Gargoyles: The Animated Series/BtVS
Season 3 for BtVS – Post "Hunter's Moon series" Gargoyles
"The Cold Face of Destiny"(Tentative Title, subject to change, suggestions welcome)
Excerpts from the personal journal of Dr. Margaret 'Maggie' Walsh
Military Base – Codename: Initiative
(December 5, 1999)
The committee has made a new addition to the Initiative and it is one I am not sure if I approve of much less like. Displeased with the slow progress of my own efforts to harness the Hostile Sub-terrestrials, whether by control chip or Project: ADAM, they have decided to pursue another possible avenue of research.
Genetics.
It was proposed by the chairman that perhaps it would be easier to obtain the desired results for a 'Super Soldier' by creating them rather than search for them. To that end they have hired one Dr. Anton Sevarius, a reknowned geneticist if somewhat infamous, to use his skills to create a suitable 'prototype'. I was not told the details of how Sevarius intended to create this prototype and when I questioned the man directly he merely replied 'all in due time my dear'.
This both irritated me and caused me to be even more determined to get the answers I sought. For the time being though I will merely observe and hope that the good doctor will show some 'professional courtesy' and tell me what I want to know. Otherwise I will have to employ some risky measures to find out without Sevarius' permission.
(December 10, 1999)
After receiving shipment after shipment of equipment the past five days Dr. Sevarius finally invited me to his branch of the compound for a briefing. Once some rather unusual security precautions were put in place he asked me to sit down and began his briefing with a slide show. To say that the doctor's plans were ambitious would be an understatement.
The briefing began with a review of a topic that had caused quite a media frenzy on the east coast of the United States mere months ago. Gargoyles. Once thought to be only crude sculptures of monsters on the side of gothic buildings were now living and breathing creatures. If Dr. Sevarius' claims could be trusted he had known about the existence of this new breed of sub-terrestrial for two years and had been involved in research on them. When she had asked who had funded that research he merely said 'private citizens with deep pockets' and continued with his briefing.
According to Anton he had on two separate occasions had the opportunity to gain knowledge of the gargoyles and their physiology. The first was during at attempt to clone a live specimen, something she had thought impossible with today's technology, but the experiment went afoul. While the clone did match the physical dimensions of the original some flaw in the cloning procedure or the accelerated growth process had altered its coloring. Instead of twilight colored skin, brown hair and white eyes the clone had dark purple skin, black hair and blood red eyes. Added to some other problems such as the clone's neurology and the experiment was considered a failure by the backer. Funding was soon after cut and Dr. Sevarius fired.
The next opportunity came about half a year ago when another employer approached him with a job offer. This time instead of cloning one of the known existing gargoyles he was commissioned to clone almost all of them. This time the employer didn't care about the replicas ability to imitate the original but rather wanted them for their combat value. Thus while the physical parameters were identical the intellects of the copies were barely at the level of common thugs. Unfortunately this lack of intellect proved to be the 'T-Clones' downfall as they were soundly defeated when confronted by cunning adversaries. His employer was furious and had blamed him despite the fact that it was her fault for setting the intelligence level for each clone. This of course led to him being fired once again and led to his current employment with the United States military.
Claiming to have learned from his previous mistakes Dr. Sevarius had decided to take a new route with his research that would meet the committee's needs. Instead of copying existing gargoyles he would instead take the best traits from them to create an entirely new gargoyle that would be completely original. Anton claimed that the overall anatomy and humanoid appearance would remain the same but the prototypes would not resemble the ones in New York in any way. When he failed to mention how he would deal with the intelligence or accelerated growth she brought it up just to make sure he had been thorough. This led to him merely giving her vague reassurances that everything would work out fine.
That alone gave me a reason to keep an eye on him.
(December 20, 1999)
Matters are becoming complicated and my suspicions regarding Dr. Sevarius seem more and more justified with each passing day. The first suspicious act was Anton apparently hiring outside mercenaries to help in acquiring certain 'materials' for his experiments. As soon as I learned of this I approached the committee on the matter stating that the hiring of such people threatened the security and secrecy of the complex. However my concerns were brushed aside with assurances from the chairman that the mercenaries were being well paid and would be 'dealt with' once they completed their allotted assignments. I tried to press the matter but was tactfully reminded of a potential problem of my own involving a Ms. Buffy Summers. Agent Finn had encountered her when dealing with some sub-terrestrials believed to be involved with the unexplained case of laryngitis a few days ago. Finn did not report this encounter or what he learned but Agent Forrest was able to inform me of this and Agent Finn's growing attraction to her. A potential problem considering Riley's role in Project ADAM but not entirely unexpected considering the abundance of young women in the area. I'll have to monitor the situation carefully between Finn and Ms. Summers.
Under this pressure I conceded to the judgment of the committee and resumed my own work. However the next instance of suspicious behavior occurred only two days ago when Anton's mercenaries carted two-dozen coffin shaped containers into his lab. I attempted to inquire as to what was in the containers, both to one of the mercenaries and to Dr. Sevarius himself, but was rudely rebuffed by the former and politely told to mind my own business by the latter. This angers me greatly as I don't like having someone in a compound I am the head of not being under my control. However until Anton gives me something I can use against him all I can do is monitor his activities and hope my patience will be rewarded.
(January 1, 2000)
I believe I am beginning to get an inkling of what Sevarius has been up to concerning his 'materials' and the coffin shaped containers. Agent Finn has been making discreet inquiries without authorization concerning an acquaintance of Ms. Summers. Roughly around the same time as the containers had been brought in one Alexander LaVelle Harris went missing and Ms. Summers as well as her associates have been trying to locate him ever since. Considering the date of Mr. Harris' disappearance and the arrival of the containers it would be foolish not to see the connection. While my own research and experiments might be met with some controversy among the scientific community I at least obey the law. My 'materials' are either were not protected by the law or were legally signed over to me by the committee. If my suspicions about Sevarius are correct then he is either a murderer or kidnapper depending on the state the contents of the containers.
I will wait awhile longer and see if Agent Finn is able to turn anything up on Mr. Harris' whereabouts. It is entirely possible that the young man was killed by some H.S.T and the body has simply yet to be found. It is also possible that he has simply left town and for some reason chose not to inform his friends of his decision. If however after a month there are no results I will send a message to the committee with my suspicions and then chance trying to access Sevarius' lab on my own. I will tell only Dr. Angleman of my intentions as a precaution in case Anton decides to take drastic measures to keep his secrets.
Outside the Doors to Dr. Anton Sevarius' Section of The Initiative, One Month Later
MidnightIt had taken some doing but she had managed to arrange for the complex to be reduced to a bare skeleton personnel compliment and had a fake message from the committee sent to Sevarius' computer. She had seen him leave via the screens in the security room and after leaving a note on Dr. Angleman's desk made her way to the doors leading to Anton's lab. Carefully, so as not to attract any undue attention, she popped the plastic covering off of the keycard scanner next to the door and activated the secret override known only to her as the person in charge of the compound. Just like they were supposed to the doors slid open and not waiting for them to finish she slipped inside and pressed the button to close them. Once the doors were once again shut and she heard the security seal activate she walked down the hallway to where the complex blueprints said the main lab was located. She knew if evidence existed that could expose Sevarius' illegal acts it would be there.
All I would need is a few documents or maybe even a video/audio recording of his experiments. She thought as she turned a corner and saw the entrance to the main lab at the end of the hallway, The committee will then have no choice but to shut down his project and arrest him.
Reaching the double doors of the main laboratory she was relieved to find that there wasn't another card reader or some similar security measure present. It was true that there had been no mention of such things in the blueprints or construction records but given all the other things Sevarius had done on his own initiative he might have put a few in place. Taking a moment to brace herself for what she might find she took a deep breath and with both hands pushed the doors open. Inside she found things that both repulsed her and at the same time intrigued the part of her that was a scientist.
The largest and most impressive area of the lab contained four rows of six cylindrical containers with each row a step up and a three feet back from the one in front. Like on a four-step staircase the tubes were arranged and when she stepped closer she saw signs that each container was designed to be easily portable without the need of disturbing the contents or the experiment. Obviously the good doctor believed it was only a matter of time before his illegal and unethical methods were discovered and had made preparations to escape with his test subjects. Inside the tubes, suspended in some sort of solution with various monitoring devices attached to them, were what appeared to be gargoyles. Sixteen females and eight males judging from the anatomy she could see and their respective builds. Each being in the cylinders was unique just as Sevarius had claimed they would be since aside from a few constants no two were alike and would be easy to tell apart on looks alone. They appeared to be adolescents, if a gargoyle's development was anything like a human's physical development, most likely in their mid to late teens. This of course made no sense to her as it seemed impossible that Anton could have grown them in such a short span of time. Not only that but her mind could not conceive of how humans or human remains could fit with what she was seeing now.
Keep looking! She thought as she tried to mentally shake herself into action, There has to be an explanation for this somewhere here.
After a few moments of random inspections she spotted a tape recorder on a table and metaphorically pounced on it since she was almost certain of what it contained. Pressing the play button she waited for the knowledge she sought to emerge from it and the key to getting rid of Dr. Sevarius.
"December 25th, 1999. Dr. Anton Sevarius recording. Project Stonemason proceeds apace and based on the data I have been collecting for the past week I believe I might very well have outdone myself. All twenty-four subjects are coming along nicely and the serum I introduced to their systems has completely neutralized the possibility of rejection." Sevarius' voice said arrogantly from the tape recorder, "I'll admit I was a little worried about the results of combining gargoyle DNA with my mutagenic formula but thanks to recent advances in genetic engineering it worked flawlessly. All that remains now is for the formula to finish its work and then the mental aspect of the experiment can begin."
Again the date where these copy gargoyles were 'born' match the day those coffin containers arrived. Walsh thought with growing concern, I am not sure I like where this is going.
"January 7th, 2000. Dr. Anton Sevarius recording. All twenty-four prototypes have completed their physical change according to the specifications I set down in the beginning. An interesting side note to this experiment is that the mutagenic formula had the unforeseen side effect of turning the subjects into examples of physical perfection." Sevarius' voice declared from the recorder, "The males look like they could easily win a body building contest and the females look like every man's wet dream. If the subjects were human of course but then again who am I to judge the appetites of modern society. In any case this development should at least aide me in creating suitable breeding stock for my plans."
"January 15th, 2000. Dr. Anton Sevarius recording. Mental reprogramming is proceeding apace with the reformatting of the subjects almost complete. Once finished none of the subjects should recall their previous lives in the slightest and will be completely dependant on me for information about the world." Sevarius said in the recording with certainty, "The last part of the programming will of course be directives making them completely loyal and obedient to me. Can't have them turning on me like two of my previous experiments did on Mr. Xanatos. Once the reformatting is completed I will move onto installing their instincts and basic combat capabilities since it will save me the trouble of having to teach them to fight or fly myself."
"January 21st, 2000. Dr. Anton Sevarius recording. The reformatting of the subjects has been completed and I have ordered the installation of second series of programs to begin. Sadly it appears as though I may have to step up the timetable a bit as it seems Dr. Walsh is beginning to suspect the less than kosher aspects of my work." Anton said in the recording with some concern in his voice at the mention of her investigation, "I knew it would be a risk bringing in the templates for the prototypes the way I did but due to hack job the designer of this place did making this place there were no covert options for getting them to the lab. Still without solid proof there is nothing she can do to upset my plans and by the time she manages to muster some I'll be long gone."
Templates? What could he mean by--? Walsh thought as she tried to fit all the pieces she had gained together to form a clear picture.
It took her less than a minute to form that picture and what she did shocked her to the core causing her to look closely at the gargoyles in the tubes for one specific set of features. Three passes of each gargoyle later she found what or rather who she was looking for and her worst-case scenario was confirmed. There suspended in an unknown solution was one transformed Alexander LaVelle Harris. It all became crystal clear to her now what Sevarius had done and she knew she had to take the tape recorder in her hand to the committee right away. The people on that board might be willing to push the envelope a little in terms of what could be considered ethical avenues of experimentation but they would never approve of this. The potential for it to blow up in their faces and land them all in prison if not worse was too great.
"What do you think of my work Dr. Walsh?" asked the last person she wanted to run into at that moment.
Turning around she was shocked to see Anton walk casually away from the double doors with his eyes never leaving hers for a moment. What was he doing here! He should be two hours away by now at least!
"I think that once I play this tape for the committee and have the soldiers posted here seize the lab that you will have a lot of explaining to do." Maggie replied deciding to stand her ground and claim the position of dominance early on.
"Well then I'd better get started shouldn't I?" Sevarius asked rhetorically with a sinister grin.
It was right then that she knew something was up. He was so calm and confident despite the fact that the house of cards he'd built was on the verge of coming down around his ears. Still the whisper of curiosity kept her from fleeing just as her still ample confidence in her position kept her confusion from showing. She watched as he began to walk in front of the first row of 'gargoyles' appraising them as one would a piece of art.
"I suppose I should start with what is most likely your most volatile question which would be 'what did you mean by templates?'" Sevarius said as he stopped in front of the tube containing a changed Mr. Harris, "Each and every single one of the subjects you see here were once human. Picked at random from the population of Sunnydale I had each of them stored at a warehouse until the full twenty-four were gathered. Once they were moved here and placed in their containers I injected them with my new gargoyle mutagenic formula."
"You see Dr. Walsh after going over my notes from past work involving the gargoyle species I discovered that it had been the combination of the cloning process and the accelerated aging process that caused the flaws. Even Thailog who some might consider a resounding success was flawed by the process as I suspect the experiment that birthed him might have had some unforeseen neurological side effects." Explained Anton before he continued his rounds of the chambers, "In any case that combined with my other failures prompted me to develop a completely different approach. Instead of growing the gargoyles from scratch and using artificial aging I would simply take living specimens and alter their genetic code to more closely match that of gargoyle DNA."
"As you heard on the tape I had been quite wary in the beginning about combining my mutagenic formula with gargoyle DNA but as you can see the results are undeniable. Once they have been properly trained and housebroken they will be quite the little cash crop for me." Sevarius said before turning and looking right at her, "'What do you mean by that' you say? Why I should think the answer rather obvious in light of recent newsworthy events. Thanks to the exposing of the gargoyle clan in Manhattan the entire world is abuzz with how this revelation will alter the course of the future."
"More importantly several members of the filthy rich will be absolutely obsessed with having a gargoyle of their very own. Whether it be for mere display or for something a little more messy it won't matter." Anton said with gleeful anticipation, "The point is that they'll pay through the nose for one and even more for a breeding pair. I of course will keep the original set. Can't have anyone copying my work now can I?"
"The best part of it all is that I won't have to worry about the problem of genetic abnormalities commonly associated with procreation between close family members. You see if I had simply cloned the gargoyles in Manhattan or even had my formula completely change the specimens to match the members of that clan I would not be able to construct a viable breeding colony. There would simply be too few females and too many males which would almost guarantee inbreeding problems." Sevarius explained as though he was giving a seminar, "Fortunately thanks to some rather… unscientific resources… I was able to isolate the key components of gargoyle DNA and incorporate them into the formula. It was like playing with building blocks in terms of simplicity. Plainly speaking I just added the gargoyle components to the specimen's existing DNA and then enhanced them so as to ensure that the gargoyle elements would be the most dominant."
"So you're saying that there is still some human DNA in them?" Walsh asked as her mind tried to comprehend what she had been told, "That they are some kind of hybrids?"
"Not in the way you're probably thinking. While it is true that some of their features and physical characteristics are similar to how they looked when they were human it is only skin deep." Anton replied appearing pleased that she had decided to join in on the topic, "If there is any human DNA still in them it is likely less than ten percent of the whole and in some cases less than five percent. Another precautionary measure on my part to ensure that no one learns the secrets of what happened here."
"Well then your plans have failed Dr. Sevarius! Now that I have this tape recorder and your lengthy confession to me the committee will have no choice but to shut you down and lock you up." Walsh said deciding that the time had come to leave, "I hope you like prison food Anton because soon it'll be the only thing you're allowed to eat."
"I'm afraid I'll have to take a rain check on that my dear." Sevarius said as though he were declining a business dinner, "As for you telling the committee about my plans I don't think they'll even listen to you."
Before she could even ask him what he meant he pulled something out of his coat pocket and a second later she felt a sharp prick in her neck. Reaching up in a panic she recognized it as a tranquilizer dart and realized that he intended to leave her unconscious here while he made his getaway. Turning she began to run for the door so she could get to a med-kit and counter the dart's effects with a shot of adrenaline. However five steps later she noticed something odd that stopped her in her tracks: she wasn't feeling tired at all. By all rights the effects of the tranquilizer dart should have started taking hold of her immediately but she didn't feel sluggish at all.
"You're probably wondering why your aren't feeling the effects of the tranquilizer dart right now. The answer is simple." Sevarius said in a truly sinister way, "That wasn't a tranquilizer dart I fired at you just now. It was the original mutagenic formula I developed when working for David Xanatos. Within a matter of hours you will no longer be recognizable as human, no longer be human, and will fit it quite nicely with the various demons you have locked up here. Also I added a little something that will most likely rob you of your ability to speak or think clearly once the transformation is complete. In short the esteemed Dr. Margaret Walsh will have disappeared and an unknown H.S.T will be captured and held for study. At least that's what everyone will think."
In shock she turned around to face him, as if looking at his face would tell her whether or not he was telling the truth, and that was when she felt a second sharp pain in her neck. Within seconds she knew that the second dart was indeed filled with tranquilizer as waves of fatigue began to roll over her and coherent thought became more difficult to achieve. She tried so hard to force herself to run to the door beyond which she would find a means of counteracting the tranquilizer. In the end she was only human though and before she managed three steps she dropped to the ground weak as a kitten with darkness rushing in from the edges of her eyes.
"It's been a pleasure working with you Dr. Walsh or should I say Hostile twenty-five." Sevarius said to her before she left the waking world for the dream world.
One Minute Later, Sevarius' Lab"Well that takes care of that problem." Sevarius muttered to himself after checking Walsh's pulse to ensure that she was indeed unconscious.
He really had to admire her daring spirit and how she managed to set things up quite nicely for a private peek at his laboratory. The arrangements she had made were almost perfect except for one little detail that she hadn't accounted for in her machinations. After that debacle with Thailog on the drilling platform off the coast of Manhattan he had made sure to install certain safety measures to ensure that no phony emails could be sent to him. The program was designed so that the very moment that a connection was made to his email account the message would be sent through a series of trace programs to determine its true point of origin. As well he had arranged, off the record, for all real emails from the committee to be sent with a specific identification marking. Add it all up and he had a foolproof way of making sure that no one could trick him like Thailog had again.
Therefore when Dr. Walsh had sent the email 'from the committee' he had known immediately that it was both false and from her computer. His first impulse had been to confront her about it and forcefully tell her to cease her snooping before he was forced to take drastic action. However upon further reflection he had decided against it as it could very well have led to an investigation by the committee into his project. He knew that Walsh only had circumstantial evidence at the moment and that her unlawful entry into his lab tonight was an attempt to gain more concrete proof. However the bits and pieces she had might have proven enough to at least get an investigator from the committee to look over his work. In the end he had decided on the course of action that he had carried out in the past few minutes. He would allow her to believe her scheme had worked and when she was suitably alone he would make sure the threat she posed was eliminated. It was truly a bit of irony that a woman who had spent the past year experimenting and dissecting demons would soon be mistaken for one and experimented on herself.
Still Walsh was no fool and had probably informed at least one person of her intention to break into his lab. When Margaret went missing one of the first places they would look would be his laboratory and then the cat really would be out of the bag. One way or another it looked as though it was time to leave.
"Ladies I do believe it is time we relocated." He said as he turned to face his three research assistants who had kept themselves hidden behind machinery, "Prepare all the cylinders for travel and have Brutus' people bring the trucks to the loading docks. I'll start getting my research materials in order and find a way to keep the path to the trucks clear."
"As you wish Doctor." Said the twenty something woman with platinum blonde hair.
With that he began walking towards his office where he'd begin copying all the important files to disk before dumping hydrochloric acid on the hard drive. Then he would deal with the paper files and audio recordings before doing what he could to keep the rest of the personnel away from the quickest route from his lab to the loading docks. He knew he would not have time to think of a way to conceal the contents of the cylinders competently so all that left was to think of a way to have the rest of the initiative avoid the chosen corridors like the plague.
I'll tell them that some hazardous waste is being disposed of and are being taken to the loading docks where trucks will be waiting to take them away. He thought as he entered his office and headed to his leather chair, If I make the contents seem foul enough all the G.I Joes and pocket protector scientists will do all they can to stay away.
Sitting down in his chair he quickly went to work while in the back of his mind he was already thinking of what he would do with his future riches.
In the Main Lab, Same Time"The plan nears fruition sisters." Spoke the white haired young woman as she turned to look at the other two.
"Indeed sister. Soon our penance will be complete and Lord Oberon will allow us to return to Avalon." Stated the young woman with hair the color of gold.
"Good. Now let us follow the final orders we need complete for that filthy human and be gone." Growled the young woman with black hair as she made it clear that the sooner their task was done the happier she'd be.
With nods from each of them, in perfect synch with one another, they went about preparing the cylinders for travel and informing the mercenaries of Sevarius' orders. It took only half an hour to get all the tubes to the loading docks and another ten for the three sisters to come up with a feasible reason why they would leave by another route. Once the last of the trucks vanished from sight and all mechanical devices that may have been watching them were disabled they shed the disguises they had worn for the past few months. The clothes one expected research assistants to wear shimmered before melted away to reveal dresses as white as snow. Their intellectual glasses vanished and their hair that once was done up in a bun was again allowed to flow freely down their backs. Each took a deep breath for it felt good to be back in the form they were most comfortable in.
"Is she in position to intercept the trucks?" Ms. Golden Hair asked the one with white hair.
"Yes she is. Our annoying brother informed me two days ago that she received our 'anonymous tip' and a day later left the city." Ms. Snow White replied in an inevitable tone of voice.
"Will he not tell his human master of our plans?" asked Ms. Black Hair with obvious disdain for the situation their sibling was in.
"Eventually yes but I believe he is looking forward to adding new players to his game. He will not spoil matters by informing his mortal master too soon." Ms. Snow White replied with a small grin.
"Then let us take our leave and let matters develop as they will." Ms. Golden Hair declared decisively.
A flash of light later and all that remained of the three women were rapidly disappearing sparkles of light that faded out of sight within seconds.
Five Miles Outside of Sunnydale, The Main Highway, Twenty Minutes LaterThere they are. She thought as she watched the three large trucks roll down the highway toward her position.
It had been only two days ago that she had received an anonymous package in her office and for a moment she had considered tossing it in the garbage immediately. However just as she had been about to do so curiosity whispered in her ear making her wonder if she was being overly hasty. It had already been cleared by security so there was nothing harmful about the package and it would only take a few minutes to examine the contents so she had opened it. What she had found inside had shocked her to the core and made her cancel all her meetings for that day and the foreseeable future. For eighteen hours straight she pored over the documents, pictures and video recordings that had been inside the parcel. Once she had examined all the material herself she dispatched her information gathering resources to confirm what they could. Right up until the moment the last bit of information had been confirmed she had assumed someone was trying to deceive her. However with all the evidence proven to be genuine her mind had no choice but to accept what she had been shown by the contents of the package.
Twenty-four gargoyles were in the custody of the American military and were being experimented on by none other than Anton Sevarius.
According to the documents the United States military had come upon the clan during one of their 'peacekeeping' missions in Europe and had captured them. The records her sources had been able to provide her with confirmed that a military operation had taken place and twenty-four crates of the appropriate size had been loaded onto a secure plane. The parcel's documents also stated that the experiments were being done at a secret government complex called 'The Initiative' deep below UC Sunnydale's Lowell fraternity house. This too had been confirmed as well as the nature of what went on within the compound. It had angered her enough to learn that gargoyles were being treated like lab rats by the humans she so despised but to learn who was in charge of them transformed anger into fury.
I should have killed that vermin when I had the chance! She thought with a growl as she raised her charged particle weapon and aimed.
With the truth no longer up for debate she had immediately began to make preparations to rescue the gargoyles being held captive. Twelve hours later she was in the air aboard her own private transport plane flying across the country towards California while the second part of her plan had no doubt arrived at its destination. The plane was thankfully fully automated for the most part and only required her to do things the machine was too stupid or not programmed to do. She had arrived six hours ago and was pleased to find that part two of her plan was in place and would wait for her signal. Then less than an hour ago she had received a message on her laptop informing her that Sevarius would be transporting the gargoyles down this stretch of highway soon. With all speed she glided to the ambush point she had chosen after a quick consultation with a map of the area. Thus she had waited and now was the time for her patience to pay off and for her greatest wish to come true.
Looking through the targeting scope of her weapon she waited until the first truck just began to appear before firing a blast across the vehicle's path. This caused the driver to quickly come to a controlled stop and all the others did likewise just as she knew they would. Like clockwork the group of mercenaries Sevarius had hired in the past exited the trucks and took up a defensive posture around the vehicles looking for the source of the attack. Adjusting the power setting on the charged particle weapon she took aim at the hood of the lead truck and fired causing smoke to rise but doing no real damage. After all it would be too much work to get another truck out here to transport the gargoyles contained within the lead vehicle. However it did have the effect of scaring that snake Anton out of the truck and behind the human she presumed was the leader of the mercenaries.
Now that everything is in place it's time I made an appearance. She thought as she slung the weapon over her shoulder and picked up two stainless steel suitcases before taking to the air.
She knew exactly when Sevarius and his men had spotted her as the former cowered even more behind the leader while the latter trained their weapons in her. Landing gracefully on the paved highway she gave the sniveling coward a feral grin that only became bigger as the fool made a poor attempt to appear relaxed. He no doubt believed that numbers and weaponry were on his side in this confrontation. He likely believed that she while dangerous could not hope to overcome the forces at his disposal. She almost laughed out loud at the image her mind provided for her when she tried to imagine how he would react when she gave the signal for phase two to begin.
"Ah Demona! What a pleasant surprise it is to see you again." Sevarius said as though meeting an expected guest at a party, "Would you care to tell me why you stopped my little convoy here? My friends and I do have something of a schedule to keep."
"The reason I stopped your 'little convoy' is because I intend to make it my convoy." Demona replied in a dead serious tone, "I know what you have in there."
She watched him curse under his breath and added one more piece of confirmation to what she already had concerning the contents of the anonymous package.
"I see. Perhaps we can come to some sort of arrangement." Sevarius said as he employed his best businessman voice, "I'm afraid that the specimens in these trucks are already spoken for but if you'll just wait a couple of months I can have twice as many ready for you to pick up. Does that sound agreeable to you?"
She let her glowing scarlet eyes respond for her as her blood boiled at the arrogance of this human. He thought he could treat her people like commodities! He dared to inflict more pain and suffering through his experiments on even more gargoyles! She had originally intended to draw this confrontation out more in order to make the second phase of her plan more gratifying but that had changed. Now she wanted nothing more than to kill the foul doctor and take the gargoyles he had tortured away from here to someplace safe. Bringing her charged particle weapon to bear she aimed it at Sevarius and growled in a primal fashion so as to let her mood be known.
"The only thing I will find agreeable is splattering your carcass all over this highway!" she yelled angrily as she pushed a button and the whine of her weapon charging filled the air.
"Kill her! KILL HER!" Sevarius bellowed as he scrambled to avoid entering the crosshairs of her weapon.
"Sorry 'doctor' but you really should have hired better help." Demona said with a sneer as she used her tail to lift the two steel suitcases and throw them in front of the leader of the mercenaries, "Here is the other half of your payment. If your men drive the trucks to address inside the suitcase and load them onto the plane you will be paid an additional five million dollars."
Much to Sevarius' horror the leader gestured and all of the men who had their weapons trained on her a moment ago lowered their guns. Like most mercenaries the leader opened the cases and inspected the money inside to be sure of its amount and authenticity. Once satisfied with his examination of the contents he took the slip of paper with the address and stuffed it into one of his vests pockets.
"Consider it done." He said before turning his head towards Anton, "What do you want to do with him?"
"I believe I already covered that." Demona replied as darted to the side where she had a clear shot of Sevarius and pulled the trigger on her weapon.
The blast from the weapon threw the now former best geneticist on the planet into the air almost tearing his body in two. It landed on the ground with a thump and rolled a few feet before coming to a complete halt. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air along with the ozone produced by the discharge of her weapon but the human mercenaries were professional enough not to let any revulsion show. With another gesture from the leader the rest of the mercenaries loaded back onto the trucks but just as the leader was about to board the lead vehicle she grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Before you depart I would like to get a look at the cargo." She said in a perfectly business oriented tone.
Nodding he headed for the back of the truck with her following a safe distance behind. With the removal of the lock and a twist the two back doors of the truck opened the illuminated and fully functional cylinders containing her new clan. For that is what they would be once they were safely at her retreat outside of Manhattan and she had her own team of geneticists ensure that Sevarius had not done anything potentially lethal to them. As she leapt up and into the truck between the two rows of four she recalled how the materials she had received in the mystery package had not specified what sort of experiments had been conducted on these gargoyles. Shoving that thought aside, confident that any problems could wait until later, she examined the members of her new family and was pleased by what she saw. All of them appeared to be strong and had the look of warriors about them as well as the look of a fine brother or sister. However when she came to the last cylinder on the left what she saw inside was not a potential sibling but something she desired much more than that. Inside was a male of a fairly muscular build (not quite as pronounced as Goliath but definitely superior to Brooklyn) with long brown hair and blue skin much like her own. He had the same noble bearing as her former love but at the same time she sensed an inner ruthlessness that mirrored her own. With that thought this gargoyle's future was decided and their destinies intertwined.
Soon my future love, soon. She thought as she placed a hand on the glass of the container, Soon we will be together and we will forge a future for our clan such as no one as ever seen.