Elisa stood on the steps of the 23rd precinct, dressed in her dress blue uniform and blinking rapidly in the glaring lights from all of the television cameras that stood in a half moon ring that was several people thick.

Camera flashes lit the area in a strobe type effect.

Elisa knew it was going to be a few days before people would stop coming up to her on the street and praising her for something that she only saw as doing her job. She had hope that having her picture in the papers in her uniform, one that she very rarely wore, maybe people wouldn't recognize her as often.

She'd meant what she'd said to Goliath. It was hard for her to accept the congratulations and awards when she felt like she got the best end of things.

She got Liam.

She stood at the podium, smiled and accepted the plaque and the medal. She posed for the pictures and answered some questions for the media.

All the while, she fought the urge to look at the rooftops. She knew that Goliath was there somewhere.

The pomp and circumstance was all a little much for her, and she wanted nothing more than to duck into an alley and have him get her out of there.

Finally, thank the Gods, it was over. The reporters peeled off and departed in their vans and cars. The mayor and his entourage retreated, and Elisa was finally allowed to go back in the station and change back into her regular clothes.

Finally comfortable for the first time since getting to work that night, back in her blue jeans and tee shirt, Elisa made her way back to her desk.

"Cute kid," Matt said, holding the framed picture of Liam that Elisa had placed on her desk.

"Thanks," Elisa said. "I think so."

"With his coloring, he could pass as your natural born son." Matt said with a grin, placing the picture back in its place. "You going to tell him he's adopted?"

"He'll find out someday," Elisa said. "I'll tell him, when he's old enough and secure enough to understand."

"Can I still be 'Uncle Matt'?" He asked with a grin.

Elisa gave him an exasperated look. "Why don't you and Pamela settle down and get a kid of your own to spoil?"

"Spoiling yours is more fun," Matt said. "I can spoil him silly, and send him home to you when I'm done."

"Gods help me," Elisa replied with an eye roll. "Come on, partner. I have the need to get out of here, and back out on the street where I belong."

"Deal," Matt said.

"Anything good on the hot sheets?" Elisa asked, referring to the nightly crime report of updated cases.

Matt shrugged. "A few B and Es, a hit and run with property damage and a group of kids trespassing at a warehouse."

"Anyone already assigned?"

"Christianson and Martinez are taking on the hit and run." Matt admitted. "The other two are still unassigned."

Elisa dug out a quarter. "Heads the B and E. Tails, the juvenile delinquents."

"Deal," Matt said.

Elsia flipped the coin in the air, the fluorescent lights glinting off of the edged as the thin silver disc rotated in the air. Elisa caught it, and flattened it on the top of her desk. Lifting her hand, she grinned.

"Tails," Elisa announced.

"Let's go talk to some witnesses about some kids." Matt said. "Toss that thing again and let's see who gets to drive."

Elisa grinned. "Heads or tails?"

Matt and Elisa pulled onto the Third avenue Bridge, heading for Lincoln and 132nd, the last reported place of the kids in question.

"How long ago did the call come in?" Elisa asked, looking the report over. Matt won the coin toss, so they were currently driving in his beat up gray lexus.

Oh, it may have started out silver, but the man never washed the thing, so it looked more dingy gray than anything.

Elisa took the opportunity to look over the reports. Five in all. Same group of kids, roughly counted at 12, meeting up, starting fires in trash cans and whooping it up.

"No drug paraphernalia found, no liquor bottles left behind," she said, puzzled. "What are these kids doing?"

"Who knows," Matt said. "Call came in about 20 minutes before you got there, but was rated a pretty low priority. Big cases already assigned by the time you got to the station, so we get this." Matt turned onto Lincoln Avenue. "It's a junkyard on our left.." he trailed off, spotting the fence and home made painted sign. "There it is."

"OK," Elisa said, tucking the papers under the passenger visor. "Park on the side, and let's see what we can fine in there."

"Yes, ma'am," Matt said, coming to a quiet stop.

Together, the partners stepped from the vehicle and slowly made their way to the entrance. A thick chain and lock held the tall chain link gates together, but allowed them to swing open just enough for the two slim adults to pass through.

"Nice security here," Matt said quietly.

"It's a junkyard," Elisa replied in a similar volume. "What is there to steal?"

"Fair enough," Matt whispered.

"Listen," Elisa said, holding up a hand to stop Matt.

The sound of voices reached their ears from somewhere towards the rear of the junkyard.

"They're still here?" Matt asked, incredulous.

"Seems like," Elisa said.

"How should we handle this?" Matt asked.

"Let's take a look," Elisa suggested. "I'll take a peek. You call it in."

"Okay," Matt said, doubtfully. "You be careful."

"You got it," Elisa said. She drew her weapon, and crept forward. She was hoping that they were dealing with some rowdy kids, and just the threat of jail would scare them off… but even kids these days were armed.

The closer to the rear of the large yard she got, the louder and clearer the voices got.

"...that they'll get the message?" came a raised female voice.

"They'll get it," a male roice said in return. "You all know the plan. We go after the one thing that they come here for, and they'll come to us. They'll listen to us."

"They'll have to," said another voice.

Elisa frowned, trying to make sense of the conversation.

"So, it's happening," came an authoritative male voice. "We keep in contact. First opening, and we take the chance."

"What about those Gargoyle things?" a female voice said. "They're everywhere."

The leader gave an inelegant snort. "There's only six of them. We draw them out. Separate them. Keep them busy elsewhere."

Elisa reached up and clicked on her communicator so that she could pass the information on the the clan. "Hey guys, I'll explain later, but for now I need you guys to listen up."

"Gotcha," Lexington's voice came through.

"We cause disturbances through the city. Keep them busy, and we take care of our business. We join up at our base, and we wait."

Cheers raised from the gathering, and a lot of unintelligible yells followed.

One phrase caught Elisa's attention, however.

"Oberon can't ignore us forever." the leader yelled over the noise.

Elisa felt herself jump a little in surprise. "What in the world?" Elisa muttered. She started looking for a space between the piles of crushed cars, hoping to get a glimpse of someone in the crowd.

A small shaft of flickering firelight caught Elisa's attention. She had to stand on tiptoe to see through it, but it was a decent view.

Three metal barrels had fires lit in them, but that was the only light in the place. The leader stood a head and shoulders above the rest, making Elisa think that he was standing on a platform of some kind. He had a body to match the booming voice, with broad shoulders and a squared jawline. With longer black hair, threaded through with some bright blue streaks, he looked to be in either his late teens or possibly early twenties.

"Did they just say Oberon?" Lex asked.

"Yeah," Elisa said quietly.

"Are they serious?" Lex asked. "Or are they just a bunch of new age kids, trying to cause trouble?"

"They look serious, Lex," Elsia admitted, trying to memorize as many of the faces as she could.

She jumped as a hand clamped on her shoulder.

"Sorry," Matt said quietly. "Backups on its way."

"Thanks, Matt." Elisa answered. She was still watching through the opening at the group of kids.

The sound of sirens broke over the groups yelling, and they immediately scattered.

"Damn," Elisa swore.

Matt and Elisa, after working together for years, peeled away from their hiding wall together. Weapons drawn, they stepped out into the light.

"NYPD," Matt shouted. "Freeze."

One girl, who had been running in their direction, skidded on the gravel, falling on her rump, and attempted to get to her feet to run the other direction.

Elisa clamped a hand on her arm and forced her down to the ground. "Stay down," She ordered the girl, as she dug her handcuffs out of her back pocket.

Matt had attempted to catch another runner, but hadn't wanted to get too far from Elisa's side. Giving up, he moved back towards Elisa as she was sitting the girl up to ask her questions.

"Matt," Elisa called to him as she watched the last of the kids bail over the fence toward freedom. "Go let the backup officers know which way they went."

Matt looked at her confusedly, then jogged off to catch the officers before they left their vehicles.

"Now," Elisa said, dropping to a knee in front of the now angry girl, "What in the world were you kids doing out here?"

The girl clamped her mouth shut and glared.

Elisa sighed. "I heard you guys yelling about Oberon," Elisa said casually, getting the girl to her feet. "Shakespeare fans?"

The girl practically snarled.

"Please tell me you guys are some rogue literary club, and not a big group of psuedo- religious nuts of some kind." Elisa said, lacing her voice with a healthy dose of sarcasm. "You know, the ones who go out in a field, bang a drum and praise Thor the Thunder God."

The girl remained tight lipped until Elisa got her outside of the fence, and into the light from the police vehicles. The flashing strobe effect from the red and blue rooftop lights gave the scene an eerie, otherworldly appearance.

"Hey guys," Elisa called out to the two officers who remained behind with their car. "We caught one fish," Elisa nodded to the sullen teenager. "Might be more hiding in there. Would you mind doing a sweep, just to make sure we don't have any stragglers?"

The officers agreed, and pulled out their flashlights to take a look around.

"Thanks guys," Elisa said, leading the cuffed girl to the squad car.

Elisa opened the door to a squad car, and put her hand on the girl's to keep her from hitting her head on the way into the backseat. The girl turned, opened her mouth as if to speak, then got her first good look at the woman who had arrested her.

The girl's mouth dropped open in astonishment. "It's you," She said, laughing.

Elisa frowned. Nothing good had ever come from anyone saying that to her.

Ever.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elisa bit out.

The girl just smiled, and it was the kind of smile that sent chills down her spine.

Elisa leaned in so that her head was in the backseat with the girl.

"What are you talking about?" She growled.

"Nothing," the girl answered sweetly. "Just that we were looking for you."

"Why?" Elisa demanded.

"What's the problem?" Matt demanded, not knowing what was going on, be recognizing the tone in his partner's voice.

"Nothing, sir," the girl said, sounding for all the world as if she were sweet and innocent.

"Bullshit," Elisa snapped.

"Elisa," Matt said, firmly taking her shoulder and pulling her out of the vehicle. He slammed the door shut as soon as there was no danger of hitting Elisa in the head. "What's going on?"

"She said she knows me," Elisa pointed to the girl on the other side of the glass. "That her and her group know me, and has been looking for me."

Matt didn't soften his voice. "A lot of people know you," he stated. "Your face is all over the news right now. She's just trying to get you to lose your temper."

"Mission freaking accomplished," Elisa snapped, then lowered her voice. "Matt, they were talking about the Gargoyles, and how they were going to draw them out to different areas. Separate them."

Matt frowned. "Seriously?" He reached in his pocket, putting his own communicator in his ear to get the clan involved, if they weren't already. "You guys hearing this?" He asked.

"Yes," Lexington said. "I have been passing along any information, but cut your direct transmission to the clan. I didn't want conversation to distract you."

"Good call," Elisa agreed. She was angry, but a good part of that was to cover the fact that she was getting scared. Scared for not only herself, but for the clan as well.

Knowing the clan was out there, however, and knowing Goliath, he would have heard her voice and come swooping in.

"What are they up to?" Matt asked.

"I didn't catch that part," Elisa admitted. "I heard something about Oberon, and about him not able to ignore them." She ran her hand through her hair. "I was hoping they were some crazy old - world - religious wannabes who wanted to use a ouija board to conjure spirits or something, but now I'm not sure."

Another police cruiser pulled up behind the car that was currently holding the one juvenile that they caught, followed by a third. Any chance for Elisa and Matt to talk without being overheard was lost.

The two officers came out from the yard, flashlights still in hand.

"They're all gone," One officer said. "Place is cleared out."

"Thanks guys," Matt called out, waving them over. "This one girl that we caught has made threats toward my partner. Any chance you guys could drop her off at the 23rd, so we can get a better idea of what was going on tonight?"

"Sure thing," One officer said, digging the keys out of his pocket. "Nothing else for us to do here anyway. Fire department is on their way to put out the trash fires, but someone else can wait for them. We'll follow you to the station, and you can escort her in from there."

"Deal," Elisa said grimly.

Once back in their own vehicle, Matt started his car, and steered back onto the road and towards the station.

"Maybe you'd better call the Captain," Matt suggested quietly.

"On it," Elisa said. She pulled out her phone and dialed the number that would rind directly to Captain Maria Chavez's desk.