The following night the gargoyles awoke atop Castle Wyvern. Elisa and Xanatos were both waiting to greet them.
"Good morning." Xanatos said calmly.
"Any news?" Goliath asked.
"None good…" Elisa sighed, "I haven't been able to find a thing on the amulet your little friend took. We have Macbeth's helicopter in custody. Apparently after the police arrived he landed and made a run for it.
Goliath nodded grimly, "Into the sewer?"
"Yeah." Elisa said, slightly surprised.
Hudson frowned, "He was following us." Hudson looked purposefully to Goliath, "The girl seems very important to him for some reason."
"Well, we didn't catch him." Elisa sighed.
Xanatos stepped in, "The Illuminati got a fix on Macbeth's helicopter and traced it back to his house. That's how they found her."
Lex nodded thoughtfully, "They probably saw the arsenal at his place and decided to wait and follow her, see if they couldn't get her alone before they trapped her."
"Meaning that the minute she goes back to Macbeth's they'll have her." Xanatos finished. "But there is one point in our favor. As far as Macbeth knows we're enemies. So this is the last place he'll look for you…and that'll buy us some time."
With a brooding look Goliath muttered, "I wonder what Macbeth is up to…"
"Well, our house guest ought to be awake by now." Xanatos ventured, "Why don't we ask her?"
The gargoyles, upon entering the room with the electrical holding cell that housed the girl, were a little surprised to find her totally silent, sitting calmly on the floor of her cage.
She looked up as they all came in, "Where am I?" She insisted.
"Hello, I am Goliath, leader of this clan. I apologize for your accommodations, but we feared you would try to flee if left unrestrained. I do assure you, it's for your own safety that you stay."
"You have no right to hold a lady against her will."
"It is a necessary evil." Goliath said evenly. "As I said, we are holding you here for your own protection. The Illuminati are still out there looking for you, and-"
"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She insisted. She was enraged in her own quiet way, Elisa saw from her body language. It was an interesting change from the outright fury her gargoyles displayed when angry.
"Your conduct last night suggests otherwise."
Bianca stood, "I didn't ask for your help and I'm not asking for it now. LET ME GO!"
"Not until you listen to reason."
"Bars obscure my hearing." She countered sarcastically.
Goliath took a deep breath and calmly tried again, "You do not seem to understand. The Illuminati Society is one of the most powerful organizations on this planet. They want to capture you, torture you, and use you as one of their demented experiments. We are keeping you here for no other reason than to keep you safe from them. Where would you go? Back to Macbeth?" Bianca raised her head at the mention of his name. "That is how they tracked you in the first place, from his house. The instant you go back you'll be captured." Her distress was very evident in her face: Bianca wasn't accustomed to hiding her feelings. Goliath saw this as a sign of encouragement to press on. "You can trust us, really…if you talk to us we can help you." Goliath asked, "What connection do you have with Macbeth?" She refused to respond, so Goliath asked another question, "Where do you come from?" Again, no response. "What does Macbeth want with that talisman?" Goliath sighed. The girl was obviously not going to cooperate.
Brooklyn ventured a timid question, "Will you at least tell us your name?"
"Bianca." She answered him softly.
"We mean you no harm, Bianca," Goliath reiterated, "Truly, we are only trying to protect you. This seems to be the only way, at present. At least until the Illuminati are thrown off your trail."
"Now that I know about them I can stay clear," Bianca pleaded, "Please, you don't need to keep me here." She turned her eyes plaintively to Brooklyn, appealing to him silently. He was sympathetic, but one stern look from Goliath and his gaze settled on the floor.
With a pained sigh he murmured, "We…we can't let them hurt you." He avoided her eyes, "Goliath's right, you're better off here." Bianca remained silent for a moment, regarding all of her captors in turn. When she finished looking over them all she slumped over with a sigh of defeat.
"Please make yourself comfortable." Goliath said stiffly as he turned to leave. Xanatos, Elisa and Hudson all followed leaving Bianca with the younger members of the clan.
Bianca waited until he was gone to mutter, "How can I when he says it like that?" She folded her arms and looked at them all in a depressed silence.
Coughing awkwardly, Broadway asked, "Do you, uh, do you want something to eat?"
"We can bring you anything you like." Lexington added in.
"I'm not hungry." Bianca said sullenly. After a slight pause she added, "but thank you."
Angela tried, "Perhaps you'd like a book to read."
"Or we could bring a TV in here for you."
Bianca was unable to keep herself from smiling, "You people sure do know how to make a prisoner feel welcome."
"Well, we wouldn't know." Lexington said pointedly, "We don't have a whole lot of experience with prisoners." They all lapsed back into silence. Bianca had so much she wanted to ask them all, but she'd given her solemn promise to Macbeth and Bianca never went back on her word.
Brooklyn broke the silence, "The other night you said you'd only been here for three days." Bianca frowned; the tenseness of the situation had momentarily loosened her lips. "Don't worry Bianca, I won't force you talk about it if you don't want to…" he soothed her. She wished she could speak to him, it was oddly nice to hear her name pronounced by him. Brooklyn saved her the trouble. "We're actually not from around here either. We all came from Scotland…like Macbeth." Seeing that her interest was piqued, Brooklyn took a deep breath and launched into his story, "You see, a thousand years ago…"
Matt Bluestone stood in the lobby of Xanatos' building, examining a nearby marble bust. Making a face, he noticed a long, hairline fracture right around the ear. Gently Bluestone ran his finger along it. The ear instantly fell off. Bluestone stood for a moment in horror, unable to move. Hearing a polite cough, Matt wheeled around.
"Detective Bluestone, Mr. Xanatos will see you now." It was Owen Burnette.
"Oh, good." He said uncomfortably, wondering if Owen had noticed the damage he'd inflicted.
Owen beckoned him to follow saying in his impenetrably calm voice, "Yes, fortunately for the décor."
With a blush, Matt glanced back at the statue, "Uh…shoddy building materials."
"Oh yes, solid marble is not generally known to withstand the test of time."
Grinning, Bluestone raised an eyebrow, "Is it my imagination or was that sarcasm I just heard?"
"Your imagination, Sir. This way, please." Owen answered stiffly. After an awkwardly silent elevator ride, Matt had to wait another moment right outside the door to Xanatos' private office. The door opened and Owen stepped aside to let Bluestone in.
"Do come in, Detective." Xanatos called out congenially, standing up and making his way around the desk.
As he walked into the room Matt playfully called back to Owen, "Yeah, so let's do lunch some time, call me!" Owen shot him a blank look and shut the door.
David leaned back on the edge of his desk with a smile, "So Owen tells me you destroyed one of my statues."
Matt tugged on his tie nervously, "Uh yeah…sorry about that. Was it expensive?"
"It's an original Rodin." Matt's face paled, "Don't worry Detective, we'll set you up on some sort of installment plan…how well does that job of yours pay you?" Bluestone shot him a dirty look. "I'm only joking, Detective. That statue was in bad shape any way. I think Owen just leaves it out there to play jokes on unsuspecting guests…his quirky sense of humor."
"Really?"
"No. Now, you had something you wished to discuss with me?"
Matt glanced around the room and took a seat, "The Illuminati's approached me asking for help on the gargoyle project…Seems they've gotten a bit more ambitious."
"It hardly seems possible." Xanatos said dryly, "Go on."
"My job is to be the Illuminati's police contact...keep their hired kidnappers off of police radar and keep them apprised of Detective Maza's movements. The clan's intervention of the girl'scapture has got the Illuminati convinced them that if they got hold of her they could use her as bait to bag the rest."
David nodded, "Unfortunately, not a very far-fetched assumption."
"It gets worse." He grimly continued, "Our brethren have also taken note of Macbeth's interest in the case. They've not only got men on his house, they're shadowing him around the clock."
"I'd already anticipated that…it doesn't bother me too much." David said, waving his concern away. "Macbeth thinks we're enemies, this is the last place he'll look."
"No," Bluestone corrected him, "this is the only place he'll look. Macbeth may think you don't get along, but you're the best lead he has. Sooner or later he will show up here. And with him comes the Illuminati."
"Oh God…you're right." Xanatos muttered, "We need to get the girl out of here."