Grimmfall: Eclipse
I do not own Grimmfall, Gargoyles, OK K.O, Powerpuff Girls or any other franchises with characters or ideas that appear in this story.
A new threat emerges, heralded by Goliath's former love. As Point Prep's own Foxtail goes on the hunt, Sebben brings Melissa Hunter into the field to stop events from spiralling into chaos.
Xxx
Chapter Four: Retaliation
Hsi Wu
"I am…beyond displeased over this."
Demona could not help but flinch at the disappointment that radiated off of Vorador, who paced before her with his wings folded tightly to his back and his hands clasped beneath them. Behind he, the rest of the Clan knelt in submission just as she had. Daemon was to her side as some silent show of support, but she felt smaller than ever in the presence of the Father of Gargoyles' disapproval weighed down like a net upon her.
"Launching an unauthorized raid? Exposing the clan to the military? Losing some of our precious few brothers and sisters?" Vorador looked at her with narrowed eyes. "All to take a shot at getting your daughter back and killing your old clan? I thought you had learned by now, Demona, that such things are beneath you."
"Sire-"
"Remain silent!" Vorador snapped, and Demona's jaw clamped shut. "You have compromised this vessel, Demona! Foxtail has assuredly found a way to track you back here, as is her way. Now we must advance our plans…which, fortunately for you, presents an opportunity out of this debacle you have unleashed upon me."
Demona swallowed, her entire body tensing up as he approached and reached down, grasping her chin to force her to look up into his crimson eyes.
"You will making up for this with a…field test." Vorador decided. "You will be nowhere near here when the inevitable counter attack happens. Clearly being too close to your daughter has left you…unreliable. So I shall remove that temptation until we are in a better position for you to acquire her within the boundaries of our great mission." He tightened his grip. "Do you understand me?"
"Yes…father." Demona whispered, and was released.
"Pik, get your teleporter ready. I want Demona and her detachment away from here long before we have guests. And we will have much to relocate before then." Vorador commanded.
"Y-yes father!" Thee tech-savy gargoyle nodded.
"Daemon, you will be in command here. You know our contingency for what is to come, you are ordered to execute it."
"Yes, father! What if…Demona's daughter is among the attackers?"
"She won't be." Vorador stated with confidence. "In your incursion, her mate was wounded, yes? The gargoyles of old may have pressed on in spite of that, but Goliath's sentimentality is a crutch. She will remain with her mate, possibly with a few others of the clan. I doubt they would trust Foxtail enough to leave their wounded unguarded around her people."
Daemon tilted his head. "Father, are you saying that they would go as far as to discard their recent hostilities just to hunt us together?"
"I say only what I know to be truth, my child." Vorador tapped the space beneath his left eye with one digit. "And I know all that is seen and hard by my children…even those who spurn my forgiveness."
This revelation caused a new wave of shivering to ripple throughout Demona's body as she found herself feeling strangely…violated. That he was aware of everything that any gargoyle saw, heard or did…her so called secret rescue mission had been exposed before it ever began. Was there any kind of limit by distance on this ability? And how deep did it reach beyond only hijacking one's senses? Were her own thoughts even a sanctum for her anymore?
"Demona." Vorador snapped his fingers, and she came racing to his side- an action she would have died before performing for anyone else. "Come, we are going to see to that field test."
"Of what, father?" Demona asked , hurrying to keep pace.
"The very weapon your efforts have allowed us to finally finish." Vorador's face split in a vicious grin. "And one half of the key to our new kingdom rising from the squalor of this world."
As a teleportation circle was set up for them, the rest of the Grim Clan hurried to prepare what they could for relocation, and destroyed that which couldn't be taken along. Daemon perched himself from the highest point on the His Wu and watched the surrounding ocean, his eyes easily piercing the veil of darkness.
In the distance, almost invisible over the horizon, he could see the faint bulge of a ship's silhouette emerging into view. It was running no lights that even he could see at this distance, which made its purpose clear.
"The enemy approaches, brothers and sisters!" He called out. "Let us meet them with fire…and water."
Xxx
While the primary means of coming and going from the floating prison was teleportation, Foxtail had seen fit to ensure her ship was equipped with a number of aircraft, lightly armed transports that were meant more as a route of evacuation or electronic warfare if an enemy vessel were to launch an of them were now loaded up ad being flown across the darkened gulf of the Atlantic Ocean.
In the leader of this formation, Foxtail stood in the hatch connecting the cockpit to the transport bay further aft, arms crossed and staring through the canopy into the void that anyone without the gift of night vision would see.
"Tracking signals read all clear, ma'am." The co-pilot reported. "Some have gone offline or begun sending partial responses, but most of the flyers seem to be staying out in the open."
"Excellent, carry on." Foxtail moved aft to where Melissa, Goliath, Brooklyn and Lexington were waiting along with four soldiers in full assault loadout- rifles, masks with night vision for those who weren't Faunus and some other donated gear from the military. "We'll be there in a few minutes. If you want to have that talk you've burning to have, we should have it now."
"I have all sorts of 'talks' in mind for you," Melissa replied, remaining seated along one side of f the compartment. "But maybe we can begin with what Demona stole that has you scrambling around in a panic."
Foxtail glanced towards the soldiers present. "Troopers, privacy mode."
Each man disabled their helmets' audio devices, rendering them deaf and mute to anyone else. They began to exchange words with one another using sign language, treating it not even as an inconvenience that they'd been forced to cut off one of their senses just to give Foxtail time to speak without them overhearing.
"The facilities that Demona and her clan attacked were not just run of the mill R&D," Foxtail divulged. "They were part of the United States government's Fair Play Initiative."
"That's still around?" Lexington asked. "I thought that went away years ago."
"I remember hearing of this," Goliath said, hunched over slightly to keep from hitting his head on the ceiling…for the third time since take-off. "Your leaders' attempt at recovering from the failure of their Registration plan."
"You mean they didn't give up after that fell through?" Brooklyn asked incredulously.
"Officially they did." Lexington provided, working with a laptop set in his lap to pull up an article covering the topic. "But ten years after that, it came out that a lot of people supporting Registration had started their own pet projects. Had secret government funding siphoned off to support it all. Sorts of things that Xanatos used to get up to a lot. Stuff aimed at phasing Huntsmen out or even fighting them. Didn't go over well with the latest President back then, so they cancelled it and made it public knowledge, probably to save face and make it clear that they didn't support it."
"Yes, that was the image that was put out." Foxtail nodded. "In truth, Fair Play was downsized, rid of a lot of unstable personalities…including many of its original founders. We still wanted ways to neutralize hostile Huntsmen, but the things they were suggesting were…a step too far."
"That's actually surprising to hear from you." Melissa said with sincerity. "I'm guessing those 'too far' projects are need to know."
"Even I don't need to know most of them, so you absolutely don't." Foxtail replied. "The point is that Demona's clan established a pattern of what they were stealing. We tried to adapt by decentralizing a lot of our work, trading progress for security. In the end it only slowed them down. In the last raid Demona found portions of data assigned to one of the Fair Play projects, one that has a lot of people worried that she and her new old man are going to put to use. And based on her previous attacks, they're worried that she now has the ability to construct a working model."
It had been this kind of work that had helped to strain Melissa's friendship with Foxtail long before Carlos had ever entered the picture. The topic of him had just been the final nail in the coffin of a lifelong friendship.
"What kind of weapon?" Brooklyn asked. "Wait, don't tell me: classified."
"I knew you were the second in command for a reason." Foxtail drawled. "If we move swiftly the weapon won't be a issue. My people were using specialized ammunition, every third round was a disguised tracking beacon. These Grim Gargoyles are tough and shrug off a lot of bullets, but that didn't stop a few from digging into them before they flew off. They've all gathered on a cargo ship that we're about to hit fast and hard."
"Fast enough to beat the sun, I hope." Goliath looked to Lexington, who looked up with a concerned expression and turned his screen to let Goliath see the time. "We have half an hour before it rises, and unlike her clan we will still turn to stone."
"Yeah…not really comfortable with that part." Lexington swallowed.
"It's every soldier's unattainable dream to not be in a constant hurry, but every hour that we wait allows Demona and her people time to work on that weapon." Foxtail replied.
"You're not wrong, but the risk to us is still great." Goliath pointed out.
"Your role in this is to draw Demona out." Foxtail handed each gargoyle a metal bracelet. "Gravity Dust. We use these to raise wrecks and keep ships from sinking. Keep them on and if you turn to stone these will raise you back up out of the water for recovery. By then the Heart will be close enough to give some support fire."
The gargoyles put the bracelets on, and Brooklyn suddenly swayed on his feet. "Whoa…feeling lighter already."
"Low yield gravity field, standard for standby mode." Foxtail said before a call came from up front.
"Ma'am! We're on final approach the enemy vessel! Escorts are taking up sentry positions." The pilot reported.
"Very good." Foxtail opened a side hatch on one side of the compartment, letting wind rush in while the troopers got into position at an opposing hatch. "Try to keep up, Mrs Hunter."
Then Foxtail stepped out into open air and vanished.
"Tell me again how you two were ever friends." Brooklyn said to Melissa.
"Tell me again how Demona wasn't always evil." She replied, and followed after Foxtail.
The head of POINT Prep landed on the deck of the Hsi Wu at the bow, rising to her feet immediately and on alert for an incoming attack only to find none waiting for her.
The gargoyles landed behind her moments later while Melissa made the jump on her own, and the four soldiers assigned as their escort dropped down using Gravity Dust harnesses to slow their descent.
"Vanguard Team has landed, repeat: Vanguard Team has landed." Foxtail said into her radio as her men advanced in teams of two, splitting up to move along both sides of the great stacks of cargo containers covering the majority of the deck. "Broadsword Team clear to deploy. Over."
"Copy, Broadsword deploying. Over."
"Safe flight, Broadsword. Over and out." Foxtail motioned with her head for the group to follow. "Goliath, care to give my men some a few more eyes in the sky?"
"Only because you asked so nicely." Goliath replied flatly before unfurling his wings and catching a draft from the hovering dropship's thrusters, ascending to the tops of the crates with Brooklyn and Lexington following behind.
Melissa followed Foxtail along the starboard flank of the ship while the troopers further ahead reported that the deck was clear. Their word was corroborated by the three aircraft circling the vessel, search lights now illuminating the superstructure where the wheel deck was located.
"No sign of anyone at the wheel, ma'am. We're seeing lights in there though, and the ship is making way, bearing one-eight-one at ten knots."
"Ma'am, those signals are coming from below. We found what looks like an infirmary, looks like a few of the trackers got pulled out."
"Secure the deck for Broadsword Team, get the exterior lights up and bring it to full stop before we hit something. We'll go down and flush Demona out ourselves." Foxtail ordered. "Goliath, down over here."
She stopped at a metal box mounted to a wall and opened it as the gargoyles converged on her and Melissa, pulling out a mic which she then held out to him. "Time to see if she bites." She flipped a switch, and speakers across the ship briefly endured some feedback.
Seeing her intent, Goliath leaned in. "Demona, your clan is cornered." He said. "Come out and surrender with dignity. There is no need for anyone, Gargoyle or otherwise, to fall this day."
There was no response. After a minute Foxtail shook her head and shut off the intercom. "Her choice. The hard way it is." She declared.
Xxx
A few minutes later, several subdecks below, Foxtail kicked a door out of its frame so hard that it flew into the middle of a cargo hold that had been partially emptied out and converted into living quarters, its size making it seem cavernous.
"Demona!" Foxtail called out as she, Melissa and the trio of gargoyles advanced into the room. "You can't hide forever!"
From one of the nearby containers, a cough turned into a strained laugh. They cautiously approached and pulled aside a curtain to reveal the makeshift living space within…as well as a single gargoyle laying on a cot, badly burnt on one side with blood stained bandages across his chest and and one leg splinted.
"Found one." Foxtail said, sounding not at all pleased. "I thought your kind turned to stone to heal. Give that up in exchange for whatever lets you fly in the son?"
Still laughing despite being in clear pain, the gargoyle looked up. "Fool…I chose to refrain from entering my statue state." He coughed. "You are too late. Our father…Demona…they are all gone. I only remain because my wounds made it too difficult to move me…and to turn to stone would have made it harder. But I now remain as I am…only so I can watch."
"You endure needless suffering for an unworthy cause." Goliath said. "Cooperate. We can help you."
"I would take no help from a traitor like you, Goliath!" The gargoyle spat. "You who would side with these lower races over your own kind! It vexes me to know that…that our Father does not begrudge you your love of humanity. That he forgives you for it." He sneered. "But it won't matter. You are too late…you won't catch them."
"I think some time locked up will loosen that tongue." Foxtail reached for her radio, only to cringe as someone called her first, shouting loudly into her ear.
"Foxtail! We have incoming hostiles! Counting at least thirty! They just burst out of the containers up here and took flight!"
"What?! How…" Foxtail's eyes wandered to the wounded gargoyle, specifically to an arm he had at his side…holding a microphone.
"They didn't engage. No casualties. But…I'm seeing a lot of stone fragments in these crates, ma'am. And a speaker setup. It's almost like-"
"They were in statue form…and came out of it at will." Melissa realized, grabbing the microphone from the wounded gargoyle. "This is a trap!"
"Everybody, top-side! Move it!" Foxtail shouted as the wounded gargoyle's laughter grew louder.
"Shit! Heads up, they're packing heavy weapons! IEDs identified!"
"Missile-lock detected! Evading!"
"Oh sweet Oum, they're not firing at us, they're aiming for the hull!"
The entire vessel shuddered and threatened to knock the five over as they hurried to escape from the cargo hold. Alarms wailed and red lights flashed before an emergency bulkhead slammed shut over their exit.
"Break it open!" Foxtail shouted, but Melissa stopped her.
"Wait! Listen!" She said before hearing a roar from a distant part of the cargo hold. "This hold just got compromised. We're taking on water!"
And thus the trap had shut around them.
Xxx
End of Chapter
