Warning!
This chapter contains elements of child endangerment. For those who wish to avoid it, here is a chapter summary:
After finding Bronx and Fu-Dog in distress in the kitchen, Broadway and Angela find 'Egwardo' in the freezer where someone has apparently put the egg intentionally. Brooklyn and Katana later come home to find Dr. Sato who informs them about the situation but also reassures them that the egg is fine and unharmed. Katana sees Angela cradling the egg and remembers her nightmares. Already upset by her child being endangered, she overreacts and she lashes out, slapping Angela across the face. A fight nearly breaks out but Dr. Sato defuses the situation, at least temporarily. Afterwards, as they're leaving, Angela reveals the gender of 'Egwardo' in retaliation, knowing that Katana didn't want to know. A real fight breaks out between them. Goliath returns from Elisa's apartment, musing on the fight they had and feeling regret for it. He finds the two gargoyles fighting and intervenes, demanding an explanation. He's informed about the egg endangerment and Brooklyn expresses fears about their lack of safety at the castle. Alarms suddenly go off through the castle. It is then revealed that when Coldstone and Coldfire have returned from their patrol, and have been attacked by one of Xanatos's Iron Clan robots. But were the robots really after them... or someone else?
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Broadway and Angela swung by the kitchen for a quick snack after they returned from patrol. They were both famished after they'd been gone all night and had missed dinner. In truth, their duties hadn't been the only distraction. Lately, the only way they could relax and enjoy each other's company was when they were away from the castle, so it was worth it to arrive home late. But by the time they got back, Brooklyn, Katana, and Nashville had already left, leaving no one to man the comms.
As they moved through the castle corridors and neared the industrial kitchen, they heard growling, barking, and whining from within. Broadway pushed open the kitchen doors and found Bronx and Fu-Dog frantically clawing at the large walk-in freezer. They had already scored deep claw marks into the thick metal door, and—given enough time—they would have surely broken their way in for whatever it was they were after. Normally, Broadway and Angela would have suspected they were after a leg of lamb or a steak, but it was the desperate way they whined and cried—as if in pain or terror—that had the couple worried. They both knew from recent events that the beasts' instincts should be taken seriously.
"Aren't they supposed to be guarding the egg?" Angela asked, alarmed.
"Yeah, and it's not like them to get distracted from that," Broadway said, eying the freezer suspiciously. He tried to pull the beasts back so he could investigate, but they kept charging back and pushing him aside as they tried to desperately claw open the door.
"Boys! Cool it! We're trying to help!" Broadway said as he and Angela wrestled to push them aside. It took a great deal of effort before they were able to get the beasts out of the way long enough to get the door open, but once they did, they immediately saw why Bronx and Fu-Dog had been so frantic to get inside.
Sitting on the floor of the freezer, forlorn and unprotected from the cold, was a large, lavender speckled egg.
"No..." Angela breathed, her breath fogged in the cold. She dove for the precious egg and scooped it up in her arms. She tenderly cradled it as she quickly fled back out of the freezer.
"Is the egg okay?!" she wailed. "Oh, please tell me it's okay."
"I don't know," Broadway said, heart-stricken, and he put his hand on the shell. It felt dangerously cold.
"I don't know anything about eggs, or how to actually care for them—" Angela rambled frantically. "We never had any on Avalon. Not while I was there."
"Let's go call Dr. Sato. Maybe he'll know what to do," Broadway said, desperately scrambling for options. "In the meantime, keep holding it close like you are. That's gotta help."
Angela nodded in agreement, and they quickly left the kitchen in search of help, the egg still clutched securely in her arms. The two beasts whined piteously as they followed at their heels.
...
...
Katana, Brooklyn, and Nashville returned from their patrol exhausted, and ready to retire for the day. Nashville immediately dashed off for the TV room to play a video game he had been obsessing over, so Brooklyn and Katana decided to go down to the rookery to check on the egg, like they did after every patrol.
But when they entered and saw the empty rookery and no sign of Fu-Dog or Bronx, Katana panicked.
And not just a little.
Brooklyn tried to reassure her that there must be a reasonable explanation, though he was trying hard not to panic himself. He'd tear down the whole building with his bare hands, castle and all, to find the egg if he needed to, but overreacting wouldn't help. The egg could not have gone anywhere on its own, so together they went in search of anyone who might have an answer or who had seen anything. It wasn't long before they bumped into Dr. Sato who was headed toward the elevators. They were alarmed by his presence as he only turned up when someone was injured.
"Oh, good, you're here," the doctor said, relieved. "I'm glad I didn't miss you."
"What is wrong?" Katana asked, dreading the answer, fearing the worst.
"There's been an incident with your egg. All is well, but the egg is currently in the infirmary," Dr. Sato informed them as he repositioned his glasses.
"What?" Brooklyn said, alarmed.
Katana didn't stop to ask questions. Like a streak of blue lightning, she bolted to the infirmary, her mate and the doctor followed frantically behind, barely able to keep up. When she arrived, she burst through the doors and found Angela cradling her egg protectively, crooning to it like it was her own.
Flashes of the horridly vivid dream where Angela had stolen the egg for her evil and deranged mother overlaid upon the scene before her like a palimpsest. Katana saw the desire in Angela's eyes, the want, and without stopping to ask a single question, she lunged forward and roughly pried the egg from the younger female's arms. Angela hadn't even had a chance to register Katana's presence before the egg had been stripped from her grasp. She opened her mouth in shock, but before she could utter a single word, Katana pulled back her hand and slapped Angela hard across the face. The sharp sound echoed sickeningly through the quiet chamber.
Angela had gasped involuntarily at the strike and then stared at Katana, stunned, her eyes wide and welling with tears. A bead of dark blood rose up on her cheekbone where one of Katana's talons had cut her, and she pressed a shaking hand to her sore cheek, mouth agape.
"What the hell, Katana?" Broadway demanded as he stepped between her and Angela, shielding his mate from any further mistreatment.
Everyone else in the room was still too shocked to speak or move for a moment.
"Do you have any idea how terrified I was to find my egg gone with no explanation? You must never touch my egg without permission!" Katana shouted.
It's the clan's egg. You've reminded me of this time and time again, Brooklyn thought to himself, but he dared not call out his mate at the moment. Not when she was this worked up.
"We didn't take it. We saved it," Angela said defensively as she rubbed her cheek.
"She's right," Dr. Sato said as he walked past them and gingerly examined the cut and the blooming contusion on Angela's face. He quickly administered first-aid, cleaning the wound with an antiseptic and dressing it with a butterfly bandage, all while efficiently explaining what happened earlier. "The egg had only been in the walk-in freezer for a minute or two as far as I can tell. If it hadn't been for the quick actions of Angela and Broadway, the outcome could easily have been fatal."
"The freezer?" Katana said horrified, and she clutched the egg tighter to her chest.
"How the fuck did the egg get in the freezer?!" Brooklyn growled as he placed a hand on it protectively.
"We don't know," Broadway said. "We went to get something to eat and found Fu-Dog and Bronx clawing at the freezer. The egg was just sitting on the ground inside. We did everything we could think of to save it, including calling for help."
Dr. Sato gently placed a cold compress against Angela's cheek and instructed her to leave it there for a few minutes. "Over the phone, I recommended the egg be wrapped in thick blankets and put on a heating pad for a little while to warm it back up." he said, turning to address the others. "After I arrived, I used an ultrasound to check on the life inside, and the baby appears to be fine. I don't think the egg was in the freezer long enough for the baby to have sustained any life-threatening injuries."
"Uh, thank you, doctor," Brooklyn said awkwardly, relieved but dazed as he was still reeling from the shock that the egg had been imperiled in the first place. Now that he'd calmed down enough to process what he'd heard, a different realization gripped him. There was no way the egg could have wound up in the freezer unless someone had intentionally put it there. But who could have done such a heinous thing? The jumble of questions, fears, and suspicions began to pitch and roll in his mind, making him feel sick to his stomach.
Katana still clutched the egg tightly in her arms. Angry and frightened tears welled in her eyes as she listened to everything the doctor said.
Brooklyn looked at the pain on his mate's face, then out at the faces of those standing around him. "Why didn't anyone bother to contact us on the comm so we knew what was going on?" Brooklyn demanded, now casting the piercing gaze of his one eye squarely upon his brother. "We wasted time searching frantically before we happened to run into the doctor. Nevermind the stress it caused." Brooklyn added, placing a comforting hand on Katana's shoulder.
"We didn't have time. Angela and I were focused on saving the egg, as you might have heard. We barely had time to call Dr. Sato," Broadway snapped, glaring back at his brother.
"Maybe if you and Angela had actually been back on time instead of screwing around like you always do, this wouldn't have happened in the first place!" Brooklyn growled.
"We weren't screwing around!" Broadway threw back.
"I can smell it!" Brooklyn spat.
Broadway snarled in response, and his eyes flashed at Brooklyn's uncouth barb. Brooklyn responded in kind, assuming a defensive stance in case Broadway lunged at him.
Dr. Sato glanced from one livid gargoyle to the other. The brothers dwarfed him in both size and strength, and anyone with a pulse could feel the temperature in the room had reached a dangerous boiling point. The threatened face-off was not only terrifying to behold, it was immediately apparent to the doctor that both males were standing far too close to a very fragile egg. He knew he had to do something.
After spending years as a trauma surgeon, Dr. Sato was accustomed to intense pressure, often having to operate in circumstances where a life hung in the balance. Under such extremes, fuses always ran short and emotions high, further endangering already delicate situations. Protecting the outcome took skill, ingenuity, and sometimes a little creativity. As such, he'd learned a thing or two about the art of de-escalation.
Mustering his courage, Dr. Sato stepped between the two growling males and cleared his throat loudly. "Since I'm here, would any of you like to know the sex of the baby?"
Both brothers instantly looked as though a bucket of ice cold water had been flung over them. The blaze in their eyes quickly extinguished, and their stances relaxed somewhat.
"Uh, what did you say?" Brooklyn asked, turning his full attention to the doctor.
"I happened to find out the baby's sex while examining the egg via ultrasound. At least, I'm reasonably certain of the gender," Dr. Sato added.
There had been opportunities during Brooklyn and Katana's time travels to learn the gender of the unhatched egg, but Katana believed strongly in tradition, in waiting, and Brooklyn supported his mate, but for a moment he hesitated, tempted by the offer. But when he glanced over at his mate for confirmation, he immediately registered Katana's serious expression. She then crossed her arms and gave him a curt shake of the head, making her position on the matter crystal clear.
Brooklyn turned back to Dr. Sato. "Thank you, but no. We'd rather wait until they hatch to find out."
"That is our way. How it should be," Katana added solemnly.
"I understand," Dr. Sato said. "Like I mentioned before, the baby appears healthy, and a day's rest and rejuvenation during stone slumber should resolve any minor issues that I could not detect, but please call me if you have any questions or concerns."
"Thanks again, doc," Brooklyn said gratefully, though he wasn't able to fully hide the mix of emotions in his voice.
Not wishing to intrude further, the doctor quickly gathered his things and headed towards the door, but he felt the urge to say one more thing before he left, and he turned to face the couples one more time.
"I know your clan operates independently from human rules and laws of society, but when a child shows up hurt in my ER and there are signs of it being intentionally caused… as a doctor, I am bound to report it to authorities so that the police can investigate. That's not possible in this case, but I wanted you all to know how serious something like this is, and you should handle it accordingly." Then he left the couples in awkward silence, the door swinging shut behind him.
Dr. Sato's departure had a sobering effect, and no one spoke for a long time. Not even after they all left the infirmary together, the egg held tightly in Katana's arms. No one knew exactly what to say when someone had just endangered the life of an unhatched baby gargoyle. A low they couldn't imagine anyone could sink to, including Xanatos who, despite his dubious morals, knew the value of family after he'd nearly lost his own son. The threats to his own wife—who he also appeared to truly love and adore—also ruled him out as a potential suspect.
Whoever was behind the attacks—from petty thievery, tripping, pushing, shoving, to attempted poisoning, drowning, and now child endangerment—was clearly escalating. If they could stoop so low as to try and harm a child, it was clear to every single one there, that no one was safe anymore. Not unless they discovered who was behind it all. And It had to be someone who lived at the castle considering the ease of access in which they'd had to attack, but if it wasn't Xanatos or anyone closely attached to him, then that likely left someone in the clan. One of their own. Which meant no one could be trusted. And that paranoia dug its claws deeply into each of them, heightening their fear, and feeding their anger.
And that anger simmered to a catastrophic boil in Angela when she caught a glimpse of herself in one of the large mullioned windows as the foursome walked down a corridor toward the Great Hall.
She paused next to it and looked at her reflection, surveying the extent of the damage to her face. Her lavender skin had swollen significantly—stretching from the lower left side of her jaw, up over her span of cheekbone, and ending just above her right eyebrow. As it began to darken, it also took on a distinctly hand-like shape, complete with three visible finger marks. The gash, held closed by a small bandage, ran down the middle of the swelling and lined up with where Katana's middle talon had caught Angela's skin after following through the arc of the blow, barely missing her eye.
Angela seethed as she stared at herself in the glass. The insult of it felt unforgivable, and stung more than the cut itself. Not that Brooklyn or Katana had bothered to apologize after the chain of events had been explained… not even after it had been made clear that she and Broadway had rescued Katana's egg.
No, not Katana's egg, she fumed. The clan's egg.
"Are you alright, love?" Broadway asked with concern when he noticed her pause and gaze out the window.
Angela looked past him, and down the corridor to the couple who carried on unperturbed. She may have grown up on Avalon, ignorant of traditional gargoyle culture, but she had learned a great deal on their odyssey and in the time afterwards living with the Manhattan clan. Taking a mate had prompted her to ask a lot of questions, and she never held back. Often to Goliath's chagrin if he happened to be the one conscripted into playing teacher for the evening. As a result, she was now much more familiar with the customs of their kind when it came to egg-laying, hatchling-rearing, and communal parenting in general. At least in concept. And through those teachings, one thing had been made abundantly clear over and over again—there was no room for possessiveness.
She knew that she and Broadway were not old enough to contribute to a rookery and be included in the parenting, but Katana trusted the beasts to watch the egg more than they trusted her, and look how that had turned out? Even if she wasn't a parent, she should still be trusted with the egg like a sister. Like a friend. Instead she was spurned and humiliated time after time. Even after saving the egg, Katana had treated her like a villain.
Enough was enough. Time to teach Katana a thing or two for once.
"I know the gender of the baby," Angela abruptly shouted down the corridor, slicing through the silence.
Brooklyn and Katana stopped in their tracks. They hadn't realized that Angela had fallen behind as they'd ambled toward the Great Hall. Her words, and the loud echo of her voice down the long hall, immediately caught their attention, and they turned toward her in unison.
Angela's face was a vision of vindictive fury, made more dramatic by the ugly injury marring her otherwise beautiful visage. Katana felt a chill down her spine as Angela's face morphed, and she looked eerily more like Demona than ever before, and she clutched the egg protectively.
"I was next to the doctor when he scanned the egg. He has a bad habit of thinking out loud during examinations…" she continued.
"Angela…" Brooklyn warned.
Katana glared at the younger female. "I already stated that I do not want—" she said.
"It's a girl," Angela cut in cruelly, immediately gratified by the shocked look on Katana's face.
Without a word, Katana carefully transferred the egg into her stunned mate's hands, then turned and leapt at Angela in one incredible bound, her eyes burning with rage.
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...
Goliath contemplated his argument with Elisa all the way back to the castle. He rehashed everything he had said and she had said, and everything they had both left unspoken. Normally, when he was exhausted from the demands of his role as leader, he knew he could turn to her for strength and guidance. She was his safe place, his sanctuary, the one who lightened his burden. But not this night. He had gone to her for solace, to pour out his exasperations and weariness, but had found only contention instead of comfort.
She was not entirely to blame, though. He recognized that he'd mishandled the situation as well. He shouldn't have fought with her over Jason Canmore, of all people, even though he knew he was right about the man's feelings. He tried to reassure himself that he had nothing to fear in regards to Elisa's love and devotion… but everything in his life had been so turbid and hostile lately. It was difficult to feel sure of anything.
He sighed deeply, letting the crisp air whip through his hair and fill his wings as he soared above the city toward the castle. But even gliding couldn't seem to boost his spirits. Not with the whole clan at each other's throats and his strained relationship weighing heavily on his mind. Danger and destruction felt ever present, discord ran rampant at the castle and in his relationship, and despite his best efforts, he could not rise above it and lead his clan, or his mate, out to safety. He felt lost, ineffective—even his sleep offered little relief given that his dreams of late were riddled with conflict and failure.
He glared inwardly at himself. He'd let his trials and tribulations get the better of him, and as a result, he'd lost his patience and snapped at his mate. Regardless of their disagreements on anything—or anyone—he should not lose his temper. He would apologize to her for that. He still could. He had time to turn around, and go back, there was still an hour before dawn, but he felt an inexplicable pull beckoning him back to the castle that went beyond his daily need to roost. Even at the loft, his instincts had been telling him he needed to return to the clan quickly, and the pull had been too strong to ignore.
As he neared the battlements, he felt a knot form in his gut. Every time he left, it seemed as though some new mischief would befall his clan, wreaking havoc. As the pattern of chaos intensified, so too did his anxiety, and sense of guilt, each time he departed.
In his haste to check on his clan, he landed on the nearest turret with a thud, gouging the stone as he steadied himself and hurried inside. Although he had already mentally prepared himself for some new upset, he still didn't expect to be greeted by a ruckus of growls, snarls, and profanity echoing off the stone walls the second he ducked inside. He soon found the culprits involved, but he was completely taken back by who was the cause of the commotion this time.
Angela and Katana were locked in apparent combat, fangs and talons bared, eyes blazing, while their mates stood to the side, arguing loudly with one another, looking like they may come to blows themselves if not for the egg Brooklyn held protectively. Goliath could hardly believe what he saw. Although his daughter had a temper and was not afraid of a fight, she typically stuck to diplomacy instead of brawling. As for the stoic female, Katana, she'd always carried herself with calm dignity and restraint, often showing wisdom in the face of adversity. He could hardly believe she'd stoop so low as to engage in a physical altercation with another clan member. Something ill indeed had happened while he was gone to bring these two to blows.
Regardless of the cause, the situation had to be brought to heel. He assessed the situation quickly, taking stock of any openings before attempting to jump in and stop them.
At first glance, it seemed as though the older of the two had the advantage as a seasoned warrior, but Angela was younger, stronger, and scrappy, clearly capable of holding her own against Katana's skill. As the fight escalated, Katana soon managed to pin Angela on her back, forcing her down against the hard stone floor, but Angela twisted and snarled until she got a foot under Katana's abdomen and thrust her backwards against the opposite wall, knocking the wind out of her. Katana staggered slightly from the blow, but rebounded a moment later and looked ready to resume the fight. Before she could do so, Goliath seized the opportunity and lunged forward, putting himself between the two fearsome females.
"What madness is this?!" he roared, flaring his enormous wings out dramatically. His booming admonition, coupled with his intimidating physical presence, startled everyone long enough to force a break in the fighting.
Katana took a step back and straightened her kimono while Angela wiped blood from her nose, her tail lashing the ground anxiously. Though the two females were no longer fighting, they glared menacingly at each other, pantherine growls rasping in their heaving chests.
Goliath glowered at one, then the other. "We are clan! Family! We do not fight like this with one another!" His thunderous command reverberated off the stone walls.
"Goliath," Brooklyn interjected, looking harried as he put a soothing hand on his mate's shoulder. "I cannot excuse our behavior, and you have every right to hold us accountable, but there's something worse, something sinister at work here. Someone attempted to kill 'Egwardo' by putting her in the freezer tonight. We have to do something!"
"What?" Goliath said, horrified.
"Between that, the poisoned food, Fox's attempted drowning, all of our missing weaponry… Whoever, or whatever, has been messing with us has escalated the pranks into active threats against our lives. Goliath, we're not safe here," his second continued.
The others, though battered and bewildered looking, nodded in agreement.
Brooklyn's words echoed in Goliath's ears. Similar to words of wisdom that Elisa had said to him over two years ago, when she first encouraged Goliath to take his clan and leave the castle before Xanatos was released from prison.
"You're not safe here."
He took a deep breath to speak, when all at once a shrill, echoing siren started going off throughout the castle, effectively interrupting his response and diverting everyone's attention.
"What now?" he growled, his frustration rising to new levels as the ear-piercing alarm warned of some new unforeseen danger.
Then they heard it, loud and unmistakable in between the shrill cries of the security system.
The distant sounds of laser fire.
...
...
Coldstone and Coldfire were both low on energy and knew it was time to leave their post near one of Brod's warehouses and return to the castle to recharge for the day. They had just touched down in the castle's main courtyard when alarms within began sounding, alerting everyone to danger.
"What is that alarm for?" Coldfire asked.
"I cannot get a read," Coldstone replied irritatedly as he tried to sweep their surroundings. His power cells were low, rendering his scanning devices much less effective without an apparent target.
A moment later, they heard thrusters, a sound that was all too familiar to them, and they turned to see a dark silhouette outlined by fiery jets rising up into the sky above them. Given their close proximity to the source of the sound, Coldstone was able to get a visual and audio lock on the ascending object, analyzing it within seconds. He identified it as one of Xanatos's robots, though it wasn't part of the usual line. It was one of his heavier Iron Clan models meant to defend the Xanatos family against Oberon and his Children.
"What is it doing?" Coldfire asked, noting that its ascent had stopped.
"I have no idea. Lurking, apparently," Coldstone replied, still scanning the robot for any additional information.
It hovered above the castle grounds as though waiting or scanning for something.
As they stood there, Coldfire thought she saw movement in the peripheral vision of her display. She turned to look, but then the hovering robot shot a round of laser fire in their general direction, striking the ground near them. The sudden bright light obscured her vision and distracted her attention. Smoke rose up from the scorched stones and carefully manicured grass of the courtyard. A second later, the robot fired from above again, but missed once more.
"This is tiresome," Coldstone grumbled, and he fired back. His shot hit lethally through the center of the robot's body, leaving a large, dinner plate-sized hole through its abdomen. For a brief moment, the night sky and stars could be seen through the gaping hole, but the robot soon plummeted down into the courtyard, crashing onto a small flight of stone steps in a heap.
"What do you suppose that was all about?" Coldfire asked her mate. "We didn't sustain any damage, but it's hard to tell whether that was intentional or incidental."
"More of Xanatos's nonsense, I imagine," Coldstone replied. "This is what we get for putting our trust in humans."
"It's not all humans, my love," she replied in a scolding tone.
"History would say otherwise," Coldstone countered, holding up his monstrous cyborg hand.
Before Coldfire could respond, they heard more jets, and they both whirled around to see another Iron Clan robot launch into the sky above them, followed by a third, and a fourth. This time, the robots' blasters were raised and aimed directly at them.
"We should have stayed in London," Coldstone groaned.
And Coldfire, for once, did not contradict her mate. Instead, she and Coldstone both blasted off into the pre-dawn sky, lasers locked and loaded, ready to defend themselves and all they held dear.
