Elisa and Matt sat in the front, with a silent Travis sitting behind them, the metal bits of his costume on the seat beside him.
Elisa pulled into a nearly empty supermarket parking lot.
Throwing the car into gear, she reached across Matt for the small communicator she kept in her glove box.
"Woah, Elisa," Matt said, holding his hands skyward. "Personal space."
"Not right now, Matt." Elisa said, between her clenched jaws. She found the communicator and popped it in her ear. She held her hand out to him. "Phone."
Matt handed her the phone without argument.
Elisa opened her door and stepped out into the cold night air. She activated the communicator, held the phone for a moment and pretended to dial, keeping up appearances for Detective Travis for the time being. Only then did she begin talking.
"Hey guys, are you there?" Elisa asked.
"Hey, Elisa," Brooklyn answered, and Elisa mentally cursed.
"Brooklyn, did everyone make it back?"
"Back?" He asked, confused. "Did the party end early?"
"Something like that," Elisa said. "Where are you?"
"I'm at the castle," He answered slowly. "Why?"
"They would have been there by now, if they were going to the castle," Elisa thought out loud. "They must have gone to the condo."
"Elisa," Brooklyn broke in. "What happened?"
Elisa took a deep breath, and ran a hand roughly through her hair. She took a few steps away from the car before she answered. "Brooklyn," She said softly. "Something happened with Skyler. She's okay," Elisa hurried to assure him, "But… hell, I don't even know what happened. Not really. I need to talk to her first."
She was met with silence.
"Brooklyn?" Elisa asked. "Brooklyn!"
"I'm heading to your place, Elisa," He said, followed by the sound of rushing wind.
"I will be there as soon as I can," Elisa said. "Tell the others. I have a situation here that needs clearing up, but I will be there as soon as I can."
"Got it," he said shortly.
Elisa sighed, and "hung up" the phone. Turning, she returned to her car and the two men who were inside. She opened up the door and debated with herself. Finally, she motioned for them both to get out.
Matt and Travis got out, cautiously.
"Okay," Elisa said, slowly and deliberately. "I sent Skyler home with some friends of mine, and she should be there any moment. I should hear back from them in a few minutes. Matt," She held out the phone, "Call Pamela, and let her know you're okay."
Matt nodded. "That's a good idea, thanks."
While Matt took care of his phone call, Elisa looked to Travis. "Now, you. What happened?"
Travis still looked a bit shock-y to her.
"We were just talking about which of the stands to go to for food," He said slowly. " Then suddenly, the car comes barreling through the barrier, and she…" He trailed off, then stared at Elisa. "What is she?"
Elisa tilted her head at him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," He bit out, something finally breaking through whatever had been making him barely responsive. "What. Is. She? She stopped that car. She levitated the damn thing. She…"
"Do you understand," Elisa said, "Just how crazy you sound? She stopped the car? She levitated it?"
"It's what happened," He said stubbornly.
"If she stopped the car, she saved lives." Elisa snapped. "If she somehow lifted the car off the ground, it helped us to save the people trapped underneath it. But I wasn't asking about her. I was asking what happened to you?"
He blinked at her, "What?"
"There were people hurt," Elisa insisted. "People who needed our help, and you didn't do anything. You froze up. So, what happened to you?"
"I...I…"
"We took on this job to help people," Elisa pressed him. "If you freeze up, don't help when needed, people could die."
"Nothing in the academy prepared me for this," He defended himself.
"You didn't take basic first aid classes?" Elisa pushed on. "Forget about the supernatural crap. First and foremost, you deal with what's in front of you, and then you deal with the other crap."
"Supernatural?" He stuttered.
"Welcome to Manhattan," Elisa said, only to be interrupted by her communicator alerting her to someone else on the line. "Crap, hold on." Elisa pressed the discreet button that would un-mute her conversation. "Guys?"
Travis looked at her oddly.
Matt joined the two of them, his phone call concluded. "She's a real ball buster," He sympathised with Travis in a moment of Male Solidarity, "But she's good. If you can put up with it, she's going to get you the best training that you would ever get. She can be your best friend," He threw the younger man a look before inserting his own communicator in his ear, "Or she can be your worst enemy." He switched on the communicator. "Hey guys, I'm here too."
Travis looked at the two of them, completely at a loss.
"Elisa," Goliath greeted, "Matt."
"Hey G," Matt said, still conscious that Travis wasn't in on this part yet, and was able to hear at least half the conversation. "You make it home alright?"
"Yes," He said. "Skyler is sleeping on the couch."
"Did she wake up yet?" Elisa asked.
"Is she okay?" Brooklyn's panic laden voice broke in.
Elisa made a face. This was not going to help the situation… Or maybe it would. Either way, it was going to be an emotional mess.
"She's fine," Angela said. "She had some excitement, that's all."
"We all did," Broadway said. "Did you see what she did with that…"
"Guys," Elisa broke in. "Sorry to cut you off, but I have something of a situation here, myself."
"You know Detective Travis?" Matt asked. "He's here now, and is currently catching hell from your wife, G."
There was a silence over the line.
"Are you thinking of bringing him in on the Gargoyle secret?" Lexington asked.
"Maybe," Elisa said. "You did the background check I asked you about?"
"Yes," Lexington said.
"Anything make you nervous?" Elisa asked.
"Not really," Lexington said. "No Quarryman or other anti-gargoyle affiliations. No pro Gargoyle either, but nothing sending up any red flags."
"Fair enough," Elisa said. "I'm still not sure, but if anything changes, I will let you know."
"Were you able to help those people?" Goliath asked.
"As much as we could," Elisa said. "They're at the hospital now. I'll try to check on them later."
"I'm almost there," A breathless Brooklyn reported.
Elisa rolled her eyes at Matt. "It sounds like you're about to have your hands full. I'll be home as soon as I can."
"Be safe, My Elisa." Goliath said.
"You too, Big Guy," Elisa responded out of habit.
She and Matt removed the communicators at the same time.
"He calls you 'My Elisa'?" Matt asked softly. "That's so cute."
"Bite me," Elisa responded equally as soft.
"Ok," Travis said, "What was that?"
"That," Matt said, "Was a kind of a conference call between some of our crime fighting partners."
Elisa chuckled. Leave it to Matt the phrase something that could mean anything from other police officers to Superheroes.
"OK, Travis, I think you're a good guy," Elisa said. "But I'm going to hold you to something."
"Aaaand here comes the blackmail," Matt said.
Elisa threw him a dirty look. "I'm going to introduce you to some friends of mine tonight. Think of them as confidential informants. They have been working with us for years, helping to keep people safe in this city. I'm going to trust you to do this, but if you tell anyone about this," Elisa took a step closer to Travis and let him see how serious she was, "And I do mean ANYONE, I will let it be known far and wide how you reacted tonight, and that you were claiming that there was a girl who magically stopped a runaway car and made it levitate. Not only would you get busted from the program, you would never see the outside of a therapist office again. You understand?"
"Uh, yeah," Travis said.
Elisa sighed. "Alright, everyone in the car. We need to get to my place."
"Sooner would be better than later," Matt said.
"No joke," Elisa said. "This could get messy. Matt give the guys a heads up, will you?"
With that, Elisa cranked over the engine and started her way towards home.