October 6, 2001
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules taxis to a stop. The cargo doors are opened as a Humvee pulls up towards the cargo jet. Major General Charles Crump, clad in an Army BDU, walks up to the door.
"Ah, Coldstone, is it?" asks the general.
"Yes," replies the winged cyborg.
General Crump looks inside the cargo hold, seeing the stone forms of the gargoyles. "Pretty convenient, not turning to stone by day."
"It has its advantages," replies Coldfire. "At least we can keep watch over our clan. Still, even we robots must rest."
Coldstone and Coldfire look around the place. There are over a thousand uniformed humans here, either standing guard or performing duties. Quonset huts and tents provide the only shelter.
The gargoyles are loaded into a truck and taken to a Quonset hut reserved for the clan. Soldiers set their stone forms onto chairs.
"See you at sunset," Crump says to Goliath.
Oooooooo
At sunset, Goliath awakes, bursting from his stone skin.
"Good evening," says General Crump.
The clan leader looks around; he can see he is no longer on the plane. He and his fellow gargoyles are inside a large artificial structure. Crates sit at a corner.
"What's for breakfast?" asks Broadway.
"We'll meet at 2000 hours," says Crump.
"Brooklyn, you and the others unpack," says Goliath.
Oooooooooo
Goliath enters the huge Quonset hut. Inside the hut is a huge central table, with smaller tables on the sides. About two dozen men stand at the central table, most of them from all four branches of the DoD services, and a few from the Afghan Northern Alliance; they all stare at the gargoyle.
"Ahem," says General Tommy Franks, the commander of the U.S. Central Command. "Shall we begin?"
oooooooo
A few hours later, Goliath steps out of the Quonset hut where General Franks had held the strategy meeting for the coming invasion. He notices the uniformed humans staring at him.
"You'd think they never saw a gargoyle before," says General Crump.
"Most humans never come across a gargoyle," replies Goliath. "They only seen pictures of us on TV and the Internet."
He enters the Quonset hut reserved for his clan. Most of the stuff that they brought along is unpacked.
"What's going on?" asks Angela.
"We must prepare," replies the clan leader. "The invasion will be soon."
Oooooo
October 7, 2001
"It's so quiet out here," says Broadway, looking up at the starscape above.
There is very little noise; almost everyone is asleep in their bunk, except for the gargoyles and a few soldiers assigned to the graveyard shift.
By contrast, evenings in Manhattan bustle with activity, with traffic and nightlife.
"Such a change," says Angela.
"It's almost unsettling." Broadway once again listens to the eerie quiet.
"Remember when you went to star in that gangsta rap video about two years ago?"
"How could I forget?" asks the gargoyle, recalling the time he went to Pack Media Studios where the gangsta rapper known as the Grandmaster E was filming a music video for MTV.
That seems so long ago. Now he is here, preparing to fight the terrorists.
"Might as well make the best of it."
In the meantime, Lexington and Brooklyn check the equipment that they had brought with them.
"Everything's accounted for," says Lexington, holding a sniper rifle.
Bronx, the four-legged gargoyle beast, runs up to Brooklyn.
"I guess you want to eat, little buddy," says Brooklyn, opening a can of Purina dog food.
"Ahem," a voice says.
Brooklyn, Lexington, and Hudson turn to see a bespectacled man with close-cropped blond hair.
"Specialist Smithers," says the soldier. "General Crump sent me here to brief you on U.S. military protocols."
"Of course," says Brooklyn. "I'm Brooklyn, second in command of this clan."
"Interesting name, Brooke-Lynn."
Ooooooooo
The gargoyles gather in the Quonset hut as dawn approaches. All of them feel quite anxious about tomorrow night.
These feelings become etched in their stone forms as the sun rises.
Ooooooooooo
The humans spend the day preparing for their attack on the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Military intelligence staff brief commanders on the latest intel gathered from UAV's and other sources.
Aircraft crewmen make sure to do last-minute maintenance on the power plants of combat aircraft such as the AC-130 Spectres, the F-14 Tomcats, F-15 Eagles, and the F/A-18 Hornets.
The infantrymen maintain their weapons such as the M-16 automatic rifle and the M-79 grenade launcher and the M-60 machine guns.
Sailors examine the cruise missile launch systems on their ships.
And there is constant communication between the CENTCOM forward operating base and the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.
Ooooooooooo
The sun sets at the CENTCOM forward operating base, and the gargoyles awaken, their stone skin falling onto the floor of the Quonset hut.
"Let's go," says Goliath, leading his clan outside.
Minutes later, they meet with General Crump and military officers from different nations and different branches of service.
"This will be our spearhead attack," says the Army general. "Your part, Goliath, will be an assault here. We believe this is Al Qaeda's headquarters in Afghanistan. Bin Laden himself may be there now. We will offer you a flight there, where you will jump out. I know you are capable of jumping out of an airplane."
"You can count on us to fight against Al Qaeda," says the clan leader, glancing at the overhead picture of the place.
"I hope this is not some empty aspirin factory," mutters Brooklyn.
"Believe me; our sources are reputable," says Crump.
Oooooooooo
Broadway checks the straps of the Kevlar armor that he wears over his body.
"You okay?" he asks Angela.
"Fine," she replies, tightening the straps securing the body armor.
She and the other gargoyles step inside the cabin of a jet. They all sit down.
"Madre de Cristo," says the pilot of the jet. "I can't believe we're actually flying these beasts, these diablos."
"What are we gonna transport next?" asks the copilot. "Lions? Wolves?"
ooooooooo
"This is Ghost Leader," says the pilot of a Lockheed AC-130 Spectre. "Ready for takeoff."
"You are cleared," says a voice.
The squadron of AC-130's takes off from the landing strip.
Oooooooo
An elevator on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Seahawk lifts an Grumman F-14 Tomcat onto the flight deck. The U.S. Navy pilot checks his instrumentation. His heart beats and his palsm sweat due to the stress of the imminent mission.
He taxis the fighter to the takeoff runway. The catapult launches the plane into the night sky.
Ooooooooo
The gargoyles in the jet fasten their restraints. They look towards the cockpit.
"This is Mother Hen," says the pilot. "We are taking off."
He pushes the throttle forward, and the jet takes off from the CENTCOM forward operating base.