.
Brent turned, and a smile broke over his face, quick like a
cloud and then gone. The others kept shoveling. "Boys,
you're going the wrong way. The Labyrinth is back here. We
can dig out the entrance later."
"No," said Boo. "Have to get through." He was choking back
tears, and Maggie went to him, placed a hand on his
shoulder. None of the clones seemed to be wounded, just a
little shell-shocked.
"Boo, come on."
"He came," said Holly.
"Who came?" Brent started to shake and Banky went with more
ferocity at the pile of rocks. Malibu kept working, not
quickening, not slowing, like a golem set to dig and not
told to stop. "Boo?"
"He wanted us," said Brent. "Wanted us back."
Oh God. There was only one being whose mention set them
to this kind of stuttering terror, this cold anger that she
could now see radiating off Malibu like uranium.
"What did he do?"
"Said," said Brent, and he stopped.
Holly said, "Said we go, or die." He wrapped his wings
around his large body, and picked up a rock from the pile.
He looked at it, tossed it, took another.
The chill in her grew. "Where's 'Lilah?"
But even before Brent burst into tears, before Boo threw a
rock so hard it shattered, before Holly sunk into his wings,
and Banky finally told her in broken English what had
happened, she knew.
VVVVV
The death toll was lower than it could have been. Ruth was
dead, Mark was dead, Stephen and Loretta were dead. Two of
the Avalon gargoyles had been caught under the landslide;
both had already delivered their eggs. Fang was out of his
cell, but they did not find a body and so assumed he'd
survived.
Broadway lived to daybreak and woke the following evening
recovered, to Angela's relief. They'd found Goliath, Elisa
and Lex, who had been trapped in a passageway. Once
Goliath's sleep had healed him from his injuries, he'd
ripped a door off that they'd never opened before, but
fortunately, meandered back to the rest of the Labyrinth.
They'd decided to release the prisoners, against protests
from those who hurt too deeply still. They put them outside
of the Labyrinth with the remains of their fellows, and
Elisa, who nursed a sprained ankle, called the cops from a
local precinct without giving her name.
So much of the Labyrinth had been damaged, Talon hadn't been
certain at first if it was safe to rebuild. When he woke
from a fitful doze to hear some of the other residents
hammering and sawing with their little equipment, he knew
the decision had already been made.
They were alive. As Brooklyn had said, that was the
important part for now.
The clones had withdrawn into their own company, speaking
only when necessary, communicating by sign when they could.
One of them, he thought it was Boo, had taken Grover from
the playroom and placed him beside 'Lilah's egg in the
nursery.
Maggie stood there, staring at the egg and the toy. Talon
came up behind her, touched her shoulders, and she jerked.
He drew her into an embrace from behind.
"Why did she go?" she asked him. The nursery was quiet, not
even a sound from within the growing clutch of eggs, and all
the human children were currently with their parents.
"Why?"
"I don't know," he admitted, and felt a twinge of guilt.
In his mind, Owen Burnett said, "The trade was a life for a
life. All three of us made the bargain, and Anubis
accepted. The standard practice is that the first person
you see when you go home will be the one to die."
I wouldn't have said yes if I'd known.
"We lost so much," Maggie said. "Because that bastard
couldn't stand losing his toys. I hate him so much," she
growled, her hands in tight fists. She stared hard at the
egg.
He turned her around to face him. "Maggie ... "
"He did this. I want him to pay. I want him to hurt."
"We'll find her. No matter what, we'll find her. I
promise," he said, and slowly he drew her to him. Sobs
wracked her body; he simply held her, rocking back and
forth. He watched the egg, with its Muppet guardian. I
will find you. Whatever it takes.
VVVVV
Katie was doing her nails.
She was an expert, truth be told. For a while, she'd
considered going into the lucrative world of cosmetology and
nail art. Then her mom had told her she was going to
business college, like it or lump it, and Katie had liked
it. Who knew?
Her temp company had placed her in a few of the bigger
corporations in town without any real offers, until her
resume at Moonrise had landed her the permanent job at
Nightstone. Well, maybe "permanent" wasn't the best word;
the position she filled had apparently been in the revolving
door category since the business started. But Katie had
been quiet, had persevered, had made an effort, and okay,
she'd been hired like two days before Ms. Destine went AWOL
so the boss hadn't even met her, much less had a chance to
fire her. So here she was, a year and a half after her hire
date, doing her nails, waiting for the day to end.
The door to the outer suite opened, and she set her emery
board carefully aside, folding her immaculate hands. "May I
help you?"
As she asked the question, her brain registered what her
eyes were already taking in, and she gasped, "Ms. Destine!"
Katie scrambled to her feet. "Welcome back!" she babbled,
and then shut up before she said anything else.
Her employer's eyes narrowed. "Who are you? What happened
to my secretary ... " She tapped her long, elegant nails on
the desk Katie watched them and had the oddest feeling
they were longer and sharper than they looked. "Paula?"
asked Ms. Destine uncertainly.
"Paula was here before me." You fired her a week after she
started.
Ms. Destine shook her head. "Whatever. I'll need all my
messages. And I want the following people, or their
replacements, in my office in ten minutes." She scribbled
down names on a blue Post-It.
"But it's quarter till five!" said Katie.
"Then you should have just enough time to gather them."
Something in her voice kept Katie from protesting any
further. Ms. Destine went into her office as Katie started
dialing numbers.
"What are these!" came the shout a moment later. Katie
scurried into the inner office to see Ms. Destine staring at
the plants.
"That's a spider plant, and that's an aloe. The ones on the
heater are African violets, and ... "
"I know what they are. Why are they in my office?"
Katie shrugged. "I thought it would cheer up the place,
keep it bright for when you came back from your ... leave."
"Personal time," said Ms. Destine quietly. She stared at
the plants again, and as if speaking a foreign language
she'd learned from a book, Ms. Destine enunciated: "Thank
you."
"You're welcome."
"That will be all."
"Yes, ma'am." Katie went back to her desk, trembling as she
dialed. The Dragon Lady had come from an extended vacation
to nowhere and thanked her.
With her free hand, she tucked her emery board away in her
purse. It seemed life was going to get a bit more
interesting around the office.
VVVVV
Author's Note:
I cannot take credit for Dr. Howard's comments on Merlin.
Those belong to the inimitable Jim Owczarski from the
Bristol Renaissance Faire, a man who stands on a stage every
week of the summer wearing black tights and says, "If you
want to paint yourself blue, run around nude, fine, but do
it somewhere else. Some of us are trying to lead normal
lives." Love ya, Jim.