Elisa looked up as the clicking of Lexington's talons on the computer keys suddenly stopped.

"Well?"

Lexington's eyes moved across the screen, "Gimmie a minute… 'The Moon Pendulum', alright…I dunno Elisa, it's all pretty standard stuff. Gold and sapphire, it was a piece used to conduct rites of death…"

"Any magical properties?"

"None listed." Elisa sighed with frustration. She looked up suddenly as Lex said, "Oh wait a minute…this is interesting…" They both looked up as Xanatos and Goliath entered the room, and from the looks on their faces they had bigger problems.

"We need to move, now." Goliath said hastily.

Elisa looked up, "What? Why, what's happened?"

David explained, "Macbeth is most likely on his way here right now. I can steer him in the wrong direction, but all of the gargoyles have to leave. The Illuminati's put a trace on Macbeth, the minute he shows up here they're sure to find them all."

Pacing, Goliath growled, "We need to leave quickly and efficiently. Bianca isn't going to go quietly."

Coolly Xanatos replied, "Well you got her here easily enough."

"Yes, but she was drugged…" Goliath trailed off as it dawned on him. David grinned suggestively. Narrowing his eyes, Goliath said, "The way your mind works frightens me, Xanatos."

He nodded, "Yes, I even scare myself sometimes."

"Very well." Goliath sighed uneasily, "We'll sedate her. But how-"

"Leave that to me." Xanatos answered quickly, opening another door. "Coming Goliath?"

Goliath turned to Elisa, "Inform the rest of the clan. We leave in five minutes."

All of the gargoyles save Brooklyn were assembled by the time Goliath and Xanatos reached Bianca's prison. Bianca stood, very much aware that something was going on.

She wrapped her hands around the bars as Goliath walked in.

"Okay, I'll bite…what's going on?"

Goliath explained, "We are moving you to a safer location."

"How thoughtful." She answered dryly. "Goliath, please…let me go. It'll save me the trouble of having to escape."

"The situation has already been explained to you. If you still refuse to cooperate, that is not my problem."

Insistently, Bianca stated, "I do refuse to cooperate. And if you think I'm just going to sit back and let you 'move me to a safer location' then you've got another thing coming. Once you open this cage all bets are off!"

"I don't think that'll be a problem." David answered. He took out a gun and aimed it at Bianca, shooting a dart into her arm.

"What-" She grasped her arm in pain, yanking the dart out.

"A harmless tranquilizer, my dear…the same kind the Illuminati used on you last night, ironically." As he spoke she stared down at the dart in her hand thoughtfully. She let it drop and looked up at Xanatos. Bianca narrowed her eyes and snarled at him angrily, swaying on her feet. The gargoyles watched silently as she dropped to the floor unmoving.

With a grim nod Goliath turned to the others, "Alright…Broadway you carry her, I'll take the lead. We'll bring her to Talon. She'll be safe there. Agreed?" His clan nodded. "Then let us go." They opened up the cell and Broadway carefully foisted the girl up onto his shoulder, following the others out of the room.

He was sitting so still Elisa almost walked right past him without noticing, but with the skilled eye of a trained detective she saw Brooklyn hunched over in the shadows and made her way over to him.

"Hey Brook…you need to get downstairs right now. Macbeth is about to show up so you all need to relocate."

With a snort Brooklyn turned away from her, "They can go ahead…I'll hang back and take up the rear…they're moving Bianca?" Elisa nodded slowly. "She won't like that."

"They're going to sedate her first." She explained. Brooklyn nodded sullenly without turning to look at her. The concern was evident on Elisa's face.

"I'm fine." He said briefly to her unasked question. Quietly Elisa sat beside him.

"You like her, don't you?" She asked gently. Brooklyn didn't need to answer. With a groan he put his hands over his head.

"Oh God, why do I always do this to myself!" He exclaimed in frustration. Getting to his feet, Brooklyn paced in front of Elisa, rambling. "It doesn't matter. You don't need to worry about me, Elisa, not this time. This time things are going to be different, you'll see. I'm going to do this right, I can beat this…I'll just keep away from her. I mean, if I don't talk to her then I can't…y'know…" He shot her a plaintive look, "Well?"

"Well…" Elisa said with a sigh, "You're certainly approaching this differently."

Brooklyn muttered bitterly, "Well then chances are I'm doing something right."

"Let me ask you this, Brooklyn…what was it that attracted you to Maggie and Angela?"

He paused thoughtfully, "Well…they were girls, and they weren't trying to kill me. That's pretty much par for the course with me."

Elisa turned to him, "But you're not attracted to Angela now, are you?"

"No, not at all."

"Why?"

Resuming his seat beside her, Brooklyn explained, "She's too…I mean, she's a lot like Goliath, really." He drew his knees up, "Stubborn, direct, serious…don't get me wrong, I love them both, I mean Goliath…well, he's Goliath there's no way not to like him, and Angela's like a sister to me now. But…we're not compatible."

"Well," suggested Elisa, "You seem to have your priorities pretty well in order now, even if you didn't then, don't you think?"

"I guess." He shrugged.

"Then is it possible you like Bianca for her own sake? I gotta say Brooklyn, you two seem a lot alike. You certainly get along well together."

"Well yeah," he said thoughtfully, "But…I just don't know."

Elisa put a hand on his shoulder, "Sometimes you have to ride things out and see where they take you. You weren't an idiot for falling for Maggie or Angela. People are allowed to have crushes, they're allowed to like people who won't always like them back. It's not a crime. And you know what? Everyone gets rejected. So that's no reason to try and shut everyone out. Maybe you weren't doing anything wrong by taking a chance on them, maybe you should just follow your instincts and let yourself like Bianca. Goliath was right, you need to learn to trust yourself, Brooklyn."

"I guess I do." He murmured softly, letting his head rest on his arms.

David strolled out, "Ah, Detective, I've just- Brooklyn? What are you still doing here? The rest of the clan's already left…you need to get out of here before Macbeth shows up."

"Yeah, I know." Brooklyn said, "I thought I'd bring up the rear…make sure no one's following them."

Xanatos nodded, "Not a bad idea at that…but I think we're in the clear, now."

"Went well?" Elisa asked.

"Without a hitch," Xanatos responded, "One dart, she was out like a light. They're heading to Talon right now. Macbeth could be here at any moment so Brooklyn, you probably ought to-"

Suddenly Brooklyn jumped to his feet, "Did you say one dart!" He asked hurriedly.

Caught off-guard, David said, "Yes..." In a panic Brooklyn silently cursed to himself. Last night the others had only seen her get the dart in the leg. They didn't know it had taken two to knock her out…

"Brooklyn? What's wrong?" Elisa called out as he scrambled out to the ledge.

"No time!" He yelped back, jumping off and spreading his wings. He only hoped he reached them before Bianca did something stupid…