You all know where the chapter title comes from. No need to bother explaining it.
Chapter 11: Try Everything:
Radiant Garden – High Tower:
"This is troubling," the large winged figure commented as he walked beside the ruler of Radiant Garden along the upper levels of the castle as more and more similar looking statues came to life and shed their stone skin. The news the man he was speaking to had delivered was truly disconcerting, and he wished to discuss how best to protect the city.
"I agree, Goliath," Ansem replied as the duo walked past the remaining gargoyles awakening from their stone slumber with the setting of the sun. A thousand years ago, the gargoyle clan had once served as guardians of human settlement, before prejudice, a brutal massacre, and a bitter military defeat caused a human sorcerer to curse the surviving clan members to remain in stone (their biology caused them to turn to stone at sunrise as their way of sleeping) permanently, until and unless "their resting place rose above the clouds." Scrooge McDuck had discovered the statues on his travels before the fall of Xehanort, and had them brought to Radiant Garden when he set up shop. Partly because everyone had other priorities at the time (and partly to avoid them being destroyed should Maleficent and Xehanort attack again), Scrooge kept them in storage until after the official end of the Xehanort War.
After the war ended, Ansem and Scrooge decided to have the statues moved to the upper levels of Hollow Bastion for decoration, recalling ancient lore of how such sculptures were used to ward off evil. That evening, the duo bore witness as the gargoyles within awoke for the first time in a millennium. At first, the clan was disoriented by the changes to their surroundings and slightly bitter towards humanity for the betrayal that had led to their predicament, but after a few conversations with the king of Radiant Garden, Goliath and his clan began to warm up to humans once more. Goliath and Ansem quickly became close friends, and the Gargoyle leader had become one of the scientist-king's most trusted advisors. Which was why Goliath remained at the castle while the rest of his clan flew out to enjoy Radiant Garden's night life.
"The resurgence of known operatives of the Hellfire Club can only mean that Maleficent has decided she's done waiting around to conquer," Goliath went on. "She's ready to begin her campaign. None of the other members of her cabal have the charisma and leadership necessary to keep all of her allies in line, and they would not trust a newcomer so easily." Ansem nodded his head in agreement.
"The real question though," the king answered. "Is just how far her empire has spread without us realizing it." The two leaders didn't have a good answer for that question, so they set it aside as they continued their evening walk down to the library while helping to coordinate the defense of the city. After getting over their bitterness over the previous massacre of their clan, the Gargoyles had pledged to defend the city by night on the condition that the Royal Guard protect them while they slept by day. Time differences between worlds would make things challenging, but they'd been discussing Gargolyes enlisting in the Coalition Defense Force and the Intelligence Network for a while now, and in the face of this new crisis, having Gargoyles on the front lines of the conflict could make a huge difference.
Zootopia – Cliffside Asylum:
"This is Officer Hopps," Judy called out into her radio as she, Nick, Sora, Donald, and Goofy raced through the corridors of the abandoned hospital after the robed trio who were attempting to steal the Night Howlers and animal potions. "Strike Team Gamma and I are in pursuit of three suspects who have stolen Hellfire Club bioweapons and a cache of Night Howlers. Requesting reinforcements on the ground floor of the building." The rabbit breathed out a sigh of relief when Chief Bogo announced that every officer on the scene was forming a perimeter around the building to prevent escape. They didn't know the capabilities of these mysterious figures, but they weren't taking any chances.
"Who are these guys?" Sora wondered aloud as he cast a Dark Firaga spell down the hallway past the interlopers. The fireball hit the wall and set scattered papers ablaze, forming a wall of fire that boxed the intruders in. With nowhere else to go, the three robed figures turned around to face their pursuers. Sora glared at them as he angrily demanded to know who they were and what they wanted with Yzma's potions. To the surprise of absolutely no one, the thieves' response was confusing and enigmatic.
"We are Legion, infidel," the woman (her voice gave her gender away) in the lead spat. "And these are the keys to your salvation. When the Cycle is broken, even the lost shall be saved." Knowing that they weren't going to get any straight answers out of her and her compatriots, Sora called on the dark powers he'd acquired when Vanitas had reawakened at the end of the Xehanort War and warped behind the group of intruders and swung his Keyblade, intending to use the blast of darkness that he usually used for this technique to daze these "Legion" members long enough for Nick and Judy to handcuff them. But to Sora's surprise, the warrior to his far left caught the blade with his bare hands and extinguished the wisps of Darkness emenating from the tip of the blade.
"Such techniques are useless against a Legionnaire, heathen," the man snapped. "Your kind shall soon be cast into the depths of the dark realm where you belong." With that, the man fired a "Holy" spell that forced Sora to jump back in order to dodge. This gave the self-proclaimed Legionnaires the opening to flee through what could only be described as a corridor of Light while Donald and Goofy were too stunned to do anything. Nick and Judy attempted to tackle the retreating warriors, only to be flung back by Reflega spells. As the rest of the Zootopian Police Force raced into the area, Sora could only stand there and think of the ramifications of what the man had said. They were dealing with a new player in Coalition space.
Twilight Town – Market Street:
"Do you have any proof that this is accurate?" Vanitas asked the man sitting across from him in the crowded Twilight Town café. "I don't entirely trust you and I can't give my boss this kind of information based on your word alone. For all I know Maleficent sent you to feed us false information and throw us off her trail. How do I know you're being honest about your betrayal of her?"
"Unfortunately for both of us, you don't," Loki replied. "But I can offer you a more solid case for what she's after. See if any of the libraries in the known worlds have any information on "The Gauntlet of the First Master." That should point you in the right direction." As far as Maleficent knew, he was back at the Kiln discussing the loss of their San Fransokyo and Zootopia bases. While that was technically true, as the Norse god of magic, he was more than capable of being in two places at once. Which was why he had sought out the high ranking agents of the Dayreak Coalition's intelligence division to discreetly leak details of the Hellfire Club's schemes. He needed to start letting information slip out in order to lay the groundwork for the masterstroke of his plan.
Vanitas groaned in frustration. Monsters Inc. monitored the world from which they drew their energy and had heard of Loki's exploits, along with Thor's reconciliation with his brother. But while he appreciated the prospect of extra help, he had no way of verifying whether the Asgardian was really on their side. For the time being, he needed to keep the man at arm's length.
"I can send in a few agents to verify the locations of those bases," he finally said with a heavy sigh. "I'll check on the Gauntlet information myself. But if you're not being honest with me, I will make you wish you were dead. Do I make myself clear?" Loki nodded in understanding before his astral projection melted away. Vanitas groaned now that he was finally alone. It was challenging being at the near-top of the food chain in C.I.N., and because of his predilection for violence (which he blamed Xehanort for cultivating), he was often the one stuck doing the morally questionable but occasionally necessary work that his profession required. Forcing himself to focus on the now, he pulled out his phone and called Cassim. They had some new leads to investigate.
That's right people, I'm bringing Gargolyes into the mix. To avoid over-stuffing the current storyline, the Gargoyles mythos has been heavily streamlined (meaning no Xanatos, Puck, Oberon, or King Arthur. Sorry fellow Gargoyles fans L) Macbeth and Demona will still have roles to play, but by and large, the Gargoyles characters will only have minor parts in the story. I mainly added them in for new Disney cameos outside of Marvel, but since I heard from an interview with series creator Greg Weisman that there were once failed talks to include the series in the KH games (interview was unclear if it was KH3 or an earlier game), so I decided it would be fun to acknowledge that and have some Gargoyles characters show up in my Acolytes of Chaos Saga.
So yeah, more bread crumbs about the Legion's goals and motivations. The consequences of The Legion revealing themselves to the heroes so early will be shown at the end of San Fransokyo. Rest assured, N.I. will not be happy with these three. As for what they're planning, people familiar with the Gargoyles comic series by Slave Labor Graphics will find a clue as to what the potions and night howlers are for.
I figured that it would make sense for Loki to start leaking information on the Hellfire Club to whoever he felt would make the most use of it, so he's offering his services to Vanitas as an informant. In the future I'll be having a bit more snark between the two of them as Vanitas begins to trust him more.
Anyway, that's it for Zootopia. I know the chapters and plot were short, but I didn't want to just copy the movie with Sora, Donald, and Goofy thrown in. Next chapter we're heading to San Fransokyo, which will also be brief. The storylines for the Disney worlds aren't going to be as long in this story, since most of them won't be following the stories of their respective movies. I know this story so far is light on detailed action scenes, but I'm mostly saving the details for when they really matter story-wise.