Chapter 14

Leader of the Pack

"I'm telling you, I can't do it!" Quinn exclaimed in a strangled voice as she attempted to do another sit up, with much difficulty.

She and Katie were in their P.E. Class, the only one the Juniors and Seniors shared together, with a teacher that seemed to think that every day he should start by blowing his obnoxious whistle in their ears as loud as he could.

Today, they were all doing physical fitness, that is, if you count doing sit ups during the full length of the hour and a half that they had for this class fitness..

Katie looked at her in an encouraging manner, (A/N: This is an actual conversation that two of my friends had one day in their P.E. Class) "You can do it, Quinn! I believe in you! Think of heaven. Your going to heaven!" she yelled a little over enthusiastically, earning most everyone's attention in the small gymnasium.

Quinn laid flat on her back, gripping her calves, which were scrunched up to her thighs, with her hands really hard, leaving angry red marks on the skin that showed from her shorts; and in an equally enthusiastic way, she yelled, "I'm going to Hogwarts!" getting the rest of everyone's attentions at her cry.

"NO! Jesus! Think of Jesus!" Katie cried to her.

Quinn took in a deep breath, before she shouted out with all her might, "HARRY POTTER!" struggling to do a final sit up before she collapsed once again onto the sleek, wooden floor with an 'oof!'

Everyone in that gym howled with laughter, many of the kids that were counting for their partners were struggling with trying to breathe as they leaned on the other kid's legs for support. The kids on the floor were almost to the point that they'd be rolling all around if their partners weren't in their way, hell, even Mr. Beyer was doubled over in laughter.

Quinn and Katie marveled at their work, the red headed girl leaned forward to wrap her arms around her knees, hugging them to her chest, "Do you think we did good?" she whispered to her brunette friend who smiled at her.

"Best idea ever." she responded before the bell rang for the end of the class as well as the end of the school day.

They both got up and started walking over to the girl's locker room to change out of their gym clothes and get their stuff to head home; Katie turned to Quinn, "So, do you wanna catch a movie tonight? That new Orlando Bloom movie's out and I thought you'd wanna hang out." she offered.

Quinn bit her lip as she took a seat on the bench, having to shift her upper body due to her wings and tail being hidden underneath the fabric of her shirt, she would change into something else when everyone else was out of the bathroom, "Sorry, Katie, I can't tonight." she said.

Katie looked a little sad to hear this, "May I ask why?" she said as she got her regular clothes on to go home.

Quinn bit her lip as she looked everywhere else besides her friend, trying to think of a reason for not going, when her hearing got her and she found herself listening to a conversation on the other side of the lockers.

"Did you hear? This morning, The Pack broke out of jail! Well, Fox didn't go, apparently she's changed a lot if she isn't running along with her team."

Quinn looked down at the floor, The Pack escaped. Oh, Buddha, Lex is gonna have a fit. "What?" she asked quickly when she heard Katie say something that she couldn't catch.

Katie looked directly at her now shut locker door, "I said, I hardly get to see you anymore, Quinn, I mean, why do you always go before I get a chance to say hi? Where do you go? Are you seeing anyone without telling me anything about him?" all these questions were rushed at her so fast, she honestly didn't have time to reply to any of them before Katie suddenly hit the metal of the locker so hard she was afraid her friend had left a dent, "Why aren't you answering me, Quinn?" she cried in frustration that Quinn knew she was attempting to hide in an effort to not draw any suspicions because they were starting to get all the girl's attentions even if they were about to walk out of the locker room.

Quinn shifted her eyes to the few who had decided it was a good idea to come much closer than she'd care for, silently begging them to leave, "If I could tell you, Katie, I would, trust me. But, I just can't say anything about it right now, maybe later, okay?" she asked quietly as she glared at the eavesdroppers around the section of lockers they were at.

The red headed girl looked up at her friend when she suddenly sighed, she looked irritated with her lack of answering, "Just forget it, bye." she said hastily before she grabbed her bag from it's place next to Quinn and stormed out of the room; the other girls were having trouble with getting out of the way soon enough before they were pushed aside, then they too left, each one whispering to their friends about the 'show' in the locker room, until Quinn was the last one in there.

Quinn sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, of course. Of course Katie would be upset about not seeing her for God knows how long. She should have known that her...condition would effect more than just her in more ways than one. A good example: Cody.

The boy had been hanging out with her and the Gargoyles far more than she ever thought possible, and the interaction between him and them... It was almost as if they were old friends.

For example, he and Lexington loved to sit in front of Quinn's laptop and talk about a lot of geeky computer stuff that she hadn't known he even understood; or, when Broadway was kind enough to allow Quinn the night off from cooking, she had been dubbed their official chef since the first time she made spaghetti, Cody was kind enough to help the light blue Gargoyle with anything he needed (though it was mainly dicing up vegetables or scraping butter around the bottom of the pans, Cody isn't very good at cooking unless it's a TV dinner); sitting with Hudson and Bronx and commenting on Celebrity Hockey whenever it was on; striking up a good conversation with Goliath on how to talk to human women since he started taking an interest in the brown haired one that Quinn had saved from the bridge, her name was Victoria and she had trailed them all to the tower after that event, now, there was never a night when she wasn't at the tower; or going so far as to drive Brooklyn up a wall just by being in the same room as said red skinned Gargoyle.

Standing up, she started walking around the room, looking for a dark corner or something that she could change into in case anyone decided they forgot something and came back, she didn't want to risk having her wings and tail seen just yet.

She groaned when she saw that there wasn't even a crack in the floor that wasn't covered in light, and that meant she'd have to change in a shower stall again. Of course, there wasn't really anything wrong with changing in a shower stall, but that was only before class when all the girls were still clean with fresh deodorant on as a feeble attempt to not stink when the class was over with; now, the floors were all wet with excess soap running into the drain from the girl's showering off the stench of hard work.

Quinn came over and grabbed her bag before she turned and started walking towards the shower stalls, then she stopped at the sound of the door opening and closing, "Quinn?" she heard someone call feebly.

The girl furrowed her brows as she stepped into the light, only to see Amber Hales standing in front of the door. Quinn's eyes narrowed, "What do you want, Hales?" she crossed her arms over her chest.

Amber stood there almost awkwardly with her hands behind her back and her feet shifting uncomfortably on the floor, "I wanted to say thank you." she said.

Quinn's eyes widened as she lowered her arms in the slightest, "For what?" she asked cautiously, thinking this might be a trick of some sort.

The blonde girl looked away from the questioning blue eyes of her enemy, "Do you remember rescuing a little girl last December?" she started.

Quinn blinked, "Was she just about doused in pink?" she asked, Amber nodded.

"That's my little sister, Cleo. You saved her from that...thing; that..monster." Quinn vaguely thought of what Goliath would do if he heard someone say that about his Rookery brother, then she remembered Lex had called him the same thing after he drowned.

The red haired girl blinked, before a smile split across her mouth, "Your welcome, Amber. I couldn't let a little girl die, now could I? How heartless do you think I am?" she asked jokingly.

Amber looked taken aback, she hadn't thought Quinn would be laughing about her thanking her, then she too smiled at the pale skinned girl, "I don't think your heartless, Quinn, just that you have a black hole where your heart should be." she laughed with the girl.

Quinn took in a breath when she had stopped laughing, "Seriously though, your welcome." she smiled and turned to start walking away from the blonde girl, when Amber called her back.

"Quinn? If you ever want to hang out sometime, I'm cool with that." she said before she offered a smile to the red head, turned, and walked out, leaving Quinn alone in the locker room once again.

Quinn nodded to herself as she chose a stall and started getting dressed, she paused with her shirt when it was just above her stomach, looking down at the tribal fire mark, it really creeped her out for some reason that she couldn't place. Shaking her head, she pulled her shirt the rest of the way down, grabbed her bag and exited the room.

She started walking out into the parking lot, where she knew Cody was waiting to pick her up, when she stopped as she registered what she saw in Cody's car.

Victoria was sitting in the backseat, leaning forward in between the driver and passenger seats, seeming to have an argument with the black haired boy.

"Why is it that I'm the one that has to sit in the back? I'm older than both of you after all." she said, her blue eyes glaring right at Cody's black eyes.

Cody looked annoyed, "Because, the front seat is reserved for girls that I date, or my little sister." he said.

Just as Vivi was about to open her mouth to retaliate, Quinn walked over and flung her bag next to the brunette in the back, "Children, don't make Mommy separate you two." she said simply as she took her place in the passenger seat while Cody started the car.

Victoria smiled at the red haired girl as they drove out of the parking lot, "How was your day, Quinn?" she asked cheerily, ignoring Cody's scoff.

Quinn rubbed the back of her head, "Oh, long... Got everyone to laugh in P.E... Listened to Katie get frustrated at me... Got thanked by my 'enemy' for saving her sister... Found out The Pack escaped this morning, well, minus Fox." she summed up.

Cody looked at her for a second before looking back at the road, she had told him about what happened with Lexington and The Pack, "Lex is gonna flip." he said, "Too bad, I'm not gonna see it happen." he smirked.

Quinn raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? Aren't you coming tonight?" she asked him, behind her, she heard Vivi shift in her seat, looking over at Cody as well.

Cody didn't say anything for a second, "I've always been curious about who my real parents are.. So, a few days ago, I hired Detective Elisa Maza to find out who they are; this morning, she called me and said she found them, and to meet with her later tonight to get the information." he explained.

Quinn smiled at him, "That's great, Cody. You'll tell me who they are when you get back, right?" she asked him.

Cody nodded at her, "You know it. All right, girls; bail out." he said as he pulled up in front of the police station and set it in park for the moment.

Quinn raised an eyebrow as she got her bag and stepped out onto the sidewalk, "Aren't you coming in for a minute?" she asked him.

Cody shook his head as Victoria came over to stand by the red head girl, "This thing with finding out who my folks are is a little nerve racking, so I'm gonna go home and relax for a bit before I meet Maza at the coffee shop on Fifth." he took the car out of park and waved at them, "I'll see you guys later." he said before he drove off down the street and disappeared down the left corner.

Quinn turned to Victoria as they entered the police station and made it to the ladder that lead to the Gargoyles home, "How should I tell Lex about The Pack?" she asked her, dropping her bag next to the trap door as they walked up the steps to go out onto the terrace.

Victoria stood behind Goliath's statue as she turned to the girl standing against the wall, "Just make it quick, like a band aid." she said as the sun went down and the stone on the Gargoyles started chipping away, revealing the skin underneath.

With loud roars, all the stone left their bodies and fell to the street bellow as they turned around and smiled at the girls.

Without a single word of greeting, Quinn blurted, "The Pack escaped jail this morning." fairly quickly just to get it over with.

"WHAT?" Lex shouted in outrage, his eyes were almost glowing.

Brooklyn flinched, "Nice wake up call." he said sarcastically before he walked over to Quinn and stood beside her, "What do you mean they escaped?" he asked her.

Quinn looked at him, "Exactly how it sounds, they escaped jail earlier this morning, though Fox decided to stay for some reason." she said.

"We should go get them! Who knows what they could be planning!" Lex suddenly shouted, pounding one fist into his open hand.

Goliath, who was standing next to Victoria, looked like he was going to intercept something, when Brooklyn stopped him, "Actually, I think it would be a good idea to track them down, lead them to the police." he interjected.

Quinn smiled at him and pat his arm, which had wound it's way around her shoulders, "I agree with Brookie." she said.

Goliath seemed to think about it for a second before he nodded, "But where would you look?" he asked them.

Lexington didn't even think, "The Pack Studios." he said before he turned and jumped off the building and gliding away in the studio's direction.

Brooklyn sighed, "Oh boy, I'll go with him." he said, starting to pull his arm away from Quinn, when her grip on him caused him to stop. Looking down at her, he raised an eyeridge.

"I'm coming with you." she said before she pulled away from him and followed Lexington off the building before he could protest.

Brooklyn blinked when she had gone, before Goliath tapping him on the shoulder got his attention. Looking up, he saw a warning in the Clan Leader's eyes, "You had better keep them both safe, Brooklyn. And take Bronx with you, he could use the exercise." he said before he entered the tower with Hudson, Broadway, and Victoria, leaving him standing there with Bronx looking up at him, his entire body quivering in excitement about going outside.

Brooklyn sighed before he picked up the Guard Beast with a little struggling, "I think we should stop feeding you for a while." he grunted from behind the great creature as he jumped off the ledge of the building and followed in the other's direction.

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"Wow, look at all the cop cars down there." Quinn breathed out as she perched on top of The Pack Studio with the other three Gargoyles.

Brooklyn nodded in agreement before he cast a glance in Lexington's direction. The khaki green Gargoyle was hunched over the skylight with a very scary look on his face that would make Goliath shake in fear.

He smiled maliciously, "Just wait until I get my hands on them, they won't think twice about messing with me again." he said it almost inaudibly, but the other three heard him.

Quinn looked at her best friend anxiously, "These thoughts can't be healthy.." she said to his worried face.

Brooklyn turned to his Rookery Brother and placed one hand on his shoulder, "Look, Lex," he started, looking to Quinn for support, all she could do was nod at him to continue, "I know your hellbent on getting revenge on The Pack, but you've gotta slow down, okay? It's like the thing between Demona and I, she betrayed my trust, and while I may hate her with a passion, I wouldn't rush blindly into a potential trap that she set up." he explained.

Lex completely ignored him as he lifted up the glass and jumped down, slamming the glass behind him.

Brooklyn sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes in agitation, "Why isn't he listening to me?" he asked to no one in particular.

Quinn stood up and walked over to where he was crouched next to the sky light and placed her hand on his shoulder, "You need to remember, Brookie, he's younger than you, therefore, he's not as mature as you are. So, he can't control some emotions like you can." she said, petting Bronx when he came up to rub against her leg, "You've just gotta give him some time then he'll see what's wrong."

The red Gargoyle seemed to think about what she said, before he nodded at her, "I guess your right." he lifted the sky light, "You wanna climb down and help him before he gets himself hurt?" he asked her.

Quinn leaned down and swung her legs through the hole before grabbing Brooklyn by his shoulder, "I'm going if you are." she smiled at him as he let go of the ledge and dropped down, Brooklyn in tow with Bronx jumping down behind them both.

They saw Lexington standing a few ways away from where they landed, he was looking around the room, his large eyes narrowed dangerously as he tried to find even the slightest glimpse of a knife.

The three other beings walked over to him, examining the room as well, "I don't think anyone's home." Quinn started to say, when the floor in front of them started opening up, revealing a large aircraft that rose out of it, "How the frak did they get that in here?!" Quinn exclaimed as she got in a fighting stance, letting her wings and tail out of the confines of her shirt.

The door to the ship opened and The Pack leaped out, charging straight at the Gargoyles and Half Breed.

Quinn got stuck with fighting Wolf, easy enough considering that her new strength might be a bit better than Wolf's, but they had completely different fighting styles.

He charged at her with a cry that sounded like he was more likely constipated than anything else, bringing his fist out in an attempt to punch her.

Quinn grabbed a hold of that fist and threw him across the room with it, "Is that seriously all you can do?" she grinned in triumph, her fangs poking out of her lips as Wolf groaned in dull pain.

Upon hearing cries of shock behind her, she turned around in time to see her friends fall to the ground after being shocked, and then nothing. They were unconscious.

The red headed girl made to run to them when she all of a sudden felt a shocking sensation on her back and she too fell to the ground with a thud, her vision swimming in blackness.

Just before she gave into sleep, she heard a vaguely familiar voice above her, "He's just the distraction, Quinn." Xanatos.

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"Before we begin, Elisa, I just wanted to say thanks for doing this, it means a lot." Cody smiled at the indigo haired woman from across the side table in the coffee shop they had agreed to meet at.

The woman nodded at him with a slight smile, "Don't thank me yet, you might not like the results." she said before she handed him a file she had managed to get together for him, "Your mother's name is Maria Esperanza, she was about nineteen or twenty when she had you, and even before you were born, she was sick. She died shortly after giving birth to you. Now, I can give you the address for her grave site if you feel the need to go and visit her, just to say a few words." she suggested.

Cody looked at the front picture after he opened the file, it had a woman with his tan skin and his black eyes as well as his hair, she looked young, a little too young to be a mother let alone dead; but he was glad he could see who gave birth to him.

He looked up at Detective Maza, "So, who's my father?" he asked her, flipping past his mother's pages until he stopped on something that almost made his heart stop.

Elisa saw his shocked expression, "That's another addition to the bad news." she said.

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"..Quinn? Hey, can you hear me?" Quinn groaned as she rubbed at her head when she heard Brooklyn's voice through the haze her mind was in.

Opening her eyes, she saw said Gargoyle looking down at her with concern, before a smile stretched across his beak when he saw her eyes open, "Hey, beautiful." he laughed as she groaned again and sat up.

"Flattery will get you no where, Brooke, you should know that." she said as she looked around at her surroundings, Lex and Bronx were a few feet away from them; they were all in a large metal crate that was dark and depressing looking and feeling, "Where the hell are we?" she asked her friend.

Brooklyn shrugged at her as he helped her to stand, before grabbing her under her arms when she rocked on her feet, "You okay?" he asked her.

She nodded, "I'm fine." she said, getting her balance once again, feeling a rocking motion through the floor, "You don't feel that?" she asked him.

Brooklyn raised an eyeridge, "Feel what?" he asked her.

She walked over to the wall and placed her hands on it's surface, "We must be on a boat if there's rocking around us." she summed up, going down the wall until her butt hit the floor, scooting over a little bit when Brooklyn sat down next to her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why is that whenever we take Bronx out, we get in trouble?" he asked to no one in particular.

Lex was seething, "This is all The Pack's fault! I swear, I will kill them all when I get the chance!" he yelled out, making Bronx get up and move over to the other two at the loud noise.

Quinn looked at Lex, "Lexington, lemme get something in your head; you need to calm down and get a grip on your nerves, brother dearest. Otherwise, and so help me, God, I will beat common sense into you until you can't feel anything but maturity." she threatened.

Lexington looked taken aback, but turned his head away from them before they could see it.

They sat in silence for a while, the only sound was the waves crashing against the boat, before a loud roar broke through the trap door in the ceiling.

Looking up, Brooklyn smiled, "Here comes the Calvary." he said happily as four talons suddenly popped through the metal, and the door was pulled off it's hinges and the sky was revealed.

"Let's go!" Quinn shouted as she jumped up and latched onto the wall, attempting to scale it until she made it to the door, sadly, since she didn't have claws she slid back down to the ground onto her butt with a grunt.

Brooklyn watched this happen as Lexington and Bronx started climbing up the wall to get to the door; when they were gone, he latched his claws into the metal, "Hop on." he indicated to his back.

When she was situated he started climbing up the wall and out the doorway.

They got out just in time to see everyone in the middle of a huge scale fight, it was hard to see who was fighting whom in the flurry of claws, knives, and fists that were flying all around the deck.

Looking closely, Quinn saw Lexington about to be attacked from behind by Hyena, so, without looking at the oil tanks that were littered all over the deck, she shot a burst of flame out at the woman, flinging her off the boat in the process of lighting up the oil tanks at the same time.

Jackal watched his sister fall off the boat, before he turned to the girl, "That's no way to treat a lady." he scolded with a grin.

Brooklyn shook his head, "That was no lady." he said simply before a blast sounded out and the entire stock of oil tanks burst into flames around the deck.

"Retreat!" a golden robot who was fighting Goliath shouted out to the remaining members of The Pack, turned, and ran off to the edge of the ship before jumping off and rocketing away.

Hudson, who was fighting Wolf tripped over an oil tank and winded up on his back as Wolf jumped over him to follow the robot.

As Quinn raced to help the older Gargoyle, Jackal ran at Brooklyn, pushing him roughly out of the way in his haste to get off the boat, but just as Brooklyn fell, the red Gargoyle grabbed a hold of Jackal's foot, which led him them both over the ledge.

Jackal grunted with the effort of holding up Brooklyn's weight, looking down, he saw the Gargoyle's foot was caught in the netting of the ship, grinning, he slammed his foot in Brooklyn's face, "Bye-Bye!" he said when the Gargoyle let go and he was free.

Somehow, Lexington had managed to grab a gun that had fallen carelessly onto the ground, and he had been aiming at Jackal when he saw his Rookery Brother go down. He looked torn between his revenge and saving Brooklyn, then remembered Quinn's threat and he dropped the gun and broke into a run to save his brother.

He used his claws to swipe the netting from Brooklyn's foot, catching the Gargoyle by his ankle and hoisting him up over the edge as he rubbed at his head.

Quinn had seen the whole thing, but she didn't get enough time to say anything, for at that moment, Hudson grabbed her wrist. Turning to look up at him after she helped him up, "Time to go, Lass!" he yelled before he let her go, grabbed Bronx and glided away from the now burning ship.

Quinn jumped up and followed him away from the ship, vaguely hearing wings breaking against the wind as the rest of the Wyvern Clan caught up with them.

Goliath came forward and glided next to her, "Are you alright, my daughter?" he asked her, starting to circle around her in an attempt to look for wounds of any sort.

Quinn laughed and grabbed his wrist to stop him before he could do a second lap, "I'm fine... Dad." she smiled.

Goliath raised an eyeridge, "What is a 'Dad'?" he asked her, tilting his head to one side.

Quinn looked straight ahead as she answered, "It's a shorter way to call someone 'Father'." she looked a little sad when he didn't say anything about it, "I knew I shouldn't have said that, sorry, Golia-"

"Call me 'Dad'." his rumbling voice interrupted her gently.

Quinn turned to look at him, an ecstatic smile on her face, "Dad." she tried it out, looking right at him, "It fits you." she said.

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Later that night..

"Have a good sleep, guys, we'll see you tonight." Victoria smiled and waved at the Gargoyles as they prepared to go to sleep for the day while Quinn went around hugging everyone one last time.

When the red haired girl got to Goliath, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for a moment, "Night, Daddy." she whispered before she pulled away and smiled when she saw the happy expression on his face.

Quinn ran over to Brooklyn and wrapped her arms around his neck as well, "Sleep well, I'll see you tonight." she said to him as she pulled away.

Brooklyn grinned, "See you tonight, beautiful." he said back as the sun came out and he went from fairly cocky to incredibly intimidating in a matter of seconds before he was frozen along with the rest of the Clan.

Vivi raised an eyebrow at Quinn with a smirk on her face, "'Beautiful', huh? Mind telling me what's going on between you two?" she asked the pale girl as they started walking down the stairs to the ladder and through the Police Station.

Quinn shrugged as she blushed a little bit before they got outside and over to where Cody was waiting for them in the same spot he left them the day before.

She bounded over to the black haired boy after Victoria waved goodbye to them both, her apartment wasn't far from the Station, "So? Who're your folks?" she asked him as she stood next to him outside his car; it was a Saturday morning, and she would go back up to sleep in Hudson's recliner after Cody went home.

Cody didn't look at her, instead, he found his shoes very interesting, "Well, it's too late to see my mom, she's dead." he started.

Quinn looked at him sympathetically, "I'm sorry, Cody." she said, "Who's your dad?" she asked him, attempting to get his mind off his mother.

Cody didn't answer her at first, didn't even look at her, then he took in a deep breath and looked at her with a pissed off expression, "David Xanatos is my biological father, Quinn."

And, done! That's the end of this chapter!

I guess I left y'all with a really big bomb in the end there, I hope you guys approve :)

Anyways, I'm starting a poll:

Should I rename Quinn? Like First name I mean?

Yes?

Or

No?

Let me know what you think.

Please review!

Don't flame!

-Zabby