This was supposed to be an oneshot. Blame Tima and Calliope Foster, they wanted me to carry on with that sillyfic.

All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder.

Any kind of feedback is welcome and much appreciated. Thank you very much to everyone who wrote to me, especially to Samuel B. for his beta-reading.

New York City

Elisa opened her eyes, head aching. Apparently she was in the clock tower, but why? She could remember how Goliath had entered her home, apparently wanting a big hug. And then she had felt his body melting under her hands, and…

A winged shadow entered the clock tower. She tried to run to it, but stopped short and gasped in pain. The winged shadow burst into laughter. "Don't run into the force field, human!"

"Thailog!"

"Thailog? Who's Thailog?" The gargoyle approached her. It looked like Goliath. And then it turned into…

"Proteus!"

"Yes, I am! Surprised to see me, human?"

"My friends will catch you and you'll go back to your cell in New Olympus!"

"I don't think so!"

The Olympian changed shape, took Elisa's appearance and run his fingers through his hair in a lascivious manner. Elisa laughed. He was too off-model, someone would notice how the eyes were so unlike her own! "Yeah, try to take my life! You'll see if it's easy!"

"I sure hope so…"

New Olympus

Taurus wondered if letting the new agent in charge of the prison had been a good idea. Cerb was an Argus, he belonged to a race with one hundred eyes, but he apparently had a tendency to use only a few of them. Pity.

"How is it?" he asked while Cerb took a few of his eyes away from his magazine.

"Nothing to report. Of, yes, the shape-shifter keeps saying he has to be freed because he is a clone. Do you know why?"

"He has an overactive imagination." The Minotaur approached the cell where the clone had taken Cerb's looks.

A/N: Proteus' clone will be called Suetorp to avoid confusion.

"There's more to me than meets the eye, let me go!"

"No way" Taurus growled.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you to use your brains from time to time? I am not Proteus! I am a clone! Proteus used me! Let me out!"

"This is the most ridiculous bull I have ever heard, Proteus. Even if there had never been my father, I would never let you get out."

"OK, I apologise for anything Proteus may have done to you. Bring your father here, I'll apologize to him too. Now may I be freed?"

"No." Taurus left, dejected. The way the shape-shifter had mentioned his dead father as if he were still alive had hurt him nearly as much as his old jokes. The only thing that comforted him was the fact that Proteus was back in high-security jail.

New York City, the 23rd Precinct.

"Do you know where Detective Maza is?"

Maria Chavez was slightly worried. Elisa was not herself those days. According to Detective Bluestone, she had "her secrets, like everyone" but it didn't explain why she had teased one of her married colleagues. This didn't look like her. She kept disappearing, making no efficient work and refusing to report anything. Captain Chavez considered her as a very trustworthy person but sometimes, too much is really too much.

She phoned her father. He said they hadn't been in constant contact with her recently but he was not worried, "Elisa's a big girl. Yes, she's been behaving a bit strangely lately. She hasn't been phoning us very often, lately, but it can't be serious."

When Detective Bluestone left the precinct, he had the feeling something was wrong. Yes, Elisa was acting out-of-character. She seemed to have either forgotten some things or gained a very perculiar sense of humor. For example, when he had asked her how her brother was doing in the Labyrinth, she had said "yes, working in a carnival is boring but he manages." Maybe she was working too much and she needed a vacation.

His radio crackled. Someone had been attacked in his car and Elisa was already working on it. He drove to the spot and discovered that the car had been utterly destroyed. Elisa was talking to a witness, looking as if she wanted to take him into bed. She told him briefly what happened: the driver had been attacked by a monster.

"Looks a bit like a gargoyle" he whispered.

"One gargoyle couldn't have done so much damage to a car like that" she answered, pouting. "Either there were many of them, or it was something else."

"One of Sevarius' creatures, maybe? We'd better ask him."

"Yes. You drive? I don't remember where he lives."

Matt felt worried. "He's in prison, Elisa, don't you remember?"

"Oh, yes. I'm not myself, those days."

Was she losing her mind? Matt decided to test her. "I was wondering… Did your cat Starsky recover from its disease?"

Unfortunately, Proteus had spent some time in Elisa's apartment, trying to learn as much as he could about her and had found a letter mentioning the name of the cat. He frowned. "You mean my cat Cagney?"

"Yes."

"She's OK."

Matt ushered her into the car but still felt worried.

The prison

"Leave us alone with him."

The prison guard nodded and left the room. Sevarius found himself alone in front of Maza and Bluestone, who were watching him through the glass. Maza looked weird. "Let me deal with him alone" she told her colleague.

The red-haired detective looked puzzled. "Elisa, I'm not leaving this room. Are we partners or not?"

Proteus sighed. "You're leaving me no choice, partner."

And he punched him in the chin. Matt fell on the floor, knocked out. Then the shape-shifter elongated his arm to punch into all the cameras. And then he turned into a Cyclops, broke the glass, grabbed Sevarius, destroyed a wall and left the building. He turned into a gargoyle, scaled a wall and glided away, still carrying Sevarius, who had his heart in his boots. "What do you want from me?" he finally managed to say.

"My name is Proteus. Bluestone told me about you and what he said is most interesting. I need a geneticist like you."

"But why?"

"I want more clones."

To be continued?